National Teams

One of Uruguay’s nicknames is La Garra Charrúa. Garra meaning claw in Spanish, the nickname signals Uruguayans' relentless disposition; the fact they are willing to use nails, teeth and claws to get what they want.

Former Uruguay player and international star Diego Forlán once told the following anecdote referring to Uruguay’s traditional tough play.

Manager Óscar Washington Tavárez would sometimes tell his players “let’s end this match playing with 11 men,” in an effort to prevent them from playing too harshly and getting a red card.

This is where the introduction usually goes but fire the torpedoes!

Oops, VAR did it again. There's no denying VAR got it right, but wow. Portugal had all but wrapped up first place in Group B, but two VAR decisions in stoppage time from both the Portugal vs Iran match and the Spain vs Morocco match put Spain on top. 

In Portugal vs Iran, referee Enrique Caceres initially allowed play to continue after what seemed like an unintentional handball in the box by Portugal right back Cedric Soares. After being prompted to consult VAR, Caceres reversed his decision and pointed to the spot.

Group B went batshit crazy on Monday, but when the dust settled and the VAR screen had been flicked off, nothing had changed over the course of 90 overly dramatic minutes in Russia: Spain finish top and will play Russia, Portugal finish runners-up and take on Uruguay. One major talking point is that the European champions could’ve been preparing for that game without Cristiano Ronaldo, who was given a VAR-inspired yellow card for an off-the-ball elbow.

Believe it or not, Cristiano Ronaldo is flesh and bone, just like the rest of us.

Cristiano Ronaldo missed a penalty against Iran and is momentarily trailing behind Harry Kane in the race to win the Golden Boot.

You have to give all the credit to Iran goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand for denying the shot from Ronaldo, one of the world’s most efficient penalty takers. 

Mexico take on Sweden Wednesday, June 27 at Ekaterinburg Arena on the final matchday of Group F action at the 2018 World Cup. The match begins at 10:00 a.m. ET on FOX and Telemundo with Sweden needing a big win to advance following that remarkable 2-1 defeat to Germany. For El Tri, a victory or draw secures top spot in the group. 

Portugal struggled to break down the stout defense of Team Melli for about 45 minutes. Then came the absurd Ricardo Quaresma goal vs Iran to flip the tie on its head.

In February, we crowned Quaresma the King of the Trivela. The Besiktas winger brought his beautiful technique with him to Russia and scored what may be the most sumptuous goal of the World Cup thus far.

Who wants to play Russia? Who wants to play Uruguay?!

Not Morocco. The already-eliminated side has been one of the better looking teams at the World Cup, but the Atlas Lions had yet to score or get points at this World Cup heading into its final group match. That’s soccer for you.

But after all the misfortune, Morocco finally had some luck go its way.

A rare fib between former El Clasico rivals Andres Iniesta and Sergio Ramos led to a break away for Khalid Boutaïb. David de Gea was looking to make his first save of the tournament, but Boutaïb finished with poise.

Mohamed Salah's goal was leading Egypt to its first-ever World Cup point, but a late Saudi Arabia goal denied the Pharaohs. 

With both Egypt and Saudi Arabia eliminated prior to the match, it was clear the game would be more about honor and statistics than actual glory.

Nevertheless, both teams were eager to get the victory that would send them back home with some degree of consolation. 

Essam El-Hadary became the oldest player to ever appear in the World Cup. Then he made the best save of the 2018 World Cup. 

Essam El-Hadary, Egypt’s 45-year-old goalkeeper, made his World Cup debut in the Pharaohs’ dead rubber against Saudi Arabia on Monday. Neither team could advance as both had lost their matches against Russia and Uruguay.