World Cup 2022 round of 16 featured some surprising teams. How would they fare against the giants of football on the world stage? Dave Bowler explains.
Netherlands 3 USA 1
USA had the first real chance of the game. Pulisic was just unable to take advantage of it, Noppert making a terrific save. From there, the Dutch produced a goal of real beauty. They passed it across the team, through the pitch, side to side. Then Depay was picked out to apply the hammer blow. That was the Netherlands embracing their heritage.
The USA would not be knocked off their stride, though. Weah drew another great save from Noppert. Had they got to the break at 1-0 down, they could have drawn real belief from it. But with the last touch of the half, Blind clipped home a precise finish, and it was uphill from there.
Still they would not be beaten. Ream had a bundled effort cleared off the line, Wright another. Turner produced two excellent saves at the other end. Wright’s inventive – or fortuitous flick – halved the areas in the 76th minute. But just as the US were gathering themselves for a final assault, a momentary lapse of concentration proved fatal. Dumfries was left with freedom of the penalty area to slot in and finally end the contest.
Argentina 2 Australia 1
Argentina’s win came in very similar circumstances after Australia had the measure of them for long stretches of the game.
The first half was in stalemate when Argentina had a slice of fortune in the opposition area. Otamendi’s dreadful first touch fell perfectly into Messi’s path for him to guide a beautifully judged shot just inside the far post. Could the Argentine number 10 finally be the chosen one at a World Cup? Messianic stuff.
The folly of always trying to play out from the back was exposed in the second half. Ryan in the Australian goal was put under pressure that his feet couldn’t handle. Alvarez swooped down to feast upon the crumbs and at 2-0, that looked to be that.
Resilient Aussies
Aussies don’t quit, of course, and back they came. With 13 minutes left, Goodwin’s drive from distance took a deflection off Fernandez and nestled in the net for 2-1. Behich then waltzed – Matilda optional – through the Argentine defence. He beat four challenges before his shot was brilliantly blocked. In the 97th minute, it needed a superb save from Martinez to deny Kuol. Finally, Argentina were home and hosed.
France 3 Poland 1
Poland did at least give France a game for a while. They produced by far their best display of the tournament in defeat to the holders. They were much more proactive than in the group stages. Zielinski had a great chance at 0-0, Lloris producing a fine save. Even then, it felt like only a matter of time before France would find a goal.
It duly came for Giroud on the brink of half-time. He manufactured a fine finish to open the scoring and notch his 52nd international goal, taking him beyond Henry.
Mbappe shines once more
It then became the Mbappe show. Once again, this attacking force of nature took centre stage. Pace, intelligence, physical power, calmness, and a rapier-sharp finisher’s instinct, Mbappe is already beginning to dominate this World Cup as he did the last.
There is something in his movement, in the way he carries himself, even his facial expressions that recalls another footballer who dominated consecutive World Cups when he was just a kid. Pele was the greatest of them all. Mbappe is a worthy heir.
England 3 Senegal 0
It didn’t take long for the ‘World Cup of surprises’ to become the ‘World Cup of the blindingly obvious’, did it? Four knock-out games so far and four eminently predictable winners. Some after a bit of a struggle, some very comfortable.
England were, eventually, in the latter category. For the first 35 minutes against Senegal, they looked very average. Had it not been for Pickford in goal, they might have been facing a very different game. Pickford, like Maguire, is a player who saves his best form for the national side. There had been a clamour for both to be dropped on the basis of some decidedly ropey club form. But neither had ever let Southgate down, and quite rightly got the nod as a result.
One terrific save and another very good one, both from Dia, kept England on terms. It’s axiomatic that the emerging nations need all their best players to be available. Odne wonders if Mane had been fit and on the end of those chances just where the game might have gone. But Senegal simply didn’t have the depth to miss a star like him and carry on regardless.
Harry Kane scores his first goal of the tournament
England finally found their rhythm. Bellingham impressed once again. Once Henderson had put them in front after 38 minutes, the game was already a foregone conclusion. Kane scored his first goal of the competition at just the right time to finish the game as a contest just before the break. Saka completed the rout early in the second half. After that the game was little more than a training exercise. England rarely had to get much above walking pace as they passed the ball around at will, making Senegal chase shadows.
England did all they needed to do to progress and looked efficient in doing it. They had not had the most taxing of competitions to this point. Only the USA had given them a real game, and the jury is out on whether that is good for them or not. It should have left plenty in the tank physically and mentally. But had the lack of real opposition dulled the edge? Only time would tell, but thus far they had looked strong without ever needing to approach top gear.
Japan 1 Croatia 1 (Croatia win on pens)
Japan’s energetic style had won them lots of friends at this World Cup. It was on display again against a Croatian side for whom energy is no longer a prime mover.
What Croatia did still have was guile and intelligence. That was tested to the max by Japan. The two teams exchanged chances across what ultimately stretched to 120 minutes. Extra-time was unable to settle things after Maeda and Perisic had scored goals either side of half-time, a reflection of the closeness of the game.
Japan were not unlike Australia and the US, a good side in so many of the basics. They were disciplined, organised, thoroughly modern in approach. But in and around the penalty area, the rear end of the cow remained untroubled by the banjo. Chances came and went and, as noted so often already, at this level that is generally fatal.
Japan KO’d From World Cup On Penalties
Ultimately, they had the chance to redress that balance in the penalty shootout that was required. But even from the 12-yard mark, they lacked real conviction in front of goal. They produced a terrible set of spot kicks to lose 3-1 after missing three of theirs.
Croatia lacked the pace of four years ago and had to adapt a more studied methodology in search of results. They managed the game well and survived to fight another day. The yards in their head made up for the yards they’d lost in their legs. It hadn’t been as good to watch. But as they secured that quarter-final berth, they wouldn’t be worried by that.
They would be rather more worried by the thought of facing Brazil. They brushed aside South Korea within the first quarter of the game. playing some beautiful football, albeit against a side that had adopted a suicidal approach to the match.
Brazil 4 South Korea 1
Football supporters always profess the notion that they will always forgive a losing team if they “give it a go”. They add that “you might as well lose 5-0 as 1-0”. Which is all fine talk in the pub, but when was the last time you heard any supporters applauding their team off after a 5-0 defeat? The sad truth is that success often requires a pragmatic streak. Especially if you are facing superior forces.
The South Koreans set up to play Brazil in a 4-3-3 system. You might get away with that if you were France. But the rather more limited, if engagingly enthusiastic South Koreans found themselves up against a Brazil side that stuck four men up front. They went one-on-one with the defenders and regularly came out on top in a relentless first half.
South Korea Fall Flat
Yes, South Korea tried to be enterprising, but if they had wanted any chance of winning, two banks of five stretched across the pitch might have given them some hope. Or at least delayed the inevitable.
South Korea showed flashes of brilliance that will have had every other side in the competition scratching their heads. Even so, Brazil would probably have had too much in hand for any side to cope with. Also, South Korea contributed to their own downfall. With this evidence to mull over, I doubt any other nation would make that same mistake.
Morocco 0 Spain 0 (Morocco win on pens)
The knockout stages finally gave up their first real upset as Morocco defeated Spain. They took the long way home to do it, sending one of the competition favourites out on penalties.
Upset though it was, it was also predictable in its way. We had seen Spain lose in precisely the same fashion to Japan at the end of the group stage just a few days ago. Pass, pass, pass, pass, then eventually fail to score. Morocco, defensively as sound as pretty well any team in the tournament, must have soaked up the video of that game just as well as they soaked up the Spanish attacks.
Scoring goals of their own is something that Morocco do not excel in. But when you get to the knockout stage, that need not be a problem as long as you can keep a clean sheet. They took the game all the way to penalties with barely a scare along the way, bar Sarabia’s shot, which clipped the post after 123 minutes.
Spain Miss Three Penalties
When it came to the spot kicks, you might have thought that Spain’s technically gifted players, who had again put together well over 1,000 passes in the game, would have been the favourites. Yet they produced three penalties so inept that they made Japan’s from yesterday look convincing. Possibly, they thought the aim was to pass to Bono in the Moroccan goal, which certainly gave Morocco the edge in the shootout. Sorry!
For Spain, perhaps every bit as much as earlier casualties such as Germany, this result would lead to some dark nights of the soul. They were the nation that revolutionised the game with tiki-taka a decade and a half ago. Now they must question whether their unquestioning devotion to possession had gone from being a lethal weapon to a fatal fetish. What shall it profit a team if they shall keep the ball for the whole game and still lose? It was a method ingrained in their footballing culture, but perhaps it was time for change?
How far could Morocco go?
For Morocco, into the World Cup’s last eight for the first time, the question was how much further could they go? They had something of the Greece of the 2004 Euros about them. They were indomitable in defence, organised, determined, gutsy. They were the polar opposite of the way South Korea set up against Brazil. But not only did they avoid humiliation, they won the game. Unlike the Euros, the World Cup has never had a real outlier as its winner. It seems highly unlikely that Morocco might be the side that changes that, but it has to happen sometime…
Portugal 6 Switzerland 1
Morocco will need to get past Portugal first. However well they defend, if Portugal are in the same mood as tonight, their chances don’t look great. They simply thrashed the Swiss. In a round where France, Brazil, and England in particular, have issued statements of intent, Portugal joined their ranks with one of the most impressive displays of the competition.
That they did most of the work while Ronaldo was on the bench was fascinating to say the least. He was demoted either as a disciplinary measure after his obvious displeasure at being substituted in the previous game, or because the old legs weren’t quite as mobile as they were.
Goncalo Ramos scores first hat-trick of World Cup 2022
This was a big call by Portugal’s boss Santos. He must have been thrilled and relieved in equal measure as replacement Gonçalo Ramos, with 33 minutes of international football behind him before tonight, opened the scoring on 17 minutes. He then went on to score the tournament’s first hat-trick.
The game was finished as a contest at 4-0 some ten minutes into the second half. The Swiss limited the damage to 6-1 by the end of the game. That might be seen as some consolation given the carnage that might have been inflicted. It was a mighty display from Portugal, most particularly from their younger players, which was perhaps its most exciting facet. Morocco might be the absolute outsiders, but Portugal could yet be this World Cup’s dark horses.
Things were about to get interesting.
