Hi, everyone !!
Unless you've deliberately avoided watching (or streaming) any television & reading any newspapers or magazines in the last couple of weeks, not to mention visiting relevant websites and/or social media pages, then you will doubtless be aware that the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals are about to begin on Thursday 14th June. Much like the UEFA European Championships... this tournament only comes around every four years but, despite owning Roku devices and actively publishing articles via this UK Roku blog when the FIFA World Cup 2014 was in full swing, for some reason I did not make a post about how to stream the tournament on Roku devices that year. So, as surprising as it seems, this is my first opportunity to publish an article on how and where to WATCH EVERY MATCH of the FIFA World Cup and LIVE STREAM EVERY GAME from the FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia via Roku or NowTV-branded devices (NowTV Box, NowTV Smart Box, NowTV Smart Stick, etc.) to stay on top of all the footballing action as it happens over the next five weeks, or so! :-)
The current FIFA World Cup Finals, taking place between 14th June and 15th July, will see defending champions and four-time winners, Germany, contest the title as one of thirty-two teams taking part - FOOTBALL TRIVIA: The player with the "MOST GOALS SCORED" throughout the entire history of the World Cup is Miroslav Klose, who played for Germany, between 2002 and 2014. Over that time, he managed to find the net on no less than sixteen occasions! :-O Meanwhile, for the record, here's a breakdown of the thirty-two teams which made it to the final group stage this time around, divided into eight groups of four teams, as per the screenshot image of 'Draw Results' shown below:-
HINT:- Please CLICK on the above image TO ENLARGE IT for easier viewing !!
For a full schedule of all the matches, click here to visit the official 'FIFA' website. Meanwhile, if you happen to be a supporter of one of the teams involved in the FIFA World Cup 2018 and would like to follow their progress (or not) throughout the competition, the GOOD NEWS is that it is going to be very easy to do via either Roku or NowTV devices. The reason for this is both brands of streaming media player(s) provide access to the following Roku channels in their featured line-up:-
If preferable, for UK Roku users, there is also the added alternative of the "Featured" channels category which might save you a "click" or two on your remote but, either way, it's hard to miss this channel should you need to add it to your Roku / NowTV device(s).
ITV Hub is also located under "Film & TV" in the built-in Roku Channel Store that features on all UK Roku devices, as well as the built-in 'App Store' on NowTV Boxes, although (again) it's probably easier to add it via the "Most Popular" genre in either case.As with 'BBC iPlayer', for Roku users, there is also the alternative of the "Featured" channels category which might save a "click" or two on your remote but, once again, it's hard to miss 'ITV Hub' should you need to add it to your UK Roku-powered device(s).
Likewise, for users of genuine Roku-branded devices, there is also the alternative of the "Featured" channels category (i.e. genre) but not on NowTV-branded products!
By using a combination of the above three Roku channels (apps) it will be possible for anyone in the UK, who owns either a genuine Roku-branded streaming media player and/or a NowTV-branded one, to live stream any of the matches outlined in the fixture list (see below for precise details) depending on which UK broadcaster (i.e. BBC or ITV) / TV channel is showing each of the individual games. That said, if you own a genuine Roku-branded product (as opposed to just a NowTV-branded device), there are several other options (in terms of Roku channel choices) which may come in handy if, for example, there is an issue with the live stream for any game that stems from a problem with the app (i.e. channel) itself. Unfortunately, the following channels (apps) are not available via the 'App Store' on NowTV-branded products but, as I said before, all being well... watching via 'BBC iPlayer', and 'BBC Sport', plus 'ITV Hub' should suffice for most users of NowTV-branded devices and (if not) you can always pick-up a 'Roku Express' for less than thirty quid that will enable you to access the extra channels shown below, as well as another five thousand Roku channels (apps) that you won't find on any of the streaming devices from NOW TV - all of which are restricted to less than fifty apps! :-O
Anyway, should you need them, the following additional "public" and "private" Roku channels may prove useful for UK Roku owners (if needed) at some point during the FIFA World Cup 2018 Finals:-
Unlike any of the previous apps, there is no option for adding 'TVPlayer' via the "Featured" channels section of the Roku UK Channel Store but, if need be, you can always find it using the built-in 'Search' feature and add it to your Roku device(s) that way! ;-) :-)
Here's a screenshot of the 'Manage account' section, with the active link to "Add channel with a code" highlighted in blue. To get to it... simply scroll down the 'My Account' page, which is the main page that loads-up after you sign in to your Roku account online, until you see the section shown below:-
HINT:- Please CLICK on the above image TO ENLARGE IT for easier viewing !!
If you have never added a "private" channel to your Roku account before (or it has been a while since you last added one) then you should be aware that, following some recent problems in Mexico which led to a ban on the sale and/or import of Roku products in that country, it became necessary for Roku to issue a 'WARNING' message (see screenshot below) every time a "private" channel is added. This is nothing that should concern you and, having already added & used this particular channel myself for many years now, I can confirm that there are no issues with it - so just click "OK" to continue...
ONCE AGAIN:- Please CLICK on the above image TO ENLARGE IT for easier viewing !!
Once you have clicked the blue "OK" button, you will then get another pop-up window asking you to confirm that you wish to add the private channel to your account. From there, you need only click on the blue "Yes, add channel" button to have the 'FilmOn - Unofficial' channel added to your account.
AS BEFORE:- Please CLICK on the above image TO ENLARGE IT for easier viewing !!
TIP: If you don't see the icon for the 'FilmOn - Unofficial' private channel at the end of your list of installed apps, just go to Settings > System > System update > Check now on your Roku device and, once you see the on-screen message saying "Your Roku player software is up to date", simply press "OK" followed by the "Home" button on your Roku remote, to return to the main menu. From there... press the 'RIGHT' directional arrowhead key once, followed by a single press of the 'UP' directional arrowhead key, via your Roku remote and you should then see the 'FilmOn - Unofficial' private channel sitting at the end of your list of installed Roku channels! ;-) :-)
Either of these channels could come in handy for users of UK Roku devices if there's any problems with the UK CatchUpTV channels (e.g. if streams are "over-subscribed" and, therefore, unwatchable) and you need an alternative. With both apps installed as a "backup" ahead of time, you should have no worries over missing any of the action. The other good thing, in the case of 'FilmOn - Unofficial' is that it includes a basic "Now/Next" EPG (Electronic Programme Guide) so, if you do happen to need it, you can get instant confirmation of "what's on"... whenever you happen to launch the app!
While we're on the subject... if you'd like the ability to add private Roku channels, without the need to side-load them one at a time, I recommend upgrading to a genuine Roku-branded product rather than messing about with the lightweight 'Roku-Powered' streaming media players you get from NowTV! With 4,900+ extra Roku channels to choose from, over & above the 45 or so on NowTV devices, you won't regret the switch... especially as you can get both 'Netflix' & 'Amazon Video', plus 'TVPlayer' as well as still having access to all of the 'NowTV' passes, on all original UK Roku products! ;-) :-D
Anyway, for those among you who enjoy the splendour of the 'Opening Ceremony' on occasions such as this, you may (or may not) be pleased to hear that pop star Robbie Williams has been chosen to raise the curtain on this year's event, performing live from the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, ahead of the first match between hosts Russia and Saudi Arabia. If that's what floats your boat, you have the option to watch it on Roku via either 'ITV Hub', or 'TVPlayer', or the 'FilmOn - Unofficial' private channel... although, for those with NowTV branded devices, it's 'ITV Hub' only. Either way, you'll first need to find the live feed for 'ITV', or 'ITV HD', within your chosen streaming channel (app) and you can then expect things to get underway from 2:30pm on Thursday 14th June 2018, with live coverage of the opening match from 'Group A' due to commence at 3:45pm (also via the 'ITV' channel) and kick-off set for 4:00pm as the host nation take on the team (Saudi Arabia) coached by Juan Antonio Pizzi, who was previously with the Chilean national team. The remaining matches from the tournament will be covered (on an individual basis) by 'BBC' and 'ITV', with both showing the final live. Any matches played simultaneously on 'BBC' will be made available via the 'Red Button', which is where the 'BBC Sports' app (i.e. Roku channel) comes in handy. In the case of 'ITV' these games will be on 'ITV4', which can also be streamed via 'ITV Hub', and (as with the 'BBC' channels) you also have the option to view these live streams on the Roku app from 'TVPlayer', or else the 'FilmOn - Unofficial' private channel, if you own a genuine Roku-branded device. As a matter of personal preference, I'd go with the main channels (i.e. 'BBC iPlayer', 'BBC Sports, and 'ITV HUb') as first choice options... since the live streams are (typically) of better quality than those provided by either 'TVPlayer' or the 'FilmOn - Unofficial' private channel, but they are there if needed! ;-) :-)
If, for whatever reason, you are unable to use 'BBC iPlayer', 'BBC Sports' and/or 'ITV Hub'... e.g. if you happen to be a Roku customer from one of the other countries and/or regions around the planet (e.g. France, USA, Canada, Mexico, Latin America, etc.) then read-on for further details of when and where individual matches are taking place, as well as on which channels they're being broadcast, plus information as to how you can live stream (many of) those channels on Roku where you live. HINT: You will need to scroll down quite a long way through this article, past all of the UK broadcast times for the "Group Stage" matches, as well as the fixture information for the "Knockout Stage", plus the individual group fixture listings from 'Group A' to 'Group H', before you come to the broadcast info for all of the non-UK countries and Roku regions around the world - but, it is there, I promise! ;-) :-)
Meanwhile... I'm going to stick to the live coverage available to UK Roku users for now and, having installed the required Roku channels (if you hadn't already done so prior to reading this post), the most important thing to know is WHEN your team will be playing and ON WHICH CHANNEL you can expect to LIVE STREAM any given match via your Roku and/or NowTV devices. To that end, I have summarised the upcoming match fixtures (in date order) together with the relevant channel info so you can easily find which games are streaming on any given day and at what time:-
Thursday 14th June
4pm - Russia 5 - 0 Saudi Arabia.................................LIVE STREAMED ON 'ITV' VIA 'ITV Hub'
*** The host nation get off to a flying start, with a comfortable victory over Saudi Arabia in Moscow thanks to goals from Gazinskiy (12'), Cheryshev (43', 90'+1), Dzyuba (71'), Golovin (90'+4)! :-) ***
Friday 15th June
1pm - Egypt 0 - 1 Uruguay...................................LIVE STREAMED ON 'BBC 1' VIA 'BBC iPlayer'
*** A sub-par Uruguay snatch a late victory over Egypt in Yekaterinburg thanks to a headed goal by Jose Giménez (90'), while Egyptian striker Mo' Salah spends the whole match on the bench! :-( ***
4pm - Morocco 0 - 1 Iran...............................................LIVE STREAMED ON 'ITV' VIA 'ITV Hub'
*** Iran win their first match at a World Cup finals since 1998, as Moroccan sub Aziz Bouhaddouz put the ball into his own net with a diving header in the 95th minute to lose in Saint Petersburg! :-O ***
7pm - Portugal 3 - 3 Spain...................................LIVE STREAMED ON 'BBC 1' VIA 'BBC iPlayer'
*** A hat-trick for Ronaldo (4', 44', 88'), plus a brace for Diego Costa (24', 55'), and a superb strike from Nacho (58') see Portugal and Spain share the honours in a six-goal thriller from Sochi! :-) ***
Saturday 16th June
11am - France 2 - 1 Australia..............................LIVE STREAMED ON 'BBC 1' VIA 'BBC iPlayer'
*** France steal victory in a match which saw the first ever goal to be awarded by Video Assistant Referee (VAR) at the World Cup finals, when a controversial decision penalised Australian defender Josh Risdon for a foul that led to a goal by Antoine Griezmann (58') from the penalty spot. Less than five minutes later, Australia were level once more, when French defender Samuel Umtiti gave away a penalty after the ball struck his arm. After Mile Jedinak's equaliser (62'), the Aussies looked to be on course for (at least) a well-deserved draw... but, just ten minutes from the end of the match, a lobbed effort by Paul Pogba deflected down off the crossbar (after seemingly striking the Australian full-back, Aziz Behich, en-route to the goal) to fall just inches over the line and, having also been confirmed by goal-line technology, Pogba's winner (80') ensured France took all three points in Kazan! :-O ***
2pm - Argentina 1 - 1 Iceland.......................................LIVE STREAMED ON 'ITV' VIA 'ITV Hub'
*** Argentina took an early lead with a superb strike from Sergio Agüero (19'), to score what was his first-ever World Cup goal, but Iceland were quick to level the tie through Alfred Finnbogason (23') who scored the first-ever World Cup goal for the Icelandic squad. With things all square at half-time, more VAR controversy followed in the second-half when there was an incorrectly awarded penalty (after Hordur Magnusson of Iceland was alleged to have fouled Sergio Agüero) which the Video Assistant Referee failed to correct. Fortunately for the Icelandic team, this error was quickly negated when Hannes Halldorsson saved the subsequent penalty kick, taken by five-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi, to deny the Argentinian squad the opportunity to go back in front. Iceland continued to frustrate the Argentine side, who failed to overcome the disciplined, defensive tactics of the Icelandic team, and the match in Moscow resulted in a well-deserved draw and a valuable point for Iceland! :-) ***
5pm - Peru 0 - 1 Denmark..................................LIVE STREAMED ON 'BBC 1' VIA 'BBC iPlayer'
*** A single goal by Yussuf Poulsen (59') on the counter-attack, coupled with some superb defending by the Danish side, was enough to secure the team from Denmark a hard-fought victory in Saransk. If Peru had not missed their opportunity to go in front from the penalty spot in the first-half, then things might have turned-out differently. Then again, they may not even have had that chance were it not for the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) coming into play for the second time today, after Gambian referee Bakary Gassama had initially missed Poulsen sliding-in and taking-out the standing leg of Peruvian mid-fielder Christian Cueva. Luckily, the VAR team spotted the incident & play was pulled-back with Gassama checking the footage before signalling for a penalty. Not so lucky was Cueva who, after his spot-kick had blazed over the bar, left the pitch in tears at half-time. The only consolation is that Peru were (overall) the side with the most flair over the course of the match and, for what it's worth, Messi missed his penalty earlier today as well - proving things like that happen to the best of them! :-( ***
8pm - Croatia 2 - 0 Nigeria...........................................LIVE STREAMED ON 'ITV' VIA 'ITV Hub'
*** An own-goal in the first-half by recent Stoke City signing Oghenekaro Etebo (32') followed by a successful penalty conversion in the second-half by Luka Modric (71'), after William Troost-Ekong wrestled Mario Mandzukic to the ground during a Croatian corner kick, was enough to secure three points for Croatia at the end of a lacklustre 'Group D' match against Nigeria in Kaliningrad! :-/ ***
Sunday 17th June
1pm - Costa Rica 0 - 1 Serbia.........................................LIVE STREAMED ON 'ITV' VIA 'ITV Hub'
*** A dominant second-half display from Serbia, which saw a spectacular free kick curled-in from 25 yards by former Manchester City defender Aleksandar Kolarov (56') gave Serbia a deserved victory in their opening World Cup 'Group E' match against Costa Rica. The margin of victory would have been greater had the Serbian side not squandered several other gilt-edged opportunities to put the game beyond the reach of their Costa Rican opponents but, in the end, a single goal from captain Kolarov was sufficient to ensure it was Mladen Krstajic's Serbia side who emerged victorious in Samara! :-) ***
4pm - Germany 0 - 1 Mexico...............................LIVE STREAMED ON 'BBC 1' VIA 'BBC iPlayer'
*** México provide the first shock win of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals, after a brilliant first-half goal from Hirving Lozano (35') earned the Mexican side a well-deserved victory over Germany at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. This result means the German team have become the third champions in succession to start the defence of their World Cup title without a win, following Italy in 2010 and Spain in 2014, as well as the first German side to lose an opening game in the tournament since 1982. Meanwhile, Mexico have now won their opening World Cup game for the fifth time in 6 tournaments (having drawn the other one) and have lost just two of their past 18 World Cup "Group Stage" games (with 9 wins, and 7 draws). The icing on the cake for 'El Tri' - if inflicting the first World Cup defeat on 'Die Mannschaft' since Spain in 2010 was not enough - is late substitute, Rafael Marquez, became only the third player in World Cup history to feature in five world cup finals (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018) along with fellow countryman Antonio Carbajal (1950, 1954, 1958, 1962 and 1966) plus Lothar Mattheus of Germany (1982, 1986, 1990, 1994 and 1998) - way to go, México ! ;-) :-) ***
7pm - Brazil 1 - 1 Switzerland........................................LIVE STREAMED ON 'ITV' VIA 'ITV Hub'
*** Despite an early(-ish) goal by Philippe Coutinho (20'), with a wonderful curling shot from outside the box, pre-tournament favourites Brazil failed to extend their lead and Coutinho's strike remained their only effort on target until the 77th minute. Meanwhile, the Swiss managed to rob the Brazilians of their half-time lead by levelling the score with a headed goal from Steven Zuber (50') that denied Brazil of a victory in their opening game of a World Cup for the first time since 1978. With very little time left on the clock a header from Neymar went straight into the hands of Yann Sommer, who also saved a late header from Brazilian substitute Roberto Firmino, and, after defender Miranda had shot wide in the dying stages, Brazil had to settle for a single point. Switzerland, on the other hand, will no doubt consider theirs to be a more valuable point having earned the draw in Rostov-On-Don! :-) ***
Monday 18th June
1pm - Sweden 1 - 0 South Korea...................................LIVE STREAMED ON 'ITV' VIA 'ITV Hub'
*** A disappointing performance from South Korea, who failed to register a single shot on target in ninety minutes, was to blame for their defeat by a Swedish side marking their first appearance at the World Cup Finals for twelve years. Had it not been for the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) this mostly scrappy affair might even have ended as a goalless draw, because the referee in charge originally waved play-on after the incident. However, once the foul by Kim Min-woo on Viktor Claesson had been analysed, a penalty was awarded and captain Andreas Granqvist stepped-up to put Sweden in front, sending the South Korean goalkeeper, Cho Hyun-woo, the wrong way to score from the spot in the sixty-fifth minute. Although the South Koreans were briefly invigorated as a result of going behind it was too little, too late... and the closest they came to a goal was when Koo Ja-cheol headed into the side-netting, which meant it was the Swedes who took all three points in Nizhny Novgorod! :-) ***
4pm - Belgium 3 - 0 Panama...............................LIVE STREAMED ON 'BBC 1' VIA 'BBC iPlayer'
*** After a dull first-half, all it took was a few inspired moments of individual skill to ensure the Belgian team emerged victorious over Panama in Sochi. The first came courtesy of a superb strike by Dries Mertens (47') with a spectacular volley from 15-yards just two minutes into the second-half. That was followed by a brace of goals from Romelu Lukaku (69', 75') thanks to a couple of brilliant assists from two of the biggest names to play for Belgium. The first, a diving header, resulted from an exquisite cross from Kevin de Bruyne with the outside of his right foot... which, itself, came about as the end product of Eden Hazard's tremendous vision to supply the initial pass and set-up the play. The same player also provided a fine through ball, just six minutes later, to (again) set-up Romelu Lukaku with a simple chipped finish for the third goal to round-off a convincing victory over World Cup debutants Panama and set the standard which England must meet in order to advance from 'Group G'! :-) ***
7pm - Tunisia 1 - 2 England................................LIVE STREAMED ON 'BBC 1' VIA 'BBC iPlayer'
*** A brace for Harry Kane (11', 90'+1) ensured that England got their first win in the opening game of a major tournament since they beat Paraguay in the 2006 World Cup. The stoppage-time winner by Kane - a headed goal, from a flick-on by Harry Maguire - no doubt came as a huge relief to both the English team and their fans, after Tunisia had threatened to snatch a point, with the African nation digging-in to frustrate England throughout much of the second-half. Despite a brilliant start to the match, in which the English side deservedly went ahead with little more than 10 minutes on the clock, they were punished for missing a host of other chances when the Tunisians equalised with a goal by Ferjani Sassi (35') from the penalty spot that was awarded as a result of intervention by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) after Kyle Walker elbowed Fakhreddine Ben Youssef. There was further cause for grievance over the decision-making by officials (both on the pitch, as well as in the VAR booth) over their (combined) failure to give England two spot-kicks of their own. Not only did referee, Wilmar Roldan, fail to spot Harry Kane being dragged to the ground by Ferjani Sassi in the first-half, but also when he suffered similar treatment after the break. Both incidents were ignored by match officials, despite having more to do with the sport of rugby (or the world of wrestling), after Kane was clearly wrestled to the ground twice. Considering it was made clear in a (pre-tournament) briefing that any such 'grappling' in the penalty area would be taken very seriously by referees and punished accordingly, England have every right to question why and/or how the rules governing this issue can be applied with such inconsistency. Of course... it could be argued that justice was done in the end, after Kane's late winner for England, but these obvious errors by the officials in Volgograd have undoubtedly stretched the credibility of VAR to the limit. So let's hope that England don't have to rely on it, for any reason, in their next 'Group G' match against Panama on Sunday! :-O ***
Tuesday 19th June
1pm - Colombia 1 - 2 Japan.................................LIVE STREAMED ON 'BBC 1' VIA 'BBC iPlayer'
*** There was early drama at the Mordovia Arena, when Carlos Sanchez of Colombia was sent off for a handball offence, inside the penalty area, with only three minutes on the clock. Shinji Kagawa then opened the scoring for Japan, from the penalty spot, following a further three-minute delay. It was always going to be a struggle for the 10-man Colombian team after that but, in fairness, they put in a spirited performance which resulted in them drawing level just before half-time. A free-kick, not too dissimilar from one scored by Kevin De Bruyne for Manchester City, went under the Japanese wall and over the goal-line from 20-yards and, despite claims to the contrary by Japan's goalkeeper (Kawashima), the goal by Juan Quintero (39') was confirmed thanks to goal-line technology. Things remained level until a headed goal by Yuya Osako (73') earned a victory for Japan in Saransk! :-) ***
4pm - Poland 1 - 2 Senegal............................................LIVE STREAMED ON 'ITV' VIA 'ITV Hub'
*** On a day that had already seen one World Cup "upset" in 'Group H', when Japan beat Colombia, the team from Senegal provided a second when they beat Poland at the Spartak Stadium in Moscow. Not to take anything away from the Senegalese, who didn't really put a foot wrong throughout, but the Polish side did play a big part in mastering their own downfall. Late in the first-half, there was an own-goal by Thiago Cionek (37') and then a costly error by midfielder Krychowiak, who played a careless back-pass intended for Poland goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, but which was then pounced-on by Senegal striker M'Baye Niang who went round the keeper to tap into an empty net on the hour-mark. The Polish midfielder later atoned for his error in part (at least) when a free-kick from Kamil Grosicki led to a headed goal by Grzegorz Krychowiak (86') but it came too late in the game and, being just one of four shots on target from Poland, was not enough to deny Senegal a win (in what was only their second World Cup appearance) and top their group, alongside Japan, with three points! :-) ***
7pm - Russia 3 - 1 Egypt.....................................LIVE STREAMED ON 'BBC 1' VIA 'BBC iPlayer'
*** After a goalless first-half, it took a freak own-goal by Ahmed Fathi (47') of Egypt to set Russia on course for their second victory of the tournament. Around twelve minutes later the Russian side doubled their advantage with a goal by Denis Cheryshev (59'), with assistance from Mario Fernandes who pulled the ball back from the touchline for the forward to finish, which gave the Russian fans at the Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg even more reason to cheer. Having already scored a brace in the first match, against Saudi Arabia, Cheryshev's third goal of the tournament was enough to put him level with Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo as joint top scorer. Meanwhile Artem Dzyuba, another player who had found the net for Russia in their opening game, further showed-off his skills by chesting-down from a lofted ball into the box, taking a single touch to get past Egyptian defender Ali Gabr, and then firing a shot beyond Egypt's goalkeeper Mohamed El-Shenawy to make it 3-0 to Russia just past the hour-mark. With the goal by Artem Dzyuba (62'), meaning Egypt had conceded three goals within 17 minutes of the restart, it seemed unlikely the Egyptian side could recover... and even after a successful penalty conversion by Mohamed Salah (76'), which reduced the deficit to two goals, it was not enough for the team from Egypt to mount a fightback. Worse still, unless Saudi Arabia manage to beat Uruguay in Rostov-on-Don on Wednesday, Egypt will be eliminated from the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals! :-( Russia however, after two straight wins, now look almost certain to advance to the "Knockout Stage" of the competition - which is great news for the host nation! :-) ***
Wednesday 20th June
1pm - Portugal 1 - 0 Morocco..............................LIVE STREAMED ON 'BBC 1' VIA 'BBC iPlayer'
*** A single headed goal for Ronaldo (4'), restoring his lead in the race for the 'Golden Boot', was all it took to give Portugal a victory over Morocco at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. On the balance of play, the Moroccan side did enough to (at least) have warranted a draw by the end of the match... but, despite having created enough chances to do so, they lacked the required finesse with their final touch(es) to get more out of the game. Aside from one notable effort by Younes Belhanda, whose own attempt at a headed goal produced a brilliant one-handed diving save from Portuguese keeper Rui Patricio, too many of their shots at goal flew high and/or wide of the target. Ultimately, this led to huge disappointment for the thousands of Moroccan fans as well as the players they had cheered-on throughout the ninety minutes, because this second win for Portugal not only put the Portuguese on top of the 'Group B' table, but also meant that Morocco were knocked out of the tournament! :-( ***
4pm - Uruguay 1 - 0 Saudi Arabia.......................LIVE STREAMED ON 'BBC 1' VIA 'BBC iPlayer'
*** An error of judgement by the Saudi Arabian goalkeeper, Mohammed Al Owais, led to a goal by Luis Suarez (23') on what was his 100th international appearance for Uruguay. While the team from Egypt put-in an improved performance, eliminating many of the defensive errors which had plagued their opening match against Russia, overall it was another fairly average performance by Uruguay who, once again were (mostly) reliant on the strike partnership of Suarez and Edinson Cavani to see them through to victory at the Rostov Arena in Rostov-On-Don. While it may have been only a small goal-margin... the win by Uruguay guaranteed both their advancement, and that of the host nation, to the "Knockout Stage" as well as eliminating Saudi Arabia from the 2108 FIFA World Cup Finals! :-( ***
7pm - Iran 0 - 1 Spain....................................................LIVE STREAMED ON 'ITV' VIA 'ITV Hub'
*** After a first-half in which the well-drilled defensive unit of Iran had afforded Spain only one shot on target a fluke goal, which ricocheted-in off Diego Costa (54'), from an attempted clearance by Iran defender Ramin Rezaeian was enough for the Spanish side to emerge victorious in Kazan. As things stand Iran's upcoming fixture, against Portugal in Saransk on Monday 25th June, will decide whether (or not) the Iranians will go through to the 'Round of 16' or play no further part in the tournament. A win would see them advance to the "Knockout Stage" for the first time in their history... but even a draw could prove enough, if Spain were to lose their final "Group Stage" match with Morocco. Either way, neither Iran nor Spain have been eliminated from the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals just yet! :-) ***
Thursday 21st June
1pm - Denmark 1 - 1 Australia........................................LIVE STREAMED ON 'ITV' VIA 'ITV Hub'
*** The outcome of this match was decided with two first-half goals... one for Denmark, just seven minutes in from the kick-off, and the other for Australia seven minutes before the half-time whistle. The opening goal by Christian Eriksen (7') gave the Danes their earliest lead in a World Cup match since 1998, and came courtesy of a superb strike from the Tottenham Hotspur player assisted by Nicolai Jorgensen with a clever lay-off to set-up Eriksen's sublime finish. Australia levelled the score in Samara with a goal by Mile Jedinak (38'), who successfully converted a penalty-kick for the third successive time in a World Cup game. However, he might not even have had that opportunity were it not for a(nother) controversial decision from the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) in which an alleged handball offence (at close-range) by Yussuf Poulsen was determined, after further review by the match referee, to warrant a penalty. As it turned-out, after an entirely goalless second-half, it was the spot-kick by Aston Villa's Mile Jedinak which earned the Australian side their first 'Group C' point in this tournament... but, while the 'Socceroos' can still advance to the "Knockout Stage" at the time of writing, it will require other results from the remaining fixtures in their group to go their way! :-O ***
4pm - France 1 - 0 Peru...................................................LIVE STREAMED ON 'ITV' VIA 'ITV Hub'
*** After an unremarkable win over Australia in their opening match, the French side did manage to put on a slightly improved performance against Peru in Yekaterinburg... but still failed to convince that they have what it takes to compete with what will (most likely) be much stronger opposition once they have advanced to the "Knockout Stage" of this competition. After a period of dominance by France in the first-half of this match... leading-up to the goal by Kylian Mbappe (34'), whose simple tap-in shot had stemmed from a deflected attempt by Olivier Giroud, the French team appeared content to sit-back and soak-up any Peruvian pressure for the remainder of the game. No doubt as a result of this approach, Peru went on to have the upper-hand throughout much of the second-half and might even have levelled the score if Pedro Aquino's strike had not cannoned-off the outside of the post. There were other chances for Peru to score... most notably from substitute Jefferson Farfan, whose hooked effort found the side-netting, plus a decent strike by Benfica's Andre Carrillo that also tested Hugo Lloris' goal. Ultimately, however, Ricardo Gareca's side couldn't find the equaliser which they needed to prevent their exit from the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals with one more game still left to play! :-( ***
7pm - Argentina 0 - 3 Croatia...............................LIVE STREAMED ON 'BBC 1' VIA 'BBC iPlayer'
*** In what was a very physical encounter that, as well as the seven yellow cards issued, could easily have seen a couple of players sent-off... the stalemate was finally broken when the Argentine keeper, Willy Caballero, made an absolute howler of an attempted clearance with the ball being given-away to oncoming Croatian forward, Ante Rebic, who fired into the exposed net in the fifty-third minute and opened the scoring for Croatia in Nizhny Novgorod. The dogged defensive display from the Croatian team continued throughout the second-half and neither Lionel Messi nor substitute forwards Gonzalo Higuain and Pablo Dybala could find a way through for Argentina. Then a moment of magic courtesy of a curled shot from range by Lucca Modric (80') extended the lead for Croatia with not much time left for Messi and company to fight back. As the match went into stoppage time, a miserable evening for Argentina was rounded-off with a goal by Ivan Rakitic (90'+1) who rolled-in Croatia's third of the night. The Argentine squad now face the all too real prospect of an early World Cup exit, and are no longer in control of their own destiny, because even a heavy win over Nigeria in their final 'Group D' game on Tuesday 26th June 2018 might not be enough to send them into the next round! :-O ***
Friday 22nd June
1pm - Brazil 2 - 0 Costa Rica........................................LIVE STREAMED ON 'ITV' VIA 'ITV Hub'
*** When you consider that Costa Rica had just 3 shots throughout the entire match, with none of those managing to be "on target" either, it makes you wonder how it remained goalless at the end of ninety minutes in Saint Petersburg... especially when the team they were facing was Brazil!?! :-/ Not that you would have believed 'Los Ticos' were up against the five-time World Cup winning Brazilian nation, because coach Tite's team put-on a (quite frankly) listless performance for most of the first-half. It was clear something would have to change, if Brazil were to secure a much-needed victory, and (after substituting Willian at half-time) the Brazilian team upped the tempo which led to chances for both Neymar Jr. and Gabriel Jesus, whose headed attempt on goal rattled the woodwork, to test the mettle of goalkeeper Keylor Navas who was guarding the net for the Costa Rican side. However, at nil-nil with only fifteen minutes or so remaining, things got more desperate for Brazil and Neymar decided to try and feign being shoved inside the opposition's box, leading to a penalty-kick being awarded by Dutch referee Björn Kuipers. Fortunately for Costa Rica, the decision was overturned after a review by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) and the Dutchman, after watching a replay of the incident himself, immediately over-ruled his original call which denied Brazil the opportunity to go in front. The breakthrough finally came for Brazil after the fourth official had signalled for six minutes of stoppage time to be played. Presumably realising it was a case of "now or never" the deadlock was broken, just a minute later, when Philippe Coutinho managed to fire-in after Brazilian substitute, Roberto Firmino, and Gabriel Jesus had combined to set-up the opportunity for him. Then, in the dying seconds, Brazil's talisman (Neymar Jr.) managed to tuck-in a square ball from Juventus midfielder, Douglas Costa, and score what was the latest stoppage-time goal in a World Cup match since 1966 (FYI: Brazil's second goal was timed at 96:49) to secure all three points for Brazil! :-) ***
4pm - Nigeria 2 - 0 Iceland.................................LIVE STREAMED ON 'BBC 1' VIA 'BBC iPlayer'
*** A brace of second-half goals for Ahmed Musa (49', 75') proved enough to ensure it was Nigeria who emerged victorious over the Icelandic side in Volgograd. Had the Nigerian team not won against World Cup debutants, then the 'Super Eagles' would have faced an early exit from the tournament (joining African rivals: Egypt and Morocco) having already lost (2-0) to Croatia in their opening 'Group D' match. However... after a slow first-half, in which Nigeria became the first team in Russia to not register a shot in the opening 45 minutes of a game, Ahmed Musa and Victor Moses led by example to inspire their team to a vastly superior collective performance in the second-half. By way of contrast, Iceland... who had started the match well, with Sigurdsson having forced two saves from 19-year-old Nigerian goalkeeper Francis Uzoho inside the first five minutes, looked distinctly second best after the interval and were fading fast. Even when they were "gifted" an opportunity to pull-back one goal, after the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) reviewed a foul on Alfred Finnbogason by Tyronne Ebuehi and found in their favour, Sigurdsson's penalty-kick was blasted high and wide. All of which means... Iceland must now beat Croatia in their final "Group Stage" game and hope that Nigeria don't beat Argentina, if they are to progress to the "Knockout Stage" of this tournament. What is abundantly clear, is how this result has left ' Group D' intriguingly poised with just one round of games to go, and may even have given a slight lift to Argentina for whom victory over Nigeria would be enough to see 'La Albiceleste' into the 'Round of 16'- provided (of course) Iceland don't beat Croatia! :-O ***
7pm - Serbia 1 - 2 Switzerland............................LIVE STREAMED ON 'BBC 1' VIA 'BBC iPlayer'
*** After a first-half in which Switzerland struggled to contain what must have felt like a constant barrage of Serbian attacks, one of which resulted in a headed goal by Aleksandar Mitrovic (5') to give Serbia an early lead at the Kaliningrad Stadium, the Swiss side then sprung to life in the second-half. Perhaps it was the half-time substitution of Switzerland's striker Haris Seferovic, who had just five touches in the first forty-five minutes, which revitalised the team from Switzerland... but, whatever the reason, it took just seven minutes from the restart for Granit Xhaka to score a brilliant equaliser driving-home a powerful strike from the edge of the box which left the Serbian goalkeeper, Vladimir Stojkovic, stranded. Not long after the goal by Granit Xhaka (52') which levelled the score at one a piece... Xherdan Shaqiri, who played a far more influential role in the second-half, came close to adding a second goal for the Swiss when his own curled effort from the edge of the box hit the post. Serbia might even have added a second goal themselves, had their strong claim for a second-half penalty not been turned-down by the match officials. However it was left to Stoke City's Shaqiri, who went one-on-one with Serbian centre-back, Dusko Tosic, when teammate Mario Gavranovic found him with a through-ball that he collected near the halfway line, before dribbling away from the defender, and then slotted past Serbia's goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic to score. The goal by Shaqiri (90') was the icing on the cake of a much-improved performance by the Swiss side throughout the second-half. Thanks to this win, Switzerland are now level with Brazil at the top of 'Group E' and can qualify for the "Knockout Stage" with only a draw against Costa Rica in their last game! :-) ***
Saturday 23rd June
1pm - Belgium 5 - 2 Tunisia................................LIVE STREAMED ON 'BBC 1' VIA 'BBC iPlayer'
*** In what turned-out to be the highest-scoring "Group Stage" match of the World Cup so far, the opening goal from the Spartak Stadium came via the penalty-spot with only six minutes of the game played. The early spot-kick was converted by Belgium's Eden Hazard (6') after a quick review of the incident by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) confirmed he had been fouled by Syam Ben Youssef when their knees clashed just inside the area. There then followed the first in another brace of goals for Manchester United's Romelu Lukaku (16') before Tunisia reduced the Belgian advantage with a headed goal from Dylan Bronn (18') just 109 seconds after Lukaku had scored. Unfortunately for the Belgian defender, Bronn was substituted only six minutes later, after what seemed like a serious knee injury which meant he could play no further part for Tunisia in Moscow. The two-goal advantage for Belgium was then re-established, during stoppage-time in the first-half, by Romelu Lukaku (45'+3) with an excellent chipped finish to beat Tunisia's goalkeeper Farouk Ben Mustapha. This latest goal scoring double by Lukaku means the Man Utd. striker is currently joint top-scorer at the tournament, alongside Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, each with four goals to their credit. Early in the second-half, Eden Hazard managed to grab his second goal of the game, latching-on to a fantastic pass from Kevin De Bruyne, managing to find the net (again) and further extend Belgium's lead. Just eight minutes on from the goal by Chelsea player Eden Hazard (51') Romelu Lukaku was substituted for Fellaini and, less than ten minutes after that, Hazard himself was taken-off for a well-deserved rest... with his place being filled by Michy Batshuayi. The Belgian forward spurned several chances to score a fifth goal for his national team but finally found the net when he managed to get on the end of a late cross from Youri Tielemans with a superb, sliding finish to slot home in the 90th minute. Amazingly there was more to come, even as the match went into stoppage time at the end of the second-half, but it was more a consolation goal for Tunisia by Wahbi Khazri (90'+3), rather than a sixth goal for 'The Red Devils', and that won't count for much with the Tunisian side headed for elimination! :-/ ***
4pm - South Korea 1 - 2 Mexico...................................LIVE STREAMED ON 'ITV' VIA 'ITV Hub'
*** The stalemate was broken inside the half-hour mark at the Rostov Arena in Rostov-On-Don, when Jang Hyun-soo slid in on Andres Guardado with referee Milorad Mazic well-positioned to spot the ball striking the South Korean defender's raised arm. No need for the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) to get involved on this one, although there was rather a long delay (with South Korea's keeper Cho Hyun-woo purposefully standing off his line) before Carlos Vela (26') sent him the wrong way to make it 11 penalties converted from a total of 14 awarded (so far) at the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals (FACT: more spot-kicks have now been awarded in Russia than the entire 2014 tournament in Brazil) and it might even have been 15, when Moon Seon-min's shot clipped Salcedo's hand, but the México defender's arm was against his body and the ball struck more of his chest, so there was no penalty for the South Koreans despite their claims for one to be given. Anyway, it took another forty minutes for México to double their advantage... but, when they did, it was from a thrilling counter-attack in which Hirving Lozano made a surging run, driving into space, before passing left to Javier Hernandez, who then checked back and clipped low past South Korean goalkeeper Cho Hyun-woo to score what was his 50th international goal (66') and help the Mexican side get one step closer to the 'Round of 16'. It might even have been a "clean sheet" on the night for Mexico, had Tottenham's Son Heung-min not scored with a stunning late strike during stoppage-time at the end of the second-half. The goal from Son Heung-min (90'+3) was the end result of a sublime, curling attempt from 25 yards and also gave South Korea fleeting hope for a late equaliser... but, sadly for them, it was not to be this time! :-( ***
7pm - Germany 2 - 1 Sweden........................................LIVE STREAMED ON 'ITV' VIA 'ITV Hub'
*** Despite leading at half-time, thanks to a goal by Ola Toivonen (32') which left Joachim Low's German side facing elimination, Sweden were pegged-back just a few minutes after the interval with a goal by Marco Reus (48') which signalled the start of a remarkable comeback from Germany who pretty much took control of the match from that point onwards. There was a slight hiccup, when a second yellow card for Jerome Boateng meant he was sent-off in the 82nd minute, but the German team held-on (after being reduced to ten men) and continued to chase a victory (knowing that a draw would still leave their fate in the hands of others) against the Swedes at the Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi. Fortunately for the Germans, their efforts were rewarded in the final minute of stoppage-time with a goal by Toni Kroos (90'+5) whose injury-time winner from a cleverly executed free-kick saw the ball swept, from the left-side of the penalty area, into the top, far-right corner of the goal to revive Germany's hopes of becoming the first side to retain the World Cup since Brazil in 1962! :-) ***
Sunday 24th June
1pm - England 6 - 1 Panama................................LIVE STREAMED ON 'BBC 1' VIA 'BBC iPlayer'
*** If there was one major shortfall in England's performance, in their opening match against Tunisia on Monday night, it was the failure to be more clinical in front of goal and apply the necessary touch to finish-off the (many) chances they worked so hard to create. However, after a somewhat subdued start to this game against Panama, it soon became clear that steps had been taken to address that flaw with a hat-trick of goals for Harry Kane (22' pen, 45'+1 pen, 62') a brace for John Stones (8', 40') and a spectacular strike by Jesse Lingard (36') whose curled effort from outside the box provided the third goal out of six which England put past Panama at the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium. Aside from a slow start the only other criticism, of the English side's otherwise great game against the Panamanian team in Nizhny Novgorod, would be a defensive error (in which several England players seemed to switch-off during a free-kick for Panama) that led to a consolation goal by Felipe Baloy (78') against Gareth Southgate's side. Nevertheless, it was a convincing victory for England and one which puts them at the top of the 'Group G' table (if only due to having a better disciplinary record than Belgium) before the English team go head-to-head against the Belgian side on Thursday 28th June to determine who will finish first or second in the group. Regardless of the outcome later this week England have now qualified for the "Knockout Stage" before their third and final "Group Stage" match and, the good news is, they're already guaranteed a place in the 'Round of 16' whoever wins on Thursday! :-) ***
4pm - Japan 2 - 2 Senegal....................................LIVE STREAMED ON 'BBC 1' VIA 'BBC iPlayer'
*** The deadlock was broken, with not even one quarter of an hour played, after an awful mistake by Japan's goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima led to a goal by Sadio Mané (11') when an attempted clearance rebounded off the Liverpool forward, at close range, to fly (back) past the keeper and put the Senegal side ahead in this 'Group H' encounter from the Central Stadium in Yekaterinburg. Undeterred, Japan fought back and managed to level the score before the half-time interval thanks to a lovely curling finish by Takashi Inui (34') which ensured the teams started the second-half on an equal footing. It wasn't until the final twenty minutes that a fine, angled finish by Senegalese defender Moussa Wagué (71') looked to have sealed Senegal's second straight 'Group H' win but, mere moments after he came on to replace Kagawa in the 72nd minute, a goal from close range by substitute Keisuke Honda (78') salvaged a vital point for Japan when things remained level until the final whistle. After what was a highly entertaining match, Japan and Senegal each have four points from two games. This means that Japan and Senegal remain on top of their group and well-placed to reach the "Knockout Stage" of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals... where they will face England or Belgium in the last sixteen! :-) ***
7pm - Poland 0 - 3 Colombia.........................................LIVE STREAMED ON 'ITV' VIA 'ITV Hub'
*** In what turned-out to be yet another disappointing display by Poland, who had already lost to the Senegalese team in their opening 'Group G' match, the Colombian side (on the other hand) produced a much-improved performance over that which led to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Japan in their own opening game. That said, it still took until just before half-time for the deadlock to be broken... thanks to a goal by Yerry Mina (40') who was able to nod-in from close range, courtesy of a pin-point cross by James Rodriguez, to put Colombia in front at the Kazan Arena. Then, just after midway through the second-half, a shot by Radamel Falcao (70') driven low into the far corner produced his 30th goal for Colombia which, believe it or not, was only his first at a World Cup - that's quite a shock, when you consider that he is Colombia's all-time highest goalscorer! :-O Anyway, the South Americans were not done yet... and, just five minutes later, James Rodriguez came-up with yet another great assist, taking out three defenders to find Juan Cuadrado with a sublime, whipped pass from the left wing, allowing the former Chelsea forward to cap-off what was a fine team performance by Colombia with an accomplished finish having charged, unchallenged, into the Polish box. The third goal for the Colombians', by Juan Cuadrado (75'), rounded-off an impressive victory in Kazan, ending any hopes of the Poland squad reaching the 'Round of 16' at the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals, while also giving Colombia a shot at progressing to the "Knockout Stage" if they can beat Senegal on Thursday! :-) ***
Monday 25th June
3pm - Uruguay 3 - 0 Russia............................................LIVE STREAMED ON 'ITV' VIA 'ITV Hub'
*** With Uruguay and Russia already through to the 'Round of 16', having both won their opening two games in the "Group Stage" of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals, this match at the Samara Arena was all about deciding who finished first or second in 'Group A' to determine which team(s) they will play when they progress to the "Knockout Stage" of the tournament. Despite convincing victories in their previous matches against Egypt (5-0) and Saudi Arabia (3-1) the host nation found themselves behind after only ten minutes in Samara, after the Russian defence man-handled two of the Uruguay players from the end of their defensive wall (presumably) to give their goalkeeper a better view of the free-kick which was about to be taken... but the move backfired, because it also gave Louis Suarez a clear look at the goal, enabling the ball to be drilled low, hard & fast into the corner of the net. There was no chance for the Russian keeper to get down in time and prevent the goal by Louis Suarez (10') partly because his feet left the grass (when he made an ill-timed jump) at the exact moment Suarez hit the ball, meaning there was no way for him to propel his body across the goalmouth to make a save. Less than fifteen minutes later, the Uruguayan team doubled their advantage... when a Diego Laxalt effort from 25 yards was deflected-in, with Russian goalkeeper Igor Akifneev left stranded, resulting in an own-goal by Denis Cheryshev (23') to further dampen the spirits of the host nation. Worse was yet to come, when Russia's defender Igor Smolnikov picked up a second yellow card that resulted in his being sent-off just 35 minutes into his World Cup debut. The subsequent re-shuffle of the team, following the sending-off, saw Denis Cheryshev replaced by Figueira Fernandesat (38') which probably didn't help Russia, in terms of their need to score (at least) three goals if they were to win the match, with Cheryshev already having found the net three times in two games from their earlier "Group Stage" matches. Fortunately the 10-man Russian team soon composed themselves and were able to get to half-time without conceding further. After the interval they even managed to control the flow of the game for much of the time and were rewarded with chances for Artem Dzuba, who fired wildly over the bar from inside the box, plus Fedor Smelov who also failed to find a finish. The final nail in the coffin for Russia, as far as this match is concerned, came from Edinson Cavani... who finally got his first goal of the tournament, stabbing-in from close range, after an Igor Akinfeev parry landed close to his feet - and, with the goal by Edinson Cavani (90') sealing victory for his team, hosts Russia will enter the last 16 as runners-up, while Uruguay are 'Group A' winners ! :-) ***
3pm - Saudi Arabia 2 - 1 Egypt...................................LIVE STREAMED ON 'ITV 4' VIA 'ITV Hub'
*** With Saudi Arabia and Egypt already out of the tournament, having both lost their opening two games in the "Group Stage" of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals, this match at the Volgograd Arena was all about deciding who finished third or fourth in 'Group A' plus maybe salvage a point (or three) to avoid going-out on a "duck" without either a win, or a single draw, to their credit. Despite seeming like an unremarkable match, there were actually several notable firsts and/or record achievements set during the opening forty-five minutes in Volgograd... such as when Egypt's goalkeeper, El Hadary, became the oldest player to feature in a World Cup match. At 45 years 161 days, he beat the previous record held by Faryd Mondragon of Colombia (43 years 3 days) which was set at Brazil 2014. Then... when Liverpool forward, Mohamed Salah, scored his second goal of the FIFA World Cup 2018 to give Egypt the lead - with a brilliant lob over Saudi keeper Yasser Al-Mosailem in the 22nd minute - it was their first World Cup goal from open play since 1934. Thereafter, while he might have been the oldest player on the field, Egypt's Essam El Hadary was able to pull-off a fantastic save from the spot after Ahmed Fathy committed a handball offence. Fahad Al Muwallad had taken the spot-kick but his strike was pushed onto the bar by the veteran goalkeeper, who dived low and to his right, to deny the Saudi striker in the 41st minute. However when Saudi Arabia were awarded a second penalty during stoppage-time at the end of the half, after a review by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) confirmed that Ali Gabr had pulled-down Al Muwallad in the area, he was unable to repeat the feat. This time, Salman Al Faraj took over spot-kick duties and set another new record when his penalty goal, scored after 50 minutes and 36 seconds, became the latest goal scored in the first-half of a World Cup game since 1966. With the score level after the interval, the 45-year-old Egyptian keeper went on to make further spectacular saves throughout the remainder of the match - including two exceptional stops from headed attempts by Hussain Al-Mogahwi and Mohannad Aseri - however, just when it seemed like Egypt had earned their first point of the tournament, a late angled shot in stoppage-time with just seconds left to play resulted in a goal by Salem Al Dawsari (90'+5) for Saudi Arabia. Unfortunately, despite this match being the first time that Egypt have ever led in a World Cup game, the final result does mean they end their campaign pointless... but with three points from a match that also saw the Saudi's score their first goal(s) of the tournament, as well as getting their first World Cup win since 1994, this was a great way for Saudi Arabia to bow-out of the competition! :-) ***
7pm - Iran 1 - 1 Portugal....................................LIVE STREAMED ON 'BBC 1' VIA 'BBC iPlayer'
*** In what was a highly competitive match, with an above average share of VAR controversy, there was lots to frustrate the Portuguese side from a defensively well-drilled Iranian team who were also quite dangerous on the break over much of the first-half at the Mordovia Arena in Saransk. In fact, it wasn't until a moment of sheer brilliance which resulted in a goal by Ricardo Quaresma (45') who cut in from the right, played a quick one-two, then curled a right-footed shot from the edge of the box into the top far corner of the net with the outside of his boot, that the deadlock was broken. Once the match resumed, after the interval, play was repeatedly broken up by fouls, plus multiple incidents that required a review by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), and plenty of protests in response to tackles from both sides, throughout most of the second-half. The VAR controversy began with the eventual awarding of a penalty to Portugal, after referee Enrique Caceres had originally waived-away appeals for a spot-kick when Cristiano Ronaldo had gone down under the challenge of Iran's Saeid Ezatolahi. Having checked the VAR himself, his original decision was reversed by the referee and the striker was given a chance to double the Portuguese advantage. However, the Real Madrid player was denied a goal by Iran's goalkeeper Ali Beiranvand, who dived low (and to his left) to save the right-footed kick from Ronaldo which was headed for the bottom corner. Despite Portugal failing to convert their penalty-kick, the game became even more heated as a result of that controversial VAR decision, with both sides asking for further reviews, but it was Ronaldo himself who became the subject of the next review... when he caught Morteza Pouraliganji in the face with a flailing arm, as he attempted to get in front of the Iranian, and should probably have received a red card, but escaped with only a yellow card after a lengthy stoppage (while the referee watched replays on the VAR pitch-side TV monitor) which meant Portugal's striker remained on the field, despite the protests of the Iranians. Perhaps the most controversial decision, however, came in second-half stoppage time... when Iran played a deep cross towards Sardar Azmoun whose knockdown hit the outstretched arm of defender Cedric Soares, from close range, as he jumped to head the ball. At the time, the referee deemed the incident to be not worthy of a penalty but once again, after viewing replays on the VAR pitch-side monitor, he changed his original call and ultimately chose to award the penalty. The resulting penalty-kick led to a goal by Karim Ansarifard (90'+3) and, as well as being the latest goal which Portugal have ever conceded in a World Cup match, meant that both of Iran's goals at the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals were scored in injury time (94:06 against Morocco, 92:48 against Portugal). Unfortunately for Portugal, the late goal for Iran denied the European champions top spot in 'Group B' and means that they will play 'Group A' winners, Uruguay, in Sochi on Saturday, rather than runners-up Russia. As for Ronaldo, his penalty miss and overall failure to score in this match means he remains on four goals for the tournament, one behind England's Harry Kane, in the race for the 'Golden Boot'! :-) ***
7pm - Spain 2 - 2 Morocco................................LIVE STREAMED ON 'BBC 4' VIA 'BBC iPlayer'
*** The performances from Spain have been hit or miss so far: excellent against Portugal, but still having to settle for a draw, and; poor against Iran, despite ending the match with a win. Their final "Group Stage" match proved to be a mix of the two, with their defence looking decidedly average when pressed. The first evidence of this came early in the first-half, when a lapse in concentration led to a loose return pass from Andres Iniesta to Sergio Ramos, allowing Morocco to break through with the end result being a goal by Khalid Boutaïb (14') giving Morocco a surprise lead at the Kaliningrad Stadium. To their credit Spain were quick to level the score, after an excellent passage of play which involved an exchange of passes between Iniesta and Diego Costa with the latter cutting-back from the by-line for a superb equaliser from Isco (19') who was able to steer the ball high into the net just five minutes after Morocco had taken a shock lead in Kaliningrad. However, the Spanish team continued to be "off-key" defensively whenever they came under pressure and Khalid Boutaïb was only denied a second goal by the legs of David de Gea after a quick throw by Hakim Ziyech had put him clear to shoot on goal. In the second-half, Nordin Amrabat was also desperately unlucky not to score when his shot had left David de Gea motionless but ended-up coming back off the woodwork. However, Morocco's persistence was eventually rewarded when a corner-kick by substitute Faycal Fajr led to a spectacular headed goal by Youssef En-Nesyri (81') that looked to have won it for the Moroccan side. Unfortunately for Iran any hope of victory over Spain was crushed, during stoppage-time at the end of the second-half, when a low cross from Dani Carvajal was flicked-in by Iago Aspas (90'+1) to end the match with a draw. So, despite an(other) unconvincing performance, Spain emerged as winners of their group - helped by the other result from 'Group B', between Iran and Portugal, going their way - securing a 'Round of 16' tie against Russia in the "Knockout Stage"! :-) ***
Tuesday 26th June
3pm - Denmark 0 - 0 France...........................................LIVE STREAMED ON 'ITV' VIA 'ITV Hub'
*** Even before a single ball had been kicked in this final 'Group C' encounter between Denmark and France at the Luzhniki Stadium, the Danish team knew all they needed was a draw from the game to give them the one-point required to guarantee that, even if Australia beat Peru in their last 'Group C' match, they would qualify for the "Knockout Stage of the tournament. Likewise... win, lose, or draw, the outcome of their final "Group Stage" game mattered very little to the French side, who were assured of progress to the 'Round of 16' in this 2018 FIFA World Cup whatever the result. Moreover, a victory for the Peruvian side over the Australian team would mean that both Denmark and France would go through regardless of the final result in their game. No surprise then... that, once news of a first (and, perhaps, more significantly a second) goal for Peru filtered through to the squads from France and Denmark in Moscow, there was even less incentive for the Danes (mostly) and for the French (to a lesser extent) to make any effort to win their own match. So, as you might expect, the game was played-out as the very definition of a "no score bore" from that point on. The Danish team simply "parked the bus", as the saying goes, while the French side (who had already toyed with some changes before the game) made several substitutions during the second-half (presumably to give a few of their squad a run-out in this "dead rubber" of a match) but there was little or no impact made from any of this tinkering and, if anything, the only difference was that both sides simply increased their "safety first" approach as the game wore on... and "wear on" it did, if the whistles from the fans growing louder and louder was any measure of how unspectacular this match was. By the end of it, although both teams got what was needed (points-wise) from the game and qualified for the last 16, they were jeered and even boo'ed at the final whistle for their part(s) in the first goal-less draw of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals which, until today, had managed to go thirty-six games without one... and, on that note, as they said on 'ITV' earlier today - "...let's never speak of this game again"! ;-) ***
3pm - Australia 0 - 2 Peru............................................LIVE STREAMED ON 'ITV 4' VIA 'ITV Hub'
*** After 1-0 defeats to both Denmark and France in their opening two games Peru had no chance of progressing any further in the tournament, so the only result which might have made a difference to the final outcome in 'Group C' was if Australia won at the Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi and also that France beat Denmark in their last group match. As it turned out, neither of those things came to be... because the Peruvian team took an early lead after a goal by Andre Carrillo (18') whose fine, low-struck volley from 15-yards gave the estimated 40,000+ fans who travelled to Russia from Peru something to cheer about. Only a few minutes later, some excellent defending from Peru's Anderson Santamaria denied Mathew Leckie (Australia) the opportunity to score a close-range equaliser, but Australia struggled to create many more clear-cut chances after that until five minutes from half-time when Trent Sainsbury's header from close-range missed the target. Soon after the interval, Peru were able to double their advantage, thanks to a goal by their captain Paolo Guerrero (50') who spun round in the centre of the box before scoring with a left-footed shot to the bottom right corner. Barely two minutes later Mile Jedinak missed a chance to pull one back for the Aussies when his header from the centre of the box was saved by Peruvian goalkeeper Pedro Gallese. A similar opportunity presented itself to Jedinak around seven minutes later but, once again, he failed to take advantage of it. Several other attempts by Australia, over the next ten minutes or so, were either blocked or missed their mark as Peru fought hard to defend their two goal lead. Christian Cueva also hit the post late-on for Peru but it made no difference because, at the end of ninety minutes, Peru had done enough to record their first win at a World Cup finals since 1978. For Australia it was a disappointing way to bow out of the competition but, for Paolo Guerrero and his team, it was a fully deserved win by Peru! :-) ***
7pm - Nigeria 1 - 2 Argentina............................LIVE STREAMED ON 'BBC 1' VIA 'BBC iPlayer'
*** In what was a "must win" match for Argentina at the Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg, they took an early lead against Nigeria thanks to a goal by Lionel Messi (14') who put his side ahead with a right-footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner, after a through-ball from Éver Banega. Less than fifteen minutes later, Messi provided the assist for another attempt on goal by Argentina... but the right-footed shot, from the right side of the box, by Gonzalo Higuaín was saved. Not long after that, Messi attempted a left-footed shot from outside the box which was saved as it headed for the bottom right corner of the goal. Nigeria then missed an opportunity to level the score when a right-footed shot, from outside the box, by Oghenekaro Etebo wound-up going to the left of the target. A further chance to reduce Argentina's advantage was squandered during stoppage-time at the end of the first-half, when a headed attempt by Leon Balogun from Kelechi Iheanacho's cross was also stopped by the Argentinian goalkeeper. However it didn't take long, after the restart, for Balogun to draw a foul in the Argentine penalty area, conceded by Javier Mascherano - who then also received a yellow card for the offence - before Victor Moses stepped-up to take the resulting spot-kick. The Chelsea player played it cool and successfully converted the penalty with a right-footed shot to the centre of the goal. The equaliser by Victor Moses (51') from the penalty spot was just the start to the second-half that his Nigerian side needed, after several missed chances before half-time, but neither team could find that all important second goal and the twenty minute period which followed Nigeria's penalty conversion was nothing but a series of fouls and free-kicks with the odd corner thrown-in for good measure. Eventually Nigeria did get another opportunity to go in front, with an attempt on goal by Wilfred Ndidi, but the right-footed shot from outside the box was a bit too high to find the target. Likewise a subsequent attempt by Odion Ighalo with a right-footed shot from the centre of the box, less than five minutes after Ndidi's missed effort, also went wide of the mark. Around ten minutes later, there were further chances for Argentina to restore their lead in the match... but the left-footed shot by Nicolás Tagliafico, from the left side of the box, was blocked and another left-footed attempt, this time by Gonzalo Higuaín, from the centre of the box was too high and missed the target. Moments after that another chance fell to Nigeria but the right-footed shot by Odion Ighalo, from the left side of the box, was saved as it headed for the bottom left corner of the goal. Another miss came soon after for Nigeria, when Oghenekaro Etebo stepped-up to take a direct free-kick for his team but, although the right-footed shot went close, he shot just wide of the top right corner and could only find the side-netting. Then, just when it was looking like the sub-par Argentinian team were headed for an early exit, Manchester United defender Marcos Rojo surged into the area where he scored a brilliant late volley (86') placing Gabriel Mercado's cross into the bottom corner with a right-footed shot from the centre of the box. Once the ragged Argentine defence had managed to hold-on for the remainder of the ninety minutes, plus an additional five minutes of stoppage-time, they had done just enough to get their side through to the 'Round of 16' with Iceland's loss to Croatia, in the other 'Group D' match, securing Argentina's position as runners-up and meaning they now face 'Group C' winners France in the "Knockout Stage" of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals! :-) ***
7pm - Iceland 1 - 2 Croatia................................LIVE STREAMED ON 'BBC 4' VIA 'BBC iPlayer'
*** With the Croatian side having already qualified for the "Knockout Stage" of the tournament, by winning their first two "Group Stage" matches, the outcome of this final 'Group D' encounter was of little importance to them... safe in the knowledge that, win, lose, or draw, they had already done what was required of them to progress to the last sixteen in these 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals. The Nordic side, on the other hand, knew that nothing less than a win at the Rostov Arena in Rostov-On-Don was good enough if they were to stand any chance of reaching the 'Round of 16' and maintaining progress in this competition. In fact, it's probably fair to say the result of this game mattered more to Iceland, Argentina and (to a marginally lesser extent) Nigeria than it did to Croatia - and that was before any of these final 'Group D' games had even begun. Unfortunately for the team from Iceland, there were no goals in the first-half of this "must-win" game, despite Alfred Finnbogason and Birkir Bjarnason both going close during the opening forty-five minutes. Worse still, Croatia went ahead early in the second-half when a right-footed shot from the centre of the box led to a goal by Milan Badelj (53') who slammed the ball into the top left corner to give the Icelandic side even more of a mountain to climb if they wanted to win. On the plus side, it forced Iceland to chase the game and they soon hit the bar through a Sverrir Ingi Ingason header only a minute after a previous headed attempt on goal (also from Ingason) had been saved by the Croatian keeper. They then kept up the pressure with an attempt by Johann Berg Gudmundsson, whose left-footed shot from outside the box was blocked, and another from Gylfi Sigurdsson whose right-footed shot from the right-hand side of the box did come close, but just missed going-in the top right corner of the goal. Further missed and/or blocked chances came for both sides, before Gylfi Sigurdsson eventually won and successfully converted a penalty, with a right-footed shot to the high centre of the goal, which levelled the score after Dejan Lovren had committed a handball offence inside the area. Barely a minute after drawing level, Iceland got a chance to go in front when a left-footed attempt by Johann Berg Gudmundsson, from outside the box, was saved as it headed for the top centre of the goal. After that Croatia missed some chances of their own to go in front with attempts from Dejan Lovren, Ivan Perisic, Ivan Rakitic, and Andrej Kramaric all failing to find the target, before a left-footed shot from the left side of the box resulted in a goal by Ivan Perisic (90') who fired past the keeper into the top right corner. Once stoppage-time began, there were further chances for both Croatia (through Ivan Rakitic) and Iceland (through Aron Gunnarsson) but both missed their attempts on goal, meaning the Icelandic side did not get the win they needed while the Croatian team secured top spot in 'Group D' with maximum points from their three games. The reward for their efforts is to progress to the "Knockout Stage" of the 2018 FIFA World Cup where they face Denmark in the 'Round of 16' on Sunday 1st July! :-) ***
Wednesday 27th June
3pm - South Korea 2 - 0 Germany.....................LIVE STREAMED ON 'BBC 1' VIA 'BBC iPlayer'
*** All Germany needed was a win against South Korea in their final 'Group F' match at the Kazan Arena to stand a good chance of qualifying for the "Knockout Stage" regardless of the end result in the other 'Group F' match between Mexico and Sweden. On paper, at least, this ought to have been well within their capabilities. Let's not forget Germany are the current World Cup champions (i.e. ranked 1st) while the South Korean team are only ranked 57th in the world, according to recent FIFA rankings. However, things don't always turn-out as you might expect them to... and what was to follow over the course of ninety-plus minutes in this game certainly proved that to be the case. Both sides had chances to score in the first-half, but neither Germany nor South Korea managed to convert any of the attempts from the opportunities they created, although I'm fairly sure the South Koreans would've been happier with the match remaining goal-less at the interval. On reflection, it's probably fair to say that the German side had (slightly) the better of the opening forty-five minutes but nil-nil it was, as they returned to the dressing room at half-time, so they had nothing to show for their efforts. The second-half continued pretty much along the same lines, with Germany notching-up three times as many attempts on goal (whether blocked, missed, or saved) as their South Korean opponents in the remainder of the ninety minutes. However, things took a turn for the worse (as far as Germany were concerned) or for the better (from a South Korea perspective) once the game went into stoppage-time at the end of the second-half. For starters, there was the left-footed shot from very close range which resulted in a goal by Kim Young-Gwon (90'+2) who fired the ball into the top right corner following a corner. Initially this was ruled-out for offside but, following a review by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), the original decision was overturned and the goal stood - leaving Germany on the brink of elimination from the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals. With time rapidly running-out, and the German side appearing increasingly desperate, goalkeeper Manuel Neuer abandoned his goal and came onto the field to aid the German attack... but he then lost possession in the opponents' half and, with the German goal left unattended, a quick-thinking Ju Se-jong launched the ball forward for his team-mate Son Heung-min to race forward and tap into an empty net for South Korea's second of the match. The goal by Son Heung-Min (90'+6) prompted jubilant celebrations from the South Korean team and their fans, not to mention being very well-received by the team from Mexico (as well as the Mexican fans) who were relying on a victory for South Korea to maintain their own progress in the tournament. In the remaining few minutes of stoppage time, Germany did (at least) manage to muster four more shots on goal: one for Thomas Müller (blocked); another for Julian Brandt (saved), plus; two attempts from Mats Hummels, whose left-footed shot from the centre of the box was blocked, while a headed attempt which came from a corner, conceded by Jang Hyun-Soo just after that, could only find the bar. Ultimately, however, defending champions Germany were unable to avoid defeat and it was the team from South Korea who emerged victorious, in what must have been one of the biggest shocks in the competition's history. To put things into perspective, this was the first time since 1938 that a team from West Germany (or the unified Germany equivalent) has not advanced beyond the first stage of the tournament. On the plus side, maybe Manchester City forward Leroy Sane and Mario Gotze, who scored the winner in the 2014 final against Argentina, might not feel quite so bad about having been left out of the German squad for this particular World Cup tournament... now that Germany's hopes of becoming the first team to retain the World Cup since Brazil (1958 and 1962) have ended in such a hugely embarrassing fashion as this. Posession (of which Germany had 74% in this match) may be nine-tenths of the law, but it didn't prevent South Korea from "stealing" a victory in Kazan! ;-) ***
3pm - Mexico 0 - 3 Sweden...............................LIVE STREAMED ON 'BBC 2' VIA 'BBC iPlayer'
*** Prior to kick-off in this final 'Group F' encounter between Mexico and Sweden, all that was needed was a draw (to earn them a single point) if the Mexican team were to remain at the top of the group and go through to the "Knockout Stage" as 'Group F' winners. The Swedish side, however, had to win this game to be sure of qualifying for the 'Round of 16' and remain in the tournament. Things were further complicated by the fact that a win for Germany, in their final group game against South Korea, could eliminate Mexico if the Mexican side lost to Sweden... so there was plenty to play for at the Central Stadium in Yekaterinburg. Sweden definitely hit the ground running and had forced a save from the Mexican keeper inside the first five minutes, when Emil Forsberg struck from long-range with a right-footed shot from a difficult angle, left of the target, which was saved as it headed for the top centre of the goal. Five minutes later, Mexico also had a chance to take an early lead... but despite the left-footed shot, by Miguel Layún, from outside the box going close his attempt just missed the right side of the goal. Over the next ten minutes or so, the Swedish side missed four more chances to go in front, including: two more attempts from Emil Forsberg, both of which were placed too high, and a headed attempt by Andreas Granqvist, from the centre of the box, plus a right-footed shot from very close range by Marcus Berg... both of which missed to the left. During that same time-period, Carlos Vela of Mexico also attempted a couple of left-footed shots, one of which was missed and the other blocked so, at midway through the first-half, there was still no score from either side. Further chances followed for Mexico, with two blocked attempts by Héctor Moreno: one a header from the centre of the box, and; the other a right-footed shot from a difficult angle on the left, plus a left-footed shot from outside the box, by Andrés Guardado, which missed to the right. Soon after... yet another chance came along for Emil Forsberg to score for Sweden, but his left-footed shot from outside the box was blocked. A few minutes later, Sweden came close again... but Marcus Berg's right-footed shot from very close range was saved as it headed for the top centre of the goal. A further missed attempt followed for the Swedes, when Emil Forsberg's right-footed shot from the centre of the box was too high. Then it was Mexico's turn to pile on the pressure for five minutes... during which, there were blocked shots from Hirving Lozano and Carlos Salcedo, plus another missed attempt by Carlos Vela, whose left-footed shot from the right side of the box flew high and wide to the left of the goal. As the first-half came to an end, the Mexicans got yet another opportunity to open the scoring before half-time, but the right-footed shot by Miguel Layún, from the right side of the box, was saved as it headed for the bottom left corner. The last chance before the interval fell to Marcus Berg of Sweden, during stoppage-time but, although his left-footed shot from the left side of the box came close, it unfortunately missed, just to the left of the target. Once the second-half had got underway the Swedes showed they still meant business and, following a missed attempt by Viktor Claesson from the centre of the box, his mis-hit inadvertently found another Swedish player who was free at the far post and that piece of good fortune led to a goal by Ludwig Augustinsson (50') with a left-footed shot from the left-hand side of the six yard box which finally put Sweden in front. Knowing that goal-difference could play a big part in the final outcome of 'Group F', Sweden stuck to their task and further chances soon followed for Emil Forsberg and goal-scorer Ludwig Augustinsson, but both attempts were just a bit too high. Five minutes later a header by Marcus Berg, from the left side of the box, was saved as it was about to go in the bottom left corner... but, moments later, the Swede drew a foul inside the box (conceded by Héctor Moreno) resulting in a penalty-kick for Sweden which led to their second goal of the match, scored by Andreas Granqvist (62'), who converted the penalty with a Harry Kane style right-footed shot to the top left corner of the goal. Knowing that a loss would leave them relying on South Korea to beat Germany (or, at least, for the German side not to win) Mexico fought back and there were further blocked attempts on goal from Carlos Salcedo and Marco Fabián plus a couple of missed attempts: one by Carlos Salcedo, and; the other by Chicharito, before an error of judgement from Mexican defender Edson Álvarez led to an own-goal (74') which put the final nail in the coffin in terms of any Mexican hopes for a draw out of this game. Sure there were further opportunities for Mexico to score, with a couple of chances for Carlos Vela (one blocked, one missed) and another for Chicharito (blocked) plus one more for Hirving Lozano, before the ninety minutes was up, but it was clear to all (including the Mexican fans) that their fate lay in the hands of Germany and South Korea. So, further saved attempts from Héctor Herrera and Hirving Lozano during stoppage-time at the end of the second-half only added to the sense of helplessness for Mexico and their supporters. When the final whistle blew, Sweden knew they were through to the last sixteen (against all expectations) but the Mexican team still had a nervous wait while Germany and South Korea played-out what was left of their match. Luckily for Mexico, the result went in their favour (see match report above) and they finished the "Group Stage" as runners-up to Sweden in 'Group C', while victory for South Korea in their final match meant Germany finished bottom of the group and were eliminated! :-O ***
7pm - Serbia 0 - 2 Brazil.................................................LIVE STREAMED ON 'ITV' VIA 'ITV Hub'
*** There were a number of possible permutations as to the outcome of 'Group E', after the final games had been played, and a lot hinged on whether Serbia beat Brazil at the Spartak Stadium. The Serbian side pretty much needed a win to qualify for the last sixteen, given they were behind both Brazil and Switzerland on points prior to the kick-off in Moscow. Bearing that in mind, a lot of the early pressure in the first-half came from Brazil... with Philippe Coutinho having an attempt blocked as early as the 2nd minute, with his right-footed shot from the centre of the box set-up by Neymar Jr. However, the Serbians might well have sensed a glimmer of hope when Brazil's influential left-back Marcelo limped-off after just ten minutes. Despite Brazil losing such an important player, it remained a fairly evenly-contested match for the first half an hour with several chances for both sides to score. Ultimately, though, it was the Brazilians who made the break-through and got the opening goal, when Paulinho put them in front after a brilliant run from deep led to his converting Philippe Coutinho's through ball with a right-footed shot, from the centre of the box, to the centre of the goal. On the balance of play Brazil's lead, courtesy of the goal by Paulinho (36'), was probably deserved... but the Serbian side were not about to give-up at this point, and might even have scored an equaliser within five minutes of going behind, but the left-footed shot by Dusan Tadic from outside the box flew high and wide to the left of the goal, following a corner which had been conceded by Willian. Aside from a missed attempt for Brazil by Neymar, during stoppage-time at the end of the first-half, there was no further action prior to the interval. It was a different story as the second-half got underway, however, with Serbia deciding to come-out with all guns blazing in an attempt to get the win they needed and, for around twenty minutes, Brazil could do little else but try and hang-on to their slender advantage. Apart from a single attempt by Neymar, with a left-footed shot from the left side of the box that was saved as it headed for the bottom left corner, there was no indication that Brazil might extend their lead during that same period. However, when Serbia's Aleksandar Mitrovic conceded a corner in the 67th minute, a cross from Neymar (following the corner-kick) resulted in a goal by Thiago Silva (68') who scored with a header to the top left corner from very close range to double the advantage for the Brazilians. Serbia might have felt aggrieved that Brazil's second goal did not get ruled-out by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) for Miranda's push on Mitrovic as the corner came-in but they saw no problem with it and, after reviewing the incident, the goal stood. Over the next ten minutes, or so, the Brazilian team came close to adding a third goal to their tally on numerous occasions... with attempts from Coutinho (blocked); Filipe Luís (saved); Neymar (blocked), and; Casemiro (missed), before the Serbian team had a chance to pull one back through Nemanja Matic. Unfortunately for the Serbians, his left-footed shot from the centre of the box flew high and wide to the left of the goal. As the match went into the last ten minutes of normal time, there were two further opportunities for the Brazilians to extend their lead through Neymar Jr. (one missed, the other blocked) with only a single chance for Serbia, in which a right-footed shot by Aleksandar Mitrovic from the centre of the box was blocked, before the game went into stoppage-time at the end of the second-half. During the four minute period of added time, there was one last chance for Serbia to get a consolation goal but the left-footed strike by Andrija Zivkovic, from outside the box, flew high and wide to the left of the target. After that, it was Neymar who had what would be the last attempt on goal of the match but his right-footed shot from a difficult angle (on the right) was saved as it headed for the centre of the goal. When the final whistle blew Brazil had not only won the match, but were also crowned as the winners of 'Group E' having moved clear of Switzerland, who could only manage a draw against Costa Rica in what was their final group game of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals. Sadly, Serbia now exit the competition at the end of the "Group Stage" (as they did in 2010) and will play no further part in the tournament. As for Brazil... they now head to Samara, for a 3pm kick-off on Monday 2nd July 2018, where they face Mexico in the 'Round of 16' to contest for a place in the 'Quarter Finals' of the competition! :-) ***
7pm - Switzerland 2 - 2 Costa Rica.............................LIVE STREAMED ON 'ITV 4' VIA 'ITV Hub'
*** The Swiss team needed just a point in their final 'Group E' game to reach the "Knockout Stage" of the World Cup for the third time in four tournaments so, from the outset, it seemed like a fairly straightforward task for Switzerland... who only required a draw (at most) against their Costa Rican opponents, at the Rostov Arena, to guarantee qualification for the last sixteen. Costa Rica, on the other hand, had absolutely nothing to play for in Rostov-On-Don having failed to register a single point (or a goal) going into their final game of the "Group Stage" at the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals. However, right from the kick-off it became clear that the Costa Ricans were not content to simply roll over and give Switzerland an easy time of it. Unfortunately, despite the bright start from Costa Rica, it was the Swiss side who went on to take a first-half lead... after a headed pass from Switzerland's Breel Embolo resulted in a goal by Blerim Dzemaili (31') with a right-footed shot from the centre of the box. Switzerland were denied three further attempts between getting their opener and the referee signalling for half-time: one for the scorer of the first goal, Blerim Dzemaili, whose subsequent shot from the centre of the box was blocked, and; another for Stephan Lichtsteiner, whose left-footed shot from outside the box was also blocked by Costa Rica, plus; a third for Switzerland's Valon Behrami, whose left-footed shot from outside the box, following a late corner conceded by Kendall Waston, resulted in another missed opportunity for Switzerland during stoppage-time. Soon after the interval there was an early chance for Costa Rica to level the score through Joel Campbell but, although his left-footed shot from the centre of the box came close, it missed and wound-up going to the left of the target. Several chances soon followed for the Swiss to add to their tally: one for Ricardo Rodríguez, whose left-footed shot from outside the box was aimed too high and missed, plus; a couple of shots from Breel Embolo (one missed, the other saved) before Costa Rica managed another (brief) spell of possession. During this period of Costa Rican attacking play, there were two missed opportunities to level the score: one from David Guzmán, whose right-footed shot from outside the box was blocked, and; another for Bryan Oviedo, whose left-footed shot from the left side of the area was aimed too high and missed the target. However, the sustained pressure by Costa Rica did pay-off when, just a few minutes later, a headed goal by Kendall Waston (56') from the centre of the box found the bottom left-hand corner and the Costa Rican side drew level. Over the next half-hour, further opportunities followed for both sides... but neither Switzerland, nor Costa Rica, could take advantage of them to get ahead. However, only twenty minutes after coming-on, a goal by substitute Josip Drmic (88') put the Swiss side ahead for the second time in the match. Shortly after going behind again, Costa Rica were awarded a penalty but the decision was overturned by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) for offside. There was further stoppage-time drama when Campbell was brought down in the box, allowing Costa Rica the chance to equalise... and, while Bryan Ruiz's left-footed spot-kick missed and hit the bar, a stroke of luck for the Costa Rican team saw it then bounce-in off the Swiss goalkeeper's head for an own-goal by Yann Sommer's (90'+3) with only a few more minutes of injury time left to play. When the final whistle blew, and the match had ended in a draw, it was probably a fair result given the even performance overall... but it was enough for Switzerland set up a World Cup last-16 tie with Sweden, despite the bizarre late penalty drama. With Brazil's superior goal difference even a win would still not have been enough for Switzerland to top the group and, since the Swiss have now managed to progress from the group stage in four of the past five World Cups, they ought to be happy enough with this result... especially given how they also avoided defeat in each of their three group stage matches at a World Cup for the first time since 2006. By finishing the "Group Stage" as runners-up to Brazil, they will now face Sweden in Saint Petersburg where they will play for a place in the 'Quarter Finals' of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in their 'Round of 16' game on Tuesday 3rd July 2018! :-) ***
Thursday 28th June
3pm - Japan 0 - 1 Poland...................................LIVE STREAMED ON 'BBC 2' VIA 'BBC iPlayer'
*** With Japan topping 'Group H' going into their final game against Poland at the Volgograd Arena, there was little or no incentive for them to push for a win against the Polish side. A draw would have been enough to see them through in Volgograd, regardless of the outcome from the other 'Group H' match between Senegal and Colombia in Somara, while a Colombian victory against the Senegalese side would mean Japan could even afford to lose to Poland and still progress to the 'Round of 16' in this tournament. Poland had even less reason to be worried about the outcome of their final group game because they were already eliminated from the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals having lost their opening two matches against Senegal and Colombia. No surprise then, that the first-half was evenly contested with equal opportunities falling to both sides but with the match still goalless at half-time. After the interval, Japan had the better of the first fifteen minutes with chances for Takashi Usami (blocked); Yoshinori Muto (missed), and; Tomoaki Makino (missed) all coming in the early part of the second-half. At this point, things seemed to be going well for the Japanese side... until Poland won a free-kick, through Rafal Kurzawa, with the set-piece resulting in a goal by Jan Bednarek (59') whose right- footed shot from very close range found the bottom right corner of the net. With no score in the other 'Group H' match between Senegal and Colombia, when Bednarek scored his goal for Poland, the Japanese team thought they were heading-out of the tournament. Over the next ten minutes or so, there were further chances for Poland to extend their lead through Piotr Zielinski (blocked) and Kamil Grosicki (missed) before Japan got their chance to equalise from a corner-kick with a header by Southampton's Maya Yoshida but, while his headed attempt from the centre of the box did come close, it missed: ending-up going wide and to the right of the goal. Fortunately for the Japanese team, this missed opportunity soon meant nothing... because, two minutes later, they were given a reprieve by Colombian defender Yerry Mina's thumping header in the group's other game. As news of Colombia's goal filtered through to the Volgograd Arena, both teams were then content to sit back and play-out the remainder of the game in midfield, happy to simply pass the ball around for much of the final quarter, meaning that the match ended in a somewhat farcical fashion. Apparently Japan's manager, Akira Nishino, said he passed on instructions for the team to take no risks and get no yellow cards when he sent-on substitute, Makoto Hasebe, with eight minutes remaining. It was a bit of a tactical gamble, but it paid-off, with the end result being that Japan reached the last 16 of the World Cup simply by having a better disciplinary record than Senegal - after losing to Poland in their final game - and then relied on the outcome of the other 'Group H' game to get them there. So it was an unusual way to qualify for Japan, and a first for any team in the FIFA World Cup to progress in this manner, but (love it or hate it) the new "Fair Play" rule means that Japan are runners-up and now have a 'Round of 16' tie with the 'Group G' winners on Monday 2nd July in Rostov-On-Don! :-O ***
3pm - Senegal 0 - 1 Colombia..........................LIVE STREAMED ON 'BBC 1' VIA 'BBC iPlayer'
*** The possible permutations for qualification made this final 'Group H' encounter between Senegal and Colombia a "must-win" match for the South American side at the Samara Arena. For the African team, it was more a case of "must not lose", meaning either a draw or a win against their Colombian opponents would ensure progress to the last sixteen from their last "Group Stage" game in Samara. It was further complicated by the new "Fair Play" rules which FIFA introduced for this World Cup, to help determine which teams would qualify in situations where total points earned, goal difference, and a draw in any head-to-head matches, would not be sufficient to separate the two teams. With the team from Japan having a better disciplinary record than Senegal in this tournament, the importance of getting (at least) a draw against Colombia was even more vital. Conversely, in the other final game from 'Group H', the result between Japan and Poland was of little significance to either the Japanese or the Polish team. Win, lose, or draw, Poland were already eliminated from the tournament before a single ball had been kicked in what would be their final game of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals before going home. Likewise, for Japan... win, lose, or draw, they were pretty much guaranteed to progress to the 'Round of 16', provided they didn't pick-up too many yellow (or red) cards during the course of their final 'Group H' game against Poland. Knowing all this beforehand, the match began in a highly competitive mood with the Senegalese side proving their tough, physical approach was more than a match for the Colombians. If the first fifteen minutes were anything to go by, it was clear that Colombia were going to have to put-in a top performance if they were to secure victory in this match. One such performance came from Tottenham's Davinson Sanchez who made a vital (if somewhat risky) challenge when he tackled Liverpool's Sadio Mane inside the penalty area in the 16th minute, that left the Senegal team believing they had won a spot-kick. However the incident was reviewed by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) with the evidence showing the Spurs defender clearly touched the ball and, after watching a few replays on the VAR pitch-side TV monitor, the match referee decided to overturn his original decision meaning there was no penalty-kick, the score remained nil-nil, and the match continued. Colombia's chances were dealt a blow when James Rodriguez was forced-off due to injury (having already missed their first group game with a calf problem) barely thirty minutes into the first-half and they had to make-do without him for the remainder of the match. The chances continued for both sides, but it wasn't until around fifteen minutes from the end of normal time that Colombia were finally able to break the deadlock with a headed goal by Yerry Mina (74') that came from a corner kick by Juan Quintero. Senegal spent the final minutes pushing for an equaliser which would have sent them through, but a goal never materialised meaning they failed to secure the point they needed to progress to the last sixteen ahead of Colombia. The end result of the match meant that African representation at the 2018 FIFA World Cup was ended but the South American side can look forward to a 'Round of 16' tie with the 'Group G' runners-up on Tuesday 3rd July in Moscow! :-) ***
7pm - England 0 - 1 Belgium..........................................LIVE STREAMED ON 'ITV' VIA 'ITV Hub'
*** Both England and Belgium had already qualified for the "Knockout Stage" of the tournament by the time they were due to face each other at the Kaliningrad Stadium for their third and final match of the "Group Stage" in the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals. Consequently, the only significance for either side was to determine which of the two topped 'Group G' and thereby decide who would play where, and against whom, once the "Knockout Stage" of the tournament began. With neither team requiring a win from the match in Kaliningrad, both managers took the opportunity to rest some of their key players ahead of the 'Round of 16' and wholesale changes were made to each squad for the final game in their group. England's manager, Gareth Southgate, made eight changes to the side which had won against Panama, while the manager of the team from Belgium, Roberto Martinez, made a total of nine alterations to his side. When you realise the likes of Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling, Jordan Henderson and a handful of other key players have all been sidelined for England, and then see that the Belgian starting eleven has no Romelu Lukaku, Eden Hazard, Kevin de Bruyne, Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen, Axel Witsel, or Dries Mertens, to name but seven of the nine left-out by Martinez, it soon becomes clear that getting three points from this particular game was not a priority for either team. No surprise then, that the match turned-out to be a fairly pedestrian affair... as evidenced by a first-half that was entirely devoid of goals, even though there were a dozen or so chances to open the scoring. Unfortunately for England, the lion's share of those (roughly 75%) fell to Belgium... who were particularly dominant in the latter part of the half, as well as during the opening ten minutes. Of the few opportunities to come England's way, there were two attempts just before the quarter-hour mark: one for Marcus Rashford (blocked), and; another for Jamie Vardy (missed), plus a further attempt by Ruben Loftus-Cheek whose header, from the centre of the box, missed (to the left of) the target following a corner-kick, with a little over half an hour played. After the interval, England got another chance to go ahead when Jamie Vardy set-up Marcus Rashford only a few minutes into the second-half... but Rashford's right-footed shot, from the left side of the box, missed to the right of the goal. Soon after that England were stunned with a spectacular strike, resulting in a goal for Belgium by Adnan Januzaj (51') who had cut inside before curling a left-foot finish high past Jordan Pickford. Having gone behind, England did (at least) manage to create four chances to equalise during the 20 minute period which followed the goal for Belgium... but none of those opportunities came to much and, if nothing else, the attempts by Trent Alexander-Arnold (blocked); Marcus Rashford (saved), and; two from Fabian Delph (one missed, the other blocked) only proved how toothless the England team can be in attack without their talisman, Harry Kane, to provide the finishing touch. As if to over emphasise the point, further opportunities for England to score were also squandered when an attempt by Marcus Rashford (missed), plus; two for Danny Welbeck (one blocked, the other missed) all failed to find the net in the latter stages of normal time. From that point on, the only chances fell to Belgium including one by Marouane Fellaini in stoppage-time at the end of the second-half but, much like the ones for England, they failed to capitalise on them. When the final whistle blew, Belgium had become only the third team to have a 100% win ratio at this World Cup (after Uruguay and Croatia) although this victory does put them in-line for a possible encounter with Brazil in the 'Quarter Finals', should they manage to get passed Japan in their last 16 match. England, on the other hand, having finished the "Group Stage" as runners-up in 'Group G' look set to face either Sweden or Switzerland in their 'Quarter Final' game, provided (of course) they can beat Colombia in their 'Round of 16' match on Tuesday 3rd July - one thing's for certain, it ain't over yet... despite this latest loss to Belgium! :-) ***
7pm - Panama 1 - 2 Tunisia..........................................LIVE STREAMED ON 'ITV 4' VIA 'ITV Hub'
*** With the two teams already eliminated from the tournament prior to kick-off, having each lost their respective group matches against both England and Belgium, this particular 'Group G' fixture at the Mordovia Arena in Saransk offered little incentive for the neutral observers of this World Cup. However, after sitting through the mediocrity of the group "decider" between England and Belgium, I can't help but wonder if I might have been better-off watching 'ITV 4' instead of 'ITV' if only for the pleasure of seeing three goals, as opposed to just the one which consigned England to defeat in their final group game, and for the (dubious) honour of witnessing the 50th World Cup Own-Goal with my (ahem!) own eyes. In case you happened to miss it (as I did) while
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A NOTE ABOUT TIMINGS:- The times quoted for the above football matches are the individual times scheduled for each game to kick-off and, as always, are subject to change (for various reasons) so please use this as a GUIDE ONLY reference to the 2018 FIFA World Cup match fixtures.
IN ADDITION:- It's (probably) worth mentioning ALL TIMES QUOTED ARE BST (GMT+1) so, if you happen to be in a different country, you will need to adjust the kick-off times shown in this post to be relevant to your particular timezone. For USA readers, this means that a kick-off time shown here as "1pm" will be equivalent to "8am" Eastern and "5am" Pacific. Likewise, matches which start at "4pm" in the UK will begin at "11am" Eastern and "8am" Pacific. Another common time for games to begin is "7pm" in the UK, which equates to "2pm" Eastern for those on the east coast in the U.S. and "11am" Pacific for those of you who are on the west coast. If you're on Central or Mountain time, you can (hopefully) work out your own timings from there - if not, just 'Google' it! ;-) :-)
LASTLY:- It is also worth noting LIVE COVERAGE BEGINS SOONER in almost all cases, which means that programming could start anywhere from 15 minutes to one hour ahead of the kick-off in the case of each & every match listed in this post. So, if you want to catch the build-up to any of the games from this tournament... BE SURE TO TUNE-IN EARLIER THAN TIMES SHOWN !!!!!! ;-)
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Once the above set of fixtures, collectively known as the "Group Stage", have been completed... the next phase of the 'FIFA World Cup 2018' will be the "Round of 16", with the eight matches all being played from Saturday 30th June to Tuesday 3rd July (inclusive) as outlined below:-
MATCH 1: France 4 - 3 Argentina (KICK-OFF: 3pm on 30th June, Sochi)
*** FRANCE WIN a seven-goal thriller which marked the start of the "Knockout Stage" to get the 'Round of 16' off to a flying start at the Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi. Having been out-classed by the French side for much of the first-half, including a searing run by Kylian Mbappe that ended in a foul by Marcus Rojo allowing Antoine Griezmann to put France ahead from the penalty-spot with less than fifteen minutes played, Argentina managed to pull level just before the half-time interval thanks to a stunning long-range curler from Angel di Maria (41') which brought the Argentinian side back on par with France. Once the match resumed after the break, the Argentine team even managed to get their nose in front for a brief spell, when Lionel Messi's shot was diverted past Hugo Lloris by Gabriel Mercado (48') to give Jorge Sampaoli's side the lead. Less than ten minutes later the score was level once more, thanks to a stunning goal by Benjamin Pavard (57') to keep France in the game, but it was 19-year-old Kylian Mbappe's second-half brace (64', 68') which ultimately turned the game in the French team's favour... and it wasn't till stoppage-time that a pin-point cross from Lionel Messi led to a consolation goal by substitute Sergio Aguero (90'+3) who scored with a low header to make the scoreline slightly more respectable from an Argentine perspective. As for France, they will go on to face either Uruguay or Portugal in Nizhny Novgorod on Friday 6th July, once the 'Quarter Finals' of the 2018 FIFA World Cup get underway, following the conclusion of the 'Round of 16'! :-) ***
MATCH 2: Uruguay 2 - 1 Portugal (KICK-OFF: 7pm on 30th June, Kazan)
*** URUGUAY WIN as an Edinson Cavani double sends Uruguay into last eight, despite Portugal having twice as much of the overall possession, four times as many attempted shots on goal, and five times as many corner-kicks as the Uruguayan side. From the moment the match first got underway, the Portuguese were on the front foot, with two early chances for Portugal to go ahead: the first after just two minutes when Bernardo Silva's header from the centre of the box flew high & wide to the left of the goal after a cross by João Mário, and; the second when Cristiano Ronaldo won a free-kick in the defensive half, but whose right-footed shot from outside the box was saved in the centre of the goal. Barely one minute later, the Portuguese had fallen behind... after a cross from Luis Suárez led to a goal by Edinson Cavani (7') whose header, from the right-hand side of the six yard box, found the top right corner and inspired this little nugget of World Cup humour:-
SON: "How did Cavani score the first goal against Portugal today, Dad?"
DAD: "He stuck his 'ed in son... and put the ball in the back of the net!" :-P ;-) :-D
After Uruguay had taken an early lead, there were further chances for both sides throughout the rest of the first-half (twice as many for Portugal) with the last one falling in stoppage-time, when Cavani almost claimed his second goal of the game, but the right-footed shot (from the left side of the box) missed and went left of the target - despite going close - meaning the Uruguayans failed to double their advantage and had to settle for a one-nil lead at the interval. However, once the second-half got started, a 10-minute period of Portuguese pressure (incl. missed attempts from Raphael Guerreiro and Adrien Silva) resulted in an equaliser by Pepe (55') who rose unmarked to score with a header from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner, after a cross by Raphael Guerreiro, following a corner conceded by Diego Godín. Having drawn level, the brief spell of dominance continued for Portugal with a further chance for Gonçalo Guedes (blocked) to put them in front for the first time in the game but, instead, it was Edinson Cavani (62') who managed to steer his brilliant right-footed shot from the left of the box beyond Portugal's goalkeeper, Rui Patricio, into the bottom right-hand corner of the net. After going behind for the second time in the match, Portugal had no choice but to fight back and the remainder of the match featured a string of opportunities for the Portuguese side to score: one for Bernardo Silva (missed), plus; several more for Cristiano Ronaldo (two blocked, one missed); one for Raphael Guerreiro (missed); a couple for Manuel Fernandes (one saved, the other missed), and; a last ditched attempt by Ricardo Quaresma (five minutes into stoppage-time at the end of the game) whose right-footed shot, from the right side of the box, was saved by Fernando Muslera as it headed for the bottom right corner of the goal. Yet, when the final whistle blew, the match finished in defeat for the European champions and ended Cristiano Ronaldo's hopes of success in Russia... just hours after we had witnessed Lionel Messi and Argentina being knocked-out of the tournament by France. Having played a combined total of 514 minutes in the "Knockout Stage" of various 'World Cup' tournaments, Cristiano Ronaldo has failed to score, or provide an assist, once in any of them! :-O Despite this, he did at least manage a total of six attempts for Portugal in this match (though only one was on target) which, believe it or not, is one more than the entire Uruguay team managed over ninety minutes! :-O The only positive, as far as Ronaldo is concerned, is that (following this match) no other player has played in more combined World Cup / European Championship games... and, with this being the Portuguese star's 38th game across the two competitions, he is now level with Bastian Schweinsteiger as far as that particular record is concerned. Speaking of record achievements Pepe became Portugal's oldest goalscorer in a major tournament (World Cup / European Championships) when, at 35 years and 124 days, he scored in this 'Round of 16' match against Uruguay. Although, ultimately, it ends in disappointment for the Portuguese team, who have now lost their past four World Cup knockout games, since a goalless draw with England in the 2006 quarter-final. As for Uruguay, this is the first time they have won their opening four games at a World Cup tournament since 1930, with the fourth game in that particular run being their 4-2 victory over Argentina in the final! :-) To find out if they can repeat that achievement, however, they must first head to Nizhny Novgorod Stadium and play France in the 'Quarter Finals' on Friday 6th July, then a 'Semi-Final' in Saint Petersburg, before they can reach the 2018 FIFA World Cup 'Final' in Moscow! :-D ***
MATCH 3: Spain 1 - 1 [AET] Russia (KICK-OFF: 3pm on 1st July, Moscow-Luzhniki)
*** RUSSIA WIN 4 - 3 on penalties after neither they nor Spain were able to produce a winning goal to decide the tie having played 30-minutes of extra-time with the match still level, as it was when the game reached half-time and (again) at the end of ninety minutes. In terms of the main fixture, the host nation started well and had even registered their first attempt on goal after just five minutes when a left-footed shot by Yuri Zhirkov, from outside the box, was blocked. However it was Spain who stole an early lead after a bizarre own-goal by Sergei Ignashevich (12'), that rebounded back into the net after striking his ankle, when Marco Asensio's curling free-kick came flying into the six-yard area. That said... if Ignashevich (who was marking Sergio Ramos at the time) had not put the ball into his own net, he would (most likely) have conceded a penalty-kick for wrestling Ramos to the ground, anyway. Even before they went behind, it was always Russia's game-plan to "park the bus" in an attempt to defend against the Spaniards' possession-style of play. So, if anything, this unfortunate start to the game might at least mean the Russian side would have to counter-attack (at some point) to avoid going out of the tournament. Meanwhile, as you might expect, Spain went on to pretty much dominate possession from that point on but, with the Russian defence proving virtually impenetrable, Spain were unable to make their possession count. Although the opportunities for Russia to mount an attack were few and far between, there were several chances for them to level the score, with attempts from Roman Zobnin (missed); Aleksandr Golovin (missed), and; Artem Dzyuba (blocked) all falling to the Russians before Spain were finally punished for not creating enough chances of their own, after the ball struck the outstretched arm of Gerard Piqué in the box, and Russia were awarded a penalty. It was Artem Dzyuba who stepped-up to take the spot-kick, and he calmly converted the penalty with a right-footed shot to the bottom right corner. As late in the first-half as it happened, the penalty-goal by Artem Dzyuba (41') was not to be the last action of the half and, during the three added minutes of stoppage-time, Spain managed to carve-out several chances to regain their lead: one opportunity fell to Isco, whose right-footed shot from outside the box was blocked, and; the other two, both came the way of Diego Costa. The first, a right-footed shot from the right of the six yard box, was saved in the centre of the goal having come from a through ball by Nacho. The second, a header from the centre of the box, that began with a cross by Isco was saved in the bottom right corner. However, it was all too little, too late, and none of these attempts amounted to anything... meaning the score remained level when the referee signalled for the interval. The second-half was all Spain and, by the end of it, they must have squandered almost ten chances to put the game to bed - without reply from Russia - and it wasn't until stoppage-time, at the end of the second-half, that the Russian team finally got to register a couple more attempts on goal: the first, a right-footed shot from the left side of the box, by Fedor Smolov came close, but missed to the right, and; the other, a header from the centre of the box by Denis Cheryshev, also came close to finding the net, but just missed going-in the top right corner. With nothing to separate the two teams at the end of ninety minutes, the match went into extra-time and what followed was just more of the same from both Spain and Russia. The first fifteen minutes of extra-time produced a further five chances for Spain: one for Jordi Alba (blocked); another one for Koke (missed); a third for Marco Asensio (saved), followed by; an attempt by Iago Aspas (blocked), plus; a header from Gerard Piqué (saved). The second-half of extra-time yielded seven more chances for Spain to seal a win: the first by Andrés Iniesta (blocked), closely followed by; Rodrigo Moreno (saved), then; Daniel Carvajal (blocked), and; another for Rodrigo Moreno (missed), plus; one for Gerard Piqué (blocked), and; Sergio Ramos (missed), before; one last chance for Rodrigo Moreno, whose left-footed shot from outside the box was saved as it headed for the bottom left corner. From there, it was all down to a penalty shoot-out... and Russian goalkeeper, Igor Akinfeev, soon became a national hero: after saving two spot-kicks to ensure that hosts Russia beat Spain 4-3, in what proved to be a very dramatic penalty shoot-out, so that the host nation could reach the quarter-finals. This no doubt came as quite a shock to Spain who, after notching-up (close-to) eighty per cent possession in the course of 120-minutes played, and having more than three times the number of attempts as their Russian opponents to score, with a third of those shots also being "on target", ought to have been more than a match for Russia. The final outcome, after going-out on penalties, means Spain have now lost three of their four 'World Cup' penalty shoot-outs... the other losses being: Belgium (1986), and; South Korea (2002), prior to losing in this match. Another sorry-looking statistic for Spain from this tournament is that, including the penalty shootout in this match, Spain goalkeeper David De Gea only made one save during the four matches he played-in at the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals. Among the (very) few "positives" for Spain was that Sergio Ramos made his seventeenth appearance for Spain at the 'World Cup' in this game, which is a record for an outfield Spanish player, equalling the overall record held by goalkeeper Iker Casillas. Meanwhile, Russia's veteran defender Sergei Ignashevich became the oldest player to score an own-goal at the World Cup, aged 38 years and 352 days, though it's probably not a record that he'll be boasting about. Instead, the fact that Russia have managed to beat 2010 winners Spain (in what was also the first penalty shoot-out of the tournament) to reach the quarter-finals for the first time in 48 years, something that hasn't been done since the breakup of the Soviet Union, is something more positive for Russia to remember this game by. Next they'll face Croatia or Denmark at the Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi on Saturday 7th July, to end the 'Quarter Final' phase of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, as they contest the last 'Semi-Final' place! :-) ***
MATCH 4: Croatia 1 - 1 [AET] Denmark (KICK-OFF: 7pm on 1st July, Nizhny Novgorod)
*** CROATIA WIN 3 - 2 on penalties after neither they nor Denmark could produce a winning goal to decide the tie having played 30-minutes of extra-time with the match still level, just as it was when the game reached half-time, and (again) at the end of ninety minutes. In terms of the main fixture, all of the goals came within five minutes of the kick-off. It was Denmark who took the lead, with only the first minute played at the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, when Huddersfield's Martin Jorgensen was able to squeeze the ball in from close range, but Croatia levelled just three minutes later thanks to a fortuitous strike by Mario Mandzukic (4') whose right-footed shot, from the centre of the box, found the bottom left corner of the goal. Within ten to fifteen minutes of scoring the equaliser, Ivan Perisic had one attempt blocked and blazed another shot over from just 10 yards out. Less than five minutes later, Christian Eriksen's right-footed shot from outside the box was blocked, while a later left-footed attempt by Eriksen (also from outside the box) missed to the right of the goal. However, following the explosive start to the game, it wasn't long before the 'Round of 16' tie turned into a cagey affair. Sure, there were opportunities for both sides to score and put their team in front, and you could argue that (on chances alone) Croatia slightly edged the first-half over Denmark, but (for all their chances) they could not find the necessary finish to give them the lead and it finished all-square at the interval. As the second-half got underway, there was yet another opportunity for Croatia to go in front through Ivan Perisic... but his left-footed shot, from outside the box, flew high and wide to the left of the goal. Ten minutes later, Martin Braithwaite whose earlier (27th minute) attempt was saved, got an other opportunity to score for Denmark but his right-footed shot, from a difficult angle on the right, missed to the right of the goal. Further (blocked) attempts followed from Ivan Perisic and Ante Rebic, who both sought to put Croatia in front and avoid extra-time being played. Likewise, Denmark had two further attempts to take the lead: one from Nicolai Jørgensen (saved), and; another (missed) attempt on goal by Christian Eriksen, as the deadlock continued. The to and fro continued, albeit at a fairly pedestrian pace, as the second-half wore on... and Croatia created two further chances to put the game to bed: one for Luka Modric (missed), and; another for Ante Rebic (saved). As the match entered the last 10-minutes of normal time, Croatia came close again... with a missed attempt by Ivan Perisic and a (blocked) left-footed shot, from outside the box, by Josip Pivaric. After a further (missed) attempt for Denmark, by Lasse Schöne, a poor second-half ended with Nicolai Jorgensen striking a late effort straight at the Croatian goalkeeper, Danijel Subasic, just as the game move in to extra-time. To their credit, the Danish team probably had the better of the first-half of extra-time... but, as with the rest of the match (already played) they failed to capitalise on the chances they created. Having changed ends at the half-way point in extra-time, the second period of 15-minutes appeared to be a bit more evenly contested than the first. Both sides had their fair share of opportunities, but (perhaps) the best of them fell to Croatia, when Ante Rebic was through on goal but drew a foul (conceded by Zanka) inside the penalty area, just before he could tap the ball into an empty net - having already rounded the keeper. The subsequent penalty was taken by Luka Modric, but his right footed spot-kick was saved as it was headed for the bottom right corner of the goal. Following a further (saved) attempt by Luka Modric, and a last-ditched (missed) attempt by Andrej Kramaric with a right-footed shot from outside the box that flew high and wide to the right of the goal, the match ended and the tie had to be settled through a penalty shoot-out just like the earlier one between Spain and Russia. The end result was such that the Danish team are eliminated from the tournament, having lost 3-2 to Croatia in the penalty shoot-out at the end of extra-time, while Croatia will now go on to face the host nation, Russia, at the Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi on Saturday 7th July, in a match which will end the 'Quarter Final' phase of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, as they contest the last 'Semi-Final' place! :-) ***
MATCH 5: Brazil 2 - 0 Mexico (KICK-OFF: 3pm on 2nd July, Samara)
*** BRAZIL WIN as Neymar scores one goal and sets-up the second to help Brazil beat Mexico at the Samara Arena and reach the 'Quarter Finals' of the 2018 FIFA World Cup tournament. Despite the Mexican side getting-off to a bright start in Samara, with Hirving Lozano's right-footed shot (from the right side of the box) being blocked by Brazil with only two minutes played, they failed to create enough chances over the opening forty-five minutes to trouble their Brazilian opponents. To be more precise, Mexico managed less than half the number of attempts on goal as Brazil did in the first-half even though they had just as much of the ball. What was (perhaps) even more surprising is that, for all their opportunities to score, Brazil were unable to supply the finishing touch needed to capitalise on what must have been ten (or more) chances for them to go in front before half-time. After the interval, Brazil continued to have the better of the chances, with a further two attempts coming their way inside the opening five minutes of the second-half. Firstly Gabriel Jesus' right-footed shot, from the centre of the box, was blocked (barely two minutes after the restart) and then; a right-footed shot by Philippe Coutinho, from the left side of the box, was saved as it headed for the bottom left corner. Minutes later, Mexico missed another opportunity to go in front through Jesús Gallardo... but his left-footed shot, from outside the box, was too high and missed the target. Instead Brazil were able to mount an attack of their own and, having started the move with a back-heel on the edge of the area, Neymar slid-in at the back post to provide the finishing-touch to Willian's low ball across the goal. The opener by Paris St-Germain forward Neymar Jr. (51') did not exhibit any of the usual Brazilian flare we have come to expect but, having already provided the assists for their two previous second-half attempts, it was no less than he deserved for all his efforts. Over the next half-hour, Mexico battled hard to try and get an equaliser and even managed to match the number of attempts (six) by the Brazilian team over that 30-minute period of play. However, much like their first-half chances, the Mexican side was (seemingly) incapable of finding the necessary finish when they needed to. Ultimately, this failure to get back on equal terms was what cost Mexico the tie and, barely two minutes after he had come-on to replace Coutinho, substitute Roberto Firmino sealed the fate of Mexico when he converted from close range to double the Brazilian advantage. The goal by Roberto Firmino (88') came about when a shot by Neymar Jr. was diverted into the path of the Liverpool striker off the Mexican keeper's boot and, being only two minutes from time, left the team from Mexico with little chance to send the tie into extra-time, let alone win it. No surprise then that, even with seven minutes of stoppage-time, the Mexicans were unable to avoid the inevitable. In fairness, they were able to (at least) create a couple more chances: one for Hirving Lozano, whose right-footed shot from a difficult angle on the right did come close to finding the net, but just missed the top right corner, and; another one for Raúl Jiménez (assisted by Hirving Lozano) but his right-footed shot, from the right side of the box, was blocked by the Brazilians who took another step closer to the final by eliminating Mexico. When the game ended the stats said it all... just one shot "on target" for Mexico from fourteen attempts, and no goal(s) to show for all the chances they created. Compare that to Brazil, whose twenty attempts produced ten shots "on target" and, as you might expect from the Brazilians, two of those led to the goals which won them the match. From a Mexican perspective, the loss means Mexico are once again eliminated at the 'Round of 16' stage (as they have been at every World Cup since 1994) with this being their 7th time of so-doing, which is more than twice as many times as any other nation. As for Brazil, their two goals scored to secure victory over Mexico mean they have now overtaken Germany as the all-time top scorers in the competition. Next they'll face Belgium or Japan at the Kazan Arena in Kazan on Friday 6th July, in the second 'Quarter Final' tie of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, where they contest a 'Semi-Final' place against France or Uruguay and hope to avoid another loss like 2014! :-) ***
MATCH 6: Belgium 3 - 2 Japan (KICK-OFF: 7pm on 2nd July, Rostov-On-Don)
*** BELGIUM WIN after coming back from two goals down to beat Japan and reach the quarter-finals of the 2018 FIFA World Cup where they will face current tournament favourites Brazil. From the first whistle, Japan got off to a flying start and created two chances to score within 10-minutes of kick-off: the first, with just a minute on the clock, fell to Shinji Kagawa whose left-footed shot from outside the box came close to providing the opening goal, but missed to the right of the target, and; the second, a speculative effort by Gen Shoji, was a right-footed shot from more than 35 yards out that flew high & wide to the right of the goal. Belgium, on the other hand, took slightly longer to settle into the match... but did manage to string together a half-dozen or so attempts during the second quarter-hour of play: one for Axel Witsel (blocked); a couple for Romelu Lukaku (both also blocked); two more for Vincent Kompany (one blocked, the other missed), plus; one from Kevin De Bruyne (missed), and; one by Eden Hazard, whose left-footed shot from the left side of the box was saved as it headed for the top left corner of the Japanese goal. The remainder of the fist-half was a more evenly contested affair, with a similar number of opportunities for each side to score, but with neither Japan nor Belgium able to find the finishing touch needed for the chances they had created it was still nil-nil when the referee blew for half-time. After the interval, much like their start to the first-half, Japan did not waste any time in looking for an opportunity to go ahead... and soon did just that, thanks to a goal by Genki Haraguchi (48') who scored with a right-footed shot, from the right side of the box, to the bottom left corner of the goal after a through-ball by Gaku Shibasaki following a fast break. Belgium were (in part) to blame for finding themselves behind, though, because Jan Vertonghen ought really to have cut out Gaku Shibasaki's long ball and prevented the Japanese side from scoring the opener. To their credit, however, the Belgian team were quick to respond... and, barely one minute after Japan had scored, Eden Hazard came very close to equalising for Belgium with a right-footed shot from the centre of the box, assisted by Dries Mertens, but his powerful strike could only rattle the right post. If anything, the shock of Hazard's lightning-bolt strike might even have helped to restore the focus of the Japanese team (who were barely done celebrating their own goal at that time) and, just minutes later, they were able to double their advantage with an impressive 25-yard strike that resulted in a goal by Takashi Inui (52') whose right-footed shot found the bottom right corner making it 2-0 to Japan and looked set to take the Asian side into their first ever World Cup quarter-final. It was clear that Belgium were going to need a little luck on their side, if they were to overturn a two-goal deficit, with Japan playing as well as they had up to that point. However, after two further missed attempts on goal by Belgium's Yannick Carrasco and Romelu Lukaku, it was time for Roberto Martinez to make some changes... and, with only twenty-five minutes of normal time remaining, a double-substitution for the Belgian side saw Marouane Fellaini come on to replace Dries Mertens, while Nacer Chadli took the place of Yannick Carrasco. The changes seemed to have a positive effect, with two further attempts for Belgium within a few minutes of the substitutions being made: one from Thomas Meunier, whose right-footed shot from outside the box was too high, and; one by Romelu Lukaku, whose right-footed shot from the centre of the box, following a cross from Thomas Meunier, was blocked. Eventually, though, Belgium did get the little bit of good fortune they'd been lacking... when following a corner, conceded by Makoto Hasebe, Japan's Inui booted the ball up into the air (while attempting to make a clearance) only to have it find the head of Jan Vertonghen and the resultant looping header, somehow managed to beat the Japanese keeper and find it's way into the top-right corner of the goal from what was a difficult angle on the left. In actual fact, at twenty yards out, Jan Vertonghen's effort is now the longest headed World Cup goal since statistics of that sort first began back in 1966! :-O Record-breaker or not, this fluke 69th-minute goal by Belgium turned-out to be just the kind of incentive they needed and, much like Japan had scored a second goal only 4 minutes and 16 seconds after their first, Belgium got their second goal through substitute Marouane Fellaini (74') whose header, from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner, found the net 4 minutes and 30 seconds after Vertonghen had scored their first. So having completed their comeback, and found an equaliser through Fellaini, it left just fifteen minutes for either Japan or Belgium to try and find the winning goal needed to avoid extra-time and (possibly) a penalty shoot-out. Obviously, after coming-back from two goals down, Belgium were in the ascendancy... while Japanese spirits had started to flag a little. No surprise then that, with just 10-minutes of normal time remaining, Japan made a couple of substitutions of their own in a last-ditched attempt to snatch a victory from this game. However, despite getting a couple more opportunities to score, it was beginning to look like Japan were all but beaten and no longer capable of finding a way through the Belgian defence. For the last five minutes of the ninety it was pretty much all Belgium and, as the match went into injury time at the end of the second-half, Japan were only in the attacking half once... resulting in an attempt on goal by Keisuke Honda, but his left-footed shot from outside the box was saved as it headed for the bottom left corner of the goal. Knowing that time was fast running-out, Thibaut Courtois was quick to roll the ball to Kevin De Bruyne (having claimed it from the corner-kick which followed Japan's last effort) who then carried the ball 60 yards before feeding Thomas Meunier, whose cross was stepped-over by Romelu Lukaku, leaving Nacer Chadli to steer it home with a left-footed shot from the centre of the box to the centre of the goal. Lukaku's decision not to shoot, on this occasion, proved crucial to Belgium's victory... because the winning goal by Chadli (90'+4) would not have been possible if Lukaku had chosen to attempt a shot himself. Instead, as a result of his un-selfish act, Belgium were able to complete a remarkable revival by coming from the brink of elimination to beat Japan and reach the 'Quarter Finals' of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Full credit must go to Belgium's manager, Roberto Martinez, whose side were trailing 2-0 when he brought on Marouane Fellaini and Nacer Chadli in the 65th minute. Let's not forget: it was Fellaini who scored the equaliser and Chadli who netted the 94th-minute winner so, without those substitutions, Belgium may not have won if they did not take full advantage of the players at their disposal. Japan, meanwhile... who looked to be well on their way to a famous win in Rostov-On-Don, with a little over twenty minutes left to play, must (instead) try to accept defeat. Not easy, when you consider the 'Blue Samurai' were on the verge of becoming only the third Asian nation - after South Korea (2002) and North Korea (1966) - to reach the World Cup quarter-finals until Belgium's astonishing come-back. As it happens, Belgium are the first team to fight their way back from two goals down and win a game in the "Knockout Stage" of the World Cup since West Germany against England in 1970. Their late (stoppage-time) winner means there have now been nine winning goals which have come in the 90th-minute during the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals... and, prior to this year, there were just 10 such last-gasp winning goals in the previous five tournaments combined. The victory also means Belgium have reached the World Cup quarter-finals in successive tournaments for the first time. They now face Brazil in the last eight on Friday 6th July 2018 at the Kazan Arena in Kazan, for what will be the second 'Quarter Final' tie of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals, where the 'Red Devils' and 'Canarinha' contest a 'Semi-Final' place against either France or Uruguay! :-) ***
MATCH 7: Sweden 1 - 0 Switzerland (KICK-OFF: 3pm on 3rd July, Saint Petersburg)
*** SWEDEN WIN as Emil Forsberg's strike deflects off Manuel Akanji, leaving Swiss keeper Yann Sommer stranded, and ends-up in the back of the net to give the Swedes victory over Switzerland in their 'Round of 16' match and set-up a 'Quarter Final' tie against England or Colombia. Given how the Swiss team are in the top 10 of FIFA's rankings, and managed to clock-up twice as much possession that Sweden did, while creating fifty per cent more chances, as well as being awarded (close to) four times as many corner-kicks, over the course of ninety minutes... this was probably not the outcome that many would have predicted. Despite being goal-less by the time that the referee had blown for the interval, the first-half was far from uneventful and certainly not lacking in opportunities to score (for either side), it's just that the quality of finishing left a lot to be desired. The opening forty-five minutes was a fairly evenly-contested affair, with both Sweden and Switzerland managing around seven attempts on goal each. The Swedish side having the greater number of opportunities in the first twenty minutes, or so, and the Swiss just edging it in the later portion of the first half. Overall, if you were to catalogue Sweden's seven attempts, it would read like this: 4 missed; 2 blocked, and; 1 saved, with the only shot "on target" coming courtesy of a left-footed shot by Marcus Berg, from the centre of the box, which was clawed-away by Yann Sommer as it headed for the bottom left corner of the goal. Switzerland's seven chances don't make for much better reading, either: with 4 missed; 2 saved, and; 1 blocked. Things didn't really change much when the second-half got underway, with both sides guilty of squandering more good opportunities to score. However it wasn't until mid-way through the second-half that the (somewhat fortuitous) goal by Emil Forsberg (66') separated the two sides, and give Sweden a (slight) advantage over the higher-ranked team from Switzerland. After that, however, save for Albin Ekdal's (missed) attempt (when a right-footed shot from outside the box was too high) Sweden never really got a look-in... and, barring Ola Toivonen's right-footed shot from outside the box (which was saved in the bottom right corner) during the 7th minute of stoppage-time at the end of the match, all of the remaining opportunities fell to Switzerland from that moment onward. Aside from a 69th-minute attempt by Ricardo Rodríguez, whose right-footed shot from outside the box was saved as it headed for the bottom left corner, every subsequent attempt by the Swiss side was blocked by Sweden - who were determined to hang-on to their (slender) advantage until the bitter end. The only other event of note was when Michael Lang was dismissed during the 4th-minute of injury time for a push on Martin Olsson (who was clean through on goal) meaning Switzerland had to play-out the last few minutes of stoppage-time with 10 men. Originally, the referee had awarded Sweden a penalty for this incident but, after a review by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) which clearly showed the contact to have been outside the box, he changed his decision to a free-kick. So, all-in-all, this was a match of missed opportunities... but, thanks to one opportunity that wasn't missed, Sweden reached the last eight of this competition for the first time since 1994. Having emerged victorious in Saint Petersburg, they now head for Samara... where they will play either England or Colombia in a 3pm kick-off at the Samara Arena, which then decides who goes on to face Russia or Croatia in Moscow when the 2018 FIFA World Cup reaches the 'Semi-Final' phase and the teams battle it out at the Luzhniki Stadium, in the middle of next week, for a place in the final! :-) ***
MATCH 8: Colombia 1 - 1 [AET] England (KICK-OFF: 7pm on 3rd July, Moscow-Spartak)
*** ENGLAND WIN 4 - 3 on penalties after neither they nor Colombia were able to produce a winning goal to decide the tie, having played 30-minutes of extra-time with the match still level: as it was at the end of second-half stoppage time, during which Colombia had equalised. From the outset, it was clear that this was not going to be an easy night for England... with the constant whistling of the Colombian fans making for an uneasy atmosphere inside the Spartak Stadium. In addition to the hostile environment created by their fans, the players from Colombia also made their intentions pretty clear from the kick-off with the first "action" of the match being a foul by Yerry Mina with only three minutes on the clock. Plenty more physical exchanges were to follow throughout the entire match but, despite the scrappy nature of the game, England did (somehow) manage to create some chances to score in between all of the fouls, free-kicks, and resulting breaks in play. In fact, over the course of forty-five minutes in the first-half, England racked-up twice as many opportunities to score (eight) as their Colombian opponents did when they weren't busy taking chunks out of the English players. So, although they were having a tough time of it and the game remained goal-less at the interval, England still managed to get the better of Colombia and were (at least) able to emerge (relatively) unscathed after a very ill-disciplined first-half. The failure of American referee, Mike Geiger, to clamp-down hard on all the early infringements certainly didn't help matters going forward... and the second-half began along similar lines to how the first had been played-out. Colombia, in particular, continued to push the referee to the limit with their foul play... but, rather than impose his authority on the match with some firm decision-making, he chose to adopt a more "softly-softly" approach and seemed to prefer holding little "face-to-face" discussions with the players over their misdemeanours, rather than take responsibility and punish them for their offences. That said, he was swift to act upon an incident (within the penalty area) in which Carlos Sánchez brought down Harry Kane and, besides giving the Colombian a yellow card for his foul, he (quite rightly) awarded England a spot-kick. The resulting penalty-goal by Harry Kane (57') gave the English team a well-deserved lead after their (necessarily) dogged performance up to that point. Of course, with this being part of the "Knockout Stage" in this tournament, Colombia were hardly going to sit-back while England clung-on to a one goal lead for what was left of the ninety minutes... and their fighting spirit led to two more yellow cards for fouls by Radamel Falcao and Carlos Bacca of Colombia, plus another one for Jesse Lingard of England. Apart from a further string of fouls and free-kicks, there were also a few more chances for both teams to score in the thirty minutes following Harry Kane's goal. However, once the game had reached the 85th-minute mark, it became desperation time for Colombia... who, on realising it was now or never, eased-up on the fouling and (instead) seized whatever opportunities came their way to score. To wit, there were a couple of chances for Radamel Falcao (one missed, the other saved), and; another from Mateus Uribe, whose right-footed shot from outside the penalty area produced a world-class save by Jordan Pickford as it headed for the top right corner of the goal, with the match already two minutes into stoppage-time at the end of the second-half. With England clinging-on to their one-goal lead, the subsequent corner-kick (conceded by Jordan Pickford, after that wonder-save) was met by the head of Yerry Mina who was able to nod-home from the centre of the box to the top left corner. Cruel though it may seem, this late goal by Yerry Mina (90'+3) was enough to send the 'Round of 16' tie into extra-time and keep Colombia's hopes of progressing to the 'Quarter Final' phase alive. During the first half of extra-time, it was back to a succession of fouls and free-kicks... but, unlike most of the previous play during the 90-minutes of normal time, it was only Colombia who managed to create any serious attempts on goal in this fifteen minute period - with England getting no opportunities whatsoever in that same time-frame. The second-half of extra-time, however, was pretty much the polar opposite of the first... with four attempts from England: one for Jesse Lingard (blocked); another for Jamie Vardy (also blocked), plus; one for Danny Rose (missed), and; one for Eric Dier, whose header from the centre of the box was too high and missed the target. All this, without reply from Colombia... who looked like they were prepared to settle for a penalty shoot-out rather than risk going for a goal as they had done in the opening period of extra-time. That being the case, Colombia got what they were hoping for when - with nothing to separate the two teams after 120-minutes of play - the referee blew the whistle to signal that the game would now have to be decided on penalties. With a dismal record of one win (against Spain, in Euro '96) from seven shootouts at major tournaments before this, Gareth Southgate's England team looked set for more agony... when, after Luis Muriel had scored the third penalty in succession for Colombia, Jordan Henderson's third penalty for England was saved by the Colombian goalkeeper, David Ospina. Fortunately for England, after Mateus Uribe had smashed the following penalty-kick for Colombia onto the crossbar, Kieran Trippier held his nerve to convert the next penalty for England, with a right footed shot to the top left corner, and levelled the score. What followed next guaranteed England a place in the history books, as Jordan Pickford managed to save the next Colombian penalty from Carlos Bacca, leaving Eric Dier to step-up and convert his penalty with a right-footed shot to the bottom left corner and send England through to the quarter-finals. It was the first time that England has ever won a penalty shoot-out in a World Cup tournament, and only the second time that the English senior team have won a penalty shoot-out in any major competition. The win means England have qualified for the 'Quarter Final' of a World Cup for the first time since 2006, and this famous victory sees them go on to face Sweden in Samara on Saturday 7th July 2018 for what will be a 3pm kick-off to decide which of the two teams progress to the semi-final and contest a match against Russia or Croatia for a place in the final and a chance to lift the trophy in Moscow when the 2018 FIFA World Cup ends on Sunday 15th July! :-) ***
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After the "Round of 16" matches (outlined above) the FIFA World Cup 2018 tournament reaches the "Quarter Finals" stage, with all ties being set to take place from Friday 6th to Saturday 7th July 2018 (inclusive), where the fixtures between all "Round of 16" winners are arranged as follows:-
QF1: France 2 - 0 Uruguay (KICK-OFF: 3pm on 6th July in Nizhny Novgorod)
*** FRANCE WIN as Uruguay pay the price for a poorly defended free-kick, and an absolute howler of a goal-keeping error by Fernando Muslera, resulting in the two goals that gave victory to France in Nizhny Novgorod and ended Uruguay's run of four successive victories in this tournament. Over the course of the first-half, the match turned-out to be a fairly evenly contested affair... with both sides having had an equal number of attempts on goal across the forty-five minute period. By the time the half-time whistle blew, it was only the goal by Raphael Varane (40') that separated the two teams with his headed attempt, from the centre of the box, finding the bottom left corner of the net following an excellent free-kick by Antoine Griezmann that looked like it must have been fairly well-rehearsed on the training ground beforehand. This was probably a deserved lead for the French side who, up until that point, probably had the better of the chances to score. However the Uruguayan team were quick to react after going behind, almost levelling within minutes from a free-kick of their own, and were it not for a brilliant diving stop by Hugo Loris to deny Martin Caceres, whose header from the centre of the box was prevented from going into the bottom left corner by what was (undoubtedly) a contender for "save of the tournament", then it might have been a very different outcome. When the second-half got underway France continued to press the Uruguayan side, winning a series of free-kicks in quick succession, with Uruguay resorting to fouls in order to keep them at bay. It's not without a certain sense of irony, then, that it was the team from Uruguay who managed to produce more attempts on goal than their French opponents in the opening quarter-hour following the interval. That said, just one minute into the second quarter-hour of the second-half, Antoine Griezmann was gifted a goal that made certain of victory for France, largely due to a terrible error by goalkeeper Fernando Muslera. As Griezmann let fly with a left-footed shot, from outside the box, no-one would have expected such an attempt to trouble the Uruguayan goalkeeper. However, Muslera mis-judged the flight of the ball and (presumably in some sort of attempt to parry) flapped his hands at the football, causing it to loop-up into the air and over his shoulder as it made it's way (almost as if in slow-motion) over the line. Both sides managed to create further chances to score during the remaining 30-minutes but, despite having fifty per cent more possession when compared to their opponents, by the end of the match France and Uruguay had each created eleven opportunities. Perhaps even more surprising, given the eventual end result, is that Uruguay had twice as many shots "on target" as France... with the difference being that the French team were able to convert both of their two shots on target into goals, whereas Uruguay did not succeed with any of their four. Maybe it was something to do with injured Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani failing to make the bench, let alone join his strike-partner (Luis Suarez) on the pitch, where he (Suarez) failed to have a single touch in the opposition box, and didn't even register a single shot in ninety minutes! :-O Instead, Suarez adopted a (no less important) role of trying to make things happen in the final third for his team-mates and, to that end, no less than 8 of the outfield players for Uruguay had attempts at goal... so, it wasn't for the lack of trying that the goals eluded them - rather, it was the inability of the Uruguayan side to find the finishing touch needed to beat Hugo Loris in the French goal that ultimately cost them the match and a place in the semi-finals of the tournament. As for France, they are into the semi-finals of the 'World Cup' for the first time since 2006... and, after an efficient (if far from spectacular) display which saw them do just enough to get past Uruguay in their 'Quarter Final' tie, they will now face Belgium in their 'Semi-Final' match on Tuesday (with the other on Wednesday) to determine who plays at Sunday's final in Moscow! :-) ***
QF2: Brazil 1 - 2 Belgium (KICK-OFF: 7pm on 6th July in Kazan)
*** BELGIUM WIN and Brazil are eliminated, courtesy of an early own-goal by Fernandinho and a superb pin-point strike from his Manchester City team-mate, Kevin de Bruyne, whose 20-yard effort flew into the bottom left corner to give the Belgian side a two-goal lead at half-time. Both teams had hit the ground running in the first-half and, with only ten minutes played, Belgium and Brazil had each racked-up several attempts on goal. However, for the remaining minutes of the opening fifteen, it was pretty much all Belgium and the own-goal by Fernandinho (13') seemed to indicate that the thirteenth minute was certainly "unlucky" for this Brazilian side... when Nacer Chadli's corner-kick struck Fernandinho's arm and flew into the net, for what was the 10th own-goal of this World Cup. His footballing faux-pas meant that Fernandinho became only the second player to score a World Cup own-goal with Brazil, after Marcelo (against Croatia) in 2014, although I suspect they will remain a rarity for the Brazilian football team going forward. Anyway, if their first goal was rather fortuitous, there is no denying how skilfully crafted Belgium's second goal by Kevin de Bruyne (31') was... after Romelu Lukaku had received the ball inside his own half, before turning to embark on what proved to be an incredible run (deep into the opposition's half), and laid it off for Kevin De Bruyne whose superb right-footed shot from outside the box found the bottom left corner of the net to double their lead before the interval. Ironically, this second goal followed a 15-minute spell of positive play from Brazil, who notched-up no less than five attempts on goal during that period... while Belgium could only manage a single free-kick and one corner during that same time-frame. The fact it came from a Brazilian corner-kick, conceded by Belgium's Axel Witsel, only goes to show what a threat Belgium also pose on the counter-attack. Although, having said that, neither side was able to find the net in the final quarter-hour of the first-half... even though a couple of chances fell to both teams between when the second goal went-in for Belgium and the referee blowing for half-time. After the interval Brazil made a substitution which saw Roberto Firmino replace Willian but, despite going-on to have by far the better of the second-half, Brazil could only find the net once out of their seventeen attempts to score. Douglas Costa came on for Brazil, replacing Gabriel Jesus, just before the hour-mark and was able to make an immediate impact by setting-up a (blocked) attempt for Marcelo before getting his own chance to score with a right-footed shot (from the right side of the box) which was saved as it headed for the centre of the goal. Costa continued to prove a bit of a handful for Belgium, with two further attempts (one blocked, the other saved) in the 10-minute period which followed but it was another Brazilian substitute: Renato Augusto, who replaced Paulinho in the 73rd minute of the game, that finally reduced the deficit for Brazil with a header from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner, following a fantastic through-ball by Philippe Coutinho. Unfortunately, however, the headed goal by Renato Augusto (76') was not enough to send the match into extra-time... and, despite one more (missed) attempt by Augusto, plus; two from Roberto Firmino (also both missed), and; a couple for Coutinho (one missed, the other blocked), as well as; a stoppage-time effort by Neymar, whose right-footed shot from outside the box was saved as it headed for the top right corner of the net, there was to be no late come-back from Brazil. All of which means the five-time winners are out of the 2018 World Cup, while Belgium have managed to reach the semi-finals for the first time since 1986. As a reward for their brilliant performance, the Belgian side will now face France in their semi-final match on Tuesday 10th July 2018 from Saint Petersburg, with kick-off set for 7pm BST! :-) ***
QF3: Sweden 0 - 2 England (KICK-OFF: 3pm on 7th July in Samara)
*** ENGLAND WIN thanks to headed goals from Harry Maguire (30') and Dele Alli (58') plus some fantastic saves by Jordan Pickford to maintain their advantage (and keep a clean sheet) over Sweden. Although it may not be immediately obvious from the clean sheet and the end result, the match began as a somewhat cagey affair... and, despite both teams winning multiple free-kicks in the attacking half during the opening ten minutes, it wasn't until the twelfth minute of the game that Sweden managed to produce the first attempt on goal: when, luckily for England, Viktor Claesson's right-footed strike from outside the box flew high & wide to the left of the goal. It took a while longer for the English side to settle, though, and almost twenty minutes had been played by the time that Harry Kane's first attempt for England was registered. From that point on, however, the 'Three Lions' started to look the more dominant of the two teams and, barely ten minutes later, the deadlock was broken when a goal by Harry Maguire, on the half-hour mark, put England in front. The headed goal came from another set-piece (the eighth which England have scored from in Russia) and Maguire's effort, which he was able to power past Robin Olsen from Ashley Young's corner-kick, made him the only player to have scored their first goal for England in a World Cup "Knockout Stage" match since Rio Ferdinand did it (against Denmark) in 2002. Further opportunities followed, for England to extend their lead, during what remained of the first-half... resulting in one (missed) attempt by Jordan Henderson, barely five minutes after Harry Maguire had opened the scoring, and; another (blocked) effort by Jesse Lingard, from the left side of the six-yard box, plus; one more (blocked) attempt from Raheem Sterling, whose right-footed shot from the centre of the box came just before stoppage-time at the end of the half. In the dying moments, before the interval, the Swedish side did concede a couple more corner-kicks to England but both proved to be fruitless leaving the half-time margin at just one goal. Unsurprisingly, with such a slight deficit, the Swedes were keen to level the score as soon as possible... and may have done so when, just two minutes into the second-half, a cross from Ludwig Augustinsson was met by a header from Marcus Berg in the centre of the box that, were it not for Jordan Pickford making a great one-handed save, would have been bound for the bottom right-hand corner of the net. After such an early wake-up call, not long after the second-half had got underway, England needed to redouble their efforts and (thankfully) were able to produce a string of chances in quick succession to put Sweden on the back-foot once more. Within five minutes, Harry Kane had won a free-kick on the left-wing that resulted in a shot by Raheem Sterling... but his right footed strike, from the left side of the six yard box, sadly missed to the right of the target. Several minutes later Harry Maguire, whose headed pass had also provided the opportunity for Sterling's shot, was credited with another assist when he set-up a chance for Jesse Lingard... but his right-footed shot from outside the box was blocked. This was soon followed by another (blocked) attempt from Lingard, assisted by Dele Alli, who (in return) supplied the clever lofted cross to the far post for the subsequent goal by Dele Alli (58') who headed past Robin Olsen to score England's second and double their advantage over the Swedish side. With this being the "Knockout Stage" Sweden had no choice but to attack, having now found themselves two goals down, and Viktor Claesson's right-footed shot from the centre of the box four minutes later produced another supreme one-handed save from Jordan Pickford to deny the Swedes a much-needed lifeline. Sensing the need for a switch in tactics Sweden decided to bring-on substitute John Guidetti (to replace Ola Toivonen) and Martin Olsson (who took place of Emil Forsberg) with both changes coming just after the hour-mark. Meanwhile, England managed to rack-up a couple more chances of their own: one for Harry Maguire (missed), and; another for Dele Alli (blocked), before Pickford was called-upon again to prevent another attempt by Marcus Berg, whose left-footed shot from the centre of the box was tipped over the bar as it headed for the top centre of the goal. This third save from the Everton keeper, who had already denied Viktor Claesson and Marcus Berg by saving their previous efforts from earlier in the game, was enough to ensure a clean sheet for Jordan Pickford... with the only other Swedish attempt being a left-footed shot from outside the box by Ludwig Augustinsson that flew high and wide to the left of Pickford's goal following a direct free-kick in the 90th minute. England made a few late substitutions, presumably to disrupt the flow of play, and even managed to have another (blocked) attempt from Jesse Lingard during the last ten minutes of normal time. Save for that, the only other late drama came from several late bookings: one for England's Harry Maguire, and; another for John Guidetti of Sweden, plus; a stoppage-time booking for Sebastian Larsson, all of whom were shown the yellow card before the game concluded. With three vital saves in this match, Jordan Pickford became the youngest-ever England goalkeeper to have kept a clean sheet in a World Cup match (24 years and 122 days) while the eight goals England have scored from set-pieces, across all of their games in this tournament so far, is the most by any team at a World Cup since Portugal in 1966 (also eight). Sweden, meanwhile, have now lost three of their past four matches against England and, despite proving to be a stubborn challenge in this quarter-final, they have been eliminated. On the plus side, Sweden's loss is England's gain... and they are now into the World Cup semi-finals for the first time since 1990 only this time, instead of Germany, they face Croatia at Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium on Wednesday 11th July, for a place in the final (at the same venue) on Sunday 15th July 2018! :-) ***
QF4: Russia 2 - 2 [AET] Croatia (KICK-OFF: 7pm on 7th July in Sochi)
*** CROATIA WIN 4 - 3 on penalties after neither they nor Russia were able to produce a winning goal to decide the tie, having played 30-minutes of extra-time with the match still level, despite both teams managing to score again after it had finished 1-1 at the end of ninety minutes. The host nation started strongly, with two attempts on goal inside the first five minutes: the first for Denis Cheryshev (missed), and; the second by Artem Dzyuba (blocked), but it was Croatia who would go on to have by far the better of the opening half-hour with five (missed) opportunities to score. Then, against the run of play, Russia scored one of the finest goals of this World Cup with a goal by Denis Cheryshev (31') whose left-footed shot, from outside the box, was curled into the top left corner for what was his fourth goal of the tournament. Their lead didn't last for long though because, only eight minutes later some slack marking lead to a goal by Andrej Kramaric (39') whose header, from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner, brought Croatia level just before the interval. The remainder of the half was a succession of fouls and free-kicks: hardly surprising, given two Croatian players had already received yellow cards for bad fouls earlier in the first-half, but there were no further goals for either team before half-time. The second-half began in much the same way as the first had ended, with both sides conceding free-kicks within five minutes of the restart. Aside from the continued fouling from both sides it was Croatia who probably had the better of the opening period in the second-half, during which they created five more opportunities to score: one for Luka Modric (missed); a couple more for Andrej Kramaric (one saved, the other missed), plus; one for Ante Rebic (missed), and; possibly the best chance of them all for Ivan Perisic whose low, right-footed shot from the centre of the penalty box crashed against the left-hand post, and out across the face of goal, just as the game approached the hour-mark. Further chances followed, for both sides, over the next fifteen minutes with neither team able to capitalise on the opportunities they had created. Then, once the last quarter-hour of the match had begun, aside from a couple more attempts on goal by Croatia: the first of which came from Sime Vrsaljko (blocked), and; the other a headed effort by Mario Mandzukic, which went high and wide to the left, the level of play descended into a series of fouls and free-kicks (much like the first-half had ended) with a couple of handballs and two corners (both conceded by Aleksandr Erokhin) thrown-in for good measure. The six added minutes of stoppage-time, at the end of the second-half, continued along much the same lines, with only a sole (missed) long-range attempt by Fedor Smolov, from a difficult angle, to excite the crowd before the inevitable period of extra-time followed. There was more of the same during the first period of extra-time until, with only five minutes of the fifteen remaining, a corner-kick (conceded by Ilya Kutepov) resulted in a headed goal by Domagoj Vida (100') who somehow managed to find the net through a crowd of players and put his Croatian side in front for the first time in the match. He then promptly received a booking (and a yellow card) for his excessive celebrations (i.e. taking his shirt off) while Russia brought on substitute Alan Dzagoev to replace Aleksandr Golovin. Desperately in need of an equaliser, in order to stay in the game, Russia battled-on and managed a couple of (missed) attempts through Ilya Kutepov and Aleksandr Erokhin, both of which were headers from the centre of the box with crosses provided by Alan Dzagoev. The second period of extra-time remained an ill-disciplined affair, with Yuri Gazinskiy of Russia being shown the yellow card for a bad foul inside the first five minutes. In spite of this, Russia came close to finding the equaliser they needed through Daler Kuzyaev... but his right-footed shot, from the right side of the box, was saved as it headed for the centre of the goal. They did, eventually, get thrown a lifeline when, with only five minutes remaining, Josip Pivaric was adjudged to have "handled" the ball when it struck his up-stretched arm. The resultant free-kick led to a goal by Mario Fernandes (115') whose header from the centre of the box found the bottom left corner following the set piece. Each side managed to create one more opportunity to score, in what little time remained, but neither team was able to convert the chance that they had made. So, not for the first time in this tournament, the outcome of the match had to be decided with a penalty shoot-out. Unfortunately for Russia, the host nation had the worst possible start when Fedor Smolov saw his right-footed shot saved as it was headed for the bottom left corner. Following successful penalty conversions from both sides, with the next two spot-kicks, Croatia then surrendered their advantage when Mateo Kovacic failed to score as his low, right-footed shot was brilliantly saved by the Russian goalkeeper, Igor Akinfeev, as it headed for the bottom right-hand corner of the goal. However, instead of seizing the chance to put Russia in front and pile all of the pressure on Croatia, Brazil-born defender Mario Fernandes blazed his spot-kick low and wide, to the left of the post, when he missed what turned-out to be the decisive penalty-kick. With the next four penalties all being successfully converted, making it all-tied at three each, that left Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic to send his team into the semi-finals by scoring with the last of Croatia's five attempts from the penalty spot... and he made no mistake, when he shot into the bottom left corner with his right foot, to ensure Croatia won 4-3 in the penalty shoot-out. So, while the hosts are eliminated having reached what was their first quarter-final appearance since 1970 and the days of the Soviet Union, the Croatian side progress to the 'Semi-Final' phase of the tournament and will now face England in Moscow, at 7pm on Wednesday 11th July 2018, for a place in the final! :-) ***
REMINDER:- If, for whatever reason, you cannot use 'BBC iPlayer', or 'BBC Sports', or 'ITV Hub'... you will find details (earlier in this post) for a "private" channel that can easily be installed on Roku players (though not on NowTV-branded devices) and will serve as a useful backup for live streaming the games. Instructions for adding this private channel to your Roku account are included above! ;-)
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When the 2018 FIFA World Cup enters it's "final" week (if you'll pardon the pun) the next phase of the tournament is the "Semi-Finals", for which the matches are set to take place on Tuesday 10th July and Wednesday 11th July, between the four winners of the "Quarter Finals" as shown:-
SF1: France 1 - 0 Belgium (KICK-OFF: 7pm on Tuesday 10th July in Saint Petersburg)
*** FRANCE WIN after a glancing headed goal by defender Samuel Umtiti, early in the second-half, proved enough to consign Belgium to a 'Third-Place Playoff' on Saturday, while the French side can look forward to a place in Sunday's World Cup 'Final', at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, against Croatia or England who contest the other semi-final tomorrow night. From the first whistle, up until around the half-hour mark, there was very little to differentiate between the two sides... with France and Belgium, more or less, trading attempts on goal one after the other throughout the opening thirty minutes. After that it became more of a one-sided affair, with the French team managing to create a further eight opportunities to score in the final quarter-hour of the first-half... while the Belgian side failed to produce a single attempt on goal during that same time period. For all their efforts, however, France could only force a save from Belgium's goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtois, on just two occasions in the opening forty-five minutes: one, after eighteen minutes of play, following a left-footed shot from outside the box by Blaise Matuidi which was stopped as it headed for the top centre of the goal, and; the other, around six minutes before half-time, when Benjamin Pavard's right-footed shot from the right side of the box was saved en-route to the bottom left corner. As for Belgium, although they had far fewer shots on goal compared to France, in terms of overall accuracy they were much better with Toby Alderweireld's left-footed shot from the centre of the box, mid-way through the half, forcing a save from Hugo Lloris to prevent it from going into the bottom left corner, and; Eden Hazard's earlier left-footed shot from the left side of the box, on the quarter-hour mark, also coming close from their sum total of just three attempts across the entire forty-five minute period. Even so, with neither side able to find the necessary finishing-touch, the score remained at nil-nil when the referee stopped play for the half-time interval. While France had claimed the first attempt on goal in the first-half, with a left-footed shot by Antoine Griezmann (from the centre of the box) which was blocked after just one minute of play, it was Belgium who got the first opportunity to score in the second-half courtesy of a header by Romelu Lukaku from the centre of the box (following a cross from Axel Witsel) but it was too high and missed the target. Less than five minutes later, however, Belgium gave-away a corner (conceded by Vincent Kompany) and the resulting cross from Antoine Griezmann led to a goal for France by Samuel Umtiti (51') whose towering header, from the right side of the six-yard box, flew past the helpless Belgian keeper into the high centre of the net. Further (blocked) attempts followed for Blaise Matuidi and Olivier Giroud barely five minutes after France had taken the lead and, when Belgium's next attempt (a right-footed shot from outside the box by Toby Alderweireld) was too high, Roberto Martinez decided to change things around by bringing-on substitute Dries Mertens to replace Mousa Dembélé. Following the substitution, Belgium dominated for a brief (5-minute) spell in which they managed to create a couple of good opportunities to level the score: one from Kevin De Bruyne, whose right-footed shot from the centre of the box was saved as it headed for the centre of the goal, and; another for Marouane Fellaini, whose header from the centre of the box also went close, but missed to the right, following a cross by substitute Dries Mertens who had been looking quite lively since coming on five minutes earlier. Then, after a further (missed) opportunity by Kevin De Bruyne and a header from the centre of the box by Paul Pogba which came close to doubling the advantage for France, Martinez brought Yannick Carrasco off the bench to take the place of Marouane Fellaini. Soon after the second substitution, Belgium came very close to finding the equaliser they needed, but Axel Witsel's powerful, long-range drive was pushed away by Hugo Lloris as it headed for the centre of the goal. There then followed a slight delay in the match, after Blaise Matuidi and Eden Hazard had collided, with Corentin Tolisso eventually replacing Matuidi because of the injury he sustained. Prior to that (enforced) substitution, Didier Deschamps also brought-on Steven N'Zonzi to replace Olivier Giroud who once again failed to find the net, despite making his usual valuable contribution to the French team. In what little time remained, it all got a little bit desperate and untidy... with both teams having players booked (N'Golo Kanté and Kylian Mbappé for France, plus Jan Vertonghen for Belgium) as the match went into stoppage-time at the end of ninety minutes. However even with a "Hail, Mary!" injury-time substitution by Roberto Martinez, which saw Michy Batshuayi come on to replace Nacer Chadli, Belgium were unable to create any further opportunities to score. If anything, France looked the more likely of the two teams to find the net... with Antoine Griezmann's right-footed shot from the centre of the box being saved as it headed for the bottom left corner in the 93rd minute, and; Corentin Tolisso's left-footed shot, from the left side of the box, also saved as it was bound for the bottom right corner of the goal six minutes into stoppage-time. So, when the whistle finally blew to signal the end of the match, France had done just enough to edge past their European neighbours in St. Petersburg - despite Belgium having 64% possession over the course of the match - and play their way to a second consecutive major tournament final (the other being Euro 2016). As for the Belgium team, their 24-match unbeaten run (dating back to September 2016) came to an end, as their second World Cup semi-final ended in defeat (the first was against Argentina in 1986) and manager Roberto Martinez suffered his first loss in a competitive game. In fairness, having lost in the quarter-final of both the previous World Cup and the European Championship, Belgium did (at least) manage to go one stage further this time around... but their only consolation is a 'Third-Place Playoff' on Saturday against Croatia or England, and that might not be enough to motivate them now that they have failed to get to the 2018 World Cup 'Final' in Moscow. Meanwhile, with this semi-final victory, France have now beaten Belgium three times in World Cup matches, more than they've beaten any other side in the competition, and reached their third World Cup final (the others being 1998 / 2006), where they will face Croatia or England at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on Sunday 15th July 2018! :-) ***
SF2: England 1 - 2 [AET] Croatia (KICK-OFF: 7pm on Wednesday 11th July in Moscow-Luzhniki)
*** CROATIA WIN despite a perfect start for England thanks to Kieran Trippier's 20-yard free-kick finding the net after only five minutes. However, while an early lead is often great for settling any pre-match nerves that may have existed, no team should rely on being able to maintain such a slender advantage for another eighty-five minutes. Personally I don't think even a two-goal lead can be relied upon, with plenty of time still left on the clock, and would always be inclined to strive for a third goal (without reply) before (perhaps) lifting my foot of the gas a bit, in case of later need. Unfortunately it was England's failure to add to their goal tally, despite creating a further ten attempts on goal over the course of ninety minutes, which proved to be their undoing in this game. Indeed, with only two of the eleven (total) shots being "on target", it was this inadequacy in finding a finishing touch when in the final third of the pitch that cost the English team a place in the 2018 World Cup Final. Obviously, you cannot expect every attacking move to produce a goal at the end of it, but England could have been two goals to the good before Croatia had even registered their first attempts on goal (both coming close to 20-minutes after kick-off) if Harry Maguire's header from the centre of the box, following a corner conceded by Ivan Perisic in the 14th minute, didn't miss the target. England's talisman, Harry Kane, was also caught-out by the offside trap a few times... which didn't help him in his quest to win the 'Golden Boot' much either, and Jesse Lingard also wasted a chance by shooting wide to the right of goal with his right-footed effort from outside the penalty area just inside the last 10-minutes of the first-half. This was soon followed by a left-footed shot (from the right side of the box) by Raheem Sterling which also came to nothing when his strike was blocked. Even so, by the time the half-time interval came around, most spectators would have expected England to (at least) be two goals clear of Croatia... having had much the better of the opening forty-five minutes, despite Croatia being able to create one or two late opportunities of their own. When the second-half got underway it began as a fairly scrappy affair, with a succession of fouls and free-kicks during the first ten minutes, which saw both Mario Mandzukic (Croatia) and Kyle Walker (England) being shown the yellow card. Although the Croatian side were proving a tough nut to crack, England did manage to create one more chance before the hour-mark but (much like the majority of England's opportunities) the right-footed shot by Jesse Lingard, from outside the box, came to nothing when it was blocked by Dejan Lovren. Then, after a 10-minute spell of dominance by the Croatian side including attempts on goal by Ivan Rakitic (missed) and Ivan Perisic (blocked), England got what was perhaps their best chance to double their lead... but Harry Kane's golden touch deserted him when he missed a great chance to score (albeit at a difficult angle) as his right-footed shot rebounded off both the Croatian keeper and the post ending-up to the far right of the goal. In hindsight he should have played a square ball to his team-mate who, in an unmarked position on the right, would probably have only been required to make a simple tap-in for (what would have been) England's second goal... but the striker, in this instance, took the selfish option by going-it alone and (in so-doing) squandered a fantastic opportunity for his team. The price for England's failure to add to their tally was a 68th-minute equaliser by Ivan Perisic for Croatia that (ultimately) sent the match into extra time, after two further missed attempts by Jesse Lingard and Jordan Henderson in normal time, plus a stoppage-time header from Harry Kane, failed to provide a winning goal for England. If the truth be told, the English side were rapidly running-out of steam and rarely matched their first-half performance during the second period which was largely dominated by the Croatian team, being orchestrated by Luka Modric in midfield, so it was no surprise to see the tie go to extra-time at the end of ninety minutes. Once it kicked-off, things started-out just as scrappily as the second-half had begun... with another series of fouls and free-kicks, during which Croatia were forced to bring on substitute Josip Pivaric to replace Ivan Strinic because of an injury he sustained in one of those incidents. Another saw Ante Rebic shown the yellow card for a bad foul on Danny Rose, who had come on for England, at the start of extra-time, to replace Ashley Young. Gareth Southgate also brought-on Eric Dier, to replace Jordan Henderson (and thus spare him the potential agony of another missed spot-kick, if the tie were to go to a penalty shoot-out) in the 97th minute. Less than sixty seconds later, Dier came close to earning the "Super-Sub" title... but his right-footed shot from outside the box was blocked by Ivan Perisic, who conceded a corner in the process. Kieran Trippier's corner-kick then created another opportunity for John Stones, but his header from the centre of the box was blocked meaning the score remained level. For the remainder of the first period of extra-time England were on the back-foot, as they tried to cope with a sustained Croatian attack, and gave-away several free-kicks (two by Marcus Rashford, and another by Harry Kane) as they tried to stay in the game and avoid going behind for the first time in the match. Somewhere in between, Croatia decided to make another substitution... bringing-on Andrej Kramaric to replace Ante Rebic and, barely five minutes later, he came close to having the desired impact but his left-footed shot from outside the box was blocked. Soon after, following a cross from Ivan Perisic, Mario Mandzukic almost put Croatia in front... but, his right-footed shot from the centre of the box was stopped by Jordan Pickford when the ball hit his outstretched leg and went behind for a corner. With both players moving at speed, and in opposite directions, when closing down the ball they collided and this led to a slight (1-2 minute) delay because of an injury to Mandzukic but, when play resumed, nothing came of it and the referee blew the whistle to signal the end of the first period in extra-time. After the interval, it seemed like England had failed to switch-on and stay alert to the dangers they were facing and, after an early missed attempt by Marcelo Brozovic (from a corner conceded by Jesse Lingard), remained blissfully unaware of the threat posed by Ivan Perisic whose flick-on for his team-mate, Mario Mandzukic, from a headed pass back into the penalty area enabled Mandzukic to score (what would become) the winning goal, with a left-footed shot from the left side of the six-yard box to the bottom right corner, in the 109th minute. This meant England had around ten minutes to find an equaliser which would send the tie to a penalty shoot-out... but, in their desperation, this meant giving-away more free-kicks as they fought for the ball which only added to the frustration of going behind. Even a "Hail, Mary!" substitution, in which Gareth Southgate brought-on Jamie Vardy to replace Kyle Walker, seemed to make very little difference to an England side which were increasingly looking like they were out of ideas and lacking the inspiration to come-up with anything more. Only a few minutes later, following a corner for Croatia, Kieran Trippier sustained an injury that would see him forced to leave the field with no replacement (as England had already used their four permitted substitutes) meaning there was no choice for the English side but to play-out the remainder of extra-time with only ten men. Croatia, meanwhile had to bring-on Vedran Corluka because of an injury to Mario Mandzukic... and, not long after, made another (time-wasting) substitution which saw Milan Badelj replace Luka Modric. In the end, though, apart from a few more chances for Croatia (none of which came to fruition) there was no further action other than the continued fouling and subsequent free-kicks and England ended the last fifteen minutes of extra-time without having a single attempt on goal. You could argue the English players had simply run-out of steam, having given so much over the course of a long Premier League season and again at this World Cup tournament in Russia, but (whatever the reason) at the end of the day England lost their momentum after the first-half and, from that point onwards, allowed this wonderful opportunity to slip from their grasp. Their only "consolation" is that they get to play yet another meaningless match against Belgium, courtesy of a third-place playoff in St. Petersburg on Saturday afternoon, before flying home to further contemplate what might have been! :-/ :-( Croatia, on the other hand, will now go on to face France at the 2018 FIFA World Cup 'Final' in Moscow on Sunday 15th July! :-) ***
************************************************
The teams from 'SF1' and 'SF2' which did not make it to the final of the FIFA World Cup 2018 will compete against each other in a 3RD PLACE PLAY-OFF to be held in the Saint Petersburg Stadium on Saturday 14th July 2018. As can be seen from the results above, this means that Belgium will play against their former 'Group G' opponents, England, to determine which of the two teams will finish in third place... and which will be fourth in the overall 2018 FIFA World Cup tournament rankings! :-)
3RD PLACE PLAYOFF: Belgium v England (KICK-OFF: 3pm Saturday 14th July in St. Petersburg)
*** WATCH LIVE ON 'ITV' VIA 'ITV HUB' - COVERAGE WILL BEGIN FROM 2:30PM ***
************************************************
All of which leads us rather nicely to the conclusion of this month-long festival of football on Roku... with the winners of the two "Semi-Finals" set to compete for the big prize on Sunday 15th July 2018, when the last match takes place, and decides the overall winner of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals football (or, "soccer", if you prefer to call it that) tournament / competition / championship between:-
FINAL: France v Croatia (KICK-OFF: 4pm on Sunday 15th July in Moscow-Luzhniki)
PLEASE NOTE:- That, unlike the "Round of 16" plus the "Quarter Finals" and "Semi-Finals" of the FIFA World Cup 2018 (collectively known as the "Knockout Stage" of the tournament), the channel details for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Final have already been made known and, having shared live coverage throughout the competition thus far, it seems only right that live coverage of the final game will be broadcast by both 'BBC' and 'ITV' - meaning owners of Roku players & NowTV devices can take their pick as to which channel (app) out of 'BBC iPlayer' and 'ITV Hub' they prefer - although, it could come down to whatever your preferred commentary team is, as to which one you watch! ;-) :-)
************************************************
To monitor the progress of the sixteen teams which qualified from the "Group Stage", and made it to the "Knockout Stage" of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals, I thought I'd share a screenshot image of a wall-chart which was originally published via the 'StarTimes' website. There is a simplicity to it that I feel makes it ideal for keeping track of the route to the FIFA World Cup Final 2018 for all the teams which get through these knockout matches and I'll update it accordingly, as each of the match results are confirmed, once we commence that phase of the FIFA World Cup 2018 tournament.
HINT: Please CLICK on the above image TO ENLARGE IT for easier viewing !!
PLEASE NOTE:- Once the result from 'MATCH 1' becomes known, around 5pm on Saturday 30th June 2018, I will be updating the image posted here with details of the winning team and the same will apply for every match played thereafter, until we reach the final on Sunday 15th July 2018! :-D
************************************************
Meanwhile, for those of you who'd prefer to observe the "Group Stage" matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in a manner that is more relevant to your particular national team, plus those of other teams from the same 'FIFA World Cup 2018' group, I've also decided to give a brief summary of all the groups, as well as their fixtures, with games summarised in both group and date order as follows:-
GROUP A
Russia
Saudi Arabia
Egypt
Uruguay
Thursday 14th June: Russia 5 - 0 Saudi Arabia (4pm at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow)
Friday 15th June: Egypt 0 - 1 Uruguay (1pm at Central Stadium in Yekaterinburg)
Tuesday 19th June: Russia 3 - 1 Egypt (7pm at Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg)
Wednesday 20th June: Uruguay 1 - 0 Saudi Arabia (4pm at Rostov Arena in Rostov-On-Don)
Monday 25th June: Uruguay 3 - 0 Russia (3pm at Samara Arena in Samara)
Monday 25th June: Saudi Arabia 2 - 1 Egypt (3pm at Volgograd Arena in Volgograd)
GROUP 'A' WINNER: Uruguay
GROUP 'A' RUNNER-UP: Russia
GROUP B
Spain
Morocco
Portugal
Iran
Friday 15th June: Morocco 0 - 1 Iran (4pm at Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg)
Friday 15th June: Portugal 3 - 3 Spain (7pm at Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi)
Wednesday 20th June: Portugal 1 - 0 Morocco (1pm at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow)
Wednesday 20th June: Iran 0 - 1 Spain (7pm at Kazan Arena in Kazan)
Monday 25th June: Iran 1 - 1 Portugal (7pm at Mordovia Arena in Saransk)
Monday 25th June: Spain 2 - 2 Morocco (7pm at Kaliningrad Stadium in Kaliningrad)
GROUP 'B' WINNER: Spain
GROUP 'B' RUNNER-UP: Portugal
GROUP C
Australia
Denmark
France
Peru
Saturday 16th June: France 2 - 1 Australia (11am at Kazan Arena in Kazan)
Saturday 16th June: Peru 0 - 1 Denmark (5pm at Mordovia Arena in Saransk)
Thursday 21st June: Denmark 1 - 1 Australia (1pm at Samara Arena in Samara)
Thursday 21st June: France 1 - 0 Peru (4pm at Central Stadium in Yekaterinburg)
Tuesday 26th June: Denmark 0 - 0 France (3pm at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow)
Tuesday 26th June: Australia 0 - 2 Peru (3pm at Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi)
GROUP 'C' WINNER: France
GROUP 'C' RUNNER-UP: Denmark
GROUP D
Argentina
Nigeria
Croatia
Iceland
Saturday 16th June: Argentina 1 - 1 Iceland (2pm at Spartak Stadium in Moscow)
Saturday 16th June: Croatia 2 - 0 Nigeria (8pm at Kaliningrad Stadium in Kaliningrad)
Thursday 21st June: Argentina 0 - 3 Croatia (7pm at Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, Nizhny Novgorod)
Friday 22nd June: Nigeria 2 - 0 Iceland (4pm at Volgograd Arena in Volgograd)
Tuesday 26th June: Nigeria 1 - 2 Argentina (7pm at Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg)
Tuesday 26th June: Iceland 1 - 2 Croatia (7pm at Rostov Arena in Rostov-On-Don)
GROUP 'D' WINNER: Croatia
GROUP 'D' RUNNER-UP: Argentina
GROUP E
Serbia
Switzerland
Brazil
Costa Rica
Sunday 17th June: Costa Rica 0 - 1 Serbia (1pm at Samara Arena in Samara)
Sunday 17th June: Brazil 1 - 1 Switzerland (7pm at Rostov Arena in Rostov-On-Don)
Friday 22nd June: Brazil 2 - 0 Costa Rica (1pm at Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg)
Friday 22nd June: Serbia 1 - 2 Switzerland (7pm at Kaliningrad Stadium in Kaliningrad)
Wednesday 27th June: Serbia 0 - 2 Brazil (7pm at Spartak Stadium in Moscow)
Weds 27th June: Switzerland 2 - 2 Costa Rica (7pm Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, Nizhny Novgorod)
GROUP 'E' WINNER: Brazil
GROUP 'E' RUNNER-UP: Switzerland
GROUP F
Sweden
Mexico
Germany
South Korea
Sunday 17th June: Germany 0 - 1 Mexico (4pm at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow)
Mon 18th June: Sweden 1 - 0 South Korea (1pm at Nizhny Novgorod Stadium in Nizhny Novgorod)
Saturday 23rd June: South Korea 1 - 2 Mexico (4pm at Rostov Arena in Rostov-On-Don)
Saturday 23rd June: Germany 2 - 1 Sweden (7pm at Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi)
Wednesday 27th June: South Korea 2 - 0 Germany (3pm at Kazan Arena in Kazan)
Wednesday 27th June: Mexico 0 - 3 Sweden (3pm at Central Stadium in Yekaterinburg)
GROUP 'F' WINNER: Sweden
GROUP 'F' RUNNER-UP: Mexico
GROUP G
Belgium
Tunisia
England
Panama
Monday 18th June: Belgium 3 - 0 Panama (4pm at Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi)
Monday 18th June: Tunisia 1 - 2 England (7pm at Volgograd Arena in Volgograd)
Saturday 23rd June: Belgium 5 - 2 Tunisia (1pm at Spartak Stadium in Moscow)
Sunday 24th June: England 6 - 1 Panama (1pm at Nizhny Novgorod Stadium in Nizhny Novgorod)
Thursday 28th June: England 0 - 1 Belgium (7pm at Kaliningrad Stadium in Kaliningrad)
Thursday 28th June: Panama 1 - 2 Tunisia (7pm at Mordovia Arena in Saransk)
GROUP 'G' WINNER: Belgium
GROUP 'G' RUNNER-UP: England
GROUP H
Colombia
Senegal
Poland
Japan
Tuesday 19th June: Colombia 1 - 2 Japan (1pm at Mordovia Arena in Saransk)
Tuesday 19th June: Poland 1 - 2 Senegal (4pm at Spartak Stadium in Moscow)
Sunday 24th June: Japan 2 - 2 Senegal (4pm at Central Stadium in Yekaterinburg)
Sunday 24th June: Poland 0 - 3 Colombia (7pm at Kazan Arena in Kazan)
Thursday 28th June: Japan 0 - 1 Poland (3pm at Volgograd Arena in Volgograd)
Thursday 28th June: Senegal 0 - 1 Colombia (3pm at Samara Arena in Samara)
GROUP 'H' WINNER: Colombia
GROUP 'H' RUNNER-UP: Japan
************************************************
Of course, if you're in a part of the world where 'BBC iPlayer' or 'BBC Sports', and 'ITV Hub', plus 'TVPlayer' or the 'FilmOn - Unofficial' private channel are not an option for you, there's still plenty of coverage for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals around the globe. For Roku users in the USA, you will find that FOX has the rights to the English-language World Cup broadcasts this time around, which means the tournament will be broadcast across multiple networks, including FOX, FS1, and others.
Most of the matches from the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals, including many of the biggest games, will be on FOX’s parent channel. The good news (for those with a TV antenna) is that 'FOX' is an Over-The-Air (OTA) broadcast network meaning that, if you can pick up TV signals from your local affiliate stations, you should be able to watch most of the World Cup for FREE on your television... and, that being the case, won't even need your Roku player for many of the biggest games. However, the remainder will (most likely) be on 'FS1' and that's where your Roku device will come into play!
As far as I know, at the time of writing, there are no games scheduled for 'FS2' or any of FOX’s other networks, so 'FOX' and 'FS1' are likely to be your "go to" options for watching the FIFA World Cup matches in the United States. Fortunately, there are a number of different ways to stream both of them on the Roku platform... thanks to a range of channels (apps) each of which carries a different brand of cost-effective 'Pay TV' service (e.g. 'DIRECTV NOW', 'fuboTV', 'Hulu with Live TV', 'Sling TV', 'PlayStation Vue', and 'YouTube TV') offering thinned-down channel packages, commonly referred to as "Skinny Bundles", all of which include 'FOX' (in select markets) as well as 'FS1' in their packages. Although these are paid subscription-based streaming services, if you're a new customer then you may be eligible for a free trial. To wit, there is a 1-WEEK FREE TRIAL of 'DIRECTV NOW', or; a 1-WEEK FREE TRIAL of FUBO TV, plus; a 1-WEEK FREE TRIAL of HULU with LIVE TV, as well as; a 5-DAY FREE TRIAL of PLAYSTATION VUE, and let's not forget you may also be eligible for; a 1-WEEK FREE TRIAL of SLING TV, or; a 1-WEEK FREE TRIAL of YOUTUBE TV. Additionally, if you are a 'Verizon' customer in the United States with a Pixel mobile phone, you may be entitled to a 2-MONTH FREE TRIAL of YOUTUBE TV when you activate a new 'Pixel 2' phone... or, a 1-MONTH FREE TRIAL of YOUTUBE TV as an existing owner of either a 'Pixel 1', or a previously activated 'Pixel 2' mobile phone. Full details of this Verizon 'YouTube TV' promotion can be found online via the relevant page(s) of the 'YouTube TV' website, to check your eligibility. In theory at least, it should be possible to stagger some combination of these free trials in order to watch the entire five week period that covers the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals... meaning it need not cost you a penny to enjoy everything that this football (or "soccer", as some say) tournament has to offer!
For ease of reference, and to facilitate installation of the channels via your online Roku account, here are the relevant links to the Roku Web Channel Store description for the six 'Pay TV' channels which were mentioned above... together with their respective channel icons, so that you know what to look for when adding them to your Roku devices, plus links to their associated 'Roku Guide' reviews:-
DIRECTV NOW...............COST: FREE (7-day trial) + $35.00 (MONTHLY) [Roku Guide Review]
fuboTV..............................COST: FREE (7-day trial) + $39.99 (MONTHLY) [Roku Guide Review]
HULU with LIVE TV..........COST: FREE (7-day trial) + $39.99 (MONTHLY) [Roku Guide Review]
PLAYSTATION VUE..........COST: FREE (5-day trial) + $39.99 (MONTHLY) [Roku Guide Review]
SLING TV (with 'Sling Blue')......COST: FREE (7-day trial) + $25.00 (MONTHLY) [Roku Guide Review]
YOUTUBE TV.................COST: FREE (7-day trial) + $40.00 (MONTHLY) [Roku Guide Review]
Some of you who live in the United States may (also) happen to be fluent in Spanish and, that being the case, the ability to access Spanish-language programming that covers the 2018 FIFA World Cup could be of more interest/use to you. Fortunately, if you are looking for Spanish-language content in the USA, you will find live coverage of the tournament on 'NBC Universo' and 'Telemundo'... both of which are available through a number of Roku channels (including many of those outlined above) so you may even get to follow your favourite team(s) for free with the bonus of commentary in Spanish! There are, however, one or two caveats... depending on which 'Pay TV' service you choose to provide access to these Spanish-language channels. For example, 'Telemundo' content is "on-demand" only via 'DIRECTV NOW' so there's going to be no live coverage from them and, to make matters worse, you would need to step-up, from their $35 "Live a Little" bundle, to (at least) their “Go Big” package ($60 per month) in order to get 'NBC Universo' included with your subscription. At least that's not as bad as 'Sling TV' which, despite being the cheapest ($25 per month), lacks both the 'Telemundo' and 'NBC Universo' channels - offering only English language live streams of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. On the plus side, you can (at least) get a live stream of 'Telemundo' with either 'PlayStation Vue' or 'Hulu with Live TV' but (again) you will find that 'NBC Universo' is missing from both services. So, your best bet (as far as Spanish-language coverage goes) is to opt for either 'fuboTV' or 'YouTube TV' since each provides access to both 'NBC Universo' and 'Telemundo' for around forty bucks a month. Of course, given the lack of these particular Spanish-language channels from most of the six 'Pay TV' providers outlined above, it might prove difficult to combine enough free trials to enjoy the whole of this year's FIFA World Cup coverage in Spanish but, for those who are bilingual, a mix of English and Spanish-language programming should get you through it. Then again, if Spanish commentary is your only choice, you might want to try this "Hail, Mary" option which was recently made available via the Roku Channel Store in all regions... the aptly named "World Cup Rusia 2018" channel:-
WORLD CUP RUSIA 2018..............................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]
***FILED UNDER: "APPS" in the Roku UK Channel Store WHEN FIRST RELEASED***
PLEASE NOTE:- That, having been available for much of the live coverage from the first week of "Group Stage" games, this 'World Cup Rusia 2018' channel has since been labelled "Out of Service" and is no longer available for install via the Roku Channel Store. Anyone who added this channel prior to it's withdrawal will now see the following message whenever it is launched:-
Sorry, this channel is no longer in service.
This channel is no longer available due to a third party copyright claim and for violating Roku's Terms of Service. To remove this channel, go to the home screen on your Roku, select this channel, press the * key on your remote and select Remove Channel.
Este canal ya no se encuentra disponible debido a que la compaia propietaria que tiene los derechos de autor del mismo han violado los terminos y condiciones de Roku. Para remover el canal, seleccione la opcion de inicio en el menu de Roku y luego presione el boton de asterisco * sobre el canal y seleccione Eliminar Canal.
From there, your only options are to "Quit" the channel (and return to the home screen) or to select "Go to Channel Store" which, presumably because the 'World Cup Rusia 2018' channel is no longer available via the built-in Roku Channel Store anymore, will produce the exact same end-result and return you to the 'Home Screen' of your Roku streaming media player. Either way, you are not going to be able to access the Spanish-language live coverage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals by using the live streams that were originally provided by this Roku app. So, my advice is to use one of the other Roku channels referenced in this article as offering Spanish-language feeds, instead! ;-) :-)
In addition to the above options, which are primarily aimed at cord-cutters (i.e. those who have now cancelled their previous cable and/or satellite subscriptions), there are further options available to a group of streamers collectively known as "cord-shavers" (i.e. those who still have their cable/satellite subscription, but supplement/replace it with additional online content via streaming) as well as others who wish to access the 'Pay TV' content from their cable/satellite subscriptions on another platform or device - in this case Roku streaming media players - and, if that sounds like you, there are a couple of ways to enjoy every game from the 2018 FIFA World Cup on Roku devices by logging-in to your chosen channel with the credentials from a participating 'Pay TV' provider. For those who primarily speak English, there is the Roku channel from 'FOX Sports GO', while anyone signed-up to 'Pay TV' services for those fluent in the Spanish-language can choose from 'Telemundo Deportes En Vivo' and 'NBC Sports' to provide their live coverage of the FIFA World Cup 2018. As before... here are the relevant links to the Roku Web Channel Store descriptions for the three extra 'Pay TV' channels that were outlined above, together with their respective channel icons, so you know what to look-out for via either the built-in Roku Channel Store or the Web Store when adding them to your Roku devices:-
FOX SPORTS GO...............REQUIRES LOG-IN FROM PARTICIPATING PAY TV PROVIDER
NBC SPORTS.....................REQUIRES LOG-IN FROM PARTICIPATING PAY TV PROVIDER
TELEMUNDO DEPORTES EN VIVO...........REQUIRES LOG-IN FROM PAY TV PROVIDER
I'm not going to bother including pricing info and/or links to the associated 'Roku Guide' reviews of these channels, because they will only be of relevance to a minority of Roku users who, for whatever reason, are still paying for a cable/satellite subscription. That said, it's probably worth mentioning that all of the "Group Stage" matches will be available in Spanish via 'Telemundo Deportes En Vivo' and 'NBC Sports' with no subscription or login required so you may (at least) be able to use them for the first "Group Stage" phase of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals even if you don't have the login credentials to access the later "Knockout Stage" of the FIFA World Cup 2018! ;-) :-)
Outside of the United States and the United Kingdom there are many other countries and/or regions which support the Roku platform, where Roku streaming media players can be bought and sold from a variety of "online" as well as "bricks & mortar" retail outlets. Anyone reading this blog from either Ireland, France, Canada, Mexico or any of the dozen or so Latin American countries (incl. Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and Peru) will have access to (at least) one or more Roku channels (apps) through which to stream live coverage of the FIFA World Cup 2018 football tournament. Here are a few tips on where you can watch:-
FOR ROKU USERS IN CANADA: If you have a 'VMedia' internet and cable package, you will be able to watch live games via the 'VMedia' channel. Other than that, your options are to find a way to watch via CTV, Réseau des Sports (RDS), or The Sports Network (TSN) who have all secured rights to broadcast live coverage of the 2018 World Cup Finals. For 'VMedia' customers with Roku devices, here is the channel icon to look for when adding their app plus a link to the official description of the 'VMedia' channel in the Roku Web Channel Store, where it can also be added online:-
VMEDIA..........................REQUIRES 'VMEDIA' INTERNET + TV PACKAGE SUBSCRIPTION
For the benefit of anyone in Canada who may not yet subscribe to 'VMedia' there is a special offer via which you can get a FREE 2-MONTH TRIAL of their "Premium Flex TV" package, with no need to continue beyond that initial free promotional period if you do not wish to. This represents a combined saving (over the two month period) of almost CAD $100.00 on the usual price of $49.95 per month! :-)
HINT:- Please CLICK on the above image TO ENLARGE IT for easier viewing !!
Whether you are eligible for the above promotion or not, you will find more information on watching content from 'VMedia' on Roku media players (and Roku TV's) in Canada via this dedicated article on their official website, as well as this related blog post published through their official blog! ;-) :-)
FOR ROKU USERS IN IRELAND: With no specific Roku channel (app) from any content provider in Ireland, your best bet is to find a way to watch via Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) through whatever means are at your disposal. It's unfortunate that RTÉ have yet to develop a Roku channel of their own but (hopefully) they will see the light and develop one in time for the FIFA World Cup 2022, so that Irish Roku owners can more easily enjoy live coverage of the world's biggest football tournament! ;-)
FOR ROKU USERS IN FRANCE: Matches involving the French national team will all be broadcast via the main 'TF1' channel but, for remaining games from the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals, you will need access to BeIN Sports (France) if you wish to enjoy live coverage of the other national teams. If current information holds true throughout the competition, then 'beIN Sports France 1 HD' is the most likely source for most of those additional matches but, with no official Roku channel (app) available via the built-in channel store on Roku devices in France, you'll have to source it from elsewhere! ;-)
FOR ROKU USERS IN MEXICO: Outside of the channels mentioned previously, some of which may already be available to Roku users in México, your best options for enjoying live coverage of the FIFA World Cup 2018 are through 'Televisa', 'TV Azteca', or 'SKY México', all of whom secured the rights to broadcast live coverage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. As with other countries in which there is no official Roku channel (app) available via the built-in channel store for certain providers, you'll need to source live feeds of the relevant broadcast channel(s) from elsewhere to enjoy those! ;-) :-)
FOR ROKU USERS IN LATIN AMERICA: Unlike previous World Cup competitions, this time around, each South American country has separate deals with FIFA to broadcast live coverage of the 2018 World Cup Finals and below is a list of all channels broadcasting in Latin American countries:-
Argentina - TV Pública, Telefe, DirecTV, TyC Sports
Brazil - Globo, SporTV, Fox Sports
Chile - Canal 13, TVN, Mega, DirecTV, Movistar
Colombia - Caracol TV, RCN TV, DirecTV
Costa Rica - Teletica Canal 7, Sky México, Movistar
Ecuador - RedTeleSistema (RTS), DirecTV
El Salvador - Telecorporación Salvadoreña (TCS), Sky México
Guatemala - TV Azteca, Tigo Sports, Sky México, Movistar
Honduras - Televicentro (TVC), Sky México, Movistar
Nicaragua - Ratensa Canal 10, Sky México, Movistar
Panama - Corporación Medcom, Televisora Nacional, Sky México, Movistar
Paraguay - Sistema Nacional de Televisión (SNT), Telefuturo, TyC, DirecTV
Peru - Latina Televisión, DirecTV
Uruguay - Monte Carlo, Canal 10, Teledoce, TyC, DirecTV
Again, there's no guarantee that there will be an official Roku channel (app) available via the built-in channel store for certain providers that are mentioned in the above list of broadcasters, so you might need to source live feeds to some of the relevant channel(s) from elsewhere to enjoy live coverage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals through those broadcast partners, whether it's on Roku or not! ;-) :-)
Elsewhere, loads of other TV channels worldwide will show games from the 2018 FIFA World Cup, too, so (one way or another) you should be able to watch and/or stream any matches you're interested in seeing from the tournament. There are a number of useful lists naming TV broadcasters who have secured the rights to stream live coverage of the FIFA World Cup 2018 in various regions worldwide (sorted by country) which are available online. So, if you happen to live in a country and/or region I have not covered (above) you can always check the list from 'Wikipedia', or the 'World Cup Updates' website, or the one published by 'Total Sportek', any of which could include the relevant information for wherever in the world you happen to be located. Hopefully one will be of use! ;-)
Sadly, not all channels have a presence on the Roku platform... so, if you're out of options, another useful tool to have, provided you are able to find suitable streaming sources online, is a channel that is capable of playing '.m3u' playlist files - such as the 'm3u Playlist Player' channel shown below - as you can simply type in the URL (web address) of your chosen live stream and play it within the app. This does require (slightly) more technical know-how than, say the "channelPEAR" private app that aggregated a bunch of live streams for you (as well as letting you add your own) but, for those who know what they are doing, it's a good way of boosting the viewing options on your Roku device! :-)
M3U PLAYLIST PLAYER.....................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]
***FILED UNDER: "APPS" in the Roku UK Channel Store WHEN FIRST RELEASED***
Failing that, you could always try the "unofficial" FilmOn private Roku channel by Ryan Cullen [Twitter Feed: @Artesea] which will also provide live streams of the televised games to users of Roku streaming media players but not for those with only NowTV-branded devices. There's no guarantee that this will work in all countries and/or regions, either with or without some sort of VPN / Smart DNS setup, but it has to be worth a try if all other potential solutions have been exhausted. As mentioned before, at the very least, it could be of use for those having difficulty streaming via one of the 'CatchUpTV' apps on UK Roku devices... and, full details can be found earlier in this post! ;-) :-)
In any event, this article should prove useful (one way or another) to any Roku user - no matter which "region" you happen to be in - as well as to all owners of NowTV Box devices, who may wish to live stream the forthcoming football matches from the Euro 2016 tournament. Even so, if you have any questions or (perhaps) some thoughts and/or requests of your own on the subject, please feel free to leave a comment below... and I will endeavour to help-out whenever I am able to do so ! :-)
For now, though...
That's all folks!
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