The Nation Newspaper

Category: World Cup Russia 2018

World Cup 2018

  • World Cup: Croatia sack coach ahead semi-final with England

    The Croatian assistant coach has been sacked for posting a politically-charged video to social media following the penalty shootout win, meaning he will not be in the dugout for Wednesday’s semi-final clash with England.

    Vukojevic, a former Croatia international, published a video in which he and defender Domagoj Vida dedicated the dramatic win to Ukraine, prompting criticism from Russian supporters.

    The clip showed Vida, who scored in extra time at the Fisht Stadium, roaring “Glory to Ukraine!” while Vukojevic announced that “This victory is for Dynamo [Kiev] and Ukraine.”

    “The Croatian Football Federation hereby notifies the public that Ognjen Vukojevic has been relieved of his duties as an associate of the coaching staff of the Croatian national team by decision of the management of the Croatian FA, and that he will no longer be a member of the Croatian delegation at the Fifa World Cup in Russia,” a statement read.

    “The Croatian Football Federation (HNS) has decided to revoke Vukojevic’s team accreditation at the Fifa World Cup and to relieve him of his duties as an observer for the Croatian national team.

    “HNS hereby apologizes to the Russian public for the actions of a member of the Croatian delegation. Ognjen Vukojevic and Domagoj Vida likewise apologize for their statements, which were in no way intended to have political connotations, yet which unfortunately left room for such interpretations.”

    Fifa issued a formal warning to Vukojevic regarding his behaviour and the former midfielder reacted to his dismissal by telling Russian newspaper Sport Express: “There’s no politics in football. It’s a joke for my friends from Dynamo Kiev. I love Russians and I love Ukrainians.”

  • France vs Belgium: Thierry Henry in dilemma, say football fans

    Some football fans in Lafia say they foresee Thierry Henry, a French national and assistant coach of Belgian National Football team team, finding himself in a dilemma as France and Belgium lock horns Tuesday in one of the semi final encounters in the ongoing FIFA World Cup competition in Russia.

    They expressed their feelings in separate interviews with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lafia on Monday.

    NAN reports that Henry is a retired French footballer who was part of the victorious french team that won the World cup tournament in 1998.

    One of the fans, Olukunmi Gideon, told NAN that Henry’s situation was quite ‘dicey’ as he has a difficult decision to make on which team to support during the encounter because of his affiliation to both sides.

    Gideon said Henry’s best bet is to remain neutral and focus on his job as assistant coach, but added that pretending to be emotionless would be difficult for the former football great.

    “He will suffer emotionally; nobody prays to be in this kind of situation; he wont want to be seen supporting Belgium against his home country and he cannot be with Belgium and be openly supporting France.

    “Its a dicey one for him and I pity him; it is going to be 90 minutes of hell for him. If France wins, he cannot celebrate; it is the same if Belgium wins.

    This is not just any match; it is the semi finals of a world cup competition, where footballing countries dream of playing in. I pity him,” he said.

    Aliyu Danbaba, another football fan, wished if it were possible for Henry to stay away from the venue of the match and watch it in privacy, where he would be free to express his emotions, instead of hiding his true feelings out of respect for both countries.

    “For me, Roberto Martinez, the head coach of Belgium, should allow Henry to stay somewhere else and watch it alone because it wont be easy for him.

    “If Belgium scores and eventually win, will he (Henry) sit and not join the celebration? lets be practical here. He is a human with emotion,” he said.

    One his part, John Akpana suggested that the organisers of the World Cup, Federation de International Football Association (FIFA), should limit focus on Henry during the encounter.

    He also urged both teams and nationals of both countries, to show understanding for Henry’s precarious situation, adding that doing so will make Henry a little bit relaxed and comfortable during the match.

    “Everybody must understand that it is not Henry’s making that his home country and the team he currently works for, should meet at any point in this tournament, so everyone must be sensitive and show understanding,” he said.

  • World Cup: ref gets life ban for bribery

    A Kenyan referee who had been due to officiate at the ongoing World Cup in Russia has been handed a life ban after being caught in a bribery sting.

    Aden Marwa was filmed receiving a 600-dollar bribe during Confederation of African Football (CAF) assignment in Ghana.

    He is one of 22 referees sanctioned by the CAF in an unprecedented clean up, announced at the weekend.

    Marwa, who was a reserve at the 2014 finals in Brazil, had earlier been removed from the list of match officials due to officiate in Russia.

    The life ban was handed out by CAF’s disciplinary board, which also banned 10 other referees for between two years and 10 years for similar offences.

    A further 11 persons have been suspended pending an appearance at the board in August.

    African football has long been plagued by allegations of bribery but never before has CAF banned such a large number of officials.

  • Breaking! Croatia Beat Russia on Penalties

    • Russia 2-2 Croatia
    • Croatia win 4-3 on pens
    • Croatia v England in SF on Weds
    • Cheryshev stunner for 1-0 (31)
    • Kramaric header for 1-1 (39)
    • Vida heads in extra-time (101)
    • Fernandes header levels (115)
    • 2018 World Cup quarter-fine

    Match Preview (more…)

  • Breaking!: England Reach World Cup Semi-finals

    • Sweden 0-2 England
    • Maguire heads in from corner (30)
    • Alli heads in second (58)
    • England unchanged from Colombia
    • Larsson, Krafth in for Sweden
    • 2018 World Cup quarter-final
    • Winners face Russia or Croatia

    It’s two! And it all looks far too easy from and England perspective. Dele Alli introduces himself to the 2018 World Cup, peeling away at the back post to head home Jesse Lingard’s inch-perfect cross.

    MATCH STATS

    • England have qualified for their third World Cup semi-final, also reaching that stage in 1966 and 1990.
    • Sweden have lost three of their last four matches against England (W1), since a run of 12 consecutive matches without defeat against them between 1979 and 2006.
    • This was England’s first win in a knockout match in a major tournament in 90 minutes since beating Ecuador in the last 16 at the 2006 World Cup.
    • Six of England’s last 11 goals against Sweden have been scored via headers, all from different players (Sol Campbell, Steven Gerrard, Gareth Barry, Andy Carroll, Harry Maguire and Dele Alli).
    • England – who scored with both shots on target in this match – have found the net with 10 of their last 13 shots on target at the 2018 World Cup.
    • England have scored 11 goals in a World Cup tournament for only the second time, also doing so in their victorious year of 1966.
    • Dele Alli is the second youngest player to score for England at the World Cup (22y 87d), behind only Michael Owen (18y 190d against Romania in 1998).
    • Harry Maguire scored his first goal for England, and in doing so became the first player to score their first England goal in a World Cup knockout match since Rio Ferdinand in 2002 against Denmark.
    • Jordan Pickford made three saves in this match and kept a clean sheet, making him the youngest England goalkeeper to keep a clean sheet in a World Cup match (24y 122d).
    • England have scored eight goals via set pieces at the 2018 World Cup, the most by a team at a World Cup tournament since Portugal in 1966 (also eight).

    GOAL! SWEDEN 0-1 ENGLAND (Maguire, 30)

    BANG! England take the lead in emphatic fashion as Harry Maguire rises high to power an Ashley Young corner into the back of the Swedish goal. The set piece specialists strike again, as Maguire scores his first international goal, and what a time for it!

    England are playing a line of four in attack. Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane are up front, but Dele Alli and Jesse Lingard look as if they are playing up there with them.

    EMPTY SEATS?

    Indications have emerged that there could be as many as 10,000 empty seats for today’s clash at the Samara Arena. Yes, you read that right, 10,000!

    The stadium has a capacity of 42,000 but only 32,000 tickets have been sold, officially 2,836 to England fans and 3,000 to Sweden fans.

    It’s a shame more people can’t be there to see the game in person but it’s going to take a lot more than that to dampen the optimism and excitement that has England and Sweden gripped at the moment.

     

    ENGLAND TEAM NEWS

    Starting XI: Pickford, Walker, Stones, Maguire, Trippier, Lingard, Henderson, Alli, Young, Sterling, Kane.

    England are unchanged from the side who beat Colombia – Ashley Young and Kyle Walker both overcame minor problems which weren’t expected to keep them out anyway.

    Jamie Vardy is fit enough to be named on the bench despite a groin injury

     

    ENGLAND EXPECTANT

    So England are preparing for their biggest game in over a decade as they face Sweden for a place in the World Cup semi-finals.

    The Three Lions have not reached the last eight of the World Cup since 2006, where defeat by Portugal on penalties in Germany marked the start of a period of underachievement.

    But Gareth Southgate’s side now have the country believing that football is on its way home following their dramatic shootout win over Colombia in the last 16.

    Now a first World Cup semi-final appearance since the heroics of Italia ’90 is just 90 minutes away for the current crop of English talent. Can they keep the nation dreaming?

    SWEDEN TEAM NEWS

    Starting XI: Olsen, Krafth, Lindelof, Granqvist, Augustinsson, Larsson, Ekdal, Forsberg, Claesson, Berg, Toivonen.

    Sweden make two changes – both of which were expected. Right-back Mikael Lustig is suspended so Emil Krafth replaces him. And Sebastian Larsson is back from a ban so he takes the place of Gustav Svensson.

    SPOTLIGHT ON SWEDEN

    Sweden stand in between England and a place in the World Cup semi-finals but their record against the Swedes does not make good reading, with just two victories in 15 games.

    Janne Andersson’s side beat Switzerland in the last 16, and are looking to reach the last four for the first time since 1994.

    Sweden’s strengths will undoubtedly come from their defence, which has conceded only two goals in the whole tournament so far – the lowest of any of the remaining nations, with both coming in their 2-1 defeat to Germany in the group stages.

    Sweden are the lowest scorers in the tournament too, having scored six goals in four games to date.

     

  • Russia 2018: Brazil crash out of World Cup, as Belgium win 2-1

    Adeyinka Akintunde

     

    Belgium have beaten Brazil 2-1 in Kazan to qualify for the semi-finals of the 2018 FIFA World Cup home, sending the five-time World champions home.

    The Samba Boys  had conceded just one goal in their past four games in Russia but were behind early when Nacer Chadli’s corner struck Fernandinho’s arm and flew into the net, the 10th own goal of this World Cup.

    Fernandinho’s Manchester City team-mate Kevin de Bruyne doubled Belgium’s lead with a sublime arrowed finish from 20 yards after Romelu Lukaku’s powerful run.

    Read Also: Russia 2018: Brazil beat Mexico to reach quarter-finals

    Brazil could find no answer until a 76th-minute headed reply from Renato Augusto, with star man Neymar virtually anonymous other than three poor attempts to win a penalty, although Referee Milorad Mazic perhaps should have pointed to the spot when Vincent Kompany dived in on Gabriel Jesus.

    Neymar did finally come to life in injury time, forcing a brilliant save from Thibaut Courtois with a curling shot from outside the area, but it was not enough to sustain his team’s challenge.

    Belgium will battle France, who had earlier on sent Uruguay home with a 2-0 victory, in Saint Petersburg on Tuesday 10th July, for a place in the final of the 2018 FIFA World Cup

  • Russia 2018: France sends Uruguay home

    France are through to the semi-finals of the 2018 FIFA World Cup after securing a 2-0 victory over Uruguay.

    Raphael Varane headed France into a first-half lead, and a terrible mistake from goalkeeper Fernando Muslera, saw him fail to save a shot from Antoine Griezmann, booking Les Blues to their first semi-finals since 2006.

    The world was treated to a dull footballing from the twenty-two players on the pitch, but the French have Hugo Lloris to thank for producing a world-class save Martin Caceres, shortly after Varane’s goal in the first half. Diego Godin blasted the rebound he got from that save.

    The second half started with France continuing to control possession, but they were gifted the goal that made certain of their victory.

    There seemed little danger when Griezmann let fly from the edge of the area but Muslera misjudged the flight of the ball, flapped at the shot, and saw it loop slowly over the line.

    Read Also: Russia 2018: Brazil beat Mexico to reach quarter-finals

    It was Griezmann’s third goal of the 2018 World Cup, his first from open play.

    The drama in Nizhny Novgorod continued when when Kylian Mbappe fell to the floor. Uruguay skipper Diego Godin gestured with the teenager to get up, pulling him from the turf. This caused a little fight involing most of the players and saw French coach Didier Deschamps come onto the pitch to try to calm tempers.

    A likely repeat of the 1998 FIFA World Cup final will happen again in Saint Petersburg on Tuesday 10th July, if Brazil beat Belgium in the next quarter-final match, as France await the winner between the Samba Boys and star-studded Belgium

  • World Cup breaks stereotypes about Russia – Putin

    Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that his country’s hosting of the soccer World Cup had helped debunk stereotypes about it.

    Russia’s host nation status had been met with resistance by some in the West, who suggested the tournament could be unsafe and play into the hands of Putin.

    The Russian president stands accused by Washington of conducting “malign activities” around the world.

    But the month-long tournament, which ends on July 15, has so far been without major security incidents.

    Concerns about racism and hooligan violence that were discussed in the run-up have not been borne out and most visiting fans have spoken of a positive experience.

    At a meeting with FIFA president Gianni Infantino and former soccer stars at the Kremlin, Putin said the tournament and its coverage on social media had “helped break many stereotypes about Russia”.

    “People have seen that Russia is a hospitable country, a friendly one for those who come here,” Putin said.

    “I’m sure that an overwhelming majority of people who came will leave with the best feelings and memories of our country and will come again many times.”

    Read Also: Three lions in another jinx battle

    Increasingly isolated on the global stage, Putin has used the tournament to send a defiant message to his opponents that Russia is succeeding despite Western efforts to hold it back.

    Moscow’s pedestrian streets have been flooded with fans and locals who have celebrated the world’s most prestigious soccer tournament until the small hours of the morning.

    “I was told people, police in the Red Square are smiling,” Infantino told Putin, laughing.

    “When they are asked for some information, they are very friendly. This is great. This is exactly what Russia is. This is the new image that we have about Russia.”

    The Russian team’s unexpected success at the World Cup has also added to the event’s appeal in the country.

    After entering the tournament as the lowest-ranked side, Russia made it through to the knockout stage for the first time in post-Soviet history before upsetting Spain to make it to the quarter-finals.

    Russia will face Croatia in the quarter-finals in Sochi on Saturday.

  • Three lions in another jinx battle

    The Three Lions of England who just broke a jinx winning penalty shoot outs faces yet another jinx of surviving quarter final matches.

    They never progressed beyond this stage when they beat Cameroon in R16 in 1990. The last time they English team appeared in the quarters they lost on penalties to Portugal.

    Samara Arena, venue of the match between the Three Lions who Nigerian fans prefer to call ‘Three kittens’, will witness a lot of English fans who are passionate about football. England was the world capital of soccer hooliganism until the 70s when FIFA roared the country into surrender.

    England is meeting old foes, Sweden for the 25th time but available statistics show 8 wins for England, 7 for Sweden and 9 draws. In the two times they traded tackles at the world cup, they were draws of 1-1 in 2002 and 2-2 in 2006 all in group stages. Last time they met was at 2012 Euro championship and England ran away with a 3-2 victory.

    A check on prediction voting shows a handsome 51% voted for an English victory 20% says it’s gonna be a Swedish win while 29% feels the winner will emerge from penalty shootouts. Disgraced Argentine star, Diego Maradona will not take that stuff. He described England’s victory against Columbia in R16 as “monumental robbery”.

    Sweden lives on old commendation as they have been in 5 quarters in the world cup and only lost to Germany in 1934. They appeared in the Semis in 1938, 1958 and 1994 and that was before democracy returned to Nigeria in 1999.

    On current ratings, statistics show that England is just a ‘shine shine bobo’ who used Panama to shine scoring 6 goals two of which were penalties. Panama’s scored against them. They beat Tunisia 2-1 and lost to Belgium 0-1 before Columbia got the1-1 equalizer through Mina 90+3’ and The Lions almost got lost in the forest thicket beating Columbia 4-3 on penalties. They were simply lucky.

    Harry Kane has 6 goals as the tournament highest scorer but there are Stones with two goals, Raheem Sterling the short but dangerous winger, Young folks like Lingard and Rashford with Pickford in goal who has leaked 4 goals apart from penalty shoot-out. That might be the channel of Sweden’s victory.

    Sweden defense is strong looking like steel fence. Out of four countries they have faced, only Germany scored 2 goals against them. The pattern of the scoring could be the key for England’s win. Reus scored 45+3’ and Toni Kroos got the winner in that 2-1 victory in 90+5’.

    That tells us Sweden is like the Super Eagles of Nigeria that loses concentration at dying moments of almost all their matches. Injury time in the first half, and injury time in the second half, hmmm. Think about it. Sweden got a penalty to defeat Korea and spanked Mexico neatly 3-0 before stopping the Swiss team 1-0 in R16. Granqvist is highest scorer of the team scoring two penalties against Korea and against Mexico. Larsen their hero is yet to score.

    Given the tough defense and the sleekly Swedish movements coupled with a panicky English defense, Sweden should win within regulation time. Did you notice that the VAR was not referred to even once in the England v Columbia match even when players agitated?

    It is expected that Russians will fill 0ver 75% space of the 48,000 capacity Fisht Stadium in Sochi built in 2014 for the summer Olympics when Russia and Croatia clash Saturday 1900 WAT. From the books and on current form, Croatia should cost into the semis without sweat, the high goals of Russia notwithstanding.

    Russia dazed a perennial Saudi soccer weakling 5-0 and slammed a Moh Sallah less Egypt 3-1 but Uruguay cut them to size in their backyard 3 nil. The stadium was turned to a grave yard as the Russian party was K. I. V. a term common to civil service treatment of files keeping in view action of pending decisions.

    Russia was super lucky to escape the raid of the power packed Spaniards. Spain got an own goal gift in 12’ and Dzyuba scored the equalizer via penalty in 41’/ It was a rough match filled in with protests. Any team that will have to beat hosts Russia will do it neatly from shots outside box 18.Russia goalkeeper is used to drop balls from faulty catches and rebounds kick will give smart victory.

    Russia had W3, L1, 9GF, GA5 and GD+4. Russia is reaching their first quarters since the country broke in 1990. They were in the quarters 4 times between 1958-1970. Russia and Croatia had met three times before in the qualifiers each time ended goalless but at the Euro 2008 Croatia won. In 2015 during a friendly match in November of 2015 at Rostov Stadium, now one of the venues of the world cup, Croatia won 3-1.

    Even soccer pundits did not give the match to Russia, 24% said Russia would win, 44% gives it to Croatia and a 32% say the winner will emerge via penalties. Some five hosts had progressed into the semis, Italy (1990); France (1998); South Korea (2002); Germany (2006) and Brazil (2014).

    Read Also: Les Blues at exit door?

    Croatia emerge leaders in group D where Super Eagles played. They first humbled Nigeria that both the psychic pig and cat said would reach the semis, 2-0 where Etebo scored an own goal. The team stunned the Anaconda Argentina pocketing irrepressible Lionel Messi in a 3-0 bashing. They went resting major players and narrowly beat Iceland 2-1 before playing 1-1 with Denmark and emerging from penalty shoot-out 3-2. They have GF8, GA2 and GD+6.

    They conceded 1 goal each in two matches one of them the penalty scored by Siguosson of Iceland. Croatia has a solid defense which will be difficult for a wingless Russia to penetrate.

    Croatia has improved on their scoring ability. They scored as many goals in this their Russia 2018 4 matches than they scored in the 6 games played in their two world cup appearances of 2006 and 2014. Some soccer analysts are already peeping into a Croatia v Sweden semi. I think so myself but we have to get to the bridge before we cross it.

    STOP PRESS.

    There is this thoughtful piece on the quarter final pairing and the dates circulating on the social media.

    Match 1:
    France has 6 letters & Uruguay has 7 letters.

    Match 2
    Brazil has 6 letters & Belgium has 7 letters.

    Match 3
    Sweden has 6 letters & England has 7 letters.

    Match 4
    Russia has 6 letters & Croatia has 7 letters.

    Dates of matches: 6 & 7 July: 6vs 7.

    I was told 7 is a complete number. So the winner will emerge from nations with 7 letters. Any thought?

     

  • Expect no less than before at Russia 2018 as quarter-finals get underway

    The 2018 FIFA World Cup enters the quarter-finals stage on Friday, with the France versus Uruguay fixture at Nizhny Novgorod kicking off a two-day line-up of four potentially-explosive matches.

    The quarter-finals have come with the usual expectations and surprise element of any tournament of this nature, yet they have not come without a trace of the unexpected.

    The first round/group phase did not do so much to shock us, other than see off title-holders Germany, world number 10 Poland and the five African sides.

    However, the Round of 16 has lived up to expectations, not just with the exit of 2010 champions Spain, two-times champions Argentina and Portugal, but the teams’ star players.

    Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Andres Iniesta, Isco, Diego Costa, Angel Di Maria,Gonzalo Higuain, Ricardo Quaresma, Sergio Ramos and Javier Mascherano are now watching the competition from their homes.

    They joined the likes of Tony Kroos, Thomas Muller, Mikel Obi, Victor Moses, Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Manuel Neuer and Robert Lewandowski who had been on the sidelines pretty much earlier.

    Their situation, very much unfavoured, is what the likes of Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani, as well as Paul Pogba, Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe will now try to avoid.

    France with their array of megastars such as Pogba, Mbappe, Griezmann, Olivier Giroud and N’Golo Kante will be wary of what Suarez and Cavani can do upfront.

    But the Uruguayan defence line should worry them much more, with the Atletico Madrid defensive pair of Diego Godin and Jose Gimenez at the centre of affairs.

    Read Also: World Cup: Germany arrive home to angry supporters

    Later on Friday, Belgium who made an incredible comeback from two goals down to win 3-2 will face Brazil at Kazan and knowing that a confrontation with Brazil or Belgium awaits.

    Brazil should rather be wary of Belgium, with Eden Hazard and Romelo Lukaku, have gone 23 games unbeaten and have the best record at this tournament so far.

    They have won all their matches so far, scoring 12 and conceding four goals, but the grittiness which saw them through against Japan is something Brazil will need much of.

    Brazil have struggled to survive against Switzerland, Costa Rica and Serbia, in spite of Neymar, Willian, Philippe Coutinho, Roberto Firmino, Casemiro, Gabriel Jesus and Marcelo not looking out of form.

    However, the fact that they have not conceded again since the only goal against Switzerland in their opening match is something Belgium will have to think a lot about.

    England have been thinking so much that they now have a good chance of another World Cup win since 1966, with the tournament draw being good to them.

    They do not to have to face the likes of France, Uruguay, Brazil or Belgium until July 15, and they feel Sweden may not be too much headache.

    But when they face off on Saturday in Samara, they will have to contend with a side which has shown so much resilience, even in the absence of Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

    They beat The Netherlands and Italy in qualifying for Russia, made life difficult for Germany and beat South Korea and Mexico in Russia, and eliminated Switzerland in the Round of 16.

    Usually a quiet side, Sweden can bring down England if they keep under check Harry Kane and Jesse Lingard, as well as likely substitutes Marcus Rashford and Jamie Vardy.

    The good thing for the Swedes is that, in spite of Kane’s leading goalscorer status, England do not have what they do not have, and this makes the game balanced.

    Russia have not disappointed so far, and it is a good preview for them as they head to Fisht Stadium in Sochi to host Croatia on Saturday.

    It is a likely quiet and not-extraordinary game, with Russia being the lowest FIFA-ranked team at the tournament.

    While Russian hopes have risen since the penalty kicks shootout defeat of Spain, it may just serve the hosts well not to count their chickens b efore they are hatched.

    Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic have provided the needed midfield inspiration, while Mario Mandzukic and Ivan Perisic have spearheaded offensive runs which have produced not goals but team game stability.

    The Croats are aware of their capability and Modric, while speaking at their pre-match press conference on Wednesday, said team compatibility is a weapon they would use to great effect.

    “We know it is going to be tough against Russia, especially as they are the hosts, but we know ourselves and what we can do. We will do it as expected,’’ he said.

    However, will they be able to reenact the performance that led them to the 1998 semi-finals in France, having to play against a team and its expectant nation of 144 million?

    It is however Russia’s best World Cup run since the 1966 semi-finals appearance, and they will want to go further than this quarter-finals stage not just because they are the hosts.

    They have shown good strength of character with the way they overcame Spain, and swung their compatriots who never believed in them before behind them.

    While they can shock the Croats, and which can happen, it may just be one other shock in a tournament that is still capable of bringing up more shocks.

    NAN