{"id":19604,"date":"2026-07-02T23:55:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T23:55:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edumarkng.com\/news\/unusual-moments-in-the-world-cup-by-azu-ishiekwene\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T23:55:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T23:55:28","slug":"unusual-moments-in-the-world-cup-by-azu-ishiekwene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edumarkng.com\/news\/unusual-moments-in-the-world-cup-by-azu-ishiekwene\/","title":{"rendered":"Unusual moments in the World Cup, by Azu Ishiekwene"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.vanguardngr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Azubuike-Ishiekwene-e1719556316775.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Unusual moments in the World Cup, by Azu Ishiekwene\" title=\"Unusual moments in the World Cup, by Azu Ishiekwene\" \/><\/div><p>Unusual moments in the World Cup, by Azu Ishiekwene, <\/p>\n<p>The 2026 FIFA World Cup has entered\u00a0the knockout stages, yet it has been remarkable not only for being the biggest in football history so far, but also for its unusual moments. It has delivered remarkable fan antics, underdog stories, emotional scenes and controversial decisions.<\/p>\n<p>On a personal note, because I\u2019m visiting the US and Canada, two of the three North American hosts, I\u2019m enjoying what I have often taken for granted: watching global games on live TV in my part of the world.<\/p>\n<p>Replays are not my thing. I\u2019m not sure I would have been able to follow the games so closely if I were watching them from home in Nigeria, where a five- or six-hour time difference with the US, Canada or Mexico might have meant watching replays, missing several games played at \u201codd hours,\u201d or watching them with red, sleepy eyes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Bafana beefing<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Some unusual moments have caught my attention so far in the World Cup. The performance of South Africa\u2019s team, Bafana Bafana, was not only a source of pride to the country and its players, I thought it would bring joy to many Africans that the team, one of the continent\u2019s 10 representatives, reached the knockout stage by pulling off a stunning last-minute 1-0 win over South Korea in a last group-stage contest that could have been drawn \u2014 or worse.<\/p>\n<p>It was Bafana\u2019s best performance since 2002, when it first qualified for the World Cup, surpassing even its 2010 record, when it hosted the event and finished third in the group. But talking to several friends and monitoring social media posts across the continent revealed that the team\u2019s exploits hardly carried a shared sense of continental joy. Echoes of the recent xenophobic attacks in South Africa overshadowed them.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Transferred aggression<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Fans wanted Bafana to crash out as quickly as possible as a \u201crecompense\u201d for the attacks on immigrants from other African countries.<\/p>\n<p>On June 28, for example, @Son_of_Laikipa posted a video of a wild party on his timeline, writing, \u201cSouth Africa are out of the World Cup, they can now rush home to protect their jobs.\u201d A Nigerian Nollywood actor, Charles Awurum, also mocked Bafana on his timeline, while @PopBase said, \u201cAfrica is happy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Many, especially Nigerian fans who seemed to revel in this schadenfreude, didn\u2019t seem to care that the joke was on Nigeria. Fans wearing Nigerian jerseys around many stadiums in North America have been taunted with jokes like, \u201cWhen is Nigeria playing?\u201d Nigeria didn\u2019t qualify.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Soft power<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The sentiment toward Iran was different \u2014 it proved the enduring value of soft power. At some point, no one was sure the national team would show up because of the US\u2013Israel war in the country.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s to the team\u2019s credit that despite the difficulties surrounding their participation, one of the most fraught in recent sporting memory, Iran did not lose a single match in the group stages.<\/p>\n<p>Team Melli\u2019s resilience captured the imagination of the world, and its elimination (finishing just outside the eighth, third-placed) drew global empathy.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Riding the wave<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There have been brighter, unusual sides, too, like the story of the Canadian fan during the Canada vs South Africa game who mistakenly flung her phone in the air during an excited bout of Mexican wave, causing the device to crash through a glass barrier, \u201cride the waves,\u201d and disappear in the stands.<\/p>\n<p>The owner\u2019s misery went viral. Though there is no report that her phone was recovered, she might have been comforted by Canada\u2019s win.<\/p>\n<p>Apart from the incident of the \u201csurfing phone,\u201d the World Cup has been filled with other dramatic moments, from the DRC Congo \u201cstatue fan\u201d who stood still throughout the country\u2019s matches and became an internet sensation to the now-famous \u201cMerlin the Duck,\u201d Mexico\u2019s unofficial World Cup mascot, and the Cape Verdean fan who celebrated with live goats to prove that players of the island country were the real GOATs at this World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>The followers of the Cape Verdean goalkeeper, Josimar Jose Evora Dias, called Vozinha for short, grew from 50,000 before the tournament to 17.5 million \u2014 a social media Ballon d\u2019Or!<\/p>\n<p>If the Mexican wave has made fans move like water, Norway\u2019s Viking Row has made them move like a boat, with fans sitting or standing in lines rowing in unison like a Viking longboat, shouting, \u201cRo!\u201d On its website, FIFA described the Viking Row and France\u2019s clapping as \u201ctwo of the most distinctive supporter traditions\u201d in the World Cup.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Seeing red<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The pitches have not lacked their unusual moments. The opening game between hosts Mexico and South Africa produced three red cards, the first since 1930. Yet that would not be the last time that on-field refs and their VARs would be tested.<\/p>\n<p>The decision disallowing Germany\u2019s extra-time goal in the knockout match against Paraguay, and the award of a penalty to Belgium in their game against Senegal three minutes from the end of extra time on July 1, will, among others, continue to be huge talking points long after this World Cup. And yet, we still have about 22 games left to play as of July 2.<\/p>\n<p>The opening stages, with 48 teams and 12 groups, saw the highest number of goals ever scored in the opening stages of a World Cup \u2014 215 in 72 group matches, compared with the full-tournament record of 172 goals in 64 matches at Qatar in 2022. As of June 30, a record five million fans had turned up in stadiums to watch the games live.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dignity in defeat<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Japan\u2019s clean-up at the NRG Stadium in Houston after a 2-1 heartbreak loss to Brazil caught the attention of many around the world. Japanese supporters stayed behind with blue trash bags to clean their section, keeping up a tradition that first attracted global attention in France in 1998.<\/p>\n<p>Teams, players and coaches have had their moments, too. After the dramatic penalty win over the Netherlands, for example, the Moroccan team tossed their coach up and down in his suit and necktie, and then performed the sujood in front of their jubilant fans.<\/p>\n<p>Canada\u2019s coach, Jesse Marsch, post-match on-field team talks have attracted unusual attention. He was caught on live TV calling his players \u201cCanadian heroes\u201d and telling them that their performance could change not just the game in Canada but also the lives of young people watching them. In an emotional speech that felt more like a dressing-room moment than a public broadcast, he told Stephen Eusaquio, after his late winner, that his late parents were \u201clooking down\u201d on him.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>More to come<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>With over two more weeks of football still to play before the finals, the FIFA president, Giovanni Vincenzo Infantino, must be very pleased at the event\u2019s success so far, despite initial doubts by those who thought his cosy relationship with US President Donald Trump, almost akin to Trump-olatry, could spoil the games.<\/p>\n<p>The tournament has so far offered stories on several levels, all at once: good football, major upsets, compelling human moments, and dramatic fan culture.<\/p>\n<p>There have been genuine signs of a shift in the global balance of the game. It feels less like an event dominated by a handful of giants, and more like a celebration of football\u2019s growing universality<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanguardngr.com\/2026\/07\/unusual-moments-in-the-world-cup-by-azu-ishiekwene\/\">Unusual moments in the World Cup, by Azu Ishiekwene<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanguardngr.com\/\">Vanguard News<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>, <\/p>\n<p>The 2026 FIFA World Cup has entered\u00a0the knockout stages, yet it has been remarkable not only for being the biggest in football history so far, but also for its unusual moments. It has delivered remarkable fan antics, underdog stories, emotional scenes and controversial decisions. On a personal note, because I\u2019m visiting the US and Canada, [\u2026]<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanguardngr.com\/2026\/07\/unusual-moments-in-the-world-cup-by-azu-ishiekwene\/\">Unusual moments in the World Cup, by Azu Ishiekwene<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanguardngr.com\/\">Vanguard News<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>, <!-- no image -->, Emmanuel Okogba, {authorlink},, , Vanguard News, July 2, 2026, 11:55 pm<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Unusual moments in the World Cup, by Azu Ishiekwene, The 2026 FIFA World Cup has entered\u00a0the knockout stages, yet it has been remarkable not only for being the biggest in football history so far, but also for its unusual moments. It has delivered remarkable fan antics, underdog stories, emotional scenes and controversial decisions. On a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19605,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdn.vanguardngr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Azubuike-Ishiekwene-e1719556316775.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[713,1108,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-converstion-with-azu","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Unusual moments in the World Cup, by Azu Ishiekwene - EduNews<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/edumarkng.com\/news\/unusual-moments-in-the-world-cup-by-azu-ishiekwene\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Unusual moments in the World Cup, by Azu Ishiekwene - EduNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Unusual moments in the World Cup, by Azu Ishiekwene, The 2026 FIFA World Cup has entered\u00a0the knockout stages, yet it has been remarkable not only for being the biggest in football history so far, but also for its unusual moments. 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