Overnight action at the World Cup threw up a number of shocks as Group D, E and F all wrapped up their group stage campaigns, but the night was not without controversy
The action in North America in the late hours of Thursday night and early Friday morning has spelt disaster for Scotland as the Tartan Army couldn’t have been delivered worse news.
Scotland have been left praying they reach the knockout stages thanks to help from other nations after they were battered 3-0 by Brazil, being left in 3rd place on just three points and a hefty negative goal difference. It’s far from what any Scotland fan hoped or even thought would happen in their first World Cup since 1998.
Given the expanded tournament to 48 teams, Scotland had the lifeline of sneaking into the knockouts through the back door, with eight of the best 12 placed third-place finishers qualifying from the group stage, but the overnight results have dealt Steve Clarke’s side a major blow.
JOIN US ON FB! Get all the best sports news and much more on our Facebook page
Ecuador were one of the countries that started the night below Scotland in the third place table, but the South Americans stunned Germany to win 2-1 and move to four points and qualification. Elsewhere in Group E, Ivory Coast beat Curacao 2-0 to wrap up second spot.
In Group F, Netherlands topped their challenging group by inflicting Tunisia’s third defeat of the group stage as Sweden confirmed progression from the group stage in third after drawing 1-1 against Japan.
While Paraguay also did their qualification hopes the world of good by drawing 0-0 against Australia in Group D, but USA were beaten for the first time in their home tournament by a last-gasp Turkey goal, but it was not enough to send the perennial dark horses through. Here, the Daily Star Sport looks at a busy night of action in North America.
ITV scare
During the half-time analysis of the USA’s loss to Turkey, Laura Woods, Juan Mata, Bradley Wright-Phillips and Ange Postecoglou were taken aback when a firework display kicked off close to their studio. Woods commented: “Our half-time here has been disrupted by an incredible display of fireworks, we’re not really sure why yet.”
Despite cutting to the break, the fireworks continued to interrupt the coverage. A laughing Woods added: “Well this is quite something, it’s really spectacular behind us.
“It caught us all off guard, by the way, absolutely terrifying when it kicked off with all these fireworks. Well, we said you might need coffee to stay awake, we give you fireworks. Hopefully that works alright for you.”
Germany disagreement
Julian Nagelsmann has categorically refuted Deniz Undav’s verdict that Ecuador ‘wanted it more’ than his Germany team. Following a 2-1 victory for Sebastian Beccacece’s side, Undav remarked: “I had the feeling that they wanted it more than we did.”
Joshua Kimmich and Jamal Musiala echoed similar sentiments. However, when asked for his take, Nagelsmann retorted: “Ecuador wanted it more than we did? That’s nonsense.”
Tori Penso row
However, Ecuador’s win over Germany was marred by controversy, as Beccacece’s squad believed there was a foul leading up to Leroy Sane’s opening goal just two minutes into the match.
The decision sparked outrage from Italian journalist Tancredi Palmeri, a SportItalia correspondent and former CNN contributor with over 220,000 followers on X, who posted a comment about Penso’s performance that was swiftly deemed inappropriate.
Palmeri wrote: “Unbelievable how Germany goal could be allowed. Woman American referee Toni Penso is at it again. So far World Cup refereeing have been absolutely on point, except 3 decisive mistakes.. 2 out of these 3 were mistakes from woman American referee Toni Penso. Enough with her.”
Bastian Schweinsteiger storm
Ivory Coast manager Emerse Fae reckons the remarks made by Bastian Schweinsteiger about his team’s “wild” style of play could be deemed racist. The former midfielder had described Fae’s squad as playing “a bit African football” and being “not so conditioned by tactics”
When questioned about the comments, Fae said: “Schweinsteiger was a very good player; I have always loved him as a midfielder and the way he understood football. When I heard his comments, I was disappointed in the man. It is odd he would speak that way. We could call it racist, if we were calling a spade a spade.”