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Oct 4Day 10 of the World Cup marked the start of the final group stage fixtures - where nations will learn whether they're heading into the Round of 16 or to the airport.
Ecuador vs Senegal and Netherlands vs Qatar decided who went through in Group A - though Qatar were already out of contention - before the big one this evening, Wales vs England in the Battle of Britain.
Iran vs USA wrapped up Group B, with all sides capable of qualifying before kick-off.
The day’s results
Ecuador 1-2 Senegal
Netherlands 2-0 Qatar
Wales 0-3 England
Iran 0-1 USA
Match summaries
Ecuador 1-2 Senegal
Senegal got the win they needed to progress to the Round of 16, finishing second in Group A at the expense of Ecuador. They will play England in the knockouts.
With Senegal needing a win to progress past the group stage it was perhaps no surprise that they started the fastest.
After just three minutes Idrissa Gueye found himself with the keeper to beat after a pass from Pape Gueye, but his shot lacked control and whistled past the post when it should've been nestling in the net.
Youssouf Sabaly then found Boulaye Dia in the box, but the forward dragged his shot wide.
Iliman Ndiaye came close with a curling shot that went wide of the upright and Ismaïla Sarr was unlucky to see his effort fly past the post.
Ecuador hit Senegal on the counter attack and showed some pace in their build-up play, but rarely threatened.
Then just before half-time Senegal were awarded a penalty.
Ismaïla Sarr came from the blind side to pounce on a loose ball in the box. Piero Hincapié's desperate tackle wiped the Watford man out and Sarr himself stepped up to casually convert the spot kick.
Ecuador pushed for an equaliser in the second half, but didn't really trouble Edouard Mendy in Senegal's goal until the 66th-minute.
The South Americans won a corner and Brighton's Moisés Caicedo prodded in from a yard out after a Félix Torres flick on.
The Lions of Teranga were back in front a couple of minutes later though, when a free-kick fell to Chelsea's Kalidou Koulibaly inside the penalty box and the centre-back sent his side-footed finish into the corner of the net.
Ecuador chased an equaliser again and Gonzalo Plata found himself in a good position 13 yards out, but volleyed his shot straight at Mendy.
Ecuador threw everyone forward in injury time to try and claim the point that would see them through to the knockout stages, but Senegal held on to the win and will join Netherlands in the next round.
Netherlands 2-0 Qatar
Netherlands won Group A and will now play USA in the Round of 16.
The Dutch dominated the first half, but Qatar's sporadic counter attacks posed a threat.
In the first few minutes Netherlands showed their intent with Memphis Depay, starting for the first time in this World Cup, narrowly missing out on a long ball over the top and into the box.
Moments later Daley Blind's close-range effort was saved by Qatar keeper Meshaal Barsham after a scramble in the six-yard area.
Depay had another opportunity to grab his first goal of the tournament when a deflection off Davy Klaassen fell to the Barca forward, but he blazed over the bar.
Most of Qatar's attacks ended on the edge of the box, when they either lacked the quality to play a final pass or refused to take a shot on.
Hassan Al Haydos did have a go from range, but his effort went straight at goalkeeper Andries Noppert.
Then a corner for Qatar got them closer to goal, but Abdelkarim Hassan's attempt flew over the bar.
On 25 minutes, Cody Gakpo scored his third goal in three matches at this World Cup, picking up the ball from Klaassen, running into the area and striking a shot low and hard into the bottom corner.
Netherlands wasted no time in the second half, doubling their lead within minutes.
Klaassen floated a ball into Depay who smashed a shot towards goal from a few yards out. Barsham saved well, but Frenkie de Jong was fastest to react and finished from close range.
Steven Berghuis thought he'd made it 3-0 with 25 minutes left, but Gakpo played the ball with his arm in the build up.
Qatar tried to make their mark on this match and created a few openings, including a Abdulaziz Hatem effort which Noppert saved, but Netherlands were never truly troubled and nearly scored a third when Berghuis curled a shot against the bar in injury time.
Wales 0-3 England
England won Group B after beating Wales 3-0 and will now play Senegal in the Round of 16 on Sunday.
Wales went into their must-win match against England with Dan James and Kieffer Moore starting, while Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey both played despite Rob Page hinting they might start on the bench.
Gareth Southgate made changes to his side too, with Bukayo Saka, Mason Mount, Raheem Sterling and Kieran Trippier making way for Marcus Rashford, Phil Foden, Jordan Henderson and Kyle Walker.
England dominated the first half, showing far more attacking intent than they did against USA. Still, they couldn’t create too many clear-cut chances.
They did however have a glorious opportunity to take the lead on 10 minutes when Kane put a pass through to Rashford to bury, but the Manchester United forward couldn’t lift the ball over Danny Ward.
Towards the end of the half England almost scored a goal straight out of the Brazilian playbook, with Kyle Walker and Jude Bellingham combining silkily with Foden, who shot wide.
Moments later Rashford was trying to do a Richarlison, but his bicycle kick didn’t produce the same result.
Wales offered very little on the attack, but with the last kick of the half Joe Allen had a go from the edge of the area, which flew into the crowd.
Wales took Gareth Bale off for the second period and just minutes later they were 1-0 down without their talisman on the pitch to help them get back into the game.
Foden’s mazy run drew a free-kick on the edge of the box and step forward Rashford, who curled sumptuously shot into Ward's top left-hand corner, before almost immediately afterwards, Foden got himself on the scoresheet, tapping in a pinpoint cross from Kane.
James almost got Wales back into the contest with a cross/shot which troubled Jordan Pickford, before Moore tried his luck from range too, forcing Pickford to parry away for a corner.
England effectively ended the game with a little over 20 minutes left when Rashford bagged his second of the match.
Kalvin Phillips' upfield ball was taken down by his Manchester rival and he ran into the box, cut inside and fired in off Ward.
Rashford nearly had his third shortly after when linking up well with Callum Wilson, but Ward saved with his foot.
Wilson carried on where Kane left off, setting up his colleagues. This time he found Bellingham in the box, but Ward saved well again to keep the score at 3-0.
John Stones should have added some extra gloss late on, but England went through as group winners while Wales are out.
Iran 0-1 USA
Both teams tried to attack in the first half, with Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi causing issues for the US defence, while at the other end, Yunus Musah blasted over the bar from the edge of the area and Christian Pulisic planted a header straight at Alireza Beiranvand in the opening ten minutes.
But soon after USA got a grip on the game and had more possession and chances, as well as showing great grit and determination to win the ball back at every opportunity.
Sergino Dest found success on the right and his whipped cross nearly found Timothy Weah’s outstretched boot, but Beiranvand palmed it away.
Midway through the half, Christian Pulisic drove forward and found Josh Sargent, whose long-range effort cannoned off the defender and dropped to Weah, who had time and space but tamely headed straight into the gloves of Beiranvand from roughly 12 yards out, before Weah put too much power behind a shot inside the area which he skied over the bar when he should’ve hit the target.
USA did find a breakthrough in the 37th minute as Weston McKennie’s floated ball found Dest, whose headed cross was swept home by Pulisic from a couple of yards out, with the Chelsea attacker forced off shortly afterwards having seemingly collided with Majid Hosseini as he scored.
In the last minute of first-half injury time Weah ran onto a lovely through ball from McKennie and tucked in off the far post. It looked like 2-0, but VAR called it offside.
USA started the second half well, opening with a tame shot from Josh Sargent, but Iran played their way into the game and came close when Ramin Rezaeian’s cross was headed over from close range by Saman Ghoddos.
It all got a bit frantic towards the end as Iran pushed for an equaliser that would put them into the next round at the expense of the US.
Nine minutes of injury time were added and Iran nearly snatched broke American hearts when Morteza Pouraliganji headed a Rezaeian free-kick narrowly wide, and there was more late drama when Taremi went down under a Cameron Carter-Vickers challenge with a minute left to play. However, the ball was cleared and no penalty was given.
USA held on to finish Group B in second place. They'll now face Netherlands in the next round.
Goal of the day
Marcus Rashford – England
Early in the second half, Rashford fired his free-kick into the top corner of the Welsh goal from the edge of the box. What a strike! Accurate, powerful and important for England.
Save of the day
Danny Ward – Wales
Standing in for Wayne Hennessey, who was sent off in Wales' previous game against Iran, Danny Ward quickly left his line to smother a Rashford strike and keep the scores level inside the opening ten minutes against England.
Player of the day
Marcus Rashford - England
Rashford was given the nod over Sterling and Saka and made a massive impact against Wales. He scored two goals, including a lovely free-kick to give the Three Lions the lead. His pace caused the Welsh defence lots of problems and helped him get his second goal, and he nearly had a hat-trick before coming off to a standing ovation with around 15 minutes of normal time left.
Magic moments
- There were just 98 seconds between England's first and second goals.
- "He's just keeping warm!" The words of Alan Shearer after Jordan Pickford theatrically dived for a Joe Allen shot that missed the target by some distance just before half-time.
- A single England supporter was pictured celebrating at a Cardiff fan park during the Three Lions' second-half dominance. Rather them than me.
- Seb Hutchinson and Andros Townsend are becoming quite the double act on ITV commentary duties with some great lines. Today's highlights included Townsend calling out Hutchinson for laughing while saying "Everton man" to describe Idrissa Gueye after he missed a chance and Townsend saying: "The manager who was saying ‘compacto’ five minutes ago will now be saying ‘offenso’" after Ecuador went 1-0 down.
- When talking about Dutch player Cody Gakpo, Hutchinson asked Townsend, "Would you take him [at Everton]?", with Townsend replying: "Well he’s an attacking player so… When the goal came up I was hoping it wasn’t him."
- Senegal fans dancing in unison as their side played Ecuador. One was wearing a massive lion's head.
- Ismaila Sarr kept his eyes on the keeper when he took his penalty. Ice cool.
Quote of the day
BBC commentator Guy Mowbray reacting to England's second goal:
"England running away! It's a double-quick Manchester one-two! One red, one blue, two goals into the Welsh net!"
Image of the day
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Upcoming fixtures
Wednesday 30 November:
Group D: Australia vs Denmark - 3pm KO
Group D: Tunisia vs France - 3pm KO
Group C: Saudi Arabia vs Mexico - 7pm KO
Group C: Poland vs Argentina - 7pm KO
