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

VAR has grabbed centre stage at the World Cup, with the system that was supposed to provide “minimum interference” instead having a major and highly controversial impact.

The final games in Group B on Monday were heading into injury time with Portugal on course to top their group and Spain set to finish second, when the advice of the Video Assistant Referee officials in two separate games changed everything.

In Kaliningrad, Spain were awarded an equaliser to snatch a 2-2 draw against Morocco when an Iago Aspas goal was given after VAR helped Uzbek referee Ravshan Irmatov to reverse a mistaken offside call.

At the same time in Saransk, Paraguay official Enrique Caceres was persuaded to give Iran a penalty for a handball by Portugal’s Cedric Soares that could hardly be considered deliberate.

Karim Ansarifard netted the spot-kick, earning Iran a 1-1 draw, and relegating the European champions to second place in the section.

Now Cristiano Ronaldo and his team must face Uruguay in the last 16. In contrast, Spain will probably be happier with a tie against hosts Russia in Moscow and could now have a theoretically easier path to the final.

That hardly sits well with FIFA’s statement as they introduced the new system to the biggest tournament on Earth, saying: “Our goal is minimum interference for maximum benefit.”

Of course, that was a reference to the flow of the game itself rather than the potential impact decisions could have further down the line.

Morocco’s Noureddine Amrabat made clear his feelings at the end of Monday’s game as he looked into a television camera and mouthed: “VAR, it’s bullshit”.

– Fudged decisions? –

But while Spain’s equaliser was correctly given, the decisions in Saransk were more controversial.

Ronaldo missed a penalty awarded after the referee reversed his decision, and was later shown a yellow card following a review of a possible elbow offence.

It had the look of a fudged decision when an elbow would normally lead to a red for violent conduct.

“An elbow is a red card in the rules. In the rules it doesn’t say if it is (Lionel) Messi or Ronaldo,” fumed Iran coach Carlos Queiroz, who said VAR was “not going well”.

Iran are now out, and they leave a competition that is being dominated by VAR to an extent possibly greater than the system’s critics could have imagined.

There have already been 20 penalties given at this World Cup, a tournament record before the group stage has even concluded.

Many of those, such as Andreas Granqvist’s winner for Sweden against South Korea, were awarded after confirmation by VAR.

Yet the Swedes were also the victims of a major officiating error when they were denied an early penalty in their defeat against Germany for a foul by Jerome Boateng on Marcus Berg that was clear on slow-motion replays.

“If we have the system it’s very unfortunate that he doesn’t feel he can go and have a look,” said Sweden coach Janne Andersson of Polish referee Szymon Marciniak.

– Not flawless –

As the International Football Association Board (IFAB), the guardians of the laws of the game, say, only the referee can initiate a review.

One of the officials in the Video Assistant Referee team sees an incident and tells the referee, who then decides whether to review it. The system is clearly not flawless, and that inevitably leads to frustrations.

There might also be a concern that reviews of slowed-down replays can make in-game incidents appear worse than they were in reality.

In addition, the system can still lead to confusion for fans in the stadium who do not have the same grasp of what is happening as television viewers.

FIFA will have been braced for the criticism, and will defend the system during a briefing on Friday, at the end of the group stage, at which refereeing chief Pierluigi Collina and VAR project leader Roberto Rosetti will appear.

“It will enable us to present detailed analysis and statistics illustrating the results of VAR during the initial phase,” world football’s governing body told AFP.
Culled from AFP

Egypt were eliminated from the World Cup with no win and no points earned, but the country’s goalkeeper Essam El Hadary will leave Russia with his head held high, having saved a penalty on the day he became the oldest player in World Cup history.

El Hadary, 45 years and 161 days old, started the Group A tie against Saudi Arabia in Volgograd on Monday, having sat on the bench for defeats to Uruguay and Russia.

The Pharaohs veteran beat the record set by Faryd Mondragon, who appeared for Colombia at Brazil 2014 three days after his 43rd birthday.

El Hadary marked his landmark occasion in sensational fashion, tipping Fahad Al Muwallad’s 41st-minute penalty onto the woodwork to retain Egypt’s 1-0 advantage, earned through Mohamed Salah’s second goal of the tournament.

He is the second keeper to save a penalty on his World Cup debut in Russia; Iceland’s Hannes Thor Halldorsson having denied Lionel Messi from 12 yards.

El Hadary, who is nicknamed “High Dam”, made his debut for Egypt in 1996, a year before his Egyptian squad mate Ramadan Sobhy was born.

Agencies

After defying expectations with decisive wins in their first two games, guaranteeing their position in the knockout rounds, World Cup hosts Russia face their biggest challenge yet on Monday as they take on Uruguay.

Russia went into the tournament with the lowest FIFA ranking of all the 32 participants, at number 70, behind such teams as Scotland and Burkina Faso.

But the team shocked critics with a resounding 5-0 thrashing of Saudi Arabia in their June 14 opener, before crushing Mohamed Salah’s Egypt 3-1 on June 19 – allowing Russia to get out of the group stage for the first time since they played as the Soviet Union in 1986.

‘We did our homework’

Russia manager Stanslav Cherchesov has argued that the team’s success is due to more than a home-country advantage. “It is not an accident that we have two wins under our belt,” he said. “We did our homework. We learned from our mistakes that didn’t allow us to be successful in the past.”

The performance of the team’s top scorer, Denis Cheryshev, is symbolic of Russia’s shock success. Before the World Cup, the Villareal striker had failed to score a single goal in his 11 appearances for the national team. But he has become Russia’s top scorer of the tournament so far, netting three goals – including an outstanding lob of the Saudi keeper from just inside the box.

Cheryshev is not the only overlooked Russian player to impress. Midfielder Aleksandr Golovin had done little to attract the attention of Europe’s top clubs since joining the CSKA Moscow first team in 2014, but played a pivotal role in Russia’s 5-0 crushing of Saudi Arabia, with one goal and two assists.

Similarly, Golovin’s midfield colleague Roman Zobnin went into the World Cup after two undistinguished years at Spartak Moscow, but gave a remarkably protean performance against Egypt, attacking and tracking back with equal skill, winning 10 out of 14 duels.

Suarez-Cavani partnership

However, Uruguay are likely to be much tougher opponents than Saudi Arabia or Egypt. The team boasts a formidable attacking partnership, combining the menace of Barcelona striker Luis Suarez (110 goals in 130 matches for his club) with the poaching proficiency of PSG forward Edinson Cavani (116 goals in 165 matches for his).

The South American team stands at 14th place in the FIFA rankings and came second in the CONMEBOL qualifiers, despite Suarez’s absence in the first four matches and that of Cavani in the first two.

That said, Spain and Portugal – one of which Russia will likely face in the second round – are even more impressive sides. The former retain much of the distinctive ‘tika-taka’ approach that brought them to World Cup victory in 2010, while the latter side is centred around Cristiano Ronaldo, widely considered one of the greatest players of all time.

If the World Cup hosts beat Uruguay before defeating one of the Iberian teams in the second round, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 2010 statement that he expects his country to lift the trophy on home soil will no longer seem quite so fanciful.

Source: France 24

Japan and Senegal have displayed an excellent thriller in the World Cup as they share points to remain hopeful of a place in the round of 16.

The hard-fought battle between football powerhouses from Asia and Africa ended in a 2-2 draw in Yekaterinburg Arena, Russia, on Sunday.

The Group H match was marked with two brilliant comebacks for Japan as strikes from Takashi Inui and Keisuke Honda deservedly matched goals from Senegal’s Sadio Mane and Moussa Wague.

Inui’s curled finish in the 34^th minute leveled a game that could end with Senegal’s lead at the break. Mane scored in the 11^th from a ball deflected by Japan goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima which then bounced off the leg of the Senegalese captain into the net.

Senegal’s Wague scored with a powerful shot in the 64th minute before Japan substitute Honda netted from Inui’s pull-back on 78 minutes.

The 32-year-old Honda, who replaced Shinji Kagawa in the second half, became the first Japanese in history to score in three different world cups.

Both teams now top Group H with four points as they clinched unexpected victories in their opening matches of the World Cup. Japan beat South America heavyweight Colombia 2-1 while Senegal recorded the same score-line against Poland.

The World Cup will run until July 16 in Russia.

Toni Kroos rescued holders Germany from the brink of an unthinkable early World Cup exit here Saturday, curling home a sensational winner in the fifth minute of stoppage time to seal a 2-1 win over Sweden.

The 10-man reigning champions were in deep trouble when Kroos stepped up to steer in his dramatic winner in the final minute of time added on at Sochi’s Fisht Stadium.

Before that, a Kroos error had led to Ola Toivonen giving Sweden a 32nd-minute lead and even a Marco Reus equalizer early in the second half appeared to be only a temporary stay of execution for Joachim Loew’s men.

But the rescue act from Kroos, who had endured another difficult night in the German midfield, is a huge lift to a side who saw Jerome Boateng sent off late in the game.

They now have qualification for the last 16 back in their own hands ahead of their final Group F game against South Korea on Wednesday.

There is still no guarantee that they will avoid the fate of the last two World Cup holders, with Spain four years ago and Italy in 2010 both being knocked out in the group stage.

Not since 1938 have Germany been eliminated from the World Cup in the first round. However, this result, and the manner of it, will provide an almighty boost to the Germans and is a hammer blow to Sweden, who will face off with Mexico in their last match with all still to play for.

Mexico’s 2-1 win over South Korea earlier on Saturday had ensured that Germany would be out in the event of a defeat, with a draw little better.

Germany coach Joachim Loew wielded the axe following the shambolic 1-0 loss at the hands of Mexico with which they began their defense of the trophy, with the much-criticised Mesut Ozil and Sami Khedira dropped while Mats Hummels missed out due to injury.

Marco Reus, Sebastian Rudy and Antonio Ruediger were among those who came into the team. But just like against Mexico, Germany’s usual composure was not there.

Sweden denied penalty

Sweden should have had an early penalty when Marcus Berg was released on goal and, at the point of shooting, was fouled by Boateng.

Berg’s effort was saved by Manuel Neuer. Boateng played the man and not the ball, but there was no penalty given and no recourse to the Video Assistant Referee.

It was a warning for the Germans, who were then dealt a body blow — literally — when Rudy was left with a bloodied nose after receiving a stray boot in the face.

Ilkay Gundogan replaced him, coming in alongside Kroos, but it was the Real Madrid man who was at fault as Sweden went in front just a minute later.

His pass was pounced upon by the Swedes, who sprung forward, Viktor Claesson picking out Toivonen to control on his chest and lift the ball over Neuer with the aid of a slight deflection.

Loew sent on Mario Gomez in place of Julian Draxler at half-time, and it took just three minutes of the second half for the equalizer to arrive.

Timo Werner’s low centre from the left was behind Gomez, who got a touch but not enough to put off Reus from bundling it in.

They then set off in search of the winner, with Gomez twice coming close and fellow substitute Julian Brandt smacking a post late on.

Boateng had already walked by then, seeing a second yellow in the 82nd minute for a foul on Berg.

Hope looked to be gone, but then Kroos exchanged passes with Reus at a free-kick on the left edge of the box and sent a sweet strike into the far corner.