A world cup of shocks received perhaps it’s biggest shock yet as host nation Russia kicked out the 2010 World champions Spain after a tense and dramatic penalty shootout win at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.
Veteran goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev was the hero of the day as he saved two penalties in the eventual shootout to lead his side to an impressive win over La Furia Roja.
The World Cup Round of 16 stage kicked off Saturday afternoon with a cracking game in Kazan as France saw off a spirited Argentine challenge to advance to the quarter finals.
Teenager Kylian Mbbapé was the man of the moment as he grabbed a brace to lead his team to victory, a quickfire brace which arrived at a crucial moment to wrench the game away from Argentina.
The Teranga Lions of Senegal have exited the 2018 World Cup after a painful 1-0 defeat to Colombia; but it’s the manner of their exit which would definitely be more bizarre and painful than the loss.
Japan’s concurrent 1-0 loss to Poland means Senegal finish the group on 4 points, same as the Asians.
Defending World Champions Germany are out of the 2018 World Cup after a crushing 0-2 loss to South Korea in their final group game.
Needing to win to stay in the tournament, the defending champions huffed and puffed for 90 mins to no avail then completely fell apart in stoppage time.
Losing a football game, especially one where the stakes are so high, is definitely a tough thing to swallow.
Going on social media to hurl death threats, African curses and other things against a referee is surely not the right way to go about dealing with that grief, especially when the referee was right in the decision he made.
Nigeria became the third African country to exit the 2014 Fifa World Cup Tuesday night but they did so with their heads held high after a gruelling 2-1 loss to Argentina.
Manchester United defender Marcus Rojo scored late in the game with just about four minutes of regulation time left to break Nigerian hearts and send a listless Argentina into the next round.
The Super Eagles of Nigeria sauntered to a 2-0 win over Iceland in their second Group D World Cup game Friday to put themselves in a great position to attempt qualifying for the second round.
Ahmed Musa scored twice in the second half to give Nigeria a crucial win and put their campaign back on track after their opening day loss to Croatia.
Lionel Messi was handed a football lesson tonight by Croatia as they dumped three goals past Argentina in the second round of group games of the 2018 World Cup.
Ante Rebic, Luca Modric and Ivan Rakitic all scored to give the European side a comprehensive victory over Argentina who were pitiful throughout 90 minutes.
The misery for African countries continues. After Egypt lost their second consecutive game on Tuesday fellow North African side Morocco also fell to Portugal in a tight game Group B game earlier today.
A 4th minute Cristiano Ronaldo header gave Portugal all three points despite an impressive second half comeback from Herve Renard’s side.
Senegal picked up Africa’s first points at the 2018 World Cup as they beat European opponents Poland by two goals to one.
A hard fought game went the way of the West Africans who took a two goal lead and survived a late onslaught from the Polish.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hattrick last night, salvaging a last minute point for his country with a sumptuous free kick and dominating the headlines all across the globe.
It was only expected that with Messi playing today, all eyes would be on him to see his response to his arch rival’s world class performance and to say he disappointed would be an understatement.
Five time world best player Cristiano Ronaldo was the star of the show as Portugal and Spain played out a thrilling 3-3 draw in their opening Group B world cup fixture.
The Real Madrid forward, who has led his club side to three consecutive Champions League victories, single highhandedly dragged his lacklustre national side to stand toe to toe with the 2010 World Cup Champions.
The Pharaohs of Egypt opened their 2018 World Cup adventure with a nail biting loss to Uruguay, who scored with virtually the last kick of the game.
With Mo Salah on the bench, Egypt managed to trouble Uruguay on key occasions, but eventually fell short.
The 2018 Fifa World Cup opened in grand style for the capacity home crowd and President Vladimir Putin as Russia dismantled Saudi Arabia by 5 goals to nothing in the opening game of the tournament.
Denis Cheryshev struck twice, with Yuri Gazinsky, Artem Dzyuba and Aleksandr Golovin all getting in on the fun as Russia got off to the best start ever of a host nation on the opening day.
In just over 24 hours the 2018 Fifa World Cup commences in Russia, the 21st edition of the world’s single biggest sporting competition not named the Olympics.
As with recent world cups Africa would be represented by five countries, those who survived the gruelling qualification process to book a ticket to Russia.
