Day nine of the World Cup in Qatar saw a furious coach get red-carded for an "early" final whistle, a controversial goal for Portugal that stopped Cristiano Ronaldo from matching a record, more tension ahead of the Iran-USA group game, and a Cameroon scorer invent a new "scoop" shot.
Overnight results:
- Cameroon 3 — Serbia 3
- Ghana 3 — South Korea 2
- Brazil 1 — Switzerland 0
- Portugal 2 — Uruguay 0
Here are five talking points from day nine.
Referee's 'early' whistle leads to red card for South Korean coach
What's a World Cup without a little refereeing controversy? The South Korea vs Ghana game at Education City Stadium certainly had some.
Even by this World Cup's standards, the 10-minute period added at the end of the game was fairly extensive. As the match ticked over to added time, the score was Ghana 3, South Korea 2.
As the Reds surged forward, desperately seeking an equaliser against the Black Stars, there were chances that went begging — Gue-sung Cho nearly completed his hat-trick with a fierce strike that was tipped over the bar, then he ended up in the net but the ball didn't when the striker missed a header from a cross.
As the clock ticked over to 10 minutes, South Korea forced a corner.
But before they could take it, referee Anthony Taylor decided enough was enough and blew the final whistle, prompting outrage from the South Korean players, who surrounded him.
It was too much also for coach Paulo Bento, who let Taylor know his feelings in no uncertain terms. He was then red-carded, meaning he will have to watch his team's vital final game against Portugal from the stands.
If you thought that was close to the line, another World Cup call 34 years ago was even more controversial.
Welsh referee Clive Thomas was officiating the Brazil vs Sweden game at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina.
The score was 1-1 in the dying seconds, when Brazil earned a corner. Brazil sent the corner in and the whistle sounded micro-seconds before Zico's header crashed into the net.
As Brazil celebrated, Thomas waved his arms to indicate the goal was ruled out because the game was over. He walked off, surrounded by irate Brazilian players.
Whose goal was it? Officials take score off CR7
There was a fair bit riding on the Portugal vs Uruguay game this morning, and the opening goal was always going to be important.
It came in the 54th minute, when Portuguese midfielder Bruno Fernandes sent in a cross from the left that ended up in the Uruguayan net, apparently courtesy of a Cristiano Ronaldo header.
If the goal had stayed with him, Cristiano would have claimed another piece of football history — a ninth goal at World Cup finals, matching 60s superstar Eusebio as Portugal's top striker at the tournament.
Sadly for CR7, the feeling didn't last. After a few looks at the video, the credit was changed from Cristiano to Fernandes — who went on to add a second from a penalty late on, and had two more near misses from a saved shot and one that hit the post.
If there were any doubts about whose goal it was, former Nigerian footballer Austin Okocha had none.
He told the South African-based TV broadcaster Super Sport:
"I love the celebration there which every striker does, try to claim any goal opportunity, but unfortunately for him there are cameras everywhere now. It was clearly Bruno's goal."
We don't reckon Cristiano will be too unhappy. After all, his side is now through to the last 16.
For those of you who are part of fantasy football competitions, we don't know if anyone is seeking an injunction to get FIFA to change their call on the goal back to Ronaldo.
In the meantime, anyone with Fernandes in their line-up is doing just fine.
Portugal's Neves urges leniency for pride flag protester
Despite the urging of football authorities, the World Cup has seen a high-profile protest interrupt the Portugal vs Uruguay match.
A protester carrying a rainbow flag ran onto the pitch at Lusail Stadium 50 minutes into the game.
He tried to evade security, dropping the flag as he ran, but was crash-tackled to the ground and led off.
A FIFA spokesman said he was not aware what happened to the protester.
But England's Evening Standard newspaper quoted Portugal's Ruben Neves, who spoke after the game about the incident.
Neves had been injured and limped off at about the time the protester ran on.
"Of course, we are all with them and the message on his shirt for Iran as well," Neves said.
"We hope nothing happens to the boy because we understand his message and I think all the world understood it as well."
FIFA has urged teams to "focus on the football" rather than speaking on social issues or controversies surrounding the tournament.
Seven European teams have already given up their bid to wear multicoloured "OneLove" armbands during World Cup matches.
Tyler Adams plays the diplomat ahead of Iran-USA showdown
Yesterday we told you about Iranian calls to have the United States thrown out of the World Cup for a social media post featuring an Iranian flag without the emblem of the Islamic Republic.
Feelings are still running high as time ticks down to the Iran vs USA group game tomorrow morning at 2am AEDT.
At a news conference on day nine, an Iranian reporter asked a series of pointed questions/statements of US captain Tyler Adams, starting by pulling him up on his pronunciation of the country his team will face.
"Our country is named Iran (pronounced Ih-ran) not Iran (pronounced Eye-ran). Please, once and for all, let's get this clear," the reporter said.
"Second of all, are you OK to be representing a country that has so much discrimination against black people? And we saw the Black Lives Matter movement over the past few years."
Adams, 23, who is the youngest captain at this year's World Cup, began by apologising for his mispronunciation of the country's name.
"That being said, there's discrimination everywhere you go. One thing I've learned, especially since living abroad the past year and having to fit in in different cultures, is that in the US we are continuing to make progress every single day.
"I grew up in a white family with obviously an African American heritage … I had a little bit of different cultures and was very easily able to assimilate in different cultures."
He said he thought "education was super important, just like you educated me now on the correct pronunciation of your country".
"It's a process — as long as you see progress, that's the most important thing," he said.
It sounds like the United States has the right man for the job in Adams.
Aboubakar brings the 'scoop shot' to the World Cup for Cameroon
Way back at the start of day nine, fans were treated to a gloriously crazy 3-3 extravaganza between Cameroon and Serbia at the Al Janoub Stadium.
Cameroon took the lead, then shipped two goals in three minutes to trail at half-time before falling further behind in the 53rd minute.
But then came one of the best — and most outrageous — moments of the World Cup so far, when Cameroon's Vincent Aboubakar threw caution to the wind.
It looked like he was miles offside as he broke free on the Serbian goal, but he kept going as Serbian keeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic came out to try and stop him.
Just as tennis has the lob, football has had plenty of versions of the chip shown by attackers over the years — get your foot under it and lift it over whoever is coming near you before getting it to drop.
But Aboubakar's effort was more audacious than most. He took things up a level by switching his foot to "60-degree lob wedge" mode and somehow scooped it straight up with enough forward momentum to clear the keeper.
It dropped perfectly before bouncing into an empty net, and then to complete the dream scenario, VAR found that the Cameroon striker had been onside after all.
Serbia were gutted, the Indomitable Lions were elated, and within three minutes they had the equaliser to earn Cameroon a valuable point.
With AP, Reuters
