World Cup 2022: joy for Japan, German despair and final group games – as it happned | World Cup 2022 & More Trending News

OK, that’s your lot from me right this moment. I can be again on Monday, by which era we can be midway by means of the spherical of 16, and England will both be assured surefire winners on their solution to the title for particular this time, or we’ll be embroiled in a large postmortem with each Tom, Dick and Harriet on Twitter saying that if solely Gareth Southgate had performed an additional three forwards in a 2-1-7 formation, absolutely England’s future would have been assured. I digress.

Rob Smyth is your man for Ghana v Uruguay.

Barry Glendenning is on the controls for South Korea v Portugal.

Enjoy the soccer, and have an awesome weekend.

Australia coach Graham Arnold has additionally been up earlier than the media, and vowed his aspect will tackle Argentina with “all guns blazing” of their World Cup last-16 showdown on Saturday.

“Look, the group games are past us and it’s a one-off game, anything could happen,” PA stories Arnold mentioned. “It’s 11 v 11, a battle, a war and we’ve got to fight that. We’ll give it everything, all guns blazing.

“We respect Argentina, for sure, but we can’t focus solely on them. We respect them but we respect ourselves and what we bring to the table.”

Arnold feels Australia’s success is payback for a gruelling qualifying marketing campaign, the place Covid restrictions again house meant enjoying most of their matches away, together with 5 in Qatar itself.

“The universe is paying us back for the hard work we put in,” he added. “We played four games out of 20 at home, and we had some hard journeys.

“But Covid helped unite this team together, these boys were in lockdown in hotels.

“The fact we played five qualifiers in Qatar gave us experience of being here, and now we’ve won six out of seven games in Qatar. For us, it’s a home away from home.

“One thing we have achieved is bringing light to the nation after Covid and reuniting our sport. We’ve seen the scenes of celebration and it really makes everyone proud, and we want more.

“We haven’t finished yet, we are turning up to win another game tomorrow.”

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni complained concerning the restricted restoration time forward of his squad’s World Cup last-16 conflict in opposition to Australia however promised his workforce would play out of their skins to make sure there aren’t any extra surprises on the match.

Argentina beat Poland late on Wednesday to e-book their spot within the knockout phases and should play Australia on Saturday, a turnaround time that Scaloni had beforehand described as “absolute madness”, Reuters stories.

Scaloni and midfielder Rodrigo De Paul mentioned they’ve but to coach, as a substitute specializing in down time and restoration over the previous two days.

“Australia, who finished second in the group, played at 6pm and we finished first (in our group) but played at 10pm We went to bed at 4am and that has an impact when you have a game in 48 hours,” Scaloni advised reporters on Friday.

“We will break our backs on this pitch to compete, we know how difficult this World Cup is, this is football.

“We saw what happened yesterday but this is not surprising. When you say big national teams deserve to be in the next stage, that doesn’t always happen.”

There had been considerations winger Angel Di Maria was injured when he was taken off within the 2-0 win over Poland. Scaloni mentioned they might assess participant health earlier than taking a name on the beginning lineup.

“Di Maria is feeling fine, we hope he will be fine and is able to play. At the moment we don’t have a clear picture,” Scaloni mentioned. “If you’ve seen our matches, you know I don’t always play the same players. I focus on every single match and adapt the team for the match. Very rarely have I repeated the starting 11.

“What’s important is everyone knows what they need to do. We will go match by match and won’t always play the same team if it isn’t necessary.”

Scaloni mentioned Argentina should shed the “favourites” tag going into the competition, whereas De Paul mentioned that they had analysed the workforce that beat Tunisia and Denmark within the group stage.

“I think it’s a very fast team, focusing on wide players, and they have tall centre backs as well. I think we shouldn’t make fouls near the area. They have very fast wingers and their main strength is their counterattack, so we need to be very careful. We shouldn’t be on the back foot. It will be difficult for our midfield and defence so our forwards are free to roam.”

Tom Sanderson writes for us right this moment that Brazil want Neymar to win the World Cup – even when some followers disagree:

Neymar knits the assault collectively and his absence was apparent in opposition to Switzerland. Brazil had 23 photographs in opposition to Serbia, however this dropped to 13 in opposition to the Swiss. Brazil had an analogous variety of passes in each games – 581 in opposition to Serbia in comparison with 550 in opposition to Switzerland – however the gulf in photographs and xG (2.43 in opposition to Serbia in contrast with 1.02 in opposition to Switzerland) suggests they spent a whole lot of time knocking the ball round with out discovering a means of opening up the defence. Neymar is the participant of their squad who’s finest geared up to string by means of the final ball.

Brazil wouldn’t have an ideal alternative for Neymar. Against Switzerland they introduced the defensive midfielder Fred into the beginning lineup to associate his Manchester United teammate Casemiro, and pushed Lucas Paquetá additional ahead to tackle Neymar’s obligations. The West Ham man was hooked after a flat first half.

On got here Rodrygo, the stand-in the plenty in Brazil needed to see, and the participant who claims Neymar has advised him the No10 jersey can be handed from one Santos academy graduate to a different sooner or later. Though glorious within the field – as he confirmed for Real Madrid once they gained the Champions League final season – Rodrygo isn’t but able to fill Neymar’s boots.

Read extra right here: Tom Sanderson – Brazil want Neymar to win the World Cup – even when some followers disagree

Here is a little bit bit extra element on these groups through Reuters:

South Korea v Portugal (Group H, 3pm GMT, BBC1 within the UK)

Portugal make six adjustments to face South Korea

Captain Cristiano Ronaldo will lead Portugal’s assault in opposition to South Korea on the World Cup on Friday regardless of having to coach individually from the remainder of the workforce this week however Fernando Santos made six adjustments to the aspect that beat Uruguay on Monday.

Portugal, needing solely a draw to make sure of high spot in Group H and aware of the chance of yellow-card suspensions within the subsequent spherical, have introduced Diogo Dalot and Antonio Silva into the defence.

Matheus Nunes, Vitinha and Joao Mario come into the midfield instead of Bernardo Silva, William Carvalho and Bruno Fernandes – who scored twice within the 2-0 win over Uruguay – whereas Ricardo Horta replaces Joao Felix up entrance.

South Korea miss damage doubt Kim Min-jae

South Korea’s Portuguese coach Paulo Bento neglected central defender Kim Min-jae, who was an damage doubt, and changed him with Kwon Kyung-won, whereas Lee Jae-sung and Lee Kang-in had been drafted into midfield.

The Koreans, with one level to date, should beat Portugal and hope the results of Ghana’s match with Uruguay goes their means as a way to attain the final 16.

Ghana v Uruguay (Group H, 3pm GMT, BBC2 within the UK)

Uruguay begin veteran Suárez and drop captain Godin

Uruguay give a begin to veteran striker Luis Suarez and have dropped captain Diego Godin from their defence for their must-win World Cup Group H decider in opposition to Ghana on Friday.

Suarez, enjoying in his fourth World Cup, can be on the centre of a three-man assault with Darwin Nunez and Facundo Pellistri, who will get a begin for the second time, in a match the South Americans should win to keep away from their first group stage exit since 2002.

Ghana deliver again Seidu and Rahman on the again

Ghana, who will undergo to the final 16 with a win, make two adjustments to the workforce that beat South Korea 3-2, restoring Alidu Seidu and Baba Rahman to the fullback positions they performed in in the course of the opening recreation in opposition to Portugal, instead of Tariq Lamptey and Gideon Mensah.

Team information: South Korea v Portugal – Ronaldo begins

Team information: Ghana v Uruguay – Suárez and Nunez begin

We are about an hour away from getting workforce information for this afternoon’s matches, which as a reminder are:

We will after all have MBMs for each of them working on the identical time. The equation on this group is pretty simple. Portugal are by means of, and simply want a degree to high the group. Ghana undergo with a win. A draw might be sufficient for Ghana. Uruguay should win, and that may put them by means of.

All that adjustments although if South Korea can beat Portugal, at which level we’re in abacus territory. South Korea have to win by a few objectives and hope Ghana and Uruguay draw, or that Uruguay win by the identical margin or lower than South Korea have overwhelmed Portugal. I might usually sort out one thing smug like “but none of that is going to happen” at this level, however sure, I watched the soccer yesterday, so all bets are off.

Harry Maguire’s shot in opposition to Wales that ended up going out for a throw-in is certain to be a staple of comedy England montages for years to come back – step apart Geoff Thomas – however fairplay to the lad he isn’t shy about doing his media duties. Maguire has been within the England equal of the Big Brother diary room speaking about set items, saying:

We’ve bought a very good document from set performs. The lads work onerous on making house for myself, and clearly you’ve bought to go and assault the ball. We’ve bought gamers within the workforce, not simply myself, who assault the ball rather well from corners. So it’s a giant risk of ours. It’s superb these large games, they’re actually tight, they’re realy edgy, and set performs, they’re essential. They can separate you from having a foul recreation, to having an excellent recreation and successful a soccer match.

Nick Roll is in Dakar, and he writes for the Guardian right this moment that there’s a buzz within the air within the bustling capital and an actual perception the Lions of Teranga can beat England:

“They will win. The Senegalese team is the champion of Africa,” says Ousseynou Thioune, promoting quite a lot of jerseys and wristbands on a busy boulevard. He predicts 2-0.

“They’re still the Lions, even without Sadio,” Thioune says, referencing star ahead Mané, who was injured in a Bayern recreation simply earlier than the start of the World Cup.

When it was introduced that the Ballon d’Or runner-up must sit out, drama and consternation among the many football- and Mané-crazed populace ensued. In the aftermath, one man advised France24 that “I cried when I saw” the information.

“With my friends, we were talking about it. There were some who had bought a television [to watch the World Cup] – and they sold it back,” he mentioned.

Yet the Lions have greater than persevered. Their opening recreation in opposition to the Netherlands, leading to a 2-0 loss, was rapidly pushed apart with 3-1 and 2-1 wins over Qatar and Ecuador, respectively.

Read extra right here, and it has bought some nice photographs in it as effectively: Nick Roll – ‘Senegal is the best’: Dakar’s dreaming of World Cup upset

The excellent news for the US is that Christian Pulisic is alleged to be on monitor to play for the United States in its World Cup spherical of 16 match in opposition to the Netherlands on Saturday,

We final noticed Pulisic in Tuesday’s final group stage match in opposition to Iran leaving at halftime after bruising his pelvic bone in a collision with the goalkeeper whereas scoring within the thirty eighth minute.

AP stories US coach Gregg Berhalter mentioned earlier than Friday’s coaching session “It looks pretty good, but we’ll have to see him today on the pitch to get confirmation of that,”

Pulisic, a 24-year-old winger, had mentioned on Thursday that he was feeling higher.

Forward Josh Sargent additionally left the Iran match within the second half nursing an damage after hurting his proper ankle.

“With Christian we’re hopeful, with him a little less so,” Berhalter mentioned.

Ghanaian journalist Benedict Owusu has been on BBC Radio right this moment, and he has backed up chaotic supervillain striker Luis Suárez that revenge shouldn’t be the order of the day when the African aspect face Uruguay later right this moment. He advised listeners:

Suárez is true. We had the chance to attain with that penalty from Asamoah Gyan, which he missed. We made it to the penalty shootout however we missed as effectively.

We should overlook concerning the revenge, as it will go flawed. You at all times should deal with what’s forward. I’m very blissful that the workforce and the gamers aren’t eager about revenge.

They are targeted on the sport and doing all the pieces potential to get an excellent win – a consequence which can make certain they get to the following stage.

We have some phrases for the media from US coach Gregg Berhalter forward of their knockout match with the Netherlands tomorrow.

“We deserve to be in the position we’re in and we want to keep going,” Berhalter mentioned. “So for us, it’s about how we recover from this game and prepare to play against a very good Dutch team, very well coached, ton of quality all over the field, and we have to come up with an idea of how to beat them.”

“It’s going to be a pretty fun one, playing against the country I was born in,” he mentioned. “I know almost every single guy over there,” AP report he advised the media.

Berhalter turned skilled within the Netherlands 28 years in the past.

If the US can beat the Netherlands and attain the quarter-finals, it will equal their finest marketing campaign in trendy occasions. The US reached the final eight in 2002, shedding 1-0 to Germany.

No VAR determination has sparked extra debate than the award of Japan’s second aim in opposition to Spain on Thursday night, when – to the bare eye – it appeared that the ball had crossed the road and gone out of play. It ended up sealing Japan’s qualification and successfully knocking Germany out of the match.

What occurred? Ao Tanaka scored within the 51st minute to make it 2-1 to Japan, following a cross by Kaoru Mitoma. But the query is whether or not the ball crossed the goalline for a Spain goalkick first.

The backside line is that complete of the ball has to cross the road to be out, and that consists of any curvature of the ball that’s over-hanging the road.

The angle you are taking {a photograph} of a ball on or close to the road makes a distinction to how the attention perceives it. We despatched photographer John Windmill down his native park with a soccer to recreate the scene for us. More right here …

Tunisia striker Wahbi Khazri has introduced his retirement from worldwide soccer, Reuters stories.

Khazri scored to offer Tunisia an historic 1-0 win over holders France on Wednesday, becoming a member of Saudi duo Salem Al-Dawsari and Sami Al-Jaber as the all-time main Arab scorers at World Cups with three objectives every.

“After the Tunisia match, and in a meeting that included all the players and the technical and administrative staff, I told everyone that this moment is appropriate, and I thanked everyone and wished them success,” Khazri advised Bein Sports French.

“I am proud of what I gave my country over the past years, and I believe that the future for this generation is bright.”

The 31-year-old Montpellier striker mentioned: “To beat France, to score and be decisive, that is more beautiful.”

Khazri, who was born in France and performed one recreation for the French nationwide aspect in 2012, switched to play for Tunisia and gained 74 worldwide matches with them, scoring 25 objectives alongside the best way.

Adam White writes for the Guardian right this moment to say that Didier Deschamps wants a greater plan for France than simply counting on Kylian Mbappé:

Didier Deschamps has seemed indecisive for a while. Even although he had deployed wing-backs and a trio of centre-backs for a lot of the final two 12 months, when saying his World Cup squad, Deschamps surprisingly mentioned he would swap again to a four-man defence – regardless of not having any warm-up games earlier than the match to check the set-up. It was assumed this meant France can be returning to the asymmetrical 4-2-3-1 formation that served them so effectively on the World Cup in 2018. However, Deschamps opted for a extra conventional 4-2-3-1 in opposition to Australia and Denmark, with Ousmane Dembélé working on the correct and Kylian Mbappé on the left.

The supervisor appears to be lurching from one concept to the following. Initially, he picked simply 25 gamers in his squad – one fewer than everybody else – earlier than including Marcus Thuram just a few days later, seemingly at random. The coach insisted he had deliberate the transfer all alongside and had needed to see how the final spherical of home fixtures would play out. Yet, when Karim Benzema was ultimately dominated out with damage, he then declined the chance to herald one other striker.

Read extra right here: Adam White – Didier Deschamps wants a greater plan than simply counting on Kylian Mbappé

It seems like Qatari tv pundits weren’t so unhappy to see the again of the Germany nationwide workforce after final night time’s set of outcomes. This video clip doing the rounds on social media seems to indicate tv presenters mocking the German workforce’s gesture of protecting their mouths of their workforce picture to say that they had been silenced over human rights points whereas waving them goodbye.

The German Football Association (DFB) will subsequent week launch a spherical of talks to determine the explanations for their second consecutive World Cup flop, after the workforce had been eradicated within the group stage once more on Thursday night time, Reuters stories.

“You can imagine that today there is deep disappointment,” DFB President Bernd Neuendorf advised reporters on Friday at Doha airport as the workforce ready to return house.

“This elimination is extremely painful. But we have to look ahead and so we will lead a process on how to deal with this.”

“The expectation is for the sporting direction to have a sporting analysis of this tournament and to also develop a prospect for after the tournament and the Euros on home soil,” Neuendorf mentioned.

“It must also include the development of the national team since 2018. This is the demand and claim that we have. Then we will have more talks.”

The Germans suffered an analogous first-round exit on the 2018 World Cup in Russia, their earliest departure in over 80 years on the time.

“I am a strong supporter of clear processes and expect to hold these talks with respect and in private. We are taking the first step before the second step,” Neuendorf mentioned. Germany qualify mechanically as hosts for Euro2024.

If you favor to look at your podcast moderately than take heed to it, right here is an excerpt of yesterday’s every day version of Football Weekly, with some full of life dialogue and evaluation – and various laughs – about final night time’s stupendous motion in Group E.

Nick Ames is in Doha for the Guardian, and he previews right this moment’s conflict between Serbia and Switzerland:

Four years in the past, hostilities had been publicly stoked. Yet a lot of the buildup to their newest showdown has resembled a conference of the saints. It was clear on Tuesday, when Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Dusan Tadic took questions at Serbia’s Al Arabi coaching base, that no person was of a thoughts to dangle bait.

“There’s no doubt it was big pressure four years ago but we need to focus on football and show we can play better than them,” Tadic mentioned when requested how Serbia would deal with the event this time. His teammate matched the reply just about phrase for phrase. Neither participant anticipated feelings to run excessive: the precedence was merely to have a look at themselves.

Mitrovic struck an analogous notice, saying: “It was a different game, we’re not thinking about what happened before.”

The downside is that the broader context tends to lurk beneath the floor and undermine any well-scripted phrases. Serbia are underneath Fifa investigation for displaying a flag exhibiting Kosovo as a part of their nation, together with the phrases “We do not surrender”, of their dressing room earlier than their opening recreation in opposition to Brazil. That didn’t go unnoticed in Kosovo.

Read extra right here: Nick Ames – Switzerland and Serbia really feel the load of historical past earlier than high-stakes conflict

Tomorrow we can be within the thick of the knockout phases, and Saturday night’s fare in Qatar can be Argentina v Australia. The Socceroos have been speaking up the awe they maintain their opponents in, whereas for Argentina, it has been about avoiding complacency.

Steve Douglas at AP writes that Australia’s gamers converse in glowing, nearly reverential phrases about Lionel Messi. “He just does things that, you know, no one else can do,” ahead Mathew Leckie mentioned. Milos Degenek went even additional. “Probably,” the Socceroos defender mentioned, “the best footballer ever to grace the game.”

“I think they’re obviously driven by the motivation that it could be Messi’s last World Cup,” Degenek mentioned, “and he wants to win the World Cup and end it on a high. For us, it’s about stopping that. Unfortunately, I’m a big fan of his, but I’d love to win the World Cup probably more than him.”

“No one expects us to win,” Leckie mentioned. “So let’s shock the world.”

Argentina have already weathered the storm of their shock opening defeat to Saudi Arabia. “We know, at the moment, everything is very difficult,” mentioned Messi, who’s bidding to win the World Cup in his fifth and seemingly final try. “All the opponents are complicated. We know it as well as anyone.”

“We went back to being what we were for a long time,” Messi mentioned after Argentina’s 2-0 win over Poland that secured a spot within the final 16, “and how we were looking to be at the beginning of the World Cup, which for different reasons we could not manage. “It gives confidence for what is coming.”

Group H: What do Ghana, South Korea and Uruguay should do to hitch Portugal within the subsequent spherical

Group G: What do Cameroon, Serbia, Switzerland should do to hitch Brazil within the subsequent spherical

Karen Carney’s newest column is up for us. She says England have a plan to take them to the final however warns that high-quality Senegal are a hazard:

England haven’t misplaced of their 20 matches in opposition to African opposition, which is a formidable document. There have already been shocks within the match and the vital factor is for England to keep up their focus. Kalidou Koulibaly scored Senegal’s winner after a free-kick was crossed into the field in opposition to Ecuador, an indication of how harmful he’s.

England can be favourites however they need to not have one eye on the quarter-final as a result of they are going to be punished. I’ve performed in tournaments the place we had been tipped to win, misplaced focus, conceded two objectives from set items and had been on the following airplane house.

Senegal have misplaced some key gamers: not solely Gueye and Kouyaté but additionally Sadio Mané earlier than the World Cup started. Selfishly, as an England fan, that is excellent news as a result of they are going to be very onerous to switch. Senegal do, although, have loads of high quality. We have seen at Watford how harmful Ismaïla Sarr is and he proved that by successful and scoring a penalty in opposition to Ecuador.

Read extra right here: Karen Carney – England have a plan to take them to the final however high-quality Senegal are a hazard

Over 17 million individuals tuned in to German broadcaster ARD’s protection of the World Cup match between Germany and Costa Rica on Thursday, in accordance with knowledge from viewers measurement agency AGF, Reuters stories.

The survey sadly doesn’t specify how many individuals threw their sneakers on the telly in disgust on the finish of the sport.

We can be coming to how that Japan aim was allowed to face shortly, however late final night time it was one of many most important matters of dialog within the pod with Max and the gang. Barry Glendenning, Lars Sivertsen, Jonathan Fadugba and Archie Rhind-Tutt had been with Max Rushden to evaluate the fallout from a rare night time of drama. Get it in your ears.

Preamble