Manchester United players are doing well so far at the World Cup. With the eight Round of 16 matches now done, we have the four quarterfinal pairings ready. France and Uruguay will fight for the place in semis and a match against either Brazil or Belgium. On the other half of the bracket, England or Sweden will play Croatia or Russia. As things stand, there will be at least two teams in the semifinals having some Manchester United players in their teams. In the meantime, here is how the Devils have fared in the past four days of matches.
Paul Pogba
Paul Pogba played a huge part in France’s big win against Argentina. In the end it ended 4-3 for Les Bleus, but the French were fully in control in that second half, even after going a goal behind. Pogba himself duly delivered when he was needed. He played all 90 minutes, spraying passes around when that was necessary, but also breaking up Argentina’s midfield and defence with either long balls or incisive forward passes. He created one big chance and also helped defensively with three clearances.
Marcos Rojo
On the other hand, Rojo had a poor game against France. He was guilty of making a penalty on Kylian Mbappe when he could have made a foul before the youngster entered the box. Even with some decent clearances, Rojo was one of the worst players on the pitch, which was a pity, after a heroic goal he scored against Nigeria.
Fred
Unfortunately, Fred did not play at all against Mexico, mostly due to still coming out of an injury. Brazil were comfortable in their win anyway.
Romelu Lukaku And Marouane Fellaini
What a match this was for the two United players. Belgium were 2-0 down against Japan, but it was Marouane Fellaini who came on to change things around. Roberto Martinez’s joker was the one who equalized to 2-2, after previously Jan Vertonghen scored a lovely header. Fellaini made it 2-2, before Belgium scored the winner in 94th minute, through a beautiful counter-attack. De Bruyne picked the pass, Lukaku made a dummy over it and Nacer Chadli scored to finish off the crazy night.
Victor Lindelof
Victor Lindelöf played all 90 minutes for Sweden in their round of 16 match against Switzerland. Lindelöf played in the centre of the back four, next to a very experienced Andreas Granqvist and did very well. After all, any time your team does not concede in a knockout round of the World Cup, it is a good job. Lindelöf made five clearances in the match where the Swiss had all the possession but without much use of it.
The England Band
The last match of the round gave us a big scare. England managed to get past Colombia and finally beat a team at a World Cup after the penalty-shootout. Jesse Lingard played 120 minutes doing a decent job, while amongst the starters was also Ashley Young. The 32-year old did okay during 102 minutes he spent on the pitch. Marcus Rashford was the one to be the fourth sub during the extra time, coming on for Kyle Walker. Rashford was the one among the players taking a penalty in the shoot-out, scoring it convincingly. In the end, it was Eric Dier who scored the match winning penalty.
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