2018 Russia World Cup Recap

Yesterday brought an end to the 2018 FIFA World Cup hosted by Russia, in which France beat Croatia in the final to secure their 2nd world championship. Starting back in mid June, I watched every game of this tournament, as the avid soccer fan that I am.

This was the 6th World Cup that I have followed since the 1998 Cup in France, and believe it was the most exciting one I have ever seen. It seems the tournament only gets better and better with age. Therefore I shall echo what I have said many times before in this blog, the FIFA World Cup is without question the most glorious of all sports tournaments. 

I won't spend much time here talking about my love of the tournament yet rather give a recap of the 2018 World Cup while it's still fresh in my mind. I'll highlight the teams, star players, shocking moments, best goals, disappointments, and other stories that took part in the tournament. I watched every game starting back in mid June, either at work, at home, at my parents house, at the bars, and hosted a party at my house for the championship. It's always hard to let go of a glorious tournament such as this (or the Olympics) but I suppose that makes it all the better next time it comes around. So here is my recap of the glorious 2018 Russia World Cup.

France: The 2x Champions

France were one of the four favorites coming into this tournament (along with Brazil, Germany, and Spain) and were the last ones standing at the end. This was their 2nd championship since 1998, led by the great Zidane. They fell short however in the 2006 final against Italy, that witnessed the infamous Zidane red-card headbutt. Ten years later, France has climbed back to the top of the world rankings. They fell just short in the 2016 Euro Finals against Portugal, and as a result were prepared to see this final thru to the end, as they overcame a very talented Croatian team. They rightfully deserved this World Cup Championship. 

This French squad is extremely star-studded and balanced with youth and experience. They are managed by the former captain Didier Deschamps of the 1998 champion French squad. The captain of their team is their goalkeeper Hugo Llors. Their defense is controlled by Samuel Umtiti and Raphael Varane, while Paul Pogba and Ngolo Kante control the center, and the speedy wingers Antoine Greizman and Kylian Mbappe lead the attack. This is a very exciting team to watch, pragmatic at times, yet also deadly on the attack. France found goals in numerous ways, whether from set pieces, long range shots, or the quick pace of Mbappe, who was awarded the best young player of the tournament. 

There were probably 10 other teams I would have preferred to see win it over France, (mostly Latin teams or England) yet can honestly say I am satisfied with them as champions. I have nothing against France, have always enjoyed their history and culture, have cousins who are French, and enjoy watching Paul Pogba, Antonie Greizman, and Kylian Mbappe. That being said I really hope the next world cup champion is not from Europe, since the past four champions have been.

Croatia: Runners Up

It's ironic France won their championship against Croatia, because it was in 1998 that France beat Croatia in the semi-finals, which was the furthest they had ever been at that point. I remember it was at that tournament that I learned about the small country of Croatia, dressed in their peculiar checkered uniforms, and lead by their star striker, Davor Suker, who could speak Spanish. Surely Suker was the hero of the country, that is until this recent squad went even further in the tournament. 

Led by their superstar midfielder Luka Modric, the recipient of the Golden Ball, and other star names such as Ivan Rakitic, Dejan Lovren, and Ivan Perisic. They made their first big statement in the tournament by beating Argentina 3-0 in the group stage. They then went on to beat Denmark, Russia, and England all in extra time. This was a battle tested team, and to be quite honest they performed better at the final match against France. However they fell short when it mattered most, and could not secure the championship. Nonetheless Croatia should feel very honored with their accomplishment, for such a small country to come so close to glory is bittersweet. 

Belgium: Third Place

This was also the best ever result for the country of Belgium, who have put together a golden generation of stars. This team went to the quarter-finals in the 2014 cup, yet went even further this tournament by winning 6 of 7 matches, losing only to France in the semis, yet beating England to secure 3rd place. 

Their Spanish coach Roberto Martinez, brought up a tactical plan to get the best of his superstars, Eden Hazard, Thibaut Courtois, Kevin de Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku, Vincent Kompany, Maroune Fellani, and so forth. Each star player had some form of contribution to a major game changing moment. Their comeback win against Japan in the 2nd half was led by Fellani and their fast counter-attack. They even went a step further in their quarter-final upset win against Brazil with an incredible long range rocket from Kevin de Bruyne that will forever give Brazilians nightmares. And their goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtois was awarded the Golden Glove.

England: Fourth Place

As a fan of English Football, I was happy to see them making it into the semi-finals. However to get there they had to beat my favored Colombia in the Round of 16, which was a heartbreaking lost for me. Then they had to beat my other favored team Sweden in the quarter-finals. I still couldn't hold this against the team of England when they faced Croatia. 

This country has done quite poorly in the World Cup since their 1990 Semi-Final appearance and 1966 championship. I was hoping they could make it to the finals to face France, however they came up short to Croatia in extra time. This was a disappointing result for me to witness as it appeared England had control of the game until the final 30 minutes. That being said English fans should hold their heads up high for this performance. Their captain Harry Kane will bring home the Golden Shoe with the 6 goals he scored. 

Teams I enjoyed watching

Colombia: This was my favorite team going into the tournament, being part Colombian myself. I was hoping they could emulate the success of the 2014 tournament led by James Rodriguez and a healthy Radamel Falcao, however they came up short due to a string of bad luck. An injured James Rodriguez in the Round of 16 match was no doubt the reason England was able to win. However their 3-0 win against Poland and Yerry Mina's equalizer in stoppage time will go down as two of my favorite moments in this cup.

Brasil: In most sports I usually hate the superpower team as is the case for Brasil yet still there is something about their style of play that is just fun to watch. They've always incorporated a rhythmic creative free flowing innovative style, often referred to as the Brazilian Ginga style. Following their 7-1 humiliation at the hands of Germany, Brasil was eager to redeem their selves and were once again favorites to win this tournament. 

They were carried by the amazing speed and footwork of midfield Philippe Coutinho and their superstar winger, Neymar. However the team once again came up short, this time against Belgium in the quarter-finals. While it is quite impressive that Brasil has now gone to 7 consecutive quarter-finals, this is not satisfactory enough for a 5 time champion nation that has not won the title since 2002.  

Spain: My calculated prediction was that Spain would win this tournament, based on their experience, strong defense, superstar goalkeeping, and possession based tactics. However things took a twist for them the night before the tournament started when their head coach was fired for accepting a job with Real Madrid. 

Their opening 3-3 match against Portugal was one of the best games of the cup, and although they were robbed the victory I got a glimpse of their passing brilliance. Following this draw however they barely got by Iran and Morocco. In the Round of 16 they were shockingly defeated by the host nation of Russia in PK shootout. This tournament will likely mark an end for the 2010 champs such as Andres Iniesta, Sergio Ramos, Gerard Pique, and Sergio Busquets.   

Mexico: I always admire watching the Mexican national team's hunger and passion at these games. This was no doubt the case in their opening match, and perhaps the upset of the tournament, against Germany. From beginning to end, their pace and work rate is simply unmatched and fun to watch. 

The chant of Chucky Lozano, who scored the winning goal against Germany, was perhaps one of my favorite songs of the cup. However yet again for the 7th straight World Cup, Mexico was eliminated in the Round of 16. Thus making their "Curse of the Quinto Partido" all the more relevant. 

Admirable Performances

Russia: The host nation not only did a great job at hosting one of the most memorable tournaments of all time, they also performed quite well making it to the quarter-finals. Their opening wins against Egypt and Saudi Arabia gave the nation something to celebrate about. However their 3-0 loss to Uruguay was perhaps a wake of reality. 

That was until they provided the biggest upset yet in beating Spain in PK shootout. This result went down as the biggest upset in World Cup history based on FIFA rankings, Spain was ranked 4th and Russia ranked 70th. Russia once again provided a moment of glory when they equalized against Croatia in the quarter-finals. However this time they were not able to repeat their success in the PK shootouts and came up short. 

Uruguay: This team lead by their notorious trouble maker Luis Suarez had a very admirable run. They won their first games Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Portugal. In the Round of 16 match Cavani became the hero with two impressive goals over the 2016 Euro Champs- Portugal. However Cavani was injured and could not help Suarez and Godin in the quarter-final match against France, where they came up short 2-0. 

Portugal: This was likely Ronaldo's last chance at World Cup glory, hoping to emulate the success he achieved as the recent 2016 Euro Cup Champions. Ronaldo got off to an incredible start in the opening match against Spain by scoring a hat-trick and a heroic late game free kick to tie the game. In the following match he scored an early header which became the only goal of the game to give Portugal a much needed victory. However in their third match against Iran, Portugal once again had to settle for a draw and Ronaldo was nearly given a red card. They played well against Uruguay yet simply not enough to win, and were eliminated in the Round of 16.    

Sweden: This team was out for a new identity following the departure of their iconic superstar Zlatan Ibrahimivic and did just that by going further than any other Swedish team had since the 1994 World Cup where they made it to the semi-finals. 

This Swedish side was not star-driven yet rather a pragmatic team that won the games it had to win against South Korea and Mexico. They suffered a heartbreaking loss against Germany, yet were able to erase that by beating Switzerland in the Round of 16 and making it to the quarter-finals where they were eventually defeated by England 2-0. 

Senegal: They had a huge opening win against Poland, which saw the team dancing thru each of it's practices and appearances. The then tied against Japan, and lost to Colombia. They perhaps got the worse end of a group stage tie-breaking scenario against Japan, which had to be decided by fair play, since they were tied in points, goal differential, and  goals scored.Japan had the fewer cards and thus were the team that went on to the knockout stage, while Senegal sadly went home. 

Japan: They got off to an incredible start by upsetting Colombia, due to a red card in the 3rd minute. They were then able to get a late equalizer against Senegal and a crucial 4th point as they lost to Poland. They were tied to Senegal on points yet still went thru on fair play. In the Round of 16 Japan had it's most impressive performance yet as they broke ahead of Belgium 2-0 in the second half yet had a late collapse where the Belgians responded with 3 late goals to win. Perhaps the comeback of the tournament.

Disappointing Teams

Germany: If there was one team I did not want to see win the cup was Germany, since they had just won it in 2014. However I still predicted they would go far, if not the finals at least the semi-finals. That was not the case at all, and in a shocking result they did not make it out of the group stage. Which has now become a trend for defending champions. Perhaps this is because they lose their hunger or have too big a target on their backs. Their losses to Mexico and Korea demonstrated the teams lack of hunger and desire to win. However their victory against Sweden, where Toni Kroos scored a free kick in stoppage team to win the game was yet another incredible moment in the tournament.

Argentina: This was perhaps Lionel Messi's final chance at winning the World Cup yet as a whole the Argentinian team was in disarray for most of it's games. Messi's first failure came against Iceland in missing a PK that would lead to a draw; then came their humiliating 3-0 loss to Croatia; their finest moment came against Nigeria where Messi scored a beauty and Marcus Rojo scored the winner; the team fought admirably against France yet it was not enough and fell 4-3 to the eventual champions. This was a disappointing result mostly because of Messi and it is clear to see the frustration of a superstar who wants nothing more then to win one for his country.

Egypt: Although they had minimal expectations, it would have been nice to see this team make it out of the group stage with their rising superstar Mo Salah. However unfortunately he was not able to partake in their first game loss against Uruguay. He did however play against Russia and Saudi Arabia both games that they should have won. However Egypt went on to lose all three of their matches

Top 5 Goals

5. Cristano Ronaldo against Spain

4. Nacho against Portugal

3. Lionel Messi's touch and shot against Nigeria

2. Toni Kroos game winning free kick against Sweden

1. Benjamin Pavard long range volley against Argentina

Top 10 Moments

10. Croatia's dominant win against Argentina 3-0

9. Harry Kane's late game winning goal against Tunisia

8. Russia upsets Spain on PK shootout in Round of 16

7. Belgium's late 3 goal comeback against Japan in Round of 16

6. Mexico upsets Germany 1-0

5. Korea upsets Germany 2-0 eliminating Germany in group stage

4. Marcos Rojo late game winning goal against Nigeria

3. Yerry Mina scores equalizing header against England to force game into extra time

2. Toni Kroos scores game winning free kick goal in stoppage time against Sweden

1. Cristiano Ronaldo scored equalizing free kick goal against Spain

Top 25 Players

25. Denis Cheryshev (Russia)

24. Kasper Schmeichel (Denmark)

23. Edison Cavani (Uruguay) 

22. Kieran Trippier (England)

21. Hugo Lloris (France) 

20. Ivan Rakatic (Croatia)

19. Diego Godin (Uruguay)

18. Jordan Pickford (England)

17. Thibaut Courtois (Belgium)

16. Ngolo Kante (France)

15. Cristano Ronaldo (Portugal)

14. Raphael Varance (France)

13. Neymar (Brazil)

12. Kevin de Bruyne (Belgium)

11. Toni Kroos (Germany)

10. Ivan Perisic (Croatia)

9. Philipe Coutinho (Brazil)

8. Harry Kane (England)

7. Antonie Griezmann (France)

6. Yerry Mina (Colombia)

5. Eden Hazard (Belgium)

4. Romelu Lukaku (Belgium)

3. Paul Pogba (France)

2. Luka Modric (Croatia)

1. Kylian Mbappe (France)