Soccer World Cup in Qatar, third day
France win clear after falling behind – Lewandowski missing victory against Mexico
Forward Olivier Giroud (centre) scored twice for France against Australia and is close to becoming France’s all-time top scorer
© Franck Fife / AFP
A clear victory in the fight against the curse of the world champion – and this despite an initial double shock: France, the defending champions, successfully started the World Cup in Qatar and, after teething problems, even shone at times . In the final 4: 1 (2: 1) against Australia on Tuesday, the already injured Frenchman had to accept the next failure – and that could also be very bad news for FC Bayern: Because it was Munich’s left-back Lucas Hernández a was injured after just eight minutes.
World champion France’s predecessors – Italy, Spain and most recently Germany – were all knocked out in the preliminary round following their triumph. The curse also seemed to threaten the French when Craig Goodwin gave Australia the lead on their fifth consecutive World Cup participation (9′). But Adrien Rabiot (27′) and Olivier Giroud, replacing the injured Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema (32′), turned the game around before the break. Kylian Mbappé (68th) and Giroud again followed suit (71st). With his 51st international goal, the double goalscorer joined Thierry Henry as France’s record top scorer.
Mexico – Poland 0:0
Robert Lewandowski’s missed penalty deprived Poland of a great World Cup chance. The world footballer failed in a 0-0 draw against Mexico early in the tournament amid deafening jubilation in Doha’s 974 stadium, which was almost exclusively filled with Latino fans. Lewandowski, who is otherwise so sure of the point, shook his head in disappointment on Tuesday evening in Qatar when he failed to get past veteran Mexican goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa (58′).
Train
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The key scene further increased the atmosphere crackling in front of 39,369 spectators, who were feverishly awaiting the result before Lewandowski’s video penalty decision. In the thrilling final stage, neither the best Mexicans nor the frustrated Poles managed to take the lucky shot.
In his fourth World Cup match, Lewandowski not only missed his first World Cup goal, but also missed a great opportunity to improve Poland’s starting position in the fight for the round of 16 in 36 years.
Denmark 0-0 Tunisia
European Championship semi-finalists Denmark started the World Cup in Qatar with an unexpected loss of points. Coach Kasper Hjulmand’s team only drew 0-0 against Tunisia on Tuesday. In the Education City Stadium in Al-Rajjan, the Danes had the best chances, but in the end, in front of 42,925 fans, they failed to achieve any results. This puts Denmark under pressure in their second Group D match against world champions France on Saturday.
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The game was initially mastered by director Christian Eriksen. The Danes star made his first appearance in a major tournament 17 months after his Euro 2021 collapse. Tunisia started the match better, scoring in the 23rd minute through Issam Jebali, but the striker was ruled offside. The alleged leadership of the Danes by Andreas Skov Olsen (55th) was also not recognized for offside. Substitute Andreas Cornelius headed the post in the 70th minute.
Argentina-Saudi Arabia 1-2
Saudi Arabia caused the first big surprise at the World Cup in Qatar against tournament favorites Argentina. In Group C, coach Hervé Renard’s side beat superstar Lionel Messi’s side 2-1 despite trailing 1-0 at half-time. Messi gave Argentina an early lead with a penalty kick at the Lusail Stadium (10th minute), after the break Saleh Al-Shehri (48th) and Salem Al-Dausari (53rd) turned the game around in five minutes in favor of the outsider. Argentina had three first-half goals disallowed for an offside position, even after Albiceleste went unsuccessfully behind to consistently defending Renard.
Lionel Messi now evokes the cohesion of the Argentine national team. “There are no excuses. Now we must be more united than ever,” said the 35-year-old after the embarrassing appearance. “Now we have to prove that we are a real team,” Messi asked. “It’s a situation we haven’t been in for a long time,” Messi said, calling the defeat for the furiously fighting Saudi Arabian men a “hard blow for all of us.” None of the Argentines “expected to start like this”. The team had never lost 36 straight games before.
