Colombia, England and Ghana won
The Three Lions made a roaring start to this . Harry Kane mauled milestones and led the pride to a 4-2 victory over the men in checked jerseys. Les Léopards, meanwhile, showed their warrior spirit to pluck a point against Cristiano Ronaldo and the Seleção, while La Tricolor and the Black Stars also won.
Portugal predictably monopolised possession. They had over 75 per cent of it. They also led early courtesy of a header by the seldom-anything-but-superb Joao Neves. Congo, however, refused to adhere to the remainder of the script. While the Seleção had lots of time on the adidas TRIONDA, Les Léopards threatened to ripple the net with it more. Ultimately, Yoane Wissa’s header earned them a deserved draw.
“We focused solely on keeping possession and not getting into the box,” rued Neves as Congo coach Sebastien Desabre rejoiced: “It’s a tremendous source of pride to have earned our first-ever point at the World Cup.”
England’s previous 4-2 victory on the football’s biggest stage seized them a first title in 1966. Will the Three Lions’ latest set them en route to a second crown? The performance, against the 2018 finalists and 2022 bronze medallists, suggests it could. It was, despite Harry Kane’s double, all square at the break. In the dressing room Thomas Tuchel fearlessly urged his men to dare at the risk of defeat. “Credit to the manager,” said Kane. “We went full gas and they couldn’t deal with it.” Jude Bellingham and Marcus Rashford got the goals that bolted England out of the blocks.
The Canal Men had the better of the first 45. The Black Stars, with Antoine Semenyo starring, were on top after the restart. As the clock ticked past 90, however, neither had turned their periodical dominance into a goal. Then, on the stroke of shared spoils, Caleb Yirenkyi, an unlikely source, summoned a winner. Ghana had taken a sizeable stride towards the knockout phase.
The South Americans drew first blood, threatened the Central Asians incessantly thereafter, but were forced to dig deep to get the W. Abbosbek Fayzullaev’s equaliser, indeed, had Uzbekistan on for a famous World Cup debut draw – temporarily. With the pressure on, up stepped Bayern Munich superstar Luis Diaz to thrill the masses of Colombians in the crowd, before Jaminton Campaz struck the final blow.
Cristiano Ronaldo became, at 41 years and 132 days, the oldest outfield player to ever start a World Cup game. The record had belonged to Atiba Hutchinson, who was 39 years and 292 days when he represented Canada against Croatia at Qatar 2022.
Ivan Perisic became the second player in history to register an assist in four World Cups. Pele, Grzegorz Lato, Diego Maradona and David Beckham set up goals in three, while Lionel Messi did so in five.
Harry Kane equalled Gary’s Lineker’s record of 10 World Cup goals for England. James Rodriguez, Kane and Kylian Mbappe are vying to become the first player to claim the competition’s adidas Golden Boot twice.
Carlos Queiroz guided Ghana to become the third man to coach in five World Cups. He tied the total of Bora Milutinovic, with Carlos Alberto Parreira having led nations in six editions.
Friday 18 June (all times local) 12:00 (Group A) 12:00 (Group B) 15:00 (Group B) 20:00 (Group A)
Sources: FIFA Official
