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2018 FIFA World Cup Group H Match 1 Recap

A look back at the first matches of the last grup

By Pedro Dorantes

Group H rounded out the teams that had no played their first matches in the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Colombia  v Japan 

The Japanese did what they had to do in order to come away with the win against a Colombian team that looked powerful… In theory

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First Half

Colombia could not ask for a worse start to their game. Just at the 3rd minute of the match Carlos Sanchez committed a handball. Thus, leaving the South Americans with 10 players and a penalty against them awarder by VAR. Sanchez’ red card was the first one in Colombia’s World Cup history.

Shinji Kagawa buried the penalty kick to give Japan the lead, 1-0

Things did not look good for Colombia as they now had a big absence in midfield. However, the Japanese did not take advantage of it all that well as they did not generated many scoring chances. Japan had just five shots on goal despite having the numerical superiority on the field.

Wilmar Barrios came in as a sub-on for Juan Cuadrado, giving Colombia support at midfield. The Cafetaleros  proved that 10 men were no problem as the tied the score nearing halftime.

Juanfran Quintero leveled up the score with an impressive low free kick at the 39th minute

Halftime arrived with a 1-1 score

Second Half

The second half saw Japan trying to gain some ground on the field during the opening minutes. They so did as they slowly, but surely made their way deeper and deeper into Colombia’s side of the pitch, forcing Colombia to defend most of the time.

The Colombian midfield eventually ran out of gas thus, making  it easier for the Japanese forwards to get into the box, forcing goalie David Ospina  to work hard. With time and patience, the Japanese XI found the back of the net.

Yuya Osako regained the lead for Japan off a corner at the 72nd minute of the match.

By this point, Colombia was mostly forced to play defense, occasionally starting a failed counter attack with James Rodriguez at top. They put the pressure on Japan for the closing minutes of the match, however, not much came out of it as the score did not change.

After 90 +5 minutes, Japan took the win 2-1

Poland  v Senegal 

Senegal fed off mistakes by Poland’s weak defense.

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First Half

The first set of 45 started with the Polish squad dominating ball possession. However, despite having the ball most of the time, their attack seemed very unorganized. It wasn’t all that precise and gave away plenty of  balls at midfield.

While Senegal did not have the ball nearly as much as Poland, they made the best out of what they got, aided by their speed. Their counter attacks proved to be a struggle for  Poland’s defensive line. This would be even more noticeable as halftime approached.

Idrissa Gueye shot got the deflected by Thiago Cionek. Giving Senegal the 1-0 lead at the 37th minute.

Poland seemed shocked after the goal as they could not move the ball properly. when they did, Robert Lewandowski was left alone at the attack, giving Poland no shot at tying the score.

The halftime break score was a surprising  1-0

Second Half

Senegal did not wait much to attack on the second half. They went right away into Poland’s defensive zone. It did not take them much time to score either as the second goal came right after the hour mark.

M’Baye Niang  scored the second goal for Senegal off an awful defensive mistake by the Polish team.

Senegal looked even stronger after the second goal. Their defense looked solid as they gave seemingly absolutely no hope for the Europeans to score. However, as the 90th minute came near, one last hope showed up for Poland.

Poland’s Grzegorz Krychowiak sliced the lead in half scoring off a header. 2-1

However, it was too little too late, as Poland ran out of time to mount a comeback. At the end of 90 minutes, Senegal came away with the win.

Group H will play once again this upcoming Sunday. Japan will face the now leaders Senegal while Poland will face Colombia.

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