Sport

Sunday’s matches: Morocco stun Belgium 2-0, Croatia win 4-1, Germany draw 1-1 with Spain

Published

2 years ago

November 28, 2022

(Last Updated On: )

Sunday saw a clash of two World Cup titans when Spain took on Germany, in a match that could have sent the Germans home from the tournament early had they suffered another defeat.

Two other European teams were also in action: Belgium against Morocco, while Croatia played Canada.

Morocco 2 – 0 Belgium
In the Moroccan clash against Belgium, the two teams were still jostling for a goal when Abdelhamid Sabiri’s strike hit the net with under 20 minutes to go. This put Morocco ahead but with time virtually up, Zakaria Aboukhlal stunned the crowd making it 2-0 for Morocco – causing a major upset against the world’s 2nd ranked team.

Earlier, Moroccan joy at the Al Thumama Stadium was put on hold when Hakim Ziyech’s first-half goal was ruled out for offside.

Morocco had held Croatia to a goalless draw in their Group F opener.

The result poses serious questions about Belgium, seen as strong contenders in the tournament. But they only secured an underwhelming 1-0 win against Canada in their first group game.

Croatia 4 – 1 Canada

Alphonso Davies headed Canada into the lead after just two minutes following a sweeping move.

But relief for Croatia was on hand when Andrej Kramaric equalized from a tight angle just after the half hour.

Then, strong work from Marko Livaja just before half-time, saw him fire for the Croatians with a low shot from the edge of the area.

Kramaric struck again on 70 minutes to make it 3-1 for Croatia, before Lovro Majer scored an injury-time breakaway goal taking it to 4-1.

Canada is now eliminated. But at least their goal against Croatia is their first ever in a World Cup finals. They had failed to score in their previous four games, including in the opening 1-0 defeat against Belgium.

Croatia lost the 2018 final to France and the world’s 12th-ranked team opened the World Cup with a 0-0 draw against Morocco.

Germany 1—1 Spain

Substitute Alvaro Morata opened the scoring for Spain in the second half but Niclas Füllkrug equalized with seven minutes left to keep Germany in the tournament. But they go into the final game against Costa Rica in last place.

When the World Cup draw came out in April, one of the highlights of the group stage was Sunday’s match between the 2010 and 2014 champions at Al Bayt Stadium.

However, Germany’s surprising loss to Japan in its opener in Qatar meant the Germans would have been out if they had lost again.

After winning their fourth World Cup title in 2014 in Brazil, Germany didn’t make it out of the group stage in 2018 after losses to South Korea and Mexico.

Germany’s previous match against Spain was an embarrassing 6-0 defeat in the Nations League two years ago.

Spain went into the game looking to reinforce their status as one of the top title contenders following an impressive 7-0 rout of Costa Rica in their opener and 18-year-old Gavi became the youngest World Cup scorer since Pelé in 1958.

Costa Rica 1—0 Japan

A late, left-foot strike from Costa Rica’s Keysher Fuller from the edge of the penalty area following a defensive error was enough to secure victory for the Central American side.

The win puts Costa Rica back into play in Group E and will be a massive morale boost following their 7-0 thrashing against Spain, the 2010 world champions, in their opening match.

Japanese head coach Hajime Moriyasu warned his side to forget their historic 2-1 comeback win over Germany in their opening match. Japan struck twice in eight minutes late in the second half.

This is Japan’s seventh straight appearance at a World Cup finals.

Costa Rica meanwhile, which only has a population of just over five million, are appearing in their sixth World Cup. They reached the quarterfinals in 2014 in Brazil.

Where to watch

Afghan fans need not miss out on any of the excitement of this year’s tournament which is being broadcast exclusively by Ariana Television in Afghanistan.

For the full broadcast schedule CLICK HERE

Related Topics:#FIFAWorldCup #Morroco Belgium featured Football Germany Spain

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IPL 2025: Gujarat Titans beat Mumbai Indians by 36 runs

In today’s fixtures, Delhi Capitals will face Sunrisers Hyderabad in Visakhapatnam at 3:30 PM, while Rajasthan Royals will take on Chennai Super Kings in Guwahati at 7:30 PM.

Published

1 day ago

March 30, 2025

Ariana News

(Last Updated On: )

Gujarat Titans have beaten Mumbai Indians by 36 runs at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad. Chasing 197 runs Mumbai could only manage to get to 160/6. Prasidh Krishna was the pick of the bowlers with two wickets for the Titans.

Earlier Hardik Pandya won the toss and opted to bowl first. Sai Sudharsan chipped in with 41-ball 63 which helped Titans to put on a decent total on what seemed like a tricky surface.

In reply, Mumbai Indians could only score 160 for the loss of 6 wickets in 20 overs, with Suryakumar Yadav top-scoring with 48 off 28 balls. For Gujarat, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna claimed two wickets each.

With the result, Titans have registered their first win of the tournament while Mumbai after two games remain winless.

In today’s fixtures, Delhi Capitals will face Sunrisers Hyderabad in Visakhapatnam at 3:30 PM, while Rajasthan Royals will take on Chennai Super Kings in Guwahati at 7:30 PM.

Ariana Television will again broadcast this match live and exclusively across Afghanistan. Fans can tune in from 2:30 PM Kabul time.

Sport

De Kock fireworks see Kolkata thrash Rajasthan in IPL

Published

5 days ago

March 27, 2025

Ariana News

(Last Updated On: )

Spinners Moeen Ali and Varun Chakravarthy combined to help restrict Rajasthan to 151-9 after KKR elected to field first in Guwahati.

De Kock bossed the chase with his 61-ball innings laced with eight fours and six sixes as Kolkata achieved their target with 15 balls to spare.

De Kock, who has retired from Tests and one-day international cricket for South Africa and whose T20 international future remains uncertain, showed no signs of rustiness.

“To be fair, haven’t felt any challenges yet,” De Kock said.

“Have had three months off which felt nice. Had about a 10-day build-up to this season. Only my second game here, just taking it as I see it.”

Kolkata signed De Kock in November’s auction after he was released by Lucknow Super Giants.
He handed his team a quick start, hitting two fours but then lost opening partner Moeen, run out for five.

Skipper Ajinkya Rahane fell after a brisk 18 but De Kock stood firm and along with impact substitute Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who made 22, steered the team home in an unbeaten stand of 83.

De Kock finished with a six off Jofra Archer as Kolkata bounced back from their opening loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

Rajasthan suffered their second straight loss.

Earlier, Kolkata fast bowler Vaibhav Arora dismissed Sanju Samson, bowled for 13, and Chakravarthy and Moeen soon took two wickets each.
Wicketkeeper Samson is Rajasthan’s regular captain but has been forced to play only as a batter in the first three matches due to an injury.

Chakravarthy, who starred in India’s recent Champions Trophy triumph, got stand-in-skipper Riyan Parag out caught behind for 25.

Former England all-rounder Moeen, in for the unwell Sunil Narine, stifled the opposition with his off-spin and was rewarded with the wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal for 29.

The 37-year-old and Chakravarthy both struck again as Rajasthan slipped to 82-5 in 11 overs.

Wickets kept tumbling for Rajasthan and despite wicketkeeper-batsman Dhruv Jurel’s 33 and 16 from Archer, they settled for a below-par total.
“I think 170 was a reasonable score but we fell short by 20 runs,” said Parag. “The plan was to get Quinny out early but he didn’t so we shifted to containing them in the middle overs.”

Arora and fellow quick Harshit Rana also took two wickets each.

Kolkata, under Shreyas Iyer who is now Punjab Kings captain after a $3.17 million move in the auction, won their third IPL title last year.

The seventh match of the day will see Sunrisers Hyderabad play Lucknow Super Giants. The live broadcast of this match, on Ariana Television, will start at 6:15pm.