Nonconference games can make or break a team’s season.

Preseason victories can propel a team into Playoff consideration; defeats can hold it back.

The table below shows the nonconference win percentages and win-loss records for the region’s top programs over the last 10 seasons.

For 120 minutes in Vancouver, Switzerland and Colombia played as if defeat frightened them more than victory tempted them. Then came the penalties, and with them the kind of theatre the match had spent two hours refusing to offer.

Ruben Vargas stroked the decisive kick into the bottom corner as Switzerland beat Colombia 4-3 in a shootout after a goalless draw early Wednesday morning, Indian time, reaching their first World Cup quarter-final since 1954. Gregor Kobel was the Swiss hero, saving Cucho Hernandez’s penalty after Davinson Sanchez had already struck the crossbar for Colombia.

Switzerland will now face holders Argentina in Kansas City, a meeting few would call easy but one they have earned through organisation, nerve and a refusal to let another Round of 16 end in familiar pain.

“It is very difficult for me to realise what we achieved today,” Vargas said. “For 120 minutes we gave it all on the pitch. We faced a strong opponent, but now we made history.”

Colombia, who had hoped to reach only their second World Cup quarter-final after 2014, were left with another penalty wound. They also lost a shootout in the last 16 in 2018, against England.

A match trapped by its own stakes

This was the final Round of 16 tie and, on quality of drama before penalties, probably the most cautious knockout match of the tournament. Two excellent defensive units cancelled each other out. The combined expected goals figure across 90 minutes was just 0.7, a reflection of how little space either side allowed and how rarely either goalkeeper was seriously exposed.

Colombia entered the match with one of the tournament’s strongest defensive records, having conceded only once in their previous games. Switzerland, too, were compact and disciplined, even after suffering a major pre-match setback when Johan Manzambi was ruled out with a knee injury sustained in training.

The 20-year-old attacker had been Switzerland’s breakout player of the tournament, contributing three goals and two assists. Without him, the Swiss lacked the spark to unsettle Colombia regularly.

Colombia, backed by a sea of yellow at BC Place, had the better early chance. In the 21st minute, Gustavo Puerta curled an effort from around 18 yards towards the far corner, forcing Kobel into a sharp diving save to his left. Switzerland responded through Fabian Rieder from a tight angle, but Camilo Vargas held firm.

After that, the match settled into a long stretch of tension rather than invention.

Kobel, crossbar and Colombian agony

If the 90 minutes were controlled by caution, the final moments of regulation and extra time at least hinted at what might have been.

Dan Ndoye almost won it for Switzerland in the 91st minute, making a clever run before dragging a low shot across goal and just wide of the far post.

In extra time, Colombia centre-back Jhon Lucumi came even closer. He rose unmarked to meet a corner and crashed his header against the crossbar. For a moment, the stadium seemed ready to erupt. Instead, the ball stayed out, and the match returned to its anxious rhythm.

There was also one penalty appeal for Colombia when Jaminton Campaz went down after contact with Miro Muheim in the first period of extra time. The pro-Colombia crowd demanded a spot kick, but referee Ivan Barton saw it as a collision rather than a foul. There was contact, but not enough to make it a clear error or a decisive intervention.

The match moved, almost inevitably, to penalties.

How the shootout turned

Juan Fernando Quintero and Granit Xhaka converted the opening penalties. Then Sanchez stepped up for Colombia, with Kobel offering him the right side of the goal. Sanchez took the route but hit the crossbar. The ball bounced down near the line but did not cross it.

Zeki Amdouni then scored from a short run-up to put Switzerland ahead. Campaz kept Colombia alive with a low effort that squirmed under Kobel.

Manuel Akanji had a chance to strengthen the Swiss position but fired over the bar. At that point, the shootout had found its balance again.

Then Kobel made the save that decided the night. Hernandez went to his right. Kobel went the same way and pushed the ball away brilliantly.

Cedric Itten scored down the middle. Luis Diaz answered for Colombia to make it 3-3. That left Vargas with the fifth Swiss kick and the chance to carry his country past a barrier that had stood for generations.

He sent Camilo Vargas the wrong way and finished low. The Swiss bench poured forward. A team that had made consistency its identity finally added progress to it.

Switzerland finally break the Round of 16 wall

Switzerland have become one of international football’s most reliable tournament qualifiers. This was their sixth successive World Cup. But reliability had also become a cage.

They had fallen in the Round of 16 in 2006, 2014, 2018 and 2022. They had also suffered penalty pain at Euro 2024, losing 5-3 to England in the quarter-finals. This win did more than move them into the last eight. It removed the burden of a repeated ending.

It is Switzerland’s fourth World Cup quarter-final in history and their first since 1954, when they hosted the tournament. For a side often praised for being organised, professional and difficult to beat, this was a night when they became something more: historic.

Their defensive structure gives them a chance against Argentina. Lionel Messi and company have scored freely in the knockouts, but they also came dangerously close to exiting against Cape Verde and Egypt. Switzerland will not overwhelm Argentina with flair, but they can frustrate, compress space and wait for moments through Breel Embolo and, if fit, Manzambi.

They will be hard to beat. At this stage, that is no small thing.

Colombia’s yellow wave ends in silence

Colombia’s football at this tournament was not always perfect, and this match was not one of their better attacking displays. But their supporters were among the defining sights and sounds of the World Cup.

BC Place felt more like Barranquilla than Vancouver. Colombian fans vastly outnumbered Swiss supporters, turning the stadium into a yellow wall. They had followed their team across all three co-host countries — Mexico, Canada and the United States — through changing time zones, climates, altitude and humidity.

Head coach Nestor Lorenzo had acknowledged the difficulty before the game, saying Colombia had been exposed to nearly every kind of condition the tournament could offer. Their supporters accepted the same challenge with colour and noise.

The previous night, fans had filled the streets outside the team hotel, singing and waiting for the players. Luis Diaz appeared on a balcony, punched the air and sent them into another wave of excitement.

That devotion made the shootout defeat even more painful.

Was this James Rodriguez’s farewell?

The loudest emotional moment before the shootout came in the 66th minute, when James Rodriguez was substituted. Thousands of Colombian fans stood and applauded.

Rodriguez turns 35 later this week, and every major tournament appearance now carries the possibility of being his last. He made his senior debut in 2011 and has become arguably Colombia’s greatest player, leading the country’s all-time appearance list. This was his 132nd cap.

There were still flashes in Vancouver: a turn away from pressure, a precise forward pass, the old ability to see the next move before others. But those moments faded as the minutes accumulated. His legs looked tired, and his influence waned.

Rodriguez is currently without a club after leaving Minnesota United in May, only three months after joining them. It is possible that this was his final World Cup appearance. If so, Colombia’s supporters seemed to understand the weight of the moment before the rest of the night had even reached its heartbreak.

A defensive duel, not a failure of ambition alone

It would be easy to call this match poor. It was certainly not open, fluid or rich in chances. But that is only half the explanation.

Both sides defended well. Switzerland closed lanes and prevented Colombia’s creative players from receiving comfortably between the lines. Colombia’s back line, one of the best at the tournament, denied Switzerland the space they needed, particularly in Manzambi’s absence.

The result was a game in which risk felt too expensive. Neither side wanted to be the one to make the mistake. That produced a cautious 120 minutes, but it also made the shootout feel even more severe. After so much control, the match was decided by nerve.

Switzerland had more of it.

Argentina await

The quarter-final against Argentina in Kansas City will ask a different set of questions. Argentina will bring Messi, emotional momentum and the confidence of surviving two chaotic knockout matches. Switzerland will bring shape, discipline and the knowledge that they have already crossed a psychological threshold.

They may not have lit up the Round of 16, but they survived it. For a team haunted by this stage for nearly two decades, that matters.

Colombia leave with regret, admiration from their supporters and another penalty scar. Switzerland leave with history.

The last Round of 16 match completed the quarter-final line-up. It did not offer goals. It offered endurance, pressure and, finally, one calm touch from Ruben Vargas that sent a nation where it had not been for 72 years.

The NFL regular season is now less than nine weeks away, and when the Minnesota Vikings get there, they’re supposed to finish 8-9 or 9-8, according to sportsbooks. It’s the same forecast that followed the franchise in the summer of 2024 before Minnesota chipped off 14 wins. With such a mediocre projection, the club must have some red flags, right?

Indeed, and we are here to lift up the main ones. The red flags are ranked in ascending order (No. 1 = biggest red flag).

Vikings’ Biggest Concern Still Starts at QB

Bonus: No Game-Changing RB

VikingsTerritory mentions the rushing offense — and has done so for four years — so much that it always feels like the sun rising.

Minnesota ranked 19th in 2025 per rushing playcall percentage. The best teams — ones that win Super Bowls — run the football at a more balanced clip. Then, every summer, the Vikings coaches outwardly profess that they’re going to run the rock more and only effectuate that mission a teensy bit.

The underlying problem? The team doesn’t have a young, game-changing running back. That was Dalvin Cook nine years ago, and he’s long gone. Rookie Demond Claiborne could fill this role, but 6th-Round tailbacks usually end up as RB3s or out of the league.

Minnesota’s main running backs are Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason. The duo is not overly dynamic.

5. iOL Depth

These are the Vikings’ interior offensive line starters:
Donovan Jackson (LG), Blake Brandel (C), and Will Fries (RG).

These are the Vikings’ interior offensive line main backups:
Joe Huber (LG), Michael Jurgens (C), and Henry Byrd (RG).

Minnesota is one iOL injury away from serious heartburn.

4. Win-Now Head Coach v. Brand New GM

Most coaches don’t enter Year No. 5 with franchises sans a playoff win. But Kevin O’Connell will.

The Vikings are in the middle of their third-longest playoff win drought in franchise history, and while no one is vociferously screaming about O’Connell on the hot seat, doesn’t he have to, you know, win a postseason game sooner rather than later?

Meanwhile, Minnesota fired Kwesi Adofo-Mensah in January and hired new general manager Nolan Teasley about five weeks ago. Teasley probably doesn’t think, “Oh, dear God, this team must win now.” He’s likely — hopefully — preparing the franchise for the long term.

If O’Connell needs a player via trade before the deadline in November, for example, will Teasley be willing to pull the trigger on a draft pick? There’s some self-imposed friction here — a head coach who must win versus a general manager who just walked through security.

3. Ruthless NFC Competition

As recently as three years ago, the NFC North always had a team to beat up. They just did. It was usually the Detroit Lions, sometimes intermixed with a mediocre-to-poor Chicago Bears team. The Vikings have also been mediocre every other year since 2012.

The days of one pushover team in the NFC North are gone. Oddsmakers project every team to win at least eight games. Every NFC North matchup features, at least, a Wildcard playoff level of difficulty.

Even if Minnesota is good, 10-7 or so may be the ceiling inside a vicious division.

2. OLB Depth

The Eagles acquired Jonathan Greenard via trade in April, and the Vikings went from showcasing the OLB room as its deepest unit to a roster question mark. Instead of Greenard, Andrew Van Ginkel, and Dallas Turner — “too much of a good thing” — it’s Van Ginkel, Turner, and possibly Bo Richter, Jake Golday, and Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins. There is genuine uncertainty at OLB3, something Vikings fans have not experienced in years.

Of course, this problem is easily fixable: Teasley could sign Von Miller, Jadeveon Clowney, or Leonard Floyd after breakfast today. He has $13 million in cap space.

But until he does that, Vikings football is one injury away from displaying Dallas Turner and Bo Richter as the main OLBs on the field on any given Sunday.

1. QB Uncertainty

It is terrific to have quarterback depth like Kyler Murray, J.J. McCarthy, Carson Wentz, and Max Brosmer. Sure. If one quarterback gets hurt, Minnesota has options, unlike 2023 and 2025 when it had to scramble and hope for the best.

Here’s the one problem with having no declared QB1 by July: no other NFC North team is in that position. The Bears have Caleb Williams. The Lions had Jared Goff. The Packers have Jordan Love. Minnesota is the only NFC North squad with a huge quarterback mystery.

Generally speaking, it’s better to be in the other boat.

Dustin Baker is a novelist and political scientist. His second novel, The Invaders , is out now. So is … More about Dustin Baker

There are eight teams left in the World Cup and two more are going to pack their bags tomorrow as the quarter finals kick off on Thursday between Spain and Belgium and then a highly anticipated match between France and Morocco. The two faced off against each in the Qatar World Cup in 2022 when France edged out the Atlas Lions and went on to the final.

WWE is full of merchandise. With every possible chance, they ought to make some sort of merchandise from it and get their money’s worth. Now, a new addition has been made to their titles: a once-a-year-seen title replica has officially begun its sale. However, as of now, only the Men’s title is for sale.

The Stamford-based promotion is selling full-size replicas of its Crown Jewel Championship title belt through the WWE Shop for $1,999.99. The design is exactly like the original, with gold-plated accents and emerald-green gems in its enormous size. The title was introduced in 2024, specifically for the Crown Jewel PLE held annually. It began in Riyadh, and last year it went to Perth, Australia.

In 2024, Cody Rhodes and, last year, Seth Rollins won the very titles. The actual championship, however, no longer remains with the winners, as it is kept on permanent display at the WWE Experience attraction in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and is brought back for the next iteration. It can now be seen frequently with replicas for those who buy the premium collectible.

WWE Crown Jewel in 2025 took place in Perth

Crown Jewel 2025 took place on October 11, 2025, at the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia, delivering a historic five-match card. The show opened with Australia’s Bronson Reed defeating Roman Reigns in an Australian Street Fight. For the Women’s Crown Jewel Championship, RAW’s Women’s World Champion Stephanie Vaquer defeated SmackDown’s WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton.

Seen as one of John Cena’s best matches in 2025, he battled AJ Styles in a barn-burner with massive callbacks to the moves of wrestling legends. Cena captured a victory, making their singles matches in their five-match rivalry 3-2. In the penultimate match, Australian Anomaly Rhea Ripley, with her partner Iyo Sky, won the Women’s Tag Team Championship from The Kabuki Warriors.

The main event then was for the Men’s Crown Jewel Championship, where RAW’s World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins defeated SmackDown’s Undisputed Champion Cody Rhodes. In the end, both the Crown Jewel titleholders were in the ring celebrating their triumphs, capping off one of 2025’s best PLEs.