A to Z of 2018 FIFA World Cup: Messi vs Ronaldo and the historic VAR

World
Europe

As the first round of the 2018 World Cup come to an end, 48 games and 122 goals, lots of VAR drama marked the tournament. Before the knockout stage, CGTN takes a look at some of the highlights of the group stage in alphabetical order.

Path to the 2018 World Cup Final, screenshot from FIFA's official website.

A - Alfred Finnbogason

Alfred Finnbogason became the first Icelandic player to score a goal in the FIFA World Cup when he found the net against Argentina in his first World Cup game.

B - Beiranvand

Beiranvand or Alireza Safar Beiranvand became the first Iranian ever to be nominated for an individual award at The Best FIFA Football Awards in 2017 and in Iran's last match of the 2018 World Cup; Beiranvand saved a penalty from Cristiano Ronaldo, as Iran drew 1-1 with Portugal.

C - Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo or CR7’s towering presence has been felt from the word go with his awe-inspiring hat-trick against Spain in Portugal’s opening game. But his penalty miss against Iran dented his invincibility a bit.

Ronaldo has scored four goals at the 2018 World Cup. /VCG Photo

D - Denis Cheryshev

Denis Cheryshev literally set the ball rolling in this World Cup with his two spectacular strikers in the opening game of the tournament against Saudi Arabia after coming in as a substitute. The Spanish-Russian scored his third goal in the tournament against Egypt, in a 3–1 victory, but he added a dubious own goal to his tally as well in his side’s thrashing 3-0 defeat against group-toppers Uruguay.

E - Essam Kamal Tawfiq El-Hadary

Essam Kamal Tawfiq El-Hadary became the oldest player in history to play in a World Cup match and celebrated his milestone by saving a penalty as well. His milestone came at the age of 45 years and 161 days.

F - FAN IDs

FAN IDs are probably the best things football fans can have – a visa free entry as well as free ride in Russia’s vast public system networks for, believe it or not, free on the match days.

G - Germany

Germany and their gargantuan failure. The defending champions’ disastrous first round exit and finish at the bottom of their group have kept the World Cup champions' curse alive.

H - Harry Kane

Harry Kane or for Panama fans, he was simply a hurricane. Kane is leading the list of goal-scorers so far with five goals, including a hat-trick.

I - Iago Aspas

Iago Aspas or the late-bloomer in Spanish football is one of the revelations at this year’s World Cup. His stoppage time goal, assisted by VAR, not only saved his fancied side the blushes against Morocco, but also helped the Spanish Armada finish top of their group.

J - Javier Hernandez

Javier Hernandez is a third generation footballer from his family to play in the World Cup and made an assist to Hirving Lozano to beat Germany in his side’s opening game before scoring Mexico’s second goal, his 50th international goal, in his team’s 2−1 win over South Korea. This feat made him the joint-highest scoring Mexican player at the World Cup with four goals, along with Luis Hernandez.

K - Kylian Mbappe

Kylian Mbappe is arguably the most exciting teenager playing in this World Cup. His goal against Peru made him the youngest French goalscorer at the World Cup at age 19.

Lionel Messi seeks a breakthrough in Russia. /VCG Photo

L - Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi was outclassed and overshadowed by another LM, Luka Mordic, in his side’s 3-0 humiliation against Croatia and started his World Cup campaign on a horrible note with a penalty miss against Iceland. However, he later redeemed his greatness with a sublime goal in the do-or-die game against Nigeria.

M - Mohamed Salah

Mohamed Salah broke many hearts when he limped off the pitch during the 2018 UEFA Champions League final but he did recover in time and after missing his side’s opening game against Uruguay in the World Cup, played the next two games – against Russia and Saudi Arabia – and scored a goal apiece even though he couldn’t drag his lackluter side to the next round.

N - Neymar

Neymar or the free-falling football wonder. He may have tumbled and rolled over after every push or nudge or even without any, but the Brazilian talisman has managed to score a goal and led his side from the front so far.

O - Own goals

Own goals at this World Cup have lead the types of goals scored so far, with the tally reaching a whopping eight.

P - Philippe Coutinho

Philippe Coutinho or the Magician scored the solitary goal for Brazil in the draw against Switzerland before getting the breakthrough injury-time goal against Costa Rica as the match was heading to a goalless draw.

Q - Quaresma

Quaresma was chosen in a World Cup squad for the first time and he justified his long-awaited selection by scoring a goal of the tournament contender in Portugal’s 1-1 draw against Iran that took Portugal into the last 16.

Belgium's top scorer Lukaku secures his team's three wins in the group stage./VCG Photo

R - Romelu Lukaku

Romelu Lukaku is Belgium's all-time leading scorer and he has scored two goals apiece against Panama and Tunisia to become the first player since Diego Maradona in 1986 to score two goals or more in consecutive World Cup matches.

S - Son Heung-min

Son Heung-min is certainly South Korea’s favorite son, rose to the occasion and scored his side’s first goal of the tournament against Mexico before netting his second as his injury-time goal against Germany sealed the deal against the shocked defending champions. The Tottenham winger and the most expensive Asian player in history is South Korea’s joint highest scorer at the World Cup alongside Park Ji-sung and Ahn Jung-hwan with three goals.

T - Toni Kroos

Toni Kroos or the Kroos missile revived the defending champions’ hopes with a stunning strike in the injury-time to clinch a draw against Sweden, but he failed to fire against Korea that saw the reigning champions disastrously bowing out of the tournament after the first round.

U - Underdogs

Underdogs have been the flavor of the season as this World Cup has seen many underdogs hounding and grounding many stalwarts. South Korea’s victory over Germany, Japan’s stunning win over Colombia and a slew of respectable draws like that of Iran against Ronaldo’s Portugal, Morocco against Spain to name a few.

VAR made the Russia World Cup different from others. /VCG Photo

V - VAR

VAR or the new kid on the block may have made its World Cup debut with much expectations, but as they say, technology is not full-proof and is always debatable. Therefore, it’s got both bouquets as well as brickbats.

W - Wilfredo

"Willy" Caballero wasn’t the first-choice goalkeeper for Argentina but Sergio Romero’s last minute injury made him the first-choice goalkeeper for his side in the tournament. But his childish blunder against Croatia helped the Balkan side score the first of their three goals in the game but also cost Caballero a place as Franco Armani took his place in the playing against Nigeria.

X - Xherdan Shaqiri

Xherdan Shaqiri is playing his 3rd World Cup but unlike his inconspicuous past appearances, he has created quite a stir with his match-winning goal against Serbia. He and his fellow goalscorer Granit Xhaka, celebrated their goals by making a controversial political statement. Later, FIFA fined each player 10,000 Swiss francs "for unsporting behavior contrary to the principles of fair-play."

Y - Yury Aleksandrovich Gazinsky

Yury Aleksandrovich Gazinsky may not have a Gagarin surname but this Yury has scored the first goal of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in the 12th minute of the opening match against Saudi Arabia.

Z - Zabivaka

Zabivaka or the adorable wolf has been extremely popular with the fans across the globe and the mascot hasn’t fallen short of receiving adulation and hugs from its admirers.