World Cup Day 8, France advance, Australia stay alive
The second round of matches for Group C saw France secure their place into the knockout stages with their win over Peru while Denmark and Australia split the points.
World Cup: Day 7, scrappy wins for Portugal, Uruguay and Spain
With Egypt knocked out the previous day, Saudi Arabia joined them on day seven as the second round of games for groups A came to a close. Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo took the lead in the race for the Golden Boot as Morocco became the third team to be eliminated, despite a strong showing.
World Cup: Day 6, Russia march on towards last-sixteen
In the first game of the second match-day, host nation Russia met Egypt in St. Petersburg. Russia came into the match knowing that a win would all but seal their ticket to the knockout stages of the competition, whilst Egypt knew they needed at least a draw to keep their qualification hopes alive.
World Cup: Day 5, Belgium start-off with dominant win
Even after harder 1st half, Belgium eventually found a way through Panama’s organized and deep defensive structure, which in the end became a really dominant performance for Martinez’s side.
World Cup: Day 4, Mexico shock Die Mannschaft
Day 4 capped off an action packed weekend of football over in Russia, with Serbia defeating Costa Rica and the Swiss nicking a point off of the favored Brazilians. However, Germany were toppled by Mexico in what is the upset of the tournament thus far, and the focus of this daily recap.
World Cup Preview: England
We preview England, a youthful squad revamped under Gareth Southgate that hope to excite through high energy attacking play in an uncharacteristically English way.
World Cup: Day 3
We continue our World Cup analysis by discussing Day 3 of the group stages, covering Argentina’s disappointing first match and Denmark’s win over Peru.
World Cup Preview: Belgium
Belgium with their so-called “golden generation” could be a real challenger for this World Cup, since their overall quality puts them among the best national teams. Although their individual quality doesn’t mean anything, if the players are not being put into a functioning structure. Marc Wilmots’ tenure showed us the negative side of that, therefore it was necessary to hire a coach who is able to solve this problem both from a strategic and from a tactical perspective. After his first 3 games Roberto Martinez found a solution, implying a 3-2-4-1 system, which looks to be the most optimal choice the Belgians could use.
World Cup: Day 2
We continue our World Cup analysis by discussing Day 2 of the group stages, covering Uruguay and Iran’s last minute wins, alongside a thriller between Spain and Portgual in Sochi.
World Cup Preview: Croatia
We take a more in-depth look at the national football team of Croatia, a country with a long history of producing highly technical players which help them to make runs in major tournaments and threaten the favorites consistently. What is Zlatko Dalic’s strategy in the 2018 World Cup?