World Cup Recap: Round of 16 Day 2
Penalties needed as Croatia outlasts Denmark and Russia shocks Spain
Jul 1, 2018, 10:53 pm
Russia knocked off Spain to advance. Catherine Ivill/Getty Images
The round of 16 in the 2018 FIFA World Cup continued on Sunday with Spain taking on host nation Russia and Croatia facing Denmark. Ninety minutes was not enough as both encounters went to extra time and, eventually, penalties.
Spain 1-1 Russia (3-4 on penalties)
Luzhniki Stadium Moscow
Attendance: 78,011
When the knockout round matchups were complete, it looked as though Spain had a clear path to the final. Instead, the 2010 champs were one-and-done at the hands of the host nation. Things started off promising for La Furia Roja as Sergio Ramos forced an own-goal from Russia’s Sergei Ignashevich in the 12th minute of the match. The reality is Spain spent too much time with the ball at their feet but not enough time doing anything with it. The Spanish were outshot 5-3 but the most impactful moment came on a defensive lapse. Defender Gerard Pique was called for a handball inside the bos and Artyom Dzyuba would convert the penalty to tie things at 1-1.
Russian goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev was the Man of the Match for his performance with two saves in the first half, three in the second half and four in extra time. Spain’s goalkeeper David De Gea was untested and didn’t record a single save throughout the 120 minutes. Spain finished with 25 shots (nine on target) while Russia only created six shots with one direct to goal. After a deadlock through extra time, the penalty shootout would decide who advanced.
Smolov, Ignashevich, Golovin and Cheryshev all converted their penalties for Russia while Koke and Iago Aspas would fail to convert for Spain. As a result, Russia advances to the quarterfinals to face Croatia.
Analysis: Spain was clearly not as strong as we all thought they were but they were still strong enough to get past Russia. What happened on Sunday will go down as a huge setback for a Spanish national team that was enjoying the best era in their football history. The golden age that brought Spain the 2010 World Cup title as well as back-to-back European Championships is now an afterthought. The Spanish national team could not reclaim the glory of their best days and, as 2010 World Cup final hero Andres Iniesta bids farewell to the national team, the team will surely get a new influx of youth. Spain is filled with talent, however, and will surely field a team that can contest for Euro 2020. First, they’ll need a new Manager after their former one was fired just days before Russia 2018.
The host nation knew what they had to do to give themselves a chance to win - and they accomplished it. Some will say it was boring football and a shameful display of “the beautiful game” but the end result is the only thing that matters, frankly. Team Russia, backed by its home fans, has reached the farthest stage in their World Cup history and are one win away from assuring to match their best performance of the Soviet Union national team - who finished fourth at England 1966. Will they be able to outlast Croatia with a compact defense? We’ll have to tune in on July 7 to find out.
Notable stat: Russia won their first penalty shootout at a FIFA World Cup.
Croatia 1-1 Denmark (3-2 on penalties)
Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, Nizhny Novgorod
Attendance: 40,851
This one got off to a hot start. Denmark’s Mathias Jorgensen scored off a throw in to surprise goalkeeper Danijel Subasic in the first minute. Unfortunately for the Danes, Croatia would answer back just three minutes later after Mario Mandzukic won a ball inside the box to tie the game. Croatia would be the team to generate more quality opportunities but the match would remain a draw through 90 minutes. Denmark keeper Kasper Schmeichel had two saves in the first half, two in the second and three in extra time while Subasic for Croatia only had two all match. Besides the scores, the other influential play was a denial of a goal scoring opportunity by Denmark’s Jorgensen. Croatia had now the best opportunity to get the win in the 115th minute - five removed from full time - but an exhausted Luka Modric failed the spot kick. The match would go to penalties.
With both teams exhausted, there were multiple misses on both sides. FC Barcelona’s Ivan Rakitic scored the winning penalty as the shootout went to the fifth attempt to advance Croatia to the quarterfinals.
Analysis: Croatia is enjoying their best World Cup performance since France 1998. They suffered on Sunday against Denmark but at times showed their class, not being able to take the lead. They are lucky to not have lost in penalties but can see this as new life and confidence as they go forward to face Russia. The host nation will most likely be compact like they were against Spain so Croatia’s midfielders will be challenged to break them open. The good news is they count on some of the best midfielders in the world today. Getting to the semis would be huge for Croatia.
Denmark, on the other hand, will feel heartbroken. They knew their limitations but could not have executed their game plan better. They made life hard for Croatia’s attack. Schmeichel could not have had a better day in goal and it’s a shame his team could not finished the rest of the job. Perhaps their best opportunity to win it was just before the end of the second half but no one showed the quality to get them the win. The biggest criticism, and deservedly so, will fall on Tottenham playmaker Christian Eriksen. After being invisible for most of the match, Eriksen had the opportunity to be the hero and instill confidence by making the first penalty in the shootout. Had he made it, this recap would’ve been written differently. Onwards towards Euro 2020 for Denmark.
Notable stat: Croatia and Denmark set a new FIFA World Cup record for the fastest 1-1 scoreline.
Remaining Round of 16 Matches (All Times CT):
Monday, July 2
9 a.m. - Mexico vs. Brazil (FOX, Telemundo)
1 p.m. - Belgium vs. Japan (FOX, Telemundo)
Tuesday, July 3
9 a.m. - Sweden vs. Switzerland (FS1, Telemundo)
1 p.m. - Colombia vs. England (FOX, Telemundo)
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After finishing up with the Guardians the Astros have a rather important series for early May with the Seattle Mariners heading to town for the weekend. While it’s still too early to be an absolute must-win series for the Astros, losing the series to drop seven or nine games off the division lead would make successfully defending their American League West title that much more unlikely.
Since their own stumble out of the gate to a 6-10 record the Mariners have been racking up series wins, including one this week over the Atlanta Braves. The M’s offense is largely Mmm Mmm Bad, but their pitching is sensational. In 18 games after a 4-8 start, the Mariners gave up five runs in a game once. In the other 17 games they only gave up four runs once. Over the 18 games their starting pitchers gave up 18 earned runs total with a 1.44 earned run average. That’s absurd. Coming into the season Seattle’s starting rotation was clearly better on paper than those of the Astros and Texas Rangers, and it has crystal clearly played out as such into the second month of the schedule.
While it’s natural to focus on and fret over one’s own team's woes when they are plentiful as they have been for the Astros, a reminder that not all grass is greener elsewhere. Alex Bregman has been awful so far. So has young Mariners’ superstar Julio Rodriguez (though not Breggy Bad). A meager four extra base hits over his first 30 games were all Julio produced down at the ballyard. That the Mariners are well ahead of the Astros with J-Rod significantly underperforming is good news for Seattle.
Caratini comes through!
So it turns out the Astros are allowed to have a Puerto Rican-born catcher who can hit a little bit. Victor Caratini’s pedigree is not that of a quality offensive player, but he has swung the bat well thus far in his limited playing time and provided the most exciting moment of the Astros’ season with his two-out two-run 10th inning game winning home run Tuesday night. I grant that one could certainly say “Hey! Ronel Blanco finishing off his no-hitter has been the most exciting moment.” I opt for the suddenness of Caratini’s blow turning near defeat into instant victory for a team that has been lousy overall to this point. Frittering away a game the Astros had led 8-3 would have been another blow. Instead, to the Victor belong the spoils.
Pudge Rodriguez is the greatest native Puerto Rican catcher, but he was no longer a good hitter when with the Astros for the majority of the 2009 season. Then there’s Martin Maldonado.
Maldonado’s hitting stats with the Astros look Mike Piazza-ian compared to what Jose Abreu was doing this season. Finally, mercifully for all, Abreu is off the roster as he accepts a stint at rookie-level ball in Florida to see if he can perform baseball-CPR on his swing and career. Until or unless he proves otherwise, Abreu is washed up and at some point the Astros will have to accept it and swallow whatever is left on his contract that runs through next season. For now Abreu makes over $120,000 per game to not be on the roster. At his level of performance, that’s a better deal than paying him that money to be on the roster.
Abreu’s seven hits in 71 at bats for an .099 batting average with a .269 OPS is a humiliating stat line. In 2018 George Springer went to sleep the night of June 13 batting .293 after going hitless in his last four at bats in a 13-5 Astros’ win over Oakland. At the time no one could have ever envisioned that Springer had started a deep, deep funk which would have him endure a nightmarish six for 78 stretch at the plate (.077 batting average). Springer then hit .293 the rest of the season.
Abreu’s exile opened the door for Joey Loperfido to begin his Major League career. Very cool for Loperfido to smack a two-run single in his first game. He also struck out twice. Loperfido will amass whiffs by the bushel, he had 37 strikeouts in 101 at bats at AAA Sugar Land. Still, if he can hit .225 with some walks mixed in (he drew 16 with the Space Cowboys) and deliver some of his obvious power (13 homers in 25 games for the ex-Skeeters) that’s an upgrade over Abreu/Jon Singleton, as well as over Jake Meyers and the awful showing Chas McCormick has posted so far. Frankly, it seems unwise that the Astros only had Loperfido play seven games at first base in the minors this year. If McCormick doesn’t pick it up soon and with Meyers displaying limited offensive upside, the next guy worth a call-up is outfielder Pedro Leon. In January 2021 the Astros gave Leon four million dollars to sign out of Cuba and called him a “rapid mover to the Major Leagues.” Well…
Over his first three minor league seasons Leon flashed tools but definitely underwhelmed. He has been substantially better so far this year. He turns 26 May 28. Just maybe the Astros offense could be the cause of fewer Ls with Loperfido at first and Leon in center field.
Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via YouTube: stone cold stros - YouTube with the complete audio available via Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.