2018 FIFA World Cup: The African Ambassadors on a troubling start
The 2018 FIFA World Cup gets into day-2, a day when two African teams Egypt and Morocco enters the scene.
The two teams lost their opening matches to the disappointment of fans.
The tournament started Thursday 14th June with host country, Russia winning the first match against Saudi Arabia 5-0.
Friday’s matches saw other Group A teams, Egypt and Uruguay at 8 and all four Group B teams played the first matches.
On day-2, Egypt and Uruguay played before Morocco, Iran, Spain and Portugal come to the scene all from Group B.
The big game of the day was that which Cristiano Ronaldo scored three goals in the highly contested derby between Spain and Portugal that ended in a 3-3 draw.
Egypt 0 – 1 Uruguay
In the Egypt 0 – 1 Uruguay match, tempers were high when Egypt resisted her opponent until the 89th minute.
Jose Gimenez’s late talley from Alexandre Sanchez was enough to give Uruguay a 1 – 0 win. It is the first time Uruguay wins a World Cup opening match since 1970.
Morocco 0 – 1 Iran
The Morocco/ Iran match was first match in Group B. Iran also tarried to till the 6th minute of stoppage time to open the score board and get a victory over the North African country, Morocco.
History however holds that Morocco has never won any of its World Cup opening matches.
Portugal 3 – 3 Spain
The second Group B match was between tie-breakers Portugal and Spain.
Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Spain’s Diego Costa traded goals back and forth until Nacho took a beautiful strike from distance to give Spain their first lead at the 58th minute (3-2).
At the end, Cristiano Ronaldo finished his hat trick in the 88th minute to earn a draw.
Spain and Portugal gets one point each.
At the end of the day, Iran holds first place in Group B.
Ronaldo’s hat trick is first so far as 2018 World Cup unfolds.
He has done it in 51 World Cup matches during his career.
The Group A Standing
Russia – 3 points
Uruguay -3 points
Egypt -0 point
Saudi Arabia -0 point
The Group B Standings
Iran- 3 points
Portugal – 1 point
Spain -1 point
Morocco – 0 point
The fixtures for Day-3
12 p.m , France vs Argentina (Group C)
3 p.m, Argentina vs Iceland (Group D)
6 p.m , Peru vs Denmark (Group C)
9 p.m, Croatia vs Nigeria (Group D)
Benly Anchunda