World Cup: Day 20
I will be honest and admit I am very tired writing this. This World Cup is a lot and the games keep coming. Let’s do it.
Ivory Coast 1-2 Norway
It took a while to get going, but it ended up being really good in spells.
The opening spell here was… cautious. We’re going to get games like this now that it’s sudden death. Norway especially did not look interested in taking risks until Antonio Nusa scored from a moment of individual brilliance to open things up. They did keep pushing from there through a pretty straightforward route: get it to the big man.
Ivory Coast kept going through a better short passing game built around getting it wide. Yan Diomandé had a quiet game this time, but Nicolas Pépé was more involved. Ivory Coast rely on wide players so much that they brought on Amad Diallo nominally as a striker, but he caused problems drifting out into the channels. Obviously he scored the stunning goal, but that’s what this side is built around.
In the end, Ivory Coast’s more nuanced technical game couldn’t beat Norway’s pace and power. Erling Haaland can miscontrol it and he still scores. He’s just lab built for international football. He’s so easy for players to find, he’ll out-muscle any defender, and he turns everything into a good shot. He’s continually reading situations well, reacting faster than defenders to the point where he often doesn’t even need to use his body that much. He currently has an xG per shot of 0.28 at this World Cup (meaning every shot he takes has a 28% chance of being scored). Trust me when I say this is a pretty ludicrous figure. Having another absolute unit in Alexander Sørloth isn’t hurting. It’s obscene. It feels like overkill.
Norway will now face Brazil in the Round of 16. I’m really excited for that one, and I don’t think it’s as obvious as it would’ve been at basically any other point in the history of football.
France 3-0 Sweden
What do you even do about them at this point? How do you stop them?
In very Didier Deschamps fashion, France started the game at a low tempo then ratcheted things up from there. They were getting closer as the first half went on, with Sweden leaving too much space in behind and looking vulnerable from set pieces. After everyone was so involved, it seemed a little simplistic that the goal came from Kylian Mbappé just doing something brilliant, but hey, I don’t think anyone in France will be complaining.