Finally, we get to see which European side will be in the semis!
I'm for a home underdog as much as the next person, but I'm really hoping Croatia get through here. Russia had a good run, but I don't think they'd beat any of the remaining three teams.
As to Bruce's post on the last page, yes soccer is like a religion to a lot of Europeans. However, Belgium and France are fairly talented, and both of these sides have been held up by their great white players. Giroud and Griezmann are both huge parts of the attack for France, while Pavard turned the match against Argentina around for them. Lloris is one of the best Keepers in the world. Ditto for Belgium. Courtois is a top-5 Keeper as well. Courtois, Kevin De Bruyne, and Eden Hazard are Belgium's top 3 players and generational talents, despite what the media says. Lukuku isn't a bad player, but he relies a LOT on De Bruyne and Hazard feeding him. And despite what the media say, Vertonghen and Alderweireld are their two best defenders, not Kompany. England have gotten extraordinarily lucky with their draw. They were drawn into a group they were guaranteed to advance out of, they got a Colombia side in the Round of 16 missing their best player in James Rodriguez and barely beat them. They also got an over-achieving Sweden side that finally reverted back to their previous form of not being able to score any goals the last two matches (they beat Sweden off of the deflection). Sweden proceeded to fall apart under the pressure. Nearly all of England's goal-scoring has come from their white players. Harry Kane, John Stones, Jordan Henderson, and Pickford form the spine of England and are their best players. All three GKs from these teams have made some VERY impressive saves that have kept their teams in the competition in the knock-out rounds.
Even though the Marxists in Europe undoubtedly love the fact that these diverse "European" teams are all in the final, it was far from a sure thing, and without those teams' respective white players, they'd have been out at the Group Stage. But I'm sure there'll be the obligatory diversity articles saying how "diversity" made all of these sides better, which is simply not the case.