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Group A went pretty much to form on Monday morning with Uruguay beating Russia 3-0 and winning the group with a perfect nine points while Russia advanced in second place with six points. Saudi Arabia beat Egypt 2-1 despite a Mo Salah opening goal for the Egyptians. Essam Elhadary started in goal for Egypt and became the oldest player to ever appear in a World Cup match at 45 years and 161 days, he also saved a penalty kick.
Group B was the second set of matches and a much livelier affair. Spain ended the day as group winners despite needing a late goal to earn a 2-2 draw with Morocco. While Portugal narrowly avoided going out of the tournament late and tied Iran 1-1, Cristiano Ronaldo stayed on four goals for the tournament after missing a penalty kick that would have given Portugal more breathing room.
Spain will play Russia on one side of the knockout bracket on Sunday July 1st in Moscow at 7 AM Pacific Time. While Portugal will play Uruguay on the other side of the bracket as part of a soccer triple header on FOX television on Saturday June 30th that concludes with the Seattle Sounders hosting the Portland Timbers from Centurylink Field.
Group C
Australia vs. Peru
Time: 7:00 AM
Location: Fisht Stadium, Sochi
TV: Fox Sports 1 (English) and Telemundo (Spanish)
Announcing team: Jorge Perez-Navaro and Mariano Trujillo (English)
Streaming: Fox Sports Go and Telemundo Deportes
Denmark vs. France
Time: 7:00 AM
Location: Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow
TV: FOX (English) and NBC Universo (Spanish)
Announcing team: John Strong and Stu Holden (English)
Streaming: Fox Sports Go and Telemundo Deportes
Group C sees France already through to the knockout stage on six points with Denmark on four. Still in the running is Australia with one point while Peru has been eliminated after their two losses.
In order for Australia to make the second round they have to beat Peru and have Denmark lose to France then win the tie breaker. Australia is currently sitting on a minus one goal differential while Denmark is plus one. Beating Peru might be a tall order, the Peruvians have played well in both of their losses but just finished poorly including a missed penalty in their one goal opening loss to Denmark and are probably the best team eliminated before matchday three. Will Raúl Ruidíaz get more than token minutes today?
Group D
Nigeria vs. Argentina
Time: 11:00 AM
Location: Mordovia Arena, Saransk
TV: FOX(English) and Telemundo (Spanish)
Announcing team: JP Dellacamera and Tony Meola (English)
Streaming: Fox Sports Go and Telemundo Deportes
Iceland vs. Croatia
Time: 11:00 AM
Location: Kaliningrad Stadium, Kaliningrad
TV: Fox Sports 1 (English) and NBC Universo (Spanish)
Announcing team: Derek Rae and Aly Wagner (English)
Streaming: Fox Sports Go and Telemundo Deportes
Croatia have advanced but need at least a draw against Iceland to guarantee first place in the group.
Nigeria will advance with a win and would win the group if Iceland beat Croatia and Nigeria can overturn the 5 goal differential advantage Croatia has coming into the day. Nigeria can also advance with a draw and Croatia beating Iceland or a draw.
Iceland will advance if they beat Croatia by three and Argentina and Nigeria draw or Iceland beat Croatia and Argentina beat Nigeria but Iceland stay ahead on goal differential. Currently Iceland is one goal differential ahead of Argentina.
Argentina will advance in second place in the group if they beat Nigeria and Iceland draws or loses to Croatia. They can advance with a win in the case of an Iceland win but will need to overcome goal differential.
Everyone is still alive in Group D, will this be Lionel Messi’s last game with Argentina? Or a blip on the way to another deep tournament run?