S​pectacular Scoring! ​Political Intrigue! Heroic Defending! The World Cup Has It All​.

By Vanessa BarbaraSean JacobsNate SilverJohn Guida and Tim Schneider

Ms. Barbara is the editor of the literary website A Hortaliça and wrote from São Paulo, Brazil. Mr. Jacobs writes about soccer at Eleven Named People. Mr. Silver’s World Cup predictions (with Joseph George) can be found at Silver Bulletin. Mr. Guida and Mr. Schneider are editors in Times Opinion.

The World Cup has already seen America’s thumping victory in its opener, a thriller involving Iran and a hat trick from Lionel Messi. In a written online conversation, the Times Opinion editors John Guida and Tim Schneider hosted Vanessa........

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