The 2018 FIFA World Cup So Far

By: Adamo Marinelli

June 29th, 2018

    In one word, it’s been sensational!

    This World Cup has been so action-packed, so thrilling and so many goals in stoppage time, with 13, a
World Cup record and plenty of goals scored just before stoppage time as well.

    There have been many amazing storylines from this World Cup, so many amazing games, so many teams
with stunning performances, teams that crashed and burned and even some teams that didn’t qualify for the
tournament are quite shocking.

    The first game that I want to talk about is Russia and Saudi Arabia, the first game of the tournament where
Russia opened up with a blowout 5-0 win. An incredible way for Russia to start their tournament, despite
being against easy competition.

     Another noteworthy game is Portugal vs Spain on June 15th. This game was the definition of a seesaw
battle. Portugal took a 1-0 lead in the 4th minute off a Ronaldo penalty kick. Spain’s Diego Costa tied the
game in the 24th minute. Ronaldo scored again in the 24th minute to give Portugal a 2-1 lead. Then in the
55th minute, Diego Costa struck again to tie it at two apiece. Three minutes later, Nacho gave Spain a 3-2 lead.
And to end it off, Ronaldo tied it up at 3-3 with a goal in the 88th minute. The game ended in a 3-3 draw.
Phenomenal!

   The Argentina and Iceland game was another stunner. The game ended 1-1, despite the fact Argentina was
the major favourite to win as Lionel Messi was denied from the penalty spot by the Iceland goalkeeper
Hannes Pór Halldórsson in the 66th minute.

    Another game from the first round of group games was Germany vs Mexico. A beautiful goal from Hirving
Lozano, a flawless performance from Mexico keeper Guillermo Ochoa who saved all nine shots he faced,
and plenty of German missed opportunities led to a 1-0 Mexico win.

    A game from the second series that was a game nobody expected is the game in which the Argentinians
were absolutely dominated by the Croatians. Croatia won 3-0. The first goal was caused by a terrible mistake
by Argentina’s keeper and from there, Croatia just kept on dominating: possession time, shot attempts and
shots on goal. The 2nd Croatia goal was scored in the 80th minute by Luka Modric from a shot outside the
box and the 3rd goal was scored by Ivan Rakitic in the 91st minute to end the game for sure as if the 2nd goal
hadn’t already.

    Other interesting matches from the second instalment of games were: Nigeria’s 2-0 win over Iceland to
keep them in contention of first place in their group; Mexico’s 2-1 win over South Korea to keep them
undefeated thus far in the group stage; Germany’s 2-1 win against Sweden with a goal off a free kick from
Toni Kroos, which was the game winner to keep them alive in the group stage; and England’s dominant 6-1
win over Panama, although Panama is not a strong soccer team.

    In the 3rd instalment of group stage matches, Russia lost 3-0 to Uruguay and finished second in their group
playing Spain in the round of 16 and Uruguay finished 3-0-0 their group games, finishing first in their group
and they will play Portugal in the round of 16. Both will be interesting elimination stage matchups.

    This game challenged the abilities of VAR and made a controversial call at the end, which I strongly
disagree with. The Moroccans took a 1-0 lead in the 14th minute, which was short-lived as Spain tied up
the game at 1-1 five minutes later, in the 19th minute. The game stayed scoreless until the 81st minute when
a beautiful shot from the Moroccan striker Youssef En-Nesyri gave Morocco the 2-1 lead. The Moroccans
should have won 2-1 but in the 91st minute, Spain tied the game 2-2 off a volley to a player who should
have been offside. It was initially ruled offside, challenged with VAR and was changed unnecessarily.

     Also exciting, Croatia beat Iceland 2-1 off a late goal to take the lead from Ivan Perisic in the 90th minute
after a 76th minute goal from the penalty spot tied the game for Iceland to help Croatia win Group D, with a
perfect 3-0-0 record, for the first time in their history and they are now in the round of 16 for the first time
since their debut World Cup appearance in 1998.

    The next two games I want to talk about are games that relied on each other for the results of Group F.
With Sweden’s 3-0 win over Mexico in their final group stage game, Sweden took first place in their group.
Mexico needed a South Korea win to clinch second place in their group. The problem was South Korea was
playing against Germany, the defending champions. The odds were against the Koreans. But the Germans
played a lackluster game, despite knowing they had to win by any margin to get second place in the group
over Mexico because they had a better goal difference and despite a large number of chances and shots on
goal the Germans got. It was the missed opportunities that killed the Germans and two stoppage-time goals
gave Korea a 2-0 win over Germany, giving Korea their biggest World Cup win, giving Mexico second place
in their group and gave Germany a spot on the couch for the round of 16.

    Senegal lost their final group game to Colombia 1-0, on June 28th, to finish 1-1-1 in group matches with
four points and a goal difference of zero. Four goals for and four goals against. The exact same record,
point total and goal difference as Japan. However, Japan got second in their group behind Colombia in first
with a 2-0-1 record and six points and Senegal was eliminated because they had more yellow cards then Japan,
a new tiebreaker for the FIFA World Cup.

    Finally, Belgium beat England 1-0 to improve to 3-0-0 in the group stage, good enough for first place in
their group even though they wanted to purposely lose to finish second in their group to have an easier round
of 16 matchup. Now Belgium will play Japan and England will face off against Colombia in the round of 16.
I’d say despite the Belgium win over England, they still have the easier round of 16 matchup. But to win the
World Cup, you have to beat everyone.

    With the group stages coming to a close yesterday, the round of 16 is set. Here it is:

    I predict Uruguay will beat Portugal because I strongly dislike Portugal and I want all the powerhouses
out of the World Cup. Germany is already out, but Argentina, France, Portugal, Spain, Brazil, England have
to lose. I also have Argentina beating France. I hate both of these teams but I want to see France lose more
than Argentina. I have Russia beating Spain, Croatia beating Denmark, Mexico over Brazil, Sweden over
Switzerland, Belgium over Japan, and Colombia over England.

    Then in the quarters, I have Uruguay over France, Mexico over Belgium, Croatia over Russia, and
Colombia over Sweden.

    Then in the semis, I have Uruguay over Mexico and Croatia over Colombia.

     And in the finals, Croatia will lift their first ever World Cup winning 5-4 in penalty kicks over
Uruguay, despite the game being tied 0-0 through regulation and overtime.