World Cup: Morocco, Croatia & Costa Rica Win
[Written by Stephen Wright]
Spain 1
[Morata 62]
Germany 1
[Fullkrug 83]
Germany kept alive their hopes of reaching the World Cup knockout stage after earning a vital point after drawing with Spain in Group E in Qatar.
Niclas Fullkrug struck seven minutes from time when he fired a powerful shot past Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon.
Spain took the lead in the second half when substitute Alvaro Morata flicked home from Jordi Alba’s cross.
Germany must beat Costa Rica in their final group match and hope Japan do not defeat Spain if they are to advance to the knockout stage.
Belgium 0
Morocco 2
[Sabiri 73, Aboukhal 90+2]
Morocco caused an upset by defeating Belgium, one of the tournament favourites, with two second-half goals in Group F in Doha.
Abdelhamid Sabiri gave Morroco the lead after his free kick somehow found its way into the net, beating goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois at his near post before Zakaria Aboukhal got on the end of Hakim Ziyech’s delivery in stoppage time.
Croatia 4
[Kramaric 36, 70, Livaja 44, Majer 90+4]
Canada 1
[Davies 2]
Ruthless Croatia crushed Canada’s hopes of reaching the World Cup knockout stage in Group F in Doha.
Croatia trailed after Alphonso Davies, the Bayern Munich winger, scored Canada’s first-ever World Cup goal with a towering header in the second minute.
Andrej Kramaric had a goal ruled out for offside before equalising with a shot from an acute angle. Marko Livaja then gave Croatia the lead with a drive from the edge of the box.
Kramaric netted his second midway through the second half with a neat finish, and substitute Lovro Majer completed the scoring with an injury-time effort.
Japan 0
Costa Rica 1
[Fuller 81]
Japan suffered a disappointing defeat after conceding a late goal against Costa Rica in Group E.
Having beaten Germany 2-1 in their opener, Japan hoped to qualify for the knockout phase with a win over Costa Rica but were largely frustrated before Keysher Fuller struck with a deflected shot from the edge of the box.
It was the first shot on target at the tournament for Costa Rica, having lost their opener 7-0 to Spain.
Tomorrow’s matches
Group G
Cameroon v Serbia, 6 am
Brazil v Switzerland, 12 pm
Group H
South Africa v Ghana, 9 am
Portugal v Uruguay, 3 pm
