By Jack Beresford
He may have been part of the Russia team that secured an unlikely win over Spain in the second round, but Vladimir Granat still managed to earn himself an unwanted entry into the World Cup history books in the process.
That’s because the 31-year-old Rubin Kazan defender set an entirely unwelcome record for playing the most minutes in a World Cup game without successfully completing a single pass – the first time a player has done so since the counting began in 1966.
Despite playing for 75 minutes after coming on as a half-time sub in Moscow, Granat accomplished just 11 touches of the ball and attempted 5 passes against La Roja without any reaching their intended target.
0 – Against Spain 🇪🇸, Vladimir Granat 🇷🇺 became the player who played the most minutes in a World Cup 🏆 game since 1966 without completing a single pass.
75 minutes
11 touches
5 passes
0 pass completed ❌
Overwhelmed.#WorldCup pic.twitter.com/dDJKSbl1r1
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) July 4, 2018
Granat’s low numbers are perhaps indicative of the vast amount of time Spain spent in possession, tiki-ing and taka-ing back and forth to absolutely no avail.
That said, it’s difficult to stick up for a bloke who didn’t complete a single pass to a teammate in well over an hour of trying.
We’ve all had bad games, but it’s not every day you stink yourself into the record books.