France and Denmark played out a dire goalless draw to progress while already eliminated Peru defeated Australia to go home with a win on day 13 of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Unconvincing Portugal & Spain through to last 16
Portugal moved forward to the Round of 16 albeit after an unconvincing 1-1 draw against Iran while VAR rescued Spain for……
Goalless at France v Denmark
Denmark and France played out a goal less draw in a Group C encounter at the Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow.
France came in with loads of changes to the line up from the previous starts. It was Denmark who was on the front foot with an early shout for penalty which the referee turned down.
Danes kept the pressure on through Christian Eriksen, despite a couple of French attacks through Antoine Griezmann and Olivier Giroud. French gradually gained control of the midfield with Lemar, Kante and Dembelle orchestrating.
Eriksen came close to scoring for the Danes with a great ball into the box, Steve Mandanda came off his block to thwart the shot at goal.
Half Time – Denmark 0 – 0 France
After the break it was France who came out on top with the Danes defending in numbers. Against the run of play Denmark got the first opportunity with a free kick which Eriksen took. Mandanda in the French goal failed to collect on the first attempt however managed to grab before Andreas Cornelius got close.
First shot in anger came around the 70th minute from Nabil Fekir which hit the side netting. Goal mouth action hardly existed in the game with both teams assured to go through with a point each. Evidently both teams concentrated more on holding possession and defending.
Nabil Fekir once again made Kasper Schmeichel make the only save of the afternoon in the closing stages of the game. Incidentally this was the first game to end scoreless in the world cup 2018.
Full Time – Denmark 0 – 0 France
Man of the Match – N’golo Kante (France)
Bookings
Yellow Cards
Denmark – Mathias Jorgensen 45+3’
Peru ensure Aussie elimination
Peru concluded the tournament with a 2-0 victory over fighting Australia in their group C encounter at the Fisht Stadium.
Australia needed a victory against already eliminated Peru if they were to have any prospect of making it to the round of 16.
It was Peru who broke the deadlock in the 18th minute through Andre Carrillo. Paolo Guerrero latched onto a long ball at the left corner of the penalty area before finding Carrillo open at the other end.
The Aussies looked determined as they moulded plenty of goal scoring opportunities which went down the drain due to their dearth of quality in the final third.
Half Time – Australia 0 – 1 Peru
Peru doubled their lead just five minutes into the 2nd half through Paolo Guerrero who turned and slotted in a chip from Edison Flores from point blank range; leaving the goalkeeper no possibility whatsoever.
The Aussies pushed bodies forward in search for a goal and created a plethora of goal scoring opportunities as they did in the first half, but again were let down as they failed to add the much-needed final touch to put the ball back in the net.
Even Peru generated a few goal scoring opportunities through counter-attacks, but failed to add more to their goal tally.
Full Time – Australia 0 – 2 Peru
Man of the Match – Andre Carrillo (Peru)
Goal Scorers
Peru – Andre Carrillo 18’, Paolo Guerrero 50’
Bookings
Yellow Cards
Australia – Mile Jedinak 10’, Daniel Arzani 60’, Tomas Rogic 66’, Mark Milligan 88’
Peru – Yoshimar Yotun 45’, Paolo Hurtado 79’
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