World Cup Players of the round: Group C & D - Match Day 1

chekohler (70)in #sport • 6 years ago

Sup SteemSquad

So the world cup has kicked off and many steemians are getting in on the action with prediction score games, reviews of the games, opinions of who they think will win it and who they are supporting for the tournament and it's really livened up my feed which has been pretty slow as of late.

I've been going through tons of World cup content on the site and I didn't see much love for stand out players for each game and I thought it would be a cool series of posts to run with for the next month.

This is my second post in the series. If you'd like to check out the previous ones I'll keep listing them here:

1. World Cup Players of the round: Group A & B - Match Day 1

Create your own

If you would like to join me and create your own post like this then feel free and use the #wcmom - world cup man of the match and feel free to tag me in your post, I'd love to read it :)

France vs Australia

This was a painfully scrappy game to watch and I personally don't think anyone deserved special recognition. The game's highlight was Pogbas goal awarded by VAR and that should tell you all you need to know about how poor this match was. If I were to choose a player who put in a shift during this match I'd have to go with the Aussie from Huddlesfield Aaron Mooy, he held his own against Frances 3 man midfield, kept the pressure on them and made some great tackles. He also protected the ball well in possession and showed quality on the ball with his passing, its a pity his teammates could not rally around his performance and get them over the line, they deserved a point.

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Photo: Goal

Peru vs Denmark

Probably one of the easiest picks for a stand out player in any World Cup match so far is this one. Kasper Schmeichel made his dad and county proud last night. The Leicester City goalkeeper made six saves and 2 of them at point blank range in order to preserve Denmark's clean sheet and to frustrate Peru. Kasper literally and figuratively stood tall, head and shoulders above anyone on the pitch and made it count.

Argentina vs Iceland

After Cristiano Ronaldo's heroics, the night before all eyes turned to Messi to see if he would respond in a similar fashion and he failed to deliver in the most epic of ways, missing a penalty against Iceland. The match was pretty scrappy and no one really stood out much as Iceland defended desperately to hold on to a point. Iceland defended well as a unite and was helped by poor finishing and the last man did well when called upon, especially when it came time to defend against the Messi penalty which is why I'm giving Hannes Halldórsson the stand out performance. When the moment came he stood up and showed composure.

Croatia vs Nigeria

No surprise with this one, but still a stunning performance and something we expect from Real Madrid midfielder Luca Modric. The Croation captain had a hand in both goals since it was his corner that was eventually diverted into the net via a Etebo own goal and then later making the points safe Modric converted from the spot.

But he did not just shine in those 2 moments his overall gameplay was far superior to anyone on the pitch with only Barcelona's Rakitic able to keep up. Luca made 63 passes (Rakitic 65) with an 85.7% pass accuracy (Rakitic 86.2) and 41 passes in the opposing half with Ivan only managing 28. These stats just show how confident he was on the ball and how he dictated the tempo of the game and helping Croatia starve Nigeria of opportunities.

Photo: Sport24

Have your say

So there you have it, the stand out players from the last 4 games. A couple of surprises in this round with Iceland goalkeeper Halldórsson and Mooy taking the honours and thats why we love the world cup, it's anyones game!

Who do you think was your stand out player in matchday 1 so far? Would love to hear your feedback as matches start coming thick and fast. So drop me a comment or a link to your review of world cup stand out players