World Cup 2018: The 'Alternative' Awards

Every World Cup, we get to learn about the recipients of FIFA’s designated awards including the best player (Golden Ball), highest scorer (Golden Boot), best goalkeeper (Golden Glove) and the best young player. But to be perfectly honest, these awards are often shaped by narratives.

So instead of those same tedious awards, why not come up with some more intriguing ones?

The first set of these awards are individual ones: best defender, best dribbler, best passer, and best newcomer. All of these are pretty self-explanatory and help award players whose quality may have gone unnoticed in the World Cup.

The second set of awards pertains to teams or games including the awards for Best Game (Highest Quality), Best Game (Most Entertaining) and the best team goal helping us appreciate some of the better aspects of the World Cup.

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Best Defender: Raphael Varane (France)

Raphael Varane has now won 16 trophies in his career

At 25, most professional football players are just starting to enter their prime. By 25, Raphael Varane has won two La Liga titles, four Champions League titles, and now the FIFA World Cup - having played a key part in all those wins.

In Russia, Varane was particularly brilliant as he helped guide the tournament’s best defence to the title. His positioning and footballing intelligence were key as very few opposing attackers got behind the French defence.

Varane helped stop the likes of Romelu Lukaku, Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard, Luis Suarez, and Lionel Messi in the knockout stages. The Real Madrid defender averaged 6.3 clearances per game (making a total of 44 - tied for the most in the tournament).

In terms of intangibles, Varane’s leadership in defence was key as he helped cover for his teammates’ mistakes. Often Benjamin Pavard would be beaten by someone on France’s right-side, only for Varane to make a clearance.

One could even make an argument for Varane to be awarded the Golden Ball, but centre-backs usually do not receive the prize. Nonetheless, he was clearly the tournament’s best defender.

Best Dribbler: Eden Hazard (Belgium)

Eden Hazard was one of the best players at the World Cup in Russia

Eden Hazard was absolutely brilliant for Belgium in the World Cup, as his pace, crossing, through passes and composure broke down almost every opponent that the Red Devils faced (with the obvious exception of France in the semi-final). In fact, the Chelsea winger had the highest WhoScored player rating of any player in the World Cup.

Yet, what made Hazard’s performance in the World Cup so special was his dribbling that even eclipsed the trickery of Neymar, Lionel Messi, and Kylian Mbappe. The Belgian averaged a successful 6.3 dribbles per game, highest in the tournament (with a total of 40 - also highest in the tournament).

Even more impressively, Hazard was incredibly efficient with his dribbling as 76.9% of his dribbles were successful. That is a higher percentage than Neymar, Mbappe, and Messi. But Hazard’s brilliant dribbling goes beyond statistics or fan-pleasing moves.

It had a tangible impact on Belgium as his artistry was key to the thrashings that Belgium handed to Tunisia and Panama in the group stages. Perhaps the best example of this occurred in the Round of 16 in the middle of Belgium’s comeback.

With Belgium down 2-1, Hazard dribbled around Yuto Nagotomo before whipping in a delicious cross for Marouane Fellaini to head in the equalizer.

Best Passer: Isco (Spain)

Isco was Spain's best player in an underwhelming campaign

It comes as no surprise that the best passer in the World Cup was a Spanish midfielder, that has probably been the case for the past decade. This was the case in Russia too, even though La Furia Roja crashed out in the Round of 16.

Isco was probably one of the tournament’s best players until that game against Russia as his brilliant passing helped break down several teams. While Isco has cultivated a reputation as one of the best midfield passers in the world as a more attacking version of Xavi or Cesc Fabregas, his statistics from the World Cup were truly impressive.

In almost every passing statistic, Isco was near the top of the list. He ranked 2nd amongst average passes per game - incredible for an attacking midfielder while creating 2.3 chances per game (ranked 18th in the tournament).

Despite this high volume of passing, Isco’s pass success percentage remained excellent at 91.4%. While Luka Modric and Paul Pogba gave Isco a hard run for his money, the Spanish midfielder’s absolute brilliance makes him the default choice for the award.

Best Newcomer: Kylian Mbappe (France)

Kylian Mbappe is only the third teenager to play in a World Cup final

Considering that two of the semi-finalists (France and England) were among the youngest in the tournament, there were several potential contenders for the best newcomer award. The likes of Kieran Trippier, Varane, Isco, Yerry Mina, Harry Kane and Philippe Coutinho impressed in their first World Cup.

Any of those players could have won the award if not for the ridiculous exploits of a certain 19-year-old. Kylian Mbappe took this tournament by the horns and dominated it.

His dribbling, creativity, intelligence and, most importantly, his pace made him one of the best players in the tournament. The scary part? Mbappe could conceivably play another three World Cups at peak physical age in 2022, 2026, and 2030.

The rest of the world better find a way to stop him. Otherwise, France could be unstoppable for the next decade.

Best Game (Highest Quality): Belgium 2-1 Brazil

Belgium vs Brazil was the standout game at the World Cup

In the runup to the quarter-final between Brazil and Belgium, most expected Brazil to romp the Belgians. The matchup pitted two of the most talented teams in the tournament, but Brazil were generally considered to be a more organized outfit who would defeat the Belgians.

The Red Devils’ supposedly weak defensive flanks were a particular vulnerability. Yet what occurred was completely contrary to expectations as Belgium’s Golden Generation played the game of their lives.

Roberto Martinez shifted from his defensively vulnerable 3-4-3 to a far more solid 4-3-3. Even more importantly, Kevin De Bruyne was used as a false nine, allowing him to showcase his full talents on the counter-attack while Romelu Lukaku was positioned on the right flank.

It worked perfectly as Belgium exploited Brazil on the counter-attack time and time again. One of these counters resulted in a corner which ended up with a Fernandinho own goal.

Brazil continued to attack relentlessly with the combined creative talents of Neymar and Coutinho. But then Belgium struck again with brilliant link-up play between Romelu Lukaku and Kevin De Bruyne.

From that point onwards, Brazil attacked persistently and even edged a goal back with a Renato Augusto header. Throughout the game, we got to see superb through balls, accurate crosses, exquisite shooting, brilliant defensive positioning and outstanding tackling.

What more does a fan want?

Most Entertaining Game: France 4-3 Argentina

Another World Cup, more disappointment for Lionel Messi

While many would have awarded this to Belgium’s wonderful comeback against Japan, that game had an absolutely dismal first-half before the incredible thrill of the second. Instead, the most entertaining game was one which was extremely exhilarating: the Round of 16 encounter between France and Argentina.

The game had everything as an incredibly organised and efficient French side came up against a mercurial Argentine team who also happened to have one of the greatest players of all time.

From the beginning, it produced one of the best moments of the World Cup as Kylian Mbappe ripped through the Argentine midfield and defence before being felled by Marcos Rojo. Antoine Griezmann duly converted the resulting penalty.

At that moment, most assumed that France’s brilliant defence would be able to hold the lead. That seemed to true before Angel Di Maria scored a superb equalizer from distance. Then the inexplicable happened: a Messi shot was deflected in by Gabriel Mercado and suddenly Argentina were up against a supposedly unflappable French side.

At that moment, France needed a moment of brilliance and boy did they get it. Benjamin Pavard thundered in an exquisite volley to bring Les Blues level. From then onwards it was the Kylian Mbappe show as the Golden Boy grabbed a brace to send Argentina and Messi home.

It was truly a game that had everything.

Best Team Goal: Nacer Chadli (Belgium vs Japan)

Belgium's late counter-attack and goal saw them eliminate Japan

Throughout the tournament, most of the focus was on the best individual goals in the tournament. And sure we did get plenty of those from the Pavard volley to Cristiano Ronaldo’s free-kick in the third game of the tournament.

Yet, often excellent team goals do not get the appreciation that they deserve. This World Cup had plenty of those too including the aforementioned De Bruyne goal.

There is no question about the best team goal of the tournament, though. Like many of the best moments of the tournament, this too came from the Belgian side.

After having tied their Round of 16 encounter with Japan through an incredible comeback, the Red Devils were defending a corner in injury time. Thibaut Courtois showed his aerial dominance and caught the ball before releasing a pass to the brilliant De Bruyne.

The Manchester City midfielder burst through midfield before releasing an outside of the foot through pass for Thomas Meunier. Meunier slid the ball across for an onrushing Romelu Lukaku.

At least that’s what the Japanese defence thought. Instead of smashing the ball in, Lukaku used a little dummy to let the ball run across to Nacer Chadli to tap it in. It was the perfect team goal with five of the team’s players involved.

Lukaku and De Bruyne played the starring roles, yet none were credited for a goal or an assist. In a tournament with several brilliant counter-attacks, Belgium managed to exhibit the perfect one.