2018 World Cup: The best, the worst, the surprises, the disappointments and more – our authors review the tournament

Best XI: Lloris; Varane, Maguire, Godin; Trippier, Kante, Modric, De Bruyne, Perisic; Mbappe, Mandzukic

The player who has most positively changed opinion: Blaise Matuidi certainly but I think I will go to see Mario Mandzukic. I have respected it as an "option" before. Now, I really see him as a great player

Player who has changed the most negatively: Neymar, to the extent that I really worry about the negative impact that the passage of Paris Saint-Germain had on him. He has so much talent, but he feels that he has regressed.

The coach who has changed the most positively in the opinion: Roberto Martinez. I still loved it, but it was impossible not to let too much criticism – and, of course, some of its own hyperbole – erode that, but it was shown that it deserved so much more respect than it did. 39, a properly progressive coach.

The coach who changed the most negatively : could not be other than Jorge Sampaoli. He left someone who seemed one of the most imaginative coaches in the world, a man panicked in a V-neck

Best Food Eating: a mushroom-based restaurant that we went to Moscow called, yes, & # 39; Mushrooms – and it's all the more impressive that I'm not mad about mushrooms.

The best stadium visited : all new are a little samey but I think I will go to Nizhny Novgorod – very distinctive from the outside, and like the Velodrome of Marseille to the # 39; inside.

Best City Visited: There is nothing like the epic center of Moscow, but all in all I had a lot of fun. picturesque and nice Nizhny Novgorod. A jewel.

Lesson than you would take from Russia for any other tournament host: how organized everything was. The best organized tournament I've been to.

One thing you totally wrong about Russia : food. Everyone said it would be bland of Georgian cuisine. That was not it. And they love sushi

The trend of this tournament that you think could bleed into the game of club: watching at the game VAR.

The best thing about this world cup: the huge number of scenarios, which have been matched by the pleasure of football

Do you feel like part of A special sporting event or a propaganda show : both.

Jack Pitt- Brooke – Football Correspondent

Best match you were at: For the drama, Marcos Rojo saving Argentina three minutes from the match against Nigeria. But for the sake, England 1-1 Colombia in Moscow. See England return from the agony of an equalizer in extra time, and then win its very first World Cup session, was a moving sign of the length of this team

: Croatia vs England. To be on the ropes as at half-time, but not to panic, and keep playing football in the second half, slowly move on the pitch and create opportunities when England began to panic: the half Croatia final was a testament to their experience, character and quality.

Best individual performance you have seen: Ivan Perisic against England. He led the charge for Croatia in the second half of the semifinal, testing England with his runs and finally beating to stab Croatia 's equalizer. He could have won the match after that, but England has never found a way to follow him.

Best Team Performance You Have Seen: Panama v England. Before this match, there were days of serious discussions of the England camp on respect for Panama, but when it came to them, they were a complete mess, no real form, no discipline, leaving the England each time.

performance you saw and why: Mascherano v Nigeria. A great player in his day, but that seemed completely finished this World Cup, his contact having deserted and barely able to cross the field.

Best Goal? It must be the work of Lionel Messi's masterpiece against Nigeria in St. Petersburg. On the run, he took Ever Banega's pass over his thigh, touched him in front of him and put him in the far corner. Too bad his team was never near his level.

Best XI: Pickford; Trippier, Varane, Godin, Hernandez; Kante, Modric; Hazard, De Bruyne, Perisic; Mbappe

Most Positively Changed Player : Kieran Trippier. Started the season trying to prove that he was better than Serge Aurier, he finished as the best right back of the World Cup.

Most Negociated Player Negative: Neymar: It was his big moment to deliver but he could not do it, especially in the quarter-final against Belgium when

The coach who has most positively changed opinion: Roberto Martinez: Gives Belgium a structure and a way of playing that he had missed in the past, even if this defeat in semi-final against France will remain

The coach who has changed the most negatively: Jorge Sampaoli: Despite a good record in the interclub football he was a man without authority who seemed honored to be in the same room as Lionel Messi.

Best Food Eating: The best food in Russia is Georgian food – khimkali, khachapuri and the rest.

Best Stadium Visited: St Petersburg Looks like a spaceship from the outside but with its steep sides inside it feels both futuristic and atmospheric. Worthy of a final of the Champions League.

Best city visited: St Petersburg. Some of them look like Paris or Venice, some look like science fiction, especially around the stadium. Full of fascinating art and history and at this time of year, it is never dark. It is always sunny in St. Petersburg

Lesson you will take from Russia for another tournament host: Having various host cities will certainly be missed in Qatar in four years, just because of the difference between

One thing you totally wrong about Russia: I thought it would be cold most of the time in St. Petersburg and that I would not be doing anything. I never needed the warmer clothes that I had brought

The trend of this tournament that you think could bleed into the game of club: It will be interesting to see how the players of England are being received by fans of rival Premier League clubs this season. I hope that Raheem Sterling is no longer booed on the ground, but I will believe him when I see him.

The best thing about this World Cup: See how much that means for fans and players, who do not go as if the Champions League was always the pinnacle of their game. In an emotional sense , it's always the most important.

Do you feel like part of a special sports event or a propaganda show: Not mutually exclusive. You can applaud the organization and the show while not changing the opinion about the reality of Putin's regime.

Jonathan Liew – Chief Sports Writer

Best match: France 4-3 Argentina. Me and Miguel have had a bit of "disagreement" about the aesthetic merits of this game earlier in the tournament, which I fully suspect of the fact that I was there and it was not it. He felt that he was slightly overrated as the Argentinians were made after one hour, and the flow of goals did not really make sense. I answered as follows: the electrifying run of Mbappe, the brilliant equalizer of Di Maria, the incredible volley of Pavard (in many respects the moment of the sliding doors of the whole tournament) and the coldness of liquid nitrogen from the French counterattack. The birth of a star and the decline of another. Also, I was there. And it was not

Best Team Performance: Belgium vs. Brazil. Pretty well, they did not create much in the second half, and they hung a little bit in the end. But history will record this Brazilian team as an ordinary team. They were not. They were probably the best Brazilian team we've seen since 2002, maybe even their equal. And in the space of 35 minutes, Belgium made them look like frightened children. Hazard, De Bruyne and Lukaku all produced performances that will go into their top five personal all the time. And then they clung, despite one of the most feared attacking groups in world football who threw them all out. Brazil ended the match wondering what had hit them. They had not even played so badly.

Best individual performance: Mbappe against Argentina. For the reasons described above. And also, because it's Kylian Mbappe.

Best Team Performance: Having not participated in any match of Germany, I should go get Spain against Russia. Never has a team seemed more absurd to an idea that would certainly lead to their destruction. By pretending to be dead, Spain has lost the essence of what made them great: if the opposition knows exactly what you are going to do next, the battle is half lost.

Worst individual performance: Javier Mascherano against Nigeria. Having taken the reins of the Argentinian team, Mascherano would probably have hoped for a midfield performance to help his team out of the group. They came out of the group, but Mascherano fell on less like a valiant leader and more like a surreptitious saboteur. If it was not to lose mere passes, lose 50-50 or be muzzled by Alex Iwobi, it was unnecessarily a penalty that allowed Nigeria to return to the match. Almost certainly his last World Cup at age 34, and hard not to doubt it

Best Goal: So many great – De Bruyne against Brazil, Pavard against l & # 39; Argentine, Trippier contre la Croatie. Mais le but de Lionel Messi contre le Nigeria était à couper le souffle en termes de technique et de beauté. Et c'est le véritable enjeu ici. La courbe léonardienne de la balle, la satisfaction haptique de ce toucher matelassé sur les lacets, la physique immaculée de la finition. C'est un but que les anciens Grecs auraient reconnu comme beau, et ils n'auraient même pas eu de replays au ralenti à cette époque.

Best XI: (4-3-3): Courtois; Meunier, Varane, Umtiti, Marcelo; Kante, Pogba, Modric; Mbappe, Griezmann, De Bruyne

Joueur ayant le plus positivement changé d'avis: Raphael Varane. Nécessaire de montrer qu'il pouvait rassembler une défense sans Sergio Ramos à côté de lui, et l'a fait. Un géant.

Le joueur qui a le plus changé d'avis négativement: Au fond, je pense que nous savions tous que Robert Lewandowski n'avait pas tout à fait le nerf pour entraîner seul la Pologne aux étapes à élimination directe. Je vais donc chercher Koke, que j'ai toujours considéré comme un leader de l'Atlético de Madrid, mais qui semblait perdu et indécis pour l'Espagne ici.

L'entraîneur qui a le plus changé positivement d'opinion: Didier Deschamps. Désolé, si vous gagnez la Coupe du Monde, vous ne pouvez pas être un mauvais entraîneur. C'est comme ça que ça fonctionne

L'entraîneur qui a le plus changé d'avis négativement: Jorge Sampaoli. Il est difficile de penser à un entraîneur dont le stock a chuté – ou même pourrait baisser – de façon spectaculaire. C'est une chose qui est exposée tactiquement et tempéramentalement, mais d'une certaine manière, il a également été exposé en tant que personne, ce qui est le genre de coup dont peu d'entraîneurs se remettent vraiment.

Meilleure nourriture mangée: en fait: un repas traditionnel russe composé de calamars en feuilles de laitue, de pelmeni (quenelles farcies à la sauce piquante) et de golubtsi (chou farci de pintade dans une sauce si crémeuse et riche que la cuillère se dresse presque)

Meilleur stade visité: Le stade de Nizhny Novgorod, où l'Angleterre jouait au Panama. Un design à couper le souffle, une belle promenade au sol et à peu près la taille parfaite (environ 42 000). Un des nouveaux stades construits pour 2018, et une nouvelle maison convenable pour, um … * regarde la carte * … FC Nizhny Novgorod, qui vient d'être promu à la deuxième division russe. Well. Belle petite journée.

Meilleure ville visitée: St Petersburg une ville absolument fascinante qui vous jette vraiment à travers une boucle. Culture, langue, nourriture, tout: mondes à l'écart de l'Occident.

Leçon que vous prendriez de la Russie pour n'importe quel autre hôte de tournoi: Si vous allez persécuter des groupes minoritaires, interférer dans les élections à l'étranger , abattez des avions de passagers, assassinez des journalistes, libérez un agent neurotoxique sur un sol étranger et dopez vos athlètes à l'échelle industrielle, alors vous feriez mieux de faire de votre Coupe du Monde une bonne chose!

: Qu'il serait indésirable à la limite sinistre, et ses gens porteraient tous des lèvres pincées et des froncements de sourcils méfiants et vous regarderaient comme si vous étiez sur le point de cracher dans leur bortsch. C'était totalement faux.

La tendance de ce tournoi que vous pensez pourrait saigner dans le jeu de club: Dejan Lovren étant bon.

La meilleure chose à propos de cette Coupe du Monde : Les fans, en particulier ceux qui sont venus même si leur équipe n'était pas dans le tournoi, ou ceux qui sont restés après leur sortie. I don’t know what it is about seeing a load of Nigerians dancing with a load of Colombians dancing with a load of Russians on the streets of Moscow that warms your heart, but for a country that hasn’t always been celebrated for its… um, ‘embrace of diversity’, this month will have done them a world of good. I almost want to say the volunteers, who get paid nothing and have been unfailing cheerful and enthusiastic throughout, but I’m not sure I really see the point of them. About 95 per cent don’t really do anything except hold those foam fingers. Anyway, we digress.

Do you feel like you’ve been part of a special sporting event or a propaganda show? A special sporting event, of course. Nobody ever feels like they’re at a propaganda show. That’s what makes it such good propaganda.

Ed Malyon – Sports Editor

Best match you were at: France beating Argentina. It just had everything; the occasion, the stars, the goals, the unpredictability, the atmosphere. It was a special game to be at.

Best team performance you saw: Probably Mexico's defeat of Germany on that wild opening weekend. It was a plan six months in the making from Juan Carlos Osorio and it resulted in a brilliant display that picked at the weaknesses of the world champions and nullified their strengths, hinting at the Mannschaft's eventual demise.

Best individual performance you saw: It would probably have been Philippe Coutinho against Serbia but then Kylian Mbappe exploded in Kazan against Argentina and the tournament might be remembered for him more than anything else if he goes on to become what he is capable of.

Worst team performance you saw: France vs Denmark. An aberration of a football match and, in the end, the tournament's only 0-0. A disgracefully poor game. 

Worst individual performance you saw and why: Any Saudi player in that opener. It was like they'd never played the sport before. Otherwise Willy Caballero in that Iceland game, a display which put the shakes into a defence that was not exactly stable to begin with – and a worrying hint at what was to come. 

Best goal? Benjamin Pavard's thunderclap strike against Argentina. 

Best XI: Lloris; Varane, Stones, Godin; Trippier, Kante, Modric, De Bruyne, Perisic; Hazard, Mbappe. Alternative XI of lesser-known players – Ochoa; Granqvist, Sanchez, Koulibaly; Inui, Herrera, Cueva, Banega, Ansarifard; Lozano, Mandzukic. 

Player who most changed your opinion positively: Kieran Trippier – a player I thought was good who was, in this tournament, by a distance the best right-back in a tournament of good right-backs. 

Player who most changed your opinion negatively: Mats Hummels. What an absolute disaster he was, which considering he has long been considered one of the best in the world at his position was a huge surprise.

Coach who most changed your opinion positively: Didier Deschamps, I guess. Still the luckiest coach alive but he's no longer holding France back – evidenced by the fact they won the actual World Cup.

Coach who most changed your opinion negatively: Jorge Sampaoli. If not for the manner of some of the defeats, it is for the way he completely folded on all the principles that made him into a success. I think he'll bounce back but this was atrocious.

Best food eaten: Dr Zhivago Cafe looks out over Red Square and serves some of the best Russian food you will ever eat. Just don't make the mistake of ordering wine – the import expenses mean that any vino will bankrupt you very quickly. Vodka or beer.

Best stadium visited: Spartak Stadium was fine but these are all just modern spaceships implanted into foreign lands these days. All a bit soulless and grim

Best city visited: Brilliant Kazan was the only place I visited outside of Moscow. The capital's historic centre and vibing Arbat neighbourhood were genuinely outstanding, obviously, and there is a reason so many people based themselves in Russia's only truly global city.

Lesson you’d take from Russia for any other tournament host: Give free transport out so people can see the country.

One thing you got totally wrong about Russia: The diversity. Russia had a far more Asian influence than I expected

The trend from this tournament that you think might bleed into the club game: well, assuming VAR takes hold it will be the increase in penalties and people looking to kick the ball at people's hands

The best thing about this World Cup: I'm tempted to say coverage from all our guys. I couldn't have dreamed it would be as good as it was, but the real answer is the fans who made the trip to Russia and particularly those who voyaged from Latin America to provide the noise and colour this tournament would have been a corpse without. Football is nothing without fans. Nothing. Those who administer this sport would do well to remember that in everything they do.

Do you feel like you’ve been part of a special sporting event or a propaganda show: Both in some ways. It is a worrying feeling that we may have in any way legitimised Putin's regime but I believe that his government have faced more scrutiny because of this event than they would otherwise and ultimately nobody will be talking about how clean the streets were and how great the Moscow Metro system was in six months' time. The awful things about Russia will still be news.

Mark Critchley – Football Correspondent

Best match you were at: Germany vs Sweden. Toni Kroos’ late winner was spectacular but the persistent threat that a limited Sweden posed on the counter was what made this great. Shame it counted for little in the end.

Best team performance you saw: Mexico against Germany. Few coaches isolated and then exposed an opponent’s weakness quite like Juan Carlos Osario in Group E’s opening game.

Best individual performance you saw: Edison Cavani against Portugal, though his excellence that night owed much to his strike partner Luis Suarez and the rigid and dogmatic but effective structure set up by Uruguay head coach Oscar Tabarez.

Worst team performance you saw: Poland were much less than the sum of their parts in their opener against Senegal and worse still next time out against Colombia. Though slightly overrated coming into the tournament, they were still the most underwhelming team by some distance.

Worst individual performance you saw and why: There were a lot of bad performances and his was far from the worst of them, but I think Cristiano Ronaldo left the Uruguay defeat with more regrets than any other player I saw.

Best goal? Lionel Messi’s against Nigeria. The two touches to set himself are all the better because you know he meant them.

Best XI: Courtois; Trippier, Godin, Vida, Augustinsson; Kanté, Modric, De Bruyne; Perisic, Mbappé, Hazard.

Player who most changed your opinion positively: Jordan Pickford. I don’t think he has shown much more to his game than we already knew, but he was absolutely his best self in Russia – an excellent shot-stopper, able to take command of his area. His challenge now is to improve in the other areas of his game and cement his position in the national side. His much-vaunted distribution could still, in my opinion, do with much improvement.

Player who most changed your opinion negatively: Sami Khedira is most likely finished at this level.

Coach who most changed your opinion positively: Tite may ultimately have underachieved, but his side lost narrowly to a strong Belgium and his composed, measured demeanour in the aftermath showed he has enough to keep the ship steady. Brazil should keep him on.

Coach who most changed your opinion negatively: It’s hard not to think less of Jorge Sampaoli after the last month, but the overriding feeling must be that he is a better, more authoritative coach than Argentina’s campaign suggested and that – all things considered – this was not predominantly his fault. 

Best stadium visited: The Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi, with its views of the sun setting over the Black Sea from the concourse.

Lesson you’d take from Russia for any other tournament host: Make a warm seaside resort one of the host cities.

The trend from this tournament that you think might bleed into the club game: Scoring from set pieces, especially once VAR is rolled out among more domestic leagues.

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