FIFA 2018: Mexico, Japan to give no quarter for the quarters

Four teams have packed their bags as four teams advanced to the quaterfinals of the FIFA World Cup 2018. On the first day of the Round of 16, France defeated Argentina 4-3 while Uruguay trumped Portugal 2-1. Both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo failed to score a goal for their sides. Despite Messi's absence, the Argentinian offense put up a good fight with goals being scored by Di Maria, Mercado and Aguero. Portugal also netted a goal against Uruguay courtesy Pepe.

In the Uruguay-Portugal match, Edinson Cavani scored two brilliant goals for his team with assists from Luis Suarez. This takes Cavani’s total tally to three goals and ties him with Artem Dzyuba, Denis Cheryshev and Kylian Mbappe at third place among the top scorers. Harry Kane leads the board with five goals followed by Romelu Lukaku with four goals.

On the second day of the Round of 16, Spain and Russia took their game into the penalties after a bitter struggle to gain the lead. Russia conceded an early own goal within the first few minutes of the match after which Artem Dzyuba evened the score in the 41st minute. Eventually, they beat Spain in the penalty shootouts.

A similar turn of events took place between Denmark and Croatia wherein within the first few minutes, Jorgensen and Mandzukic scored the first goals for their respective teams. Regardless of their explosive beginning, both teams remained tied till the end of the game after which their fate was determined by the penalty shootout. With several top strikers in their team, Croatia won the penalties against Denmark.

Half way there...

Two quarter-finals decided, two to go, with this confirmed tonight 👇

Sat 7 July, 21:00
Russia vs Croatia 🇷🇺🇭🇷
Sochi#RUSCRO pic.twitter.com/EQz4X33hu2

— FIFA World Cup 🏆 (@FIFAWorldCup) July 1, 2018

Today on the 3rd day of the Round of 16 games, Brazil will play against Mexico at 7.30 P.M IST followed by the match between Belgium and Japan at 11.30 P.M IST.

Mexico has not made it past the Round of 16 into the quaterfinals since 1986. Similarly, Japan has never made it to the quaterfinals at the WC. Both teams are paired with current WC favourites Brazil and Belgium for their next game. An upset would not only be a favourable result but also shine a new light on these two underdogs as potential takers for the Cup.

Coach Nishino, who has been a part of the Japanese national team for the past three months, has done an admirable job in guiding his team this far. Although they put up a bland performance against Poland in the last game in the Group stage, Japan, in a strategic move, may have been conserving their artillery for the more important game against Belgium. In terms of raw offensive strength, Belgium has the upper hand over Japan and the latter may have to reinforce their defensive line to hold their opponents back. In terms of offensive diversity, however, Belgium may have to keep an eye on the various scorers that Japan has in its arsenal.

In WC history, Brazil has remained undefeated against Mexico in their four meetings. Today, Mexico will take the field once again to challenge  the WC heavyweights. The combination of Mexico’s Javier Hernandez and Hirving Lozano is not unlike Neymar and Philippe Coutinho. Mexico must realise how lacking their defensive line is after the stinging defeat to Sweden in the Group stage. Brazil boasts a much more complete line-up with a balanced offense and defense. They are also in a better position to launch counterattacks after a Mexican offensive fizzles out. It is not for nothing that Brazil are considered favourites for the trophy.

SonyLIV is the official mobile and internet broadcaster for the FIFA World Cup 2018. It is the go to destination for all football fanatics.

Check out Match Centre on SonyLIV, where viewers can see live scores, player positions, team data, match statistics and live commentary. For a more engaging experience, users can set reminders or view the entire schedule, while the points table gives a quick update on the standings, scores, etc. Additionally, SonyLIV has also created a fan-zone on second screen that users can access on their mobile phones or tablets and experience features like match predictions, emotion meter, polls and contests, even as they watch the game in real-time.

Other features include, viewing missed games with snippets and clips of key moments from every match along with highlights. To cater to the widest possible range of viewers, SonyLIV will be available in six simultaneous audio feeds - Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and English.