As the group stage comes to an end at the 2022 World Cup, a Danish note, a Cameroonian red card and some Uruguayan tears prove the biggest stories.
Overnight result:
- South Korea 2-1 Portugal
- Ghana 0-2 Uruguay
- Serbia 2-3 Switzerland
- Cameroon 1-0 Brazil
Here are five talking points from day 13 at the FIFA World Cup.
Arnie's dig at Denmark about the note
By now there's a pretty strong chance you've heard about "the note", the little scrap of scrawled Danish tactical instructions nicked by the Socceroos during their game.
Footage suggests the note was brought out by a Danish sub during the second half and then thrown onto the ground, at which point Mitch Duke nabbed it and ran it over to coach Graham Arnold.
Arnold was quizzed about it and said he didn't even look at the note's contents — but couldn't help leaving a little sly dig on Denmark in anyway.
"He handed it to me and I didn't even look at it. I handed it back. I was just focused on the substitution," Arnold said.
"I knew when Bailey Wright came on that we had to go to a back five. I always have a plan A, B, C and D for every occasion if you're down 1-0 or up 1-0.
"In that little way it showed me they didn't have a plan ready. It was an off-the-cuff thing — if they're having to send notes out to players it's not pre-planned beforehand."
Ghana's Luis Suarez schadenfreude
Uruguay beat Ghana 2-0 this morning, but some fans of the African nation might go so far as to claim they were the real winners on the day.
Why? Because Luis Suarez was unhappy. And why is that good for Ghana? Because Ghanaians hate Luis Suarez.
It stems back to the 2010 World Cup quarter-finals, when a blatant and deliberate handball from Suarez on the goal line stopped Ghana from scoring a winner. Suarez was sent off and Ghana had a penalty, but they missed it and Uruguay went on to knock them out.
The rematch at the 2022 World Cup had been circled as soon as the draw came out, but the game itself didn't really live up to the billing.
But that image of a crushed Suarez learning of Uruguay's elimination because of South Korea's win over Portugal will have been very well received back home in scorned Ghana.
South Korea buried in their phones
Four years of planning, preparation and dreaming led to the entire South Korean squad gathering in the centre circle, looking at their phones.
South Korea had beaten Portugal, but Uruguay's game against Ghana was still minutes away from finishing and a single Uruguayan goal would have sent South Korea packing.
In years gone by, South Korea may have been relying on a fan with a radio in the crowd or some such, but almost every player had found a stream to nervously gather around as the other game reached its conclusion.
The split second that whistle went though, the celebrations were on. For the first time ever, three teams from the Asian federation are through to the last 16.
Thanks for the red, ref
It was the happiest red card in World Cup history.
Vincent Aboubakar smiled and shook the referee's hand as he brandished a red in the other, sending the Cameroonian striker to an early shower with time still left on the clock.
Aboubakar had just scored what would be the winner for his country against Brazil, and the emotion was overwhelming. Amid wild celebrations, he ripped his shirt off and promptly discarded it.
Aboubakar was already on a yellow card, and knew what was coming. Taking your shirt off is a bookable offence, so the referee had no choice but to send him off.
So worth it though.
FIFA settles the World Cup's great debate
There was plenty of debate yesterday about Japan's winner against Spain, which knocked Germany out of the World Cup, and whether the ball had crossed the line in the build-up or not.
FIFA put out its side of the story in an attempt to end the discussion once and for all, saying the overhead cameras used by VAR clearly showed the whole of the ball hadn't crossed the whole of the line.
They even put out a pretty snazzy render showing a ball sitting on the line.
Guess that settles that then?
