Suarez, Uruguay play dominoes
With a single goal, Luis Suarez settled the fate of four teams in the group stage of the World Cup.
The controversial striker, who was making his 100th appearance in his national team’s light blue, scored yesterday to give Uruguay a 1-0 victory over Saudi Arabia in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, and a spot in the round of 16.
The result, though, had a domino effect in Group A. It also put host Russia into the next round while eliminating both Saudi Arabia and Egypt at the same time.
Suarez, who was kicked out of the last World Cup for biting an opponent during a match, knocked in a corner kick from Carlos Sanchez in the 23rd minute for his 52nd goal for his country in that century of matches.
“We are more than proud because we’ve reached the knockout stage at three successive World Cups. It’s a beautiful moment and we want to enjoy it,” Suarez said. “We still haven’t hit our stride so we need to tweak some things.”
Uruguay and Russia both have six points from their opening two matches, putting them into the round of 16 with a match to go. They will face each other on Monday in Samara with first place in Group A on the line.
Besides scoring, Suarez led his team with a hardworking performance. He fell back to defend and raced forward alongside Edinson Cavani on the counterattack.
“I don’t want to hand out empty praise but Suarez is a crucial player for us, and he has that enormous capacity to score goals,” Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez said. “He lives under enormous pressure, but he lives with it. He takes that pressure on.”
Spain 1, Iran 0 — Diego Costa scored on a deflection to lead Spain over Iran in Pkazan, Russia.
Costa broke the deadlock in the 54th minute after being set up by Andres Iniesta. The powerful striker turned in the area and took a shot but the ball deflected off Ramin Rezeian before bouncing back onto Costa’s knee and into the net.
Costa, who also scored two goals in the opening match, has three goals at this year’s World Cup, trailing Cristiano Ronaldo by one. He also has nine goals in his last nine starts for Spain.
Both Spain and Portugal have four points in Group B following their 3-3 draw and subsequent 1-0 victories. Iran has three points in the group but Morocco has been eliminated.
Facing a very compact Iranian team that came out to defend, Spain pressed very high and had to be patient. The 2010 World Cup champions were almost caught against the run of the play when Karim Ansarifard unleashed a powerful strike that ended up in the side-netting following a long throw-in.
Trailing in the second half, Iran nearly equalized when Saeid Ezatolahi had a goal was ruled out on video review.
Elsewhere at World Cup — Brazil is making sure everyone knows Neymar is perfectly fit. A day after he limped out of training, the Brazilian soccer federation posted photos and a video of Neymar in action in training with the rest of the squad yesterday.
The Brazilian soccer federation also said FIFA has dismissed its complaint over the use of video review in the team’s opener against Switzerland . . . .
Burger King has apologized for offering a lifetime supply of Whoppers to Russian women who get pregnant by World Cup players. Critics assailed the offer, announced on Russian social media, as sexist and demeaning.