Five bonkers World Cup moments
Published
The beauty of the World Cup isn’t just the chance to see the world’s best footballers represent their respective countries once every four years and compete for eternal glory. Sure, that’s probably the biggest allure, but there’s more to it than just that. You’ll get to see amazing goals, incredible saves, and brilliant individual performances that will go down in the record books. All of that is great, too, but sometimes…well, sometimes things just get nuts.
Past World Cups have featured momentary instances of insanity, wild decisions with huge consequences and things you absolutely weren’t expecting to see during the quadrennial tournament where players can become legends.
Now, since there is 92 years of World Cup history to look back upon, we’re going to limit the scope of this exercise to things that have happened since World Cup 1994 in the United States.
Zinedine Zidane France Marco Materazzi Italy
World Cup 2006: Zinedine Zidane sees red
You obviously knew this was going to be on the list. Widely considered one of the greatest midfielders of all time, Zinedine Zidane played for 18 professional seasons where he racked up countless accolades, including a Ballon d’Or, a Champions League crown and two Scudetti with Juventus. The Marseille native was the linchpin of France’s first ever World Cup triumph, on home soil in 1998, and followed that up by helping to lead Les Bleus to become the first World Cup holders to capture the Euro two seasons later. By the time World Cup 2006 in Germany rolled around, the 34-year-old Zidane had already established himself in the pantheon of football greats, but that World Cup offered one last prize for Zidane to end his career in triumph. After embarrassment in 2002 as France exited at the group stage, 2006 was a revival for Les Bleus, with Zidane scoring two key goals in the knockouts to help bring the team back to the World Cup Final. There, France would take on an Italy side filled with players Zidane knew very well from his five seasons in Serie A. Zidane tried to do his part early on in the final at Berlin’s Olympiastadion. In just the seventh minute, Thierry Henry headed forward an inviting ball for Florent Malouda to latch onto in the area. As he was met by Fabio Cannavaro and Marco Materazzi, Malouda went down from contract from the latter and referee Horacio Elizondo pointed to the spot. Zidane stepped up to take the penalty and sent Gigi Buffon the wrong way. There was some good fortune to the penalty, though, as it clipped the underside of the bar and bounced back in over the line. The 1-0 France lead was short-lived because Materazzi continued to have an impact on the match. In the 21st, the Inter defender met Andrea Pirlo’s curling corner and headed past Fabien Barthez to even matters at 1-1. The match would remain at that scoreline for the remainder of the 90 minutes and through extra time and head to penalties. Zidane, one of France’s best penalty-takers, would not be able to take one, however. In the 110th minute, he was shown a straight red for one of the now most infamous moments in any football match. Jogging down the pitch towards his own goal and past Materazzi, a player he’d been battling for the duration of the match, Zidane stopped, turned around and head-butted the lanky defender in the middle of the chest, sending him to the turf. What the hell just happened? Replays showed that Materazzi said something to Zidane as he passed by him, but what could it have been to set him off? What did he hear that was worse than anything he had heard from trash talk in nearly two decades worth of matches? Years later, Materazzi revealed it was about his family. “My mother died when I was 15, [so] I would never have insulted his,” Materazzi said. “I spoke about his sister…after the third clash [between us], I frowned, and he retorted: ‘I’ll give you my shirt later.’ I replied that I’d rather have his sister than his shirt.” With Zidane in the showers, the Azzurri would beat France 5-3 on penalties to win their first World Cup since 1982 and fourth overall.
--
Luis Suarez Ghana
World Cup 2010: Luis Suarez is a mad genius
If you watch a million football matches between now and the end of your life, you are unlikely to see an act of higher risk and higher reward than what Luis Suarez pulled off at the 2010 World Cup quarter-finals in South Africa. Was it an act of sheer idiocy or sheer brilliance? It worked out for Suarez in the end, but it could have been a disaster. After an extra-time victory over the United States in the Round of 16, Ghana became just the second African team to reach the quarter-finals, following in the footsteps of Cameroon in 1990. It was in Johannesburg where they would do battle with Uruguay, fresh off of a victory over South Korea in which Suarez scored both goals of a 2-1 win. Ghana would open the scoring in first-half stoppage thanks to Sulley Muntari. The Inter midfielder ripped a bouncing effort from distance that beat an outstretched Fernando Muslera for a 1-0 lead. Like he did so many times in his international career, Diego Forlan stepped up for Uruguay when they needed him 10 minutes into the second half. His curling free kick was bulged the back of the twine past Richard Kingson to make it 1-1 in the 55th. There would be no further scoring in the remainder of the 90 minutes and the Black Stars would head to extra time for a second consecutive match. In extra time, a Ghana winner appeared inevitable. In the match’s final minutes, Ghana was awarded a free kick below to the right of the Uruguay area. John Paintsil sent an effort into the area where it was flicked on to the far post by a Kevin-Prince Boateng header. Muslera came off of his line, but was beaten to the ball by John Mensah, who headed down into the path of Stephen Appiah. His left-footed effort was cleared on the line by Suarez, who could only clear it as far as Dominic Adiyiah, whose driving header was once again cleared on the line by Suarez…using his hands. In an act of final desperation, Suarez just swatted the ball down with hands. He was immediately sent off and Ghana was awarded a penalty, but he stopped a sure goal with only seconds remaining before the match would go to penalties. In what would be the final kick of the match before penalties, Asamoah Gyan’s penalty effort rang off of the crossbar. Uruguay would go on to win the match 4-2 on penalties, cruelly ending Ghana’s run. Suarez’s gambit would prove successful in the short term, but not in the long run. With his offensive flair missed, Uruguay fell 3-2 in the semis against the Netherlands.
--
Wayne Rooney sent off against Portgual
World Cup 2006: Cristiano Ronaldo winks goodbye to Wayne Rooney
Since winning the World Cup in 1966, England’s failures at major tournaments have run the gamut from heartbreaking, like their loss on penalties to Italy in the Euro 2020 Final, to flat-out comical, like their atrocious performance at World Cup 2010 where they went winless. The 2006 World Cup in Germany would add another to the Three Lions’ list, this time at the quarter-finals stage and, again, on penalties. That England crashed out of the World Cup in the quarters on penalties wasn’t the surprise. It’s what happened before the match with Portugal went to penalties that provided the biggest talking point coming out of the match, with two Manchester United teammates at its centre. The first half of the match saw little in the way of true scoring chances. Cristiano Ronaldo became a nuisance to the England defence with his speed and Luis Figo’s one curling effort to the far post cleared it by about three feet, but other than that, both sides held the other at bay through 45 minutes. Early in the second half, England thought they should have been awarded a penalty. David Beckham’s attempted cross was met by the arm of Nuno Valente, but nothing was given. It ended up being one of Beckham’s final acts of the match as he was subbed off with knee discomfort not long after. England’s best chance came through Beckham’s substitute, Aaron Lennon, who danced into the box by putting Valente on skates and then teed up Wayne Rooney, who completely miss hit his chance. Joe Cole tried to make something of Rooney’s miss, but he sent the ball over the bar. Things would go from bad to worse for Rooney just minutes later. Battling for a ball in the middle of the pitch against Chelsea defender Ricardo Carvalho, Rooney appeared to stomp on the inside of his thigh. Portugal players immediately swarmed the referee demanding a card with Ronaldo among them. Rooney was peeved by his teammates insistence and gave him a shove. Elizondo, the same referee who would send off Zidane in the Final that year, showed Rooney a red card in the 62nd. As Rooney walked off the pitch, Ronaldo was seen winking towards his bench as if to say that his lobbying of the ref had worked. Rooney insisted he wasn’t mad at Ronaldo. “I bear no ill feeling, but am disappointed he chose to get involved,” Rooney said after the match. Others weren’t so conciliatory, though. Steven Gerrard was furious. "I saw what Ronaldo did," Gerrard said after the match. "I saw him going over to the referee and giving him the card, and I think he was bang out of order. If he were one of my teammates, I would be absolutely disgusted with him.” Retired England striker Alan Shearer, then working as a BBC pundit, thought Rooney owed Ronaldo a comeuppance, saying Rooney should “stick one on him” during training. The dismissal of Rooney was insult to the injury of the Three Lions losing 3-1 on penalties.
--
Rivaldo flops against Turkey
World Cup 2022: Rivaldo vies for an Oscar
There is good reason why so many people have a visceral distaste for any kind of theatrics in football. It can be the poorest of sportsmanship and it’s frequently embarrassing. That is not to say there’s no reason for it. Sometimes it’s even justified. Players wouldn’t have to go down on contact in the box looking for a penalty if fouls were called more consistently. Going to ground might be the only way for a referee to take notice of it. But sometimes, the play-acting is just so craven, you cannot help but marvel at the audacity of it. In 2002 in South Korea, Brazil midfielder Rivaldo discovered how to quickly overshadow your team’s win with theatrics. In the opening match of Group C action in Ulsan, Brazil – the eventual champion – led Turkey 2-1 into stoppage time on second-half goals from Ronaldo and Rivaldo. Brazil was awarded a late corner and Rivaldo was in no hurry to take it, intent on killing as much of the clock as possible. Needless to say, Turkey wanted him to hurry up. Defender Hakan Unsal, annoyed at Rivaldo’s delaying tactics, kicked the ball to him at the corner flag. Now, more accurately, Unsal kicked the ball at Rivaldo, probably harder that he needed to, and it him in the knees. Rivaldo immediately grabbed at his face and fell to the ground like he’d been picked off by a sniper sitting in the nosebleeds. It was a disgraceful display. Having not seen what actually had happened and only the aftermath, Korean referee Young-joo Kim showed Unsal a red card, effectively ending any chance Turkey had at earning a point. As the incident was replayed on screens in the stadium, the boos began to cascade down on the soon-to-be Milan player. Rivaldo would eventually be fined for his shamelessness but didn’t actually regret it. “I’m not sorry about anything,” Rivaldo said afterwards. “I was both the victim and the person who got fined. Obviously, the ball didn’t hit me in the face, but I was still the victim. I did not hit anyone in the face. Nobody remembers what the Turk did. I’m not a player who fakes fouls.”
--
Nicolas Anelka Raymond Domenech France
World Cup 2010: Nicolas Anelka goes home early
So the Zidane headbutt in the Final? That wasn’t the last crazy thing to happen involving France at a World Cup. If you’re at all familiar with Nicolas Anelka, then you probably know what his reputation as a player was. Anelka was an absolutely maddening talent. Perhaps the most mercurial striker of his generation, the Le Chesnay native was well traveled with stints at Paris Saint-Germain (x2), Arsenal, Juventus, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City amongst his many stops. Anelka was part of a forward corps for Les Bleus in South Africa that also included Thierry Henry, Andre-Pierre Gignac, Sidney Govou and Djibril Cisse. Drawn in Group A with Uruguay, Mexico and hosts South Africa, Les Bleus opened up their tournament with a listless 0-0 draw with Uruguay. If their opening match portended poorly for France’s hopes, things got dramatically worse during their second match with El Tri. The match opened much like the last game did with a scoreless first half and few opportunities for France. At the half, manager Raymond Domenech laid into his team and singled out Anelka for being out of position too frequently in the first 45 minutes. Anelka responded by apologizing to his coach and vowing to do better…haha, no. That’s not what happened. The criticism incensed Anelka, who launched into a profane tirade against his manager. "Go f--- yourself, you son of a whore,” Anelka said to Domenech according to L’Equipe. Anelka was removed from the match in favour of Gignac to start the second half. Mexico would win the match 2-0 on goals from Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez and Cuauhtémoc Blanco. The next day, Anelka was asked to apologize and when he refused, he was dismissed from the squad. That did nothing to quell the disharmony in the dressing room, though, when many of the players sided with Anelka. Led by Manchester United defender Patrice Evra, players revolted and some even threatened to skip their final match of the group stage. "It really hurt,” Evra told RMC Sport years later. “We started talking amongst ourselves. We wondered what we should do. We saw Nico dressed in the street with his bag. He was treated like a piece of s---. One young man in the group said, 'We are not playing the last game', but we couldn't do that. Playing in a World Cup is a dream. We decided that we wouldn't train, we didn't need to train, but we just wanted to protest." Les Bleus might as well have not shown up for their final match as it turned out. France would slump to an embarrassing 2-1 loss to South Africa and crash out of the World Cup winless.