Aston Villa triplets fail to make World Cup knockout stage
By Josh Tonti
Aston Villa trio Ahmed Elmohamady, Mile Jedinak, and Birkir Bjarnason are leaving Russia without a win. Their three nations accumulated two total points during this FIFA World Cup.
It was not a successful three matches for each of Aston Villa’s three World Cup participants. As we covered earlier last week, Villa right back / right winger Ahmed Elmohamady was officially eliminated after match 2 of the group stage – a 3-1 defeat to Russia. Egypt subsequently lost to Saudi Arabia in its final game, wing sensation Mohamed Salah scoring the Pharaohs lone goal of the match, and both goals of their tournament.
Elmohamady did not play a single minute of action.
Mile Jedinak skippered Australia in all three group stage matches, scoring two penalties in the process. Likewise, he too, did not advance to the knockout rounds. The Socceroos finished last in their group after a 2-1 defeat to France, 1-1 draw with Denmark, and 2-0 loss to Peru. The boys from down had a great showing the first two matches, but could not get it done against a revitalized Peru side with Paolo Guerrero and André Carrillo.
A win in that match would not have been enough, either, as Denmark’s scoreless draw with Les Bleus put the Danish on five points, good for second.
Birkir Bjarnason and Iceland finished their remarkable World Cup journey with one point. The nation of a little more than 300,000 drew with Argentina in the opening match, before successive defeats to Nigeria and Croatia officially knocked them out of the tournament. Bjarnason played a total of 269 minutes with a broken nose as his souvenir.
Former Villa Ties:
Gareth Southgate, Ashley Young, Fabian Delph, Gary Cahill, and Kyle Walker are through to the Round-of-16. Thursday’s match with Belgium will determine which side of the bracket the Three Lions must advance through. Their opponent will be one of: Colombia, Japan, or Senegal.
Idrissa Gana Gueye and Senegal need a draw or win over Colombia to advance. A loss and a Poland drubbing over Japan could possibly do the trick as well.