World Cup 2018: 5 best goals from the Round of 16

World Cup 2018’s Round of 16 is finally over and whew, what a ride it was. We got a couple of multi-goal thrillers, three matches ending in nail-biting penalty shootouts, and really none of the games were too one-sided to be uninteresting.

Living up to the lofty expectations set by the Group Stage, we’ve also been blessed with some absolutely brilliant goals. Here are the 5 most outstanding ones from the Round of 16, in chronological order – and for fellow England fans, I can’t include Harry Kane’s penalty, sorry!

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#1: Angel di Maria – Argentina vs. France

Angel di Maria's shot against France was simply unstoppable

Argentina’s effort to get past France in the first game of the Round of 16 looked likely to be unsuccessful for most of the first half. France were getting the better of the play, Antoine Griezmann hit the bar from a free kick and finally gave Les Bleus the lead from the penalty spot following a sloppy challenge from Marcos Rojo on Kylian Mbappe.

Argentina needed a little bit of magic to get them back into it, and surprisingly it didn’t come from the talismanic Lionel Messi, but from the oft-criticised mercurial attacker Angel di Maria. Receiving a cross-field pass from Ever Banega around 30 yards out, the former Manchester United star took one touch before hitting an unstoppable left-footed shot into the top left-hand corner of the goal.

French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris was left with no chance, and di Maria had gotten his side back into the tie in the most explosive way possible with his first goal for Argentina in just over a year. It was the perfect way for La Albiceleste to go into the half-time break after a very slow start.

#2: Benjamin Pavard – France vs. Argentina

Benjamin Pavard's swerving strike for France against Argentina was incredible

Despite Argentina taking the lead following a deflected goal from Gabriel Mercado early in the second half of their tie with France, it never really felt like they’d be able to hold onto it. Sure enough, less than ten minutes later they were level with a goal of the greatest quality, and the source was an unexpected one – right-back Benjamin Pavard.

Stuttgart youngster Pavard – who only broke into the France squad in late 2017 after World Cup qualification was already secured – had never scored for Les Bleus before, but this strike more than made up for that.

A cross from Lucas Hernandez on the left side appeared to be floating harmlessly out of the box, but Pavard somehow met it with a swerving strike from the outside of his right boot that flew like a rocket past the despairing dive of Argentina’s goalkeeper Franco Armani and into the right-hand side of the goal.

It was the kind of shot that gave you flashbacks to Roberto Carlos’s legendary free-kick against France a decade ago, and even if Pavard scores plenty more for his country, he’ll probably never top this one.

Two quick-fire goals for Kylian Mbappe followed just ten minutes later, and Argentina were dead and buried.

#3: Edinson Cavani – Uruguay vs. Portugal

Edinson Cavani bent a shot around Rui Patricio to score his second for Uruguay against Portugal

Many observers were citing Uruguay as possible dark horses for a World Cup victory this year, and part of that belief comes from the strength of their striking duo. Luis Suarez might get a lot of the plaudits from the UK media in particular, but it was his partner Edinson Cavani who did the damage to Portugal on Saturday with a brace to win Uruguay the tie.

His first goal was brilliant enough – he played a beautiful cross-field pass to Suarez who controlled it expertly before crossing and somehow finding the incoming Cavani, who headed past Rui Patricio to give Uruguay the lead in the first ten minutes – but his second strike was even better.

After Portugal equalised through a Pepe header ten minutes into the second half, Uruguay came forward again. Rodrigo Bentancur collected a stray header from a Portuguese defender and played the ball across the edge of the box to Cavani, who found himself in enough space on the right-hand side of the box to bend a right-footed, first-time shot around Patricio and into the net.

It was a special goal worthy of winning any World Cup tie, and one can only hope that it doesn’t turn out to be Cavani’s last contribution to the tournament, as he was substituted with a knock a little later in the half.

#4: Takashi Inui – Japan vs. Belgium

Takashi Inui's piledriver against Belgium was simply unstoppable and gave Japan their second goal

Coming into their tie against highly-rated Belgium, nobody was really giving Japan much of a chance. After all, they’d only qualified for the Round of 16 due to picking up less bookings than Senegal. So the football world was shocked when Genki Haraguchi gave them the lead early in the second half. Little did everyone know that an even better Japanese goal was just around the corner.

Just four minutes after Haraguchi’s goal, Japan sent a ball into the Belgian box that was cleared by Vincent Kompany, only for the ball to fall to Shinji Kagawa. The Borussia Dortmund star controlled the ball before rolling it back to Takashi Inui of Real Betis, and the winger then unleashed a right-footed piledriver that flew past Thibaut Courtois and into the net.

It was a phenomenal strike that left the Chelsea keeper with no chance – even his 6’6” frame at full stretch couldn’t reach the shot. It was Inui’s second goal of the tournament following his equaliser against Senegal and his 6th for Japan, but the likelihood of him delivering one this good again on this kind of stage has to be considered minimal.

#5: Nacer Chadli – Belgium vs. Japan

Nacer Chadli's winner for Belgium against Japan completed an incredible break

With Belgium trailing 2-0 to Japan and just over 25 minutes remaining, manager Roberto Martinez decided to roll the dice – and took off attackers Dries Mertens and Yannick Carrasco, replacing them with Premier League stars Marouane Fellaini and Nacer Chadli. Few people expected the turnaround that was about to take place.

Ten minutes after his introduction, Fellaini headed home an equaliser to follow Jan Vertonghen’s looping header in the 69th minute. Belgium were level in a game that looked beyond them at 2-0 down, but incredibly, better was yet to come. With both sides pushing for a winner late on, Japan gained a corner deep into injury time and piled bodies forward to look for the killer goal.

It turned out to be a massive error. Rather than ending in a goal, the corner ended in the arms of Thibaut Courtois, who quickly rolled the ball out to Kevin de Bruyne, and a quick break was suddenly on. De Bruyne ran from the edge of his own box into Japan’s half before rolling an inch-perfect pass to Thomas Meunier – who then sent an equally perfect cross towards Romelu Lukaku.

But rather than shoot, Lukaku had the wherewithal to throw off the Japanese defence with a dummy – allowing the incoming Chadli to slot the ball past goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima and into the net. It was a break of the absolute highest quality, and to make it even more incredible the goal came with essentially the last kick of the game.

Belgium’s victory was the first time since 1970 that a side had come from 2 goals behind to win a World Cup tie, and it was a goal of unbelievable class that won it for them.