Russia’s 3-1 win over Egypt at Saint Petersburg Stadium has almost guaranteed the hosts a place in the Round of 16 while Mohamed Salah and the Pharaohs have been all but eliminated from the World Cup. After failing to come off the bench in Egypt’s devastating 1-0 opening defeat to Uruguay, Salah was unable to make his presence felt Tuesday until earning and converting a conciliatory penalty in the 73rd minute.
I’m making this up — this could’ve happened at the 1934 tournament or something — but I’m pretty sure that Tuesday’s match between Colombia and Japan is the first-ever World Cup game in which a player has been sent off in the third minute, resulting in a successfully taken penalty, only to be followed by a 39th minute equalizer in which a player strokes a free kick under the wall.
I just have a good feeling that we’ve never seen anything like this before.
Three inch-perfect free kicks from Cristiano Ronaldo, Aleksandar Kolarov and Aleksandr Golovin are among the best World Cup goals of the tournament thus far. Each free kick cleared the wall from roughly 25 yards out and left the goalkeepers no chance of making a save.
Kolarov's free kick was all Serbia needed to earn three points from its opening Group E match against Costa Rica. Serbia's captain and 32-year-old left back could not have hit this one any sweeter.
Belgium is ranked No. 3; Panama is ranked No. 55. Yet for the first 45 minutes the two were equals in Group G action at the World Cup on Monday. Then came the Dries Mertens goal vs Panama that completely changed the narrative of the match.
Panama held Belgium at bay for the first half of the match. Near the end of the first half, the favored Red Devils looked to be running out of ideas as the Concacaf side swatted away every attack. Goalkeeper Jaime Penedo looked like a Gianluigi Buffon doppelganger out there.
We get it. The World Cup is eight-straight hours a day of otherworldly goodness that you dare not miss. We’re not asking you to watch anything else (we also know that you’ve got to carve out some time to eat, sleep and potentially bathe in your life), but we’ve witnessed some bangers in the U.S. Open Cup, NWSL and USL over the past week that’ve been hugely overlooked because of the world’s greatest sporting event.
Here’s a little roundup of seven sensational goals that’ve been buried deep in the news cycle by the blitz of footie action over in Russia.
The original game plan for Brazil had to have been work an opening with Neymar on the ball, twist and turn into some space and then put it in the net. That almost happened in the game’s opening stages, but Paulinho somehow missed from a couple yards out. This is probably the miss out the tournament so far (from open play).
SO. CLOSE.
Paulinho *just* misses wide for Brazil! pic.twitter.com/vxIPwa4wVr
Time after time, Germany has found itself shook by Mexico’s lightening pace on the break. If not for some more assured decisions in the final third, El Tri could’ve certainly opened the scoring before Hirving “Chucky” Lozano beat Manuel Neuer in the 35th minute.
No matter.
Mexico is playing some lovely stuff with Lozano taking the game to the much-heralded Joshua Kimmich, Hector Herrera hasn’t put a foot wrong in midfield and Chicharito looks sharp up top.
The opening goal was a microcosm of Mexico’s play on the whole. It’s been simply breathtaking at times.
You don’t stand in the way of an Aleksander Kolarov rocket. That’s a well-known fact, and if you’re the least bit ignorant about that, you’re dead. Just look at what happened to this ref back in the day.
Group C is off to a wicked start folks. I’m going to get this out of the way early.
I never understood why Gonzalo Higuain got time over Sergio Aguero on the Argentina national team. That decision really personifies the shit show that is the Argentine FA. Sergio Aguero, who's been out with a knee injury since the end of April, made his return and showed just why he’s more valuable than Higuain. He can make something out of nothing in an instant and finish. (Now watch Higuain come in a score the game winner.)