With less than five minutes to play in extra time and Croatia trailing Brazil 1-0 in Friday's World Cup quarterfinal, it looked like Luka Modrić's 160th appearance in that famous checkered shirt would be the captain's last after an inspirational 17-year international career.
But only Modrić gets to decide when he's finished.
Neymar Jr. tied Pelé’s record for the most goals scored for Brazil’s national team on Friday during his side’s 4-2 defeat on penalties vs. Croatia. Neymar’s go-ahead goal in the 106th minute was a classic display of his silky footwork and his 77th for Brazil.
Croatia’s goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic put in a nearly flawless shift denying and frustrating the Brazilians all game. It was going to take something truly special to put the ball in Croatia’s net, and Neymar was just the man to do it.
Portugal must have seen Brazil’s emphatic drubbing of South Korea on Monday and thought, “that’s it?”
Without Cristiano Ronaldo in the starting 11 for its knockout round tie against Switzerland, Portugal was allowed to breathe going forward and discovered its creative side, without having the attacking muzzle that is Manchester United’s newest abdication.
Portugal manager Fernando Santos made the incredibly bold decision to bench Cristiano Ronaldo for his team’s 6-1 victory vs. Switzerland in the Round of 16 on Tuesday. Taking Ronaldo’s place was 21-year-old Benfica talent Gonçalo Ramos.
The rest is history.
Ramos scored a hat trick and added an assist in a dominant performance. Ronaldo who?
The rumor for why CR7 was benched is for a spat he had with South Korea’s Cho Gue-sung when being substituted out of Portugal’s final group stage game.
Spain manager Luis Enrique made the surprise decision to start Marcos Llorente at right back for his team’s Round of 16 clash with Morocco. Llorente hadn’t played a single minute in this World Cup before Tuesday and Morocco’s Sofiane Boufal had a field day with him in the first half.
Boufal was a Moroccan menace in the opening 45 minutes showing off a variety of skills and good dribbles. The 29-year-old winger who plays for Angers in Ligue 1 made Llorente’s life a living hell.
In front of a partisan crowd of 9,531 at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, NC, the second-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels stormed to a 2-0 lead over the top-ranked UCLA Bruins in the 2022 NCAA Women's College Cup Final on Monday night.
After a goalless first half, Avery Patterson opened the scoring for UNC with a header off Emily Colton's cross in the 59th minute.
58 ' I THE TAR HEELS STRIKE FIRST IN CHAMPIONSHIP PLAY ‼️
In a World Cup of meticulously calculated added time, South Korea was extremely grateful to the officiating crew for only adding five minutes to the end of the first-half Monday after Brazil scored four salacious goals and accented each with a three-part dance production.
You felt bad for the Taegeuk Warriors because it definitely got embarrassing, but this is why you always, without fail, put Brazil on the television when they're playing at a World Cup — this is the beautiful game.
AL WAKRAH, Qatar - Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livaković saved penalties from Takumi Minamino, Kaoru Mitoma and Maya Yoshida before Mario Pašalić netted the winning spot-kick in their 3-1 shootout win over Japan on Monday to reach the World Cup quarterfinals.
BLOCKED! The first penalty from Japan is saved!
Japan: ❌
Croatia: pic.twitter.com/NBvPsYulJo
Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey and Alexi Lalas told us this would happen — it's one generation inspiring the next after watching Christian Pulisic deliver and Tyler Adams dominate.
"If Shaq Moore can get 20 minutes in a World Cup, why not me?" is what these kids are asking themselves around the country, and they're heeding Donovan's advice to stop counting the days and to start making the days count.
England was clinical in dispatching Senegal 3-0 on Sunday to advance to the quarterfinals of the World Cup with defending champion France awaiting on Saturday, Dec. 10.
Senegal was playing with confidence after back-to-back wins over Qatar and Ecuador to reach the Round of 16, and the Lions of Teranga were the better side in the opening 35 minutes by forcing England into mistakes at the back. But the African champions couldn't make the Three Lions pay with Jordan Pickford keeping it level at 0-0.