World Cup 2018: Sweden Beats South Korea 1-0, Belgium Routs Panama 3-0

Sweden defeated South Korea 1-0 on Monday in its opening FIFA World Cup 2018 game in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia after a video review on the play before the goal.

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Captain Andreas Granqvist scored penalty in the 65th minute following Kim Min-woo’s foul on Viktor Claesson, which was analyzed thanks to a video assistant referee (VAR) after about four Swedish players pleaded for a review. No whistle came immediately after the tackle.

Granqvist sent goalkeeper Cho Hyun-woo diving to the wrong side to give Sweden the edge midway through the second half. The Scandinavians — appearing in their first World Cup since 2006 — now have three points in Group F, as does Mexico after beating Germany 1-0 on Sunday.

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Sweden was missing veteran star Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who has retired from international soccer. The team had 15 shots on Monday, while South Korea took just four.

South Korea had a big scoring chance one minute into stoppage time in the second half, but Hwang Hee-chan‘s shot flew wide.

Pontus Jansson nearly had a chance for Sweden in the 58th minute: his fast header was saved by Cho. The Swedes also took two quick shots on a corner in the 43rd, but both were blocked.

South Korea lost Park Joo-ho to a leg injury in the 28th minute. The Asian nation may now have to beat Mexico and Germany to advance to the second round.

Later on Monday, Belgium rolled past Panama — who are playing in their first-ever World Cup — 3-0 in Sochi thanks to two goals from Romelu Lukaku and another from Dries Mertens, all of them in the second half.

Just two minutes after halftime, Mertens took a rebound and fired a one-time shot from just inside the corner of the box to put Belgium up 1-0.

Manchester United star Lukaku doubled the lead in the 69th minute after Kevin De Bruyne fed him a pass and the forward made a diving header to find the back of the net.

Lukaku struck again just six minutes after that following an assist from Eden Hazard. 

Belgian goalie Thibaut Courtois also made several solid saves during the matchup.

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England and Tunisia — who are also in Group G with Belgium and Panama — play later on Monday. For now, Belgium leads that group with three points.

On Sunday, Brazil and Switzerland tied 1-1 behind goals from Philippe Coutinho in the 20th and Steven Zuber in the 50th. Serbia leads that group (E) with three points after beating Costa Rica 1-0 on Sunday.

Three World Cup games are scheduled for Tuesday:

Colombia vs. Japan: 8am EST

Poland vs. Senegal: 11am EST

Russia vs. Egypt: 2pm EST

Article by Pablo Mena