In the world's biggest sports tournament, with billions of eyes upon you, what is a man to do with all of these emotions? For there are so many emotions, usually pushed down, but bubbling out at every phase, threatening to squeeze out your eyes, daring you to lie prostrate, begging you to scream. There are many good ways to release these emotions, but none are as nice as a little smooch.
Crying is beautiful, and screaming is cathartic, but a little smooch? That's amore. That's winner shit, bay-bee. That's what the people want. Sure, we want goals. But isn't it more fun to hold the trophy as a stand-in for your dick? Isn't it more exciting to lift up your teammate in The Notebook pose and hold him there, on the pitch, in front of billions of people, to let the sexual tension bleed out into the air? A little smooch can spark a thousand conversations and, in this World Cup, the players seemed to understand this.
So here are some of the great smooches from this year's tournament:
Kissing The Ball
The ball, you might think, is gross. And you are right. People are kicking it around. People are very sweatily picking it up out of bounds and throwing it back in. People are smacking their foreheads against it. But to love is to ignore gross. You must kiss the ball.
Here is Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo kissing the ball:
Cao Can/Xinhua via Getty Images
Here is Argentina's Rodrigo De Paul kissing the ball.
Andrej Isakovic/AFP via Getty Images
Here is Morocco's goalkeeper Yassine Bounou kissing the ball:
Karim Jaafar/AFP via Getty Images
And here is one of the smoochiest boys of all, France's Kylian Mbappé, kissing the ball very gently:
Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images
Kissing Each Other
What better way to show that you are grateful to your teammate, or your coach, or your player, or your enemy than giving them one little smooch?
Here is Argentina's manager Lionel Scaloni kissing Messi on the head:
Simon Bruty/Anychance/Getty Images
Here are two Croatian players having a little forehead kiss after winning the quarterfinal against Brazil:
Cui Nan/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images
Here is Messi (King of Smooches) maybe kissing goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez in the quarterfinals? It could be just a hug, but I choose to believe it was also a little kiss:
Simon Bruty/Anychance/Getty Images
Here is Morocco's Azzedine Ounahi kissing his teammate Romain Saiss:
James Williamson/AMA/Getty Images
Here is Brazil's Thiago Silva kissing a coach's head!:
Marc Atkins/Getty Images
Here is Eden Hazard of Belgium kissing his substitute, Leandro Trossard:
Charlotte Wilson/Offside/Offside via Getty Images
Here is Morocco's Jawad El Yamiq kissing Portugal's Pepe after he missed a header! That's gratitude!
Odd Andersen/AFP via Getty Images
Let's zoom in on that:
When Portugal defender Pepe missed a header in the dying moment's of his side's defeat to Morocco, Jawad El Yamiq planted a grateful kiss on his shiny bald head. pic.twitter.com/QgfC8Og9co
Here is France's Olivier Giroud and Kylian Mbappé doing a totally non-kissing celebration. They didn't smooch here. But they could have. They should have.
Foto Olimpik/NurPhoto via Getty Images
After losing the final to Argentina, Giroud did give Mbappé a little kiss on the neck:
Still via FIFA/BBC
Kiss The Hardware
The final option for smooching is one available only to the winners: Kissing the trophies. Argentina, luckily, never misses an opportunity to kiss.
Here is Messi kissing the World Cup Trophy!
Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images
Here is Nicolás Otamendi kissing his winner's medal:
Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
Here is Emiliano Martínez kissing the Golden Glove:
Mark Metcalfe/FIFA via Getty Images
Let's see another angle on that.
Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images
In conclusion, congratulations to Argentina, Los Reyes de los Besos!