11 exquisite moments of World Cup s***housery

The word “shithousery” has become a ubiquitous part of footballing culture in recent years, with fans, players, coaches and pundits alike taking great joy when indulging in schadenfreude at the expense of their direct rivals. The World Cup has been no exception, with 11 shining examples from across the tournament documented here. 1. Lukaku does Trump’s dance Arguably the highest profile of any such instance occurred when Belgium knocked hosts USA out of the World Cup. With Romelu Lukaku scoring the fourth goal in the Red Devils’ 4-1 win, he and his teammates did a collective imitation of Donald Trump’s famous dance, with the national football team’s official account sending a tweet captioned “overturn this” as a reference to Fifa’s controversial decision to suspend Folarin Balogun’s red card prior to kick-off. 2. New York mayor uses Jose GIF The fallout to that call from Fifa sent social media into a tailspin, with opinions being offered from across the game. While plenty of American commentators took the side of their president, mayor of New York and long-standing Arsenal fan Zohran Mamdani used the famous GIF of Jose Mourinho saying “I prefer not to speak” when pressed for his take on Fifa caving to pressure from the Whitehouse. 3. The dramatic sending off PARAGUAY DOWN TO 10 MEN 🟥Almiron becomes the first player to get a straight red card for covering their mouth at the World Cup pic.twitter.com/ru2GNZifkx— ITV Football (@itvfootball) June 20, 2026 Miguel Almiron was sent off following a VAR review for covering his mouth while saying something to one of Turkey’s players in their group stage meeting. Referee Ivan Barton stole the show when explaining his decision, delivering his verdict with the sort of gusto that left many to wonder if he’s missed his calling of a career in the performing arts. 4. Spence snubs Partey Thomas Tuchel’s players met Ghana in the group stage, which meant a clash with former Arsenal man Thomas Partey. After the latter’s name was booed when the teams were read out in Boston, Djed Spence decided not to shake the Villarreal midfielder’s hand pre-match, leading to widespread praise for him from many an England supporter. 5. ‘Hey Gordon, f*** you!’ "Gordon, f*** you!". 😂“I'd just run their full-back down the line, so it was a bit of a compliment from him. He seemed like a funny guy. There was a lot of tension in the game, so I quite liked it.” – Anthony Gordon on Javier Aguirre. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏆 pic.twitter.com/M6ga4WVKxV— All Fútbol MX 🇲🇽 (@AllFutbolMX) July 10, 2026 England’s game against Mexico will go down as a World Cup classic and during the heat of battle, Mexico boss Javier Aguirre got into the ear of Three Lions winger Anthony Gordon by shouting “Hey Gordon, f*** you!” before immediately laughing it off with as beaming smile. 6. Neymar nightmare Brazil crashed out in the round of 16 to Norway but not before a flashpoint between Neymar and opposition keeper Orjan Nyland. In an example of shithousery gone wrong, the former Barcelona star taunted Nyland after scoring a penalty to make it 2-1 with time running out, only to be reduced to floods of tears moments later as his World Cup dream ended in defeat. 7. England vs Norway fans England’s quarter-final with Norway had all manner of sideshows to it, with the shithousery starting well in advance of kick-off. England fans, positioned on a balcony above a large collection of Norwegian supporters, took their chance to disrupt the now famous “row” they spent the tournament completing with a song of their own. 8. The anti-rowing Norway fan The rowing itself wasn’t universally popular in Norway, with one of the country’s fans going viral after refusing to do it whilst sat in the stands alongside his fellow countrymen, eventually appearing on Sky News to call it “stupid, annoying and factually wrong” whilst having a pair of oars positioned directly behind him for the interview in question. 9. Alf-Inge Haaland doesn’t hide his feelings Once England’s meeting with Erling Haaland and co. got under way, there were subplots galore, with one particularly controversial moment seeing a penalty award for a foul on Spence overturned upon review, prompting Erling’s dad Alf-Inge to mimic a diving motion and aim an abusive gesture towards the Tottenham man from the comfort of his seat. 10. Burn heads it to the moon With the clock ticking down in extra-time and England on the verge of victory in the same game, Three Lions substitute Dan Burn went up for a header and absolutely launched the ball into touch, leaving his Norwegian opponent prone on the turf and utterly discombobulated by what had just occurred – Burn stepping over him with a look of disdain and pity in equal measure. 11. Mbappe gets the last laugh Apa benar Kylian Mbappe seorang diktator, arogan, hingga kapten yang otoriter?Terlepas dari kebenaran narasi itu, Mbappe baru saja memperlihatkan temperamennya setelah kemenangan Prancis atas Paraguay tadi. Saking keselnya dengan gaya main Paraguay yang provokatif, penuh friksi…— PanditFootball.com (@panditfootball) July 5, 2026 France were eliminated at the semi-final stage by Spain but had the last laugh against Paraguay in the round of 16. With Paraguay’s players having roughed up the penalty spot before the eventual winner from Kylian Mbappe, the Real Madrid star chose not to shake the hand of Paraguay’s keeper at full-time, prompting the stopper to throw the ball at him in anger, not that the Frenchman cared a jot. Read more Daniel Storey: We all owe Gareth Southgate an apology Kevin Garside: The quote that came back to haunt Thomas Tuchel