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A brilliant free-kick from Aleksandar Kolarov was enough to give Serbia a win over Costa Rica, who missed two fine first-half chances but struggled to create any thereafter
Updated
Sun 17 Jun 2018 10.09 EDT
First published on Sun 17 Jun 2018 07.00 EDT
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Key events
Here’s a match report for you.
Evra is trying so hard to wacky my screen is cringing. Kolarov used to be his neighbour in Manchester, and was frequently naused by Evra and his title wins. Hilarious!
Serbia ought really to have won by more - Mitrovic missed two brilliant chances. But on the other and, Sergej showed his class on the ball and knack for finding space. If he has a good game against Switzerland, that might be enough to secure second place in the group - assuming Brazil finish top. Which they might not.
Full-time: Costa Rica 0-1 Serbia
And there it is. A brilliant free-kick from Aleksandar Kolarov is enough to settle the game. Costa Rica had their chances in first half, but Serbia stepped it up for 15 minutes in the second and that was enough to earn them the win.
90+6 min Prijovic catches Duarte in the cheek with a stray finger. It’s probably deliberate, but there’s very little harm done, and after VA, then the ref reviewing the situation, a booking is disbursed.
90+5 min Costa Rica get down the right and Gamboa swipes in a cross. Ruzi finds himself on the ball, doesn’t get hold of a shot, and Bolanos turns it in - but is offside and plenty.
90+4 min A minor scuffle as Matic wants the ball for a throw, Ramirez won’t give it him because it’s Costa Rica’s possession, and various others pile in to jockey and nudge. VAR have a look to see if anyone wants sending off, but nothing doing. That was nearly beautiful, but everyone remembered where they were just in time to ruin it.
90+3 min Costa Rica win a corner and Kostic win the ball on the edge of their box! He ploughs forward and has three men in space to his right! But as he nears the box, he tries I don’t know what, floating nonsense into Navas’ soft, grateful arms.
90 min There’ll be five added minutes and Costa Rica start them with a free-kick. Bolanos curls a dangerous looking ball into the box, Milenkovic heads away well, and Gamboa drives a low shot that Stojkovic fields comfortably enough.
90 min Sergej has been excellent these last ten minutes, and he barges through midfield and finds Kostic, who larrups over the bar.
89 min Prijovic rescues Mitrovic, who ought to have finished this. He’s actually played ok as a target man, but didn’t look confident with either one-on-one.
87 min Mitrovic is having one here.He makes a mess of his control after a decent pass from Sergej, then when Sergej plays him in beautifully, his first touch isn’t good enough, he hesitates, and then can’t get the ball out if his feet before Gonzales slides in.
84 min Costa Rica are struggling to create anything, but given Serbia aren’t really trying to score, you’d expect them to have a few more goes at sticking the ball into the box.
82 min Second change for Serbia: off goes Tadic and on comes Rukavina or, put another way, it’s a defender for an attacker.
81 min Sergej picks up a loose ball and lifts a ball over the top for Mitrovic, but Duarte is over quickly to intercede. Good defending.
80 min Sergej, then. He’s really, really good in possession, but could do with finding a way to make that happen more often.
79 min Colindres goes down the line and spanks over a cross that’s got far too much on it. But then Sergej gets his team into trouble with a flick close to the edge of his own box, and Milenkovic has to block Borges’ shot.
78 min Serbia are really quite good when they get it together - as they should be, with the players they have. But they just lack that bit of drive and intensity.
76 min Good couple of minutes from Serbia, Sergej lumping over the top before Mitrovic finds Tadic, whose low cross is poked against Kostic by Navas’ fingertip. Excellent keeping.
75 min “Watching the game in Heraklion yesterday,” tweets Jeff Buck. “Three Americans at the next table. One asks ‘Does Russia have the Euro’; “Not since the Brexit,” says another’ the others nod sagely.
My favourite word in this anecdote is “the”.
73 min Milenkovic tires to get in front of Campbell and finds himself coming from behind the ball is deflected into the space he vacated. But he does really well to come back at him and concede a corner. Before it’s taken, Guzman is replaced by Colindres, and Serbia then clear.
72 min Campbell slings in an outswinger, but Sergej is there to head away.
71 min Milenkovic fouls Campbel and is booked; free-kick Costa Rica, 30 yards out, in line with the left edge of the box.
70 min Change for Serbia: Kostic replaces Ljajic.
70 min Things have quietened again. Costa Rica are passing sideways slowly, looking for an opening; Serbia are letting them.
68 min Costa Rica are driving the game now. I don’t see that this is Serbia’s likeliest route to a result, though it should still work.
67 min Second change for Costa Rica: off goes Urena, on comes Arsene Wenger’s Joel Campbell.
66 min Serbia aren’t settling for 1-0 but are funnelling back out of possession, leaving Mitrovic up front.
65 min We shouldn’t forget that Paulo Wanchope was manager of Costa Rica ... until this happened.
63 min Bolanos has been lively since coming on, looking to put the ball into the box quickly. He’ll need his mates to get in there too, though, if that’s to work.
62 min “Weird stuff at football,” emails James Crane. “A few years ago I took my seat at Hampden for the Celtic/Aberdeen cup semi to find my neighbour shelling and then eating a bag of half a dozen boiled eggs. Not the *very* worst, admittedly, but still odd (also it absolutely stank the place out). And, as any fan will testify, to be the primary bad smell at such an occasion is quite the achievement.”
That is odd. Maybe he likes Cool Hand Luke.
60 min Bolanos replaces Venegas and with his first touch, curls in a dangerous free-kick. Tosic heads it away, but Serbia dropped very deep there.
59 min Ivanovic slides in on Venegas, sort of with with two feet but sort of winning the ball in the process, and he’s booked.
58 min That was what we needed. Costa Rica can’t just sit there now, because if they do they’ll lose and Serbia have also looked like scoring while they were at it. Ljajic bursts through the middle and Sergej nearly finds him - hopefully Serbia won’t sit on their lead.
WHAT A GOAL! Costa Rica 0-1 Kolarov (56 min)
AND THERE IT IS! Kolarov curls an absolute jazzer over the wall an just inside the near post! The power he generated with the side of his foot there! Brilliant!
56 min Mitrovic focres himself away from Calvo, who tries all manner of foul before earning himself a yellow card. Free-kick Serbia, just outside the box, right of centre ... also known at, er, “Kolarov territory”.
54 min Kolarov forces himself a yard and curls a decent cross towards the back post. Sergej isn’t getting it, but Calvo can’t be sure and heads behind ... the corner is decent, and Duarte grabs Mitrovic who, as a consequence, gets very little on his header and the ball flies wide,
52 min Serbia are passing and moving a bit more aggressively now. I still wonder if they need two sitting midfielders.
50 min A chance! Mitrovic takes the ball on his chest very nicely and finds Sergej, who caresses a lovely return pass back into his stride. But, with Gonzales on his heels, he leans left and slides right, far too close to Navas, who blocks before Duarte humps behind. That finish was very poor.
49 min Something I’ve noticed in this World Cup so far: teams that have played miserably in the first half have pretty much done likewise in the second. The travel hairdryers do not appear to be working properly.
48 min Sergej catches Guzman on the achilles, and he goes down in discomfort. That’s about it.
47 min On the plus side, Catchphrase is on next.
47 min
“Today we’re building the wall!”
— Matt Ford (@matt_4d) June 17, 2018
Questionable front page from @welt this morning, both politically and tactically 🤨 #germex #worldcup
(via @alexpieter) pic.twitter.com/77vFDKMOhH