World Cup 2018 Russia Update for June 16, 2018

The World Cup is now well under way. There were three games yesterday. 

Egypt and Uruguay played the final match for the first round of games for Group A play (the Russia-Saudi Arabia game that opened this World Cup was the first). Unlike that first game, where Russia completely dismantled Saudi Arabia, this game was very tight, and remained a scoreless tie until José Giménez scored in the 90th minute to crush Egypt's hopes for a first ever win at the prestigious tournament. They were the first African team to ever qualify for the tournament all the way back in 1934, but had only qualified three times (1934, 1990, and 2018). But such a late goal obviously proved dispiriting. Uruguay was able to win their first opening match in nearly half a century, since the 1970 World Cup. The late winning goal also was Uruguay's first since a victory over South Korea in the 1990 World Cup.

Meanwhile, in the second game, you have to feel for Morocco's Aziz Bouhaddouz. He scored an own  goal in the 5th minute of extra time in that previously scoreless contest, obviously very late in the game. It proved too late for his team to really be able to do anything about it. That gave Iran a 1-0 win, which is only that nation's second ever victory at the World Cup. The first, as you might remember, came in the 1998 World Cup, when Iran made a point of defeating the American national team, which they referred to as "The Great Satan." Morocco has never won an opening game at the World Cup.

The third and final match yesterday featured two of the real heavyweights, with both teams being among the high profile teams that some believe could contend to win it all. It was the battle of the Iberian peninsula, as Spain and Portugal squared off. While the first three games were all shutouts, this one definitely was not. Both teams scored quite a bit, and it wound up being a 3-3 tie after full time. 

For the time being, that's it. I am writing this while watching the very beginning of the France-Australia match, live from Kazan in Tartarstan, Russia. It appears to be the Asian part of that country. Yes, I had to look that up, admittedly.