2018 World Cup wrapped up on Sunday with France lifting the FIFA World Cup Trophy after a 4-2 win against Croatia. This was France’s second World Cup, after they won the tournament in 1998, while Croatia secured its best finish in their history coming second.

2018 World Cup finals started off to a slow pace, and we didn’t see a lot of opportunities on either side until 18′ minute, when France’s Antoine Griezmann crossed the ball from a free kick and Croatia’s Mario Mandzukic, unfortunately, put the ball into his own net. Croatia wasn’t about to surrender the game that easily and came back 10 minutes later with a great placed shot by Ivan Perisic.

It was, however, Perisic who brought his country in a difficult position in 38′ minute. After France’s corner, the 29-year-old stopped the ball with his hand in the penalty area which prompted Argentinian referee Néstor Pitana to review the incident. Pitana awarded France a penalty after a long review and Griezmann converted it to give his country 2-1 lead.

In the second half, France built upon its lead with two quick goals by Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappe in 59′ and 65′ and solved the dilemma about the winner. Croatia got its hopes up in 69′ minute when Mandzukic capitalized on the mistake by Hugo Lloris to make it 2-4, but that was eventually all Croatia managed to do.

This World Cup win made France’s head coach Didier Deschamps only the third man in history to lift the FIFA World Cup Trophy as a player and a manager. Before him, only Brazil’s Mário Zagallo and Germany’s Franz Beckenbauer managed to do the same.

19-year-old Kylian Mbappe became the first teenager since Pelé in 1958 to score a goal in the World Cup final. Mbappe was also named the tournament’s best young player. On the other side, Croatia’s Luka Modric was named the tournament’s best player overall while England’s Harry Kane won the Golden Boot for the best scorer finishing with six goals.

The post France Wins the 2018 World Cup with a 4-2 Win against Croatia appeared first on SportzBonanza.

France is the first nation to clinch the 2018 World Cup spot after a 1-0 win against Belgium. Samuel Umtiti scored a header from Antoine Griezmann’s corner at the beginning of the second half, which ultimately proved to be the only goal of the game.

France will now wait for the winner of the other semi-finals match between England and Croatia, as they look to win their second World Cup title after lifting the 1998 World Cup trophy. This will be their first final appearance since 2006 World Cup when they lost on penalties against Italy.

Although this supposed to be a high-octane clash between two attacking-minded teams, it didn’t quite turn out that way. Both teams had their chances, but neither managed to turn them into clear-cut opportunities as defenses were on the top of their game.

France had 19 shots compared to Belgium’s nine, but it was Belgium that controlled the ball for the most part. They had 64 percent of the possession but failed to capitalize on it as their main stars like Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard were kept quiet for the most of the match. It looked like Belgium didn’t have the same motivation as they did in the 2-1 win against Brazil since it never looked like they were the better team.

“It was a close game and it was very tight and it was going to be decided by that bit of luck in front of goal.” – said Belgium’s coach Roberto Martinez after the game. “The attitude of the players was brilliant and we couldn’t ask for anymore. We have to understand one team wins and the other loses, and we did what we could.“

The post France Reaches 2018 World Cup Finals After 1-0 Win Against Belgium appeared first on SportzBonanza.

England defender Gary Cahill is confident that his side will learn from their 1-0 final Group stage game defeat against Belgium on Thursday.

The game was a fairly boring game and both sides opted to rest their key players as both had already qualified for the round of 16 even before kickoff.

The result, however, means that Belgium are the group winners and they will play against Japan in the last 16. England meanwhile will play against Colombia in what will be a testing encounter for Gareth Southgate’s men.

While England are out of the group and have bettered their performance from 2014 where they were knocked out during the group stage, the result will be frustrating to many die-hard England fans.

Many critics of England have also criticized them for failing to rise up against the big guns and this result will do nothing to silence their doubters.

Cahill said: “The Belgium game was a reminder to us of the standard of teams we are coming up against from now on. No disrespect to Panama, but that was a different test. The way they (Belgium) moved positions and kept the ball – it was a good benchmark for what is to come. We made eight changes, nine if you include the substitution at half-time. Things were always going to be a little bit disjointed.”

The post Gary Cahill is Confident that England will Learn from Belgium Defeat appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Belgium defeated England during their final Group G clash in the World Cup on Thursday to advance from their group as the winners.

The Belgians now will face Japan in the last-16 while England is set to face a testing encounter against Colombia.

Both teams fielded second-string sides during the game. England opted to rest their top-scorer Harry Kane while Belgium did not play the key duo of Romelu Lukaku and Eden Hazard.

During the game, England was the slightly better team. They ended up opening the scoring during the 51st minute as Adnan Januzaj scored with a brilliant curling effort.

England manager Gareth Southgate showed intent towards the end of the game as he brought on Danny Welbeck to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold. However, he never opted to bring on key talisman Harry Kane.

Belgium continued their recent good form and will add to the expectations that they could go on and win the World Cup.

The post Belgium Defeat England to Top Group G appeared first on SportzBonanza.

2014 World Cup Champion Germany was eliminated from the World Cup during the group stage after they fell to a 2-0 defeat against South Korea during their final group game on Wednesday.

The Germans continue a trend of World Cup winners being eliminated in the following tournament during the group stage. The same happened to the 2006 winner, Italy, and in 2014 to Spain, who won World Cup in 2010.

Both South Korean goals came in the second-half stoppage time as the four-time World Champions searched for the goal which would have given them hope of advancing.

Kim Young-gwon scored during the 92nd minute. His goal was at first ruled as being offside, however, a video assistant referee decision was awarded which gave the German’s very little hope of advancing.

Minutes later while the German’s desperately pressed on for a goal, goalkeeper Manuel Neuer ended up losing the ball in the opponents half and Ju Se-jong managed to launch the ball to Son Heung-Min who scored the second.

The post Germany out of World Cup after losing against South Korea appeared first on SportzBonanza.

France and Denmark played out to a 0-0 draw in the World Cup. The match was the first 0-0 draw of the 2018 World Cup and it also saw both team’s advance out of their group. France advance as group winners while Denmark advance as runners-up.

The two teams struggled to create chances during the first-half and the only entertaining action came when Ousmane Dembele struck a shot over the goal towards the end of the first-half.

France, who were already qualified for the last-16 before kick-off, appeared to not be prioritizing the game as they used it as an opportunity to rest many of their key players. Though it was Denmark who needed something from the game to advance, they were handed a favor by Peru who went on to defeat Australia 2-0. Prior to kickoff, Australia had a chance to advance to the last 16 if they defeated Peru and France defeated Denmark.

The post France and Denmark Play out to First 0-0 Draw in 2018 World Cup appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Uruguay secured the top spot in Group A of the 2018 World Cup after defeating hosts Russia 3-0 on Monday.

The South American’s took the lead during the first-half through a free-kick from Barcelona striker Luis Suarez in the 11th minute.

The game was virtually put out of reach for the Russians after Igor Smolnikov was given a red-card.

Diego Laxalt doubled the lead shortly after and Edinson Cavani scored another during the 90th which all but sealed the victory for the two time World Champions.

The host-country will certainly be frustrated with their performance and the result does nothing to end the beliefs of many of their doubters that they do not have what it takes to compete against the bigger nations.

However, all is not lost. They have qualified for the last-16 as group A runners-up with six points and will play against Spain in the round of 16.

They could also avoid playing against teams such as Brazil, Germany, and Belgium who could all well finish as the runners-up in their respective groups.

The post Uruguay Secure Top Spot in World Cup group A after Thrashing Russia appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Belgium stars Romelu Lukaku and Eden Hazard scored two goals apiece to guide their country to the knockout stages of the 2018 World Cup as they punished Tunisia 5-2 on Saturday.

The result leaves the Belgians as the favorites to win Group G and also adds impetus to their status as one of the favorites to win the World Cup.

Belgium was the top team throughout the game against the Africans who have extended their winless World Cup run to 13 games.

Belgium found the lead during the 13th minute after Tunisian goalkeeper Syam Ben Youssef brought down Hazard in the area and the Belgian captain made no mistake in converting the resulting spot-kick.

Lukaku doubled the lead during the 16th minute following a brilliant pass from Dries Mertens. Tunisia, however, managed to pull one back just two minutes later as Dylan Bronn took advantage of some shaky defending from the Belgians.

The Belgians scored their third and put the result beyond doubt during first-half stoppage time as Thomas Meunier fed in Lukaku who scored his second for the game.

Hazard completed the rout six minutes into the second half as he linked up with Kevin de Bruyne.

Lukaku’s brace took his tally for the tournament to 4 goals. He is level with Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo as the top scorer of the tournament.

The post Hazard and Lukaku Score Two Each as Belgium Punish Tunisia appeared first on SportzBonanza.

2018 World Cup might be the last chance for Cristiano Ronaldo to lead Portugal to the title, and he certainly decided to play like that. Ronaldo scored a hat-trick to help Portugal get a 3-3 draw against Spain in a game that proved to be worthy of being considered the most exciting matchup in the first round of the tournament.

Everything clicked for the Portugal national soccer team at the very start of the match, since Spain’s Nacho fouled Cristiano Ronaldo in the penalty area in 4′ minute and referee Gianluca Rocchi had no choice but to award a penalty. Ronaldo took the ball himself and converted the penalty to give Portugal an early lead.

Spain’s players didn’t lose their composure and scored an equalizer 20 minutes later from a fantastic solo action by Diego Costa. Spain national soccer team continued to dominate the game, but it was Cristiano Ronaldo who scored again in 44′ minute to get the lead back for his team.

10 minutes in the second half, Diego Costa returned the favor and brought Spain back level once again in 55′ minute. While Portugal was recovering from Costa’s second goal, they managed to concede one more three minutes later, when Nacho gave Spain the 3-2 lead.

It looked like Portugal was bound to lose the game, but two minutes before the end of regular time; Cristiano Ronaldo came through once again. He was fouled right outside the penalty area in 88′ minute, took the responsibility once again, and scored a beautiful goal from the free kick to tie the game 3-3, which ultimately proved to be the final score.

“It was a good result,” – said Ronaldo after the match. “We sacrificed a lot but we believed in ourselves right to the end. This is just the first match. It was a very difficult game.“

After today’s game, Cristiano Ronaldo became the oldest player to score a hat-trick in World Cup history at 33. He is also now tied with Ferenc Puskas for the most international goals scored by a European player.

In two other games played on the second day of 2018 World Cup, Uruguay has beaten Egypt 1-0, while Iran defeated Morocco with the same score.

You can check out the highlights from all three games below.

The post Cristiano Ronaldo Scores a Hat-Trick as Portugal and Spain Draw at 2018 World Cup appeared first on SportzBonanza.

2018 World Cup has officially kicked off with the game between host Russia and Saudi Arabia, and home fans couldn’t have wished for a better start of the tournament. Russia national soccer team not only managed to win but also did it in a convincing manner, scoring five goals and conceding zero.

It was a high flying start for Russians since Yuri Gazinsky scored the opening goal in the 12′ minute with a powerful header. After recovering from the initial shock, Saudi Arabia tried to get back into the game, but couldn’t find a way past Russia’s defense. Russia patiently waited for the opportunity to strike from a counter attack, which paid off in 43′ minute when Denis Cheryshev, who entered the game for injured Alan Dzagoev, scored a lovely goal.

The second halftime continued in the same fashion, with Russia being a better opponent majority of the time. They managed to extend their lead in 71′ minute when another substitute, Artem Dzyuba, scored a header after poor reaction of Saudi Arabia’s defense. Russians didn’t stop here since Denis Cheryshev and Aleksandr Golovin scored a goal each in added time for the final result of 5-0.

While this is certainly a great start for Russia at 2018 World Cup, their coach Stanislav Cherchesov won’t allow his players to get carried away.

“We are not getting ahead of ourselves” – said Cherchesov after the game. “We saw that we are on the right track but we should forget this game and concentrate on the next one.“

Saudi Arabia coach Juan Antonio Pizzi, on the other hand, doesn’t think Russia played a spectacular game and blames his own team for putting out a shameful performance in the game.

“I don’t think they did anything to surprise us,” – said Pizzi. “They won without doing much — a poor [Saudi Arabia] performance explains this result.“

You can check out the game’s highlights below.

The post Russia Defeats Saudi Arabia in 2018 World Cup Opening Game appeared first on SportzBonanza.

2018 World Cup wrapped up on Sunday with France lifting the FIFA World Cup Trophy after a 4-2 win against Croatia. This was France’s second World Cup, after they won the tournament in 1998, while Croatia secured its best finish in their history coming second.

2018 World Cup finals started off to a slow pace, and we didn’t see a lot of opportunities on either side until 18′ minute, when France’s Antoine Griezmann crossed the ball from a free kick and Croatia’s Mario Mandzukic, unfortunately, put the ball into his own net. Croatia wasn’t about to surrender the game that easily and came back 10 minutes later with a great placed shot by Ivan Perisic.

It was, however, Perisic who brought his country in a difficult position in 38′ minute. After France’s corner, the 29-year-old stopped the ball with his hand in the penalty area which prompted Argentinian referee Néstor Pitana to review the incident. Pitana awarded France a penalty after a long review and Griezmann converted it to give his country 2-1 lead.

In the second half, France built upon its lead with two quick goals by Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappe in 59′ and 65′ and solved the dilemma about the winner. Croatia got its hopes up in 69′ minute when Mandzukic capitalized on the mistake by Hugo Lloris to make it 2-4, but that was eventually all Croatia managed to do.

This World Cup win made France’s head coach Didier Deschamps only the third man in history to lift the FIFA World Cup Trophy as a player and a manager. Before him, only Brazil’s Mário Zagallo and Germany’s Franz Beckenbauer managed to do the same.

19-year-old Kylian Mbappe became the first teenager since Pelé in 1958 to score a goal in the World Cup final. Mbappe was also named the tournament’s best young player. On the other side, Croatia’s Luka Modric was named the tournament’s best player overall while England’s Harry Kane won the Golden Boot for the best scorer finishing with six goals.

The post France Wins the 2018 World Cup with a 4-2 Win against Croatia appeared first on SportzBonanza.

France is the first nation to clinch the 2018 World Cup spot after a 1-0 win against Belgium. Samuel Umtiti scored a header from Antoine Griezmann’s corner at the beginning of the second half, which ultimately proved to be the only goal of the game.

France will now wait for the winner of the other semi-finals match between England and Croatia, as they look to win their second World Cup title after lifting the 1998 World Cup trophy. This will be their first final appearance since 2006 World Cup when they lost on penalties against Italy.

Although this supposed to be a high-octane clash between two attacking-minded teams, it didn’t quite turn out that way. Both teams had their chances, but neither managed to turn them into clear-cut opportunities as defenses were on the top of their game.

France had 19 shots compared to Belgium’s nine, but it was Belgium that controlled the ball for the most part. They had 64 percent of the possession but failed to capitalize on it as their main stars like Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard were kept quiet for the most of the match. It looked like Belgium didn’t have the same motivation as they did in the 2-1 win against Brazil since it never looked like they were the better team.

“It was a close game and it was very tight and it was going to be decided by that bit of luck in front of goal.” – said Belgium’s coach Roberto Martinez after the game. “The attitude of the players was brilliant and we couldn’t ask for anymore. We have to understand one team wins and the other loses, and we did what we could.“

The post France Reaches 2018 World Cup Finals After 1-0 Win Against Belgium appeared first on SportzBonanza.

England defender Gary Cahill is confident that his side will learn from their 1-0 final Group stage game defeat against Belgium on Thursday.

The game was a fairly boring game and both sides opted to rest their key players as both had already qualified for the round of 16 even before kickoff.

The result, however, means that Belgium are the group winners and they will play against Japan in the last 16. England meanwhile will play against Colombia in what will be a testing encounter for Gareth Southgate’s men.

While England are out of the group and have bettered their performance from 2014 where they were knocked out during the group stage, the result will be frustrating to many die-hard England fans.

Many critics of England have also criticized them for failing to rise up against the big guns and this result will do nothing to silence their doubters.

Cahill said: “The Belgium game was a reminder to us of the standard of teams we are coming up against from now on. No disrespect to Panama, but that was a different test. The way they (Belgium) moved positions and kept the ball – it was a good benchmark for what is to come. We made eight changes, nine if you include the substitution at half-time. Things were always going to be a little bit disjointed.”

The post Gary Cahill is Confident that England will Learn from Belgium Defeat appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Belgium defeated England during their final Group G clash in the World Cup on Thursday to advance from their group as the winners.

The Belgians now will face Japan in the last-16 while England is set to face a testing encounter against Colombia.

Both teams fielded second-string sides during the game. England opted to rest their top-scorer Harry Kane while Belgium did not play the key duo of Romelu Lukaku and Eden Hazard.

During the game, England was the slightly better team. They ended up opening the scoring during the 51st minute as Adnan Januzaj scored with a brilliant curling effort.

England manager Gareth Southgate showed intent towards the end of the game as he brought on Danny Welbeck to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold. However, he never opted to bring on key talisman Harry Kane.

Belgium continued their recent good form and will add to the expectations that they could go on and win the World Cup.

The post Belgium Defeat England to Top Group G appeared first on SportzBonanza.

2014 World Cup Champion Germany was eliminated from the World Cup during the group stage after they fell to a 2-0 defeat against South Korea during their final group game on Wednesday.

The Germans continue a trend of World Cup winners being eliminated in the following tournament during the group stage. The same happened to the 2006 winner, Italy, and in 2014 to Spain, who won World Cup in 2010.

Both South Korean goals came in the second-half stoppage time as the four-time World Champions searched for the goal which would have given them hope of advancing.

Kim Young-gwon scored during the 92nd minute. His goal was at first ruled as being offside, however, a video assistant referee decision was awarded which gave the German’s very little hope of advancing.

Minutes later while the German’s desperately pressed on for a goal, goalkeeper Manuel Neuer ended up losing the ball in the opponents half and Ju Se-jong managed to launch the ball to Son Heung-Min who scored the second.

The post Germany out of World Cup after losing against South Korea appeared first on SportzBonanza.

France and Denmark played out to a 0-0 draw in the World Cup. The match was the first 0-0 draw of the 2018 World Cup and it also saw both team’s advance out of their group. France advance as group winners while Denmark advance as runners-up.

The two teams struggled to create chances during the first-half and the only entertaining action came when Ousmane Dembele struck a shot over the goal towards the end of the first-half.

France, who were already qualified for the last-16 before kick-off, appeared to not be prioritizing the game as they used it as an opportunity to rest many of their key players. Though it was Denmark who needed something from the game to advance, they were handed a favor by Peru who went on to defeat Australia 2-0. Prior to kickoff, Australia had a chance to advance to the last 16 if they defeated Peru and France defeated Denmark.

The post France and Denmark Play out to First 0-0 Draw in 2018 World Cup appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Uruguay secured the top spot in Group A of the 2018 World Cup after defeating hosts Russia 3-0 on Monday.

The South American’s took the lead during the first-half through a free-kick from Barcelona striker Luis Suarez in the 11th minute.

The game was virtually put out of reach for the Russians after Igor Smolnikov was given a red-card.

Diego Laxalt doubled the lead shortly after and Edinson Cavani scored another during the 90th which all but sealed the victory for the two time World Champions.

The host-country will certainly be frustrated with their performance and the result does nothing to end the beliefs of many of their doubters that they do not have what it takes to compete against the bigger nations.

However, all is not lost. They have qualified for the last-16 as group A runners-up with six points and will play against Spain in the round of 16.

They could also avoid playing against teams such as Brazil, Germany, and Belgium who could all well finish as the runners-up in their respective groups.

The post Uruguay Secure Top Spot in World Cup group A after Thrashing Russia appeared first on SportzBonanza.

Belgium stars Romelu Lukaku and Eden Hazard scored two goals apiece to guide their country to the knockout stages of the 2018 World Cup as they punished Tunisia 5-2 on Saturday.

The result leaves the Belgians as the favorites to win Group G and also adds impetus to their status as one of the favorites to win the World Cup.

Belgium was the top team throughout the game against the Africans who have extended their winless World Cup run to 13 games.

Belgium found the lead during the 13th minute after Tunisian goalkeeper Syam Ben Youssef brought down Hazard in the area and the Belgian captain made no mistake in converting the resulting spot-kick.

Lukaku doubled the lead during the 16th minute following a brilliant pass from Dries Mertens. Tunisia, however, managed to pull one back just two minutes later as Dylan Bronn took advantage of some shaky defending from the Belgians.

The Belgians scored their third and put the result beyond doubt during first-half stoppage time as Thomas Meunier fed in Lukaku who scored his second for the game.

Hazard completed the rout six minutes into the second half as he linked up with Kevin de Bruyne.

Lukaku’s brace took his tally for the tournament to 4 goals. He is level with Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo as the top scorer of the tournament.

The post Hazard and Lukaku Score Two Each as Belgium Punish Tunisia appeared first on SportzBonanza.

2018 World Cup might be the last chance for Cristiano Ronaldo to lead Portugal to the title, and he certainly decided to play like that. Ronaldo scored a hat-trick to help Portugal get a 3-3 draw against Spain in a game that proved to be worthy of being considered the most exciting matchup in the first round of the tournament.

Everything clicked for the Portugal national soccer team at the very start of the match, since Spain’s Nacho fouled Cristiano Ronaldo in the penalty area in 4′ minute and referee Gianluca Rocchi had no choice but to award a penalty. Ronaldo took the ball himself and converted the penalty to give Portugal an early lead.

Spain’s players didn’t lose their composure and scored an equalizer 20 minutes later from a fantastic solo action by Diego Costa. Spain national soccer team continued to dominate the game, but it was Cristiano Ronaldo who scored again in 44′ minute to get the lead back for his team.

10 minutes in the second half, Diego Costa returned the favor and brought Spain back level once again in 55′ minute. While Portugal was recovering from Costa’s second goal, they managed to concede one more three minutes later, when Nacho gave Spain the 3-2 lead.

It looked like Portugal was bound to lose the game, but two minutes before the end of regular time; Cristiano Ronaldo came through once again. He was fouled right outside the penalty area in 88′ minute, took the responsibility once again, and scored a beautiful goal from the free kick to tie the game 3-3, which ultimately proved to be the final score.

“It was a good result,” – said Ronaldo after the match. “We sacrificed a lot but we believed in ourselves right to the end. This is just the first match. It was a very difficult game.“

After today’s game, Cristiano Ronaldo became the oldest player to score a hat-trick in World Cup history at 33. He is also now tied with Ferenc Puskas for the most international goals scored by a European player.

In two other games played on the second day of 2018 World Cup, Uruguay has beaten Egypt 1-0, while Iran defeated Morocco with the same score.

You can check out the highlights from all three games below.

The post Cristiano Ronaldo Scores a Hat-Trick as Portugal and Spain Draw at 2018 World Cup appeared first on SportzBonanza.

2018 World Cup has officially kicked off with the game between host Russia and Saudi Arabia, and home fans couldn’t have wished for a better start of the tournament. Russia national soccer team not only managed to win but also did it in a convincing manner, scoring five goals and conceding zero.

It was a high flying start for Russians since Yuri Gazinsky scored the opening goal in the 12′ minute with a powerful header. After recovering from the initial shock, Saudi Arabia tried to get back into the game, but couldn’t find a way past Russia’s defense. Russia patiently waited for the opportunity to strike from a counter attack, which paid off in 43′ minute when Denis Cheryshev, who entered the game for injured Alan Dzagoev, scored a lovely goal.

The second halftime continued in the same fashion, with Russia being a better opponent majority of the time. They managed to extend their lead in 71′ minute when another substitute, Artem Dzyuba, scored a header after poor reaction of Saudi Arabia’s defense. Russians didn’t stop here since Denis Cheryshev and Aleksandr Golovin scored a goal each in added time for the final result of 5-0.

While this is certainly a great start for Russia at 2018 World Cup, their coach Stanislav Cherchesov won’t allow his players to get carried away.

“We are not getting ahead of ourselves” – said Cherchesov after the game. “We saw that we are on the right track but we should forget this game and concentrate on the next one.“

Saudi Arabia coach Juan Antonio Pizzi, on the other hand, doesn’t think Russia played a spectacular game and blames his own team for putting out a shameful performance in the game.

“I don’t think they did anything to surprise us,” – said Pizzi. “They won without doing much — a poor [Saudi Arabia] performance explains this result.“

You can check out the game’s highlights below.

The post Russia Defeats Saudi Arabia in 2018 World Cup Opening Game appeared first on SportzBonanza.