2018 World Cup: Top 20 goals of the tournament, ranked

The 2018 World Cup was one of the most exciting in a long time, and it was full of fantastic goals. Of Saudi Arabia's 5-0 win against Croatia in the opening match of the World Cup against Croatia in the final, 4-2, it did not go away one day without the jaws falling.

In all, 169 goals were scored in the tournament – not quite the record of 171 set in 1998 in France and tied in 2014 in Brazil, but close. What goals stood out from the pack? There are many difficult choices to make, but with the quality and timing, here are our top 20 tournament goals.

20. Kylian Mbappe says goodnight to Argentina

Let's take a look at the purpose that exposed Argentina and that probably broke its spirit later, but that's the purpose that eliminated it from tournament, the fourth goal of France in 4-3. to win. And wow, what a daring moment for Kylian Mbappe. It was the second goal of the 19-year-old day and a sparkling demonstration of his skills – the race, the positioning, the finish, everything. The full buildup of the lens was absolutely gorgeous too; Let's not forget how much Antoine Griezmann played an important role in the creation of this goal, and for all the better moments of France throughout the race for the title of the World Cup.

19. Shaqiri flee from Serbia

Nobody as stocky and muscular should be so fast, but Xherdan Shaqiri surely is. His club career may not have gone as planned, but man regularly arrives in times like this, especially when he plays for Switzerland. This race on the ball completely destroyed the defense of Serbia, and he made absolutely no mistake in his finish. He has just signed with Liverpool to play what will probably be a rotating role and leave the bench, and Jurgen Klopp and Reds fans hope that he will bring a lot of that kind of fire to Anfield.

18. Angel Di Maria still has it

We could forgive you for forgetting Angel Di Maria. His visit to Paris Saint-Germain was marked by injuries and bad shape. Even when he is healthy and plays well, he is often lost in the shadow of players like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani. But he still has that talent for the big time and regularly comes in big when his team needs that extra boost. So it's here that Argentina beat France early in the round of 16, and Di Maria found a perfect pocket and hit it so neatly and so well that it had to stand up and applaud, Huge Lloris' distant actually that the goalkeeper probably should not have bothered to try it. Bra-freaking-vo, Di Maria. Take a bow.

17. The Granite Xhaka nearly beheaded Branislav Ivanovic

It was an absolute bomb and if Ivanovic had not hidden, he could be dead, Xhaka hit him so hard. That golazo, indeed.

16. Toni Kroos is superhuman

Germany needing a goal to break the match against Sweden in their second group match and have a realistic chance of reaching the knockout stage – they would ultimately fail, but no one knew that at this very moment, Kroos set up a bold fake kick routine, tapping the ball, recovering it, and unbuckling a shot from inside the surface placed to perfection absolute. Oh yes, and he came four and a half minutes into an announced five minutes of time out, putting huge pressure on his shoulders. The list of players who could grow up at that time can probably count on one hand, and Toni Kroos is one of them.

Luka Modric Destroys Argentina

It is all that she wrote for Argentina in the tournament. Of course, it was only the second game of the group stage, and Argentina finally finished in the round of 16 in an epic match against France – but that goal from Luka Modric is what has broken their spirit and exposed their weaknesses. . It was a phenomenal shot, and the goal and his dominant performance throughout the match was a huge microcosm of how Modric led Croatia to the World Cup final and earned the prize of the best tournament ball.

. Ahmed Musa is ballsy and so good

The name Musa is not often mentioned these days in the football world. He was always the striker of his teams, but in this tournament he was the guy from for Nigeria, and that goal showed how good he can be when his confidence is in place. Nobody in their good sense takes touches and the space and takes as ends, but Musa did it without venting. He can never be considered an elite player in the sport, but his day he can be an incredible asset to any team around.

13. The half-volley of Christian Eriksen against Australia

Everything about this goal is so impressive. Denmark did a good job keeping the game alive, taking an attack that threatened to collapse and keeping the ball in motion to find a possible opening. Striker Nicolai Jorgensen did a great job under pressure while recognizing that Christian Eriksen was supporting his team and then quickly put the ball in his way with room to work. Eriksen did not miss a beat, hitting him on the half-volley and almost putting the ball through the back of the net, not just inside.

12. Coutinho scored a world against Switzerland

This goal is simply ridiculous. Hitting the ball that has gone through so much traffic and placing it so perfectly is hilarious, but Philippe Coutinho made it seem easy. Coutinho has made a lot of things easy during this tournament, so much so that it's not unreasonable to think that he, not Neymar, has led many Brazilian successes in this World Cup. Once Barcelona has figured out how to get Lionel Messi and him to work together at a high level – be careful, Europe.

11. Ivan Perisic in the World Cup Final

This is the first goal of the World Cup final on this list, but it will not be the last. Perisic hit this beauty of a goal to level the score at 1-1 in the first half, an extremely important goal to keep his country in the game, but also an extremely impressive team effort. The way Croatian players continued to move the ball, keeping the game alive to try to find someone with a shot, was fantastic, and Perisic's finish was perfect to prevent Hugo Lloris from getting there. .

10. The outrageous arrival of Denis Cheryshev

Denis Cheryshev was a great success at this World Cup, and the opening match of the tournament was a real statement for him. Forced into a more important role to play by Alan Dzagoev injury early in the game, Cheryshev stepped up and excelled, a performance crowned by a daring captivating goal. His control of the ball was the absolute perfection at that moment, and his extra half-turn to turn the ball on his very favorite left foot for a side foot finish instead of taking the right foot shot no doubt easier was staggering and Happy hilarious. It was a great moment at the end of a wild match, and it really helped to establish Cheryshev and Russia as a real threat throughout the tournament.

9. Benjamin Pavard has one of the shots of the tournament

He hits a pure ball, and then we hit a ball pure. France on the right Benjamin Pavard his ball pure against Argentina . The incredible goal from end to end of Belgium to sink Japan

Everyone was certain that the round of 16 of Belgium and Japan would be extended, if not penalties. Japan had recovered 2-0, Belgium came back to 2-2, and as the last moments of the regulation approached, both teams seemed gaseous.

It turned out that Belgium did not expect more …

From the initial delivery of Thibaut Courtois to the moment Nacer Chadli hammered the ball in the net, all about this Belgian attack was pure and frenetic determination. De Bruyne was back on the pitch with the ball, Romelu Lukaku's perfect run to open the space, to Thomas Meunier perhaps doing the game of his life to help the goal, everything was there to prove a point , prove that they belong among the best of the best. This goal was a great, big moment for every Belgian player on the pitch, and stands out as one of the best and most important goals of the World Cup.

Cristiano Ronaldo has a long and rich career, full of high quality goals, both open play and free kicks. While some of his open-play goals are certainly better than this one, there's not a lot of free kicks that Ronaldo has managed to make. The fact that the equalizer was crucial to give Portugal a big point and eliminate two points of Spain in the group stage only makes the match even more important and the goal all the more impressive to watch again and again.

. Neymar and Willian shred Defense of Mexico

This is an absolute humiliation of a Mexican defense that had been quite solid during the group stage of the World, but in this match looked like the curse unit that looked frighteningly poor in their friendly warm-up matches. Neymar and Willian just wiped out the entire group in a few seconds with a series of clever and intelligent decisions that left El Tri having no idea where

5. Paul Pogba issues a breathtaking pass that creates his own goal

I take you through my process of thinking about this ridiculous Pogba pass and the goal that she created, but Nate Scott is already a poet with exactly the same line of thought.

4. Kevin De Bruyne breaks the back of Brazil

It was a bit of a paradigm shift in the World Cup. Belgium had been impressive, but with Brazil being Brazil and one of the remaining favorites in the tournament at the time, no one was sure if "impressive" would be enough to hit Brazil. Take part in Kevin De Bruyne, who took advantage of Romelu Lukaku's incredible run with as clean a shot as you will see to put Belgium 2-0 up and beat Brazil effectively at that moment. It was the time when Belgium really opened the eyes of people, not just a team with potential, but a team that represented a very real threat in the tournament.

3. The superb volley of Dries Mertens

This did not prove to be an extremely important goal as many of these other great goals in the list, but this fly is ridiculous . This is a shot that few attackers would attempt, let alone with a perfection as cold and calm as that of Mertens. Anyone who looks at Napoli knows very well that this kind of goal is good in his wheelhouse, but now the whole world knows how amazing it can be when his confidence is great.

2. Kylian Mbappe wins in the final

Kylian Mbappé goes into action

The 19-year-old becomes the first teenager to score in the FIFA World Cup finals since Pele. pic.twitter.com/4fqjCSWJL0

– FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) On July 15, 2018

Kylian Mbappe was already a fantastic player entering the World Cup. He was arguably the best young striker on the planet, and rightly came in the World Cup as the focal point of France's attack. Then, at age 19, he showed himself one of the tournament's best players, even preparing to become one of the big stars of the game.

But enough about Mbappe – How about this goal? ? The fourth and final goal of France in the final, and the one that finally broke the back of Croatia. The balance and presence that Mbappe had in the moment go well beyond his 19 years, and he finished in perfection to join Pele, now the only two young people to score in final of the World Cup. It's an intoxicating business, but based on its history, Mbappe will come out very well.

Lionel Messi makes everyone scream

My god. Everything about this lens is so perfect. Messi's manic run to get to where he had to go after using just a bit of a floating drift to lull the defender to sleep. The pass of Ever Banega, showing enough chemistry with Messi to know exactly where would be his teammate and placing his pass perfectly to more than 40 meters. The almost impossible control of Messi in the wake while going at full speed to get the ball exactly where he wanted. The finish perfectly placed, despite his weak foot and under a strange angle.

This is a goal that has awakened Argentina at a crucial moment in the tournament, and even though eventually they have not gone further without this goal, they may not have not even the means to get out of the group stage. all. And oh yes, it was an incredible goal even without the importance of it.

Honorable Mention: Cavani and Suarez play a 100-long-long little give-and-go to create a goal of

We forgot this one at first, but let's remember that Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez played a small game-in-hand across the width of the field to create their first goal against Portugal.