 |
| Harry Maguire (Picture taken from CompleteSportsNigeria) |
We are getting there people! It's already time for the Semi-Finals! The first match today was Sweden against England where the British were triumphantly celebrating a 0-2 victory also thanks to a great performance by the England goalkeeper Pickford! The first half was mostly in the end of England which was constantly in the Sweden's pitch trying to make something happen. They just looked much more on the target. England got the lead at 30' with a perfect header of the Foxes' player Harry Maguire - nice corner by Young. At 35' Henderson wasted the 2-0 shooting the ball over the bar from a convenient position! England was a bit wasteful just like when Sterling almost past the goalkeeper Olsen but somehow he managed to miss the right time to shot and got recovered. Somehow Sterling managed to deliver the ball to Kane who saw his attempt deflected in corner. The first half ended on the 0-1. Sweden started the second half on fire and at 47' a Berg's header only got saved by a miraculous one hand save by Pickford. At 58' Dele Alli put a heavy stone on the Sweden's hopes scoring the 0-2. At 62' Claesson tried to re-open the match finding again first Pickford then Henderson to save and clear the ball away. Sweden really believed they could make a come back. At 71' strong pressing on the English which lost the ball and a great volley by Berg was once again saved by Pickford with the tip of his hands. Tremendous match by the keeper. The match finished 0-2. England is one of the Semi-Finalists.
The other Semi-Finalist will be Croatia. Incredible how far Russia went in this competition and they were almost getting another amazing achievement but in the end Croatia deserved to get on in the World Cup. Despite the more convincing performance by Perisic and company it was Russia to get the lead at 31' thanks to a fantastic strike by Cheryshev for the 1-0. Took only 8 minutes to get back on track thanks to Andrej Kramaric. Perisic and Mandzukic went close to score before the Russian but they were both not very lucky. The half time was a promising 1-1. The second 45 minutes saw a Croatia decided to close the match as soon as they could. At 52' Rebic delivered a nice pass to Kramaric who sent the ball directly on Akinfeev hands. Incredible how the Perisic shot finished on the right post before jumping on the line and going out in the opposite side at 62'. Bad luck for the Inter player. Couple of chances were also created by Russia with Dzyuba and Yerhokin. The final result was 1-1 and the teams went to the Extra-Time. A goal with heart the one scored by Domagoj Vida at 101' giving the 1-2! Russia never gave up in this World Cup and you can tell in the way they got the equaliser. Free kick conceded because of a stupid hand ball foul by Pivaric. The ball was sent into the box and Mario Fernandes flown to head it into the net for the dramatic 2-2 which brought the teams to the Penalties lottery! Mistakes by Smolov, Kovacic, Mario Fernandes gave the victory to Croatia! Highly deserved Semi-Final spot. Russia was already lucky to get this point. Well done Putin!
No comments:
Post a Comment