Hierro dodges questions on future after Spain World Cup defeat

Moscow (AFP) – Spain coach Fernando Hierro said it was not the right time to contemplate his future after his team crashed out to World Cup hosts Russia on penalties in the last 16.

Koke and Iago Aspas saw their spot-kicks saved by Igor Akinfeev as Russia prevailed 4-3 in a shootout following a 1-1 draw in Moscow.

Hierro was drafted in as coach on the eve of the tournament when Julen Lopetegui was sacked after it was announced he would take over the Real Madrid job next season.

“That doesn’t not worry me, I don’t think it’s something for right now,” said Hierro when asked about his future in the role. 

“Now we need to share this difficult moment. We all wanted to great things at this tournament. 

“We’re talking about a generation of extraordinary players and we haven’t been performing at the level we expect in the World Cup.”

Hierro rejected any suggestion the team would have fared better had the Spanish federation not decided to axe Lopetegui after arriving in Russia.

“We had opportunities to win this match but we ended up in a penalty shootout which is basically a lottery, and we weren’t lucky,” he said.

“I don’t think you can talk about the team breaking down or there being any sort of collapse,” the former Real Madrid captain said.

“In football there’s a fine line between winning and losing.”

Spain have not lost over 90 minutes since they were knocked out by Italy in the last 16 at the European Championship in France.

However, they won just one of four games in Russia after Hierro took over the reins.  

“We’re going home after 24 matches without losing,” Hierro said. “This is sad but we have to accept it.”

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Putin put no pressure on Russia to beat Spain at World Cup: Kremlin

Moscow (AFP) – President Vladimir Putin told Russia coach Stanislav Cherchesov nobody was going to judge his team if they lost to Spain in the World Cup last 16 on Sunday — a match they improbably won.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said after Russia knocked the 2010 champions out on penalties in Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium that Putin — who watched the game on TV — had not put any pressure on the team to win.

“Before the match, around noon, the president called the coach and wished him well,” Russian news agencies quoted Peskov as saying.

“He said that under Cherchesov’s leadership, our guys have already accomplished the impossible — made it out of the group,” said Peskov.

“Putin also noted that regardless of the outcome of the match, no one in our country was going to judge them.”

Putin is inextricably linked with this year’s tournament after helping win hosting rights in a disputed FIFA vote in 2010.

Russia then spent a record $13 billion giving many of the 11 host cities their first major facelifts since the Soviet Union’s collapse.

But Putin’s decision not to personally attend Russia’s first World Cup knockout game in the post-Soviet era fed suspicions that the Kremlin believed the team would lose.

Russia and Spain finished extra time with the score at 1-1.

Goalkeeper and captain Igor Akinfeev saved two spot kicks as Russia came out on top 4-3 in the penalty shootout.

Russia will face the winner of Sunday’s later last-16 match between Croatia and Denmark.

Peskov did not say whether Putin planned to attend the quarter-final.

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Mexico target breaking double hoodoo in World Cup clash with Brazil

Samara (Russia) (AFP) – Mexico coach Juan Carlos Osorio believes an unfettered attacking approach can help El Tri end a double hoodoo by beating Brazil on Monday to advance to their first World Cup quarter-finals.

And if he gets a helping hand from Italian referee Gianluca Rocchi when it comes to monitoring Brazil star Neymar, Mexico’s Colombian coach would not say no.

“I just hope for the benefit of the game and fair play that there will be good officiating tomorrow,” Osorio said when asked about the Brazilian star’s much-criticised antics in the group phase.

If Mexico play to their potential, they might not need help from the match officials to beat Brazil for the first time and qualify for their first quarter-final after failing in their past six attempts.

After sparking Germany’s humiliating World Cup exit by beating the defending champions 1-0 in their opener, Mexico are now threatening Brazil’s bid for a sixth World Cup.

Osorio’s men may have finished their group campaign with a 3-0 defeat to Sweden which cost them top spot, but their performances throughout, including a 2-1 defeat of South Korea, have been convincing and strikers Hirving Lozano and Javier Hernandez have shone. The latter has dyed his hair white for the game.

– ‘We won’t sit back’ –

As well as a firm belief in his players’ determination to cause another World Cup upset, Osorio promised an all-out attacking approach against a team he rates as the best in the tournament. 

“Brazil is a great team, I’d even go so far as to say they’re the best team in the world, and that’s because every one of their players can play and pass the ball,” said Osorio.

“They have players who can finish, play around the area and they have three free kick specialists, as well as defenders who are tall and can defend well.

“But we won’t sit back and wait, Brazil’s attackers are too good for that to be the right plan.

“We will try to keep possession, we have midfielders who are very skilled. It will be very tough, but we’ll try to do so. 

“And we will stick to our idea of having at least four or five attacking players.”

Osorio, who spent several years as conditioning coach at current English Premier League champions Manchester City, said he was not concerned about past history and the central Americans’ recent inability to reach the last eight.

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Neymar primed for World Cup clash against Mexico: Tite

Samara (Russia) (AFP) – Brazil coach Tite says Neymar is back to his best as the five-time champions take on Mexico here on Monday for a place in the World Cup quarter-finals.

Neymar has made a slow start to the tournament, showing glimpses of skill but drawing criticism for diving in an attempt to win a penalty against Costa Rica.

But the Paris Saint-Germain forward has steadily silenced his detractors, scoring Brazil’s second goal in a laboured 2-0 win over Costa Rica before providing the corner for Thiago Silva’s powerful header that capped a valuable 2-0 win over Serbia. 

Four years after a 7-1 humiliation by eventual champions Germany in the semi-finals, Brazil have emerged as one of the most rounded teams still in the competition.

And Neymar, said Tite, is more than ready following his return from a lengthy injury lay-off shortly before the tournament.

“Now, he’s returned to a very high level,” Tite said at Samara Arena on Sunday. “He’s played a lot… I told him, and he knows, about the price he’s had to pay to get back to this level.

“We knew he would need to play a few games, but he’s back.”

Tite meanwhile confirmed his starting 11 on the eve of the match, bringing in Filipe Luis for Marcelo, who hobbled off with back spasms against Serbia.

Tite said Marcelo had been desperate to play in the last 16 clash.

“We can’t take any risks in such an important game. We don’t pay for health care,” Tite said.

Meanwhile, Brazil defensive linchpin Thiago Silva said he hoped Neymar would follow in the footsteps of PSG team-mates Kylian Mbappe, Edinson Cavani and Angel Di Maria, who scored five goals between them in Saturday’s last 16 games.

“Yesterday when the games finished I thought… maybe in our game it’s going to be the same with Neymar,” Silva said.

“We hope we’ll be as inspired as those other strikers.”

Yet Silva quickly underlined the threat of the determined Mexicans, who helped eliminate defending champions Germany in the first phase.

“It will be a difficult game. Mexico have so far shown they deserve to be here, as do we,” added Silva, who identified El Tri’s record scorer Javier Hernandez as the danger man.

“I know Chicharito (Hernandez) well, and we know about his qualities. We have to minimise the possibility for the ball to get through to them,” Silva said.

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Japan bidding to make World Cup history, says Nishino

Rostov-on-Don (Russia) (AFP) – Japan have the spirit and mentality to reach the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time in their history, coach Akira Nishino said on Sunday ahead of his side’s last-16 clash against Belgium.

The Asian side have reached the first knockout round twice before — in 2002 and 2010 — but hope to go one better in Rostov against the highly fancied European side.

“Japan had fantastic performances to reach the round of 16 (in 2002 and 2010), but those teams were exhausted by that stage, there wasn’t anything left, especially in 2002,” said Nishino.

“This is the third time. We have been very tactical to get to this stage, especially in the third match.

“We don’t have much room to manoeuvre, but we can be aggressive. We have the spirit and mentality.

“Maybe Belgium feel the tournament is starting after their three wins, but I’d like to feel we are on a par with them. We have played to our best, but the players have something more to offer.”

Japan lost to Turkey in the last 16 when they hosted the 2002 finals with South Korea, then bowed out after a penalty shoot-out against Paraguay at the same stage in South Africa in 2010.

Nishino endured stinging criticism in the aftermath of their final group game in Russia, when Japan ran the clock down in a 1-0 defeat to Poland.

They squeezed into the knockout rounds at Senegal’s expense because they had picked up fewer yellow cards and are the underdogs against Belgium.

Nishino, 63, has done well even to get Japan into the knockout stages, having only stepped in when predecessor Vahid Halilhodzic was sacked in April.

After a modest win over 10-man Colombia, draw with Senegal and defeat to Poland in the group stages, a win against Belgium would see him write his name into Japanese football folklore.

“I have to come up with measures and counter-measures. As a team we might have to create something,” he said.

“It can’t be just the sum of individual powers, otherwise we might not be able to overcome them.”

Defender Gen Shoji is likely be tasked with helping keep Belgium’s attackers at bay, including Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku, who has scored four goals so far.

“It’s not just Lukaku — the Belgium team is star-studded,” said Shoji, with Belgium captain Eden Hazard and playmaker Kevin De Bruyne in impressive form.

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Akinfeev the hero as Russia beat Spain on penalties at World Cup

Moscow (AFP) – Host nation Russia stunned 2010 winners Spain in a penalty shootout to reach the World Cup quarter-finals on Sunday, holding their nerve in scenes of high drama in Moscow.

Goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev was the hero, saving spot-kicks from Koke and Iago Aspas as Russia won 4-3, sparking emotional scenes as the rain poured down at the Luzhniki stadium.

Fernando Hierro’s Spain totally dominated the match, hogging 74 percent of possession, but created few clear-cut chances and head home after a disjointed campaign that never took off.

Russia are the lowest-ranked nation in the tournament — a lowly 70th in the world — and were not expected to progress beyond the first round but they now find themselves in the last eight, where they will play either Croatia or Denmark.

“We were hoping for penalties,” Akinfeev said after the match ended 1-1 following extra time.

“We are having a fantastic World Cup. Not just our fans, but the fans of other countries are getting a sense of this atmosphere and understood that Russians really know how to play football and want to play football.”

Russia coach Stanislav Cherchesov said: “We spent two years working on this and we did a good job.”

Russia came into the tournament derided by their own supporters after a string of defeats in warm-up matches but they thrashed Saudi Arabia 5-0 in their opener and then swept aside Egypt 3-1, making even their own sceptical public believe.

The result is a disaster for Spain, whose preparations for the tournament were wrecked when their manager Julen Lopetegui was sacked on the eve of the tournament.

They shipped five goals in their three group matches and there were major questions over the form of goalkeeper David de Gea coming into the knockout phase.

– Midfield battle –

Denmark were set to play Croatia in the later match in Nizhny Novgorod.

Denmark coach Age Hareide said the match could boil down to the midfield duel between Tottenham powerhouse Christian Eriksen and Croatia talisman Luka Modric.

The Danes failed to set pulses racing in the opening round but advanced second behind France in Group C.

By contrast, Croatia stormed through Group D, winning all three games and put in arguably the best performance of the first stage, a 3-0 thumping of Argentina, in the same Nizhny Novgorod stadium where they play Sunday. 

Hareide promised his team would show far more thrust this time.

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World Cup hero Akinfeev says Russia were aiming for penalties

Moscow (AFP) – Goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev said Russia’s game plan had been to hold on for a penalty shootout after the host nation beat Spain on spot-kicks Sunday to reach the World Cup quarter-finals.

Spain dominated the last-16 match but after centre-back Sergei Ignashevich gifted them the opening goal on 12 minutes, Russia drew level when Artem Dzyuba converted a penalty awarded for a handball by Gerard Pique shortly before half-time.

Despite overwhelming Spanish possession, the 2010 winners were unable to break down the Russian defence even after extra-time.

Akinfeev saved Koke’s penalty to give Russia the advantage. After Denis Cheryshev converted his spot kick, Akinfeev stopped Iago Aspas’s effort with his legs to spark mass celebrations in the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.

“We were hoping for penalties,” Akinfeev said.

“We are having a fantastic World Cup. Not just our fans, but the fans of other countries are getting a sense of this atmosphere and understood that Russians really know how to play football and want to play football.”

Russia coach Stanislav Cherchesov said: “We spent two years working on this and did a good job”.

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