After the reigning world champion national team, the 2018 World Cup in Russia also loses the two symbolic players: Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are in fact both eliminated on the first day of the round of 4 and prematurely abandon a competition that in fact saw the protagonist - until so far – only the Portuguese, who however is also returning home. In the first eighth, Argentina conceded against France by Mbappè (brace for him), Griezmann and Pogba, with a pyrotechnic score of 3-XNUMX: they took the lead in the transalpines, then the national team of the deprived Sampaoli, seemed clearly inferior in terms of both more technical than athletic, he surprisingly reversed the situation with a Euro goal from Di Maria and Mercado's advantage in the second half. But that wasn't enough: Mbappè's talent came out in the long run, to which was added a super goal from right-back Pavard. Useless, in the recovery, the goal of the usual Kun Aguero. Argentina and Messi sadly abandon a competition in which, despite qualifying for the round of 9, they have never convinced: only one goal and a few flashes for Pulga, Higuain's World Cup was very disappointing, Dybala didn't reach and 4 goals conceded in 2018 games, the worst defense of Russia 16 among the 0 teams qualified for the round of XNUMX. For Messi – perhaps in the last World Cup as a protagonist – yet another disappointment with the albiceleste: for him XNUMX goals in the knockout stages of the four World Cups played so far.
In the evening in Sochi, rival Cristiano Ronaldo also went badly: his Portugal, champions of Europe two years ago, was eliminated by Uruguay in a match decided by two pearls from Edison Cavani, interspersed with a momentary equalizer from Pepe. Tabarez's lineup is as solid as ever and he defends the lead with his teeth, even if he loses Cavani to injury and with only Suarez in attack it will be tough to challenge the battleship of Deschamps, in the first quarter-final scheduled for next Friday. Subdued game for Cr7, Portugal aggressive in the second half: the Lusitanians would not have deserved the draw but the South Americans knew how to suffer, with the defense commanded by the expert Godin, and brought home the qualification. Curiosity of the evening: Portugal-Uruguay was the match with the two oldest coaches of all those who have coached or coach at the World Cup. Oscar Tabarez and Fernando Santos are respectively 71 and 63 years old.
