It’s half-time at this unpredictable World Cup
Japan leads Asia’s charge in Qatar as the tournament moves to the Round of 16
THE first two weeks of the Fifa World Cup in Qatar have passed by in a flash, and what a ride it’s been. All 48 group games are done and dusted, and the tournament now enters the knockout stage as the remaining 16 nations continue on their month-long quest to be crowned football’s new world champions.
The equation is simple from this point - only the winners get to progress, while the losers will head home empty-handed. There cannot be any more draws as every match must produce a clear victor, and it’s inevitable that some games will require extra time or the dreaded penalty shootout to separate the teams.
As fans around the world catch their breath, BT Weekend recaps some of the highlights of what has been an unpredictable and exhilarating World Cup so far.
Most impressive team - Japan
Placed in the so-called “Group of Death” alongside former world champions Germany and Spain, few gave the Blue Samurai much of a chance to escape unscathed. But escape they did, and they claimed the scalps of both those football powerhouses along the way.
The manner in which they did so was eerily similar too. Down 1-0 at the interval in both games, Japan roared back in the second half to stun their mightier opponents to win 2-1.
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The world had heard little of the likes of Ritsu Doan, Takuma Asano and Ao Tanaka before the start of the tournament, but everyone knows these players well by now. Plenty of credit must go to Japan’s astute coach Hajime Moriyasu, who is being hailed back home as a tactical mastermind due to his carefully planned substitutions that were key to those fightbacks.
Japan face Croatia in the Round of 16, with the Asian nation eager to prolong their stay in Qatar for as long as they possibly can.
Apart from Japan, some of the other teams that have performed admirably so far are Morocco, the United States, Australia and Senegal.
Worst team - Qatar
This was an easy pick. Qatar will go down in football history as the first World Cup hosts to be eliminated after their first two group games. They lost all three of their matches - scoring just once and conceding seven goals - and finished rock bottom of their section with zero points.
Of course, no one really expected Qatar - the current Asian Cup champions and the first Muslim and Arab country to stage the World Cup - to make it to the knockout rounds. Still, their feeble performances are a disappointment to a nation that has spent the last 12 years preparing for football’s greatest showcase.
They are not alone in suffering a humiliating exit. The likes of Germany, Belgium and Denmark – all of which were expected to go far – were vanquished at the first hurdle too.
Biggest surprise - Argentina 1 Saudi Arabia 2
When Argentina captain Lionel Messi gave his team the lead with a first-half penalty, it seemed there would only be one winner. But the floodgates never opened after that, and the unheralded Saudis roared back in the second half with two brilliant goals to turn the match on its head.
Saleh Alsheri levelled the tie in the 48th minute by beating two defenders and slotting the ball in the corner of the net. Five minutes later, winger Salem Aldawsari outmuscled the Argentina defence and blasted a right-footed curler from the edge of the box that gave goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez no chance. When the final whistle went, the disbelieving Saudis sank to their knees as they ended Argentina’s proud 36-match unbeaten streak.
In the end, this setback didn’t quite matter as Argentina still went on to top their group. Saudi Arabia failed to qualify for the next round, but they will have the memories of this giant-killing result to savour for the rest of their lives.
Best goals - Richarlison (Brazil), Takuma Asano (Japan)
Richarlison scored twice against Serbia, but it is his second goal that will be replayed on YouTube and highlight reels for ages.
It was Vinicius Jr who found the Tottenham forward in the Serbian penalty area. Richarlison took a first touch to lift the ball above his head, and what happened next left everyone gobsmacked. In one fluid motion, the 25-year-old launched himself into the air like an acrobat, swung his right foot and fired an unstoppable shot past the hapless goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic.
Japan’s Asano was his country’s unlikely hero against Germany. With the score tied at 1-1 deep into the second half, the 28-year-old expertly controlled a long ball from behind with a sublime first touch, took a short dribble into the box and blasted the ball past goalkeeper Manuel Neuer from close range.
It was a goal fitting of winning any match, and the fact it was the one that gave Japan a remarkable victory over the four-time world champions made it even sweeter.
Most entertaining match - Cameroon 3 Serbia 3
These two teams served up a goal feast, with all six goals coming in a breathtaking 37-minute spell either side of half-time.
The match sprung into life in first-half injury time as Serbia’s Stahinja Pavlovic and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic netted in quick succession to cancel out Jean-Charles Castelleto’s opener for Cameroon.
Alexsandar Mitrovic extended Serbia’s lead in the second half and the game seemed to be out of Cameroon’s reach at that point, but Vincent Aboubakar began Cameroon’s rescue mission by coming off the bench to score a superb lob and create the equaliser for Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting.
When the final whistle of this end-to-end intercontinental battle went, the players sunk to the ground in exhaustion, having given their all in an ultimately futile attempt to break the deadlock.
There were many other notable thrillers that kept fans on the edge of their seats, including Portugal’s 3-2 win over Ghana, Tunisia’s 1-0 victory over a second-string France team, and Ghana’s 3-2 success against South Korea.
Biggest snoozefest - Uruguay 0 South Korea 0
These two teams created an unwanted piece of World Cup history when they played in their opening fixture, for they both produced a grand total of zero shots on target throughout the entire match. Uruguay attempted ten shots on goal while South Korea had seven - none of which were on target.
The South Americans came closest to breaking the deadlock with efforts Diego Godin and Federico Valverde rocking the post, while the Koreans were unusually subdued in the final third. From a neutral fan’s perspective, there was little to shout about in this bore draw.
Best goalkeeper - Wojciech Szczesny (Poland)
The strikers usually dominate most of the headlines in a football tournament, but there have been some outstanding performances by goalkeepers too.
Poland have their first-choice custodian Wojciech Szczesny to thank for their safe passage into the Round of 16, with the 32-year-old Juventus shotstopper producing a sensational double save in their win over Saudi Arabia.
First he kept out Salem Al-Dawsari’s powerful effort before somehow tipping Mohammed Al Burayk’s rebound over the bar. Szczesny also blocked Lionel Messi’s penalty as he prevented the Argentina superstar from adding to his World Cup goal tally.
It goes without saying that Poland will need their goalkeeper to remain at the top of his game if they are to have any chance of overcoming France for a place in the quarter-finals.
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