Good Monday morning, TSFers! I hope this CF finds you well and that you aren’t too blue after the Summer Solstice last night. Yes, the days will get just a tiny bit shorter from here on in. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news! The good news is we have plenty of World Cup action and will for just under another month, and once we hit the final, we’ll be a bit more than a month away from the start of the Premier League season. It never stops.
Today’s action: Argentina (3) vs. Austria (3), 1 pm ET, FOX
France (3) vs. Iraq (3), 5 pm ET, FOX Norway (3) vs. Senegal (0), 8 pm ET, FOX Jordan (0) vs. Algeria (0), 11 pm ET, FS1
Spain 4 – Saudi Arabia 0
It didn’t take Lamine Yamal very long to get on the scoresheet in his first World Cup start (he came on as a sub in the 0-0 against Cape Verde). The 18-year old steered home a Mikel Oyarzarbal cross 10 minutes into the match to get Spain off and running. Oyarzarbal tallied in the 21st and 24th minutes and that was about that.
Belgium 0 – Iran 0
Another disappointing, rather blunt performance from the Belgians with lots of uncharacteristically bad decisions and loose touches from their big name players. Romelu Lukaku, who spent large portions of the season injured, doesn’t look right leading the line. Kevin de Bruyne is not opening up defenses with his creativity. The Belgians played down a man from the 66th minute onward after Nathan Ngoy hauled down an attacker to prevent a breakaway after fluffing an attempted backpass. You feel bad for the young man, it’s the type of mistake that can happen to anyone in football. It happened to him at just about the worst possible time. The Belgians are still in decent shape — a win against New Zealand puts them through and a draw probably does as well because 3 points with an even goal difference is likely good enough for one of the 3rd place spots.
Uruguay 2 – Cape Verde 2
Cape Verde’s magical World Cup continues! Kevin Pina’s 21st minute opening goal was the first World Cup marker in his nation’s history. Maxi Araujo and Agustin Canobbio scored late first half goals to give Uruguay a 2-1 lead at the break. Helio Varela scored midway through the second half after a horrible mistake from Fernando Muslera to equalize. A result against Saudi Arabia likely sees Cape Verde into the knockouts (and that’s a winnable game, which would guarantee a place). Uruguay need a result against Spain to avoid an early exit.
Egypt 3 – New Zealand 1
The Pharaohs rode a 3-goal second half to turn around a lackluster opening 45 and move atop Group G. Mo Salah scored the second and assisted the third from a corner to all but clinch a place in the knockouts. The African nations have done really well at the World Cup so far.
