World Cup 2018 highlights: From Mbappe to Ronaldo, VAR to waistcoats… and THAT song

Albanian Eagle celebrations caused some controversy when Xherdan Shaqiri and Granit Xhaka celebrated their goals in Switzerland’s 2-1 win over Serbia. The pair both appeared to make the double eagle symbol from the Albanian flag with their hands. Serbia were upset by the gesture and asked FIFA to consider disciplinary action. FIFA opened proceedings against the pair, but decided not to suspend the players.

Benjamin Pavard likes scoring worldies, pass it on. If you’re going to to wait until the World Cup finals to score your first goal for your country you may as well make it a good one, right? Pavard did just that when he emerged on the right wing to clip home a half volley with the sweetest of strikes against Argentina. Even slow-motion replays struggled to do it justice.

Cristiano Ronaldo loves any opportunity to show everyone he never skips leg day. Billions of fans got a nice close up of his gym work when he stood over the ball in the dying moments of Portugal’s opening game against Spain with his team trailing by a single goal. Rolling his shorts up his thighs, legs shoulder width apart, a few deep breaths and an intent stare at the ball are the choice of routine before the magic happens. Bang. An inch-perfect strike, the ball goes up and over the wall, rifling past one of the best goalkeepers in the world to rescue Portugal a point in a thrilling encounter, while announcing his own arrival at the tournament with a stunning hat-trick.

Diego Maradona is no stranger to making the back pages for controversy but he outdid himself this time around, most notably against Nigeria when he opted for the classy middle finger salute to the opposition as he celebrated Argentina’s late winner. All of this of course happened before he claimed Colombia were ‘monumentally robbed’ by England. Those, the words of the man famous for one of football’s most controversial moments, the Hand of God.

England’s expectations were not high. All we wanted was a better effort than the 2016 Euros disaster and we got more than we could have asked for. The opportunity to dream thanks to Gareth Southgate’s pride of Lions saw us reach a World Cup semi-final for the first time in 28 years. Pride restored, players to be proud of and a nation back in love with international football. The future is bright for this team.

France may not have played the most attractive football throughout but they turned it on when it mattered. Victories over Argentina, Uruguay and Belgium enabled Didier Deschamps’ men to build momentum and ultimately deliver the goods on the biggest stage of all in Moscow. A 4-2 win over Croatia in the final saw a talented bunch of individuals finally get their groove on to secure France’s second World Cup and first since 1998.

Germany exited the World Cup way before anyone expected them. The reigning champions – with a squad so talented the likes of Leroy Sane and Mario Gotze were excluded – out in the group stages as South Korea put them to the sword. Toni Kroos’ clever injury-time free-kick winner against Sweden was about as good as it got for the Germans.

Harry Kane was always under pressure to take his goalscoring form for Tottenham into Russia and the big man rose to the occasion with ease, winning the Golden Boot with six goals. Three penalties, a header, a tap-in and one off his heel he didn’t even know about isn’t quite how he might have imagined it, but will he care? Not one bit.

It’s coming home. Or so we wanted. So we hoped. So we started to believe. The song we didn’t stop singing while our boys in Russia brought pride back to those on these shores. The trophy may not have come home but international football feels a lot closer to us all now. A summer England will not forget in a hurry.

Julen Lopetegui made a name for himself before the tournament even started and then didn’t even manage a match. Lopetegui’s appointment as the new manager of Real Madrid just two days before the tournament was a huge shock but bigger than that was Spain’s decision to sack him 48 hours before their first game against Portugal. There’s bold calls and then there’s stupid decisions. Spain went out in the last-16 to Russia.

Kylian Mbappe will win a Ballon d’Or, right? Not to put any pressure on the lad but he is going to be the next big thing. Skill, pace, power, an eye for goal, it’s easy to see why he’s drawn comparison with Thierry Henry. He’s got a long way to go to beat Henry’s goalscoring record for France but the future is looking very bright for the 19-year-old. Oh, and he’s also the first teenager to score in a World Cup final since Pele. How’s that for pressure to make it to the very top?

Lionel Messi may not have had the World Cup he dreamed of but, like his arch rival Ronaldo, delivered the one moment to remind football fans why he’s won five Ballon d’Ors. That came from a remarkable three-touch goal against Nigeria. Latching onto a long ball from Ever Banega in midfield, the Barcelona star cushioned the ball with his left thigh, into the path of his left foot before rifling past the goalkeeper with his right foot, seemingly all in one single, smooth, silky motion.

Michy Batshuayi will think twice about ever picking up a ball from the back of the net after his team-mate has scored before booting it into the air in joyous celebration. His effort saw the ball bounce back off the post and smash him right in the face. Cameras were not going to miss his comedy moment that’ll make football bloopers compilations for years to come.

Neymar. Oh, Neymar. Nobody doubts the talent. Nobody doubts your love for your country. But the theatrics have to stop. The PSG superstar branded Brazil’s World Cup exit as the “saddest day of my career,” but things have got even worse for the forward with the #neymarchallenge going viral on social media, making fun at his tendency to feign injury. He’s the only one who can change people’s perceptions and cutting that aspect out of his game needs to happen. Fast.

Own goal in a World Cup final? Likely to be a pub quiz question for years to come and the man whose name will be associated with that is poor Mario Mandzukic. His unfortunate flicked header connected with Antoine Griezmann’s cross to see him become the first man to score an own goal in a World Cup final.

Penalties and more penalties seemed to be on the agenda for referees in Russia. 29 were awarded in total and that’s before any dreaded shoot-outs settled games in the knockout stages. A combination of reckless defending, deliberate late challenges and of course VAR checks leading to referees reversing their decisions, all led to an influx of players having the chance to covert from 12 yards.

Quaresma likes the outside of his foot more than his inside and he proved just that when the ball took flight from the outside of his boot as he arced a perfect curving trajectory almost two feet outside of the intended post before the ball curled and nestled into the top corner of the goal beyond Iran’s helpless goalkeeper, Alireza Beiranvand.

Russia hosting a World Cup may not have been the first choice candidate for some but the tournament ran without any hitches. The lowest ranked of all 32 competing, overachieved by some distance. Russia had failed to win in seven friendlies prior to the tournament and there was talk of them becoming only the second host nation in World Cup history to fail to reach the knockout stage. A 5-0 opening win over Saudi Arabia and the dumping of 2010 champions Spain will live long in the memory for Russians.

Southgate you’re the one you still turn me on, football’s coming home again. Yes, Atomic Kitten’s Whole Again lyrics were adapted to fill England fans’ needs this summer and there’s absolutely nothing anyone can do about it. Seen the video of Mr. Southgate conducting the fans inside the Samara Arena after the win over Sweden? It’ll bring a smile to your face and maybe a tear to your eye.

Tika-taka football wasn’t the way forward for teams in Russia. Spain made an incredible 1,137 passes in 120 minutes against Russia but it was to little avail. Brazil’s samba skills proved futile too as Belgium’s counter-attaching style sent them packing. Only one goalless draw from 64 matches? We were truly spoilt this summer.

Underdogs and upsets made this World Cup unpredictable. Germany finishing bottom of their Group as South Korea put two goals past them. Croatia and Luka Modric tearing Argentina apart. Spain being dumped out to Russia. Iran and Morocco garnering support of every neutral around the world against Portugal and Spain. It had it all.

VAR. No three letters have caused as much carnage and debate as these two consonants and vowel have done in football. If we’re thinking VAR is going to be the future of eradicating big footballing decisions from the beautiful game, we’re completely wrong. It worked well on occasions, but on others not so much. Just ask Croatia’s Ivan Perisic and Nordin Ambrabat what they think of it.

Waistcoat sales went through the roof this summer. Why? Mr Southgate and Waistcoat Wednesday fever swept the nation. Marks and Spencer’s almost sold out of their blue waistcoats as fans looked to emulate England’s finest look ahead of their semi-final appearance.

Xherdan Shaqiri only managed to score one goal at the World Cup but an important one at that. A quick clunter-attacking break saw the midfielder net a last minute winner against Serbia. A neat move, perhaps, that even saw Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool come knocking before the tournament had reached its conclusion.

Yerry Mina is the first defender to score three headed goals at a single World Cup tournament since at least 1966 and for that reason gave fantasy football managers brave enough to select him a shed load of points. His third header of the tournament can be blamed for causing England fans an unnecessary extra 30 minutes of stress before the dreaded penalties. Yerry didn’t have the last laugh though.

Zlatan is not the be and end all of Swedish football. Far from it in fact. Sweden, at times looked like dark horses, to progress way beyond expectations. A squad of players, without a standout household name, showing just what can be achieved when team-work and work ethic are the driving forces behind their success. Meanwhile, for Zlatan he’ll be sampling some fish and chips at Wembley with David Beckham in the not too distant future.