Central & South America

As the Argentina vs Croatia highlights show, Lionel Messi and company collapsed against an altogether superior opponent on Thursday in Nizhny Novgorod, 3-0. Spearheaded by the influential play of the sublime Luka Modric, Croatia is through to the Round of 16 while Argentina is on the verge of a shock group stage elimination.

Sergio Romero is normally Argentina’s goalkeeper. The Manchester United backup picked up a knee injury before the World Cup, and, according to the FOX broadcast, he apparently felt like he would've been fit by the time the tournament rolled around.

I’m making this up — this could’ve happened at the 1934 tournament or something — but I’m pretty sure that Tuesday’s match between Colombia and Japan is the first-ever World Cup game in which a player has been sent off in the third minute, resulting in a successfully taken penalty, only to be followed by a 39th minute equalizer in which a player strokes a free kick under the wall.

I just have a good feeling that we’ve never seen anything like this before.

Colombia will be without attacking midfielder James Rodriguez when it opens group play against Japan Tuesday. The latest James Rodriguez injury update says the 2014 Golden Boot winner is still struggling with a left calf injury that he sustained during training, and he’s since been omitted from Colombia’s starting eleven to face Japan.

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Peru’s the best team at the World Cup.

Technically, only one team can win the tournament. Only one team will have its name engraved on the Jules Rimet trophy (2.0) come mid-July. But there’s more than one way to win the competition. 

No player appeared more devastated by Jose Gimenez’s 89th minute winner for Uruguay than Mohamed Salah on the Egypt bench; no player could’ve been more elated than Luis Suarez. The Barcelona striker had a nightmare match for La Celeste, spurning three glorious chances while also getting globally ridiculed for an atrocious dive/feigned injury combo.  

After being spotted training alongside his Egypt teammates at yesterday’s training session in Grozny, manager Hector Cuper has today revealed that star forward Mohamed Salah is almost certain to feature against Uruguay on Friday in Yekaterinburg. 

Back in January of 2016, Tottenham attacker Dele Alli announced his talent to the world by scoring what BBC Match of the Day would later vote Goal of the Season against Crystal Palace. Alli controlled a Christian Eriksen knock-down with his thigh, flicked an audacious sombrero over the head of an onrushing defender, swiveled and struck a 22-yard volley inside the post. 

Lionel Messi will celebrate his 31st birthday on June 24, just two days before Argentina takes on Nigeria in its third and final group stage match. Accordingly, should Messi choose to prolong his international career after Russia, he’ll be 35 by the time Qatar 2022 kicks off (that World Cup will be played from late November until mid-December). 

After losing back-to-back Copa America finals on penalties to Chile, there’s also the 2019 tournament in Brazil to consider (that would certainly constitute sweet revenge for Messi and company).