Day 3 of the 2018 FIFA World Cup featured two tight games in Group C. France were just able to edge Australia, while Denmark just got by Peru.
France
The World Cup kicked us off the bed early in what seemed to be an easy game for France. Time proved this to be wrong.
First Half
It was an interesting opening half as the Australians hanged in there with the French. Australia showed good collective defense. Surprisingly, they managed to survive the first half, helped by a French team that seemed lazy at times. Australia’s problem was, of course, they could not generate almost any offense. Both teams headed to the dressing room 0-0 after the first 45
Second Half
France started the second half with a very passive style of play. However, things picked up after VAR confirmed a penalty kick in favor of the French. Antoine Griezmann was in charge of taking the penalty and he delivered.
https://twitter.com/TheAOSNFC/status/1007945992740601861
The score would not remain 1-0 for long however. Just minutes after the penalty, Samuel Umtiti decided to play volleyball inside the box. It was another penalty kick, this time for Australia.
Mile Jedinak leveled the score at one after the foolish French mistake.
Finally, Paul Pogba saved the day for Les Coqs as he scored off the crossbar. 2-1
While the performance was certainly disappointing, France still managed to run away with the victory and three points.
Peru
Both teams battled in a very competitive match for the lead of Group C
First Half
The first 45 minutes of the game opened up with a fast pace. for the first ten minutes of the match, both teams went all out. Eventually the rhythm of the match settled down, nonetheless it remained a fast game. As the half moved along, Peru began to link their passes extremely well, on the other hand, Denmark seemed clumsy at times. Around the 30th minute mark the game also became extremely physical. Midfielder William Kvist left was stretched out of the field with an apparent rib injury. VAR once again took the center stage as it confirmed a foul inside the box, granting Peru a penalty kick. Christian Cueva sent that same penalty kick over the crossbar. 0-0 by the end of the first half.
Second Half
Denmark came off strong for the second half, they came out of the dressing room seemingly ready to take the lead. The first minutes of the second set of 45 were mostly played on Peru’s half of the pitch. Despite generating a few offensive chances here and there, Peru over complicated things on the final third of the field.
At the 58th minute Yussuf Poulsen gave Denmark the lead with this powerful strike.
Despite Paolo Guerrero coming into the game, and Peru’s constant offensive effort, goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel kept denying Peru a goal with saves like this one:
The score did not move after 90 minutes. With this 1-0 win over Peru, Denmark now holds the lead of Group C