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The goals of Josko Gvardiol and Mislav Orsic helped Croatia defeat Morocco at the Khalifa International Stadium and pocket their second bronze medal in the FIFA World Cup. Croatia have appeared in six editions of the tournament since the first time there in 1998. As long as they made it out of their group, their worst record was advancing to the semifinals, not to mention that the team reached the...

Either Lionel Messi or Kylian Mbappe will be recognized by many as the "king of football" after the FIFA World Cup final at Lusail Stadium in Qatar on Sunday night. Messi is a seven-time Ballon d'Or winner, a top two player in Argentine national team history and just won his first major international championship last year at Copa America. He needs a World Cup title to complete his career. Mbappe...

Croatia and Morocco will play each other in the FIFA World Cup third-place game at Khalifa International Stadium on Saturday. Croatia's forward Andrej Kramaric said both sides will play their best in this competition because victory will make them immortal heroes of their country. Both teams have been known for their resilience and defense so far in the tournament. Now that they are relieved of pa...

Morocco's history-making journey in the FIFA World Cup in Qatar ended against France at Al Bayt Stadium on Wednesday night. Theo Hernandez's early goal forced Morocco to come out of the fortress and attack. They created a series of threats against the French goal, but just couldn't seize the decisive opportunity. France continued to move closer toward defending the World Cup championship. So far,...

Argentina defeated Croatia to reach the FIFA World Cup final in Qatar after Lionel Messi scored one goal and one assist at the Lusail Stadium on Tuesday night. But the credit is not Messi's alone. Some of it goes to Julian Alvarez, who earned the penalty kick that Messi made. He added the second goal for Argentina with relentless running and then turned Messi's pass into a 3-0 lead. The rest of th...

France probably have the most unstoppable offense of all teams in the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, not only because they have Kylian Mbappe and Olivier Giroud, but also Antoine Griezmann. Despite such an excellent attacking combination, manager Didier Deschamps prefers to hold back and allow the opponents to attack first before maximizing the power of Mbappe's speed in counterstrike. This is the oppon...

Lionel Messi and Luka Modric have won a lot of honors in common – La Liga championships, UEFA Champions League titles and the Balon d'Or Award. Neither is likely to appear in the FIFA World Cup again in four years, but both need that trophy to lift their career to the new level. Messi has aged, but he is still one of the top playmakers in the world. He has always set up more opportunities for his...

Before playing Portugal, Morocco's manager Walid Regragui said they had the backing of an entire African continent. The team responded to that support by becoming the first African team to reach the FIFA World Cup semifinals. Though Morocco will face the reigning champions France later, there is no reason to stop believing in themselves because "The Atlas Lions" proved that anything is possible in...

You can never exaggerate what a big heart Croatian players have. It doesn't matter if they concede a goal first in the extra time or have to go through a penalty shoot-out in two straight games. They just go to the field, defend, attack and then win. After Brazil lost, Neymar was sitting on the ground with tears in his eyes. It was simply too much for him to exit the World Cup like this. His form...

When the UEFA Euros runners-up and the reigning FIFA World Cup champions meet each other, it's fair to call it a rehearsal of the World Cup final. Having mashed Poland 3-1 in the Round of 16, France and Kylian Mbappe have no intention to stop at the quarterfinals. England, which also had a dominant win over Senegal in the last game, want nothing but advancing to the semifinals. By eliminating Spai...

The quarterfinals of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar will kick off on Friday between Croatia and Brazil as well as Argentina and the Netherlands. Croatia are definitely the underdog against Brazil, but they have the richest experience of hanging there in tough competitions and then beating their opponents. Brazil must be happy to watch Neymar play like a part of the team, but when they have to wrestle...

Spain's manager Luis Enrique previously said each of their players practiced at least 1,000 penalties. If that's true, it only makes their loss to Morocco more ironic because Spain missed all of their first three attempts during the final penalty shoot-out. Spain didn't win any of their three games following the 7-0 victory over Costa Rica in the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. All three competitions sha...

Japan lost to Croatia after missing three of their four penalties in shootout. There are lessons for the Samurai Blue to learn, but other than that, the team has good reasons to be proud of themselves for holding the FIFA World Cup runs-up at 1-1 in 120 minutes. Like four years ago in Russia, Croatia began their knockout stage competitions with an extra time win. The last time they did so, the tea...

Kylian Mbappe scored two goals to help France beat Poland 3-1 in the FIFA World Cup Round of 16 game in Qatar on Sunday. The second was his ninth goal in two editions of the World Cup. By contrast, it took Lionel Messi five tournaments to get to nine goals. Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal has played five World Cups and scored eight goals. The last time the reigning World Cup champions, France, reach...

The Netherlands trailed the USA in ball possession, total shots and shots on goal, among other stats, but the "Clockwork Orange" secured a 3-1 victory on Saturday. They first led 2-0 and then quickly scored the third goal after the USA made it 2-1. Fans of Argentina had every reason to chant Lionel Messi's name after he scored to help his team lead 1-0 against Australia. It's his ninth goal in the...

South Korea managed to qualify for the knockout stage in the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, not only because they came back to defeat Portugal 2-1, but also because Uruguay failed to score their third goal against Ghana. Brazil lost to Cameroon 1-0 and almost lost the leading position of Group G if Switzerland had beaten Serbia by more than one goal. The matchups for the Round of 16 have been confirmed...

Despite their 4-2 win over Costa Rica, Germany were eliminated from the FIFA World Cup in Qatar at the group stage. Spain seemed to be pulling their punches against Japan, but they must have felt a chill run down their spine when Costa Rica scored to lead 2-1 over Germany. Belgium exited the tournament, waived goodbye to manager Roberto Martinez, and are looking at a difficult start-over. They hav...

When Lionel Messi missed that penalty kick in the first half against Poland, Argentina were only two steps away from being knocked out from the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Fortunately for them, Alexis Mac Allister and Julian Alvarez stood out to save the day. In the other game of Group C, though Mexico beat Saudi Arabia, the one goal they conceded during the stoppage time ended their knockout qualifi...

England defeated Wales with a dominant 3-0 win in their final game in Group B, advancing to the Round of 16 in the FIFA World in Qatar. So did the Netherlands, which beat Qatar 2-0 in Group A. Cody Gakpo, who scored the first goal for "Clockwork Orange" in each of the three games, is already on the transfer list of a lot of powerhouse clubs. The USA also made it out of Group B after defeating Iran...

Without star forward Neymar, Brazil went through a lot of work against Switzerland in both setting up and implementing scoring opportunities, but Casemiro's goal and the team's ball movement reminded you how Canarinho used to make football fun to watch. Portugal booked an early spot in the Round of 16 competition thanks to their 2-0 win over Uruguay. Bruno Fernandes could have scored a hat trick i...

The most eye-catching game between Germany and Spain in Group E ended as 1-1 draw. Both goals were scored by big, traditional centers who had to come off the bench because their managers preferred the squad with no traditional striker. Japan blew the favorable situation they were in after losing to Costa Rica 1-0. Instead of securing early qualification for the knockout stage, they will have to tr...

Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski led their teams to triumphant and long-awaited victories at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Argentina found it difficult to run the game like they used to against Mexico's aggressive defense. That's why Messi had to stand out, first scoring an icebreaker and then assisting Enzo Fernandez to seal the deal. Lewandowski had a similar experience with Poland against Ira...

Two Asian teams, Iran and Qatar stepped onto different paths after Friday's group games in the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Iran improved their chances of qualifying for the knockout stage thanks to the two goals during stoppage time that enabled them to beat Wales. Qatar finally scored their first goal at the World Cup, but that didn't keep them from losing to Senegal. After the Netherlands and Ecuad...

Portugal's 3-2 win over Ghana was almost blown due to the mistakes their defenders kept making. Offensively, Cristiano Ronaldo gave the team a good start, but it was Bruno Fernandes that made the decisive plays for Portugal. Brazil's dominance of Serbia was bigger than the 2-0 score showed. Richarlison's second goal made a good contender for goal of the tournament. However, when Neymar exited the...

Japan secured a second valuable win for an Asian team over a traditional footballing powerhouse at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar after defeating Germany 2-1 in Group E. As Spain dominated Costa Rica 7-0 in the other game in the group, Germany are now in a very unfavorable situation in the race for Round of 16 qualification. In Group F, Belgium struggled against Canada. The Canadians wasted 21 shots...