Cura\u00e7ao\u2019s historic first goal<\/p>\n
\u201cI played with him on my PlayStation, and now I\u2019ve scored against him,\u201d Livano Comenencia said after converting Cura\u00e7ao\u2019s first World Cup goal past Manuel Neuer in their opening match against Germany. The smallest nation ever to qualify for the World Cup went on to lose 7-1<\/a> but that goal \u2013 their only one of the tournament \u2013 will go down in history.<\/p>\n \u2018Cablegate\u2019<\/p>\n Should Jude Bellingham\u2019s first goal against Norway have been ruled out? Perhaps so given the ball appeared to hit an overhead cable<\/a> in the buildup. Fifa insisted there had been no such intervention; Norway\u2019s manager, St\u00e5le Solbakken, was sure there had been. \u201cMany on the bench reacted immediately \u2026 the ball fell down straight in front of us,\u201d he said, furiously.<\/p>\n Marsch\u2019s musings<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d rather be us than them,\u201d said Jesse Marsch after Canada were comprehensively beaten by Morocco<\/a> in the last 16. \u201cIt takes some nerve to say that when you lose 3-0,\u201d said Morocco\u2019s head coach, Mohamed Ouahbi, in response. Marsch also somewhat hilariously overestimated the capacity of BC Place after his side\u2019s 6\u20130 win over Qatar<\/a>, saying: \u201cThere\u2019ll be 60 million people that said they were here.\u201d<\/p>\n Glittering Golden Boot race<\/p>\n Between 1978 and 2018, only the original Ronaldo had scored more than six goals at a single World Cup (eight in 2002). Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 had matched the Brazilian\u2019s tally by the semi-finals this time around, with Mbapp\u00e9 winning the Golden Boot after scoring two goals against England in the third-place playoff<\/a>.<\/p>\n Scotland fans take over Boston<\/p>\n Scottish supporters marked their return to football\u2019s biggest stage in 28 years by taking over Boston, filling Fenway Park with songs and drinking their pubs dry. With the Tartan Army crowning some of the city\u2019s most recognisable statues with bright orange traffic cones, the \u201cBoston cone\u201d was greeted by<\/a> Boston\u2019s mayor, Michelle Wu, upon its arrival from Glasgow last week. Scotland\u2019s players may have made little impact in the US this summer, but their fans no doubt left a legacy.<\/p>\n Ronaldo scores \u2026 and then goes out with a whimper<\/p>\n \u2018CR7\u2019 finally ended his knockout goal drought against Croatia<\/a> as Portugal squeezed into the last 16. However, joy soon turned to despair when Portugal were eliminated by Spain in the next round. Ronaldo struggled to have any impact on proceedings, managing only 19 touches in what was his final World Cup match<\/a>. \u201cI gave it all, I gave it my best,\u201d he said afterwards.<\/p>\n Cristiano Ronaldo scored against Croatia but could not prevent Portugal going out against Spain. Photograph: Marcel van Dorst\/DeFodi Images\/ShutterstockEmbolo\u2019s mistaken identity<\/p>\n The mistaken identity rule was updated for this World Cup to cover situations where a player was booked but the offence was committed by the other team and well and truly took effect during Argentina and Switzerland\u2019s quarter-final<\/a> in Kansas City. The referee, Jo\u00e3o Pinheiro, initially issued Argentina\u2019s Leandro Paredes a yellow card for his challenge on Switzerland\u2019s Breel Embolo before the VAR called him to the monitor. Embolo was then ruled to have dived and was punished with a yellow card himself \u2013 it was the forward\u2019s second of the game and he was duly sent off. \u201cThis rule destroyed the game today,\u201d said Switzerland\u2019s head coach, Murat Yakin, after his side\u2019s 3-1 loss.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s unprecedented tournament<\/p>\n Competing against the backdrop of their country\u2019s conflict with the US, Iran\u2019s players faced incredible difficulties before a ball was kicked. With their training base abruptly switched from Arizona to Mexico before the tournament, the team were then only allowed to enter the US the day before their first two matches and had to leave immediately after. Despite that, they only narrowly missed out on the knockout rounds after Austria and Algeria drew 3-3<\/a> in the final round of the group stage to send them home on goal difference. \u201cWhat these players have done should be written in history because the host country treated us very unfairly,\u201d Iran\u2019s head coach, Amir Ghalenoei, said.<\/p>\n Erling Haaland: internet phenomenon<\/p>\n Snapchat stories. Stuffed raccoons. Doing next to nothing against Brazil for 79 minutes and then scoring twice in 11 minutes<\/a>. It\u2019s fair to say Erling Haaland made his mark at the World Cup. \u201cWhen someone asks me what my biggest fear is but I can\u2019t say being charged at by Haaland at full speed so I just say spiders,\u201d reads a video that has racked up millions of views on Instagram, a reference to how Haaland chased down Iraq\u2019s goalkeeper, Jalal Hassan, for his second goal of the tournament.<\/p>\n Turkey are definitely not dark horses<\/p>\n Turkey were tipped to go far but, in the end, didn\u2019t even make it out of the group stage. Indeed, they were the second country eliminated from the tournament following back-to-back losses to Australia and 10-man Paraguay. \u201cWe should have won these games \u2026 everybody\u2019s sad, everybody\u2019s crying,\u201d said Arda Guler<\/a>, Turkey\u2019s wonderkid after his country\u2019s less-than-wonderful showing.<\/p>\n Arda Guler (right) grimaces during Turkey\u2019s defeat by Australia. Photograph: Lee Smith\/ReutersEgypt outrage after controversial exit<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going home and won\u2019t be watching any more games from the tournament,\u201d said Egypt\u2019s head coach, Hossam Hassan,<\/a> after his side\u2019s loss to Argentina in the last 16. \u201cWhat happened to us wasn\u2019t fair. We should have had a penalty, a goal was disallowed and I don\u2019t know why.\u201d Hassan was not alone in thinking crucial decisions had favoured the world champions in what was arguably the game of the tournament in Atlanta.<\/p>\n The wonder of Wonderwall<\/p>\n It started off as a standard submission for the World Cup\u2019s official track list but was quickly adopted by England\u2019s travelling support as the theme song of their tournament run, Oasis\u2019s 1995 classic creating a genuinely uplifting bond between plays and fans. Harry Kane went as far as describing the post-match ritual of standing alongside his teammates, arms around each other\u2019s shoulders, and facing a wall of happy, singing English faces as one of his \u201cfavourite ever moments in an England shirt\u201d.<\/p>\n Lamine Yamal\u2019s brother becomes a star<\/p>\n Lamine Yamal had a great World Cup but not as great as his three-year-old brother, Keyne, who captured hearts worldwide<\/a> with his wide-eyed, big-grinned expressions of delight whenever his older sibling shone at the tournament. A young star was born on the back of another young star and both look here to stay.<\/p>\n Mexico\u2019s unofficial mascot<\/p>\n Merlin the duck became a sensation after being spotted at Mexico\u2019s post-game celebrations following their opening World Cup win over South Africa. Indeed, Merlin became so famous that he was granted a meeting with Mexico\u2019s president, Claudia Sheinbaum<\/a>. \u201cWe feel very honoured to be here with the president, it is an honour for us to stand before you and for the whole world to see the beautiful side of Mexico.\u201d said Karla G\u00f3mez, Merlin\u2019s owner. Sadly, Merlin was unable to watch Mexico in the flesh<\/a> due to Fifa regulations.<\/p>\n Death, taxes and Merino\u2019s late winners<\/p>\n Messi, Mbapp\u00e9, Haaland, Harry Kane \u2026 this has been a World Cup of goalscoring superstars well and truly coming to the fore, and then there has been Mikel Merino<\/a>. The Spain midfielder came off the bench to score crucial winning goals against Portugal and Belgium in back-to-back knockout games. It was some contribution from the Arsenal player to his country\u2019s World Cup triumph.<\/p>\n Mikel Merino races away after a late goal against Belgium. Photograph: Ringo Chiu\/Zuma Press Wire\/ShutterstockAguirre meets Gordon<\/p>\n \u201cGordon!\u201d shouted Javier Aguirre at England\u2019s left-sided forward during the first-half hydration break of an epic last-16 encounter at the Azteca, followed by something indistinguishable when Anthony Gordon turned back to look. Keen-eyed internet users later deciphered it as a very cheerful \u201cfuck you!\u201d from Mexico\u2019s manager, with both men subsequently laughing with delight. \u201cI\u2019d just run the full-back down the line,\u201d Gordon said after England\u2019s 3-2 win<\/a>. \u201cSo I took it as a bit of a compliment from him.\u201d<\/p>\n Vozinha\u2019s star power<\/p>\n After being named player of the match in Cape Verde\u2019s opening goalless draw with Spain<\/a>, Vozinha teared up. \u201cMy mum didn\u2019t manage to be here because of the visa,\u201d said the 40-year-old goalkeeper. Two days later the House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, announced that arrangements had been made to waive the cost of Ana \u00c9vora\u2019s visa; she was subsequently in attendance as her son played in a 2-2 draw with Uruguay<\/a> and became one of the stars of the tournament.<\/p>\n Penalty drama between Netherlands and Morocco<\/p>\n Neil El Aynaoui struck the crossbar. Justin Kluivert\u2019s effort ricocheted off a post. Bart Verbruggen almost saved Soufiane Rahimi\u2019s strike but helplessly watched it squirm under him and into the back of the net. At 2-2, Quinten Timber put his shot well wide, handing Morocco the advantage only for Achraf Hakimi to do the exact same thing. Standing bolt upright, Yassine Bounou saved from Crysencio Summerville before Ismael Saibari put an end to the rollercoaster of a truly remarkable last-32 penalty shootout<\/a>.<\/p>\n Tuchel hits out at photographers<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m begging Fifa to change the position of the photographers in the national anthem, because I could not see my team,\u201d Thomas Tuchel said after England\u2019s opening win against Croatia<\/a>. \u201cIt was a very special moment, and I was standing in front of a wall of 50 photographers and I could not see one single player.\u201d It wasn\u2019t the first time at the tournament that England\u2019s head coach made his frustrations clear.<\/p>\n Thomas Tuchel is not ready for his closeup. Photograph: Marc Atkins\/Getty ImagesOpener smashes red-card record<\/p>\n Mexico\u2019s 2-0 win over South Africa<\/a> kicked off the World Cup and simultaneously almost equalled the 2022 tournament\u2019s tally of red cards in a single match. Yaya Sithole capped off a terrible second half for South Africa by getting sent off just after the break before his teammate Themba Zwane and Mexican defender C\u00e9sar Montes were shown red cards within eight minutes of each other.<\/p>\n \u201cOverturn this\u201d<\/p>\n With the vast majority of the football world rooting for them, Belgium reacted to the suspension of Folarin Balogun\u2019s ban for the USA\u2019s last-16 encounter with the Red Devils in Seattle with a ruthlessly commanding performance. They beat the co-hosts 4-1<\/a> and marked the victory with a string of celebrations that made clear what they thought of the controversy surrounding\u2019s Balogun\u2019s presence<\/a> on the pitch, including an imitation of Donald Trump\u2019s dance moves in the dressing room afterwards and a gleeful tweet from the team\u2019s official account that simply read: \u201cOverturn this.\u201d<\/p>\n Paraguay go from heroes to villains<\/p>\n There was widespread delight when Paraguay eliminated Germany in the last 32<\/a> with a show of togetherness and defiance but their popularity diminished during their subsequent defeat by France<\/a> on the back of a brutal display of the dark arts. Joe Hart brandished the South Americans an \u201cabsolute disgrace\u201d while his fellow BBC pundit Micah Richards thought that the approach was wholly unnecessary, saying: \u201cParaguay are better than that. Defensively they were so good and they didn\u2019t need to get into these antics.\u201d The Uzbek referee, Ilgiz Tantashev, also faced intense criticism after inexplicably failing to book any Paraguay players.<\/p>\n France players embrace Deschamps<\/p>\n After Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 scored the first of his two goals against Sweden<\/a>, he and his teammates ran over to Didier Deschamps and hugged their head coach. The gesture was a response to Deschamps\u2019 return to the touchline following the death of his mother. When asked about the embrace, Mbapp\u00e9 said: \u201cThat\u2019s the DNA of this group. The coach has been through certain circumstances, and we\u2019re all with him and will continue to support him.\u201d<\/p>\n Didier Deschamps is embraced by Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 as France take on Sweden. Photograph: Jewel Samad\/AFP\/Getty ImagesReferee stops play \u2013 with an injury<\/p>\n In a bizarre twist, the USA\u2019s 2-0 victory over Australia<\/a> in the group stages had to be stopped for, and not by, the referee, Felix Zwayer, after he collapsed with cramp in the dying minutes of the contest in Seattle. Australia\u2019s midfielder Aiden O\u2019Neill and the USA\u2019s Balogun helped Zwayer stretch out the cramp amid ironic cheers from the crowd.<\/p>\n Croatia goal disallowed by a hair<\/p>\n Croatia had seemingly rescued their World Cup campaign from the jaws of defeat after Josko Gvardiol tapped in at the back post in the final stages of their last-32 encounter with Portugal in Toronto. But then VAR got involved and the goal was ruled out<\/a> after Fifa\u2019s sensor technology discovered that the cross to Gvardiol had taken the faintest touch off the head of Igor Matanovic. \u201cIt was very bad refereeing,\u201d said Croatia\u2019s manager, Zlatko Dalic. \u201cI\u2019m not saying that sometimes VAR can\u2019t be of help, but it kills the emotions, it kills everything.\u201d<\/p>\n Jayden Adams tributes<\/p>\n