Predictably, the clash against Peru was going to be a tough game for Les Bleus like the one against Australia. Nevertheless, Peru were relying on their physical strength much more, but they try to play with combinations throughout. Thus indicating some changes in the French line-up. On the other hand, Deschamps...
After the disappointing draw in the first game, Brazil wanted to bounce back and show their strength against the defensively well-organized team of Costa Rica. However, in a game in which Brazil dominated they could score the two deciding goals in injury-time. Over the course of the 90 minutes, Costa...
Spain finally secured their first win of Russia 2018 with Costa’s third goal of the tournament. On the one hand, Iran remained rigid with their high-class defence throughout the 90 minutes. On the other hand, the forward play and trademarked tiki-taka of La Roja worked well to put Iran’s defence...
For me, one of the biggest takeaways of the first round of fixtures in the World Cup in Russia was that Portugal looked like a side that would challenge far into the knockout rounds at the tournament. They performed well against an equally impressive Spanish side and worked hard in...
Earning six straight points without conceding any goal yet, Uruguay along with the host Russia became the first to qualify for the next round of FIFA World Cup 2018. Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, had to pay the cost of their lack of quality strikers as they are yet...
With these two expected to be chasing Uruguay for second place in the group, this game was probably the most important for either side. Russia had opened the tournament well, thrashing a poor Saudi Arabia side, while Egypt narrowly missed out on a draw against Uruguay, conceding a last minute...
The 2018 World Cup has thrown up some intriguing groups, though none are as even as Group H. With top seeds Poland drawn with Colombia, Japan and Senegal, there was little pre-tournament certainty regarding which of these four teams would make it to the last 16. Senegal’s 2-1 win over...
I did team previews of both Colombia and Japan before the tournament started, so I knew this would be a fascinating match. Colombia are full of pacey, flair minded attacking players whilst Japan pride themselves on technical ability and organisation - normally a match like this could either be pretty uninspiring with...
The World Cup 2018 also begins for Belgium with a 3-0 victory over Panama. Which means two things, firstly, this was the fourth encounter with CONCACAF team at World Cups. Secondly, they recorded their biggest victory in the World Cup after defeated El Salvador in 1970. Despite the big victory...
As one of the select favourites to win the Russia 2018 World Cup, Brazil’s first game saw them as clear favourites as they faced Switzerland, a nation that hadn’t progressed beyond a last 16 place at a World Cup since 1954. But the Swiss had lost only 1 of their...
Sweden picked up three points in a hard-fought 1-0 victory over South Korea to open up their FIFA World Cup 2018 campaign. The Koreans failed to register a shot on target due to some staunch Swedish defending. It was Andreas Granqvist's second-half penalty that gave the Swedes an oh-so-typical Swedish...
Due to the nature of the draw for the 2018 World Cup in Russia we saw England and Tunisia have to wait until the second last day of the first round of fixtures to play their first game in the tournament. This can of course be both a positive and...
Germany, the defending champions, came into the 2018 FIFA World Cup with mixed emotions. One on hand, they seemed to be in rude health, having easily swept through qualifying without dropping a point for Russia 2018, while a young, experimental side had won the Confederations Cup last year, highlighting the...
Nigeria’s preparation was fraught with several issues coming into this summer’s World Cup. Having been so settled and business-like in qualifying, the team rather suddenly descended into disorder: uncertainty over the starting system, an unfortunate injury to key winger Moses Simon, the continued poor form of some starters, and poor...
Both teams were surely expecting this match to be their best chance of earning some much-needed points considering the rest of the group consisted of Brazil and a strong Switzerland side. Serbia are the lowest-ranked European team at the tournament (34th) and with Costa Rica ranked 23rd it was always...
On Saturday's third of four FIFA World Cup 2018 matches, Denmark narrowly beat out an exciting Peru side. The final score was 0-1, with both sides using multiple tactics to create chances to score but ultimately struggling. For admirers of the long ball and stout defending, Peru vs Denmark was...
The opening match of Group D at Moscow’s Spartak Stadium saw a debut for Iceland in a FIFA World Cup against two-time World Cup Champions, Argentina, lead by Lionel Messi. Hallgrimsson’s players wanted to start strong by stopping La Albiceleste's attacking force and they were very confident in the way...
France came into the 2018 FIFA World Cup as one of the favourites for the trophy, only behind Brazil, Germany and Spain in the betting odds. Their squad is packed with top-class players, so much so that the likes of Anthony Martial, Adrien Rabiot and Alexandre Lacazette did not make...
This match may have taken place on the second full day of the 2018 World Cup in Russia but in all honesty it was over the course of these ninety minutes that the World Cup truly came to life. Before the match the focus and indeed the media narrative was...
FIFA World Cup 2018: Morocco Vs Iran Morocco and Iran went into their World Cup opener knowing that victory was a necessity if they were to have any real hope of progressing to the knockout stages. Drawn in Group B with Spain and Portugal, whoever lost this match would face...
