The 21-year-old Benfica forward scored a hat-trick on his first World Cup start, fizzing one goal in from an impossible angleThere was a notable absentee on Tuesday night from the World Cup last-16 game between Portugal and Switzerland. Specifically, the Swiss. Granted, Switzerland would make their belated entrance in the second half, a cameo appearance to console the thousands of fans who had come to support them.But the result was no longer in doubt, and ultimately their presence was largely inconsequential. A reminder, if any were needed, that elite football has no place for those who are not prepared to put in a defensive shift. Continue reading...
A partisan crowd were thrilled while Cameroonian, Ghanaian, Senegalese and Tunisians united in the Souq for MoroccoA few minutes after Yassine Bounou’s penalty shootout heroics, Morocco’s players knelt in unison to pray before a baying bank of supporters drumming furiously to the sweet sound of victory against Spain. It was a powerful sight that will touch more than the tens of thousands of Moroccans here.After more than 130 minutes of gripping drama and relentless noise, Morocco are the lone Arab nation and last African team standing. The Argentinian referee, Fernando Rapallini, needed a megaphone to make himself heard. Continue reading...
Argentinian great has been superb in Qatar so far, so just how do you go about stopping one of the best players of all time?How do you stop someone who seems to have capabilities that are beyond human? That is the question that no player or team that has gone up against Lionel Messi at this World Cup has been able to answer. Next in line to try and stop the unstoppable and end Messi’s hunt for the missing piece of his trophy puzzle will be the Netherlands on Friday evening.At 35 years old this is potentially the Argentinian’s final World Cup and he is thriving. Thriving off the responsibility and expectation, almost as if the fact that this could...
O Rei was hopefully watching on from his hospital bed as Brazil evoked memories of the adored teams of 1970 and 1982“Football is happiness. It’s a dance. It’s a true party,” Pelé had said and here, on the night he watched from the Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein in São Paulo, it was. O Rei had posted that in September to encourage Vinícius Júnior never to back down in the face of abuse: if he wanted to celebrate goals dancing, he should dance. In fact, they all should. “We will not allow racism to stop us smiling”, he had insisted; “dance, Vini,” became the command, going viral; and by the time Brazil reached Qatar, they had a whole repertoire, ready to...
Despite a lack of pace, Zlatko Dalic’s side have a habit of wearing the opposition down as Japan found out in a shootout defeatAs Croatia’s players tore across from all directions to mob Mario Pasalic it was tempting to wonder how many of them had recorded their highest speed of the night. Their victory on penalties had been on the cards as soon as the clock ticked into extra time: as Japan’s fire fizzled out, the muscles tightening and knocks mounting, the triumph of deliberate knowhow over slick, joyful but sometimes loose entertainment came to feel as inevitable as the rising sun.Croatia showed once again that they are the masters of walking football. It is an observation, not a slight:...