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The moment of realizing: 2022 vs 2026 World Cup

This is a two-panel side-by-side comparison meme. The left panel is marked with the year 2022, featuring Dutch professional football player Virgil van Dijk with a stunned, dejected expression, taken during the 2022 FIFA World Cup quarterfinal match between the Netherlands and Argentina that the Netherlands lost; text overlay on this panel reads 'The moment Van Dijk knew', and a score overlay showing Argentina leading 1-0 is visible in the top left. The right panel is marked with the year 2026, featuring Egyptian professional football player Mohamed Salah grinning happily, taken after the Egyptian national team qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The meme contrasts the disappointment of a 2022 World Cup elimination with the joy of 2026 World Cup qualification for Egyptian audiences.
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2022
2026
The moment Van Dijk knew
0 1 ARG
Posted in r/EGYescapism by u/hxneymoon-avenue

Overview

This is a two-panel side-by-side comparison meme. The left panel is marked with the year 2022, featuring Dutch professional football player Virgil van Dijk with a stunned, dejected expression, taken during the 2022 FIFA World Cup quarterfinal match between the Netherlands and Argentina that the Netherlands lost; text overlay on this panel reads 'The moment Van Dijk knew', and a score overlay showing Argentina leading 1-0 is visible in the top left. The right panel is marked with the year 2026, featuring Egyptian professional football player Mohamed Salah grinning happily, taken after the Egyptian national team qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The meme contrasts the disappointment of a 2022 World Cup elimination with the joy of 2026 World Cup qualification for Egyptian audiences.

Origin notes

This meme was sourced from the Reddit:Meme RSS feed. It was originally posted to the Reddit subreddit r/EGYescapism by user u/hxneymoon-avenue. The meme edits two widely shared, pre-existing screenshots of professional football players taken from real World Cup related matches, arranged into a side-by-side comparison format for comedic effect targeted at Egyptian football fans celebrating their team's 2026 World Cup qualification.

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