Miracle In Moscow | WorldCup 2018

If you haven´t seen the match England vs Colombia in the most important soccer tournament of the world two days ago, you definitely missed something historic. 

The round of 16 has just ended and we have seen some interesting matches. Germany didn´t make it into this round and some favorites like Portugal, Argentina and Spain were eliminated earlier as expected. Currently there are 8 countries left in the WorldCup which is held in Russia. Uruguay, France, Brazil, Belgium, Sweden, England, Russia and Croatia have still the chance to win the title of the world champion. Some countries surprised us with extremely good skills and some were really disappointing just like Germany. However, everyone who watched the game England vs Columbia have witnessed an aggressive but historic game. 

The Three Lions competed against James Rodriguez-less Colombia squad in the round of 16. It is also called the knockout stage. If no one scores a goal after 90 minutes of fighting for the win, both teams need to compete for a total of 30 more minutes. If they still do not manage to make it, both teams have to attend the shootout. 

Until the beginning of the second half, the teams struggled to score the first goal of the night. Colombia already got 3 yellow cards which made the game way more difficult for them because they played extremely aggressive and couldn´t lose any player of their team. Just a minute after J. Henderson, a midfield player of England, received a yellow card too, H. Kane scored the first goal of the night because of a penalty. 

What no one had seen this night, the Columbian player Mojica from FC Girona, seemed to be sneaking by unobserved while the American referee Geiger explained to several Colombian players that wrestling in their own penalty are wasn´t a good idea. Camera shots show how Mojica repeatedly enters the penalty spot with his left toe until there was more soil than lawn. 

H. Kane still made it and England was the new leader of the game. But this was just the beginning of a rough match. We have already witnessed 4 yellow cards but after England came for the lead, Colombia was unstoppable. The energy was insane. If you take a look at the statistics, Colombia had a ball possession of 48% and England just a tiny bit more, 52%. Even the goal kicks were pretty equal. 10 goal kicks for England and 12 for Colombia. But the foul rate was higher than in any other match of this years World Cup. 22 fouls for Colombia and 13 for England. That is almost double of fouls from Colombia than in any other game. 

3 yellow cards later, everyone thought the match is over and England could go home with a tough win. But they made this deal without Y. Mina. The Colombian midfield player scored the second goal of the night in the very last minute of the game. 

That meant both teams had to go into extra time.

30 minutes of sweating, screaming, waiting, a new yellow card for Colombia and a few more fouls. When Geiger finished the game with a whistle, everyone knew it´s time for the penalty shootout! It was so exciting that I jumped up from the chair to continue watching the game standing in front of the TV. 

The Three Lions around their World Cup superstar Harry Kane wrote a chapter in football history and also relieved from a tormenting 22-year curse thanks to the meticulousness of their national coach Gareth Southgate.

I was so relieved when England made it to the quarter finals because they have some of my favorite players. It was a very rough game but maybe the most exciting in this season so far. I am looking forward to the new round which is starting tomorrow. Uruguay - France and Brazil - Belgium. All teams have shown great skills and the motivation to win this competition. It is going to be fire 🔥

Who do you think will win the World Cup 2018?

Thanks for reading

Stay focused

Love, Soldier