It was a night for young forwards giving their national team managers selection headaches on Thursday.
Both England’s Marcus Rashford and Portugal’s Goncalo Guedes scored in impressive performances for their countries to make cases for inclusion in their respective World Cup openers.
Meanwhile, one of our World Cup Fantasy key target defenders found the net once again…
ENGLAND 2-0 COSTA RICA
Marcus Rashford made a strong case for his inclusion in the starting line-up at the World Cup after starring in England’s win over Costa Rica.
The Manchester United striker scored a sensational first-half goal lobbing Keylor Navas from outside of the box. The youngster also caused the central American side problems all evening at Leeds United’s Elland Road.
It was a very different England line-up to the one which beat Nigeria on Saturday, with manager Gareth Southgate making 10 changes.
Crystal Palace’s Ruben Loftus-Cheek started in central midfield alongside Fabian Delph and provided the assist for Rashford’s goal.
The only member of Saturday’s starting line-up to retain his berth was defender John Stones. That all but confirms he will feature alongside Kyle Walker in a back three against Tunisia on June 18.
Dele Alli and Danny Welbeck were introduced for Jordan Henderson and Jamie Vardy in the second-half and they combined for England’s next goal.
Alli’s swooping ball across goal was met by Welbeck, who headed it beyond Navas in the 76th minute.
It was a comfortable win for England as Costa Rica failed to ask too many questions of their defence.
ENGLAND XI (3-1-4-2): Butland (Pope 65’); Jones, Stones (Cahill 65’), Maguire; Henderson (Alli 64’); Alexander-Arnold (Trippier 64’), Loftus-Cheek (Lingard 79’), Delph, Rose; Vardy (Welbeck 61’), Rashford.
COSTA RICA XI (3-4-2-1): Navas; Calvo, Gonzalez (Smith 72’), Waston; Oviedo (Matarrita 60’), Guzman (Tejada 69’), Borges, Gamboa; Venegas (Bolanos 61’), Campbell; Urena.
PORTUGAL 3-0 ALGERIA
Young striker Goncalo Guedes scored a brace in Portugal’s 3-0 win over Algeria taking his goal-tally to three in four matches.
The 21-year-old played up front alongside Cristiano Ronaldo, who provided an assist for midfielder Bruno Fernandes and had a goal ruled out for offside.
Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva produced another strong display for Portugal, his cushion header setting up Guedes’ first.
Defender Raphael Guerreiro was the provider for Guedes’ second with a cross, which was headed in.
There was another start for Southampton’s Cedric Soares at full-back while Bruno Alves and Pepe were preferred to Jose Fonte at centre-back.
PORTUGAL XI (4-4-2): Rui Patricio; Raphael Guerreiro, Bruno Alves, Pepe, Cedric Soares; Bruno Fernandes, William Carvalho, Joao Moutinho, Bernardo Silva; Cristiano Ronaldo, Goncalo Guedes.
ICELAND 2-2 GHANA
Defender Kari Arnason added to his Fantasy appeal on Thursday by scoring another goal for Iceland.
The former Aberdeen and Plymouth Argyle midfielder turned centre-back headed home a Johann Berg Gudmundsson corner in the sixth minute. Combined with his two goals and two assists in qualifying, Arnason could be an interesting differential in Russia.
Striker Alfred Finnbogason scored the second, heading into an empty net after Gylfi Sigurdsson’s shot was saved by goalkeeper Lawrence Ati-Zigi.
However, it proved a disappointing result for the Scandinavians in the end as Ghana fought back to draw the game.
Kasim Nuhu got the visitors back into the game just past the hour-mark before Atletico Madrid midfielder Thomas Partey levelled things up in the 87th minute.
That goal ensured Heimir Halgrimsson’s Iceland side head to the World Cup without a win in four matches.
ICELAND XI (4-4-2): Halldorsson; A Skulason, R Sigurdsson, Arnason, Eyjolfsson; Bjarnason, Hallfredsson (O Skulason 88’), G Sigurdsson (Gislason 67’), Berg Gudmundsson; Sigurdarson (Traustason 90’), Finnbogason (Bodvarsson 65’).
SOUTH KOREA 0-0 BOLIVIA
Son Heung-min was just a second-half substitute as South Korea were held to a 0-0 draw with Bolivia.
The Koreans dominated possession but without the Tottenham man in the side until the hour-mark, they never really looked like scoring.
Centre-back Jang Hyun-soo returned after missing the last two games with an ankle injury, which allowed coach Shin Tae-yong to revert to his favoured 4-4-2 formation.
Swansea’s Ki Sung-yeung had been deployed at the heart of defence of late so Jang’s return allowed him to move back into midfield.
South Korea head into the World Cup with just one win in their last five, against Honduras in March.
SOUTH KOREA XI (4-4-2): Kim Seung-Gyu (Kim J-H 46’); Park, Kim Y, Jang (Yun), Lee L; Lee S (Son Heung-min 60’), Jung, Ki, Moon (J Lee 46’); Kim Shin-Wook (Kim M-W 81’), Hwang.
World Cup Previews by Team
Group A – Egypt, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay
Group B – Iran, Morocco, Portugal, Spain
Group C – Australia, Peru, France, Denmark
Group D – Argentina, Iceland, Croatia, Nigeria
Group E – Brazil, Switzerland, Costa Rica, Serbia
Our editor’s Fantasy World Cup tips as told to Proper Sport
FANTASY ITEAM
Fantasy Football Scout is supporting Fantasy iTeam, a free World Cup game available on a number of mobile devices, including iPhone, iPad, iPodTouch and Android. We have an official Fantasy Football Scout League open to UK users only, with a £1000 of Amazon vouchers to give out, split between the top three performers. There’s also the small matter of £10k worth of prizes available in the main competitions: Overall World Championship and Manager of the Gameround.
Click here for details and here to sign up.
Our League name is Fantasy Football Scout and the pin is 1887.
Please note, users must be over 18 and based in the UK to join our league.
