The FIFA World Cup is in full swing at the moment, and the goals, they floweth like borscht.
And while all the usual suspects have been rattling twine across the handful of pool-stage games thus far, a curious name currently sits well clear atop the Leading Goalscorer list.
While Christiano Ronaldo‘s hat-trick puts him safely in the upper echelons of the list at this early stage of the tournament, and Denis Cheryshev‘s heroics have helped Russia’s goal fest continue across two games, one bolter of a name eclipses them all:
“Own Goal.”
That’s right, across the 17 games completed thus far, Own Goal has scored more goals than anyone else, accounting for a whopping 5 of the 41 goals scored thus far in the tournament.
The top scorer at the #WorldCup so far is…own goal pic.twitter.com/dqETITrKjs
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 19, 2018
Unbelievably, that tally of own goals is already one shy of the all-time World Cup record of six, set in the 1998 World Cup held in France. There’s still 47 games remaining in this year’s World Cup.
There have been five own goals at the World Cup this year.
The record is six from 1998.
There are 47 matches left to go. 47!#WorldCup #OG4GoldenBoot
— Roger Gonzalez (@RGonzalezCBS) June 19, 2018
Own Goal struck first in a heartbreaking 95th minute, deadlock-breaking howler from Morocco that handed Iran a crucial group stage win.
In the ninety-fifth minute of the Morocco versus Iran World Cup game, Aziz Bouhaddouz of Morocco scored an own goal, after which he crumpled on the ground: https://t.co/YSCsPwUhrR pic.twitter.com/pWCBuEJT47
— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) June 16, 2018
Unbelievably, Australia was next to feel the sting of an OG, with FIFA ruling after the game against France that the goal originally attributed to Les Bleus’ Paul Pogba was, in fact, an Own Goal from our own Aziz Behich.
#Pogba‘s goal!#FRAAUS #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/sxYabMhH8t
— 1хBet (@1xBet_Eng) June 16, 2018
Yep. That one still stings.
Following that, Own Goal suited up for Nigeria, putting one on the scoreboard for Croatia in their Cup-opening clash.
https://twitter.com/cbwrangler/status/1008076673760350208
The magic boot of Own Goal then drifted over to Poland, gifting Senegal a crucial mark on the scoreboard.
https://twitter.com/HeryKane18/status/1009105890480349184
And finally, Own Goal’s prowess haunted Egypt, rattling home one of host-nation Russia’s three goals early this morning.
https://twitter.com/TheAthleticSCCR/status/1009151982966333440
Unbelievable stuff. At the rate this is going, FIFA officials will have to award the Golden Boot to the collective misery of about 10 nations.
