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.
All the kits have been released, all the new cleats have been dropped and even some board shorts for a few of the countries competing were released.
So, if you’ve missed anything at all, do not fear, because we have it all in this handy World Cup gear guide just for you.
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.
Boom boom. Huh! The sound that will haunt Lionel Messi in his dreams tonight, the soundtrack of the Cinderellas, my new ringtone — the Iceland viking clap.
South Korea’s manager Shin Tae-Yong is a smart man. Recent accusations of a Swedish scout spying on South Korea’s training led the gaffer to explain a very interesting tactic that he uses in training.
This quote from South Korea’s manager in response to Sweden spying on their training is amazing. #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/BatRX4oli3
I’m making this up — this could’ve happened at the 1934 tournament or something — but I’m pretty sure that Tuesday’s match between Colombia and Japan is the first-ever World Cup game in which a player has been sent off in the third minute, resulting in a successfully taken penalty, only to be followed by a 39th minute equalizer in which a player strokes a free kick under the wall.
I just have a good feeling that we’ve never seen anything like this before.
Colombia will be without attacking midfielder James Rodriguez when it opens group play against Japan Tuesday. The latest James Rodriguez injury update says the 2014 Golden Boot winner is still struggling with a left calf injury that he sustained during training, and he’s since been omitted from Colombia’s starting eleven to face Japan.
TEAM NEWS | #COLJPN
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.