In the famous passionate words of Kgoloko Thobejane:
“Football will kill you, it will kill you a real death! You will die because of football.”
The recently concluded round of 16 matches started in Dutch delight as an American dream died.
The Oranje swept aside The United States in convincing fashion with a 3-1 win at the Khalifa International Stadium. Ironically, it was Louis Van Gaal’s eleven that epitomized Obama’s famous campaign slogan – “YES WE CAN” The Netherlands played with a grit and belief worthy of a quarter-final spot.
Their next opponents, Argentina were just as powerful in their second round tie with Australia. In a match that saw the late legend, Diego Armando Maradona’s proud record of 8 goals at a World Cup final broken by Messi, the same culprit made his 1.000th appearance for La Albiceleste. Despite a spirited effort by the Socceroos, Graham Arnold’s charges failed to find an equalizing goal by the time Polish referee Simon Marciniak blew the final whistle.
Other record breakers emerged in the game that followed; France beat Poland 3-1 to advance to the quarter-finals. Olivier Giroud leapfrogged Thierry Henry on Frances all time scorers list with his 52nd goal before Kylian Mbappe’s brace broke Pele’s 64-year-old World Cup record of scoring 8 goals before he reached the age of 24. The clinical 23-year-old Paris-Saint Germain finisher now has nine goals to his name after 11 matches at a World Cup.
Le Blues next face The Three Lions of England who made the Taranga Lions of Senegal look like toothless cubs! Alou Cisse was visibly missing the goal threat of Sadio Mane and their defensive midfield rock, Idrissa Gueye. The absence of the Everton star left players like Kalidou Koulibaly and Abdou Diallo exposed in defence. Harry Kane and his teammates ruthlessly took advantage of their secluded victims and ended the match as a contest by the 57th minute. The humiliating 3-0 loss to England marked the end of the road for West African representatives in Qatar.
Penalty Shoot outs & Sound Thrashings
Unlike England, the road to the Quarter-finals was filled with potholes and speedbumps for Croatia. The Samurai Blues of Japan started strongly and placed the 2018 finalists under enormous pressure as the match progressed. The two teams shared the spoils by the end of the 90 minutes, and extra time happened for the first time this tournament. Despite intense fatigue, both teams exhausted all their options across the park to avoid the much dreaded penalty shoot-out drama. With both nations failing to hit the back of the net in the extended exchanges, a nervy penalty shoot-out was inevitable.
Takumi Minamino, Mitoma and Yoshida all missed spot kicks for Japan while Mislav Vlasic, Brozovic scored theirs for Croatia before Mario Pasalic stepped up to fire Luka Modric and his associates to the quarter-finals where the Samba Boys of Brazil await.
The Selecao put on their dancing shoes which happened to be scoring boots in disguise! The 4-1 thrashing of South-Korea sparked carnival like celebrations back in Rio de Jeneiro. Each goal celebration was a new lesson of a dance move in Brazil; even the coach Tite got involved and did the ‘Pigeon dance’ with his players after Richarlison’s scored. The Tottenham Hotspur summer signing is now on three goals on the top scorer’s chart in Qatar; he is level with the likes of Olivier Giroud, Cody Gakpo, Lionel Messi, Goncalo Ramos, Bukayo Saka and Marcus Rashford.
Dramatic penalty shootouts and reckless trashing of lesser opposition continued in the last two matches of the round as Morocco and Portugal booked the last two quarter-final spots in style.
Madrid born Achraf Hakimi broke Spanish hearts with a winning penalty kick that erupted wild celebrations on the streets of Morocco and beyond. The history making penalty sealed a sensational 3-0 win after the match finished goalless in 90 minutes and extra time.
Spanish coach Luis Enrique reportedly set each of his players the “homework” of practising 1,000 penalties ahead of the tournament, saying he is convinced they are not a lottery. However, the La Roja players soon realized the consequences of disobedience after shockingly missing all three of their crucial spot kicks.
As the 2010 Champion’s scar’s begin the healing process, Cristiano Ronaldo was dealing with the shame of sitting on the bench as Portugal’s quarter-final match began. Coach Fernando Santos bold decision paid off as the 2016 European Champions gave Switzerland a sound 6-1 thrashing! 21 year-old Gonçalo Ramos played the role of prime Ronaldo and brilliantly stuck to the script by completing a hat-trick in the emphatic win. Portugal’s potent attack will surely be tested by Coach Walid Regregui’s defiant defence who have only conceded one goal in four matches at the World Cup so far.
24 down, 8 still nurturing hope…….