.png)
3 hours ago
2
Curaçao’s historic first goal
“I played with him on my PlayStation, and now I’ve scored against him,” Livano Comenencia said after converting Curaçao’s first World Cup goal past Manuel Neuer in their opening match against Germany. The smallest nation ever to qualify for the World Cup went on to lose 7-1 but that goal – their only one of the tournament – will go down in history.
‘Cablegate’
Should Jude Bellingham’s first goal against Norway have been ruled out? Perhaps so given the ball appeared to hit an overhead cable in the buildup. Fifa insisted there had been no such intervention; Norway’s manager, Ståle Solbakken, was sure there had been. “Many on the bench reacted immediately … the ball fell down straight in front of us,” he said, furiously.
Marsch’s musings
“I’d rather be us than them,” said Jesse Marsch after Canada were comprehensively beaten by Morocco in the last 16. “It takes some nerve to say that when you lose 3-0,” said Morocco’s head coach, Mohamed Ouahbi, in response. Marsch also somewhat hilariously overestimated the capacity of BC Place after his side’s 6–0 win over Qatar, saying: “There’ll be 60 million people that said they were here.”
Glittering Golden Boot race
Between 1978 and 2018, only the original Ronaldo had scored more than six goals at a single World Cup (eight in 2002). Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé had matched the Brazilian’s tally by the semi-finals this time around, with Mbappé winning the Golden Boot after scoring two goals against England in the third-place playoff.
Scotland fans take over Boston
Scottish supporters marked their return to football’s biggest stage in 28 years by taking over Boston, filling Fenway Park with songs and drinking their pubs dry. With the Tartan Army crowning some of the city’s most recognisable statues with bright orange traffic cones, the “Boston cone” was greeted by Boston’s mayor, Michelle Wu, upon its arrival from Glasgow last week. Scotland’s players may have made little impact in the US this summer, but their fans no doubt left a legacy.
Ronaldo scores … and then goes out with a whimper
‘CR7’ finally ended his knockout goal drought against Croatia as Portugal squeezed into the last 16. However, joy soon turned to despair when Portugal were eliminated by Spain in the next round. Ronaldo struggled to have any impact on proceedings, managing only 19 touches in what was his final World Cup match. “I gave it all, I gave it my best,” he said afterwards.
Embolo’s mistaken identity
The mistaken identity rule was updated for this World Cup to cover situations where a player was booked but the offence was committed by the other team and well and truly took effect during Argentina and Switzerland’s quarter-final in Kansas City. The referee, João Pinheiro, initially issued Argentina’s Leandro Paredes a yellow card for his challenge on Switzerland’s Breel Embolo before the VAR called him to the monitor. Embolo was then ruled to have dived and was punished with a yellow card himself – it was the forward’s second of the game and he was duly sent off. “This rule destroyed the game today,” said Switzerland’s head coach, Murat Yakin, after his side’s 3-1 loss.
Iran’s unprecedented tournament
Competing against the backdrop of their country’s conflict with the US, Iran’s players faced incredible difficulties before a ball was kicked. With their training base abruptly switched from Arizona to Mexico before the tournament, the team were then only allowed to enter the US the day before their first two matches and had to leave immediately after. Despite that, they only narrowly missed out on the knockout rounds after Austria and Algeria drew 3-3 in the final round of the group stage to send them home on goal difference. “What these players have done should be written in history because the host country treated us very unfairly,” Iran’s head coach, Amir Ghalenoei, said.
Erling Haaland: internet phenomenon
Snapchat stories. Stuffed raccoons. Doing next to nothing against Brazil for 79 minutes and then scoring twice in 11 minutes. It’s fair to say Erling Haaland made his mark at the World Cup. “When someone asks me what my biggest fear is but I can’t say being charged at by Haaland at full speed so I just say spiders,” reads a video that has racked up millions of views on Instagram, a reference to how Haaland chased down Iraq’s goalkeeper, Jalal Hassan, for his second goal of the tournament.
Turkey are definitely not dark horses
Turkey were tipped to go far but, in the end, didn’t even make it out of the group stage. Indeed, they were the second country eliminated from the tournament following back-to-back losses to Australia and 10-man Paraguay. “We should have won these games … everybody’s sad, everybody’s crying,” said Arda Guler, Turkey’s wonderkid after his country’s less-than-wonderful showing.
Egypt outrage after controversial exit
“I’m going home and won’t be watching any more games from the tournament,” said Egypt’s head coach, Hossam Hassan, after his side’s loss to Argentina in the last 16. “What happened to us wasn’t fair. We should have had a penalty, a goal was disallowed and I don’t know why.” Hassan was not alone in thinking crucial decisions had favoured the world champions in what was arguably the game of the tournament in Atlanta.
The wonder of Wonderwall
It started off as a standard submission for the World Cup’s official track list but was quickly adopted by England’s travelling support as the theme song of their tournament run, Oasis’s 1995 classic creating a genuinely uplifting bond between plays and fans. Harry Kane went as far as describing the post-match ritual of standing alongside his teammates, arms around each other’s shoulders, and facing a wall of happy, singing English faces as one of his “favourite ever moments in an England shirt”.
Lamine Yamal’s brother becomes a star
Lamine Yamal had a great World Cup but not as great as his three-year-old brother, Keyne, who captured hearts worldwide with his wide-eyed, big-grinned expressions of delight whenever his older sibling shone at the tournament. A young star was born on the back of another young star and both look here to stay.
Mexico’s unofficial mascot
Merlin the duck became a sensation after being spotted at Mexico’s post-game celebrations following their opening World Cup win over South Africa. Indeed, Merlin became so famous that he was granted a meeting with Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum. “We feel very honoured to be here with the president, it is an honour for us to stand before you and for the whole world to see the beautiful side of Mexico.” said Karla Gómez, Merlin’s owner. Sadly, Merlin was unable to watch Mexico in the flesh due to Fifa regulations.
Death, taxes and Merino’s late winners
Messi, Mbappé, Haaland, Harry Kane … this has been a World Cup of goalscoring superstars well and truly coming to the fore, and then there has been Mikel Merino. The Spain midfielder came off the bench to score crucial winning goals against Portugal and Belgium in back-to-back knockout games. It was some contribution from the Arsenal player to his country’s World Cup triumph.
Aguirre meets Gordon
“Gordon!” shouted Javier Aguirre at England’s left-sided forward during the first-half hydration break of an epic last-16 encounter at the Azteca, followed by something indistinguishable when Anthony Gordon turned back to look. Keen-eyed internet users later deciphered it as a very cheerful “fuck you!” from Mexico’s manager, with both men subsequently laughing with delight. “I’d just run the full-back down the line,” Gordon said after England’s 3-2 win. “So I took it as a bit of a compliment from him.”
Vozinha’s star power
After being named player of the match in Cape Verde’s opening goalless draw with Spain, Vozinha teared up. “My mum didn’t manage to be here because of the visa,” said the 40-year-old goalkeeper. Two days later the House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, announced that arrangements had been made to waive the cost of Ana Évora’s visa; she was subsequently in attendance as her son played in a 2-2 draw with Uruguay and became one of the stars of the tournament.
Penalty drama between Netherlands and Morocco
Neil El Aynaoui struck the crossbar. Justin Kluivert’s effort ricocheted off a post. Bart Verbruggen almost saved Soufiane Rahimi’s strike but helplessly watched it squirm under him and into the back of the net. At 2-2, Quinten Timber put his shot well wide, handing Morocco the advantage only for Achraf Hakimi to do the exact same thing. Standing bolt upright, Yassine Bounou saved from Crysencio Summerville before Ismael Saibari put an end to the rollercoaster of a truly remarkable last-32 penalty shootout.
Tuchel hits out at photographers
“I’m begging Fifa to change the position of the photographers in the national anthem, because I could not see my team,” Thomas Tuchel said after England’s opening win against Croatia. “It was a very special moment, and I was standing in front of a wall of 50 photographers and I could not see one single player.” It wasn’t the first time at the tournament that England’s head coach made his frustrations clear.
Opener smashes red-card record
Mexico’s 2-0 win over South Africa kicked off the World Cup and simultaneously almost equalled the 2022 tournament’s tally of red cards in a single match. Yaya Sithole capped off a terrible second half for South Africa by getting sent off just after the break before his teammate Themba Zwane and Mexican defender César Montes were shown red cards within eight minutes of each other.
“Overturn this”
With the vast majority of the football world rooting for them, Belgium reacted to the suspension of Folarin Balogun’s ban for the USA’s last-16 encounter with the Red Devils in Seattle with a ruthlessly commanding performance. They beat the co-hosts 4-1 and marked the victory with a string of celebrations that made clear what they thought of the controversy surrounding’s Balogun’s presence on the pitch, including an imitation of Donald Trump’s dance moves in the dressing room afterwards and a gleeful tweet from the team’s official account that simply read: “Overturn this.”
Paraguay go from heroes to villains
There was widespread delight when Paraguay eliminated Germany in the last 32 with a show of togetherness and defiance but their popularity diminished during their subsequent defeat by France on the back of a brutal display of the dark arts. Joe Hart brandished the South Americans an “absolute disgrace” while his fellow BBC pundit Micah Richards thought that the approach was wholly unnecessary, saying: “Paraguay are better than that. Defensively they were so good and they didn’t need to get into these antics.” The Uzbek referee, Ilgiz Tantashev, also faced intense criticism after inexplicably failing to book any Paraguay players.
France players embrace Deschamps
After Kylian Mbappé scored the first of his two goals against Sweden, he and his teammates ran over to Didier Deschamps and hugged their head coach. The gesture was a response to Deschamps’ return to the touchline following the death of his mother. When asked about the embrace, Mbappé said: “That’s the DNA of this group. The coach has been through certain circumstances, and we’re all with him and will continue to support him.”
Referee stops play – with an injury
In a bizarre twist, the USA’s 2-0 victory over Australia in the group stages had to be stopped for, and not by, the referee, Felix Zwayer, after he collapsed with cramp in the dying minutes of the contest in Seattle. Australia’s midfielder Aiden O’Neill and the USA’s Balogun helped Zwayer stretch out the cramp amid ironic cheers from the crowd.
Croatia goal disallowed by a hair
Croatia had seemingly rescued their World Cup campaign from the jaws of defeat after Josko Gvardiol tapped in at the back post in the final stages of their last-32 encounter with Portugal in Toronto. But then VAR got involved and the goal was ruled out after Fifa’s sensor technology discovered that the cross to Gvardiol had taken the faintest touch off the head of Igor Matanovic. “It was very bad refereeing,” said Croatia’s manager, Zlatko Dalic. “I’m not saying that sometimes VAR can’t be of help, but it kills the emotions, it kills everything.”
Jayden Adams tributes
Jayden Adams, who featured in all three of South Africa’s group games, passed away just days after returning home from North America. “Today, South African football mourn the loss of a talented player whose passion, dedication, and love for the beautiful game inspired many,” read a national team tribute. A minute’s silence was observed before all quarter-final matches, alongside an outpouring of touching tributes to the 25-year-old midfielder.
