All the updates, highlights from World Cup 2018 Day 14

The 2018 World Cup has been intensely entertaining for how close so many groups have come, including the elimination of Senegal earlier on Thursday on fair play tiebreakers. But England and Belgium may go further than that, as a draw in their last Group G match and the potential of ending even on the Fair Play tiebreaker that they’re separated in by a single point in would exhaust their tiebreaker options. That means that they would have to go to the drawing of lots, something not used in the World Cup since 1990.

Assuming that England and Belgium do have to go to the drawing of lots, at roughly 11 p.m. local time (4 p.m. ET) immediately following the game, the FIFA Organising Committee will meet in the Luzhniki Stadium press conference room with a bowl and balls filled with slips of paper that have either England or Belgium printed on them. In a live stream on the FIFA website, they’ll randomly draw a ball out, and whichever nation’s name is pulled out of that ball will be declared the winner of their group.

Entering this World Cup, no one was really sure about who would be in the Brazil starting lineup. The back four was pretty set, we had an idea for midfield, but the attacking three were up in the air. Would it be Firmino? Gabriel Jesus? Willian? Coutinho? Douglas Costa?

The only name set in stone for the top three: Neymar.

There are worse sides at the 2018 World Cup than France, but there are none more frustrating. Ideally, each member of a football team complements and enhances the next, which makes the whole machine something more than the sum of its parts.

France seems to be doing the opposite. The parts are as good as any in the world, and better than most. But the team aches and clanks, moans and sputters, and occasionally just grinds to a halt. This week’s miserable slog against Denmark was another such example: brilliant footballers chafing against one another, and nothing much happening. The result was the first nil-nil draw of the tournament, and we’re all two hours closer to death.

The madness of the third day of Group F matches was best captured by the last few minutes of the Mexico and Sweden game. Mexico was already down, 3-0, and had no chance of coming back to win the game.

But Mexico could still go through ... if South Korea could hang on for a tie or, dare to dream, win against Germany.

Never write off the Germans. It is an instinct, a cringing reflex, hardwired into every soccer fan. Never write off the Germans. Which is why, after their loss to Mexico in their opening game, we all just assumed they’d sort themselves out. They had to. It’s Germany.

And that’s why, as they laboured against Korea, we all just knew that something would happen. A goal would come off Thomas Müller’s shins. Or Toni Kroos’ in-step. Something was coming from somewhere. That’s just how things work. They always get out of the group. They’ll nick one, and they’ll knock out Mexico, and then as an encore they’ll do England on penalties.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is Sweden’s most famous and certainly among its most successful soccer players ever, yet the 36-year-old striker is not on Sweden’s roster for the World Cup this summer, despite being productive in recent years for Manchester United and scoring plenty of goals for Los Angeles FC in MLS.

You may notice that he isn’t playing today against Mexico.