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World Cup Day 6 awards: Welcome back, Mr. Blatter

By Jake Walerius

Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter arrives to the hotel St Regis in Moscow, on June 19, 2018, during the Russia 2018 World Cup football tournament. (Photo by Vasily MAXIMOV / AFP) (Photo credit should read VASILY MAXIMOV/AFP/Getty Images)
Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter arrives to the hotel St Regis in Moscow, on June 19, 2018, during the Russia 2018 World Cup football tournament. (Photo by Vasily MAXIMOV / AFP) (Photo credit should read VASILY MAXIMOV/AFP/Getty Images) /
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Russia won again, while Senegal and Japan did their confederations proud on World Cup Day 6. Let’s hand out some awards.

The sixth day of the World Cup began with history, as Japan became the first Asian team to beat a South American team in the competition. Senegal followed that up with an impressive win against Poland at Spartak Stadium, before Russia all but guaranteed their spot in the last 16 with a win against Egypt. Let’s hand out some awards.

The Not Luis Suarez Award for Regrettable Handballs: Carlos Sanchez

There’s a time and a place for deliberately handling the ball in your own box. That time/place is certainly not in the first three minutes of your country’s first match at the World Cup. Carlos Sanchez, it seems, didn’t get the memo. The Colombian midfielder earned the second fastest red card in tournament history for denying Japan an early goal, and was duly sent off. Was it worth it? Well, Shinji Kagawa scored and Los Cafeteros lost, with Japan taking control some time around the hour mark, just as Colombia’s players started to tire. So no, in other words, it probably wasn’t worth it.

The South Korea Award for Inter-Confederation Upsets: Japan

After South Korea, Iran, Australia and (especially) Saudi Arabia all lost, Japan became the first AFC team to record a win at the World Cup. They also became the first Asian team ever to beat a South American team at the World Cup. Given their opponents played for 90 minutes with 10 players, it certainly wasn’t the most eye-catching upset of the tournament. Still, in a very evenly-matched Group H (Senegal and Poland are the other two sides), Japan put themselves in strong position to advance.

The Vladimir Putin Award for What Is This, Hockey? M’Baye Niang

Senegal earned an impressive, deserved win against Poland in the final match of the first round of World Cup fixtures on Tuesday. They also benefited from a very fortunately-timed injury recovery in the buildup to their second goal. M’Baye Niang, who was off the pitch after receiving treatment for an injury, was waved back on by the refs an approximate fraction of a fraction of a second before Poland’s Gregor Krychowiak, presumably not aware Niang was concurrently being invited back onto the pitch, hooked the ball back toward his keeper. Wojciech Szczesny didn’t cover himself in glory either, but it was a strange and unfortunate series of events that ultimately cost Poland the game.

Next: The best player on every team at the World Cup

The FIFA Memorial Award for Extremely On-The-Nose Special Guests: Sepp Blatter

Sepp Blatter will make his long-awaited (that doesn’t sound right) return to the FIFA executive box this week, apparently at the behest of Vladimir Putin. Blatter was last seen around these parts in 2015, resigning as president on account of the veritable gaggle of corruption scandals that had dogged him throughout his 17-year reign. The most significant of these saw the arrest of seven FIFA officials in May 2015 as part of an FBI investigation into, among other things, Russian misbehavior during the bidding process for this here 2018 World Cup. Welcome back, Mr. Blatter. We wouldn’t be here without you.

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