Last night’s footie was a serious rollercoaster ride, with Iran almost pipping Portugal and late drama in the Spain versus Morocco match.

I don’t know how Diego Maradona’s heart is going to hold up during tonight’s Argentina – Nigeria showdown, but he might want to lay off the cocaine for the evening.

That means no behaviour like this, allegedly filmed when Diego was flying home from the Confederations Cup tournament in Russia last year.

What’s that bag of white powder by your arm there, pal?

Maradona – Is that what I think it is under his left arm?! #Maradona #cocaine pic.twitter.com/WqsqAVAy1B

— Dr unstable_genius (@schmooklaa) June 19, 2018

Anyway, enough about Maradonna, who we’ll no doubt see countless times during the coverage of tonight’s clash.

Drug dealers aren’t going to let the opportunity of a World Cup pass them by, and the “Narcos de la Copa” smuggling ring are leading the charge.

Looks like the police might be one step ahead, with Business Insider getting the scoop:

The security minister of Buenos Aires province said Friday that police have broken up an organization that trafficked marijuana and cocaine in fake World Cup trophies…

“These merchants of death have endless ingenuity, but don’t be fooled. They shouldn’t be admired. On the contrary … they are now in jail,” said minister Cristian Ritondo, according to a statement.

Officials said 20 kilos of marijuana, 10 kilos of cocaine, 1,800 doses of crack-cocaine known as “paco,” and 400,000 Argentine pesos ($14,819) were seized.

Four men and two women were arrested in the operation. Police also seized two firearms and two vehicles allegedly used to distribute the drugs.

Hope the police hung onto one of those World Cups, because it might be the closest Messi comes to the real thing.

Argentinian smugglers aren’t the only ones resorting to some crafty tactics, with Colombia wanting in on the action:

Fourteen cocaine-soaked shirts styled like the Colombian national soccer team’s uniform were seized by Colombian police at the international airport in the capital Bogotá on June 22.

Authorities said traffickers had dissolved approximately 5 kilograms of liquid cocaine into the shirts that were headed for the Netherlands. Upon arrival, the drug was to be extracted and transformed into a powder prior to distribution…

Colombian traffickers’ relationship to soccer can be traced back to the 1980s, the heyday of the Medellín and Cali Cartels. Both cartels are said to have financed various clubs in Colombia and used them to launder substantial profits derived from cocaine trafficking.

Cocaine and Colombia are doomed to be forever linked.

I don’t know if the Iranian fans needed any of the marching powder to put some pep in their step, but here’s the party they staged outside of Ronaldo’s hotel room in Russia two nights ago.

Credit to the Portuguese superstar for his response, although he was less impressive on the pitch during last night’s match:

Last night, Iranian fans were partying outside of Portugal’s team hotel forcing Ronaldo to come to the window and ask them to let him go to sleep (via 433/IG) pic.twitter.com/jl4PzBExsK

— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 25, 2018

How’s everyone feeling about VAR at the moment? We know where Morocco’s Nordin Amrabat stands on the matter:

One team that has really won over neutral fans around the world is Senegal. Both the Senegalese fans and the Japanese fans were filmed cleaning up after themselves following their teams’ first-round matches, and this video shows that they were in high spirits after their second-round draw:

Meilleure moment de la journée : chanter la musique de One Piece avec les Japonais après le match pic.twitter.com/IbQIqOJoVN

— Sulo (@JohnSulo) June 24, 2018

How the beautiful game is supposed to be supported and celebrated.

Damn, now I miss 2010.

[sources:businsider&businsider]