Opinion

The Biggest Chokers At The Group Stage Of The World Cup In The Last Decade

If you didn’t hear about Argentina’s result Thursday, well, they lost. Badly. 3-0 to be precise. Croatia played them off the pitch, with Argentina’s manager Jorge Sampaoli almost sprinting back to the dressing room to escape everything and everyone, realizing his team could become one of the biggest World Cup chokers of all time.

Argentina now needs to defeat Nigeria if it wants any chance of making it out of the group stage. If they don't, they could join some pretty big teams who have flunked out of the World Cup much earlier than they would have liked. 

Fox Watch: Sadly, Dr. Joe Machnik Is Fox’s Best Analyst By A Long Way

When it comes to World Cup coverage, you expect to see the best analysts providing the best analysis. Unfortunately, Fox never got the memo that this is the biggest tournament in the world and skimped on analytical talent. Fortunately for Fox, they still have Dr. Joe Machnik.

Dr. Joe Machnik is a former player, coach and referee — you name it, he’s done it. Last fall he was elected into the U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame. And he’s easily the best analyst Fox has for the 2018 World Cup.

Welcome to Fox Watch, where we examine how Fox is covering the 2018 World Cup. 

Lionel Messi Is Only As Good As His Midfield — And Argentina’s Midfield Sucks RN

Watching Lionel Messi vs Croatia was like watching LeBron James against the Golden State Warriors. Even the best players in sports are only as good as their supporting casts — and Messi’s midfield right now is just no good.

LeBron James couldn’t come close to beating the Warriors in the NBA Finals this year because the Cleveland Cavaliers don’t have much going for them aside from James. Sure there’s Kevin Love and JR Smith, but, yeah, it’s Kevin Love and JR Smith. 

Olivier Giroud Is The Most Important Player At The World Cup

There’s no more important player at the World Cup than Olivier Giroud. France, one of the favorites, has looked terrible thus far. They struggled past a turgid Australian side thanks to a deflected goal and a penalty. There’s no doubt that France has one of the best squads at the tournament, but it really doesn’t look it at the moment. 

Heroes And Villains Of The World Cup: Matchday Seven

Things are getting serious over in Russia. In Group A, Russia and Uruguay are through to the Round of 16 whereas Egypt and Saudi Arabia are going home. In Group B, Morocco suffered an early exit while both Spain and Portugal enjoy positions of strength. Let’s take a look at who’s become legend and who’s become a cautionary tale following day seven of the World Cup.

The Countries That Will Win The World Cup Based Off Their First Round Match

The first set of matches at the 2018 World Cup have now been completed. We’ve seen everything from the first use of VAR at the World Cup, monumental upsets and everything in between. Now that the dust has settled, we decided we can absolutely, definitely, 100 percent give you the World Cup predicted winner based off of how the teams performed in their first matches.

Heroes And Villains Of The World Cup: Matchday Six

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.

The Best Performers Of Round 1 At The World Cup

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.

Heroes And Villains Of The World Cup: Matchday Five

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.

Three Stunning Free Kicks From The World Cup, You Pick One

Three inch-perfect free kicks from Cristiano Ronaldo, Aleksandar Kolarov and Aleksandr Golovin are among the best World Cup goals of the tournament thus far. Each free kick cleared the wall from roughly 25 yards out and left the goalkeepers no chance of making a save.

Kolarov's free kick was all Serbia needed to earn three points from its opening Group E match against Costa Rica. Serbia's captain and 32-year-old left back could not have hit this one any sweeter. 

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