2018 FIFA World Cup: The First Wins of Brazil, Nigeria and Switzerland
Though all teams played their second matches at 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia on June 22, three teams managed to gain their first victories, which were so desirable for their countries. Brazil, Nigeria and Switzerland earned victories over Costa Rica, Iceland and Serbia.
The match Brazil-Costa Rica ended with the score 2:0. Thus, Costa Rica won’t continue to compete at the World Cup after all the games of the group stage are played. A curious fact is that no goals were scored in the game in regular time. On the 91st minute, Philippe Coutinho scored the first goal, assisted by Gabriel Jesus. On the 97th minute, Neymar scored the second goal after an assist from Douglas Costa.
Barcelona midfielder Philippe Coutinho was called Man of the Match for the second time at the 2018 World Cup. Neymar, Coutinho (Brazil) and Johnny Acosta (Costa Rica) were shown yellow cards.
Nigeria earned a victory over Iceland with the score 2:0. In the first period, no goals were scored. But in the second one, Nigerian Ahmed Musa made a double. He scored for the first time on the 49th minute, assisted by Victor Moses. On the 75th minute, he scored the second goal after an assist from Kenneth Omeruo.
Unsurprisingly, Ahmed Musa became a Man of the Match. Moreover, the forward became the first Nigerian in history to score at 2 FIFA World Cups. The only yellow card in the game was given to Brian Igowu (Nigeria).
Serbia lost to Switzerland 1:2. Serbians opened the score on the 5th minute after a goal of Aleksandar Mitrovic, assisted by Dusan Tadic. On the 51st minute, Switzerland evened the score thanks to the goal of Granit Xhaka. The final point in the game was put by Xherdan Shaqiri, who scored the decisive goal for his team after an assist from Mario Gavranovic.
Stoke City winger, Xherdan Shaqiri, was voted as Man of the Match. The yellow cards were shown to Serbians Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Luka Milivojevic, Nemanja Matic, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Swiss Xherdan Shaqiri.
