World Cup Day 9: Groups D and E tighten up, Costa Rica out taken at BSJ Headquarters (Revolution)

(Mike Kireev/NurPhoto)

Revolution

World Cup Day 9: Groups D and E tighten up, Costa Rica out

By Sean Sweeney

Jun 22, 2018 • 4:31 pm

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Couldn't keep up with the goings-on in Russia? BostonSportsJournal.com has you covered with all the highlights in quickie form, complete with BSJ insight and analysis.

FOUR THOUGHTS FROM FRIDAY'S ACTION

Costa Rica bows out, but not without a fight; Brazil gets first W: Despite incredible defending, despite stout goalkeeping, Costa Rica is out of the '18 World Cup following a 2-0 defeat to five-time world champion Brazil. The South American side had a solid percentage of possession in the first half, but didn't have the ability to break Los Ticos down; in fact, it was Costa Rica which had the first true attempt at goal. But from the start of the second half, the Brazilians pounded away at Keylor Navas, who thoroughly flummoxed Neymar and Co. at every turn. VAR also denied Brazil of a 78th-minute penalty: Costa Rica defender Giancarlo Gonzales had barely touched Neymar, who then oversold a flail. Referee Bjorn Kuipers had originally pointed to the spot, but went to video review and overturned it. Yet mere seconds into second-half stoppage time, Brazil finally got the best of Navas as Phillipe Coutinho slotted through his legs on beautiful build-up. Neymar added the dagger six minutes later to wrap it up.

Super Eagles take flight in Volgograd: It was the scoreline -- if not the scoreline, the result -- Argentina wanted. Ahmed Musa's brace gave Nigeria its first win at the World Cup, and at the same time put Iceland in a spot of bother. Both sides had time on the ball in the first half, without a breakthrough goal; Iceland came closest, though, several chances in the first 20 minutes, and Ragnar Sigurdsson's free kick in the last gasps of the first 45 minutes went for the back post, but didn't connect with a blue shirt. Nigeria came out flying in the second half with a shot on target within the first minute, but it was Musa with an exquisite first touch and scoring on a half-volley in the 49th minute to get the Super Eagles on the board. Musa then added an insurance goal in the 75th. Iceland would have a VAR-aided penalty in the 82nd, but Gylfi Sigurdsson blazed over, and that sent Nigeria into Tuesday's match with Argentina on a high.

X's prevent Serbia from advancing: A big second half from Switzerland, playing on its 11th World Cup, tightened things up in Group E. Serbia opened the scoring in the fifth minute, with Aleksandar Mitrovic, moments after heading toward Yann Sommer, buried a second header following a dispossession to put the White Eagles up by a goal to nil. Switzerland had a huge opportunity to pull level, but Vladimir Stojkavic came up with a dandy sprawling save to make the denial just before the half-hour mark. Both teams had chances in the first six minutes of the second half, but it was Switzerland scoring a cannon blast from Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka that curled just out of Stojkavic's reach to level this one at 1-up after 52 minutes. It went back and forth for a while, but the last 20 minutes saw the pitch tilt toward the Swiss, and Xherdan Shaqiri would beat Stojkavic with a slippy on the counterattack to give the A-Team a big 2-1 victory, and a huge three points.

Groups D, E tighter than a noose: In Group D, two points separate three teams: Nigeria (3), Iceland (1), Argentina (1). Iceland and Argentina are also separated by one goal in goal difference, with Iceland holding the edge; Iceland has to play Croatia, though. In Group E, Brazil and Switzerland sit on 4 points apiece -- Brazil holds a one-goal lead in goal difference, too -- with Serbia at 3. Tuesday and Wednesday and all the wonderful mathematical chaos can't get here any sooner. We'll have all the permutations and computations for you Sunday night.

OFF THE PITCH


  • American referee Jair Marrufo, mainly used in the VAR room during this World Cup, will be in the middle for Belgium-Tunisia Saturday. He's the third American man in the middle, after Mark Geiger did Portugal-Morocco earlier this week, and Matthew Conger -- originally from Plano, Texas and now with New Zealand -- did Nigeria-Iceland Friday.

  • The Argentine FA on Friday denied reports that the players want manager Jorge Sampaoli sacked before the Albicelestes take on Nigeria in a must-win match on Tuesday. Sampaoli, who stalked the touchline and technical area with fiery impatience Thursday, oversaw the worst first-round defeat by an Argentina side since 1958.

  • Egypt is planning to file a complaint with FIFA regarding referee Enrique Caceres and his calling of the Pharoahs' 3-1 loss to Russia.

  • A photo of England's team sheet taken at training ahead of the Three Lions' match with Panama has caused a bit of a stir, and manager Gareth Southgate is not amused. The photo shows Southgate's plans, which look to drop Raheem Sterling from the XI, with Marcus Rashford in his place alongside captain Harry Kane. Southgate said, "If we were to give the opposition the opportunity of having our team it’s a disadvantage to us. So, of course, our media has to decide if they want to help the team or not.”

  • Germany's Mats Hummels picked up a knock in training and is not expected to play against Sweden Saturday.

  • Telemundo had 4.3 million livestreams of Argentina-Croatia. Most-watched livestream in Spanish-language history.

  • Friday was the 32nd anniversary of Diego Maradona's Hand of God and Goal of the Century goals for Argentina against England at Azteca. It was also the 24th anniversary of Andres Escobar's own goal for Colombia against the United States; ten days later, he was dead.


STATS OF THE DAY


  • Nigeria has qualified for six of the last seven World Cups dating back to 1994. In their 19 World Cup matches entering Friday, the Super Eagles were 5-4-10.

  • Brazil is now 56-6-3 when scoring first in the World Cup. Friday's result also snapped a three-match winless streak in the World Cup, starting with the 7-1 thumping by Germany in the '14 semifinals; the run continued with the third-place game, a 3-0 loss to the Netherlands, and the 1-1 draw with Switzerland in this tournament.


PLAYER OF THE DAY


Keylor Navas, goalkeeper, Costa Rica


Tim Howard


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WHAT TO LOOK FOR ON SATURDAY


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