The World Cup: Highlights So Far

The world has been in constant resonance with the ongoing FIFA world cup. Some countries have gotten into a state of shock as they were surprised by the match results so far. The host(Qatar) got whooped in their first two matches. Enner Valencia, an Ecuador striker terrorize the defense of the host as they couldn’t put up with his strength and swiftness, scoring a brace in one of the fixtures. He is currently the player with the highest number of goals at the moment alongside Kylian Mbappe with 3 goals.

The chess game between Ronaldo and Messi continued as both  scored goals in their first matches. Messi couldn’t prove his magic to seal the game for Argentina against Saudi Arabia increasing the disappointment of his fans and providing banter content for his rival’s fans. The coach of the Saudi Arabian team, Harve Renard, was seen motivating his players in the dressing room at halftime. At this point, they were one goal down, he said “Messi at the middle of the pitch, he has the ball, you stay in front of the defense, you don’t know how to mark him in the middle?” The French coach continued by saying “you have nobody, you have to follow him”. This seems to light up the winning spirit in the players as they secured a 2 goal to 1 win over Argentina.

Meanwhile, Portugal pulled a victory in their first game against the Black stars. Ronaldo scored a penalty after he was fouled in the box by a defender of the opposition team. He played some integral roles in the match which earned him the man of the match award, although popular opinion swayed towards Bruno Fernandes for the recognition.

The match was a bit tough for Portugal as some Ghanaian players gave the Portuguese defense hard nuts to crack, and players such as Kudus, a Ghanian forward, troubled the Portugese defense line. Lamptey also showed his mind-blowing skills on the pitch. The score ended 3-2 in favour of Portugal.

In latter fixtures, Messi and his teammates transferred their aggression against Mexico after Saudi Arabia thrashed them. They beat Mexico by two goals to nil with Messi finding his mojo again. E. Fernandez scored the second goal.

The Belgium side, however, suffered at the hands of Morroco after they won their first match against Canada unconvincingly. France has also been winning their games in this tournament so far, beating Australia 4 goals to 1 and Denmark 2 goals to 1. Kylian Mbappe scored in both matches which automatically put him in the golden boot race with Enner Valencia, the Ecuadorian striker.

 Richarlison’s goals against Serbia were magic arts. Serbia suffered in his hands as he scored a brace with one of the goals scored as a volley. Brazil won two goals to nill.

With the heated rivalry between Ronlado and Messi seemingly intensified by their world cup performances, this will probably be a decisive period in the decade-long debate. A world cup checkmate might settle the GOAT debate once and for all.

by Thunder Balogun