Nikola Vlasic scored late to earn Croatia a 2-1 win over Ghana in Philadelphia and ensure a second-place finish behind England in Group L and a meeting with Portugal. Both sides were in strong positions going into their final group game and both have progressed to the last 32, despite Ghana being denied second spot by Vlasic’s late finish, though the result also confirmed Scotland’s elimination.
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Mercedes driver George Russell controversially snatched pole position at the Austrian Grand Prix from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc with the last lap of the session. The result came amid late drama as Russell set his lap, beating Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, despite passing yellow flags for a crash by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen at the penultimate corner. Russell’s team-mate Kimi Antonelli, who was running just ahead of the Briton, also passed the Verstappen incident, but did not improve his time and will line up fourth.
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Leandro Trossard scored twice as Belgium beat New Zealand 5-1 to breeze into the knockout stage of the World Cup winning Group G to set up a last-32 clash with one of the eight best third-placed teams. After having a penalty award overturned following a VAR check, Belgium broke the deadlock in the 28th minute when De Bruyne’s corner bounced off New Zealand defender Tim Payne and dropped perfectly for Trossard to poke into the net from close range.
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Iran face an anxious wait to see if they will progress to the World Cup knockout stages after they came from behind to hold Egypt to a 1-1 draw and finish third in Group G. Egypt, whose qualification for the last-32 was already guaranteed, took the lead inside five minutes through Mahmoud Saber, before Ramin Rezaeian equalised from a tight angle in the 14th minute of a frantic start.
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Cape Verde, with Shamrock Rovers’ Pico Lopes in their ranks, have reached the knockout stage of the World Cup, becoming the smallest country in history to qualify for the next phase of the competition after a 0-0 draw against Saudi Arabia.
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