Scaloni is a World Cup winner

So Lionel Scaloni is a World Cup winner. Though I’m sure he would exchange his World Cup medal to be able to go back in time to the 2006 FA Cup Final and boot the ball into touch rather than gift Liverpool possession, allowing Gerrard to score from 35 yards out. And that Mbappe is no Geoff Hurst. Sir Geoff didn't need penalties to score a hat-trick and ended up on the winning side. And all his goals were definitely over the line...

Mixed fortunes for World Cup Hammers

Well, Declan Rice is on the way home after it all went a bit Spursy for Harry Kane, but he had an excellent game against France and generally enhanced his reputation in Qatar. Nayef Aguerd had another fine match for Morocco against Spain but had to go off after 84 minutes with a worrying thigh injury. He missed the epic win against Portugal and could be a doubt for the semi-final against France. 

While you wouldn't have predicted forgotten Hammer Nikola Vlasic would be featuring in a World Cup semi-final after proving too much for Brazil. Vlasic, on loan at Torino, came on as a sub against Brazil and was involved in the build-up to Croatia's late equaliser. He also put away the first penalty in the shoot-out with some confidence. Might he still have a future at West Ham? Having spent £28 million on him it's not worth Moyes giving up on him just yet. 

Meanwhile the other Iron left in the competition is Alphonse Areola who will be on the bench for France unless Lloris gets injured. The Fonz is set to get two World Cup winners' medals without ever paying in a final — which is pretty cool and as my pal Matt says, a great trivia question.

Chicharito's on fire

Congratulations to a tearful Chicharito on Mexico's great World Cup victory against Germany. Hernandez had a fine game, leading the line superbly and playing the through ball for the winning goal. Hard to believe he is a West Ham reserve striker. As my pal Matt texted: "It's all very well destroying the world champions but you've got to do more than that to get into a David Moyes team." I have some sympathy for Moyes in that he was trying to solidify a poor defence in a relegation struggle, but watching this, you think Pellegrini must be seeing Chicharito as central to his plans. Javier needs reassuring that he'll play most games. He's too good a goalscorer to let go.

It's been a good tournament for West Ham links. We've seen Javier Mascherano still turning out for Argentina, Portugal's Jose Fonte getting bullied by Diego Costa, Joao Mario coming on a sub for Portugal and 33-year-old Valon Behrami still looking super-fit for Switzerland. Plus a much more-relaxed looking Slaven Bilic starring as a pundit.