FootieTalks

France 4-2 Croatia France won the Fifa World Cup for the second time in their history by beating a bold Croatia team in an absolutely thrilling final in Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium. Didier Deschamps' side repeated the success on home soil at France '98 by four goals to two. A scoreline that nobody would have predicted, especially after 60 minutes. The French victory meant that Deschamps who captained the national team 20 years ago, became just the third man to win the competition as a player and coach. Croatia would also feel as if luck was against them, but in the end, it was France who ran out victorious to put memories of the loss to Portugal in the Euro 2016 final in Paris aside and celebrate World Champions status. It was certainly one of the most exciting World Cup finals of the modern era, and played out to a soundtrack of thunderstorms, Croatia and France delivered an enthralling spectacle that brought the joint highest goal tally in a World Cup final sinc...

England 0-2 Belgium  England's 2018 World Cup campaign in Russia ended with a 2-0 defeat to Belgium in St Petersburg that meant that thee Three Lions finished in a respectable fourth place. Gareth Southgate's team were unable to bounce back from the despair of Wednesday's extra-time loss against Croatia in the semi-final in Moscow, but this tournament finish still represents a highly creditable tournament for England, and demonstrates a high degree of progress from Brazil 2014 and the European Championships in France 2016 PSG right-back Thomas Meunier had put Belgium ahead after only four minutes, when he slid in ahead of Spurs defender Danny Rose to finish Nacer Chadli's cross past goalkeeper Jordan Pickford. England had a multitude of chances to level in the second half, but continuously failed to convert, as Toby Alderweireld cleared off the line from Eric Dier, while Harry Maguire also headed wide from a good position. Chelsea winger Eden Hazard wrapped ...

England 1-2 Croatia (After Extra Time)  Its disappointment again for England as they crash out of another major tournament without success. The Three Lions fell at the Semi- Final hurdle to dark horses Croatia.  Tottenham right-back Kieran Trippier got England off to the perfect start executing an excellent freekick that nestled in the back of the net and past Daniel Subasic. The high intensity game worked well for England in the first half, but failed to score a second goal which is what was certainly needed.  The intense pressing game tired out the English players by half time and they struggled to find their feet in the second half, and the Croatians exploited the tiredness and levelled the score in the 68th minute through Ivan Perisic.  Juventus striker Mario Mandzukic scored the winning goal in the 109th minute of the semi-final, slotting in from Ivan Perisic's flick-on into the area afte...

France 1-0 Belgium  France will face Croatia in the World Cup final after edging past European neighbours Belgium in the semi-final in St Petersburg. Barcelona's central defender Samuel Umtiti scored the only goal, which proved to be the winner for the 1998 World Champions in the second half with a towering header from Antoine Griezmann's corner. Didier Deschamps' France side were on the back foot for large periods of the game, but they emerged victorious to reach their third World Cup final, having last time been beaten by Italy on penalties in 2006. Belgium came through the quarter-finals by impressively beating favourites Brazil, but they were unable to find the equaliser, as  Tianjin Quanjian central midfielder   Axel Witsel saw a powerful and long-range drive pushed away by Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris, who also brilliantly kept out Toby Alderweireld's turning shot.  At the final whistle, the French substitutes ran on the pitch to celebrate wit...

Jack Wilshere is a Hammer! Following the expiration of Jack Wilshere's Arsenal contract, that was not renewed, England international Jack Wilshere became a Free Agent. The rumour mill began to spiral, linking Wilshere to Fenerbache, Wolves and Everton, but he opted to stay in London and sign a 3 year deal with West Ham.  Wilshere joined the Arsenal Academy in October 2001 at the age of nine, following a short spell in the Luton Town youth programme. He rose through the ranks, and at the  slender age of 15 he was named the captain of the Arsenal Under-16s. He also made a few appearances for the under-18s team. In the summer of 2007, Wilshere featured in the Champions Youth Cup in Malaysia and upon his return to England, Arsenal Academy coach Steve Bould gave him a start for the under-18s first match against the Chelsea under-18’s He scored his first goal against Aston Villa under-18s in a 4–1 victory. Wilshere then scored a hat-trick against Wat...

Russia 2-2 Croatia  (3-4 on penalties) Hosts Russia's remarkable World Cup run has ended in heart-break, after a  quarter-final defeat on penalties to Croatia, who bounced back from a late extra-time equaliser to set up a last-four meeting with England. Defender Mario Fernandes, brought his side back level through a header in the 115th minute, yet missed what proved to be the decisive spot-kick, with Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic making no mistake to send his team into the semi-finals. Immediately after he saw his penalty hit the net, Ivan Rakitic was mobbed by his team-mates a repeat of the scenes following Croatia's last-16 shootout victory over Denmark. Despite their defeat, the home fans broke into applause as they cheered their beaten side long and loud following the final whistle,  in recognition of their achievements against the odds. Fedor Smolov missed the first kick with a weak Panenka effort that was easily stopped by Danijel Subasic, while his o...

England 2-0 Sweden  England reached the World Cup semi-final for the first time since Italia 90 as Harry Maguire and Dele Alli struck either side of half time to dispatch Sweden in Samara. Gareth Southgate's Three Lions side will now face either Croatia or hosts Russia in the Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow's on Wednesday after. rather easily overcoming a stubborn Sweden defensive brigade in the quarter-final, with the help from another magnificent display by goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.  Leicester City's commanding centre back Harry Maguire who yet again played outstandingly  broke the deadlock on the half-hour mark when another quality England set-piece routine produced a goal. Maguire flashed a header past Sweden keeper Robin Olsen from an Ashley Young's corner. Everton young keeper Pickford then denied the Sweden's hopes of recovery with a breathtaking save from forward Marcus Berg, and England's defence refused to be beaten. England sealed their victory a...

Brazil 1-2 Belgium Belgium produced an exceptional performance to knock the five-time winners Brazil out of the World Cup and reach the semi-finals for the first time since 1986. Roberto Martinez's Red Devils turned on the style in Kazan to record their fifth straight victory in the tournament and ensure that the semi-finals will be contested by four European sides for the first time since 2006. Brazil had previously conceded just one goal in their past four games in Russia 2018 but were behind early on when Nacer Chadli's corner struck Manchester City's Fernandinho's arm and flew into the net, and recording the 10th own goal of this World Cup. Fernandinho's Manchester City teammate Kevin de Bruyne doubled Belgium's lead with an astonishing finish that nestled in the far corner from 20 yards after Romelu Lukaku's dominating run. In a very entertaining and open game, Brazil wasted chances, and hit the post when the match was goalless, Thiago Sil...

France 2-0 Uruguay  France are into the semi-finals of the World Cup for the first time since 2006 after beating Uruguay with the help of a terrible error by goalkeeper Fernando Muslera. This quarter-final tie did not come close to the excitement of Les Bleus' win over Argentina in the last 16 but will still be remembered for the goalkeepers displays, with Hugo Lloris producing a contender for save of the tournament while his opposite number made a mistake that was even more memorable and effectively knocked his own nation out of the tournament . Real Madrid's centre back Raphael Varane headed France into a first-half lead from a well executed free-kick , with Antoine Griezmann delaying his run before delivering the perfect cross for the defender to glance home. Uruguay had injured striker Edinson Cavani failing to make the bench, very nearly struck back immediately from a free-kick of their own, but Tottenham captain Lloris produced a brilliant diving stop to deny ...

Diego Maradona has accused England of theft after Gareth Southgate's meted out justice to Colombia's men. Maradona, the man whose "Hand of God' cheated Argentina through vs the Three Lions at the 1986 tournament in Mexico, insists that Gareth Southgate's men got the benefit of a FIFA stitch up to send them to the last eight of the World Cup. In a scathing attack on Argentine TV, he claimed that the American referee Mark Geiger was out of his depth, and that referees' chief Pierluigi Collina should have to apologise to the whole Colombian nation for appointing him for the game, and that the penalty given for Carlos Sanchez's grapple with Harry Kane was a foul instigated by the England captain. Maradona insisted: “The penalty was not a foul. In fact, it was Kane's fault. “The referee is looking somewhere else and when he turns his head, Kane is on the floor. “Kane used his arm to hook Sanchez and then threw himself down. “I repeat, why didn...

England 1-1 Columbia  England win 4-3 on penalties   England won a World Cup penalty shootout for the first time on a night of high drama in Moscow, overcoming Colombia to secure a quarter-final meeting with Sweden. Manager Gareth Southgate celebrated with his staff while his players mobbed the heroes Pickford and Dier after their first win at the knockout stage of major tournament since 2006 Southgate's Three Lions looked to have emerged victorious and unharmed from an ill-disciplined match, thanks to another Harry Kane penalty. That plan was spoiled by Yerry Mina, who got his third goal in 3 games, to equalise in the 92nd minute of stoppage time and caused wild celebrations with the Columbia fans.  The extra 30 minutes were quite dull, and could not separate the sides, and inevitably  led to the dreaded, nerve-shredding finale , a penalty shootout, something that that has so often been England's undoing, with a...

Sweden 1-0 Switzerland  Sweden will play England in the quarter-finals of the World Cup after defeating Switzerland in a strangely compelling but untidy tie in St Petersburg. Red Bull Leipzig midfielder Emil Forsberg scored the only goal of the game, midway through the second half with a shot that deflected off the Borussia Dortmund defender Manuel Akanji and left Yann Sommer stranded. Sommer had previously made a great save from a shot on the turn from Marcus Berg in the first half and also denied Haris Seferovic late on but it was certainly a game that was definitely more about missed opportunities than good saves. Both teams were guilty of wasting good openings, and Switzerland ended it with 10 men after Michael Lang was sent off in injury time for a push on Martin Olsson, who was clean through on goal.The referee initially gave a penalty but was correctly changed his decision to a free-kick after a VAR review.

England vs Columbia  On Tuesday 3rd July 2018, England face Columbia in the final last 16 game of the 2018 World Cup.  Following England's defeat to Belgium in the last group game, the Three Lions finished second in their group and were drawn to face the winners of Group G. That looked to be Japan or Senegal for a long period of the match, however when Poland scored against Japan, and Yerry Mina netted a close range header to give Columbia a 1-0 lead against Senegal, both winning teams knew they would qualify if the scores stayed as they were. Japan, despite being 1-0 down played the ball around the back for 20 minutes. Senegal departed the competition on the Fair Play Rule, making history becoming the first team to fall victim to the new rule.  That meant that England face the "easier" half of the draw, despite having a harder last 16 tie. Since Russia knocked out Spain on penalties, and Croatia did the same to Denmark, a Russia vs C...

Belgium 3-2 Japan  Belgium completed an astonishing turn around, as they came from the brink of defeat and beat Japan to reach the quarter-finals. Roberto Martinez's side were trailing 2-0 when he rolled the dice, and scored a six, bringing on Marouane Fellaini and Nacer Chadli in the 65th minute, and his substitutes both scored to give the Red Devils a win, and a tantalising last eight tie against Brazil on Friday. Japan looked on their way to a famous win in Rostov after Genki Haraguchi ran onto a Gaku Shibasaki's long ball to open the scoring. Jan Vertonghen will look back in disappointment as he should have cut out the pass before any danger was presented Takashi Inui's fabulous 25-yard strike, which even world class keeper Courtois couldn't save to make it 2-0 and looked set to take the Asian side to their first ever quarter-finals. Belgium's Premier League stars, A.K.A, their golden generation had put in a VERY disappointing performance and boss Ma...

Mexico 0-2 Brazil Neymar scored one goal and played a key role in the second as Brazil knocked out Mexico in Samara to reach the World Cup quarter-finals for a seventh consecutive time. Brazil didn't have it all their own way, especially in an opening 20 minute period which was dominated by Mexico, but the five-time winners grew into what became a controlled performance. The result means that Mexico are once again eliminated at the last-16 stage - as they have been at every World Cup since 1994, and didn't reach their target of the magical 5th game.  They did however, have plenty of chances early on, and it was only after a largely frustrating first half for Brazil that Neymar started the move to put his side ahead.  His run across goal and clever backheel won Willian space, and the Chelsea midfielder only needed two touches to drive into box and lay the ball across for the world's most expensive player to slide home. That was Brazil's 227th goal at the Worl...

Croatia 1-1 Denmark (AET) Croatia win 3-2 on penalties Danijel Subasic saved three penalties as Croatia knocked out Denmark in a nerve-wracking shootout to set up an intreguing World Cup quarter-final tie against hosts Russia. It was a match that ended in stunningly dramatic fashion - and started that way as well. An electric first 5 minutes saw  Martin Jorgensen capitalise on a chaotic long throw, and fired a weakly taken shot beyond Subasic in the opening minute. A scuffed clearance and an deflected header off the Danish midfielder Martin Delaney presented Mario Mandzukic with a good chance that he took with ease smashing his shot into the ground and beyond Schmeichel as Croatia soon levelled.  The shootout came at the end of a largely disappointing tie - and one that had seen Luka Modric spurn a golden chance to snatch a late winner when his penalty shortly before the end of extra-time was superbly saved by Kasper Schmeichel, which saw fabulous celebra...