World Cup Day 3 winners and losers: Great beards and bad misses

Another day of World Cup action has passed. Iceland pulled off a shock while Peru’s forwards miss some shockers. Here’s some winners and losers from today.

Winners

Mile Jedinak beard: Football is famous for making a statement on the field, an amazing goal or save on the pitch, a shock comes in many different forms. The third day of the World Cup may claim to have some amazing moments in this vein, however,  their was also some truly amazing fashion statements made on the field today specifically Mile Jedinak beard.

The Australian captain went some way to proving that a good beard can effect performance on the pitch, scoring the equalizing penalty as the Socceroos left it all on the field in hunt for an opening day point. The 33 year old is an inspiration to both young Australian footballers and aspiring beard growers alike.

Iceland: Everyone’s favorite shock package lived up to their reputation in full on Saturday, drawing 1-1 with Argentina in their opening game. It wasn’t pretty, with 26% of their passes going long, but it proved effective. Alfred Finnbogason grabbed the quick equalizer soon after Aguero had opened the scoring and were able to hold on till the full time whistle, thanks in no small part to their part time film director, part time goalkeeper,  Hannes Halldorsson. The 34-year-old saved a Lionel Messi penalty midway through the second half and earned himself the man of the match due to his late heroics to secure his country’s first ever World Cup points.

Croatia: Iceland’s draw opens up Group D for surprise, hence Croatia 2-0 win over Nigeria offered the eastern European nation a chance to get an early foothold in the group. Croatia have historically struggled since their third place finish in France 1998. The Vatreni  have qualified for four out of the last five World Cups, but have failed to reach the knockout rounds since 1998. With victory over Nigeria, Croatia will now head into their clash with Argentina with a chance to secure their spot in the knockout rounds.

Losers

Samuel Umtiti: It is likely that the only one who will know why Samuel Umtiti decided to throw his arms in the air to defend a Australian set piece, is Umtiti. Often the hand ball rule is contested on the grounds of intent, however, the French defender holds the rare distinction of his case being stonewall and only for a late Paul Pogba, he would of put France on the early backfoot in group C.

Naturally, it didn’t take the internet long to take advantage of Umtiti’s ridculous mistake with even the defender himself joining in on Instagram.

https://twitter.com/FromTStands/status/1007975842364960768

Argentina: As much as Iceland won a 1-1 draw, Argentina lost it. It wasn’t the result that should worry Jorge Sampoli, it was the dire performance. Argentina’s defense looked fragile even under the frenzied press that Iceland put them under and their attack seemed to be entirely built on a magical moment from Lionel Messi.

There is alot of work to do, with not a lot of time to do it and anything less than a win against Croatia could leave Messi and co on the verge of an early exit.

Peru’s strikers: Peru came into this World Cup labeled  by many as a potential surprise package. It is their first World Cup in three decades and they had reached Russia on the back of some attracting, attacking style of play.

Next: World Cup winners and losers: Cristiano Ronaldo wins the day

The opening minutes of their game against Denmark seemed to promise more of the same from qualifying with Peru eager to play with the ball on the ground and spent much of the first half and indeed, the entire 90 minutes, probing the Danish backline. There was only one issue, it would appear that as soon as Peru entered the Denmark box, they completely forgot how to kick a ball.

Los Incas squandered chance after chance after chance. Among was a skied penalty from Christian Cueva that put Simeone Zaza’s miss in the Euros against Germany two years ago. Undoubtedly the Peruvians brand of football will have attracted alot of neutrals, however, it will be a short lived affair if Peru cant find their shooting boots.