Saint Petersburg (AFP) – Lionel Messi’s Argentina face their World Cup day of destiny, needing a win to have any chance of progressing after France topped their group despite a stalemate against Denmark.
The French and the Danes produced the first goalless match of the tournament in front of 78,000 spectators at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.
Didier Deschamps rested goalkeeper Hugo Lloris and midfielder Paul Pogba among six changes and his side struggled to create any clear-cut chances against a determined Denmark, who will likely meet Croatia for a place in the quarter-finals.
France will discover their opponents in the next round later on Tuesday, when Argentina need to beat Nigeria in Saint Petersburg to stand a chance of qualifying.
Australia will go back to the drawing board after they ended bottom of Group C with a solitary point following a 2-0 defeat to Peru, who are also heading home.
Andre Carrillo and Paolo Guerrero, the veteran who was only cleared to play days before the tournament after having a ban for taking cocaine lifted, scored in Sochi.
Tim Cahill, the 38-year-old Australian midfielder, came on as a substitute for his first appearance in his fourth World Cup but was unable to influence the outcome and the Socceroos will have to look to the future with talents such as 19-year-old Iranian-born Daniel Arzani.
Australia needed a win to stand any chance of reaching the last 16 for the first time since 2006, but they were undone by Carrillo’s 18th-minute strike and Guerrero’s goal early in the second half.
– VAR chaos –
Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal and Spain reached the last 16 on Monday but both were put under severe pressure on a chaotic night when the video assistant referee (VAR) system played a significant role.
Spain, who will play Russia in Moscow on Sunday, ended up topping Group B by virtue of goals scored but only after an injury-time strike by Iago Aspas — confirmed by VAR after a three-minute-long review — ensured a 2-2 draw.
In Saransk, Ronaldo was at the heart of a series of VAR incidents. First he had a penalty saved by Iran ‘keeper Ali Beiranvand and was later rescued by a review as Iran’s players called for him to be sent off after elbowing Morteza Pouraliganji.
Iran coach Carlos Queiroz said the Portugal captain, who will line up against Uruguay in the next round, should have been sent off in the 1-1 draw.
from World Soccer Talk https://ift.tt/2Kd12si
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