58 NEW VISION, Monday, July 9, 2018 VISION SPORT

Russia salutes YOUR WORLD CUP UPDATES W. Cup heroes MOSCOW

The Kremlin dubbed the Russian national team heroes and proud soccer THE BIG FLOPS fans saluted their underdog By F. Kaweesi in St Petersburg host team after the side lost on penalties to Croatia, Top scorers bringing an end to its World (England) 6 Cup challenge at the quar- Romelu Lukaku (Belgium) 4 ter-finals. (Portugal) 4 Across Russia, hand-wringing Denis Cheryshev (Russia) 4 fans had held their breath through extra time, hoping the In the aftermath of Brazil’s 2-1 team could pull off another defeat to Belgium in Kazan, upset. Russia entered the World one player was excused from Cup as the lowest ranking side, criticism. but reached the quarter finals Somehow, the Brazilian fans still against the odds. found a soft spot for their talisman The disappointment of defeat . late on Saturday soon melted Belgium produced a masterclass into applause as fans toasted a performance to beat Brazil 2-1 in national side that had repeated- front of a shell-shocked crowd to set ly defied expectations. Fans up a blockbuster semi-final against spilling out of bars chanted in St. Petersburg on Tuesday. “Russia,” dancing in the street But Brazilian fans feel Neymar, and singing along as music who managed two goals in the tour- blared. nament, was left to toil all alone in “Our boys, they really did attack. great. A huge thank you to them That the story would have been for this tournament. What we different had lead strikers Gabriel achieved, that was so cool,” Jesus and Firminho assumed full Andrey, a lawyer, said next to a goal scoring responsibility in the street corner screen that had team. shown the match. But is Jesus the only star striker President Vladimir Putin did that marched into Russia with not attend the game, but expectation, only to fail his team? watched remotely, saying the While the likes of Cristiano players were heroes despite the Ronaldo, Romelu Lukaku, and defeat and the country was Harry Kane have managed to justify Aguero did not do himself any favours at the World Cup. Photo by Reuters proud of them, Kremlin spokes- the hype that followed them to the goals during the 1958 World Cup in pathetic. He was either slow or man Dmitry Peskov was cited as World Cup, there are a number of Sweden, he holds the record for lacked ideas each time Serbia saying by Interfax. celebrated strikers that fired blanks most goals at a single World Cup. played the ball to him. “He watched, he was rooting throughout the tournament. For a striker that still managed to The Newcastle forward signed out for the team. We lost in a fair In this report, we review that roster score seven in 13 outings with without a goal. and great game. They are still of forwards that promised so much, Chelsea last season, it is mind-bog- great guys for us, they are that had the profile to lead their gling that Giroud has still failed to Thomas Muller (Germany) heroes. They were dying on the teams to World Cup glory but fell score here. He could however Although Muller is not an out- pitch, we are proud with them,” short of the expected standards. redeem himself tomorrow. and-out striker and was played as a Peskov was quoted as saying. has been left out withdrawn striker behind Timo because he is not an out-and-out Sergio Aguero (Argentina) Werner, he was still expected to Russian roulette striker. The Manchester City striker could lead Germany’s attack. Despite the result, street par- only afford one goal. He arrived in Russia with an ties broke out in central Gabriel Jesus Often a live-wire leading the line impressive goals tally of five in each Moscow in scenes reminiscent He was considered as Neymar’s at times at City, Aguero cut a frus- of the two previous editions, win- of the celebrations following explosive partner but flopped. He trated figure here. ning the Golden Boot in 2010 and Russia’s shock victory over Spain was meant to lead the lines just as the silver boot in 2014. on Sunday. The Kremlin likened Brazilian legends Pele and Ronaldo Gonzalo Higuain (Argentina) Even in the qualifying rounds for those festivities to images of cel- did in their eras. After missing a gilt-edged opportu- the World Cup, the 28-year-old was ebrations after victory in World While Pele scored a combined 12 nity in the World Cup final against the top scorer with five goals. War Two. Reuters goals from 14 games over different Germany four years ago, Higuain His failures, with no goal scored World Cups, Ronaldo managed 15 needed this tournament to redeem here, was a reflection of Germany’s goals - the second highest goals himself. Unfortunately, it was yet outing in Russia. tally in the history of the tourna- another disappearing act. He was ment. Sadly, Jesus, who managed 13 toothless throughout the tourna- Javier Hernandez (Mexico) goals with Manchester City last sea- ment. After scoring just eight goals in 28 son, signed out with no goal to his appearances for West Ham last sea- name. (Poland) son, it was probably misguided to True, Jesus is just 21, with so many Another star striker that was use- rely on Hernandez for goals. years ahead of him. But the same less in Russia. Lewandowski arrived Little wonder, Hernandez could can be said of France striker Kylian here as the man supposed to shoul- only score once. Mbappe, who at 19 years of age, has der Poland’s World Cup hopes. still gone to register three goals to He claimed the top scorers’ award Luis Suarez (Uruguay) his name. in the German Bundesliga last sea- Another glamorous striker that son and it was hard to imagine the underperformed going by his stan- (France) lanky forward leaving Russia with- dards. France has produced brilliant out a goal. His two goals here were a drop in strikers over the years and unfortu- the ocean if you consider his 25 nately most have failed to scale Aleksandar Mitrovic (Serbia) goals tally at Spanish side Barcelona President Putin. Photo by AFP heights set by Just Fontaine. There are average strikers and and the fact that he has the sec- Fontaine was one of the finest there are terrible strikers. Mitrovic ond-most goals scored (five) in the An England fan celebrates by French strikers of all-time. With 13 was terrible. His first touch was World Cup. climbing a lamp post. Reuters