Two Celtic stars went up against each other on Thursday night in perhaps the best evening of World Cup football so far. It was an evening that saw Ecuador beat Germany to progress to the next round, while Turkiye beat USA 3-2 only to be eliminated by results elsewhere.
Meanwhile, in Group F, Sweden managed to bounce back from a crushing defeat to the Netherlands to progress to the next round by drawing against Japan. The draw takes them to four points, and while they were not able to leapfrog Japan on 5, they will go through in third place with four points, barring major surprises elsewhere.
Celtic stars face off
This game saw Celtic forwards Daizen Maeda and Benjamin Nygren go head-to-head, with Maeda starting on the left for Japan, while Nygren was relegated to the bench for this one after a disappointing outing against the Netherlands.
Nygren came off the bench in the 87th minute, when the scoring for the evening was all done, hoping to steal a winner.
Maeda actually scored the first of the two goals, producing a tidy finish to pick out the bottom corner in the 56th minute. But six minutes later, Anthony Elanga produced an even better strike in a goal that will give Graham Potter's men every chance of advancing to the next round.
Meanwhile, Maeda and Japan are assured of a spot in the Round of 32 and will be feeling pretty good about their chances of progressing beyond that, given what we have seen from them so far. Japan look a strong and extremely fit side.
Results are playing out badly for Scotland
Scotland already knew they were in trouble after their heavy defeat to Brazil, and results since have only added to the concern of them not going through as one of the third-place teams.
Of the six groups to conclude so far, all five of the other group's third-place teams have better records than Scotland. Four of them have four points, while South Korea have three and a goal-difference of minus two, which is one better than that of Scotland's.
That leaves three places, and keep in mind that Belgium are currently one of the third-place teams, on two points, Croatia are another on three points, Algeria have the same, while African champions Senegal have zero points, knowing they need to beat Iraq by two goals to leapfrong Scotland and South Korea.
As an aside, Celtic star Auton Trusty also scored on Thursday night, but he was injured late in the game.
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