19-yr-old Mbappe’s double helps France knock out Messi’s Argentina

Agencies

June 30, 2018

Kazan, Jun 30: Teenager Kylian Mbappe scored two goals in four minutes to send France charging into the World Cup quarter-finals and Lionel Messi home with a thrilling 4-3 win over Argentina on Saturday.

The 19-year-old forward's electric pace caused Argentina problems all afternoon and his twin strikes helped France overturn a 2-1 deficit and set up a quarter-final date with Portugal or Uruguay, who play later on Saturday.

While Mbappe was the most influential player on the pitch, Argentina's Angel Di Maria and France full back Benjamin Pavard fought out a private contest for the best goal of the contest with two magnificent long-range strikes.

Di Maria's goal cancelled out Antoine Griezmann's early penalty to put Argentina on equal terms just before the break, while Pavard's in the 57th minute levelled up the scores at 2-2 after Argentina had gone ahead through Gabriel Mercado.

Mbappe, the first teenager since Brazilian great Pele in the 1958 final to score two goals in one World Cup match, then took over to send Argentina slumping out of the finals before the quarter-final round for the first time since 2002.

Twice champions Argentina got a consolation through substitute striker Sergio Aguero in added time but they simply could not cope with Mbappe's pace from his first surge towards the box after nine minutes.

Javier Mascherano brought him down and Griezmann crashed the subsequent free kick off the bar from 25 metres but France only had to wait a couple of minutes to break the deadlock.

Mbappe set off on another driving run from well inside his own half and Marcos Rojo, well beaten for pace, bundled him to the floor inside the area.

Griezmann's strike from the spot was not as clean as his free kick but goalkeeper Franco Armani went the wrong way.

France looked like doubling their lead after 19 minutes when Mbappe set off to chase a Paul Pogba ball and Nicolas Tagliafico hauled him down.

The referee decided it was a free kick on the edge of the box, however, and even if Pogba blasted high over the bar, Argentina looked shell-shocked at Mbappe's early onslaught.

Four minutes before the break, though, they were level, Di Maria received a pass from the left, took one touch to tee up the ball and hit the sweetest shot into the top-left corner of the net from 40 metres.

Three minutes into the second half and they were ahead, Messi curling a shot hopefully towards Hugo Lloris in the France goal and right back Mercado reacting instinctively to deflect the ball into the net.

The Argentina fans were now in full voice but their joy did not last long before France restored parity after 57 minutes, Pavard pouncing on an over-cooked cross some 20 metres out and lashing it on the half-volley into the net.

Mbappe's first goal came seven minutes later when he snared a loose ball, taking one touch to race past his marker and lashing it home with his left foot through Armani's dive.

His second came after 68 minutes at the end of a beautifully flowing French move with Olivier Giroud providing the subtlest of touches to lay the ball into Mbappe's path and the teenager finishing right-footed with some elan.

Argentina continued to fight over the last 20 minutes but Aguero's header from Messi's cross in stoppage time was too little, too late.

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Block, district presidents in Karnataka will be changed soon: KPCC working president

News Network

September 14,2024

Mangaluru: The block level and District Congress Committee presidents in the state will be changed in the next one month for better reach into society and bring in organisational fortification, said Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee working president G C Chandrasheker on Saturday.

The All India Congress Committee and KPCC have a vision for bringing a change in how the party works with the last man and woman in the state, he said at a press conference here.

"We are looking at bringing development models into the state with a new vision. We are a party that likes to work with the opposition in the developmental aspects and keep all other matters away that do not relate to the development of the state.

"We have a great respect for the people of the coast who are considered to be forward-looking and perceptible, but it is also true that we do not have the numbers in the upper house and in the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs)," he said.

"Our endeavour is to not only create a strong pro-development workforce at the base level by strengthening the second and third level leadership in the state," he said.

Chandrasheker, who is also a Rajya Sabha member, said that he and his four colleagues of the rank of working presidents of the KPCC are going to every district to infuse the new thinking in our workers and leaders.

"This move will get a new surge considering the party is facing byelections in Shiggaon, Chennapatna and Sandhur segments and also vacant seats in the legislative council, followed by elections to the Urban Local Bodies and Panchayats" he said.

When asked about the reason for the changes, Chandrashekar said most of the people have already lived their tenures. The party wants to reward those who have not been given tickets to contest in the 2023 state assembly elections and 2024 Lok Sabha elections for political reasons.

There are quite good leaders and hard-working ground level workers who have great potential to lead the party in the coming years, he said.

"Women will get at least one top post in all District Congress Committees and block levels. There is also a move to give responsible positions for the workers and leaders coming from different strata of society, which are deliverable. The party will not shy away from it," he said.

The other two working presidents, Dr Manjunath Bhandary and Vasanth Kumar, were also present at the press conference.

Kumar said some of the regions in the state are dominated by the BJP. "We want to end this run and defeat the divisive models of the BJP." Bhandary said the Indian National Congress was aiming at a high development phase in the state and involve the opposition parties and their leaders in the development plans in the state.

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