Monday’s match against Tunisia was England’s best performance at a major international tournament for close to a decade. After trying and failing and trying even more desperately and then failing even more stupendously than ever before, the Three Lions finally have an opening game in which they can take great pride.
“Does Messi do that?” Alexi Lalas sneered while looking at the camera during Fox’s halftime coverage of Portugal vs. Morocco. The act in question was a three-yard diving header off a corner from Ronaldo to give Portugal an early lead. (He doesn't; he usely takes the corners or stands at the edge of the box because he's just pushing 5-7.)
But does Messi do this?
Move over Ferenc Puskas, CR7 is No. 2 now. With the Cristiano Ronaldo goal vs Morocco, a powerful header off a corner kick four minutes into the match on Wednesday, the Portuguese star became the second all-time leading goal scorer in the history of men's international soccer.
Ronaldo and Puskas were tied with 84 goals apiece after the former’s hat trick against Spain on Friday. But Ronaldo didn’t wait long on Wednesday against Morocco to break that tie.
No event escalates individuals to the status of national hero or global villain as dramatically as the World Cup. The idolatry that follows success and the stigma that follows failure are woven into the fabric of history, and the repercussions will typically follow footballers for the rest of their lives. Daily, we’ll take a look at who played the role of hero and who played the role of villain at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
It's often the case that professional soccer players have the option of competing for more than one national team. That option is commonly the result of a player being born in a different country than where he was raised. This year's World Cup foreign-born players account for 11 percent of total roster spots.
Russia’s 3-1 win over Egypt at Saint Petersburg Stadium has almost guaranteed the hosts a place in the Round of 16 while Mohamed Salah and the Pharaohs have been all but eliminated from the World Cup. After failing to come off the bench in Egypt’s devastating 1-0 opening defeat to Uruguay, Salah was unable to make his presence felt Tuesday until earning and converting a conciliatory penalty in the 73rd minute.
Remember Michael Jordan’s flu game in the 1997 Finals, when he scored 38 points to will Chicago to a 3-2 series lead over Utah? Well, while Germany left back Jonas Hector stayed home to recover from a cold, Mexico attackers Carlos Vela and Chucky Lozano were slicing through the Die Mannschaft defense while emulating MJ — playing with guts while puking up said guts.
Every team has now played one match at the World Cup. No team has earned itself more fans after one round of play than the Lions of Teranga after a wild 2-1 win for Senegal vs Poland in Group H of the 2018 World Cup on Tuesday.
Senegal’s only other appearance in the World Cup came in 2002, when the Lions upset defending champion France on the way to a quarterfinals appearance. Senegal looked capable of returning to the quarterfinals after thrilling in its win over Poland, ranked No. 8 in the world.
Brazil fans may want to look away. After being held out of practice on Monday, the latest Neymar injury update saw the world’s most expensive player limp off after just 15 minutes of practice on Tuesday.
After being given a day off, Neymar was spotted limping out of Brazil training. pic.twitter.com/seqAqCGBUG
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) June 19, 2018
Disgraced former FIFA President Sepp Blatter will attend two matches at the 2018 World Cup at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin despite, the former’s six-year ban from football on unethical conduct charges.
Blatter will attend Wednesday’s match between Portugal and Morocco at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow before traveling to St. Petersburg to watch Brazil take on Costa Rica Friday.