Messy Argentina put to the sword in Group C

Argentina’s loss to Saudi Arabia will go down as one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history.

It was guts versus guile, the fighter versus the boxer, with no space on the dance floor for the intricate Argentinian tango steps.

Read more here.

Tunisia confound the critics with Denmark draw

Sometimes a 0-0 draw is boring. This was not one of those times. This Group D game had it all, as two evenly matched sides traded blows and took turns at having the ascendency.

Read more here.

‘Spot’ the mistake as Poland miss their chance

A poorly struck penalty from Poland’s goal-scoring machine Robert Lewandowski cost his country three points in their Group C clash with Mexico last night,  which ended 0-0.

There was certainly no ‘polish’ about the way he telegraphed his intentions to Mexican keeper Ochoa, who decoyed to the right and dived to the left to keep out the spot kick that lacked power and direction.

Read more here.

Casual France survive early shock to coast home

Having survived an early shock when Australia’s Craig Goodwin lashed home a super cross from Mathew Leckie, France piled on the pressure and the goals as they breezed to a 4-1 win in their Tuesday night Group D fixture.

It was good to see South Africa’s Victor Gomes with the whistle, but he was to become little more than a traffic controller as Le Bleu mounted countless raids into enemy territory.

Read more here.

#TacklingQatar2022: Manned by soccer fundi Dave Savides, the Corner Shop is the place to be for Soccer World Cup news. Savides, the long-time editor of the Zululand Observer, is tackling the coverage of the world’s greatest footie extravaganza for Caxton Local Media.