On the thirteenth day of the World Cup, eight teams play four places in the round of 16. In groups G and H, the four teams can indeed hope to qualify for the final phase of the World Cup. On one side, Brazil, Switzerland, Serbia and Cameroon. On the other, Portugal, Ghana, South Korea and Uruguay.
Matches of the day
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Wednesday’s results
Belgium 0-0 Croatia. The siege at the end of the match of the cages of the Croatian goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic will have given nothing. The Belgians leave the World Cup after their 0-0 draw against Croatia. The adventure therefore ends at the end of the first round for those who had been semi-finalists in 2018. The addition could have been more salty for the Belgians, the Croats having seen a penalty refused after the use of video arbitration. After a Croatian free kick, the Belgian Yannick Carrasco had missed his control in the penalty area and then fouls the Croatian Kramaric. An action which should have led to a penalty, but which was canceled after recourse to the video due to a tiny offside when taking the free kick. Belgium coach Roberto Martinez resigned after the game. As for goalkeeper Thibault Courtois, he declared that the famous “golden generation” of the Red Devils was not one, for lack of a title.
Canada 1-2 Morocco. The Atlas Lions qualify for the round of 16. This is the second time since 1986 that the Moroccans will participate in the knockout matches of a World Cup, after their success yesterday afternoon against Canada. Thanks to two goals from Hakim Ziyech and Youssef En-Nesyri, the Moroccans finished first in their group. After Senegal’s qualification on Tuesday, it is the second country on the African continent to reach the round of 16.
Allemagne 4-2 Costa Rica. Another cador has fallen! Germany, four-time world champion, was eliminated from the 2022 World Cup despite its victory for the honor against Costa Rica (4-2). The Mannschaft no longer had its destiny in hand since its inaugural defeat against Japan (2-1). And in fact, the unexpected victory of the same Japan against Spain, obtained by the same score with a disputed second goal, eliminated them. For Germany, less than two years before their Euro, this second consecutive elimination from the group stages of a World Cup is a “absolute disaster” who “hurts unbelievably”admitted striker Thomas Müller at the end of the match.
Spain 1-2 Japan. After Germany, Spain. Surprise faller of the Mannschaft at the opening (2-1), Japan offered themselves another favorite on Thursday by defeating La Roja 2-1 with an equivocal goal to validate their ticket for the round of 16, without preventing the Spaniards from access it as second in group E. Despite a quick opener, the «Roja» trembled against a transfigured Japan who scored two goals at the start of the second half in three minutes to seal their qualification towards the eighth. The Spaniards were even disqualified for a few moments before the Germans came back to score in the other pool match and therefore qualified Spain in the final phase.
TF1 claims to be the victim of an “arbitration error”
The TF1 channel achieved a new audience success on Wednesday, with 8.8 million viewers who followed the poor performance of the Blues against Tunisia for their first defeat in the World Cup since 2014. Nevertheless, the channel announced Thursday that she was going to file a complaint with Fifa after the broadcast incident at the end of the match. Because the end of the match was marked by an extremely rare event: TF1 launched the advertisement before the outcome of the meeting, thinking inadvertently that the referee had whistled the end of the match with the score of 1-1. And finally, the French equalizer of Antoine Griezmann was canceled for an offside after watching the video assistance to the arbitration (VAR). The chain is therefore preparing to “send a letter to FIFA, as we are very unhappy with the situation“, fumed Thursday, December 2 François Pellissier deputy general manager business and sports, quoted by the daily the team. It is a prejudice for the televiewer, a prejudice of image for us. We are also the victim of an arbitration error. added François Pellissier. “The FIFA Referee […] appealed to VAR when he was not entitled to do so according to the regulations […]. It is very penalizing for us”, he adds. The argument is the same as that of the French Football Federation (FFF), which officially filed a complaint with FIFA on Thursday to have the score of the match rectified.
The revengeful Ghanaians, twelve years after the hand of Suarez
Twelve years after Ghana’s cruel elimination against Uruguay, the two teams will face off again on Friday in a decisive match at the 2022 World Cup: the long-awaited opportunity for Ghanaians to take revenge on striker Luis Suarez, guilty of a rough hand in 2010. Return to South Africa: in the quarter-finals of the 2010 World Cup, the Celeste player had shattered the dreams of the “Black Stars” in the cruelest of ways, stopping the ball on his goal line with a voluntary hand. Excluded, Luis Suarez was then exulted when the Ghanaian Asamoah Gyan missed the penalty that followed. Uruguay finally won on penalties, at the end of a legendary extension.
“I’m not going to apologize today for taking the ball out of hand. [ce jour-là]and then it was the Ghanaian player who missed the penalty, not me.Suarez, who had been made a hero in his country for his cunning, said Thursday at a press conference. “You can’t keep dwelling on it”, added the Uruguayan striker, ex-star of Liverpool and Barça, who had broken the heart of an entire nation. “We never forgave Suarez“, reacted Ghanaian MP Collins Adomako-Mensah. “He should expect sparks from our boys, he warned. Just as we cried twelve years ago, he will cry on Friday.”. Answer this afternoon at the Al Janoub stadium.
Against Switzerland, a game anything but neutral for the Serbs
For weeks, a match has raised the eyes of the Serbs: that of their selection against Switzerland, Friday at 8 p.m. The meeting is the last of the qualifications for both teams and victory is synonymous with the round of 16. But that’s not really what makes the Serbs sigh. “That player, Shaqiri…” loose Ognjen. The young man, who is waiting for friends in the central square of Belgrade, remembers well the 2018 meeting between Serbia and Switzerland at the previous World Cup, which saw the Swiss winger celebrate his goal by doing the eagle two-headed with hands. The symbol refers to the Albanian flag emblem and more broadly to an Albanian Kosovo, a provocation for Serbs, who consider the country to be the heart of their national identity. Xherdan Shaqiri was born there, before his family emigrated to Switzerland in the early 90s. At the end of the decade, war broke out, and led to the partition and then the independence of Kosovo, which Serbia never recognized . Read our report.
picture of the day
Unleashed supporters in the middle of the morning workers. The surprise and unexpected victory of the Japanese soccer team against Spain at the World Cup was greeted by a mighty cheer of enthusiastic Japanese people at the famous Shibuya intersection in Tokyo early Friday morning. “Japan, well done! Japan, well done!”shouted hundreds of people after the 2-1 victory of the Blue Samurai, singing “Come on Nippon” and waving the flag of their country, which had already beaten Germany (2-1) at the start of the World Cup. Dressed in their team’s blue jerseys, some wearing beanies to protect themselves from the cold, the football lovers mingled with the workers in suits on their way to the office: with the time difference, the final whistle in Doha corresponded to the first daylight hours in the Japanese capital.
sentence of the day
It’s not an honor to play against Messi, he’s just a human being like us
— Milos Degenek, Australian defender
The Australian defenders, Milos Degenek in the lead, adore Messi, “the greatest footballer of all time“, they claim to be “ready for anything” to prevent their idol and the Argentina team from beating them in the round of 16 on Saturday. “They are a respected team. I’ve always loved Messi, I think he’s the greatest footballer of all time.”, Milos Degenek, 28, first said on Thursday. But he did not hesitate to put his feelings aside, a few days before facing Argentina. “It’s not an honor to play against Messi, he’s just a human being like us, he assured. The honor is to be in the round of 16 of a World Cup. That is an honor in itself.”
Number of the day: 5/5
Europe: yes. Africa: yes. Asia: yes. America: yes. Oceania: yes. Even before knowing the complete list of sixteen teams qualified in the eighth, the five continents are guaranteed to have at least one representative in the final stages of the 2022 World Cup. Before the last day of the group stage, Europe is the best continent represented with France, the Netherlands, Spain, Poland, England and Croatia. Followed by America and Africa with two representatives respectively (Argentina and the United States for the first and Morocco and Senegal for the second). Finally, Oceania and Asia are, for the moment, each represented by a team: Australia and Japan.