Several Manchester United players are currently in Russia, at the FIFA World Cup and some of them had already played their first match of the tournament. Here, we will be taking a look at those players that did feature during these first four days of the tournament. Some of them had really good and some of them had pretty bad performances.
Spain – David De Gea
First of all Man United players on pitch in Russia was David De Gea. And it did not start well for him. As much as he was reliable in Manchester United shirt, this time he made a huge mistake that in the end cost Spain victory. La Roja drew 3-3 against European champions in a match where De Gea conceded a goal that should have been easily saved. Ronaldo made a long range shot and the low shot was going straight into the hands of the keeper, but somehow he managed to steer it to his right and into the net.
It was tough seeing De Gea making such a mistake, but a good thing was that he was composed in his post-match interview. It was a bad mistake, but he is clearly a wonderful goalkeeper who will not be too touched by this for long.
France – Paul Pogba
On the opposite side of De Gea’s howler was Paul Pogba with a winner for France. Les Bleus managed to get past Australia in a 2-1 win that had seen two penalties, one for each side. After Griezmann and Jedinak were composed from the spot, it was Pogba who was waited for to score in 78th minute.
Looking overall, this was far from a vintage Pogba performance. The French midfield looked rusty, slow and unimaginative, having troubles to create anything at all for their forwards. Yet, Pogba’s goal will be a boost for him ahead of the matches against Peru and Denmark.
Argentina – Marcos Rojo
Argentina are another team amongst the favourites who had a bad start at the World Cup. Los Albicelestes drew 1-1 against Iceland in their group’s opener and Marcos Rojo played whole 90 minutes for them. In general, he had a good game, as Iceland did not threat too often in this match. In second half, the European side did not even record a single shot towards Argentina’s goal but that was still enough to get a well-deserved point from this match.
Iceland did manage to score, but it was mostly due to Willy Caballero’s poor reaction in his six-yard box.
Serbia – Nemanja Matic
Serbia returned to the World Cup and recorded a win straight away. Former Manchester City full-back Aleksandar Kolarov was the one who scored a beautiful free-kick for a 1-0 victory, while Nemanja Matic played whole 90 minutes. The midfielder did not really have one of his best games, but the overall performance would be recognized as ‘average’, not poor. Matic made a couple of mistakes in dangerous areas and looked a bit flustered in the first half. However, that did not stop his team from winning, nor did it stop Matic from having a row with Costa Rica’s whole bench.
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