The following Real Madrid players have been called up to represent their national teams at the Qatar 2022 World Cup: Carvajal and Asensio for Spain; Camavinga and Tchouameni for France; Modrić for Croatia; Courtois and Hazard for Belgium; Rüdiger for Germany; Vini Jr., Rodrygo and Militão for Brazil; and Valverde for Uruguay. Their presence has been quite important with most of them being regular starters. The group stage sent home Courtois, Hazard, Valverde and Rüdiger, meanwhile the rest of them played the 1st knockout games as follows:
Brazil vs South Korea 4-1:
Vini Jr., Rodrygo and Militão helped Brazil reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Qatar after a 4-1 victory over South Korea. Vini Jr. and Militão were named in the starting line-up for the Brazilians and O Canarinho opened the scoring early on courtesy of a goal by the Madrid forward. In the 7th minute, Vini Jr. controlled a pass inside the area before showing brilliant composure to calmy finish with a deft chip to the far post. Six minutes later, Neymar doubled the Brazilians’ lead from the penalty spot.
On the stroke of halftime, Richarlison and Paquetá, after a fine assist from Vini Jr., made it 4-0. South Korea pulled a goal back after the restart. Militão was substituted on 63’ and Vini Jr. on 72’. Rodrygo was brought on for the final ten minutes of normal time. In the next round, Brazil will go head-to-head with Croatia where Vini, Rodrygo and Rodrygo will meet Luka Modric, one of their dearest mentors in Madrid.
Japan vs Croatia 1-1 (1-3 on pens)
Luka Modrić helped his country progress to the World Cup quarter-finals in Qatar. Croatia overcame Japan on penalties (1-3) after the two sides played out a 1-1 draw. Maeda put the Japanese ahead on the stroke of halftime, but Perišić equalised for Croatia in the 55th minute. Neither side was able to grab the winning goal in normal time and the match went to penalties. Livakovic superbly saved three penalties to send Croatia through. Modrić started the game and played 98 minutes.
Croatia will now face Selecao, the winner of the Brazil-South Korea game, in the next round. The quarter-final tie will take place on Friday, 9 December at 4 pm (CET). The country captained by the madridista remain unbeaten in the tournament, only conceding two goals in four games, with Tite having having back Alex Sandro who was absent in this game due to Groin injury.
France vs Poland 3-1
Another World Cup win for France after their great performance against Poland in the round of 16. Tchouameni played 66 minutes as France opened the scoring with a first half Giroud goal. In the last quarter of an hour, Mbappe struck twice to make it 3-0. Poland pulled one back with a penalty in the last action of the game. Camavinga didn't get on.
The match was almost never in discussion and there were many other chances for Deschamps’s men to finish the game with a greater goal difference. France will meet the Three Lions, who were the winner of the game between England and Senegal, in the next round. The quarter-final match will take place on Saturday 10 December at 8pm CET.
Morocco vs Spain 0-0 (3-0 on pens)
Spain was sent home by Morocco after a disastrous penalty shoot-out, with Luis Enrique’s team failing to convert a single spot-kick in a 3-0 defeat after a goalless 120-minute game. This time Dani Carvajal was benched and Asensio was on the play for 63 minutes. While Asensio got the nod over Atlético Madrid’s Álvaro Morata, despite his return of three goals in as many games, Marcos Llorente was preferred to Carvajal or his usual right-back rival César Azpilicueta.
This was a tie firmly being defined by a hard-fought midfield battle, where Pedri and Gavi’s energy was being nullified by the physicality of Azzedine Ounahi, Sofyan Amrabat and Selim Amallah. Very few occasions and lots of possession as La Roja was unable to be really dangerous. Asensio played more as a classic number 9 meanwhile, Llorente’s performance was nowhere near a right back’s proper performance leaving marks of regret in Enrique’s face for not choosing a natural and more experienced player for that role.
Morata took Asensio’s place in the 63rd minute, but due to the midfield being stuck resulted in no positive changes, remaining with a limited supply to the offensive department. Despite feeling the tiredness towards the end, Morocco managed to keep their zone safe and send the match to the penalty kicks, where the PSG duo Sarabia + Soler missed their kicks, before Busquets missing the third penalty. At the end, to put the lid on the game and end Spain’s miserable night, the ex-Madridista Hakimi scored a nice Pankenka!
The full view of the round of 16 games and results is presented as follows:
Netherlands 3-2 USA (Netherlands- Memphis Depay 10'; Daley Blind 45+1'; Denzel Dumfries 81' :: USA- Haji Wright 76')
Argentina 2-1 Australia (Argentina- Lionel Messi 35'; Julian Alvarez 57' :: Australia- Enzo fernandes 77'-own goal)
France 3-1 Poland (France- Olivier Giroud 44'; Kylian Mbappe 74', 90+1' :: Poland- Robert Lewandowski 90+9-penalty)
England 3-0 Senegal (Jordan Henderson 38'; Harry Kane 45+3'; Bukayo Saka 57')
Japan 1-1 Croatia (Japan- Daizen Maeda 43' :: Croatia- Ivan Perisic 55' —— Croatia win 3-1 on Penalties)
Brazil 4-1 South Korea (Brazil- Vinicius Jr 7'; Neymar 13'-penalty; Richarlison 29; Lucas Paqueta 36' :: Japan- Paik Seung-ho 76')
Morocco 0-0 Spain (Morocco wins 3-0 on penalties)
Portugal 6-1 Switzerland (Portugal- Goncalo Gomes 17', 51', 67'; Pepe 33'; Raphael Guerreiro 55'; Rafael Leao 90+2' :: Switzerland- Manuel Akanji 58')
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