The World Cup is getting into full swing and Manchester United players are all on display in this tournament. In the last couple of days, there were more of our players in action for their national teams. While their performances since have not been exactly as good as those from Man United’s England players, there were interesting things to see.
Argentina Shockingly Lose
There were plenty of Manchester United players in action at the World Cup on Monday and they did great, but since then, there were more of their club teammates which had the chance to play in Qatar. The first of those matches came on Tuesday morning, when Saudi Arabia shocked Lisandro Martinez’s Argentina. Man United centre-back did not start the match against the Asian side, with Cristian Romero getting the chance to start alongside Nicolas Otamendi. After a good first half, Argentina getting the lead and having three goals ruled out for offside, second half brought mayhem which resulted in two quick goals for the Saudis, giving them a 2-1 lead. It was only then that Lisandro Martinez came on, but after that, everything seemed bad in Argentina’s game. They did not create good chances and ultimately failed to at least salvage a point. Martinez’s performance was fine, but who knows how things would have gone if he was in the starting lineup of Lionel Scaloni’s side.
Denmark And Tunisia Go Goalless
The first match of Group D brought us the first meeting between the national teams which both boast a Man United player. Denmark disappointed in a 0-0 draw against Tunisia and they were not helped even by a good performance from Christian Eriksen. Just 17 months after almost dying on the pitch during the European Championships, Eriksen played full 90 minutes and ran Denmark’s performance. On the other hand, Hannibal Mejbri made his World Cup debut coming onto the pitch in the last 10 minutes of the match, but that did not change much either. This point was a good one for the African team, while Denmark will have to find better solutions in attack before their matches against France and Australia.
France Score Four Against Australia
And finally, it was France’s turn to play against Australia in that same Group D, but this match did not get us to see Raphael Varane in action. Didier Deschamps decided to keep the Man United defender on the bench, due to his recent injury problems and not risk anything. France have enough depth in that position, so the world champions played with Dayot Upamecano and Ibrahima Konate, doing a pretty good job. Clearly, France did not expect to go a goal behind in the early minutes of the match, but thanks to two goals from Olivier Giroud and one from Adrien Rabiot and Kylian Mbappe, they ran to a comfortable 4-1 victory. With matches coming quick one after the other, there will be opportunities for Varane to return to the fold.
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