Bosnia Ready to Shed Underdog Reputation, Face Switzerland as Equals

Mexico and South Korea will aim to punch their ticket to the World Cup knockout rounds on Thursday when they meet in Guadalajara knowing a win would guarantee a last 32 berth.

The Group A rivals head into the fixture at the Estadio Akron fresh from respective victories over South Africa and the Czech Republic in their opening games last week, said AFP.

The expanded 48-team format for this year's World Cup -- and the fact that the eight best-ranked third-placed teams will advance from the group stage -- means that a win for either Mexico or South Korea would see them advance.

Co-hosts Mexico eased past a poor South Africa in their opening game last week but are bracing for a significantly tougher test against a South Korean side studded with quality.

"We have to be very wary of the opponents' attacking transitions," Mexico coach Javier Aguirre said.

"When we are attacking, we can't let our guard down; if there are two Koreans up front, there need to be three Mexicans."

The build-up to Thursday's game has seen shrouded with intrigue, with a mystery drone spotted over South Korea's training ground on Tuesday.

Yonhap news agency reported that a South Korea team security officer spotted the device, and a Mexican military drone-interdiction specialist stationed at the training camp brought it down by emitting radio signals.

Two men who were suspected to be the drone operators retrieved the crashed device and fled the scene in an incident which South Korea coach Hong Myung-bo described as "unfortunate" but insisted "did not impact us significantly."

Hostile atmosphere

Hong meanwhile is preparing his team for an intimidating atmosphere against the hosts on Thursday.

"We fully understand that it's going to be a match with the home team, and we know that that's going to give benefits to the home team," Hong said.

"But my players have experienced such matches before, so it will be different tomorrow, and we need to control the rhythm and the flow of the match."

In other games on Thursday, Switzerland will look to bounce back from their disappointing opening Group B draw with Qatar when they take on Bosnia-Herzegovina, while co-hosts Canada face the Qataris in Vancouver.

Bosnia coach Sergej Barbarez is eyeing another upset, urging his team to summon the spirit of their qualifying campaign, when they knocked out Italy during the playoffs.

Barbarez brushed off suggestions that Switzerland would expect to beat a team ranked 44 places below them by FIFA.

"Everyone has the right to their own opinion and show their confidence," the coach said.

"When we were playing against Italy in the playoffs, we had a similar sort of sentiment publicly, but we stayed focused on ourselves," he added.

Thursday's games kick off the second round of group fixtures.

On Wednesday, England lit up the tournament with a roller coaster 4-2 win over Croatia in Group L which included two goals from captain Harry Kane and one from Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham.

But while England got off the mark in style, there was disappointment for Portugal, who were held to a surprise 1-1 draw by the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The result once again renewed scrutiny of Portugal coach Roberto Martinez's support for Cristiano Ronaldo, the 41-year-old icon who is playing in his sixth World Cup.

The veteran striker gave an ineffective performance, managing just 25 touches in the whole match, but Martinez defended the decision not to replace him.

"It makes no sense to take off the best goal scorer in world football in a game that you need goals," Martinez said.

Ronaldo has now failed to score in 10 consecutive matches in major tournaments and his country's press turned against him on Thursday.

Sports newspaper A Bola said that Ronaldo appeared "crushed by the pressure" and had become "himself a problem", while Publico said the team "remains hostage to its faith in Ronaldo".

It was a play Ghana has been practicing throughout its World Cup preparation.

And after a night of missed chances, it worked.

Caleb Yirenkyi tapped in a cross from Brandon Thomas-Asante in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time, and Ghana beat Panama 1-0 on Wednesday night in the teams’ World Cup opener.

Thomas-Asante got loose on the left side and fired the ball across the goal mouth. Yirenkyi knocked it in, sending his teammates streaming onto the field to embrace both players.

“Get the ball to the wings, and then put it in the box, and we get runs — people in the box to finish,” said the 20-year-old Yirenkyi, who scored his first international goal earlier this month in a friendly against Wales. “I tried (to) just play forward and run forward, and then hope to see what comes in, and yeah, I got the ball in the box and finished.”

Ghana played without midfielder Thomas Partey, who was denied entry into Canada while he awaits trial on rape charges in England, The Associated Press said.

The late goal denied Panama its first World Cup point.

The only shot on goal in the first half came two minutes in, when Panama forward Cecilio Waterman latched onto a low cross from Amir Murillo and clipped a ball from the center of the box toward the net. Lawrence Ati-Zigi dove to his right and palmed the ball away.

The goalkeeper left the game at halftime after a couple of hard collisions. He was replaced by Benjamin Asare. Ghana coach Carlos Queiroz said Ati-Zigi would be evaluated further on Thursday.

The result puts Ghana at the top of Group L with England, which beat Croatia 4-2 earlier in the day.

After the first hour, when chances came at a premium at rainy BMO Field, the match opened up and both teams started smashing shots toward the net.

In the 65th minute, Thomas-Asante broke through Panama’s back line and played a ball along the 6-yard box toward Jordan Ayew, but Jiovany Ramos ran up from behind with a tackle to prevent the tap-in.

“Panama, they had a great first half. They kept the ball really well and we struggled with the press,” said Antoine Semenyo, who started the scoring play with a pass to Thomas-Asante. But “slowly into the second half we had that energy to go up and press and cause problems, and that led to the winner.”

Colombia opened their World Cup Group K campaign with a 3-1 victory over Uzbekistan at the Estadio Azteca on Wednesday, as Daniel Munoz, Luis Diaz and Jaminton Campaz struck to overcome a spirited second-half response from the tournament debutants.

Uzbekistan were disciplined for long periods under Fabio Cannavaro but Colombia's greater quality told in front of a crowd of over 80,000 on a cool, rain-tinged evening, reported Reuters.

Colombia, Copa America runners-up, had early sights of goal through Jhon Arias and James Rodriguez, but Uzbekistan sat deep, scrapped gamely and waited for mistakes. Bekhruz Karimov almost profited when ‌he burst forward, ‌only for Jhon Lucumi to intervene before he could ‌shoot.

Diaz ⁠had the clearest ⁠chance of the opening half when he struck the post, before Abdukodir Khusanov slid in after the winger had knocked the ball past him, taking out both the Colombian player and a pitchside cameraman who required medical treatment.

Uzbekistan's resistance finally cracked in the 40th minute. Diaz gathered the ball after an attack had broken down and clipped a fine pass into the path of Daniel Munoz, who guided home a neat finish for ⁠his third international goal.

The large Colombian contingent erupted, their yellow shirts ‌making the Azteca look and sound almost like ‌home. Chants of "Vamos Colombia", adapted from a Club America-style chorus, rolled around the ground, while Uzbekistan's ‌small band of supporters answered with drums of their own.

FIRST WORLD CUP GOAL

Uzbekistan ‌improved after the break and equalized on the hour with the country's first World Cup goal.

Dostonbek Khamdamov fed Eldor Shomurodov, whose shot from the right side of the box was saved low by Camilo Vargas. The goalkeeper could not hold it, however, and Abbosbek Fayzullaev nodded in ‌the rebound from close range. Their joy lasted only five minutes. Gustavo Puerta released Diaz in the 65th minute and ⁠the forward side-footed across ⁠goal to restore Colombia's lead. The crowd responded with chants of "Lucho, Lucho".

Uzbekistan kept pushing. Akmal Mozgovoy shot narrowly off target in stoppage time, Karimov hit the bar with an effort from distance and Azizbek Amonov had a shot blocked after Otabek Shukurov's pass.

But Colombia had the final word, Campaz scoring at the death to settle a contest in which Nestor Lorenzo's side had 15 attempts to Uzbekistan's nine and extended their strong recent group-stage record to seven wins in eight World Cup matches. Cannavaro, 20 years after lifting the World Cup as Italy captain, became only the fourth Ballon d'Or winner to appear at a World Cup as both player and coach, following Franz Beckenbauer, Oleg Blokhin and Marco van Basten. Ecuador face DR Congo on Tuesday in Guadalajara after Uzbekistan play Portugal in Houston.

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