Nawalka said he did not think the World Cup had been a total waste of time for Poland and that the experience the younger players in his squad had gained would hold them in good stead in the future.
Advertisement
M’Baye Niang was the only Senegal player cautioned in a decisive 1-0 defeat to Colombia in Samara, where Barcelona defender Yerry Mina headed the south Americans’ victor on 77 minutes.
Colombia’s 2018 FIFA World Cup dream continues on merit, but Senegal’s ends on the perceived unfairness of fair play. However, Colombia’s goal in the 74th minute of the other group match meant Japan was in second place and would advance.
Lukaku lies joint second alongside Cristiano Ronaldo in the race for the World Cup Golden Boot, one shy of England captain Harry Kane, who has five.
“I doubt Federation Internationale de Football Association expected to see their fair play rule being used so unfairly”, he tweeted a little after the final whistle sounded at around 1am local time. “We wanted to go through to the round of 16 and we have, and that is the only salvation that I get”.
Keep in mind this was a Japan side that couldn’t score in a home match against Gahana a couple of months ago. We were fully committed and maybe because we were fully committed, we got more yellow cards. Japan collected four. Both teams amassed four points and a goal aggregate of 4-4.
The Eastern Europeans did indeed prove more combative than the Japanese, but Japan’s goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima made a spectacular save that denied Kamil Grosicki’s header right before it crossed the line in the first half.
They will face the first-placed team from Senegal’s group, before battling the victor of Sweden against Switzerland in the quarter-final.
They will now take on Belgium in Rostov-on-Don on 2 July, the Belgians having topped Group G thanks to a 1-0 defeat of England, with Adnan Januzaj scoring a wonder goal to settle the game.
Basically, FIFA has chose to reward teams that don’t collect yellow and red cards. “But it’s a lesson for us, we’ll learn our lesson”, Bednarek told Polish media.
Advertisement
Japan fans in Volgograd cheered despite the loss after confirmation their team reached the knockout stage for the third time. Check below for game reports, highlights and other key facts from World Cup 2018 Day 15.
