Open 2018 World Cup Watch Thread: Day 3

Three games on Friday.

Four games on Saturday.

Three more games on Sunday.

We have officially gone from no games since Juventus’ final fixture of the Serie A season to now switching things into full-on World Cup mode. We have also now gotten to the part of the tournament where there’s going to be some part of Juventus representation in at least one or two games being played that day.

And holy smokes does today have some Juve connections going.

Paulo Dybala and Gonzalo Higuain will be playing. Mario Mandzukic and Marko Pjaca will be playing. And, in case you want to see something other than a Juventus-owned forward and/or winger play, Blaise Matuidi will be coming off the bench in the first game of the day when France faces Australia.

Four games. Five Juventus players represented.

I don’t know about you, but that sounds good to me.

After the hat trick performance from Cristiano Ronaldo in the final game of Friday’s schedule, everybody will be looking to see what Lionel Messi does as some kind of encore to his rival from Real Madrid. But, since we see things in black and white over at this corner of the internet, we might be more concerned with the ability of Higuain to not put together a World Cup dud or just how Dybala will fit into this Argentina squad.

Or maybe we can watch Mandzukic be his classic Mr. No Good self and lead Croatia’s line and help his country — one that a1 lot of people are tipping to do big things at the tournament — start this World Cup off right.

It’s a busy day in Russia.

It’s a busy day for Juventus players in Russia.

It’s a busy day for those of us who like to watch the World Cup in Russia.

I hope you have a comfortable couch or recliner to sit in because there’s a good chance you’re going to be spending a whole lot of time in front of some kind of screen watching the World Cup today. That’s just what happens when there’s four games on the daily schedule — and this is one of those days.

TODAY’S SCHEDULE

Group C — France vs. Australia: 6 a.m. Eastern Time, 3 a.m. Pacific (NBC stream)

Group D — Argentina vs. Iceland: 9 a.m. Eastern Time, 6 a.m. Pacific (NBC stream)

Group C — Peru vs. Denmark: 12 p.m. Eastern Time, 9 a.m. Pacific (NBC stream)

Group D — Croatia vs. Nigeria: 3 p.m. Eastern Time, 12 p.m. Pacific (NBC stream)

HOW TO WATCH

Television: Fox Sports 1 for France-Australia, Peru-Denmark and Croatia-Nigeria; FOX for Argentina-Iceland (United States); TSN4, TSN5 (Canada); UTV, STV Scotland, ITV1 UK (United Kingdom)

Online/mobile: See links above (United States); TSN GO, RDS GO (Canada); The ITV Hub (United Kingdom)

Note: This post will be updated daily as the main World Cup viewing and off-topic thread here at BWRAO. So, if you see comments from a previous day or a game that you already know took place, fret not. Keep the discussion going ... and going ... and going. Rack up those comments into the hundreds and thousands!

Stay tuned to BWRAO for posts regarding Juventus’ representation in Russia as well as any transfer-related happenings that take place before, during or after the day’s schedule comes and goes.