“The World Cup’s knockout stage began this weekend. From here on out, each match must have a winner and a loser, and if the game is tied after 120 minutes of open-field play, it gets decided by penalty kicks. On Saturday, Brazil played Chile in the very first of these matches, in the tournament’s Round of 16, and it ended with the most dramatic penalty shoot-out since Italy beat France in the 2006 World Cup final. You got the sense that everything Brazil had put into hosting this year’s event was at stake—not just the money or the national pride Brazilians take in their own soccer superiority, but also the public’s tolerance for the outright absurdity and lack of humanity of the government’s investment in the tournament. The Brazilian team doesn’t have to win the World Cup to keep its people’s political dissatisfaction at bay, but it has to get pretty close. The Round of 16 is not close.” Vanity Fair

Notes on Penalty Kicks and Other Neuroses
“These are terrible times in which the ‘beautiful game’ can be reduced to Long Day’s Journey Into Night. Not since the summer of 1914 has the world had such reason for anxiety and neurotic behavior. I am referring to the dreaded penalty shoot-out that threatens to consume the progress of our World Cup now that it has reached its knockout stages. Famously it is the goalkeeper who is alleged to be anxious over the penalty kicks. But in truth we are seeing great and brave players hiding from their coaches in the huddle and begging to be excused the nightmarish duty.” New Republic