Tuesday June 26th
Group C
Peru send Aussies down underPeru 2 Australia 0 (Sochi) |
|
Group C
Top bores
France 0 Denmark 0 (Moscow) In the top-of-the-table clash France and Denmark played out the first goalless match of this World Cup. Neither side showed much interest in changing the result with the French sitting at the top and the Danes harbouring no ambitions to top the group. Having introduced fresh legs, the French strode forward in the last 10 minutes and Schmeichel turned away a low curler from Fakir in the 82nd minute, but on the final whistle the teams left the pitch to the echo of boos from the crowd ringing in their ears. |
|
Group D
Late joy for Argentina
Needing a win to avoid elimination at the group stage, Argentina scored a late winner against Nigeria to go through at the African side's expense. A long ball in the 14th minute found Messi who controlled it with 2 touches on the run and rifled it into the far corner of the net. In the 27th minute Uzoho acted quickly to foil a through ball to Higuaín and in the 34th minute a Messi free-kick came off the post. Four minutes after the break, Nigeria were awarded a penalty for holding in the box and Victor Moses rolled the ball in to give the Africans parity and in the 75th minute the ball fell invitingly to Ighalo who could only volley wide from 10 yards out. With time running out for Argentina, Mercado put in a cross in the 86th minute and Marcos Rojo placed his volley into the bottom right corner to give Argentina life and send Nigeria home. |
|
Group D
Croatia end Icelandic dream
Iceland's hope of reaching the next round ended with a 2-1 defeat to Croatia who finish with a 100% winning record. The closest either side came in the first half was in stoppage time when Kalinic parried a shot from Gunnarsson that was heading for the top corner, but in the 52nd minute Milan Badelj hit the Iceland crossbar from distance and a minute later ran onto a ball in the box bouncing it with a half-volley into the net. Two minutes after conceding the goal, following a long throw-in, Ingason's header was tipped over by Kalinic and moments later the same player headed onto the top of the crossbar. Gylfi Sigurdson dispatched a 75th minute penalty-kick high into the net, but in the 90th minute Ivan Perisic received the ball in the box and fired it past Halldorsson to give Croatia another win. |
|