Loss for Messi and Argentina among biggest World Cup upsets
World Cup 2017: England’s Harry Kane has been named player of the tournament for the fifth time [AFP]
By Chris Waddle, Spain Correspondent
3:05PM GMT 25 Dec 2017
One of the world’s biggest upsets at the FIFA World Cup has been given the final word.
Messi won his fifth World Cup for Argentina. Messi was voted the most valuable player in the tournament for a record seventh time. And at this stage of the competition it is likely that he will be the world’s leading goal scorer for the fifth time.
Other big-name upsets at the World Cup included those of Germany’s Bastian Schweinsteiger and Croatia’s Ivan Rakitic, both of whom ended up in the last eight.
Other upsets from the World Cup have been less heralded.
Loss for Argentina’s Lionel Messi, the fifth of his extraordinary World Cup career
Messi ended up with three goals and one assist in nine matches for Argentina against Croatia. That was in a 2-1 defeat that capped a dramatic season for him.
The 25-year-old had already established himself in Russia by scoring twice on his debut during qualifying, before the tournament. He followed that with a stunning strike in the semi-final against Chile, and then against England a week later.
But against Croatia, he was substituted in the 66th minute. He went on to score twice, but he was then substituted two more times, and Argentina were out of the tournament.
World Cup 2018: Australia’s Harry Maguire has been named Player of the Tournament for the first time, claiming an Olympic gold medal [AFP]
Maguire had picked up the golden boot in the tournament and was awarded the Golden Boot award for player of the tournament, but it was perhaps fair to question whether he deserved to be