The 2018 FIFA World Cup held in Russia was superbly organized. Even foreign media outlets such as the Australian broadcaster SBS and the American newspapers The New York Times and Washington Post admit this. It was full of bright events, joyful, sad and curious moments.
Let's remember together the brightest moments of the 2018 World Cup.
10. Wet ceremony
It is as if nature is a pity that the 2018 World Cup is over, and she celebrated this event in her own way - with pouring rain during the awards ceremony at Luzhniki. This took everyone present by surprise. We quickly managed to get only one umbrella, which went to ... Russian President Vladimir Putin! Then there were umbrellas for the rest of the VIPs.
Even a hurricane could not erase a happy smile from the face of French leader Emmanuel Macron, and Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic kissed the cup (apparently for good luck) and hugged French football players. This award ceremony will surely be remembered by everyone present for a long time.
9. Dziuba: I have the honor
Having scored a goal against Saudi Arabia, Russian footballer Artem Dziuba happily ran to the bench, where the coach of the Russian team was. Stanislav Cherchesov saluted his attacker by raising his hand to his bare head. The match ended with a score of 5: 0 in favor of the Russian team.
In the next game against the Egyptian national team, Dziuba again distinguished himself by scoring a goal against the enemy. And already he himself greeted Cherchesov, putting one palm on his head (imitation of a headdress), and saluting the mentor with the other. Perhaps the military greeting will become the signature gesture of the Russian forward.
8. Hole of happiness
Croatian fans have found out by personal example how well the road services of Nizhny Novgorod work. Seeing a huge hole on one of the city roads, they, without thinking twice, climbed into it. A snapshot of laughing football fans, taken on June 21, instantly spread across the RuNet.
The author of the picture, Yuri Popov, signed it on his Facebook: “A hole of happiness. An unprecedented Nizhny Novgorod attraction pleases foreign guests of the city. As they say, "there will be something to tell at home!"
The embarrassed road workers already on June 22 completely asphalted the failure.
7. Trio in kokoshniks
The top 10 most memorable events of the FIFA World Cup would be incomplete without mentioning the trio of spectators wearing kokoshniks, savoryly munching sausages during the Russia-Spain match. After all, it instantly gained enormous popularity. A lot of memes dedicated to the family of eaters (Dmitry Hnatyuk, his wife Inna and nephew Yuri) appeared on the Web, and she was even recognized as the mascot of the Russian national team. And even though Russia could not compete with the French for the title of winner of the 2018 World Cup, we will forever remember the wonderful game of our national team and our colorful fans.
6. Pornstar Cheerleader
Nothing boded trouble when the editors of Channel One decided to place a beautiful cheerleader on the main page of the site, wearing a kokoshnik and with the inscription Russia on the topic. However, Runet users identified the girl as Natalya Nemchinova (aka Natalya Andreeva), a star of adult films. A fan's passport with the name and surname of the porn actress got into the cameras during the broadcast of the match Russia - Egypt. It turned out that Natalya is an avid cheerleader and constantly attends matches in clothes with Russian symbols.
After the outbreak of the scandal, Channel One promptly replaced Natalya's photo with a photo of another beauty who was not seen in “defamatory connections”.
5. The false pain of Neymar
The captain of the Brazilian national team is a born actor. Maybe he lacks talent, but there is more than enough emotionality and willingness to repeat the scene over and over again. Neymar rolled around the field with such enthusiasm, imitating unbearable pain that it seemed: a little more and he would really hurt. In total, for 5 football matches, Neymar was in the prone position on the Russian lawns for 14 minutes.
But every cloud has a silver lining. The Brazilian footballer's simulations have inspired public service announcements in Portugal. It explains the importance of emergency medical calls. The ad depicts a Brazilian forward, and the text beside it reads “75.8% of ambulance calls are non-emergency.”
4. The glory and failure of Mario Fernandez
This Brazilian, who has taken Russian citizenship, has demonstrated an impeccable game throughout the World Cup. It was he who made an excellent assist for Cheryshev during the match with the Egyptians, and then saved our team from losing to the Spaniards in extra time.
One of the best moments of the 2018 World Cup is the way Fernandez scored a goal for the Croats, giving hope to all Russian fans. Unfortunately, Mario was unlucky in the penalty shootout, he was probably tired and shot wide of the goal.
3. Russian "Panenka" Smolova
This is one of the saddest moments associated with the 2018 football world cup. The young striker of the Russian national team in the penalty shootout sacrificed the effectiveness of the goal for the sake of the beauty of performance in the style of Panenka. For this, Fedor Smolov was subjected to the harshest criticism from both fellow athletes and football fans. However, the moment was missed, the Croatian national team won that ill-fated, but very entertaining match, and Russia, in the end, could not compete for the title of the World Cup winner.
2. The first own goal in the history of football in the World Cup final
During the match between the French and Croats, which ended the 2018 World Cup, Croatian striker Mario Mandzukic inadvertently sent the ball into the goal of his national team.
In the eighteenth minute, the French national team received a free kick, and forward Antoine Griezmann served. Due to the fact that Mandzhukic jumped very high in the “wall”, the ball hit the back of his head and flew into the Croatian net, bypassing the goalkeeper. And although Mandzhukic quickly recovered, scoring a goal against the opponent, the game ended 4: 2 in favor of France.
1. Leg of Akinfeev
Diego Maradona's "Hand of God" is considered one of best goals in football history... Now "Akinfeev's leg" will join her. The goalkeeper of the Russian national team, for whom the 2018 World Cup was very successful, showed himself best during the game with Spain. He managed to reflect two strongest blows - Koke and Iago Aspas - and Igor Akinfeev saved the second blow with his foot. In honor of this event, the company "Art-Grani" issued a large gold medal, which depicts a ball and "lucky leg" Akinfeev. This impromptu mascot will be awarded to coach Stanislav Cherchesov.
Donation Mbappe
Another event took place after the World Cup, but it deserves a separate mention. Young French striker Kilian Mbappe decided to donate the money he earned as part of the national team to the needs of disabled children.The donation amount to Mbappe is 550 thousand dollars.