hot in front
Argentina-Croatia
After three weeks of competition and two days without a match, the World Cup resumes its rights on Tuesday December 13, with the first semi-final between the Argentines and the Croats, finalists in 2018.
After getting in the way of Neymar and the Brazilians in the quarter-finals (1-1, 4-2 on penalties), Croatia are facing a new obstacle, Argentina. Fortunately, she can count on “the best environment in the world” (Marcelo Brozovic, Mateo Kovacic and Luka Modric), in the words of his coach, Zlatko Dalic. “When you pass the ball to them, it’s safer than leaving your money in the bank,” completes defender Josip Juranovic. Enough to calmly approach a meeting against a team that has Lionel Messi in its ranks: “We don’t have a specific anti-Messi plan, at least not yet.assured the Croatian striker Bruno Petkovic, after the victory against Brazil. Our approach is to focus on stopping the whole team, not just one player. Argentina is not just Messi. »
Certainly. Still, the Argentinian number 10, still in search of a first world title for his last appearance in the World Cup, is in great shape. Already a scorer four times, he scored from the penalty spot and delivered a superb assist to Nahuel Molina in the quarter-finals, before scoring his shot on goal against the Netherlands (2-2, 4-3 on pens). However, the person concerned has already warned his family: “Croatia proved that they were very good, they knew how to beat Brazil. This is a team that has worked for several World Cups with this coach, they know each other very well, they get along very well, and it will be very hard. »
water in the gas
“All is forgiven”
While England dried its tears on Saturday, Ireland cried out its joy. The victory of the Blues obviously made the Irish very happy, as evidenced by this video of exultation after the missed penalty by Harry Kane.
Irish Pub reacts to Kane Missed Pen https://t.co/d1ZYhYNafL
“All is forgiven”, even tweeted a well-followed Irish accountin reference to the hand of Thierry Henry and the goal of Williams Gallas, which had cost the Irish the qualification for the 2010 World Cup, and triggered a planetary controversy.
On the Irish channel RTE, it read “don’t come home” on a banner at the end of the match, in reference to the English song It’s Coming Home. The airline Ryanair was also amused by the English elimination on his Twitter accountwith the simple message: “They are coming home. #Nothing to declare “.
In the round of 16, Roy Keane, consultant for the British channel ITV and former Irish international, had already been filmed remaining unmovedas fellow Englishmen Ian Wright and Gary Neville celebrated Harry Kane’s goal against Senegal.
Quicksands
“You know, ministers change much faster than federation presidents. »
Noël Le Graët does not seem particularly worried about the inspection mission following accusations of sexual harassment brought against him by former collaborators. Asked by The Team on this audit, the president of the French Football Federation (FFF) split this statement on the ministers who come and go – it is true that he has already seen seven interlocutors pass – before evacuating the question of a backhand.
The next meeting should therefore be sporting between the president of the FFF and the Minister of Sports. Especially since Amélie Oudéa-Castéra had been quite diplomatic in our columns, suggesting that the subject of the audit had not been discussed during their previous meeting in Qatar. “On the other hand, I will go to the end of this audit and to the bottom of the dialogue with Noël Le Graët around the conclusions of this audit”, she assured. The conclusions are expected in February 2023.
Qatar Postal
It’s coming home
Football may not be coming home but Dave the Cat is. England’s adopted mascot has begun his journey to the UK this… https://t.co/1Bi92JO2bH
The World Cup will not return to England, but Dave the cat, him, will make the trip well. John Stones and Kyle Walker had fallen in love with this wandering feline and had promised that in the event of a final victory they would adopt it. Despite the quarter-final loss to France, Dave will soon have a new home. The cat left Al-Wakrah two hours after the Three Lions and will spend four months in quarantine upon arrival on English soil. Enough to leave ample time for the two defenders to determine who will have custody.
Grain of sand
6,130
1º of March of 2006. Argentina x Croatia. O dia da estreia de Modric com a selecão croata. O dia do primeiro gol de… https://t.co/YC4OXMCUIy
6,130 days ago, Luka Modric wore the Croatian jersey for the first time. It was the 1er March 2006 against… Argentina, and already against Lionel Messi. If “la Pulga” (then 18 years old) had scored the first goal of his career with the Albiceleste, it was the Vatreni who won (3-2).
Our selection of articles on the 2022 World Cup
find all our content on the 2022 World Cup in Qatarfrom November 20 to December 18.
- Know everything : The calendar, the results, the rankings, the “unofficial” guide to the 2022 World Cup
- Investigations: France-Qatar, a friendship full of resources; Award of the World Cup to Qatar: Sarkozy, Platini and the takeover of PSG at the heart of the French justice investigation; For the environment, an event at the critical stage
- Report : To the Mbappé-Giroud duo, France very grateful against Poland
- Editorials: The World Cup of excesses; FIFA at the stage of blindness
- Decryptions: The delicate speech of footballers on human rights; The reasons for the discomfort; A very political “World Cup”
- Reports: In the “engine room” of Qatar, where live the immigrant workers whom Doha does not want to see; In Qatar, a pan-Arab festival atmosphere; At the University of Dakar, “when Senegal plays, we forget all our problems”
- Grandstand (Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International) : “By calling to ‘focus on football’, Gianni Infantino is trying to exonerate FIFA from any responsibility”
- Portraits: Walid Regragui, the new signature of the Atlas Lions; Harry Maguire, a certain idea of English football
- Chronicle: “Changing the method of calculating additional time in a match is to take the risk of breaking the game”; “With video refereeing, the goals are conditional, the emotions too”
- Podcast : Ecology, human rights, corruption: why the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is a problem
- Video : A “carbon neutral” World Cup? What lies behind Qatar’s untenable promises; For the first time, a match will be refereed by women