Saturday, 05.04.2025
Two of the pre-tournament favourites met in Kazan for the first knockout game of the 2018 World Cup on Saturday afternoon. Lionel Messi’s Argentina had scraped through the group stages, whilst France strolled through their group in solid, but unspectacular fashion.
The panel discuss the World Cup favourites, potential dark horses and whether football is really coming home.
The final day of group stage action saw Colombia and Japan advance in Group H, with Colombia’s match against Senegal as the focus match. Elsewhere in Group G, Belgium and England scrapped over second place with heavily rotated teams.
Constantin Eckner is joined by Manuel Veth to discuss the demise of the German national team and what the future holds for Joachim Löw and his players.
The biggest sensation of this World Cup happened on Thursday when Germany were beaten by South Korea and finished last in their group. Besides an analysis of the former World Champions’ last match, we also cover Sweden’s decisive win over Mexico.
We continue our World Cup analysis by discussing Day 13 of the group stages, covering France and Denmark’s uneventful draw, Peru ending Australia’s hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages, and Argentina’s late win against Nigeria to scrape through to the last-sixteen.
Fresh from their last-gasp win in their first group game, Gareth Southgate’s England side took on Panama in Nizhny Novgorod on Sunday afternoon. England blitzed their way to a 6-1 win in a fairly one-sided and unspectacular game. There were however, a few interesting details during the game.
After the Argentineans’ poor start to the tournament, their minds are divided: Was Messi bad or was he badly involved? We analyze in detail which game-environment Messi needs to achieve his maximum effect.
Yesterday’s Group F fixtures saw a thriller between Germany and Sweden, alongside a dominant Belgium victory over Tunesia over in Group G. Over in Rostov, Mexico were pitted against South Korea, able to control the match thanks to a strong possession play and diligent defending in transition.
The clash of the next-best teams behind Brazil in Group E took place last night in Kaliningrad, with Serbia knowing they would be through to the last sixteen with a win. The only change in both line-ups from the first match-day was Kostic starting in place of Ljajic for Serbia.