Former Argentine great Diego Maradona has offered to coach his country for free, eight years after his last attempt ended in World Cup failure.

Maradona, who watched his side eliminated 4-3 by France last weekend in Kazan, was asked if he fancied another shot at the job, even though current coach Jorge Sampaoli has a contract until 2022.

“Yes, and I would do it for free,” Maradona said on a Venezuelan TV show. “I wouldn’t ask for anything in return.”

Maradona the coach

The former Boca Juniors and Napoli player coached Argentina at the 2010 World Cup, where his team were beaten 4-0 by Germany at the quarter-final stage.

Since then, the player who guided Argentina to their last World Cup win in 1986, has only coached two club sides in the United Arab Emirates.

He is still one of the most controversial faces in football, and he hit the headlines in Russia for his colourful appearances at Argentina games.

Never a stranger to extremes, Maradona produced some of this World Cup’s lasting images, celebrating victories in iconic poses, giving the finger to fans, and being helped into a hospitality box to be seen by doctors after suffering from low blood pressure.

“People think I am happy but my heart is heavy,” Maradona said about Argentina’s elimination. “I feel really bad that everything we built with so much effort we destroyed so easily.”

REUTERS

Belgium threw caution to the wind to reach the World Cup quarter-finals as substitute Nacer Chadli scored in the dying seconds against Japan to snatch a 3-2 comeback win on Monday and set up a clash with five-time champions Brazil.

The distraught Japanese, who went 2-0 up with goals by Genki Haraguchi and Takashi Inui early in the second half, fell to the turf after Chadli poked the ball home from Thomas Meunier’s cross four minutes into added time at the Rostov Arena.

Belgium, who had taken a conservative approach to the game, got back into contention with late goals by Jan Vertonghen and substitute Marouane Fellaini before Chadli struck.

“That’s what happens in the World Cup. It was a test of character and a test of the team. It tells you everything about this group of players,” said Belgium coach Roberto Martinez.

One of the most exciting teams of the group phase, Belgium faced an embarrassing exit but finally clicked to become the first team to win a World Cup knockout game from two goals down since West Germany beat England 3-2 after extra time in 1970.

Belgium’s ‘golden generation’ have now scored 12 goals in four games in Russia ahead of a mouthwatering last eight clash with Brazil who beat Mexico 2-0 earlier on Monday.

With center back Vincent Kompany back in the lineup for the first time since picking a groin strain in a warm-up game, Belgium had looked safe at the back but uninspired up front.

Both teams fought a tight midfield battle but their forwards froze in the area and Belgium’s wide players, Meunier and Yannick Carrasco, did not take risks going forward, effectively turning a 3-4-3 formation into a more conservative 5-2-3 system.

Japan got closest to a goal in a dull first half when Belgium keeper Thibaut Courtois let the ball slip from his hands and between his legs but recovered before it crossed the line.

The Japanese were ahead soon after the break, though, when Haraguchi beat the offside trap and ran into the area to beat Courtois with a cross-shot in the 48th minute.

Belgium responded but Hazard’s shot rattled the post and Japan doubled their tally in the 52nd when Inui picked up the ball 25 metres out and fired a missile into the back of the net.

The Red Devils were still struggling but they pulled a goal back after 69 minutes when Vertonghen looped a header from a high clearance back across goal into the far top corner.

The momentum had shifted and in the 74th, Eden Hazard’s cross was met by Fellaini, who equalized from close range with a powerful header.

Belgium continued to push forward and both Chadli and Lukaku forced Japan keeper Eiji Kawashima into a couple of spectacular saves with powerful headers four minutes from full time.

In stoppage time, Keisuke Honda’s 30-metre free-kick was parried away by Courtois. The keeper then launched the ball to Kevin De Bruyne, who made a beeline through the field before finding Meunier, whose cross was met by Chadli for the winner.

Culled from Presstv

An now the latest news of the 2018 World Cup news, Uruguay Edinson Cavani’s double has ended Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo’s journey in Russia.

PSG striker Cavani put Uruguay on the score sheet after 7 minutes when he scored with a header. Portugal managed to level the match when central defender Pepe scored with a powerful header before the hour mark.

However, Uruguay went back in front soon after when Cavani scored his second of the match with a curled finish in the 62nd minute, therefore Cristiano Ronaldo follows Lionel Messi to leave the tournament. Uruguay will come up against France in the quarterfinals on Friday at the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have their their World Cup dreams snuffed out on Saturday as French teenager Kylian Mbappe flew the flag for a new generation in Russia.

Ten goals were scored on a gripping first day of the knockout phase as France progressed to a quarter-final tie against Uruguay but Messi and Ronaldo may have played their last games on football’s biggest stage.

In the first match, in Kazan, France roared back to beat Argentina 4-3, with 19-year-old Mbappe scoring twice in an electrifying display.

Later in Sochi, Ronaldo — who started the World Cup with a hat-trick against Spain — was powerless to prevent Portugal slipping out of the tournament as Edinson Cavani scored twice in a 2-1 win to send the European champions home.

The Paris Saint-Germain striker opened the scoring with an early header and curled a superb first-time shot past Rui Patricio to win the match after a Pepe equalizer.

Cavani, who forms a dangerous front-line pairing alongside Luis Suarez, later limped off, helped by Ronaldo, sparking fears for his World Cup future.

Ronaldo, who will be 37 by the time of the next World Cup, was unable to keep Portugal alive despite incessant pressure from his side in the dying stages of the match.

But Portugal coach Fernando Santos said the Real Madrid forward still had plenty to offer.

“Cristiano still has a lot to give to football and I hope he will stay to help the young players grow and develop,” he said. “We have a team with many young players and of course we all want him there with us.”

Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez said Cavani had sustained an injury and it was unclear how serious it was.

“As always we will bank on the strength of our team as a collective,” he said. “That is our best chance against any adversary, and we know that France will be very tough indeed.

“But we will try our best and look to impose our way of playing on them, using our strengths,” he added. “We’re here to play all seven matches, right up until the final, and we will see what happens.”

– France pace –

France, the 1998 champions, looked a totally different side from the one that struggled to find their cutting edge in the group stage, pouring forward with pace and purpose to stretch the ageing Argentine defense.

Antoine Griezmann gave France the lead from the penalty spot but the South Americans leveled with a sweet hit from Angel Di Maria and edged ahead shortly after half-time through Gabriel Mercado.

But defender Benjamin Pavard equalized with a thunderous strike to pull France level and once more change the complexion of the game.

That set the scene for Mbappe, who netted two goals in four second-half minutes to become the first teenager to score at least twice in a World Cup match since a 17-year-old Pele in 1958.

Sergio Aguero gave Argentina late hope but they ran out of time and head home after a rollercoaster ride in Russia that ultimately ends in bitter disappointment for the two-time champions.

Man-of-the-match Mbappe(seen below), who is Cavani’s teammate at PSG, brushed off comparisons with Brazil great Pele.

“I’m very happy, and it’s flattering to be compared to a great player like Pele,” he said.

“But he’s in another category. Still, it’s great to join the list of players that have achieved such feats.”

Mbappe was born in 1998, the year Les Bleus secured their first World Cup title under captain Didier Deschamps.

Deschamps, now national manager, praised his team’s character to fight back from 2-1 down.

“We answered the call, we have a lot of character and it was not easy as we were leading, then there was an equalizer, then we were 2-1 behind, but we kept fighting.

“There is an excellent mentality in this group and we did everything to go further. Since I am responsible for everything, particularly when it doesn’t go well, I’m very proud.”

Ragged Argentina

Beaten finalists four years ago, Argentina only reached the last 16 by the skin of their teeth after a shambolic group phase and despite a brave effort against France, the age of their players and an unbalanced squad ultimately caught up with them.

Barcelona’s Messi, 31, has spent the tournament trying to hold the squad together, even apparently bypassing coach Jorge Sampaoli to give coaching instructions in the 2-1 win against Nigeria that saved the South Americans from a humiliating group-stage exit.

He has scored only once and Argentina’s campaign was defined as much by Diego Maradona’s erratic and emotional outbursts.

Astonishingly, neither Messi nor Ronaldo have ever scored a goal in a World Cup knockout match, in a combined 14 games.
Source: Presstv

A superb second-half strike from Adnan Januzaj gave Belgium a 1-0 win over England on Thursday to see them top World Cup Group G with a perfect record and consign England to second place, with both assured of going through to the last 16.

Belgium now face Japan in Rostov-on-Don on Monday while England play Colombia in Moscow on Tuesday in the knockout phase. Victory in the next round would see Belgium play Brazil or Mexico with England up against Sweden or Switzerland.

Belgum and England rested several first-choice players on Thursday and, despite half-chances at either end, the fans wondered if their teams were willing to accept second spot for an arguably easier run-in by avoiding the more fancied teams.

Yet six minutes into the second half when the 23-year-old Januzaj shimmied on the edge of the box and sent a perfect shot into the far corner of the net past England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford there was delight in the Belgian camp.

England rued a wasted opportunity by Marcus Rashford after 66 minutes, when he fired wide after finding himself one-on-one with Thibaut Courtois in the Belgian goal. But having rested striker Harry Kane and seven others, they found no reply.

Belgium coach Roberto Martinez fielded Thomas Vermaelen at right-back after injury and sent on central defensive talisman Vincent Kompany near the end to complete a clean sweep with all 20 outfield players in the squad having played in Russia.

(REUTERS)

Egypt’s national football coach, Hector Cuper has been relieved of his duties by the country’s football association, following the unsuccessful campaign at the World Cup in Russia.

Egypt finished bottom of Group A with zero points after losing all three of its games, 0-1 to Uruguay, 1-3 to Russia and 1-2 to Saudi Arabia. The Pharaohs who did not play with star player Mohamed Salah in their opening game were consequently eliminated, extending their winless record at the World Cup.

Salah’s shoulder injury had dominated the build-up to the tournament, with the team struggling to win any of their warm up games. Salah scored Egypt’s two goals at the World Cup.

Argentine Cuper, 62, who would have been out of contract after the World Cup, had hinted that the Saudi Arabia game on Monday could be his last game in charge of the record African champions.

“I have never excluded anything. It might be my last game and it might not. It will depend on a number of factors,” Cuper, who was named Egypt coach in 2015.

EFA decides to part ways with Cuper

Speaking after the Saudi Arabia loss, he said he would “see what will happen” ahead of a meeting with the Egypt Football Association (EFA).

The EFA said: “We held a meeting after returning from Russia and the entire board decided to say thank you to Cuper and his technical staff.

“We appreciate the work from the coach, from reaching the Africa Cup of Nations after three years of absence and taking Egypt to the World Cup after 28 years of absence.”

EFA also insisted that Salah is happy with the national team and management after media reports suggested he might quit international football for political reasons.

Source: Africa News

Argentina and Lionel Messi progressed to the last 16 of the World Cup by the skin of their teeth on Tuesday after an 86th minute strike from defender Marcos Rojo gave them a 2-1 win over Nigeria, eliminating the African side.

Croatia advance as winners of Group D with the maximum nine points after beating Iceland 2-1 and Nigeria were just minutes away from joining them before central defender Rojo superbly volleyed home a Gabriel Mercado cross from the right.

Messi had put Argentina ahead in the 14th minute, with a fabulously taken goal but the Africans equalized through a Victor Moses penalty in the 51st minute and the twice World Cup winners struggled to respond to that setback with a ragged second half display.

In front of a massive following of passionate and loud Argentine fans, the game began in ideal fashion for Jorge Sampaoli’s side, who had managed just a point from their opening two games.

A perfectly weighted diagonal ball over the top by Ever Banega was sublimely brought down on the outside of his thigh by Messi who then drove past Nigeria’s teenage keeper Francis Uzoho to open the scoring.

The selection of Banega proved to be an inspired one by Sampaoli with the Sevilla midfielder providing the quality service that had been lacking in their opening two games.

Banega almost inspired a second goal for the Argentines when he put Angel Di Maria clear, the winger being brought down by Leon Balogun and Messi struck the woodwork from the resulting free kick with a curler from the left against the far post.

It had been an impressive half from Argentina but the game was to take a twist shortly after the interval.

Defending a corner, Argentine defender Javier Mascherano jockeyed Leon Balogun inside the area and when the Nigerian fell to the floor, Turkish referee Cuneyt Cakir awarded a penalty.

After lengthy and impassioned protests from the Argentine players, Moses managed to keep his cool and slot past Franco Armani to level the scores.

Nigeria wasted several chances to add a second and secure their place in the last 16 before the unlikely source of Manchester United central defender Rojo kept Argentina’s tournament alive and left Nigeria in despair.

Argentina go on to face France in the next round while Croatia take on Denmark.

Source: Presstv

Australia’s hopes for a longer stay in the 2018 World Cup in Russia were have been dashed with a last-game group loss to Peru.

The Peruvians dominated the match in Sochi’s Fish Stadium on Tuesday as they managed to condemn the Socceroos to a 2-0 defeat.

Andre Carrillo scored a stunning volley in the 18^th minute while Paolo Guerrero doubled Peru’s lead on the 50 minutes.

However, the result meant that both Peru and Australia, third and fourth in Group C, were out of the World Cup as France and Denmark, other teams in the group, advanced to the round of 16 with a 0-0 draw in the group’s other match.

Peru’s victory was a first for the country in the World Cup in 40 years and a finish on high note for the Andean nation which had been out of the prestigious tournament for 36 years.

The World Cup is being played in 11 cities in Russia. Teams will begin the round of 16 as of Saturday. France and Denmark would wait until later on Tuesday to see who dominates Group D, where Croatia, assured of a place in the next round, is trailed by Nigeria, Iceland and Argentina.

The tournament will end with the final in Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium on July 16.

Source: Presstv