In the end, Neymar’s lasting legacy from the 2018 World Cup will probably be a KFC commercial that mocked his widely ridiculed roll against Serbia. The tumble also generated some great memes.
Neymar, perhaps the highest profile player in danger of missing the semifinals via yellow card suspension, was extremely fortunate to escape punishment for taking a dive in the box during Brazil’s quarterfinal against Belgium.
The forward’s hysterics have been a massive talking point from Russia, and he was given a booking during Brazil’s win over Costa Rica, putting him at risk of missing a potential trip to the semis if he were booked again.
Neymar antics are a controversial subject.
The question of whether Brazil’s superstar should be punished for his constant feigning, flopping and deceitful attitude leaves no one indifferent.
There are two sides to the story. First, you've got perhaps the most skilled player at dribbling who gets fouled, well, a lot. He is in fact the most fouled player of this World Cup thus far and is therefore considered to be a victim.
It wouldn’t be a World Cup without Luis Suarez making headlines for negative actions. In 2010 it was his hand ball to save a goal against Ghana. In 2014 it was biting Giorgio Chiellini. In 2018 against Portugal, he was caught faking a head injury, with the referee not buying it at all.
Luis Suarez combined with Edinson Cavani for the game’s first goal, which was vital in a match between two teams with defenses that can be difficult to break down.
There’s a bar that is giving out shots every time Neymar takes a dive. After the absurd Neymar roll against Serbia, they’re probably all dead now.
For the second straight match, Neymar has made a fool of himself. Against Costa Rica he made this horrible dive. It inspired a bar in Rio de Janeiro to offer free drinks every time Neymar falls over.
We thought it was a myth, like Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster or common-sense politics. Romelu Lukaku proved us wrong.
This past week the World Cup was infested with simulation and deceit, including from two of the world’s best players. Cristiano Ronaldo argued for VAR after flopping in the box; Neymar dove only for VAR to overturn the duped referee’s decision.
“Does Messi do that?” Alexi Lalas sneered while looking at the camera during Fox’s halftime coverage of Portugal vs. Morocco. The act in question was a three-yard diving header off a corner from Ronaldo to give Portugal an early lead. (He doesn't; he usely takes the corners or stands at the edge of the box because he's just pushing 5-7.)
But does Messi do this?
Heading into the tournament in Russia, we always knew we’d get a nice mixture of both godawful dives and crunching, I-put-the-country-on-my-back tackles. The super slow mo doesn’t do the sport any favors (everything looks like an overreaction when you slow things down to a million frames per second), but we’ve definitely seen some gloriously physical play mixed with some heinous play acting.
Here’s a selection of our favorite dives and crunches from the opening matches at the 2018 World Cup.
Australia put up a valiant fight against France in the opening match of Group C at the 2018 World Cup.