It’s knock-out now baby!
The group stages were absolutely incredible but it’s knock-out now. The final day of group games was as good as you will remember, what with North Korea coming good in the last minute against Portugal to stay alive. That knocked Uruguay out, despite their win over Ghana, and the Uruguay players didn’t take it too well.
But it was all very entertaining to watch. Ghana may have been knocked out, but they’ll certainly have taken some satisfaction from Uruguay’s elimination too.
And the day was only getting going. Brazil-Cameroon was a flat, disappointing game for large parts and if you were listening to Ronnie Whelan on RTÉ, you’ll have heard plenty of complaining.
It was all worth waiting for though, well into stoppage time, when Jerome Ngom Mbekeli swung in the cross of this World Cup onto the head of Vincent Aboubakar. What followed was extraordinary.
Aboubakar met the cross plum, giving Ederson no chance and then he was willingly sent off. His work here was done. That was because, despite being on a yellow card, it was one of those goals that just demanded he take his shirt off. That he did, and with a smile on his face, he walked off the field, shook the referee’s hand and held up his jersey to the Cameroon crowd.
In the RTE studio, good Joseph N’Do was dancing. It’s a pity the Switzerland-Serbia result went against the Africans to knock them out, but Switzerland might have a say in this tournament yet. Here’s hoping that’s not the last we see of Joseph N’Do.
And it’s all knock-out now. Today is the first day of this World Cup when there will just be two games, but they promise to be two good games.
USA have been a breath of fresh air and, kicking off at 3.00, they’ll fancy themselves against a stuttering Holland. Then at 7.00, Lionel Messi will be hoping to end the Australian dream.
Bring it on. Bring it all on. Follow all the action on our live-blog here.
While you’re here, why not try some of our World Cup quizzes?
- The FootballJOE Qatar World Cup 2022 Geography Quiz.
- SportsJOE’s World Cup Quiz: Brazil 2014.
- Teammates XI Quiz: Italy – 2006 World Cup Final.
- QUIZ: Name the all-time leading scorers from each 2022 World Cup country.
- QUIZ: Name the 2018 World Cup Goalscorers
