World Cup in Russia | Top 10 matches from the first 10 days

FIFA World Cup in unarguably the greatest single sport extravaganza in the world. Even though the Summer Olympics would have a worldwide viewership and following which challenges the World Cup but consider that it’s a multi-sport event with participation from way large number of countries. The final stages of the FIFA World Cup is a contest between mere 32 countries.

Russia won the bid to host the 2018 edition of the cup. There were some questions raised regarding the initial bidding process and how Russia won it; nevertheless, Russia has so far been doing a great job. 

The event which started on 14th June has so far traversed the journey of 10 days. For all the groups 2 match days have been completed. It’s time to take a stab at the 10 most interesting matches played so far. The matches are arranged in the order they were played and not any other ranking

1. Russia (5) – Saudi Arabia (0): As it is said morning shows the day. So it is important how the first match of the tournament goes as that would provide a pulse of the days to come. And Russia didn’t disappoint. Russia decimated Saudis pumping 5 goals past their hapless opponents. As it turns out the tone set of Russia has been carried forward as today Messi scored the 100th goal of the tournament with some high scoring matches in between.
2. Portugal (3) – Spain (3): This would have been a David vs Goliath contest between the neighbors; Spain being the super powerhouse of European football and Portugal being the minnows. However, there was giant among the minnows by the name of Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo arguably one of the top most footballers in the world mostly playing in his last world cup. Ronaldo matched Spain goal by goal scoring a hat-trick ultimately equalizing with a trademark curling free-kick.
3. Argentina (1) – Iceland (1): This match deserves a mentioned in the list because of my love for Argentina and also because of the achievers Iceland has turned out to be in world football. It would require a detailed discussion how a country with area and population less than DFW area and few years ago ranked beyond 100 in FIFA ranking is giving jitters to super-powers for world football. However, one of the talking points of this match is the penalty miss by Messi. Penalties are still haunting Messi and it’s important that Messi is break himself free of this jinx soon.
4. Germany (0) – Mexico (1): Defending champions facing one of the most football crazy countries in the world was expected to create some sparks but no one expected Germany to falter. Mexico played some superb football and completely outpaced and outsmarted the Germans. They scored a solitary goal and held on to that in front of a German onslaught. The Germans, in this match at least, looked a shadow of their champion self. It is unique that a defending champion started defense of their title with a loss.
5. Colombia (1) – Japan (2): This match specially stands out because of the rare occasion when a Asian team beats one from Latin America. Having seen Japan in the previous world cups there is no doubting the fact that their football has developed to a great extent. Many of their players now playing European football has definitely played a part in that. Hope to see more of Japan in the tournament.
6. Argentina (0) – Croatia (3): Again Argentina and an extremely disappointing outing at that. Croatia is having one of the best generation of footballers. Modric controlled the midfield with great effectiveness and scored brilliantly from the long range. However, what was more glaring was the goal-keeping mistake that resulted in the first goal and how Argentina never seemed to recover from that shock. In fact, for the last 2 goals Argentina has almost given up on its chances in this world cup.
7. Nigeria (2) – Iceland (0): This match was important from the Argentine point of view since it kept their chances of qualifying for the knock-outs alive. Musa became the first Nigerian to score in 2 world cups. Iceland seemed a shadow of the team who had very strategically contained Messi and Argentina. It all seemed that they lacked the home work they had done before taking the field against top notch teams.
8. Germany (2) – Sweden (1): This match should be more talked about from what happened in the second half specially during the closing stages. In the first half Germany seemed to have carried on their form from the previous defeat against Mexico. At half time they trailed Sweden by 1 goal. However, the second half witnessed a completely different Germany. Sweden was almost swept out of the field. Even when down to 10 men Germany looked difficult to stop. And a last minute curling free kick from Kroos secured the much needed win for the Germans. 
9. Serbia (1) – Switzerland (2): This match would be more remembered for the celebration style adopted by the Swiss scorers. In the previous Switzerland played quite an unimpressive football against Brazil; in that match Neymar only was fouled more than 10 times. Against Serbia the football was not of great quality. However more talked out was the celebration style adopted by Swiss scorers Xhaka and Shaqiri. It seemed the celebration was related to their Albanian origin; Albanians who were persecuted by the Serbs. Events like World Cup, Olympics is played more to depict the unity among the nations. Here we have people the world over cheering only 32 countries. Such politically charged divisive gestures should be strongly discouraged.
10. Japan (2) – Senegal (2): Not every day a match involving an Asian and African team becomes interesting. But this match was. Though it ended in a draw but the pace of the match was amazing. Every time Senegal scored, Japan came back strongly with a reply. It’s almost time we talk of Japanese resilience alongside Germans.

Match Day 3 of the group stage has already started and we have some exciting things happening. Let’s talk about the important matches in another post.