Mastercard ends meals-for-goals campaign with Neymar, Messi

Russian fans danced in the streets of Kaliningrad on the Baltic and kissed strangers in Vladivostok in the Far East after their team defied all expectations to reach the World Cup quarter-finals.

In the Black Sea resort of Sochi, thousands of fans with Russian flags draped around their shoulders watched a giant screen transfixed and cars in central Moscow honked from dusk till dawn.

A mixture of disbelief and jubilation is gripping the host nation after their team pulled off one of the biggest World Cup upsets in recent memory, sending 2010 champions Spain packing after a penalty shootout decided their last-16 tie.

"It's great. Unbelievable. We are champions," 27-year old Muscovite Anna Glazkova said after Sunday's match. We believe we will now be in the final with Brazil."

The penalty shootout turned goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev into a national hero after a backs-to-the-wall performance in which they had just over a quarter of possession.

"What is there to hide, we were hoping for penalties," Akinfeev admitted to reporters.

It is the type of honesty that is endearing this rag-tag team of journeymen to a nation unused to celebrating its football team.

Russia is at heart an ice hockey country in which the beautiful game is played -- but not necessarily very well.

The chant often filling Russian stadiums during matches is "shai-bu!" -- the word for "hockey puck" -- a teasing reminder to the footballers that their hockey counterparts know how to score.

But the roar of the 80,000-crowd packed into Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium -- the same word echoing in bars and metro stations and shouted in Komsomolsk-on-Amur 6,000 kilometres (3,800 miles) to the east -- was "Ro-ssi-ya!" over and over again.

"Hurray!" Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev tweeted from the International Space Station after watching the match streamed live on a floating laptop.

"I always knew we could do it," a shaman from Siberia told the national Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper.

Roberto Martinez revealed that Romelu Lukaku is an injury doubt for Belgium's World Cup blockbuster tie against England after the in-form striker picked up an ankle injury on Saturday.

Lukaku and Eden Hazard both netted twice as the Red Devils routed Tunisia 5-2 to leave them top of Group G and on the verge of the last 16.

But the Manchester United forward came off in the second half at the Spartak Stadium in Moscow.

"We need to look at Lukaku's ankle. He took a knock and has to be assessed," said Martinez, who revealed man-of-the-match Eden Hazard also picked up an injury.

"Eden Hazard has a calf knock, Dries Mertens has an ankle problem. There will be major changes against England.

"If we could have seven days to prepare, I'd say we'd start with the same team, but the reality is that you are only as good as the 23 players."

Lukaku's absence would be a blow to Belgium's hopes against England, with top spot in the group likely to be at stake.

The United player already has four goals at Russia 2018 to leave him as joint top scorer alongside Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo.

However, there was some good news for Belgium boss Martinez, with Chelsea midfielder Hazard expected to be fit to face England in Kaliningrad on Thursday.

"I felt something in my calf in the first half but nothing big and I think I will be OK tomorrow," he said.

As England thrashed Panama 6-1 on Sunday Prince William, the president of the Football Association, was flying into Jordan for a historic Middle East tour.

The Duke of Cambridge missed the momentous game that helped England ease into the World Cup last 16 but caught a replay at the home of his host Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah.

The heir to the Jordanian throne posted pictures on his Instagram account late Sunday showing him and William watching a replay of the game on a huge flat television screen.

The pair are seen sitting on a couch in what appears to be a recreation room in Beit al-Ordon, the private residence of Jordan's royal family in the Hummar district west of Amman.

A devoted Aston Villa fan, William, 36, is wearing beige pants and a tie-less sky blue shirt, while 23-year-old Hussein, is wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt and jeans.

"Having a relaxing evening with His Royal Highness Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, after his first day in #OurJordan," Hussein wrote in a caption that accompanied one of two pictures of the pair.

"Watching the replay of the England game that we missed earlier today," says another caption showing the cavernous room where the two princes are watching the game.

William arrived Saturday in Jordan at the start of a Middle East tour that will see him become the first British royal to pay official visits to both Israel and the Palestinian territories.

The visit by the second in line to the British throne has been billed as a chance to bond with Hussein, a fellow graduate of Britain's Royal Sandhurst Military Academy.

Dramatic late strikes by Philippe Coutinho and Neymar gave Brazil their first win of the World Cup against Costa Rica in St Petersburg on Friday and broke Central American hearts by sending them out of the tournament.

The result leaves the five-times world champions with four points from two games after they drew 1-1 with Switzerland in their opening match, and they provisionally rise above Serbia to top Group E.

Serbia play Switzerland later on Friday.

The clock had ticked past 90 minutes when Marcelo crossed from the left and substitute Roberto Firmino headed the ball back across goal to Gabriel Jesus.

Jesus's first touch took the ball away from the defender and Coutinho raced in to poke past Keylor Navas from six metres out and claim his second goal of the tournament.

Neymar added the second with practically the last kick of the game, racing on to Jesus's square ball following a quick counter-attack as Costa Rica were forced to push for the equaliser.

The forward, who thought he had won a penalty in the 77th minute only for the referee to reverse the decision after consultation with the video assistant referee (VAR), was overcome by emotion on the whistle, covering his face as tears streamed down his cheeks.

For long periods Costa Rica's flat-back five kept Neymar on the periphery, with Johan Venegas and Cristian Gamboa both man-marking him out of the game as Brazil found it hard to carve out chances in the first half.

Marcelo's tame shot straight at Navas in the 41st minute was the first effort on target from either side before the break, and the team went into halftime with the boos and whistles of their own fans ringing in their ears.

Celso Borges spurned arguably the best chance of the first period for Costa Rica when he ran on to Gamboa's cut back but shot wide from eight metres out.

The result means Brazil have avoided the ignominy of equalling their longest winless run at the World Cup.

What a shocker it was! No football buff, I believe, saw this coming. Argentina, the powerhouse of world football, are on the brink of elimination this early from the World Cup in Russia.

A 3-0 thrashing at the hands of Croatia numbed the Albiceleste fans, who were rightly expecting the two-time world champions to regroup after the 1-1 draw against World Cup rookies Iceland and hit the right groove.

But the way they played was total rubbish, as our finance minister Abul Maal Muhith would have loved to sum up in disdain. Soon after the humiliation, social media and regular media were abuzz with cries and criticisms, wondering what had gone wrong with Jorge Sampaoli's men.

The scale of fury and frustration has gone up to an unbelievable extent, so much so that 'Don't cry for me, Argentina', the hit song of 1976 in the film Evita, returns to encapsulate the expressions of fans and media alike.

Right from the whistle go, Argentina, studded with superstar and stars, seemed like 11 cats on a hot tin roof. The famed footballers seemingly treated Telstar, the high-tech official football for the tournament, as a ball of fire. Too desperate to dispatch the ball the moment one received it. Defenders exchanged short passes too close to their ball-chasing opponents and went on to lose control of the ball several times in the opening half, drawing groans and grunts from the stands and from millions watching across the globe.

It was too dangerous and absolutely unnecessary. And Argentina paid the first price through their nose because of this madness. Following some short-pass exchanges, goalkeeper Willy Caballero scooped up the ball from deep inside the box for Croatian winger Ante Rebic to hit home perfectly. It was a gift to Croatia from a goof of a goalkeeper. And, for decades to come, it will be seen as one of the ugliest goals ever scored off a blunder.

A crucial match it certainly was. And Argentina could not cope with this pressure. They started off the game with pressure plastered all over their faces. They appeared too tense to think clearly and build a planned attack. The match required cool customers, from coach to keeper. Coach Sampaoli himself demonstrated the unwanted image of impatience. Tensed, Sampaoli was seen stomping around in front of the bench, throwing his hands, grumbling, gesturing, taking his jacket off and what not. This overly tensed image of a manager played a part in pushing his charges over the edge! As it happens in such matches, a staggering 38 fouls were committed, 16 of them by Argentina.

With Argentina being a bundle of raw nerves, Croatia could take total control of the match gradually. Luka Modric showed his opposite number Lionel Messi how a No 10 was supposed to play by hammering in a pile-driver after twisting and turning through a few defenders. Ivan Rakitic made it 3-0 some time after his magnificent free-kick ricocheted off the far post.

So, should Argentine daggers be out for Messi, the five-time Ballon d'Or winner and arguably the greatest player on earth? It will be very unfair.

Argentina is more than Messi. In fact, all the glittering stars of leading clubs make Argentina. Javier Mashcherano, Sergio Aguero, Enzo Perez, Eduardo Salvio, Gonzalo Higuain, Angel di Maria, Paulo Dybala and so on. Together, they should have formed a team of Invincibles.

Unfortunately, Sampaoli, like his predecessors, failed to mould his players into a team. They played like listless individuals and without any objective. They were eleven players but still not a team. Here the role of a coach becomes so crucial. Sampaoli failed to play that role. He also appears not to be a good tactician.

Argentina didn't have a game plan. If they had one, they forgot about it as soon as they entered the field. They played like disjointed pieces of a machine. Defence was delinked from midfield and midfield oblivious of its forwards. The supply from midfield to Messi or other forwards was almost nil. Argentina was designed to fail.

Croatia advance to the round of 16, and Argentina hope against hope for a miracle in Group D to qualify as the other team. And if that does not happen, the World Cup would be less exciting without Messi.

The writer is former Sports Editor of The Daily Star