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Entertainment

The Best Performers Of Round 1 At The World Cup

By Alex Conrad June 19, 2018
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Start as you mean to carry on, right?
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With the first round of matches completed at the World Cup, some players have already stood out on their teams. Whether it be scoring crucial goals to gift their team a victory or keeping the goals out at the other end of the pitch, these players were the best World Cup players of the first round. So, without further ado, here is our starting lineup of the best performers of Round 1 at the World Cup. We’ve gone with a 4-4-2 formation to keep it nice and simple as well.

Best World Cup Players After Round 1

GOALKEEPER: Hannes Halldórsson (Iceland)

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The team with the smallest population at the World Cup managed to "beat" Argentina 1-1 and that was in no small part to Iceland’s goalkeeper Hannes Halldórsson. He saved a penalty from Lionel Messi and made a number of crucial saves to keep his side in the game. If Iceland wants to make it out of the group stages, Halldórsson will need to produce more superhero-esque performances in goals.

DEFENSE: Nacho (Spain), Trent Sainsbury (Australia), Andreas Granqvist (Sweden), Aleksandar Kolarov (Serbia)

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Nacho, Granqvist and Kolvarov all played incredibly crucial roles in their matches for their respective countries by scoring a goal to either win the game or to earn a point. Nacho might have scored the goal of the tournament with a thundering half-volley that left Portugal goalkeeper Rui Patricio helpless.

Granqvist ended Sweden’s long wait for a goal at the World Cup by cooly slotting home a penalty against South Korea in what ultimately was the only goal of the game, while Kolarov rocketed a free-kick past Costa Rica’s Keylor Navas to join the growing list of goals scored from set pieces at the World Cup.

You may be asking why Australia’s Trent Sainsbury is in the list. Well, he made several crucial tackles against the French attack, and his performance was so impressive that 26 clubs — yes you read that right — have made offers for the Socceroos defender. Not too shabby if you ask us.

MIDFIELD: Denis Cheryshev (Russia), Aleksandr Golovin (Russia), Jordan Henderson (England), N’Golo Kanté (France).

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There weren’t many midfielders that really took the game by storm in the first round of matches at the World Cup, but these lads really stood out from the rest of the pack. Henderson and Kanté played crucial roles in England and France’s respective victories, but won’t get much attention considering neither scored or assisted. It was their constant running all over the field, making simple passes and coming up with some crucial tackles that helped their teams to a valuable three points.

Cheryshev wasn’t expecting to get plenty of game time in Russia’s opening match against Saudi Arabia, as he was named as a substitute. An early injury to Alan Dzagoev saw Cheryshev take the field earlier than he probably thought, but boy did he make some magic happen. An incredible first and second goal brought the Russian crowd to its feet, and his teammate Aleksandr Golovin did plenty of work too.

A goal to his name (including a beauty of a last-minute free kick) and two assists means Golovin was the pick of the midfielders for the first round, and after his performance against Saudi Arabia, he has been linked with a number of big clubs.

FORWARDS: Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Diego Costa (Spain).

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We’re well aware that these two were on opposing sides in the same game, but both delivered huge performances for their teams. Diego Costa kept his side in the game by scoring two goals for La Roja, with his first goal showing how gifted of a striker he really is, as he set up plenty of space for himself to maneuver around Portugal’s defense and then rip a shot past Rui Patricio.

Last but certainly not least, Cristiano Ronaldo is our player of the round. He put the Portugal side on his back, as he scored a hat trick to rescue a point for his side. Who else could it have been? 

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Javier Hernandez (ST, Mexico), Harry Kane (ST, England), Romelu Lukaku (ST, Belgium), Mile Jedinak (CM, Australia), Guillermo Ochoa (GK, Mexico), Simon Kjær (CB, Denmark).

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