The knockout rounds of the Fairer World Cup have begun, and we’re getting closer to finding out who would be crowned world champions if more countries could select their best players.
Round 2 kicked off in the previous chapter, with plenty of late drama and penalty shoot-outs galore. In completely unrelated news, American sports fans have now stopped caring about soccer again.
If you’re still captivated by all the action, I’ve got eight more thrilling matches in store… well, seven thrilling matches, and Costa Rica vs England. We’ll also see the red mist descend for the first time in this tournament!
ALGERIA vs ANGOLA
(27 June – Kansas City)
Angola were on a high after topping their group, and they took the lead inside the first dozen minutes. Rafael Leão’s impressive tournament continued when he clinically headed in Valentino Lazaro’s deep cross at the far post. They could have been further ahead five minutes later, but both Florentino Luís and Depú hit the woodwork within moments of each other.
Having survived a couple of major scares, Algeria responded with a brilliant 18th-minute counter-attack – finished by a smartly-taken equaliser from Union SG striker Mohamed Amoura. A topsy-turvy opening period continued with Ezri Konsa having a second Angolan goal ruled out by VAR, before Amine Gouiri went up the other end and smashed Algeria into the lead!
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The Fennecs’ 2-1 lead at the interval became 3-1 early in the second half. It was an absolute belter from Leicester winger Mohamed Belloumi, who shrugged off Angola’s captain Eduardo Camavinga to power the ball home from the tight angle. And yes, that was his first international goal for Algeria (naturally).
When Farès Chaïbi hammered in Algeria’s fourth goal – with a strike that keeper Fábio Duarte found too hot to handle – Angola’s World Cup rollercoaster ground to a screeching halt. Leandro Barreiro did serve up a cracking long-ranger of his own to reduce the arrears to 4-2, but then Ismael Bennacer finished them off once and for all. A 5-2 win sent the thrilling Fennecs through to the last 16.
SENEGAL vs ARGENTINA
(27 June – Zapopan)
Amazingly, we did not see a single sending-off in the Group Stage. After 18 minutes in Zapopan, though, the tournament’s first red card was finally issued – to Senegal’s tough-tackling midfielder Djibril Sow, who dived two-footed on Argentina winger Dylan Aquino right in front of the referee! Silly boy.
Senegal were down to 10 men… and 10 minutes later, they started to reap what Djibril had sown. Lautaro Martínez perfectly timed his run onto Matías Zaracho’s through-ball to put Argentina ahead. The same pair then combined for another Lautaro goal before half-time, before Zaracho found the net himself – putting the defending champions in a commanding 3-0 lead before half-time!
Argentina eased off somewhat in the second half, wisely deciding to preserve some energy for the next round. Mind you, that didn’t stop Lautaro looking for a hat-trick in the 73rd minute. Sadly for him, his clinical strike from Alexis Mac Allister’s through-ball was disallowed for offside by VAR, so we would have to settle for ‘just’ the two goals.
Senegal’s Lions of Teranga fought bravely to salvage some pride in a goalless second half, but one individual moment of madness had cost them the chance to claim a major scalp. Argentina marched on.
NIGERIA vs DR CONGO
(27 June – Inglewood)
One of the most hotly-anticipated ties of Round 2 kicked off with plenty of encouraging attacking play. Samuel Iling was unlucky to hit the post for DR Congo early on, while goalkeeper Dimitry Bertaud had to make a couple of fine saves at the other end from Nigeria.
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Eventually, it was DR Congo who struck first blood on 27 minutes – lethal Loïs Openda pouncing on Christopher Nkunku’s first-time through-ball to score his fourth goal in as many matches. However, the Super Eagles were only behind for 11 minutes before a flying counter-attack was finished by Alex Iwobi for 1-1.
Then, on 58 minutes, DR Congo bamboozled Nigeria with a crafty corner move – Iling exchanging a series of short passes with playmaker Youri Tielemans before driving the ball home. Again, though, the Nigerians responded strongly, as Felix Nmecha got them back on terms again.
At 2-2, a thrilling end-to-end contest was destined for extra-time. Though the Super Eagles looked fresher than DR Congo in extra-time, Folarin Balogun missed an opportunity to kill the game off when he hit the post from close range.
It all worked out well for Nigeria in the penalty shoot-out, though. Despite a fit-again Romelu Lukaku getting Congo’s shoot-out off to a good start, Simon Banza blazed his penalty over the bar before Iling’s was saved by Noah Atubolu. By contrast, Nigeria were spotless from the spot, with Jamal Musiala serenely completing a 4-2 win.
DENMARK vs TUNISIA
(27 June – Seattle)
So here comes one of the more underrated ties of the first knockout round – the dynamite Danes, playing all in red, against the Eagles of Carthage, playing all in…
Oh, for the love of… Denmark and Tunisia BOTH brought their all-red kits to Seattle! Since neither team was keen on taking them off and playing in their undercrackers, I would have to watch this match in 2D.
Understandably, both sides struggled to create any coherent attacks in the opening half-hour. The breakthrough finally came in the 36th minute, when the red team… [sigh] the red team from Tunisia cut through their opponents and Elias Achouri carved in a shot from a tight angle. Denmark were behind the first time in this tournament.
By the early stages of the second half, though, Denmark’s stars had finally figured out which players were their team-mates. Andreas Skov Olsen headed in an equaliser from a cross by Mikkel Damsgaard, who then saw his free-kick nodded home by Andreas Christensen for a rapid turnaround! The Danes confidently dictated play from that point – running out 2-1 winners and sending Tunisia packing.
ITALY vs GERMANY
(28 June – East Rutherford)
New Jersey hosted this clash of the European titans. The first big moment came after 18 minutes, when Italy centre-back Alessandro Buongiorno (whom the streets might remember from my FM21 journeyman series) pushed opposing striker Maximilian Beier during a Germany corner. You know what the Germans are like from penalties, so it was no surprise that Joshua Kimmich gave them the lead.
They’re not too bad at free-kicks either. Less than five minutes later, David Raum sent a deep delivery into the box for Kimmich to knock down to Beier, who banged a fantastic volley past Gianluigi Donnarumma. Italy were now 2-0 down, and when Gianluca Mancini flew in two-footed on Beier a few moments later, they also found themselves a man down. Mamma mia!
In the wake of Mancini’s red card, Kevin Schade put the Azzurri firmly in the shade by scoring from a second Kimmich assist. In less than 30 minutes, Germany had scored from each of their first three shots at goal! Now that’s Teutonic efficiency!
If only Federico Chiesa had been that clinical early in the second half. That miss summed up a miserable afternoon for Luciano Spalletti’s side, who barely put up a fight in a crushing 3-0 defeat. Germany had breeze through to the last 16, but they would sadly miss Chris Führich for the rest of the tournament after the Stuttgart winger sustained a shin injury.
UKRAINE vs NORWAY
(28 June – Vancouver)
After a bruising group stage, Norway went into the knockout rounds with four players nursing injuries – but, crucially, Erling Haaland was still in good nick. The Viking war machine smashed through Ukraine’s defence after just four minutes, converting a cross from Manchester City club-mate Sverre Halseth Nypan.
Ukraine did well to resist further Norwegian attacks before counter-attacking late in the first half. They got a huge stroke of luck when Volodymyr Brazhko’s cross deflected off Norway defender Kristoffer Ajer and into the path of Mykhaylo Mudryk, who nodded in the leveller.
However, the Scandinavians hit straight back right at the outset of the second half, as Haaland headed in his second goal of the day from Martin Ødegaard’s corner. Haaland later completed his hat-trick from another Ødegaard set-piece – a free-kick, this time – to sink Ukraine 3-1. As long as they could keep their number 9 fit and well fed, Norway would take some stopping.
COSTA RICA vs ENGLAND
(28 June – Dallas)
(Please don’t ask why Joseph Fiennes has suddenly lost his knighthood after the Group Stage.)
Sir or no Sir, England’s manager expected a big win over a Costa Rican side who only scraped through by the skin of their teeth. The Three Lions hadn’t counted on the brilliance of Los Ticos’ goalkeeper Kevin Chamorro. He saved a couple of early efforts from Rico Lewis, AND a 6th-minute penalty from Mason Mount following a foul on Trent Alexander-Arnold.
It took 28 minutes for England to break through, from another dead ball. Luke Shaw’s free-kick was flicked on by Adam Wharton, and Alexander-Arnold applied the finish. Another Wharton assist six minutes later for Marcus Rashford doubled the lead, and any hopes of Costa Rica springing a huge upset were surely gone…
…or so England thought. They were coasting through the second half untroubled – like they were riding inflatable unicorns in a swimming pool – until Levi Colwill carelessly conceded a free-kick close to goal. Julio Cascante beautifully curled the set-piece into the top corner, but that was as far as Costa Rica’s comeback went. England advanced with a 2-1 win, which would surely have been more emphatic but for Chamorro.
URUGUAY vs SPAIN
(28 June – Houston)
Spain might have been the bookies’ favourites, but it was Uruguay who looked the most likely team to score early on. However, their gameplan started to unravel when one of their hardmen took things too far in the 11th minute.
Please forgive FM24’s janky match engine animations, but that was apparently an elbow to Gavi’s skull from Uruguay’s vice-captain José Giménez. The referee couldn’t bring out her red card quickly enough.
Celeste captain Federico Valverde hardly covered himself in glory either on the half-hour mark. After failing to make a tackle on Gavi, Valverde could only look on as his former Real Madrid colleague Rodrygo gave Spain the lead. La Furia Roja probably should have led 2-0 at the break, but Éder Militão’s header was heroically cleared off the line by Ronald Araujo, before Aymeric Laporte’s follow-up hit the woodwork.
Unfortunately for Uruguay, their combative play got the better of them again 10 minutes into the second half. Sebastián Cáceres shoved Pedri in the box, and Militão made him pay with a clinical penalty. Araujo’s consolation goal right at the end of 90 minutes could not stop Spain tiki-takaing their way to a comfortable 2-1 win.
And with that, we now have our sweet sixteen. We’ve got some cracking Last 16 matches in store, including England vs Spain…
…but all that can wait until the next chapter!
I’ll be back on Friday, as the knockout rounds continue. Meanwhile, Luciano Spalletti and his distraught Azzurri squad will now return to Italy – utterly despondent at yet another early exit from a tournament.
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