El-Hadary, Bentancur and Cheryshev
Hadary oldest ever
Egypt's 45-year-old goalkeeper Essam El-Hadary made history by becoming the oldest player to appear at the World Cup after starting against Saudi Arabia. At the age of 45 years and 161 days, he beat previous record holder Faryd Mondragon of Colombia, a goalkeeper who was 43 when he took part at the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil.
Egypt's Essam El-Hadary gestures during the match (Photo: REUTERS)
Penalties record
Referee Enrique Caceres whistled two penalties during Portugal and Iran game to break the all-time record tally of 18 penalties set at the 2002 tournament hosted by Japan and South Korea. The 2018 Russia edition witnessed 20 penalties so far and we are not past the group stage yet.
Iran's Karim Ansarifard scores their first goal from the penalty spot (Photo: REUTERS)
Cheryshev matches France record
Following Denis Cheryshev goal against his own team Russia in Uruguay's 3-0 defeat, the tournament matched the all-time record of 6 own goals scored in the whole 2014 tournament. Egypt, Morocco, Poland, Nigeria, Australia and Russia were all victims of their own blunders.
List of own goals in Russia 2018:
Denis Cheryshev of Russia (Russia 0-3 Uruguay, group stage)
Aziz Bouhaddouz of Morocco (Morocco 0-1 Iran, group stage)
Aziz Behich of Austarlia (Australia 1-2 France, group stage)
Oghenekaro Etebo of Nigeria (Nigeria 0-2 Croatia, group stage)
Thiago Cionek of Poland (Poland 1-2 Senegal, group stage)
Ahmed Fathi of Egypt (Russia 3-1 Egypt, group stage)
Russia's midfielder Denis Cheryshev reacts (Photo: AFP)
Birthday card for Bentancur
Rodrigo Bentancur celebrated his 21st birthday on Monday. As a gift, Senegalese referee Malang Diedhiou booked the Uruguay midfielder for a second-half foul on Russia's Artem Dzyuba. It is better than former Italy forward Gianfranco Zola, who was sent off against Nigeria at the 1994 World Cup, the only other player to have received a "birthday card". Fortunately for Bentancur, Uruguay breezed past Russia 3-0 to finish top of Group A.
Uruguay's Rodrigo Bentancur is shown a yellow card by referee Malang Diedhiou after fouling Russia's Roman Zobnin (Photo: REUTERS)
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