David de Gea committed One of his rare blunders when he inexplicably let the ball slip through his hands from a reasonably-powerful Cristiano Ronaldo strike in the match against Portugal.
Lionel Messi missing penalties is hardly an unfamiliar sight but his missing the spot-kick, which meant Argentina dropped two points in its Group D opener against Iceland, was among the strange sights during the group stage.
Willy Caballero's goof-up against Croatia was another of the goalkeeping clangers from the group stage, with Ante Rebic pouncing on the Chelsea goalkeeper's miskick.
Another incident involving an Argentinian player, Javier Mascherano conceding a penalty against Nigeria has to be among the soft penalties ever awarded. With no real tug or push from the former Barcelona man, Leon Balogun hit the turf and won a penalty that seemed like it would send Nigeria through at the expense of the South American giant.
Diego Maradona, who has been witnessing Argentina's World Cup campaign from the stands, reacted to Marcos Rojo's winning goal against Nigeria by showing his middle fingers. His gesture was among the OMG moments of the group stage.
Carlos Sanchez was shown a straight red for getting his hand to a goal-bound ball in Colombia's Group H opener against Japan. Colombia reacted quite well to going down to 10 men very early, but didn't come away with any points for its spirited effort post Sanchez's dismissal.
Neymar was subject to some rough treatment from opposition players in each of Brazil's three Group E fixtures. But the PSG winger's reactions to some of the challenges have been nothing short of over the top. Against Serbia, for instance, Neymar rolled over numerous times (most of the rolls self-powered) for a mistimed tackle.
COMMents
Comments
SHARE