Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
A clear goal — 1st in group
Mexico’s aim: Control its fate with a victory
MOSCOW — Guillermo Ochoa doesn’t need a slide rule or a calculator to figure out the complicated scenarios facing Mexico as it tries to win its group and advance to the second stage of the World Cup.
Instead, Mexico’s goalkeeper has broken it down to the basics: Beat Sweden on Wednesday in distant Yekaterinburg, on the border separating Asia from Europe, and the team moves on. Lose, there’s a chance Mexico goes home.
And that’s just how he had figured it would go all along.
“We hadn’t done any sort of mathematical calculations,” Ochoa said at a news conference. “We knew that we were going to play for first place against Sweden.
“My dream, along with that of my teammates, is for us to stay here until the very last day. It’s something that I believe in, that I feel, that I’m imagining and that I’m wishing for. And nobody here or anywhere else is going to keep me from dreaming that.”
That’s not the first time Ochoa has talked about dreams during a World Cup in which he’s made a tournament-high 14 saves while allowing just one goal. But the World Cup could just as easily become a nightmare if Mexico doesn’t manage at least a draw with Sweden.
Mexico needs a point to move on to the knockout round as the group champion; a win or draw will accomplish that. But a loss to Sweden, combined with a German win over South Korea in the other Group F finale, would open up a whole range of possibilities, many of which would end the tournament for El Tri.
If Sweden and Germany both win, for example, the three teams will finish group play with six points. Goal differential will determine who advances. If Germany and Sweden’s margin of victory is two or more goals, that would send Mexico home. There are other even more complicated tiebreaking scenarios based on head-to-head results, margins of victory and, presumably, a coin flip or a game of paper-scissorsrock, that do not work in Mexico’s favor either.
So the easiest way to keep the dream alive would be to win.
“Our goal is clear: It’s to finish first in the group,” Ochoa said. “We have it in front of us, it’s in our hands, it depends on us. We’re not depending on anyone else.
“We’re a national team whose goal is to go after games, to stand out, become protagonists and the way to do that is to play good soccer on the field.”
Spain 2, Morocco 2: A video replay in stoppage time gave Spain the goal it needed to win Group B.
Spain sub Iago Aspas scored the late equalizer in Kaliningrad. His clever deflection off a cross from Dani Carvajal was initially disallowed for offside, but the video assistant referee overruled the call.
Spain, which advanced because it scored more goals than Portgual, will face host Russia on Sunday in the round of 16.
Portugal 1, Iran 1: Cristiano Ronaldo’s missed penalty shot against Iran in Saransk cost Portugal first place in Group B.
Portugal advanced with a second-place finish and will face Uruguay on Saturday.
Portugal got on the board late in the first half when 34-year-old midfielder Ricardo Quaresma scored in the 45th minute. The team could have taken a 2-0 lead in the 53rd minute, but Ronaldo’s low penalty shot was stopped by diving Iran goalkeeper Ali Beiranvand.
Karim Ansarifard scored a penalty deep into stoppage time for Iran.
Both Ronaldo’s and Ansarifard’s penalty shots were awarded after video review.
Uruguay 3, Russia 0: Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani scored a goal each, and Uruguay went on to win in Samara, finishing undefeated in group play after handing the host nation its first loss of the Cup.
Both teams already were assured of spots in the knockout round, but Uruguay’s victory put it at the top of Group A.
Uruguay, which also benefited from an own-goal in the first half, had its third straight shutout of the Cup. Saudi Arabia 2, Egypt 1: Salem Aldawsari scored late in stoppage time to lift Saudi Arabia in Volgograd.
Mohamed Salah put Egypt ahead in the 22nd minute, but Salman Alfaraj got the Saudis level with a penalty kick in first-half stoppage time.
Egypt’s Essam El Hadary started in goal and, at 45, set the record for oldest person to play in a Cup match.
Swiss trio fined: FIFA fined Swiss players Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri $10,100 each for making hand gestures of an Albanian national symbol while celebrating goals against Serbia on Friday.
Swiss captain Stephan Lichtsteiner was fined $5,050.
Xhaka and Shaqiri have ethnic Albanian heritage linked to Kosovo, a former Serbian province that declared independence in 2008. Serbia doesn’t recognize that independence.