We are receiving some really good feedback on our World Cup coverage. With Olle at the heart of the Indy gathering as much information as he can for you to read. His last report hit over ten thousand views. We have some player interest coming up at the Swans over the next 24 hours or so.

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Another Swansea loss, record breakers, and the Ghanaian defense — Round 2 of the World Cup was incredible. I covered the majority of the games in the last report, but there is too much for just one write-up, and World Cup Olle is on a roll! Marko Stamenic’s New Zealand suffered yet another Swansea-affiliated loss, going down 1-3 to Egypt. The All Whites had the lead going into half-time, but the Egyptians fired back in the second half. This result means New Zealand must win against Belgium to qualify for the next round. It’s a big task, but the Belgians haven’t looked good at all. It’s not all negative, though, because Marko Stamenić (below) personally looked really good. He created two big chances and was solid overall. He will have to replicate that performance — and then some — to help beat Belgium in the next round.

There was actually yet another Swansea-affiliated player to suffer defeat in the second round. I failed to cover him in my report on former Swansea players at the World Cup, but Iraq’s Ali Al Hamadi was part of the Swansea academy as recently as 2020. He played for the under-18s up to the under-23s. He was actually signed on a professional contract and was offered another one after the first ran out, but he declined having failed to break into the first team. He has since played for Bromley, Wycombe, AFC Wimbledon, Ipswich, Stoke and is currently playing for Luton in League One. Al Hamadi (below right) has played in both of Iraq’s games so far, but both have ended in defeat. He had a decent chance against Norway but couldn’t do much, as Iraq lost 0-3 to France.

Someone who did perform in that game, however, was France’s Kylian Mbappé.With another two goals, Mbappé now sits at 16 World Cup goals, equalling Klose’s record — surely he will break it!
Unless someone already has. Lionel Messi’s brace against Austria means he now has 18 World Cup goals, the most of any player in history. It is very possible that Mbappé breaks that record in this very tournament, but the race is on. Haaland also scored a brace this round, meaning almost all of the superstars are producing at an insane rate. Even Cristiano Ronaldo got in on the act and scored a brace — braces for everyone!

Except Harry Kane.

England pushed and pushed but Ghana’s defense was immaculate. The closest England came was a Nico O’Reilly header that struck the bar and Kane’s rebound, which he should have scored, but instead blazed into the stands. Ghana were robbed of the ‘clearest penalty’ I’ve ever witnessed when Prince Adu found himself through on goal and Ezri Konsa came from behind with a scissor kick to stop him from scoring. How VAR didn’t flag this is beyond me. Despite the draw, England are very likely to top the group with Panama as their only remaining opponent.

With 4 points, Ghana are guaranteed to qualify, either as runners-up or as one of the best third-placed teams, depending on the outcome of their final group game against Croatia.
Speaking of which, Round 3 has just begun, and already the results are fascinating. Scotland vs Brazil (0-3): Vinícius Júnior stepped up and bagged a brace as the Seleção danced around the Scottish. The game was never really close, and this win secured Brazil as winners of Group C. Despite Haiti’s best efforts, Morocco still managed to win 4-2, meaning they finished second. Scotland need to qualify as one of the best third-placed teams, but with 3 points and a -3 goal difference, that looks very tight; they are dependent on other results.

Group A finale — Czechia (Czech Republic FA) vs Mexico (0-3) and South Korea vs South Africa (0-1):
A very exciting final round for Group A, especially for Bafana Bafana. Czechia (Czech Republic FA) will be disappointed with their tournament, ending up last in the group with only 1 point. South Africa shocked South Korea to steal second place. Eom unfortunately saw no minutes as the Swansea losing trend continued.

Tonight at 9 PM, Ecuador need to win against Germany to qualify. Ecuador are a team stacked with talent, so this game could become really interesting. If you can stay awake, you can watch Sweden play against Japan at midnight. The Swedes have had quite the tournament — winning 5-1 against Tunisia before getting it right back with a 1-5 loss to the Dutch. Japan have looked far more consistent, but Graham Potter is sure to switch things up for the Swedes. Sweden need a point to guarantee qualification, but losing by a goal or two might be sufficient as well.

Norway vs France (Friday 26th, 8 PM) is the Group I finale and promises to be a banger — Mbappé vs Haaland, with the latter stating in an interview that he is not worried about the individual battle. At the same time, Senegal will have to defeat Iraq — probably by some margin — to qualify as one of the best third-placed teams.

The Group H finale promises to be super interesting, kicking off at 1 AM on Saturday the 27th. We have Spain vs Uruguay, a really compelling game with Uruguay needing to win to have any chance of qualifying. And my favourite game of the round: Cape Verde vs Saudi Arabia. The winner here is guaranteed to qualify either as runners-up or as a third-placed team. It would be monumental for both, but my money is on the Cape Verdeans.

The Group G finale makes for a fun watch if you manage to stay awake until 4 AM on Saturday. As touched on briefly above, Marko Stamenic’s New Zealand need to defeat Belgium to qualify. Yet it’s Iran vs Egypt that steals the headlines. Beyond the political weight of the fixture, it is also hugely significant sportingly. If Iran win they will qualify from the group for the first time in their history; a draw might be sufficient as well.

Croatia vs Ghana (10 PM, Saturday 27th) and Colombia vs Portugal (12:30 AM, Sunday 28th) round out the standout games of Round 3. This final set of group games looks really interesting, and hopefully the current Swansea player losing streak can come to an end.

See you next time, enjoy the games!

Photograph, Stamenić Reuters, Al Hamadi Dimitris Legakis