Morning, hope you all coped adequately yesterday – the first day without World Cup football since the tournament began. The black hole of nothingness it left will be filled by two knockout games today. First up, France take on Argentina. The French have been a bit meh throughout, while Argentina with player-manager Lionel Messi have been worse than that, and were quite lucky to go through against Nigeria in the final group stage game. On paper I think this is a game for which France would be favourites. They seem more organised than Argentina, but there's just been something missing from them so far. No spark, no panache, no joie de vivre to their football, and unless they discover some...
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