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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Martin Belam

'ITV can have that': the internet reacts to the World Cup 2018 draw

A big turn-out in Moscow for the World Cup draw.
A big turn-out in Moscow for the World Cup draw. Photograph: Mikhail Metzel/Tass

Football fans around the world might have stopped what they were doing to watch the World Cup draw in the Kremlin, but they certainly didn’t stop posting their reactions to social media as it went on.

Vladimir Putin opened proceedings, not as was noted, to universal acclaim in the hall.

As is customary for Fifa draws, it took some time for proceedings to get going. Some summed up how all football fans feel about the showbiz factor that always goes into set-piece draws:

Bayern Munich’s social media manager was having fun, as ever.

One of the big questions for the watching audience was about what Diego Maradona had chosen to wear.

And with Maradona drawing the teams from Pot 2 that included England, it was inevitable that people would mention that goal …

On stage Gary Lineker, who also scored in that 1986 World Cup quarter-final, couldn’t resist pointing out that Maradona had always been good with his hands. Lineker also noted that “it’s nice to have an Italian involved in the World Cup” when Fabio Cannavaro began drawing the teams from Pot 4. Italy failed to qualify for the finals for the first time since 1958.

Fabio Cannavaro had to grin and bear it while Gary Lineker joked about Italy’s absence.
Fabio Cannavaro had to grin and bear it while Gary Lineker joked about Italy’s absence. Photograph: Matthias Hangst/Bongarts/Getty Images

Sir Gordon Banks’s choice of clothing, was also noticed, for a very different reason.

Gordon Banks at the World Cup draw with the Stoke City tie
Banks at the draw with his Stoke City tie. Photograph: Maxim Shemetov/Reuters

There were lots of graphical reactions from fans all round the world to the difficulties some nations were going to face in getting out of their groups. Mexico, in particular, face a tough start, opening their campaign against reigning world champions Germany.

Nigeria’s habit of drawing Argentina, they have done so in five out of the six World Cups the African nation have competed in, didn’t pass without comment.

And there was the inevitable reaction to Russia ending up not having the most difficult of groups, or much of a formidable opening task against Saudi Arabia.

The political implications of the first match were not lost on some.

That opening match-up sparked some sass from the BBC Sport liveblogging team, which maybe didn’t quite fulfil the true spirit of impartiality expected from the national broadcaster:

The BBC would certainly have been more interested in the opening game if one of the rehearsal draws tweeted out by Gary Lineker in advance had been repeated.

There was a lot of focus from British social media users on the presence of England’s 1986 Golden Boot winner Lineker as presenter.

Disgraced former Fifa president Sepp Blatter has, in recent years, asserted that Uefa used hot and cold balls in order to shape the outcomes of draws for its competitions. Lineker alluded to the conspiracy theory in a tweet days before the draw took place.

Of course, the former Everton and Wales goalkeeper Neville Southall had already had his say about Russia’s attitude to LGBT fans at the finals.

And you can always rely on the optimism of England fans about their tournament chances.

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