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World Cup 2018 rounds the first milestone today as Group H makes their long awaited debut and we get the first of the second round games. Monday saw Sweden beat South Korea 1-0 with the first Seattle Sounder sighting of the tournament when Gustav Svensson subbed on in the 81st minute to help seal the victory. Then the second Sounder in World Cup history to wear a captain’s armband for a World Cup match as Roman Torres led Panama out of the tunnel to take on heavily favored Belgium. Panama held on for an impressive 0-0 scoreline at halftime but in the end the Belgians won 3-0. To finish the day England avoided a classic trap game with a stoppage time winner to beat an underrated Tunisia team 2-1.
Colombia vs. Japan
Time: 5:00 AM
Location: Mordovia Arena, Saransk
TV: Fox Sports 1 (English) and Telemundo (Spanish)
Announcing team: Derek Rae and Aly Wagner (English)
Streaming: Fox Sports Go and Telemundo Deportes
Group G’s opener is a rematch from Brazil 2014 that saw Colombia beat Japan 4-1. Despite being a serial qualifier and one of the best team from the Asian Soccer Federation, Japan has never beaten South American opposition in the World Cup. In fact, no Asian team has beaten a South American opponent in 17 attempts all time at the World Cup.
Colombia were one of the best teams in Brazil 2014 led by breakout star James Rodriguez and were probably unlucky to lose to Brazil in the quarterfinals in an incredibly tight match, also the game that saw Neymar break his back after the challenge from Colombia’s Juan Zuniga. Zuniga is long out of the Colombian national team but James parlayed that performance into a lucrative move to Real Madrid that led to a loan currently with Bayern Munich.
Poland vs. Senegal
Time: 8:00 AM
Location: Spartak Stadium, Moscow
TV: FOX (English) and Telemundo (Spanish)
Announcing team: JP Dellacamera and Tony Meola (English)
Streaming: Fox Sports Go and Telemundo Deportes
Prolific striker Robert Lewandowski has scored at least one goal for Poland in each of their last 15 international matches. An almost unprecedented strike rate over an extended period. Look for Lewandowski to extend his all time best in Poland 55 national team goals in this relatively easy group stage.
Senegal played a series of friendlies against European opposition in preperation for this tournament but the results were not exactly ideal. Scoreless draws against Bosnia and Herzegovina (that’s somewhat respectable) and Luxembourg (um, not good) were followed by a 2-1 defeat to Croatia.
Russia vs. Egypt
Time: 11:00 AM
Location: Volgograd Arena, Volgograd
TV: FOX (English) and Telemundo (Spanish)
Announcing team: John Strong and Stu Holden (English)
Streaming: Fox Sports Go and Telemundo Deportes
Will he or won’t he? Despite Russia being the surprise leader of the World Cup after the first round of games with three points and a plus five goal differential, the entire soccer world is wondering will Mohamed Salah play for Egypt?
It looks likely as Salah has been training fully with Egypt leading up to the game after suffering the shoulder injury in the Champions League final for Liverpool that kept him out of Egypt’s opener.
What looked like a pivotal game for both teams leading into the tournament seems even more so as Russia enter with the aforementioned commanding five goal differential but still have Uruguay to play. Egypt were solid in their opener, choosing to play a solid defense without Salah available and hope to nab a draw or a goal on the counter. However their plan was thwarted at the last minute as Uruguay waited until stoppage time to nab the 1-0 winner.