Super Saturday is done and dusted and it's time to look back at
the two groups that were involved. This is my review of Matchday 1 for Groups C
and D.
Group C
The much vaunted French were out for their match in the early afternoon
kick-off. They started off well enough, getting behind the Australian defence a
couple of times early on, but not able to make use of it in terms of the
finished product. Australia came into the game and started linking up well in
midfield and kept the French at bay. They made a couple of inroads themselves
but lacked the quality in the final third. The first half petered out and one
wouldn't grudge the Aussies their point for the moment. The second half started
in much the same way, with France huffing and puffing but not able to get the
breakthrough. Then it happened, the historic moment, with the first use of VAR
at this World Cup. Griezman was put through on goal, only to be clipped in the
heels by Risdon. The Australian defender seemed to get a toe on the ball before
the touch on Griezman, but the referee felt the latter was the more crucial
touch. The French No. 7 converted the resulting penalty. Their lead did
not last long. Australia got a penalty of their after a mind-blank moment from
Samuel Umtiti, who handled inside his box. Mile Jedinak converted and we were
level again! The Australians did not sit back however, and had some attacks of
their own. The French were making better progress though and finally retook the
lead with less than ten minutes to go, via a deflected shot from Paul Pogba.
Once again technology made the decisive decision, goal-line technology involved
with awarding the goal. France kept the majority of possession post that, and
the Australians ran out of steam, if not heart, by then. The pre-tournament
favourites had dodged a bullet.
Final Score: France 2 – 1 Australia
Match 2: Peru vs Denmark
Denmark were the more fancied team in this match but it was Peru who
played the more attacking football from the start. Taking the game to the
Danish from the start, their three man attacking midfield of Carillo, Cueva and
Flores were at their fluid best, getting down the by-line and putting balls
into the Danish box all through. Their efforts were rewarded with the awrding
of a penalty kick, right at the end of the first half, and again with the
intervention VAR. Yussuf Yurary Poulsen unfairly brought down Cueva, who
stepped up himself to take the penalty. The nerves were written across his face
and he went on to sky his kick well over! It was more of the same in the second
half but the Danes started to make better inroads into their opposition defence.
The breakthrough came in the 60th minute when Christian Eriksen (who
else), found space in the midfield and slid a ball to the same Poulsen, who
made no mistake in beating the goalkeeper at the near post. Peru, to their
credit, continued their onslaught on the Danish goal, and it took a few
top-drawer saves from Kasper Schmeichel to keep them out. It wasn’t to be for
the fighting Peruvians in a game where they truly deserved at least a point.
The Danes joined France at the top of the group.
Final Score: Peru 1 – 2 Denmark
Group D
Argentina started off imperviously, and it looked like they were
ready to shed their dependency on stalwart Messi as Aguero impressively turned
and shot past the goalkeeper in the 19th minute. They didn’t have
everything their way till that point though, with Bjarnason missing a near open
goal from about 15 yards just past the 10 minute mark. The Vikings hit back soon
enough, and got level after just four minutes. Caballero parried a shot from
Siggurdson into the center of his box and Finnbogason was on hand to pounce on
the rebound. The tiny island nation were punching many times above their weight
in their first World Cup outing and holding steady. They even had a chance to
take the lead from a near carbon-copy situation at the end of the half, but
this time the Argentine defence was able to get it away. The start of the
second half was a little slow but things picked up when Mexa was brought down
and his team were awarded a penalty. Up stepped Messi and hit a fierce drive to
the goalkeeper’s right, but the ball wasn’t in the corner and the latter
guessed correctly and saved well. What followed was a defensive lesson in
stubbornness from the underdogs, and although Argentina came closer and closer,
they could not find the important breakthrough. The Messi team had well and
truly messed up!
Final Score: Argentina 1 – 1 Iceland
The two teams started well-matched with both getting balls into
the oppositions’ box on a few occasions. Modric showed his quality, finding
teammates with long range passes on a couple of occasions as well. In the 32nd
minute, Mario Mandzukic threw himself at a corner, his glancing header flicked
off the standing leg of Etebo, and went in. This was another African team who
had the misfortune of an own goal, albeit much less spectacular this time. Dejan Lovren put in an important block a
couple of minutes later from a rasping drive by Alex Iwobi. Kramaric nearly
doubled his country’s lead with a header, as the Nigerian goalkeeper was caught
out of position but the ball landed on top of the net. Similar to the first
half, both teams were able to get efforts on goal in the early part of the
second half, without success, with Rebic failing to convert a volley from
around 8 yards out. A big penalty shout for Nigeria was turned down as Strinic
made contact with Victor Moses. Just a few minutes later, a penalty was awarded
at the opposite end, as Ekong wrestled Mandzukic to the floor while defending a
corner. Up stepped Modric and he made no mistake in converting from the spot. It
was a question of getting through the final 20 minutes for Croatia as their
opponents seem to run out of energy and ideas. The Europeans move to the top of
the group and with Argentina not looking very impressive will fancy their
chances of topping the group.
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