England advances to round of 16 by rolling past Wales
AL RAYYAN, Qatar — Marcus Rashford and Phil Foden got their chance and made their point.
Rashford scored twice and Foden added the other as England changed up its attack and beat Wales 3-0 Tuesday at the World Cup to advance to the round of 16 at the top of Group B.
“Moments like this, this is what I play football for. The biggest moments, the best moments,” said Rashford, who came off the bench in the first two matches in Qatar. “I'm happy we are going through to the next round of the tournament because I have massive ambitions for this team and I think we can play even better than we did today.”
England will next face Senegal in the round of 16 on Sunday.
Both Rashford and Foden had come on as substitutes in the opening win over Iran, and Rashford did so again in the match against the United States, which ended in a 0-0 draw.
On Tuesday, England coach Gareth Southgate opted to drop Bukayo Saka and Raheem Sterling to the bench and give Rashford and Foden a chance from the start.
“We were a little bit disappointed after the USA result,” said Rashford, who also scored in a 6-2 win over Iran. “I
thought we could've played a lot better and it was important to have a good performance the next game.”
England had the game wrapped up just after halftime with Rashford scoring from a free kick in the 50th minute and Foden adding another in the 51st. Rashford got his second after a weaving run in the box in the 68th.
Wales captain Gareth Bale was forced off at halftime with an injury.
NETHERLANDS 2, QATAR 0
The Netherlands finished off the worst showing by any World Cup host nation by beating Qatar.
The Dutch advanced to the round of 16 by winning
Group A while the Qataris, who were already eliminated, became the first host to lose all three of its group matches at soccer's biggest event.
Cody Gakpo put the Netherlands ahead midway through the first half with his third goal in as many matches and Frenkie de Jong doubled the advantage five minutes into the second half.
The Netherlands is a three-time runner-up at the World Cup, and also finished third in 2014, while Qatar was making its tournament debut.
The Dutch failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.
The Netherlands finished with seven points at the top of the group. Senegal, which beat Ecuador
2-1 in the other group game, advanced in second place with six points. Ecuador was eliminated with four points and Qatar ended with zero.
SENEGAL 2, ECUADOR 1
Senegal can now put the disappointment of 2018 to rest.
Kalidou Koulibaly led his team into the last 16 of the World Cup by volleying home the winning goal in a victory over Ecuador, four years after the African champions were eliminated from the group stage because of the amount of yellow cards they received.
The Senegal captain's right-footed shot flashed past Ecuador goalkeeper Hernan Galindez in the 70th minute. Koulibaly sprinted toward the corner flag and slid on his knees to celebrate.
The result erased lingering memories from four years ago, when Senegal could only draw its last group game in Russia and missed the knockout stage because it had collected more yellow cards than Japan, which advanced instead.
In another must-win match in Qatar, Senegal took the lead after a firsthalf penalty from Ismaila Sarr. Moises Caicedo then scored for Ecuador to make it 1-1 in the 67th.
Ecuador would have advanced from Group A with a draw and Senegal would have been eliminated.