World Cup Day 4 awards: We get it, Philippe Coutinho. We get it.
![TOPSHOT - Brazil's forward Philippe Coutinho kicks and scores during the Russia 2018 World Cup Group E football match between Brazil and Switzerland at the Rostov Arena in Rostov-On-Don on June 17, 2018. (Photo by Jewel SAMAD / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - NO MOBILE PUSH ALERTS/DOWNLOADS (Photo credit should read JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images) TOPSHOT - Brazil's forward Philippe Coutinho kicks and scores during the Russia 2018 World Cup Group E football match between Brazil and Switzerland at the Rostov Arena in Rostov-On-Don on June 17, 2018. (Photo by Jewel SAMAD / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - NO MOBILE PUSH ALERTS/DOWNLOADS (Photo credit should read JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/ef98871bd4df7d3968dc803f7df2af92aedf3a1e757617d41cd015ef31194788.jpg)
Mexico shocked Germany, Serbia beat Costa Rica, and Brazil and Switzerland settled for a draw today at the World Cup. Let’s hand out some awards.
The big result of the fourth day of the World Cup was Mexico’s impressive 1-0 win against Germany, which puts the defending champions’ place in the last 16 in doubt. The early match saw Serbia beat Costa Rica, before Brazil and Switzerland ended the day with an entertaining 1-1 draw.
The Cristiano Ronaldo Award for Free-Kicks: Aleksandar Kolarov
Costa Rica played Serbia today in perhaps the most forgettable match of the tournament so far, another unfortunate reminder that the U.S. men’s national team failed to qualify for this stupid nonsense. Anyway, other than a halfway decent, Nemanja Matic-inspired brawl between the two sides, the standout moment of the match was an wonderful, dipping free-kick by Aleksandar Kolarov to give Serbia the win.
Kolarov's free kick gave Serbia the win over Keylor Navas and Costa Rica.
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 17, 2018
Check out all of the highlights in our 90' in 90" ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/66Ejh3dFrZ
The Arjen Robben Award for We Get It, You’re Good At Cutting Onto Your Stronger Foot and Banging It Top Corner: Philippe Coutinho
Philippe Coutinho is an outrageously talented player, the sort you watch and think, “well, isn’t he an outrageously talented player?” But for someone so consistently surprising, so creative on the ball, he sure does cut onto his right foot and shoot a lot. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix, as the bard says (that sounds wrong), and sure it ain’t broke. Brazil looked very good for the first half of their opening match against Switzerland, but they got a lot worse in the second. Just as well Coutinho scored that absurd goal then, even if the concept is a little outdated.
OH MY 😱😱
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 17, 2018
Philippe Coutinho scores a BEAUTIFUL curler to put Brazil up 1-0 on Switzerland! pic.twitter.com/iOpkvNJmsr
The Sergio Ramos Award for Most Gleeful Crunching Of Neymar: Valon Behrami
Valon Behrami. You may know him as that guy who played for West Ham (or was it Watford? Or maybe it was Stoke? Crystal Palace?). But in Switzerland they know him as that guy who has started in central midfield at every one of the past four World Cups, representing his country with distinction and pride (and also, presumably, they know him as Valon Behrami). And now perhaps the world will know him as that guy who kept tackling Neymar in his first game back after a four-month injury layoff. I don’t know how many times Behrami actually tackled Neymar, but it was a lot, and he (and I) loved every minute of it.
The Jurgen Klopp Award for Life-Affirming Post-Match Press Conferences: Juan Carlos Osorio
Mexico claimed the first major scalp of the tournament on Sunday, beating an off-kilter Germany side to go top of Group E. The recipe for the win was simple enough: Get it wide quickly on the counter-attack and let the forwards get to work. El Tri were equally impressive at the back as the defending champions poured forward in the second half, with Guillermo Ochoa making nine saves in total (though only a couple of them were more than routine). Juan Carlos Osorio, not exactly Mr. Popular back in Mexico, was downright charming in his post-match comments, saying his players tried to play “for the love of winning, not the fear of losing” and that they would “try to give joy” to their fans, both in Russia, where they’ve traveled in huge numbers, and back home, where apparently they caused small earthquake celebrating Lozano’s goal.
Next: The best player on every team at the World Cup
The Jose Mourinho Award for Ominous Post-Match Press Conferences: Joachim Low
Germany have never not reached at least the semifinal of a major tournament during Joachim Low’s tenure. Nor, in that time, have they lost their opening World Cup match. This loss was new ground for Die Mannschaft, then, both statistically and in the manner of the performance — lazy, unfocused, tactically naive. Not that you’d know it from Low’s post-match comments. “This is a situation we’re not used to at all,” he said, matter-of-factly, after the game, before adding later: “We will make it to the next round.” Coming from the manager of any other team, those comments might sound like the tempting of fate. Coming from the manager of Germany, they sound like the truth.