As a rule, English is the lingua Franca of soccer. When in doubt, the communication is in English. That’s standardised by FIFA, now.
I spent four weeks traveling through Europe this spring: France, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Sweden, Denmark. In all that time, I ran across a total of two people who didn’t speak English; a shopkeeper in Bratislava and a small foodstore in Ljubljana. English gets you pretty much anywhere any more.
The assignment of national team numbers depends upon the nation. In some, the number will be assigned pretty strictly according to where you are in the national team’s list of starters and subs, numbered according to standard numbering (1 for keeper, 2-5 across the back, 6-9 for midfielders, and 10 and 11 for strikers). In others, players who come in will want numbers they consider important to them. Often, players who have been on the national team longer will get first choice.
In short, there is no uniform answer. 
I was watching the re-broadcast of the Russia-Croatia game. Saw the last part of regular time, then extra time, and then the recap. They didn’t show the shootout! I have to assume someone fell asleep in the control room; hard to believe they’d leave that out on purpose.
Fox or Telemundo? I’m betting that at the 2 hour mark it automatically cut away. Machines are cheaper than people. 
Fox Sports 2, I think. I don’t know exactly what time it started, but it ended at about 20 minutes past the hour, and switched to drag racing.
But it didn’t just cut off. They showed the end of extra time, then went to commercials, then it came back to a short recap saying Croatia had won and would go on to play England in the semi-final on Wednesday, or whenever it is. They just cut out the section with with the penalty kicks.
The way they’ve been going, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they show this game at least one more time before the semis, so I may have another chance to see the end.
Someone upthread said that this is tied for the most shootouts (4) in World Cup history. It occurred to me that, so far, none of the games has ended after extra time without a shootout. Has that ever happened in a World Cup before?
Germany v Argentina ended 1-0 after extra time in 2014 in the final minutes of the championship game. And I seem to remember Italy beating Germany but it was in the Euro Championship.
Here is a brief history. A quick glance stated that 10 of 15 matches went to penalties.
I thought I was watching it live and then missed out on the shootout. I looked on my phone and saw it was a replay.
In any event, your cousins on this side of the pond, at least in my conversations, are all behind England on Wednesday. Good luck.
There isn’t really a rivalry with France, we haven’t played many competitive game against them. I don’t think we’ve beaten them in a long time (1997 in the Tournai de France maybe?). They won a group game against us in Euro 2004 and tend to stuff us in friendlies.
The Germany rivalry has cooled as Germany have been in a different class for some time, most England fans would prefer to avoid playing them in a tournament. 
Yes, since about 2006 under Klinsmann they’ve been a very good side to watch. I’m not a fan of some of their gamesmanship but an awful lot of sides are like that, and we are seeing more of it from the England side too - going to ground in a ‘smart’ manner and clutching of faces. It’s a bit of a catch 22 and I don’t see the situation improving until FIFA start dishing out bans based on video evidence.
Croatia winning after extra time might be the best result for us. That extra 30 minutes won’t help their recovery and they’ve just knocked out the hosts, so perhaps we’ll get the neutrals support for a change. Also less chance of our players receiving a nervy gift from the Kremlin…
I’m on record as cheering on Germany in 2010, they deservedly beat us, thrashed Argentina and were good to watch. I picked them for 2014 glory and again they were good to watch. The 7-1 defeat of Brazil is now entered in the dictionary under “demolition”
I’ve also never had the silly antipathy towards Germany that the press would like to think is normal for English people. I spent two weeks in Tubingen as a 15 year old and loved the place and the people, I have friends who live near the Austrian Border and we spend a lot of time over there summer and winter.
Also, though we are far from perfect at it, there is a lot of the German system in how we are trying to play the game. Organisation, possession, passing, keeper distribution and speedy breaks. It is a very obvious change from the “pick the top names and run fast” school of previous English footballing thought.
Far from perfect at it of course but it is the way that all levels of the English game are trying to play and we’ve had success at u-17, u-19, u-21 by trying to do it so that bodes well for the players coming through. (no coincidence that Southgate has been one of the architects of this at the younger levels)
So my heart says England of course but my head says Belgium and that wouldn’t be a tragedy for the game at all.
My head also says that Germany will not remain embarrassed for long and keeping Low is a smart move. I don’t think he has become a bad manager overnight, nor that Germany have forgotten how to play, just that perhaps he held onto the core of a team for one tournament too long.
I’ve seen the comments in these sorts of threads from football purists who hate the shootouts, but in this tournament they could have got rid of the extra time without changing any of the results.
I’ve been watching the matches here and there. I loved yesterday’s graceful header by Russia to even the score. Expected them to advance but I was proven wrong.
Sadly I haven’t had a chance to visit Germany but I’ve heard it’s a great place to go. The Germans I have met elsewhere have been a friendly bunch. Quite a lot of fans do follow the jingoistic line of the tabloids but I’m not sure how many really mean it. I will admit to a certain amount of schadenfreude when Germany and Argentina went out but I don’t wish them ill. I wouldn’t like to see their slumps go as deep as the one we had between 2008 and 2016.
Yes, Belgium would be worthy winners, if we do make the final I consider it a free hit. If we finish third I think that should be celebrated, you get some bling for that I believe (bronze medals for the players?).
Now I understand what Robbie Williams was trying to tell us. England is #1.
https://www.si.com/soccer/2018/06/14/robbie-williams-middle-finger-world-cup-opening-ceremony-video
EPL fans, do you even care? Isnt this rare and exciting World Cup run more important to you than a couple of matches in yet another EPL season?
Then let me be the first to disagree. I’m an “anyone but England” neutral at the moment.
Its hard to add neutral in a sentence that includes ’ Anyone but’.
Players who participate in an international tournament have to be given three weeks off per FIFA, starting from the date of their release from national duties, which means 17th July at the earliest.
The EPL starts on August 11; which is 25 days later. Chances are that few of the players will be match fit, so expect them not to participate much in the early games until late August.
Any particular reason why?