The18 World Cup Takeover

World Cup Predictions For Day 6 Of The Tournament

Poland and Senegal highlight some big matches on day six of the World Cup. Robert Lewandowski will look to show the world he's one of the premier strikers and can deliver on the biggest stage. In a massive match for Egypt, will Mohamed Salah return? How will Russia tactically match up with Egypt knowing a draw is a huge result? Radamel Falcao will make his long-awaited World Cup debut, so will Colombia dismantle Japan like they did at the 2014 World Cup?

Three Stunning Free Kicks From The World Cup, You Pick One

Three inch-perfect free kicks from Cristiano Ronaldo, Aleksandar Kolarov and Aleksandr Golovin are among the best World Cup goals of the tournament thus far. Each free kick cleared the wall from roughly 25 yards out and left the goalkeepers no chance of making a save.

Kolarov's free kick was all Serbia needed to earn three points from its opening Group E match against Costa Rica. Serbia's captain and 32-year-old left back could not have hit this one any sweeter. 

France Played A Friendly Against Spartak Moscow’s U19 Team And Nearly Lost

France kicked off its World Cup campaign with a very unconvincing 2-1 win over Australia. Les Bleus manager Didier Deschamps decided that his entire 23-man squad needed to remain match fit, so he organised a friendly for the players who got a few minutes in the match against the Socceroos as well as players who did not get to play at all. The results were nearly disastrous.

The World Cup Gets Physical: The Worst Flops And Best Crunching Tackles So Far

Heading into the tournament in Russia, we always knew we’d get a nice mixture of both godawful dives and crunching, I-put-the-country-on-my-back tackles. The super slow mo doesn’t do the sport any favors (everything looks like an overreaction when you slow things down to a million frames per second), but we’ve definitely seen some gloriously physical play mixed with some heinous play acting.

Here’s a selection of our favorite dives and crunches from the opening matches at the 2018 World Cup. 

Peru’s Dramatic Defeat Only Cements Its Status As The People’s Champion

Peru’s the best team at the World Cup.

Technically, only one team can win the tournament. Only one team will have its name engraved on the Jules Rimet trophy (2.0) come mid-July. But there’s more than one way to win the competition. 

Belgium Finally Breaks Through Panama With World-Class Volley

Belgium is ranked No. 3; Panama is ranked No. 55. Yet for the first 45 minutes the two were equals in Group G action at the World Cup on Monday. Then came the Dries Mertens goal vs Panama that completely changed the narrative of the match.

Panama held Belgium at bay for the first half of the match. Near the end of the first half, the favored Red Devils looked to be running out of ideas as the Concacaf side swatted away every attack. Goalkeeper Jaime Penedo looked like a Gianluigi Buffon doppelganger out there. 

France’s Lucas Hernandez Is Officially Australia’s Public Enemy No. 1

Australia put up a valiant fight against France in the opening match of Group C at the 2018 World Cup.

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