World Cup 2018: Kroos Hell and Heaven! Belgium sealed its spot! Mexico not a surprise anymore!

Match Winner Kroos!! (Picture taken from Guardian) 

First match of the day was Belgium Vs Tunisia! A yellow shirt Belgium seemed incredible mature and focused on the goal. In the first minutes already Lukaku found himself almost in the position of anticipating the keeper but the Ben Mustapha's coming out was effective. At 4' Hazard got tripped by Ben Youssef in the right side limit of the penalty box. The VAR confirmed the decision and the same Hazard scored the 1-0 from the 11 meters ! At 12' another chance for Hazard nicely assisted by Lukaku but the first touch shot went directly between the keeper's arms. At 15' great progression by Mertens who passed the ball to Lukaku running on the right and shooting in the opposite direction precisely beating the keeper! 2-0 and the match felt like it was already over BUT incredibly at 17' from a free kick for Tunisia there was a Dylan Bronn's header brought the opponent closer! 2-1!  What a match after only 18 minutes! Unfortunately for Tunisia, in the moment they were doing good looking for the equalizer, they got the 3-1 once again by Lukaku. The defenders were having a nightmare. Too many mistakes. That was the end of the first half. The second half just gave more lead to the European team and it's another double scorer: Hazard who easily beat the keeper from short distance. 4-1 and they were keep attacking! At 75' Batshuayi run fast towards the ball and into the area and after rounding the keeper he shot on goal confidently but Meriah saved on the line! The substitute striker couldn't believe he even got a bar shooting strongly on a bounced back ball not perfectly saved by Ben Mustapha on a Carrasco's powerful strike. It wasn't really his night because just one minute after the Tunisia keeper did another huge miracle on him! It was getting personal. At last he found the goal of the 5-1 at 89'! Flying over a cross with his left foot. Good finish. Game over! Even if at least Tunisia found the 5-2 with a nice close touch by Wahbi Khazri. Amazing seeing supporters cheering for the goal!  

Second match of the day was Korea Republic Vs Mexico. Everyone was waiting to see if the Mexican were just an occasional fire against Germany or if they are actually here to mean serious business. This was the perfect test for both team to see how far they can go. The Koreans committed many fouls in the first 20 minutes probably trying to get Mexico on the nerves. The most dangerous actions were actually for Korea: a great save by Lozano who anticipated Lee ready to smash the ball in 100% and a counter-attack where Son-Heung Min shot three times but getting only a corner kick out of all that! In the best Korean moment arrived the ingenue handball intervention by Jang and the referee called a penalty. From the 11 meters Vela scored the 1-0 at 26'! Amazing the Mexico ball possession till that point. Son was definitely the most dangerous man on the pitch for Korea. The Spurs guy had another chance on speed but he brought up the ball too forward and Ochoa got the coming out well (40'). The first half wrapped up on the 1-0. The second half inevitably saw the Koreans pushing forward in order to get an equalizer but that meant they had to leave more space to the Mexican. After couple of good attempts with KI and J Lee arrived the 2-0 by Hernandez "Chicharito" nicely assisted by Lozano. After a serie of sterile attacks at least Korea found one goal and what a goal. A firecracker by Son-Heung Min at 90'+3'. Mexico is already qualified to the next phase! 

The most important match was probably Germany Vs Sweden. Everyone was waiting for the World's Champions reaction and they delivered indeed in a dramaic way. The German started very very well pressing the Sweden in their own part of the pitch for most of the time but we know already this is the Sweden's tactic when they want to get a positive result. Few great chances missed by the Germans even because their opponents' defence was very strong and solid. Not easy to score goals to Sweden. Draxler and Werner weren't so clear in the last 16 meters and back there Boateng and Rudiger didn't seem very stable. The Swedish were extremely dangerous in counter-attack just like when Berg went in front of Neuer but the keeper greatly saved the attempt. There was no VAR intervention as the striker was asking for a suspect push from behind. Around the 25' Rudi had to get off the pitch for medical checks since his nose was losing a lot of blood. Incredibly slow was the Germany staff and the team carried on in 10 men for at least 8 minutes giving the chance to Sweden to get out of the huge pressure Germany was doing. Huge mistake. When they decide to substitute him at 32' with Gundogan it was already late. No time to quickly re-organize the situation. Kroos made a bad pass (such a lack of professionalism) that was intercepted by Viktor Claesson that gave a good ball to Ola Toivonen who beat Neurer with a delicious lob. Such a shocker for everyone. Before the end of the first half there were couple of good saves by Robin Olsen on Gundogan and Muller. At the first half Germany was out of the World Cup! The beginning of the second half was just perfect for Germany. Nice ball in the middle crossed by Werner and Marcus Reus was able to shot directly the ball in ! 1-1 at 47'! Two more chances rapidly after the goal! Very dangerous was the Muller's header on a quality delivery by a Kroos'free kick but it went out (53'). From now on will be a complete assault to Sweden's wall. Even if Neurer did a great intervention on Emil Forsberg. At 83' the already dramatic situation for the German got even worst when Boateng was sent off the pitch leaving the team in 10 men in the most important moment. At 90'+1' a shot by Julian Brandt went through many bodies stomping on the post with the ball bouncing back on Muller's feet who could not finishing well the action. Then the DRAMATIC GOAL!! Incredible free kick by Kroos at 90'+5'. A sort of miracle! Not even the best Hollywood director could have planned something better than this! The Champions are back on course!!!!