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The World Cup 2018 is veering towards an end with only a couple of matches to go. England play Belgium in the 3rd-4th place playoff match on Saturday before Croatia and France battle for the ultimate prize on Sunday.
It has been a great tournament with a lot of upsets and shocks. Traditional powerhouses of football have tumbled and gone home early. Defending champions Germany have lost to Mexico and Korea, Argentina have lost to Croatia and Spain have been defeated by hosts Russia. Perennial favorites Brazil looked good until their quarter-final defeat against Belgium.
Croatia have been the surprise package of the tournament and forced their way through to the final while France have been solid throughout and clinical in their approach. Teams like Belgium and Uruguay have impressed too. Quite understandably, this tournament has had its share of enthralling matches. We would like to take a look at the 5 best matches of the World Cup so far:
#5 Germany 2-1 Sweden
It was a must-win game for Germany and they started to attack from the onset. Sweden put up a dour defensive display led by their captain Andreas Granqvist who was superb in the defence. The Swedes managed to score against the run of the play in the first half to put even more pressure on the Germans.
The intensity of the German attacks increased in the second half with Marco Reus and Toni Kroos to the fore. Sebastian Rudy suffered an injury in the first half and was replaced by Ilkay Gundogan, who had a superb match. Reus equalized from Kimmich’s cross and a rejuvenated Germany pounced on the Swedish defence.
However, the Swedes were equal to the task and their goalkeeper made some brilliant saves to keep them in the game. Just when it seemed that match would end in a draw, Kroos scored with a brilliant curling free-kick from outside the edge of the box in the dying minutes of the game. The goal sent the German bench into raptures and all the players and the support staff joined in a spontaneous celebration. Kroos’ outstanding free-kick was definitely one of the standout moments of the tournament.
#4 Croatia 2-2 Russia (6-5 after penalty shootout)
The mighty Croats met the hosts in an absorbing, high-intensity quarterfinal match in Moscow which had all the qualities of an edge-of-the-seat thriller. Russia were very defensive in their second-round victory over Spain and one expected a repeat of the ultra-defensive strategy against Croatia too.
To everyone’s surprise, Russia were much livelier in attack against Croatia. They took the lead through Denis Cherysev’s 25-yard scorcher in the first half. Croatia came back hard at them and Mario Mandzukic ran into the penalty box from the midfield before delivering a wonderful cross to Andrej Kramaric, who finished brilliantly.
The second half was even more intense as the teams exchanged blows but the elusive goal did not come. In the extra-time, Domagoj Vida put Croatia ahead with a stunning header from a corner. Croatia seemed to be cruising towards a hard-earned win but Mario Fernandes had other ideas.
Russia won a free-kick just outside the Croatian penalty box and Fernandes nodded home the equalizer in the 113th minute to take the match into the penalties. Russia lost in the shootout but the spectators were treated with wonderful entertainment.
#3 Belgium 2-1 Brazil
Brazil were touted as the favorites to win the cup before they met Belgium in Kazan. They missed Casemiro owing to a booking and his absence proved to be decisive. Fernandinho, Casemiro’s replacement, was guilty of scoring an own goal from a Belgian corner.
Belgium started attacking more after the first goal and their forward trio of Romelu Lukaku, Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard made life difficult for the Brazilian defenders. Brazil conceded a second when Lukaku won the ball in the midfield and marauded his way through the Brazilian defence before providing the final pass to De Bruyne, who finished brilliantly.
Brazil were decidedly the better team in the second half and attacked a lot through the right wing as Douglas Costa, Willian’s replacement, had a tremendous game. However, the likes of Gabriel Jesus and Neymar could not find the elusive goal and Tite had to introduce Roberto Firmino and Renato Augusto in the attack. Augusto did score with a header in the 79th minute but it was not enough to rescue his team. Belgium celebrated the biggest victory in their footballing history as the Brazilian players looked crestfallen after the match.
#2 France 4-3 Argentina
This second-round match had all the makings of a classic and turned out to be one too. Argentine supporters were hoping for a miraculous performance from Lionel Messi to beat a decidedly better French side. However, Messi could not win it for his side and it was Kylian Mbappe who put in an outrageous performance for France.
Mbappe’s terrific run earned France a penalty in the first half and Antoine Griezmann converted from the spot. France continued to look the dominant side but Angel Di Maria stunned them with a 25-yard scorcher in the 35th minute. Moreover, Argentina took the lead surprisingly at the beginning of the second half through a lucky deflection from a Lionel Messi pass.
France started to hit the brittle Argentine defence with rapid counter-attacks and Pavard found the equalizer with a stunning strike from outside the penalty box. The outstanding Mbappe scored 2 more goals in the next 10 minutes as the Argentine defence looked helpless against his pace and guile. Sergio Aguero did pull one back from a Lionel Messi cross but by then, the damage had already been done.
#1 Spain 3-3 Portugal
It’s not often that a group league match turns out to be the best a tournament has to offer but it was the case when the Iberian neighbors split points in an absorbing tie. The Spanish team was full of stars but they got outshone by Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese superstar.
Ronaldo earned a penalty for his side when Nacho tripped him inside the Spanish penalty box. He converted from the spot and thereafter, Spain came back to the match slowly. The likes of Andres Iniesta and Isco started to dictate terms in the midfield and Diego Costa found the equalizer for Spain. Ronaldo, however, refused to budge and again put Portugal ahead by sending the ball home through the legs of David De Gea, the Spanish goalkeeper.
Spain again began to dominate in the second half and continued their relentless attacks before Diego Costa finally headed home the equalizer. Young right-back Nacho, who replaced an injured Dani Carvajal in the starting line-up, fired Spain ahead with a brilliant strike from outside the box and Spain seemed to be on their way to a memorable victory.
However, the indomitable spirit of Ronaldo came to the fore again as he struck home a thunderous free-kick to make things level in the 80th minute. Ronaldo’s hat-trick salvaged a point for Portugal and his stunning display would go down as one of the most memorable individual performances in the history of the World Cup.
