Costa Rica lost two tough matches to start the 2018 World Cup. The 2014 quarterfinalist was a few moments away from earning two draws but instead took two losses. But the Switzerland vs Costa Rica match finished 2-2, giving Los Ticos a deserved point from their stay in Russia, even if it came thanks to an odd own goal.
Mexico’s deserved 3-0 spanking at the hands of an exceptional Sweden side doesn’t matter. El Tri’s through to the Round of 16 thanks to one of the greatest upsets in the history of the World Cup. The defending champions are out, and they’ll long have nightmares of South Korea goalkeeper Cho Hyun-woo, who made six saves on the day.
El Tri fans will likely not want to watch the Mexico vs Sweden highlights from Wednesday’s World Cup Group F finale. The 3-0 defeat for the Concacaf side had few redeeming qualities for fans of Mexico. But hey, South Korea stunned Germany and El Tri advanced anyway, so who cares, right?
Mexico started the match out with the right attitude, not sitting back but not pushing too far forward. But that changed in the second half, when Sweden took the lead with three goals in 24 minutes.
The game’s an original drama unlike any other, but for 40 minutes of Argentina versus Nigeria at Saint Petersburg Stadium, this felt like a rerun. There was Javier Mascherano, bloodied, stretching every sinew as the side’s aging lynchpin and guilty of doing too much.
After watching first Lucas Biglia and then Enzo Perez do little except play balls into places where things go to die, it’s looking like Argentina’s riding Ever Banega next to Javier Mascherano from here on out (which still might not be very long whatsoever). Regardless, my God was it nice to see a ball from the Argentina midfield that wasn’t first coated in the feces of a leaky Mascherano anus.
Believe it or not, Cristiano Ronaldo is flesh and bone, just like the rest of us.
Cristiano Ronaldo missed a penalty against Iran and is momentarily trailing behind Harry Kane in the race to win the Golden Boot.
You have to give all the credit to Iran goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand for denying the shot from Ronaldo, one of the world’s most efficient penalty takers.
Portugal struggled to break down the stout defense of Team Melli for about 45 minutes. Then came the absurd Ricardo Quaresma goal vs Iran to flip the tie on its head.
In February, we crowned Quaresma the King of the Trivela. The Besiktas winger brought his beautiful technique with him to Russia and scored what may be the most sumptuous goal of the World Cup thus far.
Who wants to play Russia? Who wants to play Uruguay?!
Not Morocco. The already-eliminated side has been one of the better looking teams at the World Cup, but the Atlas Lions had yet to score or get points at this World Cup heading into its final group match. That’s soccer for you.
But after all the misfortune, Morocco finally had some luck go its way.
A rare fib between former El Clasico rivals Andres Iniesta and Sergio Ramos led to a break away for Khalid Boutaïb. David de Gea was looking to make his first save of the tournament, but Boutaïb finished with poise.