Congratulations, France. You did it.

Twenty years later, the French Men’s National Team hoisted the FIFA World Cup trophy in the Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, Russia, in front of over 78,000 fans. France beat out Croatia, the young, scrappy team representing a nation of just over four million people.

The World Cup had its surprise, anguish and jaw-dropping moments.

Arguably, this was the best FIFA World Cup in history — and that’s just from looking at the drama and upsets.

Looking at the goals, this was certainly the best World Cup. Soccer fans will never forget Coutinho’s stunning curler against Switzerland or Harry Kane’s hat-trick against Panama.

While there are too many moments of brilliance to choose from, I managed to select my personal favorites from the tournament. Here are my top moments from the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Russia shocks Spain

Russia, the host nation, provided its own jaw-droppers. While the 5-0 victory against Saudi Arabia turned a few heads, nothing proved more impressive than the penalty shootout victory against Spain.

Russia began the match with an own-goal from legendary defender Sergei Ignashevich. However, Artem Dzyuba, who finished the tournament with three goals, turned the tide with a penalty-kick goal right before halftime.

Spanish defender Gerard Piqué conceded the penalty with a handball inside of the box. David de Gea, goalkeeper for Spain, had no chance against Dzyuba.

Russia would go on to the quarterfinals, falling to Croatia on penalty kicks. Russian goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev had stellar saves in both penalty kick shootouts.

As someone who was born in Russia, this was easily my favorite moment of the World cup.

Mexico stuns Germany, gets some help

Nobody in the soccer community wishes he was Juan Carlos Osorio right now.

The controversial Mexican National Team coach has barely held on to his spot with the national team. However, his popularity soared for a brief period during the World Cup. With the nation’s first match against 2014 champion Germany, Mexico shocked “Die Mannschaft,” with a 1-0 victory, courtesy of Hiriving “Chucky” Lozano.

However, Mexico fooled fans once again.

After a strong, dominant performance over Germany, Mexico hardly squeaked out a 2-1 victory over South Korea. The hopes of making it to the Round of 16 were in jeopardy when Mexico fell 3-0 to Sweden.

However, South Korea had Mexico’s back, shocking Germany with a 2-0 victory after two, second-half stoppage time goals.

Everyone gets an own-goal

If a group could be counted for goals, the own-goal would have won the Golden Boot.

The Golden Boot, which ended up going to England’s Kane, is given to the player who scores the most goals. However, own goals led the tournament with 12. Only one team, Russia, had more than one player score an own goal; in addition to Ignashevich’s own-goal against Spain, midfielder Denis Cheryshev tacked on an own-goal against Uruguay.

Yet somehow, Panama, arguably the worst team in the tournament, didn’t score an own goal.

Passionate anthems

While Panama might have been the worst team in the tournament, the nation still sang the anthem loud and proud.

Panama was one of many teams in the World Cup to qualify after a lengthy absence. The CONCACAF nation, which beat out the United States for the last spot to Russia, had never made the World Cup before.

Meanwhile, Peru made the World Cup for the first time since 1982. The Peruvians were dealt a massive blow with losses against Denmark and France. However, the nation had its first World Cup win since the 1978 World Cup against Australia in Sochi.

Morocco competed for the first time since 1998, while Senegal last competed in 2002. Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Poland participated in the World Cup for the first time since 2006.

Of course, how can we forget…

Iceland star of the show

The Viking clap will forever remain a staple of World Cup history.

The Icelandic National Team was not deemed a favorite, but a “sleeper” team. Even with a head coach whose part time job is a dentist, Iceland made noise during the World Cup and turned many heads.

After a stunning World Cup qualification and performance at the 2016 Euros, Iceland formally got the attention of soccer fans all over the world with a 1-1 draw against superpower Argentina.

Losses against Nigeria and Croatia prevented the smallest nation to ever qualify for a World Cup, from advancing to the knockout rounds. However, Iceland was a team that never managed to score an own-goal and brought along thousands of fans to various Russian stadiums. Alfreð Finnbogason scored the first World Cup goal in the history of Iceland.

For a nation of only 334,252 people, Iceland became a respected soccer nation in Russia.

What’s next?

Now, the rest of the world waits for the next World Cup.

Hosted by Qatar, the World Cup in 2022 will be held in November-December. The reason for the decision by FIFA was due to soaring summer temperatures in the desert country, located in the Middle East.

However, the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup will be held in France next summer, beginning on June 7. The U.S. Women’s National Team will look to win back-to-back titles.

Rachael McKriger has been studying and covering soccer since the 2014 FIFA World Cup. A lifelong fan of the game, Rachael contributes to soccer blogs like Last Word on Soccer and Pittsburgh Soccer Now.