World Cup day 17 was the day one of the most recent World Cup winners played their round of 16 match. In this post we look back at the third and fourth round of 16 matches.

World Cup day 17

On this day Russia played against Spain, while their quarter final opponent came from the match between Denmark and Croatia.

Spain versus Russia

The hosts of this tournament received Spain in the round of 16. Russia knew they played against a better team, so their tactics were all about defending. An own goal early in the first half looked to force Russia to chance their tactics. But the Russians preferred to keep their defensive wall. A Russian corner at the end of the first half, led to a penalty for Russia, which was netted by Dzyuba. With 1-1 on the scoreboard, Russia pulled up a big wall and Spain wasn’t able to create something. The Spanish performance was really poor and Russia managed to reach extra time and penalties. Iago Aspas and Koke both missed their penalty, which brings Russia in the quarter finals.

Croatia versus Denmark

This match was all about the first 6 minutes. Matias Jorgensen opened the score for Denmark in the first minute. Mario Mandzukic scored the equaliser five minutes later. You expect a really exciting match after a start like this, but unfortunately things went really poor after the first six minutes. Both teams created some minor chances, but neither really played for the victory. And so, just like the first match of this evening, this one went to penalties. Even the penalties were taken poorly, but Croatia scored one more, so they will go through.

So we’ve seen the first penalty shoot-out on this tournament on World Cup day 17. How many more are we going to see this tournament?