Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Mexico and South Korea will aim to punch their ticket to the World Cup knockout rounds on Thursday when they meet in Guadalajara, knowing that a win would guarantee a last 32 berth. The Group A rivals head into the fixture at the Estadio Akron fresh from victories over South Africa and the Czech Republic in their opening games last week.
In Thursday’s first game of the second round of fixtures at this 48-team World Cup, South Africa drew 1-1 with the Czech Republic. Teboho Mokoena slotted home a penalty to grab a point for a much-improved South Africa team, from the one beaten by Mexico, after Michal Sadilek had put the Czechs ahead in the sixth minute in Atlanta. The point will be a relief for both countries, but they are likely to be left hoping to be one of the eight best third-placed teams from the 12 groups in order to progress to the knockout stage. Only the first two teams in each group are guaranteed passage into the last 32.
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Co-hosts Mexico are bracing for a significantly tougher test against South Korea than South Africa provided in the tournament’s opening fixture when they had two players sent off in a 2-0 defeat. “We have to be very wary of the opponents’ attacking transitions,” Mexico coach Javier Aguirre said. “When we are attacking, we can’t let our guard down; if there are two Koreans up front, there need to be three Mexicans.”
The build-up to Thursday’s game has been shrouded with intrigue, with a mystery drone spotted over South Korea’s training ground on Tuesday. Yonhap news agency reported that a South Korea team security officer spotted the device, and a Mexican military drone-interdiction specialist stationed at the training camp brought it down by emitting radio signals. Two men who were suspected to be the drone operators retrieved the crashed device and fled the scene, in an incident which South Korea coach Hong Myung-bo described as “unfortunate” but insisted “did not impact us significantly.”
In other games on Thursday, Switzerland will look to bounce back from their disappointing opening Group B draw with Qatar when they take on Bosnia-Herzegovina in Los Angeles, while co-hosts Canada face the Qataris in Vancouver. Bosnia coach Sergej Barbarez urged his team to summon the spirit of their qualifying campaign, when they knocked out Italy. “When we were playing against Italy in the playoffs, we had a similar sort of sentiment publicly, but we stayed focused on ourselves,” Barbarez said.
Off the pitch, Ivory Coast forward Elye Wahi has been authorized to enter Canada for his country’s match against Germany on Saturday, after initially being denied a visa over reported spot-fixing allegations, a source close to the player said on Thursday. The Ivorian football federation (FIF) had earlier announced Wahi would miss the game in Toronto. The source told AFP that Canada had delayed Wahi’s visa authorization after requesting further information regarding his legal situation, before eventually rubber-stamping his entry.
Several media reported that Wahi had been questioned by French prosecutors over suspicions of spot-fixing in a Ligue 1 match while he was playing for Nice. The case revolves around a yellow card which Wahi picked up in a 0-0 draw with Metz in mid-May, after betting authorities noticed an unusual volume of bets being placed on the 23-year-old receiving a booking.
On Wednesday, England burst into the tournament with a roller coaster 4-2 win over Croatia in Group L, which included two goals from captain Harry Kane and one each from Jude Bellingham and Marcus Rashford. But while England got off the mark in style, Cristiano Ronaldo’s poor performance in Portugal’s surprise 1-1 draw with the Democratic Republic of Congo raised questions over the 41-year-old legend. The five-time world player of the year managed just 25 touches in the whole match. Sports newspaper A Bola said Ronaldo appeared “crushed by the pressure” and had become “a problem” for the team.
© 2024 AFP
