Right from World Cup themed cakes, ice creams, halwa and special haircuts — Kerala has been top of it all. Though not a participating country, but a mere spectator role is no excuse for frenzied fans. The month-long jamboree is little ‘biased’ also — call it Communist influence – as in many places legendary revolutionary Che Guevera rubs shoulder with Messi and Higuain or so-called liberal views in fan-following and allegiance Latin American countries march over western nations.

Argentinan star striker Lionel Messi revealed that he had a lucky ribbon sent to him by a reporter’s mum after leading his team into the last 16 at the World Cup. Messi opened his account at Russia 2018 with a goal in Argentina’s crucial 2-1 win over Nigeria. The Barcelona star forward struggled at the World Cup before that classy strike, which helped Jorge Sampaoli’s men clinch second spot in Group D. Messi, later revealed he wore a red ribbon, sent to him by a reporter’s mum following his team’s draw with Iceland, around his left ankle. “Look,” he said, showing the ribbon under his sock when asked about it by the stunned reporter.

Burger King launched the campaign on Russian social media, promising to pay of $47,000 plus a lifetime supply of Whoppers if they managed to get pregnant with a child fathered by a soccer player participating in the World Cup. The offer was extended to “girls who manage to get the best football genes” and “lay down the success of the Russian national football team,” the hint being that the babies would grow up to be soccer stars. “It is a reward for the girls who would get pregnant from the international football superstars,” the message continued. When the US headquarters came to know about the incident, they apologised for it and called off the campaign.

Columbian fans were highly disappointed after the Columbia-Japan match. But they found a silver lining too. It was the mystery girl who went viral as soon as the photographer clicked her at the stadium. Daniela Botero is an model- actress from Columbia. She has a huge fan-base back home and her Instagram account has 371 thousand followers. Thirty-two-year-old Daniela was at the stadium to cheer for her country

When Brazil lost 7-1 to Germany in the semi-final of the 2014 World Cup, perhaps no one felt the loss more than Clovis Acosta Fernandes. His face mirrored the soul of every Brazilian fan. As he clutched a replica of the trophy while tears streamed down his face, fans around him comforted him. He was well-known and respected, having attended more than 150 Brazil matches. However, his legacy will continue to live through his sons, Frank and Gostavo Fernandes, who have travelled to Russia to support the Brazilian national team at the 2018 World Cup. And they brought a new replica of the trophy this time, hoping for better luck.

Japan may have been knocked out of the World Cup but they have won the hearts of football fans across the world. But football crazy Russians are in love with them after their fans stayed behind to clean the stadium following their last-moment defeat to Belgium. Japan, who have never won a knockout game, came close to a giant-killing after leading by two goals in the second half. But their players were left helpless when Nacer Chadli scored a 94th minute winner to complete a sensational comeback for the Roberto Martinez side. Despite the heart-breaking loss, they left the changing room spotless, leaving behind a message in Russian, “Spasibo”, that translates to thank you. After the Colombia match, the video of Japanese fans cleaning the stadium was recorded by a Colombian fan, which got viral all over the social media.

Xherdan Shaqiri and Granit Xhaka both celebrated their win by making a nationalist symbol to their Albanian heritage in Switzerland’s 2-1 victory over Serbia at the World Cup. After scoring in the win, both players put their open hands together with their thumbs locked and fingers outstretched to make what looks like the double-headed eagle displayed on Albania’s national flag. The former Stoke midfielder Shaqiri was asked about the celebration after the game, and put it down to pure emotion in the moment. “You should never mix politics and football,” Switzerland coach Vladimir Petkovic said. Fifa warned Xhaka and Shaqiri and asked them to pay a fine for unsporting behavior

Russian women should refrain from sleeping with visiting World Cup fans to avoid becoming single mothers with mixed-race children, a lawmaker who heads the parliament’s family committee had said. Tamara Pletneva, a 70-year-old Communist who leads the lower house’s family, women and children body, told Govorit Moskva radio station she hoped women would not date visiting fans and get pregnant. The World Cup hosted by Russia could mean “there will be young women who meet someone and then give birth... I hope not,” she said. She compared the situation to the 1980 Olympics held in Moscow, which led to some local women having then-unusual relationships with foreigners and falling pregnant.

Neymar da Silva Santos Junior and the Brazil team may have exited the FIFA World Cup 2018 after losing 2-1 to Belgium, but his legacy at Russia 2018 is still making waves online in form of the #NeymarChallenge. That, however, hasn’t stopped people from making fun of their star player Neymar. He has successfully scored two goals in Brazil's World Cup campaign this year, but he has been more in news for his play-acting in attempts to draw fouls during matches. Neymar's antics have become famous on social media leading to memes, jokes, youth soccer imitations and now recently into a game. People are making fun of the Brazil forward by doing the #NeymarChallenge and posting the videos on Twitter.

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah was given honorary citizenship in Russia’s Chechnya republic by Ramzan Kadyrov, the strongman ruler who has been accused of human rights violations including the widespread torture of gay men. Kadyrov handed Salah a decree declaring him a citizen and pinned a medal on his chest at a dinner in honour of the Egypt team, who are training in Chechnya during the World Cup. Ramzan Kadyrov told the BBC that these allegations against him were “made-up” and Chechnya does not have a single gay person.

The earthquake monitoring stations in Mexico City detected a small tremor without any natural cause. Seismologists believe the mini-quake’s epicentre was not in Mexico but in Russia. Moments before the detectors picked up on the seismic activity, 22-year-old winger Hirving Lozano scored against Germany in Mexico’s first World Cup match. It turned out to be the only goal of the game, giving Mexico a surprise victory over the heavily favoured defending champions Germany. In a tweet, SIMMSA, the seismological branch of the country’s Institute for Geological and Atmospheric Studies, said that the fans leaping out of their seats to celebrate the goal may have triggered the mini-quake, which was too slight to be noticed by humans.

Twitterati were pleasantly surprised to find an elderly woman praying sincerely for Mexico football team’s victory against Germany. And, she is believed to be the reason for Mexico’s victory. Mexico defeated Germany 1-0. A user named Paola posted a video of her grandmother as she stood in front of the TV as the two teams waited for the match to begin. She can be seen praying and blessing each player as the camera focuses on them. Paolo captioned the video and wrote “I’m 100% convinced my grandma was the reason Mexico won.” It took no time for the post to go viral, with over three lakh retweets and 11 lakh likes and 17 million views so far.