Soccer World Cup weekend round-up
Dave Savides, editor-in-chief of Zululand Observer, shares a quick round-up after every World Cup match.
Slick and quick France undo Uruguay
France are through as the first semi-final team with a decisive 2-0 triumph over Uruguay.
And they did it at a canter in what was basically a one horse race.
Goals from Raphael Varane and Antoine Griezmann did the damage, with France dictating matters from start to finish…or should that be finesse?
The first half idled and misfired for 40 minutes, with loads of loose passing and neither keeper really troubled, but then ignited in the next five.
Varane broke the deadlock when he rose high to meet a Griezmann free kick and headed it downwards into the far corner with goalie Fernando Muslera nowhere in the frame (1-0).
Uruguay were stung into action and hardly had the game restarted when Hugo Lloris was forced into a spectacular save from a powerful Martin Caceres header, with Diego
Godin on the far post almost tapping in the rebound.
This was to be almost their only shot of note in the entire game.
Uruguay could have done with Edinson Cavani, a non-starter owing to injury, and especially missed by his strike partner Luis Suarez.
Both sides came out for the second period showing more purpose: Uruguay wanting to equalise and France looking for the safety net of a second goal.
Paul Pogba almost got on end of an aerial free kick, but Fernando Muslera in the Uruguayn goals punched the ball clear, but only just.
He would not repeat that feat – quite the opposite in fact – when in the 60th minute Griezmann hammered a speculative shot from distance.
Muslera attempted to catch it but instead parried it into his own net.
Commentators were scathing about the huge blunder, but perhaps the ball had more swerve on than was apparent (2-0).
France were now totally in control, gobbling up all the loose stuff, slick and silky-like, while the Uruguayans became more frustrated, culminating in some ill-tempered action and reaction that saw Kylian Mbappe and Cristian Rodriguez booked.
Griezmann was running the show – the difference between the two sides – and in the 72nd minute fed Corentin Tolisso, who had enough time and space to take aim but shot high and wide.
At the other end, Luis Suarez was the invisible man.
The final action saw a Griezmann free kick sails harmlessly over.
He was substituted as the hourglass was running – a well-deserved rest for the match winner and dare we say it, the form team looking at the road ahead.
Belgium ‘break’ Brazilian hearts
Brazil did the samba and Belgium did the quickstep.
And the attractive swaying was no match for the speedy attacking steps of the Red Devils.
The’ ball’room judges held up the final score: Belgium 2 Brazil 1.
There was little in it, in terms of the chances they created: in fact, Brazil had far more shots.
The difference was in the directness of the Belgian attacks, no messing around and great vision of where the spaces were.
Belgium won it in the first half after a master stroke of setting up the team by Roberto Martinez, putting Kevin de Bruyne up front with Romelo Lukaku to feed him, not the other way round.
Belgium simply found spaces all over the place and clobbered Brazil on the break, time after time.
Spain learned it wasn’t about the number of passes; Brazil learned it’s not about the number of shots.
It would take reams to describe the game’s many moves, chances, shots and misses – primarily from Brazil but also plenty from Belgium.
In the final analysis it was not about Neymar, or Hazard, or Lukaku or Coutinho; it was about Thibaut Courtois in the Belgian goals.
The Chelsea keeper pulled off more than a dozen point black saves.
He was beaten once, midway through the second half when Philippe Coutinho’s cute chip over the back line of defenders was perfectly headed home by substitute Renato Augusto, who had barely been on the field for a minute.
But by then the reds were already two goals up and deservedly so.
They had exploited a bewildered Brazilian defence through their speedy counters.
As early as the 12th minute they were on the board when a deflection of Marouane Fellaini’s shot led to a corner which was flicked on by Vincent Kompany and onto two defenders before settling into the net.
They would double their tally in the 30th minute when Lukaku’s superb run – and he had many of them during the night – ended at De Bruyne’s feet and he thundered one home from the edge of the box: unstoppable, hard and low and beyond the reach of Alisson.
The final, fatal 15 minutes were marked by two excellent football demonstrations.
The first was the attacking prowess of the Brazilians, who set up chance after chance – but all to no avail.
The second was the way Belgium ran the clock down.
They were in danger, but the ‘Hazard’ lights were on and he and De Bruyne held onto the ball like a Scotsman on a ten pound note.
They had done enough, only just, but it got them through and they will meet France in the semis.
As for me, it’s two out of two correct predictions on the night.
England use their heads to beat Sweden 2-0
Striving to reach the promised land of a World Cup semi-final place, Sweden could simply not cross the Jordan.
Jordan Pickford, that is.
Any chance they might have had was thwarted by England’s goalkeeper – at this stage arguably the tournament’s finest shot stopper.
Sweden’s opportunities were few and far between as the Three Lions dominated the clash, putting the result emphatically beyond the blue and yellows through headed goals from Harry Maguire and Dele Alli.
More was perhaps expected from the Swedes. After all, they had kept both Holland and Italy from reaching the finals stages of the competition.
The game was oh so slow for the first half hour.
The Swedes were taking no chances and while England bossed the ball their governance of it was too conservative and not enough labour.
At times it looked like a training outing. Nothing ventured, and certainly nothing gained.
There was just one shot at each end and no prospect of a goal until an Ashley Young corner in the 30th minute was met with a thunderous header by Maguire that gave Robin Olsen in the Swedish goal no chance (1-0).
One hoped this would make the Swedes come out of their shell but normal play, ie nothing too adventurous, was resumed.
In fact, it was England who had the better of the rest of the half, with Raheem Sterling twice fed long passes into the box, neither of which he could convert.
Sweden had to fend off three corners before the break, which they did at a sweat.
They did make more of an effort from the restart and a fierce Marcus Berg header was superbly saved by Pickford’s strong left hand.
England were racking up the chances, with Kieran Trippier doing great stuff on the right side, his crosses causing chaos in the Swedish box.
But it was another Tottenham man who would ensure victory as Dele Alli met the delightful chip of Jesse Lingard to head home from the far post.
Sweden did get a few openings after that – some quite decent, in fact – but nothing that could beat the invincible Pickford.
After a history of repeated failures, English fans are pinching themselves.
Can they really go all the way?
Croatia scrape through to semis on penalties
Croatia were six minutes away from a passage into a semi-final playoff against England until Russia struck late in the second period of extra time to level matters at two apiece.
Scribes like me were rewriting the finale of the script over and over as fortunes changed in this epic encounter – not so much because of the quality of the play, but by the intensity of the battle.
By virtue of a 4-3 penalty shootout after 120 minutes, this ended the fairytale of the host nation, who had exceeded all expectations to make it to the quarters.
It was by far not a classic encounter, perhaps because of the prize at stake as much as the local belief that could not face disappointment.
There was little to enthuse about in a first half that saw only two shots on target – and two goals.
The Russian style, while not quite ‘brute strength’, was certainly not one of finesse: long balls on attack looking for Artem Dzyuba up front, a strong man literally head and shoulders above everyone else on the field.
But they did scrap for every ball in a midfield battle where Luka Modric was dictating the pace for Croatia.
However, he was mystifyingly playing very deep and was not connecting well with the front runners.
As in the last game, it took 30 minutes for a goal to arrive, and when it did, it was well worth the wait.
Denis Cheryshev, who has been mentioned in dispatches throughout the tournament, played a one-two with Dzyuba and from way outside the box unleashed a curling left-footed rocket into the top left corner (1-0).
For some strange reason, Croatian keeper was way off his line, but even if he had been correctly positioned he would still have stood no chance. Perhaps the goal of the World Cup thus far.
Russia abandoned their major defensive organisation in the excitement of scoring and paid the penalty minutes later when Mario Mandzukic cut in from the left and crossed for Andrej Kramaric who, despite the close attention of four Russian defenders, headed the ball into the net (1-1).
Croatia would dominate the second half and were unlucky in the 59th minute after a goalmouth scramble with Ivan Perisic hitting the inside of the upright and the ball coming back across the goal line with Igor Akinfeev a spectator in the Russian goals.
Russia would survive on body blocks and good fortune and as the clock wound down there was more drama when Subasic in the Croatian goals appeared to pull a hamstring, with all the substitutes already used and extra time looming.
Bravely, Subasic still managed a 94th minute save. But would he last the next 30 minutes and maybe penalties to follow?
That he did, including a spectacular save in the second period of extra time after Domagoj Vida had fashioned a scrappy headed goal in the 101st minute (2-1 Croatia).
Vida then stupidly removed his jersey in the celebration and earned a yellow card that could have come back to haunt him.
Amazingly, Russia levelled matters when Mario Fernandez headed a 114th minute free kick into the far corner – just five minutes away from a penalty shootout.
Doomed Russian fans were again believers and it was game on once again until the final, final whistle and the spot kicks, when the injured Subasic would have to face Russia’s finest.
He performed with distinction, saving one spot kick and watching another go wide to celebrate the hardest-fought game of the tournament.
Advance Croatia; be proud Russia.
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