On day ten of this summer's FIFA World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico, here is your latest update on how Real Madrid players are getting on
On Saturday, the 20th of June, there was action for three Real Madrid players at this summer's FIFA World Cup in North America. So, let's take a look at how things went for them.
To begin, Arda Guler and Turkey were in action against Paraguay, in what was a must win game. For this one, the Real Madrid man was deployed as the nominal number ten, having started their opener off the right hand side.
It would be the nightmare start as Paraguay took the lead after just two minutes of the game. A little over ten minutes later, Guler had a presentable chance to equalise, but fired his effort well over the bar.
Turkey continued to huff and puff in the first half, before a red card was shown to Miguel Almiron in stoppage time for covering his mouth whilst talking. This being a red card was introduced as a law after the incident between Vinicius and Benfica's Gianluca Prestianni back in February.
Throughout the second half, Guler's side continued to dominate and create chances, but could not seem to find the breakthrough. In the 97th minute, the 21-year old put a great cross into the box, but his team mate could not find the target, in a goal that would have just about kept Turkey in the competition.
However, despite another 32 shots - making it 62 efforts without a goal at this World Cup - they could not find the goal, and they have already been eliminated. They cannot reach the USA's tally of six points, and both Australia and Paraguay have the head-to-head record over them, which is the first tiebreaker.
After a good Euro 2024 campaign, where they were just 20 minutes away from the semi-final, there was a lot of excitement for Turkey's first World Cup campaign in 24 years, but it was not meant to be.
They will play their dead rubber final game against the US on the 26th at 04:00 CET.
Meanwhile, at 19:00, Denzel Dumfries and the Netherlands were in action against Sweden in Houston for their Group F clash, with the right back again named in the starting XI.
In the first half, the Dutch took a 2-0 goal lead. The second of which was assisted by the new Real Madrid man, with a very inviting cross for Brian Brobbey to convert from very close range.
Then, within two minutes of the restart, Dumfries made a dangerous overlap down the right hand side, and whipped in a ball to the back post, where Cody Gakpo could not miss to make it 3-0. An excellent assist, and his second of the game.
From there, Netherlands would win 5-1, which secures their spot in the round of 32. Perfect day at the office all round. They will conclude their group stage campaign against Tunisia on the 26th at 01:00.
To finish off the day in Group E, Antonio Rudiger and Germany faced Ivory Coast in Toronto. Like in their opener against Curacao, the defender was named amongst the substitutes by Julian Nagelsmann.
At half time, with the Germans 1-0 down, Rudiger replaced Real Madrid linked Nico Schlotterbeck, who had to withdraw through injury. From there, the four time World Champions were able to turn it round with a late winner to win 2-1, to secure their place in the knockout stages for the first time since 2014, where they won the tournament.
To finish off their group stage campaign, they will face Ecuador on the 25th at 22:00. If the South Americans do not beat Curacao tonight, then Germany will have already won the group before that game kicks off.
