Tag Archives: futbol

World Cup 2018: Group E First Matches

Sports, , , , , ,


Group E opened play with group underdogs Serbia and Costa Rica duking it out on the pitch.  As with several other games, this match was a conflict of styles with Serbia’s controlled possession offense versus Costa Rica’s faster, open style.  Costa Rica came out firing with two early on-target shots, but could not slip them past Serbian goalie, Vladimir Stojkovic.  Gonzalez in particular should have scored on a header off a cross, but got a little too under the ball and put it over the crossbar.   Serbian David Guzman makes a beautiful bicycle kick shot, but it is right at the goalie.  He is also called offside, though replays showed that he wasn’t.   As that half wore on, Serbia controlled the midfield, but was not getting shots on target.

Early in the second, Daniel Colindres got a breakaway in the Costa Rican box, but got nothing on his shot and the goalie was able to push it away.  Minutes later on a set piece, Alexander Kolarov slipped a left footer between the heads of two jumping defenders on the wall and into the upper right corner of the goal.  Costa Rica pressed the attack after that, but the Serbians packed their interior defense tightly so that Costa Rica had no room to maneuver from good shooting angles.  At the end, Costa Rica was throwing waves of players into the Serbian box, but could not find the net.  Serbia’s 1-0 win will give them some hope of upsetting Switzerland in a later game for a chance to advance out of the group.

The second match of Group E, Brazil and Switzerland, also featured contrasting styles.  The Swiss are a tough, defensive-oriented team, while the Brazilians are famous for their unfundamental, creative style featuring fancy dribbling and passing.  The Brazilian style worked early on as they repeatedly broke down the Swiss defense for scoring opportunities by pushing through balls into open spaces and allowing their players to beat the Swiss defense to the ball.  The pressure was successful 20 minutes in when a Swiss defender made a poor clearance header that Coutinho then blasted from outside the box that curved and bounced off the far pole for the goal.  One of the better shots you will see.    Brazilian superstar Neymar got a lot of attention from the Swiss defense, getting pushed, held, shoved, and fouled a lot.  Throughout first half, the Swiss had their fair share of possession, but could not create any scoring opportunities.

Early in the second half though, the Swiss scored a stunning goal off a free kick.  Swiss winger Steven Zuber was in the middle of the box for the kick and appeared to give a little push to a Brazilian defender, but other defenders failed to converge on Zuber and his well-placed header found the back of the net.  Following that, the rest of the half was spent almost entirely on the Swiss side of the field as the Brazilians relentlessly attacked.  Despite numerous scoring opportunities, Swiss goalie Yann Sommer was up to the task with some good saves.  Switzerland did get a little lucky though as their defense took down a Brazilian player in the box, but no penalty kick was declared.  The 1-1 draw is a major failure for Brazil, but their utter domination on the field is a good sign for them moving forward.  The Swiss have to be really happy with the result and will fare better against Serbia and Costa Rica in their remaining group matches.p>

Local Bands Wiki

Promote Your Page Too

World Cup 2018: Group D First Matches

Sports, , , , , ,


Group D opened play with heavy group favorite and two-time champion Argentina taking on World Cup darlings Iceland, making their first Cup appearance ever.  Imagine a game where one team had the ball over 70% of the time, completed their passes 92% of the time, had over 700 passes while the other team had less than 200,  took 26 shots to the other team’s 9, and had 10 corners vs. 2 for the other team.  You would expect that game to be a blowout.  The beauty of the beautiful game though is that dominance on the field does not always translate to wins.

As expected, Argentina dominated the ball from the get go.  Iceland was back on its heels and forced to bring everyone back on defense and to play rough.  The continued pressure by the Argentine offense finally achieved success when Sergio Aguero found a glimmer of space on a turn around shot that found the upper corner of the goal.  With the lead in hand, Argentina relaxed and Iceland pressed forward.  A shot across the box was deflected by Wilfredo Caballero, the Argentine goalie and onto the foot of Alfred Finnbogason among a sea of defenders.  Finnbogason buried the equalizer in the back of the net.  Argentina continued it’s offensive onslaught in the second half and earned a penalty kick after an unnecessary trip by an Icelandic defender.  Superstar Lionel Messi took the kick and directed it to the left corner, but goalie Hannes Halldorsson, a filmmaker when not playing futbol, guessed right and made the diving save.  Messi did not hit the ball hard and one wonders why he was taking the kick in the first place as he has only made 50% of his penalty kicks lately.  This failure would haunt Argentina the rest of the way as Iceland packed its defense, sending multiple men to mark Messi and rarely advancing to the other side of the field.  Iceland was content to play for the draw, taking no shots in the second half.  Argentina never figured out how to break through this defensive effort and the 1-1 draw was not the result they expected.

The other group D game featured Croatia and the tourney’s youngest team, Nigeria.  Unlike the Argentina-Iceland match, this game was spent with a lot of back and forth pushes.  Both teams found opportunities.  Nigeria repeatedly went to Victor Moses down the right wing, but while he delivered many good crosses into the box, a solid Croatian defense put out any fires before they started.  30 minutes in, Croatia broke through on a corner kick onto the near side of the goal box where it was headed into the middle.  Croatian striker Mario Mandzukic drove a diving header off a defender and into the corner of the goal from there.  Other than that goal, neither team had a shot on goal in the first half.  The Super Eagles started strong in the second half using superior speed and switching the point of attack to create opportunities.  Like the first half though, they cannot finish.  Croatia’s offense was not putting anything on goal either.  Midway in the second half, a Croatian pass into the Nigerian box resulted in defender William Troost-Ekong making a football, not a futbol, tackle, wrapping his arms around Mandzukic and pulling him to the ground.  Croatian captain Luka Modric drilled the resulting penalty kick into the bottom left corner for a 2-0 lead.  Down by two, one would expect Nigeria to play with some desperation and push the attack, but, if anything, Croatia did a better job controlling the pace through the end of the game.  The victory left Croatia in sole possession of first place of Group D, but with tough games against Argentina and Iceland yet to play.

Local Bands Wiki

Promote Your Page Too

World Cup 2018: Group C First Matches

Sports, , , , , ,

FIFA_World_Cup trophy
Group C favorite France began its group play against the always tough Socceroos of Australia.  As expected, the French dominated the ball early with the Aussie goalie having to make four early saves.  The Aussies settled down though and were able to sustain some controlled marches downfield.  However, the Australians’ habit of bringing everyone back on defense stunted their counterattack ability.  Throughout first half, both teams managed some scoring opportunities, but good defense prevailed.  Early in the second half, we got our first look at the new video replay rules that allow the referee to retroactively call penalties in the box that were missed at first.  France got a penalty kick after the review and Antoine Griezmann easily converted for the lead.   Minutes later, French defender Samuel Umtiti commits a stupid handball in the box giving the Aussies their own penalty kick.  The big-bearded Mile Jedinak tied the game firing the kick past the goalie to the right.  The game remained evenly played until the 80th minute when French star Paul Pogba managed a give and go around defenders and delivered the game winner on a shot that bounced off both a defender and the crossbar.  The ball bounced out of the goal, but video showed that it clearly crossed the goal line before doing so.  Despite the loss, the Aussies looked good and frustrated the French.  Their solid defense prevented the French from scoring more.

In the other Group C first match, Peru and Denmark faced off, each hoping to deliver a crushing blow to the other’s advancement chances.  Denmark is the tallest team in the tourney and Peru the smallest, but it was Peru who pressed the early attack.  Peru had a speed advantage that they were using on the wings and on through balls.  Peru was unable to capitalize and Denmark settled down midway through the first half and began to push forward with their own attacks.  For the second time on the day, a video penalty review resulted in a penalty kick being retroactively awarded, this time for Peru.   Christian Cueva was perhaps too pumped though and launched the penalty kick over the goal.  The first half ended with no score on the board, but with Peru the clear aggressor on the field.  Early in the second half, Peru continued their assault on the Danish goal and some fancy in the box passing resulted in a great opportunity, but they could not get a good foot on a shot.  Soon thereafter, a quick Danish counterattack resulted in a 3-on-3.  All three Peruvian defenders converged on the ball, a critical mistake that allowed an easy pass to a wide open Yussuf Poulsen on the wing, who drilled it under the goalie for the lead.  Following this goal, Peru’s offense shifted into an even higher gear and they repeatedly bombarded the Danish box.  Peru’s offense showed a lot of creativity, bringing the attack from the wing, down the middle, with deft passing into tight spaces, lofted passes into the box, and even a back heel shot from Paolo Guerrero that barely missed.  Despite numerous scoring opportunities, the Peruvians could not find the back of the net.  Although Peru suffered the loss, they look like they can give the French and Aussies a run for their money.  Group C as a whole looks like it may be the Group of Death, as any of the four squads look like they could advance out of the group.

Local Bands Wiki

Promote Your Page Too