Batshuayi's celebration gets giggles
KAlININGRAD: Michy Batshuayi's celebration after Belgium's goal at the World Cup has drawn plenty of laughs online. The Borussia Dortmund striker scooped up the ball after Adnan Januzaj scored Thursday in a 1-0 victory over England and kicked it hard — probably aiming for the net. Instead, it hit the post and rebounded onto his face. He did not appear to be injured, though his pride may have been hurt. Videos of the second-half celebration were circulating online within minutes and were shared widely. Batshuayi quickly took ownership of his gaffe. "Why am I so stupid bro," he wrote on Twitter, along with a long line of emojis and some expletives. The Belgium forward even claimed to have invented a new goal celebration, moving on from popular dances derived from the Fortnite video game. "Fortnite celebrations so overrated bro I had to create something new," he tweeted. Some on Twitter said it was the highlight of a game that drew boos from both sets of fans at halftime.
‘PANAMA lAST BUT NOT WORST!’
SARANSK: When coach Hernan Gomez was asked why some were calling his team the worst at this World Cup, he got angry. "Maybe we were last, but are we really the worst teamIJ" Gomez said. "I think you should compare everything, the backdrops. We are the newest team and we ran into the most difficult schedule. ""Please don't call us the worst team," he said."We are not the worst team. We are a team that is learning and growing. I think you need to respect our team much more. You cannot call us the worst team. That is a lack of respect.""Maybe if we were look at the history and the backdrop of other countries, we can't really be called the worst, worst team," Gomez said.
Modric CROATIA’S BEST ever: RAKITIC
ROSCHINO: Croatia midfielder Ivan Rakitic said teammate luka Modric plays football "from a different planet" and is the best to have ever played for their national team. Rakitic grew up idolizing Croatian midfield great Robert Prosinecki but says Modric, now a four-time Champions league winner with Real Madrid and Croatia's captain at the World Cup, is at the next level. Rakitic stated "not only is luka the best player ever (for Croatia), but he is a great person, a leader and we are following him." Croatia play Denmark in the last-16 at Nizhny Novgorod on Sunday. With many of Croatia's so-called golden generation into their 30s, including Modric and Rakitic, Rakitic also said "if we at the end manage to lift this trophy, we go into international retirement happy."
MOROCCO CRY FOUl OVER REFEREE ERRORS
RAVAT: The Moroccan Royal Football Federation (FRMF) has formally complained to FIFA over "serious referee errors" during the 2018 World Cup in Russia. "We want to express our indignation at the injustice suffered by our national team, following serious refereeing errors that led to (the team's) premature exit from the first round of the 2018 World Cup," lekjaa said in the letter sent to FIFA and posted on the FRMF website on Thursday. "The severity of these refereeing errors is all the more evident in the fact that in these two matches (against Portugal and against Spain), the use of VAR served only to preserve the interests of our competitors," it said. The Moroccan federation urged FIFA president Gianni Infantino to "take the necessary measures and make the necessary adjustments in order to repair these injustices and guarantee the conditions of a competition with equal opportunities for all teams".
German exit ‘HISTORY’S revenge’
lipetsk: A Russian governor has claimed Germany's elimination in the group stage of the World Cup was because "history and time" interfered. Oleg Korolyov, the governor of the lipetsk region near the Ukrainian border, posted on Twitter that "Germany performed disgracefully at the 2018 World Cup only because on this land they unleashed two World Wars and the souls of tens of millions of victims took revenge and will take revenge on them," in the future.
Serbian official & ex-player dies
belgrade: Serbia football official Goran Bunjevcevic, a former Red Star Belgrade captain and Tottenham defender, has died. He was 45.The Football Association of Serbia said Bunjevcevic, the sports director for the national team, died on Thursday in Belgrade. He had an aneurysm on May 20. Bunjevcevic started his playing career in the former Yugoslavia and joined Red Star Belgrade in the late 1990s, winning two league titles and two cups. He was at Tottenham from 2001-06.