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The Fifa World Cup might have opened with host country Mexico winning against South Africa and South Korea beating Czechia, but the real winners are the meme makers on the official first day of Fifa.
Even before the ball was kicked at the Mexico match inside the Estadio Azteca stadium, fans delivered a meme worthy moment and launched their sombreros into the air in a perfectly-timed stadium-wide toss, creating not just a cinematic visual but an image that required a social media moment.
But after the match started, the referees decided that they needed to be in the spotlight, noting that the days of subtlety were over.
By the end of the first match between Mexico and South Africa, three red cards had been shown. Fans began joking, was the Brazilian referee Wilton Sampaio giving out samples or what?
Some users even pointed out that the entire 2022 World Cup had only one more red card than this single match.
Referee Wilton decided that was not ambitious enough for him and decided to transcend everyone and become the internet’s main character.
Making its first World Cup debut, Fifa introduced a new referee announcement system that would have officials explaining VAR decisions to fans through a headset microphone. Sounds futuristic right? Well social media did not let it have its moment.
Within minutes of the game, videos and pictures of the referee wearing the VAR system were circulated on social media with users comparing him to everything from RoboCop to airport security staff.
Just when fans thought that football’s new sci-fi era had started, the referee’s VAR announcement created more confusion than clearance. It united football fans in collective confusion.
During the game, Sampaio reviewed an incident involving South Africa’s Themba Zwane and Mexico’s Roberto Alvarado. The controversial incident occurred when Themba was accused of having struck Roberto during a match. But when he started speaking through the announcement system, viewers failed to decipher his words.
What did he say? What was that? Did you hear that clearly? What happened? While the question might not have evolved on social media platforms we could guess what the fans inside the stadium may have thought.
Memes followed with fans saying they understood less after the announcement than they had before it. Some said they needed subtitles.
Again, a clip went viral showed Mexican fans recording themselves on their phones just as their team scored. The internet had questions.
“Your country just scored in the World Cup and you're busy recording yourself” questioned one user.
This was only day one of the Fifa World Cup. But we can say that the meme tournament might have just entered the knockout rounds already.
