With a painful goal Christian Pulisic led the USA in the explosive group final against Iran into the World Cup round of 16. The former Borussia Dortmund professional scored the acclaimed winning goal on Tuesday (38th minute) to make it 1-0 (1-0) in a politically charged duel that attracted a great deal of attention from the global public. The USA, runners-up in their group, meet the Netherlands in the round of 16 on Saturday, who won their group after beating tournament hosts Qatar 2-0.
24 years after the Iranians won 2-1 at the 1998 World Cup, the Americans celebrated a prestigious success after a dramatic final phase. After missing out on the World Cup in Russia four years ago, the USA are back in the knockout stages as they were at Brazil 2014.
Pulisic threw himself into the ball after a beautiful combination over Weston McKennie and Sergino Dest in the scene of the day, colliding with Iran goalkeeper Ali Beiranvand in the process. Five minutes later, the 24-year-old limped onto the pitch of the Al-Tuhmama Stadium again in front of 42,127 spectators. After the break, however, he was unable to continue due to a stomach injury.
Co-favorite England has underlined its title ambitions at the World Cup in Qatar and confidently reached the round of 16 with a win in the British duel. The team led by captain Harry Kane, who is still goalless, defeated Wales 3-0 (0-0) in Al-Rajjan on Tuesday evening and ended the group stage with seven points as group winners. Marcus Rashford (50th minute/68th) and Phil Foden (51st) secured a deserved victory for the Three Lions in front of 44,297 spectators with a double strike in a very short time. England will now meet Senegal in the first knockout round on Sunday (8 p.m.).
The Welsh team around star striker Gareth Bale, who was substituted at half-time, bid farewell to the long-awaited first World Cup since 1958 after three preliminary round games with one point and just one penalty goal in a 1-1 draw against the USA. Wales have not won against their British rivals since 1984. Even a surprise like at the EM 2016, when Bale and Co. sensationally reached the semi-finals, did not succeed this time.
The Netherlands have also successfully mastered their tenth group stage at a World Cup, while Qatar is the weakest host in World Cup history. In the final group game, the Oranje selection with former Bayern coach Louis van Gaal came to a lackluster and unspectacular 2-0 (1-0) on Tuesday in front of 66,784 spectators and ended the preliminary round with seven points. In the round of 16 on Friday it is against England, the USA, Iran or Wales.
World Cup hosts Qatar, whose end was already certain before kick-off, lost their third group game after losing 2-0 to Ecuador and 3-1 to Senegal and bowed out without a point in their first appearance at the World Cup. The team went into the tournament as Asian champions. The state had invested a lot of money in building the team since the World Cup was awarded twelve years ago. Prior to Qatar, only South Africa were eliminated as hosts in the group stage in 2010. The “Bafana bafana” had landed at least one win and scored four points.
In an emotional way, Senegal made it into a World Cup round of 16 for the second time since 2002. On Tuesday, the team in Al-Rajjan won the decisive group game against Ecuador 2-1 (1-0) even without the injured top star Sadio Mané. On the second anniversary of the death of the 2002 World Cup hero, Papa Bouba Diop, Ismaila Sarr (44th minute) from Watford FC converted a penalty kick that Bayer Leverkusen’s Piero Hincapie had caused by getting in too violently. In addition, captain Kalidou Koulibaly (70th) from Chelsea scored in front of 44,569 spectators just 152 seconds after the interim equaliser.
For this time disappointing Ecuadorian La Tri, who would have sufficed with just one point, the goal from England manager Moises Caicedo (68th) was not enough to qualify for the round of 16. The Senegal team dedicated their progress to their idol Diop, who died on November 29, 2020 at the age of just 42 from the nervous disease ALS.
