‘Emotional’ Poulsen bounces back to help Danes sink wasteful Peru
In World Cups past, this was a game France would have lost. But in the era of video assistant referees and goal-line technology, the latest innovations twice came to their assistance – first awarding them a penalty, then spotting their winning shot had crossed the line.
It added up to a very 21st-century victory. And never mind the man of the match, in Paris the process must be under way already to award the video ref the Legion d’Honneur.
“I’m not going to complain about VAR today because it was in our favour, obviously,” said the France manager, Didier Deschamps. “The referee did not see that there was a foul, he was able to correct his mistake. That is a good thing.”
A good thing maybe. But how France needed the technological assistance. What heavy weather their muchvaunted team made of victory. Up against an Australian side superbly organised by Huddersfield’s Aaron Mooy, they struggled to find anything close to the sort of control their talent Yussuf Poulsen made up for conceding a penalty by scoring the decisive goal for Denmark in their Group C victory over Peru at the Mordovia Arena.
Christian Cueva had ballooned the spot-kick – awarded after VAR consultation – over the bar just before halftime in the most glaring of several misses by the Latin American side, who were back in the World Cup finals after a gap of 36 years.
Tottenham Hotspur playmaker Christian Eriksen had an otherwise quiet outing but provided the pivotal moment when he threaded an immaculate pass through the defence for Poulsen to beat advancing goalkeeper Pedro Gallese in the 59th minute.
“It was an emotional game,” Poulsen said. “In the first half I made a penalty, I was the bad guy. Then I scored, I was the good guy.”
Both teams arrived in Saransk with an identical 15-match unbeaten run should be capable of seizing. “There were a lot of moments the players of France didn’t know what to do with themselves against us, and that is a compliment nobody expected,” said the Australia coach, Bert van Marwijk.
And he was not wrong. Last seen in the World Cup as manager of a Holland side who besmirched the 2010 final with their chest-high tackling, Van Marwijk may have ushered out the era of Total Football but he knows how to organise a defence. How he must have thrilled to see the gold Australia shirts forming two solid lines in front of their goalkeeper, Brighton’s Mat Ryan.
Here they were, with two Premier League players and the rest from football’s less visited outposts (Aston Villa and Celtic notwithstanding) matching some of the most celebrated players in world football.
Snapping into tackles, spoiling, stretching every fibre to make lastditch interceptions, their magnificently destructive effort was epitomised by Trent Sainsbury, of Grasshoppers, who twice managed to get a leg in the way to divert the ball as Antoine Griezmann appeared to be heading goalwards.
It was a hugely frustrating opening for France. Not least for their celebrated youthful forward line. It may be a bit early to make judgment as it is only the second time they have started a game together, but could it be that the combination of Griezmann, Kylian and it appeared to be a matter of time before a bright-looking Peru, egged on by massive support at the stadium, would score. By contrast, Denmark started by playing long balls directed at Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele will turn out to be the Gallic equivalent of Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, a natural combination on paper that falls apart on the grass?
Here they were in Kazan, collectively worth more than the gross national product of a former Soviet republic, giving new definition to the term underwhelming. The main problem was, like Gerrard and Lampard, they seemed to spend their time together converging on the same space.
It took until the 58th minute before we saw hint of their potential. A superb ball from Paul Pogba unleashed Griezmann. Initially, referee Andres Cunha seemed to believe that Joshua Risdon’s sliding tackle had plucked the ball off the Frenchman’s toes, but a word in his ear advised him to check the replay on the pitchside screens. Scrutiny of the slow-motion suggested that Risdon caught Pogba’s trailing leg.
“The ref needs to be 100 per cent honest. He was standing close to the penalty and said play on,” complained Van Marwijk. But it was hard to argue the decision was not the right one.
Griezmann stepped up to execute the spot-kick perfectly, but France’s lead lasted no more than four minutes. Mooy floated in a free-kick that for some reason Samuel Umtiti decided to punch away. There was no need for VAR this time and Mile Jedinak calmly gave Australia deserved parity. By now, their wingers to take advantage of their superior height, but mostly ended up playing catch-up to Peru’s slick shortpassing game for the first 30 minutes.
Peru, who left out all-time top-scorer Deschamps had tired of his front three. He took off Griezmann and Dembele and sent on Olivier Giroud and Nabil Fekir. It was Giroud who made the most obvious difference.
Pogba, who was growing in authority, strode forward and played the ball into Mbappe, who returned the pass to the advancing midfielder. Pogba then played another sharp one-two with Giroud. As he shaped to shoot, the ball cannoned off the foot of Aziz Behich and bounced off the bar and down before ending up in Ryan’s arms.
Once again technology intervened. The watch on Senor Cunha’s wrist buzzed to indicate the ball had crossed the line. It may have been a scrappy finish, it may have been improper reward for Australia’s wholehearted endeavour, but the build-up gave telling indication of France’s attacking potential. Deschamps must be hoping that from now on they can rely on that without recourse to the video suite. Paolo Guerrero from their starting line-up, were awarded a penalty after consultation with the video assistant referee for Poulsen’s foul. Yet Cueva then struck the awful penalty.
Guerrero came on after the hour mark and almost scored an equaliser but his header flew straight into the hands of Kasper Schmeichel, who made a string of excellent saves. Norwegian coach Age Hareide admitted he owed the Leicester goalkeeper a debt for the victory.
“You have to acknowledge the performance of Kasper, but also of our defence, of the whole team,” he said. “This is our fifth game without conceding a goal. It’s very tough against World Cup opponents.”
It has been 20 years since Croatia shocked the game by reaching a World Cup semi-final, but on the evidence of this emphatic opening salvo against an abject Nigeria, they are perfectly placed to creep below the radar again.
On a balmy evening in this strange but captivating Russian enclave beside the Baltic Sea, they outfought and outwitted their modest opposition even in third gear. The collective satisfaction, writ large across the face of goalscorer Luka Modric and his manager Zlatko Dalic, sent a message that they expect their stay in the finals to be a long one.
Back in 1998, Davor Suker was an irresistible goalscoring force, and Slaven Bilic a human battering ram in the heart of defence. Twenty years on, their embarrassment of riches eclipses that elegant vintage. Modric has just won a third successive Champions League title with Real Madrid, while Barcelona’s Ivan Rakitic, at his finest, is a wonderfully creative midfielder whose gifts are acknowledged by even Lionel Messi. Throw a totem like Mario Mandzukic into the blend, and it is not difficult to see why Croatia are pitching their ambitions high this time.
As for Nigeria, head coach Gernot Rohr’s despairing gaze at the heavens told its own story. The German had promised to galvanise a nation with freewheeling football, but this was a ghastly offering by his young side.
With Argentina and Iceland completing this formidable World Cup group, they will do well to be anything other than sacrificial lambs. For all the extravagant ability of young Arsenal striker Alex Iwobi, there was scant cohesion to their play and even less steel.
When Oghenekaro Etebo registered an own goal he knew little about, all Nigerian discipline evaporated. And when Modric dispatched a penalty with his usual poise, so did any attempt at resistance. This was not the performance that the tens of thousands of Nigerians who crammed into this city deserved. Their team had been billed as a golden generation who represented the country’s best chance of World Cup progress since their debut on this stage in 1994. Any flair, sadly, was conspicuous by its absence.
So, too, sadly, were the luridly patterned retro shirts that have been flying off the shelves, as Nigeria opted instead for a dowdy dark-green number. From their fashion sense to their touch on the pitch, they picked the worst possible moment for an off-colour evening.
Croatia, by contrast, were exultant. Manager Dalic, an ardent patriot, said: “This was for all Croatians, for those who are struggling. They came to see us in vast numbers. Now we have to celebrate and turn to Argentina.” It was apt that he should have lauded the legions of compatriots because they compensated for the few empty seats with their relentless noise. They draped banners from every major club, whether Hajduk Split or Dinamo Zagreb, across every spare surface. Weighed down at first by this level of expectation, Croatia were slow to find any rhythm. Their reprieve was that Nigeria mustered little in response, save for Victor Moses’s lively running.
It required Ivan Perisic to provide a glimpse of the spectacular, seizing on a swift counter-attack to launch a curling, raking shot fractionally high.
The breakthrough, when it came, was more fortuitous. A sequence of headed pinball from a Modric corner, with first Ante Rebic and then Mario Mandzukic flicking the ball on, ended with the luckless Etebo – signed last week by Stoke City – diverting it into his own net off his shin. In a heartbeat, Croatia were invigorated. Modric and Rakitic began threading their passes with exquisite delicacy, while Mandzukic was a harrying presence up front.
At times, Nigeria looked cowed by the evident gulf in talent. While Croatia boast a line-up studded with Champions League stars, two of the Super Eagles’ elder statesmen, John Obi Mikel and Odion Ighalo, have faded into lucrative early retirement in China. Still, there was always Iwobi to stir hope. He has become a cult hero among Nigerian fans, who line-dance and chant his name all the time. Here, he almost repaid the fervour, with his driven effort taking a deflection off Dejan Lovren on the stroke of half-time.
As Croatia tightened their grip, Rohr had little choice but to gamble, although he risked instant unpopularity by hauling off Iwobi in favour of Ahmed Musa. The switch bore little fruit, with Ighalo far too isolated as the target man and William Troost-Ekong committing a cardinal error in wrapping his arms around Mandzukic in the box and bundling him over. Modric put his shot in the bottom left corner, sending Francis Uzoho the wrong way. Nigeria tried for a late consolation, a deft one-two between Musa and Etebo setting up a fleeting chance, but even that proved beyond them.