The World Cup So far: Matchday Three2 min read

The third week of the World Cup was by far the most intense and compact of fixtures.

With 16 matches in a span of four days, there was so much to talk about regarding each group’s results.

Starting with the underdogs, Japan becomes the only Asian team to qualify to the round of 16 whilst not a single African team has made it into the knockout stages.

Tunisia, Morocco, Senegal, Nigeria and Egypt all unfortunately weren’t able to see through the group stage despite putting in a great effort all round.

One of the largest shocks of the tournament so far is current World Champions, Germany, and their group stage elimination from this year’s campaign.

Despite hope of a comeback after winning against Sweden, Die Mannschaft simply couldn’t perform against an impressive South Korea, who took the cup winners down with them.

One comeback that did come true was Argentina’s as in the early weeks it looked like Leonel Messi was going to retire from the losses his team endured.

Manchester United defender Marcus Rojo helped the South American side to qualify narrowly against Nigeria.

England, Belgium, France and Denmark all qualified fairly calm in their groups despite their performances against each other being at times mind-numbing.

This was however tactically orchestrated well in order to use their big players in the next round.

England’s loss to the Red Devils means that they will have to face Colombia in the next round.

This is something that the Three Lions will need to be prepared for if Gareth Southgate is looking to take the team to the Quarters.

Hopefully France can improve their overall form in the knockout stages after being shockingly underwhelming.

Croatia qualified the strongest side out of all the teams having won all of their fixtures so far.

At this stage, it looks like the Balkan team can really challenge for the trophy, being the dark horses of the tournament.

With the World Cup coming close to a conclusion, fixtures will start to get even more interesting.

 

Source of Image: @FIFAWorldCup (Twitter)