World Cup day 23 in a nutshell: Brazil heartache, Kevin De Bruyne magic
Written by News on 08/07/2018
The World Cup returned with a bang as two of the four semi-finalists were confirmed.
We round up Friday’s talking points from Russia, as France earned a 2-0 win over Uruguay for their first semi-final appearance in 12 years, and Belgium knocked out five-time champions Brazil.
Here’s all the talking points from the 23rd day of this summer’s World Cup…
The reports
France reached the World Cup semi-finals for the first time since 2006 and ended Uruguay’s dream with a 2-0 win in Nizhny Novgorod.
Raphael Varane converted a clever Antoine Griezmann free-kick five minutes before half-time and the provider then profited from Fernando Muslera’s goalkeeping howler (61) as Didier Deschamps’ men booked a last-four showdown with Brazil or Belgium.
France, out to emulate the triumphant 1998 team captained by Deschamps, were thankful for a several fine Hugo Lloris saves but his counterpart’s blunder took the edge off the contest as Luis Suarez – without injured partner Edinson Cavani – toiled in vain.
Kevin De Bruyne’s stunning strike booked Belgium’s place in the World Cup semi-finals with a 2-1 win over Brazil.
A first-half double, courtesy of a Fernandinho own-goal (13) and a rasping De Bruyne (31) finish, gave Belgium a big enough cushion in order to repel a Brazilian onslaught in the second period.
Renato Augusto (76) set up a grandstand finish but Belgium, spearheaded by Eden Hazard and a fantastic performance by Thibaut Courtois, held on to make the last four, which means a European team will be winning this year’s tournament.
Key quotes
Roberto Martinez: “They did incredible. There were amazing hearts out there. I didn’t think for one minute their hearts would give way.
“You have to accept that Brazil have so much quality and finesse, they break you down, but we did not accept it. Not for one minute were [Belgium] going to give up.”
Didier Deschamps: “I have a good team that still has plenty of room for improvement. You can see our lack of experience sometimes, but we have so many qualities too. In any case, it definitely won’t be a failed World Cup now, and we’ll wait to find out our opponents and see what happens.”
Moment of the day
It just had to be De Bruyne’s strike.
Lukaku drove at the heart of the Belgium defence which caused chaos in the Brazilian backline. He offloaded the ball to De Bruyne on the right who was strangely invited onto his right foot by a lacklustre Marcelo. The Manchester City star took a touch and fired straight into the far corner. A goal that shook an entire nation.
Tweet of the day
Stat of the day
Uruguay forward Luis Suarez failed to have a single touch in the opposition box against France, and also failed to register a single shot.
In the news
Sweden coach Janne Andersson says his team have a plan should Saturday’s World quarter-final against England go to a penalty shootout.
Sweden have a fully fit squad ahead of the game and Andersson confirmed they have an approach which mirrors England’s meticulous preparations.
“Generally speaking I believe in being thorough so we have prepared how we are going to deal with extra-time and penalties,” he said.
“We did already before the previous match, if we needed them we have our approach and ideas of who is going to take penalties.”
England boss Gareth Southgate believes Harry Kane is among a group of talented young players who could challenge Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi at the top of the game.
Ronaldo and Messi have dominated world football for over a decade, winning every Ballon d’Or since 2008, although both players exited the World Cup at the round of 16.
England captain Kane, along with Brazil star Neymar and France forward Kylian Mbappe, will look to take the headlines in their absence and Southgate believes a new era of international football has been ushered in this summer.
When asked if Kane could challenge Ronaldo and Messi, Southgate said: “The world always changes, teams go through evolution.
“The strongest teams that have been dominant for a long time, maybe their team has an era of players that is very strong.”
(c) Sky News 2018: World Cup day 23 in a nutshell: Brazil heartache, Kevin De Bruyne magic
