Ranking every World Cup penalty from the group stages: Kane, Salah, Messi

Quick Reads
  • Planet Football
  • 29th June 2018

Tottenham, Liverpool and Everton players all converted penalties during the group stages at this summer’s World Cup – but which have been the best?

Thanks to the lovely little thing known as VAR, 24 penalties have already been awarded, blowing Italia 90’s record of 18 penalties in a single tournament out of the water.

As neutrals, we all love a good penalty. Less so when it goes against our own team. What else left to do, then, other than rank every penalty to be taken in Russia so far this summer.

24. Christian Cueva v Denmark 

So bad, he went off at half-time crying. Poor lad.

23. Gylfi Sigurdsson v Nigeria

It’s really not much better, is it? Still, it’s not last just because it was a centimetre lower.

22. Cristiano Ronaldo v Iran

It wasn’t in the corner, wasn’t even really in the middle. Class footage, though, by the way.

21. Lionel Messi

The two GOATs with terrible penalties back to back. Get us out of this nightmare.

20. Fahad Mosaed Al Muwallad v Egypt

It was tempting to put this ahead of some of the scored penalties. Some save from the ol’ lad, that.

19. Bryan Ruiz v Switzerland

It feels cruel to laugh. This would have made Bryan Ruiz Costa Rica’s all time leading goalscorer in World Cup competitions. Sadly, it goes down as an own goal.

18. Ferjani Sassi v England

Completely unbiased having Tunisia here, but it’s not fully in the corner and Pickford gets a touch.

17. Shinji Kagawa v Colombia

The old ‘pass down the middle’. Just paid off, Shinji.

16. Salman Al-Faraj v Egypt

The first save must have taken it out of the 45-year-old. He’d had enough before this ball was struck.

15. Mile Jedinak v Denmark

His second penalty of the tournament put in the exact same spot as the first. Kasper dives a bit early.

14. Miles Jedinak v France

A mirror image of the Denmark penalty. But we’re big fans of the ball getting stuck in the top of the netting.

13. Carlos Vela v South Korea

Another wait for the keeper and pass it the other way penalty, but slightly more convincing than Shinji’s.

12. Cristiano Ronaldo v Iran

Slightly better than the one against Iran, Cristiano. Fair f*cks for laughing at your own club team-mate afterwards, too.

11. Andreas Granqvist v South Korea

Centre-backs on pennos. Yes.

10. Mohamed Salah v Saudi Arabia

Not a bad pen at all. Not having that run up, though.

9. Gylfi Sigurdsson v Croatia 

He actually hit the roof of the net. After his miss the first time around, he’s got some b*llocks – we’ll give him that.

8. Luka Modric v Nigeria

Kissed the corner, you’re not stopping that.

7. Eden Hazard v Tunisia

Puts the keeper on his backside before slotting it home. Love that.

6. Antoine Greizmann v Australia

Side netting. Take the L, Australia.

5. Victor Moses v Argentina

Have you ever seen a man look less arsed about a pressure penalty than this? Decent celebration, too.

4. Harry Kane (first penalty) v Panama 

We really tried to find a difference between the next two, but who cares? England have a man that knows how to take a penalty. Imagine!

3. Harry Kane (second penalty) v Panama

As we were saying…

2. Andreas Granqvist v Mexico

Looks like the type of bloke whose pint you wouldn’t want to knock over. You wouldn’t want to face him in a penalty shootout either.

1. Karim Ansarifard v Portugal

If you look up the definition of ‘top bin’ in the dictionary, you’ll now find this.

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