Brazil fans may want to look away. After being held out of practice on Monday, the latest Neymar injury update saw the world’s most expensive player limp off after just 15 minutes of practice on Tuesday.
After being given a day off, Neymar was spotted limping out of Brazil training. pic.twitter.com/seqAqCGBUG
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) June 19, 2018
Disgraced former FIFA President Sepp Blatter will attend two matches at the 2018 World Cup at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin despite, the former’s six-year ban from football on unethical conduct charges.
Blatter will attend Wednesday’s match between Portugal and Morocco at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow before traveling to St. Petersburg to watch Brazil take on Costa Rica Friday.
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.
TEAM NEWS | #COLJPN
No event escalates individuals to the status of national hero or global villain as dramatically as the World Cup. The idolatry that follows success and the stigma that follows failure are woven into the fabric of history, and the repercussions will typically follow footballers for the rest of their lives. Daily, we’ll take a look at who played the role of hero and who played the role of villain at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Poland and Senegal highlight some big matches on day six of the World Cup. Robert Lewandowski will look to show the world he's one of the premier strikers and can deliver on the biggest stage. In a massive match for Egypt, will Mohamed Salah return? How will Russia tactically match up with Egypt knowing a draw is a huge result? Radamel Falcao will make his long-awaited World Cup debut, so will Colombia dismantle Japan like they did at the 2014 World Cup?
There's a reason he's wearing the captain's armband. The Harry Kane goal in stoppage time could be looked back on as the turning point for England in this World Cup. Plagued by a recent history of underperforming on the sport's biggest stage, it looked like England was destined for a disappointing draw against Tunisia.
After a second half played almost entirely in the Tunisia half, Kane broke a 1-1 deadlock in stoppage time with a back post header off a corner.
Three inch-perfect free kicks from Cristiano Ronaldo, Aleksandar Kolarov and Aleksandr Golovin are among the best World Cup goals of the tournament thus far. Each free kick cleared the wall from roughly 25 yards out and left the goalkeepers no chance of making a save.
Kolarov's free kick was all Serbia needed to earn three points from its opening Group E match against Costa Rica. Serbia's captain and 32-year-old left back could not have hit this one any sweeter.
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.
Belgium is ranked No. 3; Panama is ranked No. 55. Yet for the first 45 minutes the two were equals in Group G action at the World Cup on Monday. Then came the Dries Mertens goal vs Panama that completely changed the narrative of the match.
Panama held Belgium at bay for the first half of the match. Near the end of the first half, the favored Red Devils looked to be running out of ideas as the Concacaf side swatted away every attack. Goalkeeper Jaime Penedo looked like a Gianluigi Buffon doppelganger out there.