…ECUADOR SLUMPS (LULE) BY WHISKERS.
By Eniola Olatunji
Orange boys of Netherlands Tuesday topped Group A of the Qatar world cup with 7 points and 4 goals difference taking along the Teranga Lions of Senegal that came second in the group with 6 points and just a goal difference into the round of 16 of the games.
Ecuador land crashed badly missing qualifications to the next round by whiskers as she garnered 4 points with one goal difference to place 3rd while hosts, Qatar pathetically failed to chalk even a point but will go to the stands with a deficit of -4 goals difference.
Netherlands whipped the weak team of the group and hosts Qatar 2-0 in the last group games on Tuesday. Cody Gakpo scored with the right foot in the 26th minute to raise the tempo of the match. That is Gakpo’s 3rd goal in Qatar. He scored his first with a header against Edouard Mendi of Senegal in the 84th minute and the second was in the 6th minute against Qatar meaning he has scored in each match.
Frankie de Jong scored the second goal for the Dutch team in the 49th minute. VAR disallowed what would have been the 3rd goal for Netherlands scored by Steven Berghuls in the 68th minute.
The Senegal versus Ecuador match that was allocated to the South Americans before match day would have been a ridiculous match for them but for the psychological tension on the African Champions, the Teranga Lions to win the match which they dominated in all departments.
Piero Hincapie of Ecuador had conceded a penalty by pushing Ismaila Sarr in the box and the resultant penalty was neatly tucked in 44th minute for goal to Senegal making concentration on the group table shift to Senegal.
The table shifted to Ecuador placing second when Moses Concedo tapped into an empty net a pass from Enner Valencia off a corner kick taken by Ganzalo Plata in the 68th minute for a marvelous equalizer. Making it 1-1. Journalists were not tensed monitoring the Netherlands versus Qatar match because the focus was on the Senegal versus Ecuador encounter.
The 44,569 attendance at the Education Stadium were on the edge when Kalidou Koulibaly scored the winner for Senegal from a loose ball in the 70th minute. The table shifted to favor Senegal again.
For the records, Qatar fell to Ecuador 0-2 and Senegal slumped before Netherlands 0-2 in the first round matches; Senegal doubled the woes of Qatar 3-1 while Netherlands and Ecuador played 1-1 in the 2nd round which convinced book makers that Ecuador will beat Senegal.
The third round matches continue at 8pm in group B with the highly diplomatic breakdown of relationship match between the United States of America and Iran to be officiated by 45 year old Ref Antonio Lahoz of Spain and the all English clash of Wales versus the Three Lions of England match to be officiated by 43 year old Slavko Vincic of Slovenia.
Tomorrow Wednesday at 1600 hours Group D matches will be decided between Australia and Denmark on one side and Africa’s Tunisia facing former champions, France.
Later at 2000 hours in Group C, Argentina will try Poland in a presumed difficult match to know if the dead in Diego Maradona can weep in their graves for Argentina may be shocked out at the group stages if they slump (Lule in the new political language for failure) before Robert Lewandoski’s Poland; Giant Killers, Saudi Arabia will meet Mexico.
Netherlands will play their round of 16 match on Saturday at 4pm against runners up of group B while Senegal will play theirs on Sunday at 8pm against winners of Winners of Group B. On Saturday, Winners of Group C will meet runners up of Group D at 8pm.
On Sunday at 4pm it will be winners of group D versus Runners Up of Group C.
Eniola Olatunji reporting.
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