Greece 1 – 2 Spain
Russia 2 – 0 Sweden

You knew that Sweden were clutching at straws when they claimed destiny would take them to the final on the 50th anniversary of their appearance in a World Cup final. Not the anniversary of their winning, but of their appearance in the final where, as hosts, they were beaten 2 – 5 by Brazil with a brace by a 17yo Pele.
Russia, with the youngest squad, didn’t need Pele to overcome Sweden, with the oldest, last night though it’s a entertaining thought that even now the Brazilian might have waltzed through the disorganised Swedish back four and converted some of the chances the Russians spurned last night.
It was all too easy for them and, what with Croatia’s performances in the last two weeks, allows this correspondent to clutch at his own straw by thinking that it was perhaps not that much of a disgrace to have come third in that qualifying group.
So now we are down to the nitty-gritty of knockout football, full of drama, shout-outs, tears and furrowed-brows as you attempt to make sense of the new rules for the predict-a-score – look out for the mail in your inbox today which needs to get back into mine before 19:45 tonight.