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⚽️ Kick-off time: 8pm local/12pm AEST/3am BST/10pm EDT
⚽️ Player guide | Bracketology | Golden Boot | Mail Jonathan
Not such a comfortable debut for Portugal though, who failed to click in attack against DR Congo.
Ronaldo’s baying followers, swathes of them with local accents and wearing his No 7 shirt, had done their best to cajole a meaningful contribution from their idol but ultimately they had to settle for being under the same roof. Perhaps they expected a repeat of Lionel Messi’s staggering performance the previous night but Ronaldo did little to assuage concerns that his presence, once glorious, is nowadays a dead weight. The watching Gianni Infantino could have been forgiven for wondering whether Fifa’s contortions in freeing him from suspension for this game had been worthwhile.
They looked like they actually wanted to take part in a game of football, that this wasn’t just an activity to be undertaken out of fear and self‑loathing. For the next 10 minutes they swarmed all over Croatia, might have scored four, and gave a glimpse not so much of patterns of play, but of a willingness to actually do this, of the muscle, speed and ruthlessness that are undeniably there in this team.
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⚽️ Player guide | Bracketology | Golden Boot | Mail Jonathan
Not such a comfortable debut for Portugal though, who failed to click in attack against DR Congo.
Ronaldo’s baying followers, swathes of them with local accents and wearing his No 7 shirt, had done their best to cajole a meaningful contribution from their idol but ultimately they had to settle for being under the same roof. Perhaps they expected a repeat of Lionel Messi’s staggering performance the previous night but Ronaldo did little to assuage concerns that his presence, once glorious, is nowadays a dead weight. The watching Gianni Infantino could have been forgiven for wondering whether Fifa’s contortions in freeing him from suspension for this game had been worthwhile.
They looked like they actually wanted to take part in a game of football, that this wasn’t just an activity to be undertaken out of fear and self‑loathing. For the next 10 minutes they swarmed all over Croatia, might have scored four, and gave a glimpse not so much of patterns of play, but of a willingness to actually do this, of the muscle, speed and ruthlessness that are undeniably there in this team.
Continue reading...
More...
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