It was a day of Penalties, Several fouls, Yellow cards and one own goal
Match 1 France vs Australia
After 88 years of players and fans crying foul, there is finally a second chance for a referee to confirm whether a penalty is indeed a penalty at the World Cup. It did not take long for that rule change to play a major role in Russia. France’s first goal in its 2-1 victory over Australia was a direct result from V.A.R.
But individual quality ultimately made the difference. Paul Pogba created the winning goal in the 81st minute. Controlling the beautiful pass from Giroud, Pogba flicked a right-footed shot onto the bottom of the crossbar and down toward the goal line. This time, the technology that applied was not new.
Blessed with the talent like they’re, you would expect to see a fast and fluid side but instead, Deschamps’ men were sluggish, and a bit disoriented of sorts.
A good fight, but France had just enough quality, and just enough lucky bounces, to prevail. They’ll be pleased. Australia will have lots to feel good about — everything, that is, except the scoreline.
The Match had a total of 34 fouls and four yellow cards.
Man of the Match: Technology
Match Number 2 Argentina vs Iceland
The meltdown will be real. Argentina is not out of the World Cup, not by a long shot, but you mightn’t be able to tell from the reaction back home when a world footballing royalty was held to a draw by World Cup debutants Iceland.
In the red corner, a team first and foremost from the smallest World Cup country ever. In the blue one, a 5ft 7in man with the weight of one of football’s great nations on his shoulders. At the crucial moment of this game though, he failed.
Iceland players and coaches maintained that they weren’t afraid of the World Cup stage or playing against Lionel Messi and Argentina. Then they went out and showed it.
Within his squad, Sampaoli has the players to build a superpower but they were nowhere close, dominant on the ball and in possession but only mildly threatening when attack.
Iceland was, as you’d expect; resolute, organized, brave and direct. It was not a complicated strategy but it surely was effective enough. Defending against the Argentinian Giants, throwing every Body they had in front of the ball to stop them from scoring. Spain and Portugal showed on Friday night that they are both fallible teams but Argentina was at times laughable, stunned by the basics of their opposition but unable to accomplish the basics themselves.
25 fouls committed in this game.
Man of the Match *Iceland’s Viking Clap*
Match 3: Peru vs Denmark
Peru played its first game at a World Cup on Saturday since 1982, and it’s hard to think of any more frustrating than what their Saturday turned out to be. Peru came out looking like it wanted to make up for those 36 years with an aggressive offense. And it looked like it would be rewarded when it drew a penalty late in the first half.
Denmark broke through in the 60th minute. The team’s star, Christian Eriksen, had something of a quiet game but delivered the key assist, and Yussuf Poulsen drove it home. Kasper Schmeichel, Denmark’s goalkeeper, made several difficult saves to maintain the lead.
28 fouls and 3 yellow cards here.
Man of the Match- Kasper Schmeichel
Match 4 Croatia vs Nigeria
Croatia has control of Group D at the 2018 World Cup after beating Nigeria 2-0 on Saturday. With Argentina’s surprising draw against Iceland earlier in the day, Croatia has three points and a two-point advantage in the group. It wasn’t a challenging match for the victors as Nigeria struggled to put much of anything together. They were sloppy, couldn’t hold on to the ball and lacked creativity in the final, but Croatia was far from convincing as well. They scored on an own goal and a penalty kick to win.
35 fouls 3 Yellow cards
Man of the Match: Etebo’s own goal
This tournament has been, until now been the one where stereotypes are busted and educations handed out.
So that brings our total Tally to a hundred and twenty-two fouls and 10 yellow cards.
So much for JOGO Bonito!
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