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Brilliant social take-downs, epic fails and goals galore: part two of what we loved about Russia 2018

IT’S part two of our favourite World Cup memories from 2018, featuring French legend Eric Cantona’s hilarious take-downs, the birth of a new superstar and a unhealthy dose of schadenfreude.

Joe Barton and Dave Hall
8 min read
July 13, 2018 - 5:32PM
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BRILLIANT fans, goal celebrations — good and bad — and Eric Cantona’s brilliant take on the World Cup.

They’re all in part two of our look at the 50 things that made us love what happened in Russia

Because Russia’s has been as weird, brilliant and downright memorable as any World Cup in history, we could have picked out 1000 weird, wacky and brilliant moments from the past six weeks.

But we managed to narrow it down to a scorching hot top 50. And we present to you the remaining 25.

For those who missed part one, you can click here to get your fill.

Peru’s fans outnumbered their rivals in every game they played. Pic: AP
Peru’s fans outnumbered their rivals in every game they played. Pic: AP

26. Peru’s epic fans

Peru lost to France and Denmark, before beating Australia 2-0 in their final game.

And while it hurt to go out with another defeat, at least we can take some solace from the fact that Peru well and truly deserved to go home with something to cheer for — because their fans were simply the best.

Having waited since 1982 for a World Cup appearance, Peru’s fans let nobody down. Before the tournament some 43,583 tickets were sold to Peru fans — and only six countries purchased more.

To finance these trips some fans went to the extremes of selling of selling their car.

Proper football fans.

27. Angel Di Maria v France

Had it not been for Pavard, Argentina’s defeat to France may have been remembered for Angel di Maria’s thunderbolt from 35 yards — an absolutely world class hit.

28. Brazil’s Alisson Becker v the red balloon

In the 84th minute of Brazil’s group stage 1-1 draw with Switzerland, a giant red balloon made its way onto the pitch — and was headed for the Brazilian goal.

As any good keeper would do, Alisson Becker bravely charged out to defend his goal.

Like national teammate Cristiano Ronaldo, this World Cup represented Portugal veteran Quaresma’s last shot at glory — and for a while it looked like they might pull it off. The 34-year-old did his bit with a trademark trivela — a squirming, curling shot off the outside of the right boot while in full flow. Just lovely.

30. Nacho v Spain

Nacho, Nacho man... I wanna be a Nacho man. Another stunner from Portugal, this time from right-back Nacho, who steams in from nowhere to fire an unstoppable low bullet from outside the area past Spain keeper David De Gea. It’s made even more pleasing by bouncing off both posts.

31. Eric Cantona’s hilarious Instagram feed

French legend Eric Cantona was in glorious form throughout the World Cup, from belting out a rendition of Three Lions — in an apparent attempt to throw his support behind England — to his superb “don’t cry 4-3 Argentina” dig at Lionel Messi’s men after France’s thrilling 4-3 victory. But he saved his best for Neymar — in particular his questionable haircut, and its appearance to.... well, spaghetti.

32. Russia sex ban… is mercifully overturned

“Nothing good will come out of … the inappropriate behaviour of Russian women,” said Family, Women and Children Affairs Committee chairwoman Tamara Pletnyova, warning of an outbreak of unwanted World Cup babies.

But famous feminist president Vladimir Putin disagreed: “The women of Russia, they can handle anything themselves.”

And so, World Cup tourists were free to make the hammer and sickle with the locals. I think they call that “glasnost”.

33. England FINALLY win a penalty shootout

It’s easy to be snide about England's explosive reaction to winning a penalty shootout before they even made it to the quarter-finals but you have to understand the history: it’s the first World Cup shootout they have ever won; six defeats in seven shootouts in major tournaments; 22 years since manager Gareth Southgate missed a deciding penalty against Germany in the Euro ‘96 semi-final. This was a long-established national hoodoo finally broken. And boy, didn’t they celebrate like it...

34. Football’s was coming home... for a while

English football’s unofficial anthem pays homage to the official birth of the game (although football goes back way further). For more than 20 years it’s been a lament — but this year, it was the expression of the unlikeliest of things — England as dreamers. And it made for great internet fodder...

35. Russia’s great, unlikely run

Coming into the World Cup, Russia were the lowest-ranked nation taking part. Hopes of getting out of the group were low — and most locals were simply praying their nation wasn’t embarrassed with the world watching. Far from being embarrassed, they were instead galvanised by Russia’s incredible run to the quarter-finals — where they fell to eventual finalists Croatia on penalties after a thrilling 120-minute contest.

Russia's fans celebrate in central Moscow after their national team beat Spain in the Round of 16. Pic: AFP
Russia's fans celebrate in central Moscow after their national team beat Spain in the Round of 16. Pic: AFP

36. Switzerland wings celebration

Switzerland is, historically, viewed as the world’s neutral nation. Well, Xherdan Shaqiri — and teammate Granit Xhaka — threw that out the window with a controversial goal celebration. The pair scored a goal each as the Swiss beat Serbia 2-1, and celebrated by running to the corner flag and clasping their hands together to represent the double-headed eagle from Albania’s national flag. Shaqiri was born in former Serbian province Kosovo, whose independence is not recognised by Serbia — leading to frosty relations between the two countries. Shaqiri’s Swiss coach was unimpressed — “you should never mix politics and football” — but the star midfielder escaped punishment.

Xherdan Shaqiri celebrates scoring his team's second goal against Serbia — in a controversial manner. Pic: Getty
Xherdan Shaqiri celebrates scoring his team's second goal against Serbia — in a controversial manner. Pic: Getty

37. The hottest kit in town

Nigeria finished with two defeats and one 2-0 victory over Iceland... but they went home with the best swag of the World Cup: their own jerseys. Nigeria’s eye-catching green, white and black number became the hottest item in town when it was released ahead of the tournament and was selling like hyped-up sneakers. Nike received more than three million pre-orders for the shirt, which sold out in minutes.

Who cares about an early World Cup exit when you look THIS good. Pic: Getty
Who cares about an early World Cup exit when you look THIS good. Pic: Getty

38. Kroos’ classy finish, Germany’s classless victory

With heavyweights Germany locked at 1-1 with Sweden, and looking at an impossibly early exit in their World Cup defence, star midfielder Toni Kroos stepped up with a moment of magic in the form of a stunning stoppage-time free kick — curling in a superb strike from a ridiculous angle.

But rather than revel in their superstar’s incredible efforts, members of Germany’s support staff instead went down the ugly route — taunting the Swedish bench by sarcastically clapping in their face.

39.…and the best schadenfreude in World Cup history

There’s never much love for Germany in World Cups: they’re always far too good to warrant any of that. But after their classless display against Sweden, there was an extra level of joy felt across the globe when the Germans suffered an extraordinary 2-0 defeat to South Korea and were knocked out in the group stage. The mass Schadenfruede united football fans around the world.

40. THAT waistcoat

The most well-dressed man at the World Cup was England’s Marks and Spencers-dressed manager Gareth Southgate, who made the waistcoat cool again. So cool that purchases of the item soared 35 per cent at M&S — while Southgate was even offered a lifetime supply of waistcoats if England made the final.

2018 fashion icon Gareth Southgate. Yes, you read that right. Pic: Getty
2018 fashion icon Gareth Southgate. Yes, you read that right. Pic: Getty

41. World Cup’s craftiest journalist

Before the World Cup, French star Antoine Griezmann’s future was one of the hottest topics in football — with the Atletico Madrid star being courted by heavyweights Manchester United and Barcelona. Such was the level of interest, French officials feared it would take over the striker’s pre-game press conference ahead of their opening fixture against Australia — and handed down an edict that only questions in French would be answered, so as to halt the transfer-hungry Spanish scribes. But one cheeky reporter found a loophole by asking his question into google translate on his phone and then holding the microphone up to the phone to broadcast the robotic question. Griezmann saw the funny side of things — although didn’t reveal he was staying at Atletico just yet — although his minders were less impressed.

We now know Antoine Griezmann is staying at Atletico Madrid. Pic: Getty
We now know Antoine Griezmann is staying at Atletico Madrid. Pic: Getty

42. Batshuayi magnificent goal celebration fail

England and Belgium’s final group game was an uninspiring affair — with both teams resting their stars safe in the knowledge a loss would hand them an easier path in the quarter-finals. But it did provide the best/worst goal celebration of the tournament after Adnan Januzaj drilled home a superb goal. Teammate Michy Batshuayi scooped up the ball and attempted to boot it back into the net — only to have it rebound off the post and into his face.

43.Panama’s emotional commentators

There are more winners in Russia than just those who will hold up the trophy on Sunday night — for some, just being there is an achievement. For Panama, who have a population of 4.1 million and had never qualified for the World Cup, that was the case. They lost all three games. But footage released of commentators, in tears, embracing during the national anthem shows warmed the hearts of even the most emotionless football fans.

44. Vladimir Putin’s perfect reaction to Russian blitz

As Russia opened the tournament with a 12th minute effort from Yury Gazinsky, the cameras panned to the stands where Russian President Vladimir Putin was watching with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

Their reaction to the goal was priceless — and led to a tsunami of politically charged memes.

45. The secret to Mexico’s success

Plenty of credit has been sent the way of the grandma who stood in front of the TV during the national anthem and blessed every member of the Mexico team ahead of their huge win over Germany — and for good reason. She gave a double blessing to goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, who responded with a man-of-the-match performance.

46. Kylian Mbappe’s breakout tournament

So we may have seen the last of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo competing in World Cups — and their quests for world domination fell well short. But you know what? We’ve also been witness to the blossoming of their successor at the top of world football. French teenager Kylian Mbappe’s sizzling two-goal performance to bounce Messi out of the Cup in the Round of 16 was the clearest passing of the torch you could ever hope to see.

Twenty seconds left on the clock, you’re a goal down against Spain and you have a throw in. What do you do? Correct answer: not what Iran’s Milad Mohammadi attempted. His bizarre forward flip throw in got an 8 for sticking the landing — but a disqualification for failing to get the throw off at all.

48. The worst dive of the World Cup

Diving at World Cups is a time-honoured tradition — we’re thinking Rivaldo’s Oscar-worthy performance against Turkey in 2002 and, yes, Fabio Grosso’s effort which killed off Australia’s hopes four years later. In Russia, no one could compete with Portugal villain Pepe who went down with what appeared to be a crippling injury after copping this vicious pat on the back from Morocco’s Medhi Benatia.

49. Senegal cop cruellest exit of all

Senegal became the first team to fall foul of FIFA’s fair play rule when they finished on the same points and with the same goal differential as Japan — but were bounced for having accrued more yellow cards.

Forget penalty shootouts, THIS is the harshest way to be knocked out of a World Cup — and Senegal found plenty of sympathy from fans around the world.

They even asked FIFA to reconsider the ruling after as a result of Japan’s negative play during their 1-0 loss to Poland as they tamely passed the ball back and forth in their own half.

It was embarrassing to watch, but it didn’t help Senegal at all.

They were still on the first flight back to Dakar.

50. Croatia’s brilliant semi-final celebrations

Mario Manzukic’s 109th minute winner put Croatia through to their first ever World Cup final. That’s reason to celebrate, and so they did — charging towards their fans and spilling over into the photographers area, where they fell upon a snapper — AFP’s Yuri Yurisky — who unwittingly became part of the celebrations of the finest moment in Croatian football history. And he took some sensational photos to boot.

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Original URL: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/football/world-cup/brilliant-social-takedowns-epic-fails-and-goals-galore-part-two-of-what-we-loved-about-russia-2018/news-story/4a2fd18caa7a403eb859602bac7cee48