Flops

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. 

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.

Luis Suarez Has The Second-Worst Game Of His World Cup Career

No player appeared more devastated by Jose Gimenez’s 89th minute winner for Uruguay than Mohamed Salah on the Egypt bench; no player could’ve been more elated than Luis Suarez. The Barcelona striker had a nightmare match for La Celeste, spurning three glorious chances while also getting globally ridiculed for an atrocious dive/feigned injury combo.  

Watch Raheem Sterling’s Indefensible Flop Against Nigeria

England won its penultimate World Cup tune-up with a 2-1 victory over Nigeria on Saturday at Wembley Stadium. But the win was marred by an indefensible Raheem Sterling dive early in the second half.

The first-half performance was strong for the Three Lions, though they faded a bit in the second half as Nigeria sought a result. London-based players scored all three goals in the match. 

Referee Takes A Sad Little Tumble And Gets Booked For Diving

Vitesse players were able to share a laugh with referee Jochem Kamphuis during today’s Eredivisie match against FC Twente, although the Twente players were probably less amused. Vitesse’s 5-0 win confirmed Twente’s relegation to the Eerste Divisie. 

The club from the city of Enschede will now play in the second tier after winning the top division title as recently as 2010, when the club was managed by Englishman Steve McClaren. 

Watch Cristiano Ronaldo Try Too Hard And Hilariously Fail

We all know this: Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the best football players in history.

He has given unquestionable proof of it with a monster bycicle kick against Juventus in the UCL quarterfinals.

However, Ronaldo has a personality that not everyone loves. In fact, many soccer fans kind of hate him in spite of his unquestionable quality.

The 10 Most Shocking Moments In Soccer History, Ranked

For over a century now, soccer has cultivated much of our pride and joy. The beautiful game, along with music, peanut butter and Netflix, is humanity’s pride and joy. However, with all the cheers and smiles, soccer comes with a dark side and over here, rainbows and sunshine are replaced with shame and disgrace. How far into the rabbit hole are you willing to go?

Take the red pill and enjoy The18’s list of the most disgraceful soccer moments . . . just remember, you might not like what you find.

The 10 Most Shocking Moments In Soccer History

Goalkeeper Sets Unofficial Record For Dumbest Dive Of All Time

Mario Felgueiras is a 31-year-old journeyman goalkeeper. On Sunday, he saved a penalty to help Paços de Ferreira upset first-place Porto 1-0, pulling Os Castores (The Beavers) out of the relegation zone in Liga NOS. But all his heroics will be overshadowed by what might be the worst football dive in the history of the game.

Danny Welbeck Hits One So Poorly That He Almost Snaps His Own Foot In Half

Danny Welbeck is part of the pantheon of great English forwards who do not score goals. That’d seem to be a terrible oxymoron, but you forget that supporters love a grafter. If you had to rely on one striker to effectively man-mark a center back out of a match, it’d be Danny Welbeck.

I don’t know why you’d ever employ that tactic, but that’s the highest praise I can bestow on Welbeck. 

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