Backed by a sensational attack performance, Colombia boosted its hopes of qualifying for the knockout stage at Poland’s expense. Fellow Group H participants Senegal and Japan played out a thriller, while England notched a record-achieving victory.
Here are three winners and three losers from Day 11 at the 2018 World Cup.
WINNERS
Colombian forwards
After a largely disappointing opener versus Japan, Sunday’s win over Poland was a drastically different story for Colombia’s forwards.
The quartet of Radamel Falcao, James Rodriguez, Juan Quintero and Juan Cuadrado were unstoppable. They combined for nine shots, seven chances created and were involved in every single goal.
Most impressive of all was the dynamism. Colombia heavily favoured the right flank, where Cuadrado ran rampant. Quintero’s quick feet and vision were causing fits for the Polish defence all game long, too.
Rodriguez notching two assists was vital for Colombia. After dealing with a minor calf injury to begin the tournament, it was imperative that the Bayern Munich man was lively from the start. Falcao scoring his first-ever World Cup goal was a lovely touch as well.
Senegalese full-backs
Through two games, Senegal’s methods of attack are quite clear. Coach Aliou Cisse wants his full-backs to move into the final third, create overlapping runs with the wingers and be heavily involved in any attack.
Therefore, it’s no surprise that left-back Youssouf Sabaly and right-back Moussa Wague were chief creators, or in Wague’s case a goal-scorer, for each of Senegal’s strikes.
On the first goal, Wague sent a cross into the box, which eventually fell to Sabaly’s foot on the left side of the area. His shot forced a rebound from Eiji Kawashima and Sadio Mane tapped it in.
Then Sabaly played provider by spinning past Gaku Shibasaki before firing a pass across the box for Wague, who became the youngest-ever African scorer at a World Cup.
19 – Moussa Wagué is the youngest African goalscorer in the history of the World Cup (19 years & 8 months). Jewel. #JAPSEN #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/KCtsCK4OQl
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) June 24, 2018
The only negative to the full-backs being key pieces in the attack is the risk of the opposition countering into acres of open space down the wing. Senegal relied heavily on its right wing, which meant Wague had lots of ground to cover. That is how Takashi Inui scored and he had a couple of other opportunities later in the game as well.
Regardless, it was a productive day for the Senegalese full-backs. Cisse should probably tweak those attack-minded tactics for the Colombia match, though, with James Rodriguez and Juan Cuadrado on the wings.
Felipe Baloy
Panama may have been thumped 6-1 by England but it still enjoyed a historic moment.
Felipe Baloy, one of many centurions in Panama’s squad, scored the country’s first-ever goal at a World Cup in the 78th minute. Even with the team losing 6-1, there was pandemonium and a few tears shed from Panamanian fans in the aftermath of Baloy’s finish.
The defeat ensured Panama’s elimination, so with only one game remaining in its debut World Cup campaign, Baloy was asked about the future of Panamanian soccer after the match. He stressed the importance of a foundation being formed so future players can continue to improve.
This is what makes the World Cup so special. Countries who consider themselves long shots to qualify can use these tournament appearances to start initiatives that help the growth of the sport in their respective nations. Hopefully the Panamanian federation heeds Baloy’s advice.
[snippet id=3758859]
LOSERS
Adam Nawalka
When a team loses an important match, the coach is usually the first one to take the blame.
In this case, it’s fitting because Adam Nawalka’s Poland conjured up a tepid performance in the final third.
Nawalka switched to a 3-4-3 for this match after deploying a similar system in the second half versus Senegal. However, left wingback Maciej Rybus was overrun by Cuadrado and Santiago Arias, plus Robert Lewandowski was forced to receive the ball from deep positions. The Polish striker only had six touches in the opposing box.
Lewandowski scored 16 goals during World Cup qualifying in a 4-4-2 with the creative Piotr Zielinski, who had four assists in that same campaign, as a No. 10. Instead, Nawalka deployed another striker, Arkadiusz Milik, in Zielinski’s regular role with the latter dropping deeper into midfield and it was a disaster.
On Sunday, the switch to a 3-4-3 was equally ineffective, and it’s led to Poland’s early exit.
Goalkeepers
The match between Senegal and Japan was probably the most exciting match of the day. However, both goalkeepers each experienced a regrettable moment in the game.
Japan’s Eiji Kawashima strangely opted to punch a shot from Youssouf Sabaly instead of catching it, and the ball fell to Sadio Mane who easily tapped it into the goal.
Later in the game, Senegalese goalkeeper Khadim N’Diaye decided to come off his line on a cross prior to Keisuke Honda’s equalizer. Because N’Diaye was caught in no-man’s-land, Senegal’s defence frantically tried to close down space in front of goal but they were too late.
Mistakes happen, especially as a goalkeeper. Kawashima and N’Diaye have to move past these and rebound for their decisive Group H finales.
Panama’s set-piece defending
England scored all but one of its goals off set pieces against Panama. It was surprising considering Panama possesses a few aerial threats of its own.
Roman Torres, Fidel Escobar and Michael Murillo are all at least six-foot defenders, while Gabriel Gomez is around the same height. Yet on the first goal, the Panamanians were so focused on Harry Kane and Harry Maguire, John Stones managed to score off a free header. No one tracked his movement at all.
England's first three goals at the 2018 World Cup have all come from set-pieces:
Harry Kane
Harry Kane
John StonesTrippier's delivery causing problems. pic.twitter.com/4S00LXZ0tk
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) June 24, 2018
It was those sort of lapses that led to the lopsided scoreline. There appeared to be very little communication, there was confusion and ultimately, England capitalized.
[relatedlinks]