Chelsea player ratings in the first Blue day of World Cup 2018
Chelsea had five players in action on the first full day of the World Cup. They combined for two wins, one draw and one loss.
Fernando Hierro’s risible decision not to play Cesar Azpilicueta delayed Chelsea’s opening day at the World Cup. France, Argentina, Denmark and Nigeria all learned their lesson from Spain’s torment, as four Blues started for their national teams and one came on late to do what he does best.
N’Golo Kante: 8.5 (France)
France played tightly to expectations in their opener against Australia: an extraordinary collection of talented individuals, but hardly a team. Kante did for his country what he does so much for his club, running tirelessly to clean up after his teammates and keep them alive against a coherent, cohesive and resolute opponent. Unsurprisingly, he led France with nine defensive actions.
Kante did what he had to do to keep France in the game so his teammates could seek out individual glory. Because he is the clean-up man and the one who links play, he cannot help but be a team player. Didier Deschamps has to figure out how to make team players out of the rest.
Olivier Giroud: 8 (France)
Super subs gonna super sub. Giroud came on in the 70′ to break a 1-1 deadlock and 10 minutes later had a back-to-goal assist on a deft 15-yard shot from Paul Pogba. Both players played their role to perfection in that sequence.
Willy Caballero: 6.5 (Argentina)
If someone had told you there was a penalty kick saved during the Iceland-Argentina match, you would naturally assume Willy Caballero was doing the saving. You would be wrong.
Argentina needs to activate their wealth of scoring threats if they are going to have Willy Caballero between the pipes behind their defence. Iceland’s goal came off a series of ricochets and chaos in the box, a particular vulnerability for Caballero and the defenders in front of him. The one goal was all Iceland needed for an historic draw, but Argentina’s goal was far from enough. That said, this World Cup has already had four penalty kicks. Caballero could still be the hero.
Andreas Christensen: 8.5 (Denmark)
Christensen looked his usual calm, composed self in his first World Cup game. He stood strong at the back and was the go-to defender to play out from the back. Made one or two brilliant last ditch sliding tackles, something Gary Cahill is very good at. Peru have a lot of pacey, tricky strikers and wingers who could hae caused him a lot of discomfort but he handled them well.
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A worry for Denmark, and to a lesser extent Chelsea, came in the 80 when Christensen was brought off. He was walking gingerly as if his back was in pain – an injury he struggled with at the end of this season.
Victor Moses: 8.5 (Nigeria)
Victor Moses put in a thorough performace, but it came almost in total isolation. Moses nominally was the left-winger, but he only manned that position for the first 5 and final 15 minutes of the game. For the other 70 minutes he played on the right, in an extreme interpretation of the role of right wing-back. He played as far forward as a winger on offence and as deep as a highly-conservative full-back on defence. Moses was nearly at Kante levels of omnipresence along Nigeria’s right side. Unfortunately, only Mikel John Obi could match his composure and contributions, and Mikel ran out of gas by the 70′.
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Nigeria will need much more from the rest of the Super Eagles if they have any hope of advancing out of their group, or just even earning a handful of points. But Moses could be earning a new look from many top clubs.