World Cup 2018 Day 9 open thread: Costa Rica-Brazil, Nigeria-Iceland, Serbia-Switzerland

We have officially hit the part of the World Cup where watching matches starts to be a grind. Or maybe it’s just me? But holy smokes, I love football and I’m starting to inwardly groan a bit today. Nothing a Neymar hat trick can’t fix, though.

The games and how to watch:

Costa Rica vs. Brazil — 8:00 am ET, 1 pm BST
TV: Fox Sports 1 (USA) | ITV 1 (UK) | other listings on livesoccertv.com
Streaming: Fox Sports Go, Telemundo (USA - Spanish, available through NBC Sports Live) | ITV Hub (UK) | fubo.tv (free trial)

Nigeria vs. Iceland — 11 am ET, 4 pm BST
TV: FOX (USA) | ITV 1 (UK) | other listings on livesoccertv.com
Streaming: Fox Sports Go, Telemundo (USA - Spanish, available through NBC Sports Live) | ITV Hub (UK) | fubo.tv (free trial)

Serbia vs. Switzerland, 2 pm ET, 7 pm BST
TV: FOX (USA) | BBC 1 (UK) | other listings on livesoccertv.com
Streaming: Fox Sports Go, Telemundo (USA - Spanish, available through NBC Sports Live) | BBC iPlayer (UK) | fubo.tv (free trial)

Any Spurs players involved?

Not today. Womp-womp.

How about former Spurs?

William Troost-Ekong is a former Spurs academy graduate who now plays for Nigeria. Gylfi Sigurdsson is Iceland’s best player. Milos Veljkovich, another Spurs academy grad, is a reserve defender for Serbia.

Any transfer targets or rival players I’m probably interested in?

Sergeij Milinkovic-Savic is high on pretty much everybody’s wish-list this summer.

What cool things has SB Nation posted recently?

I’m glad you asked!

• Christian Eriksen’s goal against Australia was almost sexual.
• Kim McCauley is really, really pissed at France’s manager.
• Zito Madu wrote a great piece on American immigrants and the World Cup.
• Are you American and want to enjoy a USA-less World Cup? Go hang out with some Colombians.
• Nate Scott goes into a deep dive into the World Cup’s ABSOLUTE UNITS.