A few official awards will be handed out by FIFA at the World Cup over the next few days, but we have already handed out our unofficial World Cup awards.
So keep reading to find out which coveted awards the likes of Paraguay, Lionel Messi, and Vozinha received, and which unwanted ones Ilgiz Tantashev and FIFA themselves ended up with.
Biggest Giantkillers Award: Paraguay
A giantkiller is generally a reference to the famous David v Goliath showdown in the Bible. In football, it relates to an underdog taking out a ‘giant’, or a very strong favourite.
Well, if at the World Cup Germany played the role of Goliath, then Paraguay were very much David.
Germany had been good rather than spectacular in the Group Stages but were still strong favourites to beat a Paraguay side that had only just qualified as one of the best third-placed teams, with the South Americans 4.0 to go through against a strong German side.
If the match stats determined who wins games, then Germany would have been safely through. But they don’t.
Germany had 21 shots, six on target and 75% possession, compared to seven shots, three on target and just 25% possession from Paraguay. Germany had expected goals of 1.49; Paraguay had only 0.42.
But after the 90 minutes, it was 1-1, there were no goals in extra time, and Paraguay went on to win 4-3 on penalties, with the Germans left to lick their wounds and the Paraguayans left to celebrate into the night.
Everyone’s Favourite Hero Award: Vozinha
Vozinha’s football career wasn’t looking great going into the World Cup. He was 40 years old, and after a journeyman career that had taken him to the likes of Slovakia, Moldova and Cyprus, he’d just been released by second-division Chaves in Portugal weeks before the tournament.
With Cape Verde expected to be thrashed in every World Cup game and with goalkeeper Vozinha the man left to pick the ball out of the net, you could have forgiven him for ‘accidentally’ missing the plane.
But his team's first match against Spain changed all that. He made seven saves, was named Player of the Match and became an overnight sensation for his skill and bravery in keeping out the all-conquering Spanish, the current 1.67 favourites to win Sunday’s final; Cape Verde remain the only team to have kept a clean sheet against them all tournament.
His social media followers went through the roof, and they even named a newly discovered species of sea snail after him.
They then drew 2-2 with Uruguay and 0-0 with Saudi Arabia and, against all odds, qualified for the Last 32, up against Lionel Messi’s Argentina. His heroics continued as he made a further seven saves in that game, with his side enforcing extra time, eventually losing 3-2.
While Cape Verde was heading home, Argentina certainly weren’t, beating Egypt, Switzerland and England to make the final, where they’re now 3.6 to win the game in 90 minutes and 2.25 to win the World Cup by any means.
But Vozinha’s efforts certainly weren’t in vain. Messi clearly liked what he saw in that match, and Vozinha is now rumoured to be moving to Messi’s Inter Miami side.
Dodgiest Refereeing Performance Award: Ilgiz Tantashev
It’s inevitable that, at a World Cup, there will be some controversial decisions that split opinion, even with the assistance of VAR.
But there were no split opinions about the performance of Uzbek referee Ilgiz Tantashev in France v Paraguay.
German referee Patrick Ittrich declared Tantashev's refereeing in the last-16 match as "the worst performance at this World Cup.”
French newspaper L'Équipe gave Tantashev a 1/10 score, calling his performance "absolute incompetence.”
The scathing criticism came after Paraguay kicked, elbowed, grabbed, and verbally intimidated just about every French player on the pitch throughout the game; at one stage, a Paraguayan player even damaged the penalty spot from which Kylian Mbappé was about to take his spot-kick.
But Tantashev either didn’t see what was going on, didn’t want to or pretended he didn’t, because, despite the constant infringements, some bordering on violent, not a single Paraguayan player was booked.
Instead, three French players were shown yellow cards for minor infringements at best, leaving fans around the world shaking their heads at the TV in disbelief.
Biggest Villains Award: FIFA
Football fans could mostly live with many of FIFA’s innovations for this World Cup, including an expanded tournament, red cards for players who covered their mouths when talking to opponents, and corners awarded against goalkeepers who took too long on goal kicks.
But patience started to run out with the hydration breaks.
Yes, they were fine and necessary at 35 Celsius, but certainly not for night matches in air-conditioned stadiums, as fans accused FIFA of just using it as an opportunity to sell advertising space on TV during the breaks. Fans booed the breaks, and commentators noted how they disrupted the rhythm of the game.
But the animosity towards the hydration breaks was nothing compared to the backlash among fans caused by FIFA’s inexplicable, unprecedented and scandalous decision to allow star US forward Folarin Balogun to play against Belgium when he was suspended.
A move that happened simply because Donald Trump asked FIFA President Gianni Infantino to do so in a private phone conversation, calling into question the whole integrity of the tournament.
FIFA may have put on a fine World Cup, but they can’t be expecting too many Christmas cards from fans, journalists, managers, players or just about anyone else involved in the tournament.
Most Loyal Celebrity Fan: Javier Bardem
They say money can’t buy love or happiness, but it can certainly buy scarce, overpriced tickets to World Cup matches, a concept not lost on millionaire Oscar nominee Javier Bardem, the Spanish Hollywood star who has also portrayed a James Bond villain in Skyfall.
Bardem was in the crowd for all of Spain’s knockout games and was the darling of many a cameraman, all of them eager to feature an A-Lister proudly supporting his team, especially when he brought his actress wife Penelope Cruz with him to the game.
Fans on social media branded him Spain’s lucky mascot because as he kept on going to Spain games, they kept on winning. For the semi-final, he even marked the occasion by wearing the Spain Number 26 jersey of full-back Marc Cucurella to the match.
Whatever alternative plans he had for Sunday evening, Cucurella and co will be hoping he cancels them and is at the game once more.
Unluckiest Player Award: Youri Tielemans
There were plenty of hard-luck stories among players at the World Cup, including wrongly disallowed goals, crucial penalty misses, and players controversially sent off when they should have stayed on the pitch.
But most of those pale in comparison to what happened to Belgium captain Youri Tielemans.
He was the inspirational driving force in Belgium’s comeback win against Senegal in the Last 32, equalising with a late header to make it 2-2 before scoring a late penalty to help Belgium win the game 3-2 and send them into the next round against the odds.
Up against the USA in the Last 16 match, he failed to score this time but was still a major influence as Belgium put in an excellent performance to win 4-1.
Up next was Spain in the quarter-finals, and Tielemans was warming up, preparing to play the biggest match of his life until…he wasn’t.
He sustained a hamstring injury in the warm-up and was replaced in the team by Hans Vanaken, with Kevin de Bruyne taking over the captain’s armband from Tielemans. The last-minute reshuffle changed all of Belgium’s plans, and they ended up losing 2-1.
The injury wasn’t too bad, though, and just a couple of days later, Tielemans was signing on the dotted line to join Manchester United from Aston Villa.
Player of the Tournament Award: Lionel Messi
We’ve saved the best for last, but this is probably the easiest award to give out.
Aged 39, playing in a ‘lesser league’ that some consider the MLS to be, criticised for walking around the pitch rather than running around it and accused by some of being FIFA’s Golden Boy who they’re keen to protect by any means, Messi did what he’s always done: shrugged it all off, put his head down and got on with it.
There was a hat-trick against Algeria, two goals against Austria and then one against all of Jordan, Cape Verde and Egypt to take his tally to eight. He may have failed to score against Switzerland in the quarters, but he was still good for an assist to help his side win 3-1 in extra time.
Then came the England game.
Even when Argentina was struggling to create chances, he was still coming deep to receive the ball, weaving and twisting past defenders, playing killer passes, and trying to turn the game around. Until he did.
He found Enzo Fernandez at the edge of the box as the Chelsea man fired in an equaliser, before going on a run down the right flank in injury time and lofting a perfect cross (with his ‘weaker’ right foot) to the heart of the area where Lautaro Martinez rose highest to score the winner, Messi’s fourth assist of the tournament.
We’ll have to wait and see if Argentina go on to win it, but it’s hard to argue he’s been the top dog at the World Cup over the last month or so, so it’s no wonder he’s just 1.15 to be Golden Ball Winner (best player) and 1.44 to be Golden Boot (top scorer) winner.
