FIFA Talks with Hathi : Ep. 5- Match-day Five.

Match 1: Sweden vs South Korea

Sweden waited for twelve Year to show what they are made. 12 years and 3 world cup later, Sweden marked their return to the FIFA World Cup in style.

To be honest it feels a bit weird to see Zlatan without Sweden on his team. Psych!

Sweden locked up three crucial points at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia after converting a VAR-confirmed penalty kick in the second half to beat South Korea, 1-0

In a back-and-forth match that saw South Korea look like the stronger team, Sweden managed to control the majority of the match.  The win puts Sweden in a tie for first place in Group F with Mexico after El Tri beat Germany.

Sweden controlled the game for the most part, but both teams played strong defence, and a goal from open play always seemed unlikely. Perhaps Sweden missed their long-time star Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a deadly finisher now retired from international play.

South Korea, which had mostly been relying on the counter-attack, picked up the pace after the goal and got the ball into dangerous areas a few times. But time ran out on the game, and probably on South Korea’s Cup hopes.

Sweden faces the reigning World Cup champs on Saturday.

 

Man of the Match: Zlatan Ibrahimovic

 

Match 2: Belgium vs Panama 

As Simon Massart rightly said,“One of the characteristics of a good team is to be able to count on its individuals to make the difference when the collective is not functioning as it should.” And that is exactly what happened today with Belgium.

First half we saw a struggling Belgium. Trying to keep up with Panama and frustrated by the defence Panama was putting up. But in the second half, we saw a more refined Belgium playing.

In the second half though, they found composure and the goal from Dries Mertens brought back hope for the Belgium fans. And with Lukaku sealing their victory and giving them the goal difference that England would soon realise to be a problem, fans were more than happy.

Panama attempted to go on the attack with the introduction of Gabriel Torres and Ismael Diaz, but Belgium and Lukaku ruthlessly punished the gaps left in defence.

Panama’s goalkeeper, Jaime Penedo was amazing. There were saves he did today wherein I was awed by his performance. For a debutant keeper in the World cup group stages, he was amazing.

Being a true fan of Amitabh Bachchan and Stanley Kubrick I was really rooting for PANAMA today.

The thing that lacked with Panama was experience. But even without that they had a stellar performance in the first half. If one of Asia’s most successful national teams, Saudi Arabia gets disorganized after conceding their first goal even after playing the world cup for four times, Panama in that retrospect lost quite elegantly.

Man of the Match: Eden Hazard.

Match 3: England vs Tunisia

What in the name of Elizabeth the second happened on the Volgograd Arena?

How did England Managed to get their respective arses handed to them by Tunisia?

Yeah yeah I know England won but DUDE. I seriously was expecting them to do better. I saw Dele Alli struggling. I saw Lingard missing several times. I saw the entire midfield in chaos. What was happening?

England struggled to beat a very poor Tunisia. It would be amusing watching them against toe to toe against Belgium

Ruben Loftus-Cheek, man you have changed that game. Loftus-Cheek has done more in 5 minutes than Alli in 80 minutes. To be very honest him and Rashford need to start against Panama. With Rashford working with Lindgard, There are good chances they will be able to bring the 3 points in which might make a lot of difference before their match against Belgium.

Tunisia fought tooth and nail to keep their score equalized. Sometimes quite literally. Unable to register that tackle on Kane was a proper fail for VAR.

Gareth Southgate, England’s Manager said post-match that- “Even at 1-1 I was really proud of the performance. If we hit that level of performance that’s the bit that we can control. We created a lot of clear-cut chances in the first half, as many as I can remember us having. In the second half, we dominated the game, kept our patience and looked for good opportunities rather than throwing the ball in the box and hoping.” ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

If this is the best you can give, Belgium will demolish you like you’re bloody Panama. The game did fall into a pattern of England attack and Tunisian defence. The African outfit were sitting deep and holding firm, with the Three Lions unable to break them down and find space in behind.

The three lions were unable to break the defences of a Third world country. Colonise them, maybe?

Man of the Match : All the memes that will be coming out for the amazing Kabaddi skills displayed by Tunisian against the fragile Kane. Hey watch out, there’s a Bee.

 

This world cup is different from all the past ones with only one factor. All the teams whether it be an underdog or favourites, Everyone is performing well. There are for sure many more upsets to come.

 

 

 

To listen to the podcast on  Day 5 Match Analysis, click on any link below

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