The remaining two World Cup Round 1 fixtures to bring you now: Uzbekistan 1-3 Colombia and Ghana 1-0 Panama.
Here are our Scout Notes from the game, featuring match stats from our World Cup Toolkit page.
UZBEKISTAN 1-3 COLOMBIA
- Goals: Fayzullaev | Muñoz, Díaz, Campaz
- Assists: Shomurodov | Díaz, Puerta, Hernández
- Top points scorers: Diaz (11), Fayzullaev (10), Munoz (9), Campaz (9), Puerta (7), Shomurodov (7)
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SCOUT NOTES
- The ‘Luiz Diaz ($8.1m) v James Rodriguez ($6.5m)’ Fantasy-off went emphatically in the former’s favour. While there was some fortune about his goal, which squirmed in through the Uzbeki goalkeeper’s grasp, he was equally unlucky to see a first-half shot bounce back off the inside of the post. Probing with his passing and picking up threatening central positions when drifting in off the left, he supplied a sublime assist for Daniel Munoz ($4.6m), too. James, by contrast, didn’t record a single key pass (a world apart from qualification), often dropping deep. He had a couple of shots, one blocked when it looked goalbound, but the fact that his head coach had to field a question on his performance – which ended after 72 minutes – says much:
“I think, as I said, in a 5-4-1 system, like they played, they closed down the spaces well, and James Rodríguez’s best quality is those through balls, between the lines. But well, I don’t think he had a bad game anyway. He wasn’t his best because he wasn’t, perhaps, the protagonist he usually is in goals or scoring plays, but he didn’t have a bad game. Until he was playing well, until the 60th or 65th minute, I think the game was acceptable. In possession, he gave us a lot because he drops deep and asks for the ball, which is what we need at certain moments of the game.” – Nestor Lorenzo on James Rodriguez, via Futbol Fantasy
- Centre-forward Luis Suarez ($5.7m) was muted, too, failing to have a shot and registering just 20 touches.
- Colombia bossed the game for long periods and were completely on top in the first half. Uzbekistan’s equaliser came out of nowhere. Until the move that led to Abbosbek Fayzullaev ($6.2m) nodding in from point-blank range, which came on the hour mark, the Asian debutants had mustered just one shot. The fact that Fayzullaev was basically on the goalline when heading Uzbekistan level explains his country’s decent xG figure of 1.10.
- Indeed, the Uzbeks had registered just three efforts until the 87th minute, but Colombia’s inability to put the game to bed led to a nervy final period. Substitutes Cucho Hernandez ($6.3m) and Jaminton Campaz ($5.5m) combined for an injury-time goal to ease the nerves.
GHANA 1-0 PANAMA
- Goal: Yirenkyi
- Assist: Thomas-Asante
- Shot on target bonus: Diaz
- Tackle bonus: Owusu | Martinez, Harvey
- Top points scorers: Yirenkyi (10), Adjetey, Senaya, Opoku, Mensah (all 9), Blackman (8)
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SCOUT NOTES
- Hours after England turned on the style in the Group L opener, Ghana and Panama served up the kind of game that would have left watching Fantasy managers expecting more hauls from the Three Lions in Rounds 2 and 3. It was a poor spectacle, low on genuine chances, and indeed we only had one legitimate shot (others were called back for offside) in the opening 45 minutes. The match opened up after the break but even then, we only saw one Opta-defined ‘big chance’ until deep into second-half stoppage time.
- The closest Ghana came to scoring (before their winner) was from two set-piece headers from dirt-cheap defender Jonas Adjetey ($3.5m). Panama, indeed, could and should have got something from this match, with midfielder Cristian Martínez ($5.3m) firing into the side netting from close range and Ismael Díaz ($4.9m) unable to grab a later-than-late leveller when failing to get another purchase on a header. Goalkeeper Orlando Mosquera ($3.9m), up from the back, would have bagged an assist for that! The Central American nation indeed outshot Ghana 11-8, with Caleb Yirenkyi‘s ($4.7m) late winner coming when Panama had committed bodies forwards.
- Panama’s wing-backs caught the eye. Cesar Blackman ($3.7m) had a couple of efforts and departed before the clean sheet was busted, while the heftily priced Amir Murillo ($5.0m) hinted at why he costs so much by creating a match-best three chances.
- Ghana were without midfielder Thomas Partey ($6.2m) after he was denied entry to Canada because of ongoing criminal proceedings in the UK. Goalkeeper Lawrence Alt-Zigi ($4.0m) is a new concern, meanwhile, having come off at the interval.
