Leicester City at the FIFA World Cup – Story so far Part One

The FIFA World Cup is well on its way now and Leicester City fans will have been able to see some of their hero’s take part in the greatest football tournament on earth. Let’s take a look at how they have got on so far.

The foxes have 10 players representing their respective countries at the World Cup this summer:

• Adrien Silva – Portugal
• Ricardo Pereira – Portugal
• Kasper Schmeichel – Denmark
• Wilfred N’Didi – Nigeria
• Kelechi Iheanacho – Nigeria
• Ahmed Musa – Nigeria
• Jamie Vardy – England
• Harry Maguire – England
• Yohann Benanlouane – Tunisia
• Shinji Okazaki – Japan

So far 6 of the 10 have taken part in the first round of group games. Totalling 321 minutes – No goals scored by Leicester City’s own players but 1 assist and 1 clean sheet out of the games played. The Foxes players have had mixed results so far with 3 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses from the 6 nations the Leicester players are representing.

Let’s take a look at the games closer.

Group B – Portugal 3-3 Spain

Unfortunately for Leicester City fans we didn’t get to see Adrien Silva or new signing Ricardo Pereira in action for Portugal, as Southampton’s Cedric Soares and Monaco’s Joao Moutinho were chosen ahead of them.

Nether the less the World Cup came alive that night as spectators around the globe were treated to a fantastic game of football – with Cristiano Ronaldo grabbing a hat trick!

News before the game was surrounded in how Spain would cope with the replacement of their manager 48 hours before their first game. After a rocky start, they certainly came alive and shown they weren’t fazed by the situation – showing their quality and experience.

A point against the former World Champions isn’t to be sniffed at and with games against Iran and Morocco left to play you would think they still have a chance of progress past the group stages.

Group C – Peru 0-1 Denmark 

The first Leicester player to play at this year’s World Cup was Kasper Schmeichel. In a nervy encounter against the South America side the Danes turned in a resilisant display to win 1-0 thanks to Yussef Poulsen. Denmark had Schmeichel to thank as much as Poulsen, as the shot stopper pulled of a string of saves to keep Peru at bay.

It could have turned out so different had Christian Cueva put away his penalty – Schmeichel did enough to put him off as Cueva missed the penalty.

It was a great start for Denmark which will give them a good platform to get out of the group, with games against France and Australia still to come.

Here’s what Schmeichel had to say:

Group D – Croatia 2-0 Nigeria 

On 16th July 2018 Nigeria created history for Leicester City by fielding 3 Leicester players on the pitch at one time at a World Cup. Wilfred N’Didi started the game for the super eagles but he was unable to stop Nigeria going 1-0 down at half time after an own goal.

Ahmed Musa and Kelechi Iheanacho came on in the second half but they were unable to prevent Croatia from winning 2-0 thanks to a Luka Modric penalty.

Nigeria have it all to do now sitting bottom of the group and games against Argentina and Iceland left to play it would take some effort to make it out of the group.

Despite the poor result, Kelechi Iheanacho remained upbeat, here is what he had to say:

Group G – Tunisia 1-2 England 

Could history repeat itself again? Leicester City with 3 players on the same pitch at a World Cup. The answer is no as Jamie Vardy and Yohann Benanlouane were left on the bench, but Harry Maguire started for England and put in a fantastic display on his World Cup debut.

Look at his stats below:

After a great start to the game England went ahead through Harry Kane in the 11th minute. England looked confident and assured in possession – creating numerous chances but failing to put them away.

The inevitable happened and Tunisia pulled a goal back following a harsh penalty decision against Kyle Walker – Ferjani Sassi scoring from the spot against Jordan Pickford.

It looked as though England weren’t going to make the breakthrough, until Harry Maguire won another header from a corner in the 91st minute – The ball falling to Harry Kane to use his goalscoring instincts to head the ball past the on looking goalkeeper.

Grab a win in the next game against Panama and England will be into the next round – Don’t win and the Three Lions will need a result against highly fancied Belgium.

Yohann Benanlouane didn’t take part in this game for Tunisia – Who have it all to do, needing results against Belgium and Panama to progress further.

As expected Maguire was ecstatic with the victory:

Group H – Columbia 1-2 Japan

The World Cup has thrown up a number of shocks in the tournament – This game was no different as Japan overcame 10 man Columbia after Carlos Sanchez was given a straight red in the 3rd minute.

Shinji Kagawa scored from the spot to make it 1-0. Columbia despite being a man down pulled a goal back before half time.

Shinji Okazaki came on with 5 minutes to go, with Japan restoring their advantage with a goal in the 73rd minute. Okazaki is still on course to equal Japan’s most capped player in the World Cup – 8 appearances to date with the record set at 10 by Hidetoshi Nakata.

Another win against Senegal or Poland in their remaining two games should see Japan progress to the next round.

Next: Leicester City at the FIFA World Cup: A Comprehensive Guide