End of Group D: Fvcker

No, I didn't mean a person who does a certain verb.
It's a word I used a lot on the previous set of games,
In a comparative form, because God, it was such a crazy

End of Group D

NGA vs ARG | ISL vs CRO

Pic's from here and here.

Unlike Group B, which both spots for first and runner-up were still questionable and the top three teams were still on the run to make it to the knockout stage, this group, already saw one winner: Croatia. Meanwhile Nigeria whose points were 3, and Argentina as well as Iceland whose points were both 1, still had to fight their asses off for the remaining seat. And that's what made this one tempting. Again, and obviously, I watched both matches on two screens.

Looking at the situation, Nigeria would go through and I was confident about it. Their points were higher. They only needed a draw, and it was against Argentina whom got tied on their first match -against Iceland, for God's sake- and lost on their second. It shouldn't be a difficult task, but just when I tried to sit back and relax, Messi scored his FIRST goal in this World Cup. Oh, finally. What took him so long, I wondered? Waiting for the team to be on the edge first then he could finally showed up? The Latin Americans got really fired up from then onwards, because all of a sudden, their future seemed much brighter. Croatia, on the other hand, didn't seem to go easy on Iceland although any result wouldn't matter to them. But Iceland, crazily, played like a hungry yeti. The first half was all about them, and how fierce they were against Croatia. Sadly, no goals were made.

Then entered second half.

On minute 49, Nigeria was awarded a penalty and Moses CONVERTED IT TO A GOAL! YEAH!! They were once more back as the runner up! And once again, everything looked so much clear for Group D because on minute 52 Croatia scored against Iceland, making them the group's absolute leader. Iceland keeps attacking, and attacking though -their headers were killer! and that's what made me restless throughout the rest of the games! Until I could finally rest.

That hopeful moment for Nigeria. Pic's from here.

Iceland got rewarded a penalty on minute 75 of a handball, and just like Nigeria, the underdog CONVERTED IT TOO THROUGH GYLFI! OMG ANYTHING REALLY COULD HAPPEN! It was a really nice comeback for the match, and also for Gylfi remembering that he missed the penalty given when against Nigeria! Both games now saw a draw, and if Iceland could make just one more goal, my newest favorite team would proceed alongside Croatia!

While this, is the hopeful moment for Iceland. Pic's from here.

But dream was just a dream. Entering the last 4 minutes of the match, LAST 4 MINUTES FOR GOD'S SAKE, WHY ALL THE MAJOR TURNING POINT HAPPENED IN THE LAST MINUTES!? the desperate Argentina climbed their ass back up there thanks to a dramatic goal from Marcos Rojo. And everyone flipped. The commentators, the spectators, the substitutes poured into the field like a leak in your shower to the floor. I'm not a big fan of Argentina, and heck I hate Messi remember? But seeing this fantastic goal, bringing back the hopes for the team, and those emotions too, well, I'm a human, and it hit me right in my tiny soft heart.

But all are ruined by the hopeful goal from Rojo. Pic's from here.

As I said, Iceland too, still had the chance to proceed if they could make one more goal against Croatia and earned the crucial 3 points. But then it wasn't them. It was Croatia instead, through a freaking MINUTE 90 GOAL -see!? What the hell is happening between the players and last minute deals!?- made by Perisic.

Wow.

I know, the drama isn't as crazy as Group B. But still, I think it was more mindblowing because, remember how it started? Nigeria was statistically higher, and it should be easy to handle a team who had so far been so unstable. And Argentina, who had been humiliated by taken a draw pill against underdog Iceland, and stripped-naked in a big loss against Croatia, could make it to the next round.

No one can guess what would happen.

No one. And that's why, all these were a

Fvcker

Match Twenty Three: Bloodbath

After one failed to impress on the first match,
And the other one was the only winner of the group,
Plus, both teams are actually considered big ones,
Everyone was looking forward to their meeting.

Argentina vs Croatia

Group D

Pic's from here.

You know how Argentina was embarrassingly got tied by newcomer Iceland on their opening match. It was really a shock. Jorge Sampaoli would of course play mercilessly against their next opponent Croatia on the group's second matchday, especially knowing that the latter won their first match against Nigeria--giving them a one-step-further chance to get into the next round.

So indeed, it was a tight-ass match. At first. The earlier half was too stiff it was almost boring -you know, some 'stiff' match sometimes could be a fun one too, when both teams are attacking like hungry beasts, but not this one. So let's skip to the second half, where all the crazy shit happened.

And by 'crazy', I really meant it.

Because when you thought that the team you thought would dominate the game, you thought it wrong.

Yes, it was Croatia who owned the game. Not just owned, they scored goals, didn't concede any, and eventually won what I considered the best game yet so far. And Argentina, were once again strip-naked. Only this time, it was much worse.

The Argentinian nightmare began when Caballero made a very, VERY deadly blunder by passing the ball casually despite Croatia's presence around. He did it once on the first half, but it was still manageable. He did it again on the second half, and you know luck seldom comes twice: Ante Rebić took benefit of the goalkeeper's weak pass, really beautifully, and there you go. The first goal, that led Argentina to the verge of the abyss.

They didn't just stand by and gave in though, and they kept attacking. But it was a mess. There were no great assisting, no pattern, there even seemed to be no strategy. So came their second hit of the night. This time it was by the team's star Luka Modrić. A stunning, skillful kick done outside the penalty area, flying smoothly far the reach of the disappointed Caballero's left hand, to land on the goal. Undoubtedly one of the best goal I've seen so far in the tournament, and one of the heartbreaking moment in football history. Especially for Argentina.

And I swear that was the point where I saw Argentina started losing hope. They didn't seem to bother when Mateo Kovacic and Ivan Rakitić came by to meddle with their defense No fight, no battle, many Argentinian players were there -even Messi too!- but it looked like they were just watching the Croatian guys to dribble the ball, easily strike through and BAM, third goal happened. Sending Sampaoli inside the locker room right away in anger after the final whistle blew, without even shaking hands with Croatia's coach.

CRAZY MATCH! Crazy entertaining second half to be exact -it finished at 3AM my time, but I could finally sleep at 4-ish because I was so excited to read all the tweets and highlights of what I just  technically saw! and maybe the most nerve-wrecking half so far because, HOW COULD IT BE SO DRASTICALLY CHANGING!? Hats off to Croatia, and I must say I'm sad for Argentina too... the heartbroken spectators, the pissed off coach, the speechless Aguero... this is what I actually can't have from a competition...

If one expected Argentina to lose, I bet he wouldn't dare thinking a mind-blowing 3-0. And Messi was there, Aguero was there, Higuain was there too to substitute Aguero, but it was useless. I think they were so burdened by the shame they felt against Iceland that they put too much pressure on themselves.

Especially Messi, of course. I can tell how he's so depressed. It can be clearly seen by how he lost all his focus, frowned all match long, and seen giving a massage to his head during their national anthem! As much as I hate him, it's such a waste to see him go without even see him once doing something we all know Messi would do.

Not the way I wanted him to fail... pic's from here though.

Crazy match, for f's sake.

Who would've thought that
It's Croatia who'd be bathing in
Argentina's bleeding?