Mo, Yamal and Sharks shine, more keeper heroics

PETALING JAYA: Today was another historic World Cup day in which old and new stars shone, and underdogs and goalkeepers came out the heroes.

Cape Verde are still the headline act with a 2-2 draw against Uruguay, giving them a chance to qualify for the last 32.

Spain got out of the blocks with Lamine Yamal looking like football’s new superstar, but an old one wasn’t to be outdone. Mo Salah popped up with a bit of magic to give Egypt the lead against New Zealand.

Here are five things from this morning’s matches.

1. Better than Messi?

He lifted the crowd even before he touched the ball. And when he did, Lamine Yamal had them in the palm of his hand.

Limited to a late cameo in the shock draw with Cape Verde, the Barcelona star ensured that Spain made amends with a 4-0 thrashing of Saudi Arabia.

He scored his first World Cup goal — only the seventh to do so before turning 19. Only Pele was younger when scoring the opener in a match in 1958.

He’s also two weeks younger than Messi was when he scored his first in 2006. The Argentine was shy at his age and the genius had to be coaxed out of him; Yamal needs no assistance.

Spanish pundit Guillem Balague asked: “Is it arrogance? Or confidence? A mixture of both,” he said. “He is the chosen one, he wants to be the chosen one.”

Here, he glittered and was at the centre of everything.

2. Beiranvand save epitomises Iranian defiance

Not to be overshadowed by Cape Verde, Iran produced their own defensive masterclass and goalkeeping heroics to hold the world’s 10th-ranked team, Belgium, to a goalless draw that allows them to dream of advancement.

The Golden Generation, once No.1, may have lost their lustre, but still have a few stars left, so this result is yet another upset.

The latest keeper to rise to the occasion is Alireza Beiranvand. The 33-year-old’s desperate lunge on the hour had most of the SoFi stadium in Los Angeles in disbelief.

But then the 89-cap keeper has done this sort of thing before. He saved a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty in 2018.

This World Cup moment seemed to galvanise the Iranians whose defiance was in keeping with everything else they’ve had to put up with in the United States.

3. A tale of two 40-year-old keepers!

Fernando Muslera seems to have been in the Uruguay goal forever. This was his 136th cap.

He’s been around the club scene in Europe a lot, too. With Lazio, but mainly Galatasaray and now Estudiantes in Argentina.

Vozinha of Cape Verde plays in the Portuguese Second Division and as the world knows, was raised by his grandma. Hence his nickname, “Little Grandma.”

The hero of the epic draw with Spain in the first game, he said his only sadness was his mother wasn’t there to see it. But US Immigration fast-tracked her visa and Ana Cândida Évora was in the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.

Alas, her son was not quite as secure this time and his fumbles and uncertainty gave the world audience, let alone his mum, a few palpitations.

Muslera gave his team worse than that.

Out of his goal when defender Mathias Olivera swipes at a clearance, substitute Helio Valera, who’d only just come on, was left with an opening. He takes an excellent touch and, from distance, with Muslera well out of his goal, finds the net for his first-ever international goal.

4. Bielsa needs to take more water with it!

Oh, the irony! Uruguay coach Marcelo Bielsa didn’t like hydration breaks. “They add nothing and take away a lot,” he raged before kick-off.

Many agree that they disrupt the flow of the game and are unnecessary in air-conditioned stadiums. But when Uruguay went one-nil down to Cape Verde, the 70-year-old was staring at one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history. An unwanted blot on his distinguished career.

Two minutes later, when the break came, he didn’t hesitate to jump up and lay into his team. It took another 20 minutes but his message got through as two goals just before half-time broke the hearts of the brave Cape Verde islanders.

Perhaps it was changing his seat that did the trick. Famous for sitting on a bucket at Leeds, the cerebral Argentinian left the bench and sat on a water cooler to process his thoughts.

Whatever it was, it worked. But the Blue Sharks were not done and levelled in the second half, the referee delayed the hydration break. Uruguay escaped a humiliation with a draw, but you wonder if Bielsa regrets the delay…

5. Mo only needed a ‘mo’

Where has Mo Salah been? While other stars have shone, the Egyptian King was nowhere to be seen on the scoresheet and found loitering, a little bit lost, on the wing with Egypt.

The World Cup was in danger of slipping by him as New Zealand took an early lead in their Group G encounter.

But cometh the hour, cometh the main man.

As the Pharaohs pressed New Zealand in the second half, it was Salah who, cutting in from the right, slipped a quick one-two and poked the return into the far corner.

It gave Egypt the lead, and a bit of history, as they ran away to clinch their first-ever win in the World Cup.

It was tough on the Kiwis, who thought they were making a bit of their own history when they led 1-0 well into the second half. And they could still steal a place in the last 32 if they beat a tired Belgium in the final game.

Not bad for a rugby nation that is the lowest-ranked team in the tournament.