Matchday 8 of the 2022 FIFA World Cup was a combative one, with each sport hotly contested.
Match 25
Japan V Costa Rica
Keysher Fuller proved the hero as Costa Rica bounced again from their devastating loss to Spain in a giant method, edging Japan 1-0 at Ahmed Bin Ali Stadium on Sunday evening (AEDT).
Whereas a win would have put Japan in the very best place to advance to the Spherical of 16, each groups didn’t present a lot aggression in a scoreless first half, registering only one shot apiece.
The beginning of the second half noticed Japan start to play extra of the soccer that noticed them upset Germany, a number of assaults coming near beating Keylor Navas.
However within the 81st minute, the ball discovered right-back Fuller simply inside the sting of the field, and his arcing left-foot shot looped up and took a deflection off the outstretched gloves of Japan keeper Shuichi Gonda to nestle at the back of the web.
The Costa Rican defence held off a flurry of late Japanese assaults to win their first match of this World Cup and turn out to be the third crew in Group E on three factors together with Spain and Japan.
Match 26
Belgium v Morocco
Morocco secured simply their third FIFA World Cup win in historical past as second half strikes from Abdelhamid Sabiri and Zakaria Aboukhlal helped down Belgium 2-0 at Al Thumama Stadium on Monday morning (AEDT).
A quick-flowing first 45 noticed Belgium persistently threaten from set items, however Morocco’s defence was steadfast in repelling them, earlier than a Hakim Ziyech free-kick regarded to have given the Atlas Lions the lead on the stroke of half-time solely to be dominated out by VAR which deemed Romain Saiss to be offside.
The second half started on the similar frenetic tempo with Morocco constructing extra momentum, and it paid off when Sabiri shocked Belgium keeper Thibaut Courtois, sneaking a slender free kick within the close to nook after 73 minutes to incite pandemonium amongst the massive Moroccan crowd.
Having terrorised Belgium all day, Ziyech then discovered his technique to the byline and squared it to Aboukhlal within the second minute of harm time who expertly completed to seal a well-known victory.
With Canada eradicated within the subsequent sport, Morocco now sit tied with Croatia on 4 factors in Group F with Belgium third on 3 heading into the final spherical.
Match 27
Croatia v Canada
Croatia reminded the world of why they made the World Cup last 4 years in the past with a stellar efficiency to beat Canada 4-1 and make sure the North American nation grew to become the second aspect eradicated from this 12 months’s match.
Canada acquired off to a tremendous begin when star Alphonso Davies leapt excessive to move dwelling for his or her first ever World Cup aim in simply the second minute, and from there the tempo was frenetic with assaults flowing each methods.
Andrej Kramaric restored parity for Croatia as their sustained strain paid off within the 36th minute earlier than striker Marko Lavija drilled in a second on the stroke of half-time.
The second half was all Croatia as Canada seemed to be operating out of steam, Kramaric scoring one other 20 minutes from time earlier than Lavro Majer completed a breakaway in harm time to finish a dominant efficiency and take Zlatko Dalic’s males prime of Group F.
Match 28
Spain v Germany
It was all Spain within the opening minutes of the match, selecting up the place they left off towards Costa Rica as they created a number of possibilities, one of the best leading to Olmo cannoning a shot that Manuel Neuer deflected onto the bar.
An aggressive urgent technique from Germany almost proved fruitful once they gained possession on the sting of the field, with Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon referred to as to make a pointy save.
Hansi Flick’s males thought they’d taken an unlikely lead within the thirty ninth minute when defender Antonio Rudiger powered in a header from a Joshua Kimmich free kick, however the German celebrations had been minimize brief as VAR rapidly dominated that he was offside.
Spain once more got here to the fore within the early minutes of the second half and had been in a position to exploit quite a lot of open area within the German defence with Jordi Alba crossing early to seek out Alvaro Morata who produced a sensible dink previous Neuer on the close to publish.
Germany got here again late to save lots of their World Cup hopes, Niklas Füllkrug’s highly effective strike from a intelligent collection of passes cancelling out Alvaro Morata’s opener.
Germany spurned quite a lot of different possibilities as properly, with Simon stable in aim to disclaim a few one-on-one conditions.