World Cup - Matchday 6

Welcome to another WhoReps look at the 2018 World Cup. Today we'll be recapping Tuesday's slate of games and looking ahead to tomorrow's matches! Enjoy.
                                            
When this World Cup began, few were expecting host nation Russia to make much noise. They had struggled mightily in their tune-up games leading into the tournament, and fallen all the way to 70th in the FIFA rankings, the lowest of all nations competing. Boy, things change quick.
 
Less than a week later, they've made it out of the group stage for the first time since they were the Soviet Union. A convincing 3-1 win over an Egyptian team finally playing with Mo Salah, following their 5-0 romp over Saudi Arabia on opening night, has advanced them to the knockout rounds. Amazingly, it also means they've already scored as many goals as Spain did during their entire 2010 run to the Cup. Vladimir Putin and manager Stanislav Cherchesov can rest easy. Likely Spain or Portugal awaits them in the round of 16.
 
For an Egyptian side making just their second World Cup appearance since 1934, it's bitterly disappointing. After they battled with a talented Uruguay squad in their opener without Salah, expectations were high that the Liverpool man could produce some of the same magic for the national team that he did for the Reds all season long. It just wasn't to be. He was clearly unfit after sitting for weeks, and simply lacked the pace and touch thats defined him. He was able to put home a late penalty to get his country on the board in this tournament, but its a small consolation. Their third match against Saudi Arabia is suddenly meaningless.
 
Speaking of unexpected results, look no further than Group H. The football cognoscenti largely expected Colombia and Poland to cruise to the knockout stages, and just like that one of them is almost certainly going home. Colombian midfielder Carlos Sanchez picked up a red card after just three minutes against Japan, following a deliberate handball in the box. The second-fastest red card in World Cup history not only gave Japan an early goal after the resulting penalty from Shinji Kagawa, it left Colombia playing with 10 men for essentially the entire match. They weren't able to overcome it, losing 2-1 after a beautiful corner from Japanese supersub Keisuke Honda. Star James Rodriguez was only able to come off the bench after a calf injury, and Colombia now desperately needs him to get healthy.
 
But Sanchez's singular mistake pales in comparison to the collective meltdown of the Polish defense against Senegal on this day. First, defender Thiago Cionek booted in an innocuous Senegalese shot for an own goal to open the scoring in the 37th minute. Then, midfielder Grzegorz Krychowiak put forth an egregious back pass into no man's land that Senegal's M'Baye Niang was able to snag and easily elude keeper Wojciech Szczesny for a goal on a wide open net. Krychowiak was able to put in Poland's only goal that narrowed the deficit late in the match, but its doubtful Polish fans will remember it much. Senegal becomes the first African nation to win at this World Cup, and suddenly their odds of advancing out of this group have skyrocketed.
  
Stay tuned to WhoReps as we recap the action!