sport news MIKE KEEGAN: There's no stopping the 'Atletico Madrid of world football' trends now
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The Atletico Madrid of world football are through. Croatia, the World Cup’s mean machine, has seen off Brazil. Another knockout game, another penalty shootout victory for the perennial underachievers.
Is that a good thing? The pure football brigade will say no. To hell with that. This is a tournament in which it is difficult to separate fact from fiction. The stadiums, for example. From the outside they all have their own shapes – traditional headwear here, female anatomy there.
But on the inside they tend to be three-tiered identikit replicas of each other. Even HMS Wag, dressed up as party central, is now an almost-deserted floating shell, where bands outnumber the guests they are playing for. Curmudgeonly Croatia are a reassuring presence.
Croatia celebrate beating Brazil in a penalty shoot-out after a 1-1 draw in the quarter-final clash
They turn up and like a conversation-hogging uncle, try and squeeze the life out of the party.
