Every four years the World Cup comes around and presents some of the best athletes from the world of soccer. From incredible passes to mind-boggling goals, the tournament is the largest sporting competition in the world, drawing the largest television audiences ever recorded.
It’s a mantra that’s gathered steam over the course of the 2018 World Cup, but what does it’s coming home mean? Beginning with Harry Kane’s last-ditch winner against Tunisia, gathering steam in the five-goal first half against Panama, working into a crescendo following the breaking of the dreaded penalty shootout curse against Colombia and reaching a fever pitch following a 2-0 win over world-beaters Sweden, football's now well and truly coming home.
Congratulations to England, but that second game was a stunner, goodness gracious me. As a neutral, it’s difficult to remember anything from the early match after what we’ve just witnessed in Sochi. That was everything: crackling, attacking, heart-palpitating goodness. I can’t even think straight. Russia’s out, but Russia really won me over with that one.
Russia’s unlikely run is finally over. The worst team in the 2018 World Cup was finally eliminated with a shootout loss for Russia vs Croatia in the quarterfinals on Saturday. After a 2-2 draw, Croatia edged the host country 4-3 in a penalty kick shootout.
Harry Kane better watch his back. After the Denis Cheryshev goal vs Croatia, Russia’s upstart winger is hot on the heels of England’s penalty kick master.
The final quarterfinal match of the 2018 World Cup saw Croatia take on the host nation in Sochi on Saturday. A fairly even opening half hour saw Croatia take most of the possession but Russia looked dangerous on the counter.
Russia has a lot of problems. The country denies civil rights to sexual minorities and political dissidents and is rife with racism. The nation has invaded sovereign nations three times in the last decade and meddles with countless other countries. But listening to the Russian national anthem before the World Cup quarterfinal match against Croatia on Saturday was a sign of just how patriotic the host nation is this summer.
The final quarterfinal match featured two of the best national anthems we’ve heard sung at the tournament thus far.
In the early ’90s, pre-Wengerian Arsenal earned a reputation for playing a brand of football that was effective but far from entertaining, resulting in chants of “Boring, Boring Arsenal.” It was a refrain that easily could have been repeated throughout the Three Lions’ campaign in Russia, including at the England vs Sweden match on Saturday in Samara, Russia.
And so down goes Neymar. According to 2017 Ballon d’Or voting, Croatia’s Luka Modric is now the main draw of this event, and there ain’t nothing wrong with that. Will we see a first-time World Cup winner in 2018? The odds are now looking decidedly better.
Every time the FIFA World Cup graces us with its presence we witness a barrage of commercials. Some of these commercials aim to lower that sad number in our bank accounts to Neymar’s level of professional integrity and some aim to elevate our spirit higher than the Brazilian flop machine’s level of acting. Here at The18, we’ve compiled a list of the best World Cup commercials 2018 has given to us and ranked them from worst to best.