Author: Brila

Russia pulled off an improbable victory to stun Spain after extra time and penalties at Luzhniki Stadium to keep their home World Cup hopes alive. In the end, it was a dramatic 4-3 penalty shootout that decided the game, scoring the winner after a Sergei Ignashevich goal and Artem Dzyuba penalty in normal time meant the two sides could not be separated after 120 minutes of football. With the result, Russia booked a quarterfinal date in Sochi on July 7 against either Croatia or Denmark in the day’s other last 16 tie.

We’re into extra time in Moscow as Spain and Russia remain tied at 1-1 after a scrappy second half to their World Cup last-16 clash. Andres Iniesta’s place in midfield was taken by Koke, who partnered Sergio Busquets in a double pivot, while Marco Asensio lined up on the left wing, with Thiago Alcantara making way. Elsewhere, Nacho Fernandez came in for Dani Carvajal at right-back, although the trio were available to Fernando Hierro during the game. As for Russia, defender Igor Smolnikov was suspended and attacking midfielder Alan Dzagoev was ruled out for the rest of the World Cup…

Super Eagles forward Ahmed Musa earlier on Sunday decided to celebrate his first wedding anniversary to second wife Juliet Ejue on his return from the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. Juliet is Musa’s second wife as he had been previously married to Jamila. The Leicester City forward was Nigeria’s Superstar at the Russia 2018 World Cup banging in the two goals that gave the Super Eagles maximum points against Iceland.

Kylian Mbappe outshone several big names including Lionel Messi, Angel Di Maria and Javier Mascherano in France’s 4-3 win over Argentina in Saturday’s Last-16 game at the FIFA World Cup.

On the same day, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were knocked out of the FIFA 2018 World Cup as Argentina fell to France 4-3 and Portugal lost 2-1 to Uruguay.

Two fantastic goals from 19-year-old French sensational forward Kylian Mbappe emphatically dumped Argentina and Lionel Messi out of the Russia 2018 WOrld Cup in the round of 16. Mbappe starred throughout a pulsating, seven-goal affair with two brilliant strikes after half-time as France took command after the interval. Antoine Griezmann’s penalty broke the deadlock, before Angel Di Maria equalised with one of the goals of the competition. A deflected strike from defender Gabriel Mercado put Argentina ahead, before Benjamin Pavard levelled with a brilliant effort with the outside of his boot. Mbappe commanded play in the second half. The teenager…

Cristiano Ronaldo and co were not at all convincing in the group stage and scraped into the knockout rounds with a 1-1 draw against Iran. They had previously edged out Morocco 1-0 after opening their campaign with a thrilling 3-3 draw against local rivals Spain. But the Portuguese proved at Euro 2016 they can get the results to win a tournament without blowing the opposition away, and they will be optimistic of edging out their South American opponents. The squad is fully fit and nobody is suspended, but boss Fernando Santos has some big decisions to make. One is whether…

After a disappointing 1-1 draw with Iceland in the opening game, Argentina found themselves in trouble when they were humiliated 3-0 by Croatian until Rojo became the hero vs Nigeria. France’s passage through to the knockout stage meanwhile was less eventful, qualifying with a game to spare and drawing 0-0 with Denmark to round off an uninspiring group campaign. Lionel Messi provided his nation with some much-needed inspiration after his penalty miss earlier in the tournament, and the pressure will be on the captain to deliver again. As for Les Bleus, Antoine Griezmann has endured a frustrating time since his penalty against…

Super Eagles midfielder Wilfred Ndidi has been rated as the player with the most tackles and interceptions in the Group stage of the Russia 2018 World Cup. This was confirmed by football facts and statistics website, whoscored on their verified Twitter handle. According to the statistics platform, Ndidi made 15 tackles and 12 interceptions more than any other player at the 2018 WorldCup so far. Some top performing players were eliminated from the group stages of the 2018 #WorldCup — @BenMcAleer1 has outlined the best rated XI of those to fall at the tournament’s first hurdle https://t.co/BBquEfZTDO — WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) June 29,…

The leadership of the NFF has confirmed that Franco-German tactician, Gernot Rohr will stay on as the Technical Adviser of the Nigeria National team. NFF president Amaju Pinnick has maintained Rohr has a new two-year contract and it will be honoured. “I am not one of those who is asking for the coach to go,” Pinnick said. “He has a new two-year contract and we will respect it. “He has a young team who he will build on with the likes of Henry Onyekuru, Victor Osimhim, Kelechi Nwakali, Usman Mohammed and Junior Lokosa all now set to join this team.”…