The highlight of Day 8 of the FIFA World Cup in Russia was the victory of Croatia over Argentina, which claimed a place in the knockout stage ahead of time and put South Americans on the brink of exit. France also reached the knockout stage after two matches.
During the first match Argentina showed that their entire game relied on one thing – giving the ball to football star Lionel Messi and waiting for a miracle. In the match with Iceland (1-1) Messi did not do his best and missed a penalty at a decisive moment. Team Argentina did not change its strategy for a match with Croatia. Inspiration did not come to Messi, and the result was 0-3.
Argentina’s goalkeeper Willy Caballero made a horrible mistake in the second half of the game popping the ball to Croatia’s Ante Rebic, who scored the goal. Two other goals were cannoned by Luka Modric in the 80th minute and Ivan Rakitic in the 90th minute.
Team Croatia scored six points in two matches and got to the knockout round of the championship ahead of schedule, repeating the success of 1998. Argentina put its future in the World Cup in jeopardy, and is now ranked third in the group with one point.
France advanced to the knockout stage after defeating Peru 1-0 in Russia’s Urals city of Yekaterinburg. French forward Kylian Mbappe scored the only goal for France in the 34th minute of the match. At 19 years and six months, he is the youngest footballer in French team’s history to have scored a goal during the World Cup or the European Championship. Mbappe has been named the best player of the France-Peru match.
The citizens of Yekaterinburg were surprised to see thousands of Peruvian fans, who held a mini carnival ahead of the match. Peru had not played at the World Cups over the past 36 years, but the long-awaited championship ended for them after just two matches. The fans’ support was one of the most spectacular and the team’s game was exciting.
