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Russia loses to Croatia, and Twitter users Putin their best jokes

The host country was eliminated Saturday, and social media thinks Putin is busily Googling Croatia's next election.

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, generational studies. Credentials
  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
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Gael Cooper
Russia vs Croatia : Quarter Final - 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia

Croatia says, "Yes!"

 Getty Images

Host country Russia was knocked out of the World Cup on Saturday after a dramatic match that went to penalty kicks, and Croatia fans weren't the only ones who were exuberant.

For some Twitter users, Russia's loss was all about Russian president Vladimir Putin. Wrote one, "Putin is looking into Croatia's next elections and how he can help."

As far as the game itself, watchers marveled at Croatian goalkeeper Danijel Subašić, who suffered an apparent hamstring injury yet kept playing.

More memes, more cheers, more tears will come next week, when France plays Belgium on Tuesday, and England takes on Croatia on Wednesday. The winners of those games advance to the final, set for Sunday, July 15.