Faves' Fiasco & Stunning Records: Russia World Cup Highlights That Made History

18:47 GMT, 15 July 2018
© Sputnik / Alexey Filippov
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The 2018 World Cup will definitely enter history not only thanks to the record number of goals that it’s seen in the finals – the most in over 50 years – but also because of the many more remarkable happenings and innovative trump cards.
Sputnik
  • Firstly, it is unprecedented that all the historical World Cup favorites, internationally recognized football titans like national squads of Germany, Portugal, Brazil, Spain and Argentina gave up their World Cup title race long before the finals, with the previous World Cup champion, Germany, quitting as early as the group stage. Portugal and Spain unexpectedly enough proceeded no further than round 16, with the former losing to Uruguay 1:2 and the latter-to Russia in a penalty shootout. Argentina also gave up hope of a World Cup title after it had been beaten by France 3:4. Brazil appeared a bit luckier and reached the quaterfinals, however, lost to Belgium 1:2. 
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  • Meanwhile, Russia, which is hosting the FIFA World Cup for the first time, made it not only past the group stage, but advanced further into the playoff and on to the quarterfinals.
  • Separately, this tournament has historically enjoyed the first ever VAR, which is short for the automated referee system, which on numerous occasions offered an impressively accurate  view over the field and the tiniest visual details of matches for the referee board to make a 100 percent fair decision.
An incident is reviewed on VAR in World Cup match between Nigeria vs Argentina - Saint Petersburg Stadium, Russia
© REUTERS / Sergio Perez/File Photo
  • Also, a couple of details couldn't have slipped common attention following France’s overwhelming triumph over Croatia at Moscow’s Luzhniki on Sunday. One is that France head coach Didier Deschamps has become the third person ever in history to win the FIFA World Cup as a player and a head coach, with only Brazil forward Mario Zagallo and former West Germany defender Franz Beckenbauer gaining the trophy both as players and coaches before Deschamps. The latter notably led his national squad to their first glory at a FIFA World Cup in 1998, where they decisively defeated Brazil 3-0.
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  • And last, but not least, this World Cup has seen the highest number of netted goals in regular time in a World Cup final showdown. Previously, England thrashed Germany by the same scoreline, but in extra time in 1966, while the absolute record was registered in the 1958 finals, when Brazil defeated Sweden 5-2.

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