First, the unhealthy information.
Edouard Mendy continues to seek for the shape that made him the world’s finest goalkeeper in 2021, and sadly continues to come back up empty in that search. He was culpable in each late objectives Senegal conceded towards the Netherlands of their first match of the match, dooming the Champions of Africa to a 2-0 defeat following a stellar defensive effort that restricted the Dutch to few probabilities and no clear lower alternatives.
However the Netherlands would rating with their first shot on track, with Mendy actually crushed to the punch by Cody Gakpo’s header within the 84th minute, then add a second late in stoppage time, after Mendy spilled (or parried, I suppose) a rebound into the trail of Davy Klaassen. Senegal, particularly with out Sadio Mane, got down to hold issues tight on the again, which was the recipe for his or her Africa Cup of Nations triumph as nicely, however that plan didn’t work on this sport.
It was a disappointing outcome for Senegal total, however hopefully they’ll put collectively a greater displaying towards Ecuador and Qatar.
Talking of placing collectively higher showings, the US can even must play a bit higher towards Iran and England in the event that they wish to progress into the knockout rounds, after conceding a late equalizer to Wales in a 1-1 draw.
The not so unhealthy information is that the US took the lead simply previous the half-hour mark due to a quite good help from Christian Pulisic for Timmy Weah (son of George Weah, former Chelsea mortgage participant and present president of Liberia), however Wales — for whom Ethan Ampadu gritted out virtually the total 90 — had been the higher crew within the second half and ultimately received their equalizer after a quite ill-advised sort out from Tim Ream Walker Zimmerman on Gareth Bale within the penalty space. Bale smashed residence the penalty, leaving the Stars and Stripes with little time to reply even with 9 (9) minutes added on, persevering with this World Cup’s early pattern of extraordinarily prolonged stoppage instances.
The draw isn’t the worst outcome for both after all, however does make their matchups with England the potential deciders for who will advance from the group (assuming they each will simply beat Iran, who seemed quite unhealthy of their 6-2 defeat to the Three Lions).