5 World Cup conspiracy theories

With the World Cup having reached its conclusion, it's time to look back at the conspiracy theories that have arisen from the tournament's most controversial moments.

The past month has seen a myriad of bizarre and dramatic incidents take place, which - of course - can only be explained by a dark hand or two conspiring against certain individuals and teams.

Here are five World Cup conspiracy theories:

Argentina's Group F opponents were pre-arranged

A night before December's World Cup draw, one Twitter user appeared to correctly predict two important outcomes of the event.

In addition to accurately stating that Italy would be the European team moved from Pot 4 to Pot 2, the Twitter account "Brasil 2014 Fraude" - which was coincidentally created the same day - listed all three opponents that Argentina drew in Group F.

It didn't take long for many to claim that the prediction was simply an elaborate hoax by a group of computer hackers. But as Yahoo! Eurosport points out, the timestamp on the post rules out the possibility of the user editing his computer's time zone, and any security breach at Twitter would surely have been widely publicized.

Another theory: with each team facing about 500 potential outcomes going into the draw, six accounts would have to be set up to cover every potential Argentina group as Twitter limits the number of tweets that can be automatically sent from a third-party programme to 100 an hour.

But while it's easier to believe that one person went through the trouble of covering each and every potential outcome, it's far more fun to think that FIFA wanted Argentina in an easy group where they would likely be assured of avoiding Brazil until the final.

Croatia's 4-0 win over Cameroon was fixed

The sad thing about this one is that it's probably closer to reality than the other items on this list.

Following Croatia's 4-0 victory over Cameroon, German media outlet Der Spiegel reported that convicted match-fixer Wilson Raj Perumal correctly predicted the final scoreline while also accurately predicting that a player would be sent off.

Given the first-half red card that Alex Song received for inexplicably elbowing Mario Mandzukic in the back, it's not hard to overlook the possibility of the match being fixed.

Perumal has since denied any allegations of correctly predicting the result and insists that Der Spiegel fabricated the story. But who are we to believe a shady figure like Perumal?

FIFA drug tested 7 Costa Rica players because they didn't want Los Ticos advancing from group stage

Never mind that FIFA's head of media, Delia Fischer, referred to the the mass screening as "standard procedure." The drug testing of seven Costa Rica players following Los Ticos' 1-0 win over Italy in the group stage was clearly a move by football's governing body to get the Central American team out of the World Cup.

With concerns over tournament sponsors not paying as much to see Costa Rica play in the knockout stage as England, Italy, or Uruguay, how could it not be?

Even Diego Maradona sees it.

"This is only happening because some people are annoyed Costa Rica - and not the big teams - are going through, and so the sponsors won’t pay what they’d promised," said Maradona about the drug testing. 

“It is against the rules. Two players from each team are supposed to undergo doping controls. I know what I’m talking about, because it happened to me. But seven players? I’ve never seen something like that.”

Magnets helped Brazil overcome Chile in the round of 16

Equally as impressive as Julio Cesar in denying Chile of a goal in the round of 16 was the woodwork.

The 119th minute of the match saw Mauricio Pinilla blast a right-footed shot off the crossbar and it was Gonzalo Jara's post-hitting penalty in the subsequent shootout that marked the end of Chile's World Cup campaign.

Two shots off the woodwork at such a crucial stage of the host team's run to the semifinals? There's only one possible explanation. Magnets were clearly installed in the ball as well as the post and crossbar to ensure any shot that got past Julio Cesar was deflected off the post. The logic is flawless.

Neymar was never injured

Good luck debunking this conspiracy theory.

After Juan Camilo Zúñiga fractured Neymar's third vetebrae on a reckless challenge in the quarterfinal match between Brazil and Colombia, the Brazilian superstar was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he covered his face upon being rolled into the building on a stretcher.

Or so we thought...

Based off this easily-Photoshopped screenshot that was posted to Sport Witness, it clearly wasn't Neymar on that stretcher.

We can only assume that the Illuminati were involved in a cover-up of epic proportions and replaced Neymar, who faked the injury in order to be spared from an inevitable loss against Germany, with an impostor on his way to the hospital.

If you need any more proof that this is in fact the case, just look at the evidence presented by Brazilian humor website Jesus Manero.