By Rilwan Salawudeen
France won the World Cup, but that is far from the whole story. So many
players and teams came out of the tournament on great highs and devastating
lows. Here are some of the winners and losers of the 2018 World Cup in
Russia.
Winners
Croatia
It’s odd to call a team that just lost the biggest game in its history of football a
winner, Croatia did everything but was unable to lift the World Cup. Six
straight wins over Nigeria, Argentina, Iceland, Denmark, Russia, and England
was one of the most impressive run in a World Cup by any nation, much less
one with only four million people. Luka Modric won the most valuable player
award, Ivan Perisic came out with the biggest boost to his stock, despite his
handball in the final. The Inter Milan player may now be in a big money move
to Manchester United.
Belgium
Everyone expected Belgium to one day break through, and this was the
tournament. With great performances from Eden Hazard and Kevin De
Bruyne, they made a run to the semifinals including a historical win over
Brazil. Some nations’ Golden Generations are busts though they did not win
the tournament but they lived up to expectations.
Japan
Though they were drawn into a tough group, they beat Colombia and sneaked
through on a tiebreaker to qualify over Senegal with a fair play rule, they went
up 2-0 on Belgium before running out of gas. They were the only Asian team
to advance to the round of 16.
Kylian Mbappe
He is certainly well known to soccer fans, but the World Cup was his coming
out party. He scored four goals, lifted the World Cup at age 19 and is set to
become the heir to the aging superstars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
He is now rated as the sixth most valuable player in the world at $140 million
dollars. He plays for P.S.G the champions of France.
Russia
They were ranked as one of the weakest teams in the tournament coming in,
Russia transform home field advantage to book a quarterfinal spot, its finest
finish since the Soviet days. Despite some pretournament misgivings from
some commentators, it won mostly positive reviews as a host nation, as well
as the Cup was peaceful, smoothly run and entertaining.
Denis Cheryshev
He made a surprise late selection for Russia, he was barely expected to play
until Alan Dzagoev was injured. He was able to score four goals making him
one of the top scorers in the tournament.
Sergej Milinkovic-Savic
Many people didn’t notice this guy in Serbia’s midfield, but a lot of Europe’s
big clubs did. Manchester United and Chelsea are rumored to want to sign
him from Lazio.
V.A.R.
Not every decision was unanimously praised. But the system was fast and
righted a good number of wrongs. “As said by the FIFA President Gianni
Infantino, VAR is not changing football, it is cleaning football”, we will be
seeing more of it to come.
Losers
Africa
From the inception of the World Cup, no one expected an African winner, but
surely one or two of its five entrants would make the knockout round. Instead
the continent made a poor performance. The dazzling spot was Senegal,
which beat Poland and was eliminated on the sixth tiebreaker. The poor
showing is a bad omen for the future. When the Cup expands to 48 teams in
2022 or 2026, there will be nine African teams.
Germany
The team that demolished Brazil 7-1 and won the 2014 World Cup was a flop
four years later in Russia. They dominated much of the play and got more
shots per game than any other team, the shots just didn’t find that back of the
net. They scored two goals in the competition including an embarrassing loss
to South Korea.
Mexico
They were drawn into a tough group, Mexico played well to advance. Their
knockout opponent was Brazil, so a loss hardly seems like a disgrace. But it
was the seventh straight round of 16 loss for Mexico, a streak its fans are
desperate to break.
Panama
Panama was delighted to qualify for its first World Cup, ahead of the United
States. But its performances were uniformly poor losing 0-3 to Belgium, 6-1 to
England and 1-2 to Tunisia, and they ended up 32 nd of 32 teams.
Lionel Messi
His legacy as an all-time is secured, but a lot of people say that to be
considered the greatest ever he needs to win a World Cup trophy. Argentina
never looked like a threat, drawing Iceland in their opening match, losing to
Croatia, and finally eliminated by France in the round of 16. Messi will be 35
by 2022.
Neymar
No one is crying for Neymar, one of the world’s most valuable and richest
players. Brazil underachieved in the World Cup, Neymar’s two goals and one
assist did not impress at all. Worse, he was frequently noticed as one of the
tournament’s most outstanding divers, not something to polish a legacy.
