World Cup Round of 16 game thread — Japan vs Croatia; Brazil vs Republic of Korea

The FIFA 2022 Men’s World Cup is upon us. Follow along the day-by-day action in each day’s game thread.

Dec 5: Round of 16

• Japan vs Croatia | 10AM EST
• Brazil vs Republic of Korea | 2PM EST

Japan has mowed down two giants of international football in Germany and Spain. Now they’ll need to do the triple against 2018 finalists Croatia, where Real Madrid’s Luka Modrić helms one of the finest midfields of the tournament. Croatia can be got at, though, and maybe don’t look entirely convincing in attack, either. This could be a tussle.

Meanwhile, Tottenham Hotspur star Son Heung-min will lead the Republic of Korea into the knockouts. They have managed maybe the worst draw possible, against a star-studded Brazil team...but it’s also one that, sans Neymar, lost to Cameroon. And that’s not the end of the injury woes for the Seleção, with Sevilla fullback Alex Telles and Arsenal FC forward Gabriel Jesus the latest to drop. Can the Koreans pull this one off?

TV/Streaming: Peacock Premium (USA, en español); BBC/ITV (UK); Find Your Country

If you’d like to check back on our pre-tournament predictions and have a laugh about how badly we got it wrong, we’ve got you covered:

Groups A & B | Groups C & D | Groups E & F | Groups G & H

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And in case you haven’t listened to it yet, here’s a special edition postgame + weekend warm up podcast! We look at Germany’s shortcomings, Hansi Flick’s approach, Japan’s wonderful run...and close out with some classical music talk! Listen below or on Spotify.

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