Group C - The afsløring
Game 5: Australia 0-2 Peru
Game 6: Denmark 0-0 France
There were no twist and turns in the last round of games in Group C, no late drama on Tuesday afternoon and VAR was saving itself for the next day's show stealing performance.
Denmark and France played out the group stages first and only nil nil draw, France appeared to be more fluid in this game, but that was probably something to do with Denmark conceding space in the midfield. Many english commentators have posed the question of how many changes should Southgate make in Englands last game, should we go for momentum or go with the group dynamic, it does of course fill the air time but we all know its a coded way of saying we are through to the knock out stages, like a proper footballing nation, so up yours. Well, the French approach was the latter with eight changes, whilst the Danes kept a strong side out fearing the Aussies snapping at their heels, but the Aussie comeback didn’t materialise. This just served to make the cautious Danish manager even more cautious and as France didn’t have another slice of luck to gift them a goal, the game petered out to the pleasure of all the Danes and French in the stadium, but not the neutrals who booed and hissed.
Meanwhile, in Sochi Carrillo opened the scoring for the reds, a sentence we would all love to hear this coming season, but swap Sochi for Everton (please footballing gods, please I won't laugh at Sunderland again). Guido’s namesake struck in the 18th minute to get Peru's opening goal and set them on their way for their first world cup win since 'You’re The One That I Want' was number one (chart toppers being the internationally recognised measurement of time) and it was a cracking volley from the edge of the area. Australia probed for an equaliser and Rogic, in South American style, tried to dance through the Peruvian defence, but that was the only real glimpse of quality and Australia were restricted to long range efforts. Peru doubled their led in the second half, when Guerrero spun and shot past Matt Ryan to secure a group win and consigned the Socceroos to last place in the group. The Aussies are just great sportsmen, but that will only ever take you so far. Peru go home with a win, but also the feeling that if only Cuerva had scored his penalty against Denmark, things may have been different.
So France march on to meet Argentina on Saturday. They are like a sulking girl-hungry 20 year old in a bar full of mingers, but they are starting to loosen up and I have a feeling they will perk right up, now that a pretty girl has just shimmied into the bar. Crack open a cider and settle down in front of the tele on Saturday, 3 o’clock for what I hope will be an a spectacle.
The Danes have a tougher assignment as they meet Croatia on Sunday night, their Norwegian born manager is not universally like by the Danes for his pragmatic approach. He will need to throw caution to the wind and go for it, like they did against Ireland in the play off to reach Russia, because the Danish fans are probably like any other fan, Roligans or not, and they would rather see their team going for it in the knock out stages.
Game 6: Denmark 0-0 France
There were no twist and turns in the last round of games in Group C, no late drama on Tuesday afternoon and VAR was saving itself for the next day's show stealing performance.
Denmark and France played out the group stages first and only nil nil draw, France appeared to be more fluid in this game, but that was probably something to do with Denmark conceding space in the midfield. Many english commentators have posed the question of how many changes should Southgate make in Englands last game, should we go for momentum or go with the group dynamic, it does of course fill the air time but we all know its a coded way of saying we are through to the knock out stages, like a proper footballing nation, so up yours. Well, the French approach was the latter with eight changes, whilst the Danes kept a strong side out fearing the Aussies snapping at their heels, but the Aussie comeback didn’t materialise. This just served to make the cautious Danish manager even more cautious and as France didn’t have another slice of luck to gift them a goal, the game petered out to the pleasure of all the Danes and French in the stadium, but not the neutrals who booed and hissed.
Meanwhile, in Sochi Carrillo opened the scoring for the reds, a sentence we would all love to hear this coming season, but swap Sochi for Everton (please footballing gods, please I won't laugh at Sunderland again). Guido’s namesake struck in the 18th minute to get Peru's opening goal and set them on their way for their first world cup win since 'You’re The One That I Want' was number one (chart toppers being the internationally recognised measurement of time) and it was a cracking volley from the edge of the area. Australia probed for an equaliser and Rogic, in South American style, tried to dance through the Peruvian defence, but that was the only real glimpse of quality and Australia were restricted to long range efforts. Peru doubled their led in the second half, when Guerrero spun and shot past Matt Ryan to secure a group win and consigned the Socceroos to last place in the group. The Aussies are just great sportsmen, but that will only ever take you so far. Peru go home with a win, but also the feeling that if only Cuerva had scored his penalty against Denmark, things may have been different.
So France march on to meet Argentina on Saturday. They are like a sulking girl-hungry 20 year old in a bar full of mingers, but they are starting to loosen up and I have a feeling they will perk right up, now that a pretty girl has just shimmied into the bar. Crack open a cider and settle down in front of the tele on Saturday, 3 o’clock for what I hope will be an a spectacle.
The Danes have a tougher assignment as they meet Croatia on Sunday night, their Norwegian born manager is not universally like by the Danes for his pragmatic approach. He will need to throw caution to the wind and go for it, like they did against Ireland in the play off to reach Russia, because the Danish fans are probably like any other fan, Roligans or not, and they would rather see their team going for it in the knock out stages.
