This world cup keeps on giving us more and more surprises, and even more goals and memories as the days go by. We have witnessed another shock by Asian teams as Europe fall flat from their expectations.
All That Mocking Came Back To Bite Germany.
Germany was yet another team that tried protesting against the host country, and maybe they were more focused on mocking and taking the high ground that they forgot to focus on football instead, even during the match when the Germans were leading, their main defender Rudiger was seen mocking the Japanese players and their running style during one of the chases. Rudiger was seen changing his running style mid chase once he was sure the ball is going out of play and that the Japanese player won’t be able to reach it.
Manchester City’s Ikey Gundogan opened the scoring for Germany as he converted a penalty in the 33rd minute, but it was all to play for in the last 15 minutes as second half substitutions from Japan changed up the entire pace and composure of the team.
Arsenal’s Takehiro Tomiyasu in the defense and Wolfsburg’s T. Asano leading the attack proved to be a decisive factor as Japan managed to score in the 75th minute, which lead to Germany going all out attack but the composure at the back was proved useful yet again as Japan managed to complete an amazing comeback with Asano scoring in the 83rd minute and giving Japan the win against 2014’s champions Germany!
Germany had 26 shots attempted compared to Japan’s 12, but it was Japan who proved clinical and gave the world the second upset in 2 days, the Asian teams cannot be overlooked no more.
2018 Finalist Croatia in stalemate with Morocco
In what was a rather tame match for the night, Luka Modric’s underdog Croatia took on Morocco in a game which ended 0-0 with both teams managing only 4 shots on target combined, but also while managing 27 fouls among them.
Fierce Canada took on Clinical Belgium
Men’s football team of Canada are still on their search for their first ever world cup goal, and they seemed to go all out in search for that against the Belgium golden generation, but it was an unlikely hero that emerged for Belgium right at the end of the first half.
That’s right, M. Batshuayi gave Belgium the lead against Canada in the 44th minute. while the stats showed a different story all together, it was Belgium that proved more clinical against the Canadian team, who had 22 shots attempted.
22 Shots attempted yet zero scored….
If stats were all to go by, Canada would have taken all 3 points home with them, but such is the game of football that despite having 22 attempts, Canada were far from lethal in front of the goal as they only had 3 shots on target out of those attempted 22!
Man City’s Kevin De Bruyne took home the man of the match trophy, something that he thought he didn’t deserve.
“I don’t think I played a great game. I don’t know why I got the trophy. Maybe it’s because of my name.”
Kevin De Bruyne
Spain run Riot against Costa Rica
You thought the England game was going to be the most exciting and scoring game of this world cup? well think again as the Spanish team are looking extra dangerous with their mix of youngsters and the seniors to guide them!
Spain showed total domination against Costa Rica in a game which the Spanish were in total control from the start all the way to the end!
Some Crazy Stats for Spain!
82% possession, 1045 passes compared to 230 from Costa Rica, 17 shots, 8 on target, 7 goals scored as this is one of the nights the PSG keeper K. Navas would want to forget, Spain showed the world why they are not to be looked past in this world cup, and how they could be one of the serious competitors going forward, capable of reciprocating the 2010 dominance!
D. Olmo opened up the scoring for Spain in the 11th minute as Madrid’s Marcos Asensio doubled their lead in the 21st before Barcelona’s Ferran Torres converted a penalty in the 31st minute.
It was more of the same in the second half as well as Torres doubled his goals in the 54th minute before the golden ball winner Gavi scored his first world cup goal in the 74th minute, making it 5-0 for Spain.
But they did not let go as Carlos Soler scored for the team in red in the 90th minute, and Alvaro Morata got one of his own just 2 minutes later, completing the total score of 7-0 for Spain.
Table Standings for Group E and F
The amazing performance from Spain put them right at the top of group E, followed by the Asian masterclass Japan who defeated Germany, sitting on 3rd with 0 points, and Costa Rica in last with a negative 7 goal difference.
Group F has more to play for as the entire 4 teams managed to score 1 goal among them, putting Belgium at the top and Canada at the bottom, while Croatia and Morocco take the 2nd and 3rd spot respectively.