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.
With the first round of matches completed at the World Cup, some players have already stood out on their teams. Whether it be scoring crucial goals to gift their team a victory or keeping the goals out at the other end of the pitch, these players were the best World Cup players of the first round. So, without further ado, here is our starting lineup of the best performers of Round 1 at the World Cup. We’ve gone with a 4-4-2 formation to keep it nice and simple as well.
Today we saw the return of Mo Salah, but Russia continued its excellent form and destroyed Egypt. Japan pulled off a huge upset and Senegal became the first African nation to get a win in this World Cup.
This game saw the first red card of the tournament and it came in the third minute for Colombia. The early red gave way for Japan to get an unlikely win.
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.
This World Cup has been insane to say the least. There have been five own goals already and four free-kick goals (there were three in all of the 2014 World Cup). Favorites are losing or drawing and we love it.
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.
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.