During France’s 1-0 win over Belgium yesterday, there was a heinous moment in the 92nd minute when Kylian Mbappe attempted to retain possession near Belgium’s corner flag, only to dribble out of bounds. Instead of allowing Toby Alderweireld to take the throw, the 19-year-old attempted a comically horrendous behind the back pass that landed on the pitch.
The enigmatic, mad Frenchman is back with a vengeful commentary on the Russia World Cup. One of Eric Cantona’s most recent victims, one that we’ve all enjoyed criticizing this past month, is none other than Brazilian boy wonder and Oscar-nominated actor Neymar Jr.
The “Commissioner of Football” and King of Old Trafford, in one of his segments for Eurosport, bombarded Neymar with a not-so-subtle attack on his recent World Cup flopping antics.
Here’s what the former Manchester United No. 7 had to say.
In the end, Neymar’s lasting legacy from the 2018 World Cup will probably be a KFC commercial that mocked his widely ridiculed roll against Serbia. The tumble also generated some great memes.
Neymar, perhaps the highest profile player in danger of missing the semifinals via yellow card suspension, was extremely fortunate to escape punishment for taking a dive in the box during Brazil’s quarterfinal against Belgium.
The forward’s hysterics have been a massive talking point from Russia, and he was given a booking during Brazil’s win over Costa Rica, putting him at risk of missing a potential trip to the semis if he were booked again.
“Does Messi do that?” Alexi Lalas sneered while looking at the camera during Fox’s halftime coverage of Portugal vs. Morocco. The act in question was a three-yard diving header off a corner from Ronaldo to give Portugal an early lead. (He doesn't; he usely takes the corners or stands at the edge of the box because he's just pushing 5-7.)
But does Messi do this?
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.
Australia put up a valiant fight against France in the opening match of Group C at the 2018 World Cup.
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.
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.