Morning all.
Of all the ‘big’ teams in this World Cup, France look by far and away the one to beat. They just had way too much for Sweden last night who had a couple of flashes of danger, but siimply couldn’t live with the potency of the France forward line. Kylian Mbappe scored twice, had one ruled out for a very tight (but correct offside), and hit the post when he should have scored.
Michael Olise provided two incredibly deft assists, one for Bradley Barcola – a player linked with us this summer – as well as one for Mbappe, and almost scored the goal of the tournament so far when his flying scissor-kick hit the post with the keeper beaten all ends up. He had a couple of chances to score himself too, but couldn’t find the finish, and as a player I coveted very highly when he was at Crystal Palace, it’s no surprise to see him deliver like this on a consistent basis.
France had 25 shots to Sweden’s 8, and even with Viktor Gyokeres and Alexander Isak in tandem up front, they never really looked like they were going to cause too much trouble. Gyokeres actually won a couple of free kicks from club teammate William Saliba, ones he doesn’t usually get in the Premier League, but there’s a strange quirk to him in that he gets clattered time and again and officials just don’t seem to see it, or they see it and don’t care. He took a whack in the face from Upamecano at one point, and play just carried on. I think it’s to do with his size, his bulk in particular, but we’ve seen it too often in red and white, and it’s happened more than once at this World Cup. I was quite surprised VAR didn’t look at that one a bit more closely.
Anyway, now he gets to go and have a rest, while Saliba’s tournament continues with a team who are surely favourites by some distance. Gyokeres probably won’t want to look at too many replays of Mbappe skipping away from him for France’s opener, but I think those feet are far too quick for most players (it’s ridiculous at times), so he shouldn’t feel too bad.
Martin Odegaard’s tournament continues after Norway beat Ivory Coast 2-1. This was a game with a couple of superb goals, starting with Antonio Nusa’s brilliant opener, before Amad Diallo skipped through to equalise in the second half. The winner wasn’t quite at that level however, but the inevitability of Erling Haaland to be in the right place at the right time without anyone marking him is a real super-power. I guess it’s because he’s quite hard to spot, not particularly distinct in any way. Ivory Coast almost grabbed a late equaliser but the keeper made a great stop from Diallo’s free kick.
Norway now face Brazil, and captain Martin Odegaard said afterwards:
We grew up hearing the story about Norway’s win over Brazil and everything that happened there. Now we get our opportunity, so we are looking forward to it and we will prepare well. We will see if we can repeat the success of the old heroes.
I expect a tough game. They have a really good team, a lot of good players. It is going to be a tough, tough test for us. I know a few of them from Arsenal, top players, and I’m looking forward to seeing them. Hopefully we can give them a good fight.
The final game yesterday saw Mexico go through after a 2-0 win over Ecuador, and the main talking point from our perspective is Piero Hincapie being sent off for covering his mouth as he said something to one of the opposition. We saw Miguel Almiron dismissed for this earlier in the tournament, and the rule – whether you think it’s too harsh or not – is very clear, so I don’t think he can have any complaints. Particularly when it came deep into injury time at the end of the game and Ecuador were 2-0 down at that point.
“AFTER REVIEW … ECUADOR NUMBER 3 COVER HIS MOUTH … DECISION IS … RED CARD!”
Like Gyokeres, he now gets to go on holidays, and recuperate after what was a long and successful season for him. His move to Arsenal was made permanent last week, he helped us win the Premier League in his first season, and hopefully he helps us add to that next season. Mexico now face the winner of England v DR Congo, which should have Arsenal involvement later this afternoon. Reports suggest Declan Rice will be back in the line-up, and I suspect Bukayo Saka might start this one on the right now that the stakes are higher for Thomas Tuchel’s side.
After that the Arsenal involvement is with Leandro Trossard and Belgium as they take on Senegal, before the US play Bosnia and Herzegovina. So, plenty to get our Arsenal teeth into later, so I’ll leave it there for today.
Have a good one!