On Saturday, as Lionel Messi jinxed and weaved his way through a wall of Iran defenders to clinch Argentina’s spot in the round of 16, the feeling that one of football’s most gripping narratives of the last decade was about to reach its conclusion was impossible to ignore.

Having beaten records in spades and won everything he could have dreamt of with Barcelona, the diminutive Argentine was hailed as the greatest ever player to have graced the game and those who have witnessed his performances over the last couple of years could hardly disagree.

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With Spain’s capitulation last night, the World Cup has not only lost its defending champions at the group stage for the second consecutive edition after Italy failed to make it out of their group in 2010, but it has also been deprived of one of the pre-tournament favourites.

While Germany impressed, Brazil, the team who shared the favourites tag with Vicente Del Bosque’s men, failed to impress against Mexico on Tuesday and Argentina laboured more than expected to overcome Bosnia on Sunday.

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We’ve teamed up with exciting new mobile app OnePulse to find out what fans thing of the World Cup coverage. Download now from iTunes for free and get PAID CASH for your opinions on the World Cup of broadcatsers!

Controversy on the pitch, granted. Dodgy decision by the match officials, of course. Debatable team selections, obviously. Said factors ensure discussions run riot for the duration of a World Cup – and at times, in fact, for a lot longer than that – but the one thing guaranteed to be often met with widespread disdain is the tournament’s TV coverage.

For all the entertainment on display on the pitch, on these shores the 2014 World Cup coverage has attracted its fair share of criticism, with ITV and the BBC failing to fully convince viewers they’re the real stars of the tournament.

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The first five days of World Cup football have produced 44 goals, controversy aplenty and some wonderful football – with the sorry exception of Iran vs Nigeria – and some exciting team and individual performances.

Ahead of the tournament we’ve teamed up with exciting new smartphone app OnePulse and asked its users which World Cup debutant would take the World Cup by storm and the results made for some interesting reading.

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