Go ahead and draw conclusions about what this means with regards to England, but Russia will be the worst nation to ever host a World Cup. South Africa, the only host nation to ever fail to advance from the World Cup group stage, at least gave us the entertainment value of Siphiwe Tshabalala, Steven Pienaar and the vuvuzela.
It's a hard life for an England fan. As the England National Team gear up for another go at a European Championship, most fans can't help but remember the heartbreak and tears of past attempts.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic had already planted himself as one of the all time greats, but moments like these showed the world how truly special he was. It is impossible to forget the goal he scored against France in 2012. He sent an acrobatic blast past Hugo Lloris in the 53rd minute which led to mayhem in Kiev. As Sweeden would go on to win the game 2-0, this goal of the tournament would never be forgotten. We are hoping to see epic golazos from the legend in this years Euro Championships!
As the moments of desperation evolved, goalkeeper Jamie Butler scored an incredible full field laser to even the game at two goals a piece. Following a favorable skip from right outside the 18 yardbox, the ball found it's way into the upper left corner out of reach from the opposing goalie. Crazy moments like these are why we love the game!
Wayne Rooney put in a Man of the Match performance as Manchester United brushed aside Bournemouth 3-1 at Old Trafford. Rooney opened up the scoring in the 43rd minute after some lovely team play between Anthony Martial and Juan Mata on the edge of the box.
The goal was Rooney's 100th in the Premier League at Old Trafford, and the OptaJoe Twitter account was quick to highlight the relevance of that.
Deutschland! The land of beer, sausages, and athletes that are pretty much machines. It's also home to the defending World Cup champions and the bitter rival to England, so you could see why a Three Lions fan would be a little hesitant to fly with German airline Lufthansa.
But the airline set out to show that even English fans can fly with them, and that it won't be a miserable experience. Sure, there may be some passengers that will boast about their 4 World Cup championships, but it could be worse.
When it is potentially the last kick of the match, you need to make the most of it and Hull City's Robert Snodgrass took advantage of a prime freekick opportunity. In the 4th minute of stoppage time, the scored was tied at 1. Hull's faint hopes of automatic promotion to the Premier League were on the line. Snodgrass stepped up in a big moment, curled the freekick off the bar, hitting Wanderer's keeper, Carl Ikeme's back and into the net. While it will go down in the post match report as an own goal, Snodgrass's curling effort was simply spectacular.
When you are 18-years-old and you play for arguably the most noticeable club in the world, you're not supposed to score 6 goals in your first 11 games. But that's what Marcus Rashford has done since LVG called his name to the first team. Rashford kicked off the scoring against West Ham in the FA Cup quarterfinals. The youngster received the ball at the edge off the box after a West Ham turnover and then showed off his footwork before burying a shot off the upper 90 crossbar. So smooth, so pretty.
Dimitri Payet has 13 goals in all competitions this year. Five of them are on free-kicks coming off of his golden right foot. Sure, there are a lot of amazing free-kick takers out there, but I'm going to go ahead and just give Payet the title of "Free-Kick King". His right footed curling rockets have been giving goalkeepers fits since his return from an ankle injury in January and he's been key in keeping West Ham in the hunt for a top four finish. Go ahead a watch all of his golazo's from set peices this year. The best one, probably his rip from 30+ yards out against Russia.
Oh the great Jamie Vardy. Not only does the lad have 19 goals and 6 assists in the Premier League, but now he is acting like the saving grace for the Three Lions. Vardy continued his coming out party to the world but this time on the international stage as he netted this clinical backheel against the defending world champions. Germany gave up a 2-0 lead to the Englishman, and one of the other goal scorers for Roy Hodgson's bunch was none other than Harry Kane.