Calling in favours. Calling time. Calling for a lie down or perhaps a lie in after Monday morning’s events. It’s been a wild few days in the landscape of the World Cup. A three-act play if you will. You may have heard of this one before. Issue 113. Go.

Donald Trump's influence in terms of getting Florin Balogun's suspension paused for the Round of 16 game with Belgium. The fact that he put in a call with Gianni Infantino and got FIFA to utilise a rather discretionary use of their disciplinary law simply goes against everything that underpins the principle of upholding the laws of the game.

You cannot have the President of the USA calling in favours in a bid to help the host nation's bid to win this year's FIFA World Cup. The fact that the USA subsequently lost to Belgium in the Round of 16, should be a sigh of relief to everyone who believes things should be done by the book.

It's a case of presidents setting precedents, knowing that FIFA can be got at if things don't go the way of the nation they lead. It also opens Pandora's box for all manner of red and yellow cards that have been dished out over the past few days.

Michael Olise's booking for France against Paraguay and Jarell Quansah's red card for England against Mexico spring to mind.

At the same time, the fact that all this put a rocket up Belgium should not be overlooked. There was already a huge sense of injustice after learning that the USA's Balogun would be available to play after his previous red card against Bosnia in the Round of 32.

This FIFA intervention backfired and backfired massively but at the same time, nothing is seemingly beyond the pile for the game's governing body.

You think there is nothing left to surprise you and then this surprises you. Whatever next. Trump asking for the USA to be reinstated. What is it they say, the squeaky wheel gets the grease and all that, FIFA have shown that they can be greased up at a moment’s notice.

It's the end of the road for Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo after Brazil and Portugal lost out in the Round of 16 to Norway and Spain respectively.

For the former, it's the optics of his last ever act in a Brazil shirt being caught in a nonsensical war of words with Orjan Nyland when 2-0 down with seconds to go.

Yes, Neymar may have scored the resulting penalty but who is laughing at full time. Not the former Barcelona and PSG star. Maybe ego got in the way, actually that is exactly what got in the way.

The fact that he is no longer the crown jewel of Brazil, a team that seems to be a fading force from the heights of even two decades ago let alone six, a short cameo for the 34-year-old. At least he scored his penalty unlike teammate Bruno Guimaraes who got a case of the stutters when the score was 0-0 early on.

Brazil by the wayside, their linguistic cousins Portugal suffering the same fate just two days later. Comedown football after the events of earlier that morning, Cristiano Ronaldo playing as a 41-year-old version of himself.

Ineffectual and slowing down the rest of the team that has so much promised, outgoing manager Roberto Martinez serving as too much of a yes man throughout the tournament to the detriment of Portugal's chances.

His stint coming to an end in unremarkable fashion, it will be remarkable if the next man in charge of their national team sticks with Ronaldo in attack.

Which means it is a World Cup last eight without Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal and non-qualifiers Italy. I'm not necessarily suggesting a new world order in North America but the term heavyweight for some of these nations is doing a lot of heavy lifting at the moment

If someone asked you to design a story for a football comic book or in this day and age, if you asked A.I. to design the script for a football-based drama, then surely the game between Mexico and England would have ticked off all the major plot holes.

Stormy weather, partisan home crowd, England going 2-0 up and then the deficit halved. The Three Lions then losing a man on the field but regaining their two-goal advantage only to then see it halved once more.

The centre stage for a heroic defensive performance. Dan Burn answering every critic as to why he should have been called up with every header that eased the pressure on keeper Jordan Pickford.

Pickford himself with another phenomenal performance in an England shirt, arguably his best ever even if recency bias may get in the way. A captain's performance but making sure it's not all about him, it's about the team and what a team that Thomas Tuchel has created.

It's not eleven men, it's everyone that has played their part and with Norway on Saturday, there is still plenty of parts still left to play.

Heartbreak for Egypt after racing into a 2-0 lead at the expense of holders Argentina but what do winners do? Win. Argentina finding a way, they always find a way.

A dramatic comeback with an Enzo Fernandez header in injury time giving Lionel Scaloni's men eventual passage to the last eight. The second successive game where they have been pushed to the absolute limit and snuck through, will their luck run out in the end.

Because now we are at the stage where every game matters. People may have bemoaned the 16 additional teams or the Round of 32 but now we are back to familiar territory.

World Cup territory that we have all navigated before and as the road to next Sunday's final gets shorter, the stakes will only get higher from here on in.

Forget the Ugly and the Bad parts of this World Cup, it has been a rather Good tournament so far and I think it is only going to get better.

That’s the end of Issue 113 as the World Cup edges towards the last eight

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Issue 114 lands Friday. Another round of distortions as football does what it always does: speeds up and makes less sense.

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