Germany 2019 - Day X Qatar vs Russia expectations raised

Russia played better than Brazil but got very unfortunate against France and were amazing against Germany. They probably under-estimated Brazil or simply as a team were not as effective as they would have desired.

I did not see Qatar group matchs but their results were, it seems, somewhat inconsistent. Valero Rivera who managed to get them to the Olympics in Rio following the heroics in Doha in a breathtaking final. A couple of new faces and some absentees of note within the Qatari contingent. They are not as strong defensively as in previous competitions ; and Saric has not been at his amazing best to best knowledge and belief. On one of his last international outings. He has not lost his sense of hmour.
We should remind ourselves that Valero Rivera also won, as a manager, the World Championships at home in Spain in 2013.

Let's see what happens now. It should be an interesting one.

Dibirov was eager to talk to the fans and was ready to sign autographs



Players must get ready and they shall make sure the ball is easy to handle








The Qatari anthem

This match exceeded my expectations. A lot of goals and key saves notably in the second half.

The Qatari attacks were fairly swift especially early in the game.



They tried to get quickly in the middle and their conversion rate was increasing at a steady pace.







Or even on the left side with surprising ease



And the ball can be found very low





Whilst Russia stood firm with some incisive moves



Nonetheless Qatari defenders could devise a good strategy to halt the opposition's attempts






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