Round 3 came to a close and the teams facing off in the Last 16 was finalized. There was a lots of
moments of brilliance, goals and matches that shocked everyone as well. A few examples here was
when Cameroon beat Brazil through an Aboubakar header to stun the South Americans.
Also when Wojeich Szczeny saved a Lionel Messi penalty. Not to forget Australia knocked out Denmark who were tipped by many to go far. When it comes to the World Cup there is too many good moments to just pick one. So Futbol Mundial brings you the top three matches that occurred in Round 3
Japan vs. Spain, the Samurais kicked La Roja
Japan vs Spain was a match the Spaniards wanted to use in order to secure their position in 1 st place in
the group. Things were going well for the Spanish in the first half when Morata opened up the scoring
after 11 minutes. Then all of a sudden, as soon as the second half began Japan turned up the tempo.
They grabbed an equalizer through Ritsu Doan who scored his second World Cup goal also scoring
against Germany. Kaoru Mitoma managed to keep the ball just on the line to cross it in for Ao Tanaka.
Many will argue that it should have not been a goal but however it was given by VAR. Spain were
moments away from being knocked out by Costa Rica and Japan teams that were not even tipped to
beat them. Spain managed to hang on until the end to set up a clash with Morocco.
Before this match Germany came in this match desperately needing a win from this match and a Japan
defeat. Germany were close to being knocked out after just the second round by Spain before Fullkburg
gave them life in the 82 nd minute. They scored first against Costa Rica and Spain were leading Japan 1-0 everything was going according to plan.
The second half is where everything changed for Germany once Japan scored two goals and Costa Rica equalized things were not looking good for Germany. They scored three goals against Costa Rica. Many Germans would have argued that the goal that really knocked them out of the World Cup was not supposed to have been a goal. Kaoru Mitoma had appeared to have the ball just outside of the line slightly to pass the ball to Ao Tanaka who had scored. Had that possibly been another referee then it may have not been a goal. Germany had gone on to win 4-2 but that did not matter to them at all given that they were knocked out.
Croatia eliminated Belgium and their golden generation
Croatia vs Belgium was a game where both teams needed to win or they would be eliminated. Belgium
especially had a lot of pressure on them considering they were dubbed the golden generation. They
wanted to finally deliver or they would be considered a disappointment. Any team with De Bruyne,
Lukaku, Hazard and Courtois is expected to deliver but sadly for Belgium their talent has not won them a
World Cup. The 2-0 defeat against Morocco had them desperately needing a victory against Croatia or
they were out. Unfortunately for them they were unable to score so they got knocked out of the World
Cup.
