Argentina played France in the first Round of 16 game this World Cup. Antoine Griezmann had a shot early on for France that banged off the crossbar, but France would get their first goal in the 13th minute. Kylian Mbappe was dragged down in the box by Marcus Rojo, and Griezmann buried the PK to give France the lead. Later in the half, France and Argentina had PK shouts when France's Olivier Giroud went down and for Argentina, Lionel Messi was pulled down. In the 41st, Angel Di Maria leveled it when his strike from 30 yards out hit the top right corner, giving keeper Hugo Lloris no chance. After the half, Di Maria immediately won an attacking free kick. It fell to Messi on a short pass, whose shot was redirected by Gabriel Mercado, passing Lloris and giving Argentina the lead in the 48th. Less than 10 minutes later, Benjamin Pavard hit a volley from the edge of the 18 yard box, hitting the far left corner to tie the game at 2. Mbappe soon found a ball to him after a deflected Paul Pogba shot, and he five-holed Argentine keeper Franco Armani for France's 3rd goal in the 64th. Mbappe got a brace when he scored 4 minutes later, after latching onto a beautiful through-ball by Giroud, and he beat Armani one-on-one. Argentina would get within a goal in stoppage time, when Sergio Aguero heading home a cross from Messi. But their last chance ended with a shot off target, a Di Maria touch from an Aguero cross deflected wide.
France, with its 4-3 win, would play the winner of the Portugal-Uruguay game (played today as well) in the quarterfinals. Uruguay drew first blood, scoring in the 7th minute when Edinson Cavani headed in a long cross from Luis Suarez into the near post, giving Uruguay a 1-0 lead. This came a minute after Uruguay's keeper Fernando Muslera controlled Cristiano Ronaldo's shot from far out. Uruguay got a free kick nearly 20 minutes later, and Suarez almost made it 2-0 when his low free kick from 25 yards out was stopping by a diving Rui Patricio, Portugal's keeper. In the 55th, Portugal's Adrien Silva had a shot deflected off target for a corner, and Pepe headed home the resulting corner from the middle of the six yard box. Cavani reclaimed the lead for Uruguay when he first timed a pass from Rodrigo Bentancur, the shot curling past Patricio into the far post. In the minutes of stoppage time, Portugal's shots came to nothing as they were off target, before Muslera claimed the final long cross, sealing Portugal's fate. Uruguay will now play Friday against France.
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| Cavani (in blue) blasts home his header past Patricio (in yellow) for the Uruguay's first goal |
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