Fortnite is practically everywhere these days, becoming not just the biggest video game at this particular moment, but also a cultural phenomenon that has made its way into nearly every aspect of our lives. That extends to the FIFA World Cup, as one of England’s players apparently paid tribute to the game after scoring a goal.
During a FIFA World Cup match between England and Sweden, midfielder Dele Alli scored a goal, increasing England’s lead to 2-0, the equivalent of about 59-0 in any other sport. After scoring the goal, Alli did a little dance that appeared to be “ride the pony,” a popular emote in Fortnite. The dance was very brief, but it had the characteristic head swing.
There is, however, some debate over whether or not Alli actually paid tribute to Fortnite with the dance. Some fans are convinced he was actually mimicking a dance made famous by controversial rapper Tekashi 6ix9nine, which would be significantly less fun.
This particular dance is also not original to Fortnite, despite the game contributing to its popularity. The “floss” move made popular by the game was previously featured by “Backpack Kid” during an appearance on Saturday Night Live, and Alli has also performed that. It’s quite a bit more difficult than “ride the pony,” so we suggest practicing it before attempting to do it in front of anyone.
Alli wouldn’t be the only athlete paying tribute to Fortnite. Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster is a huge fan of the multiplayer shooter, and has been known to bust out a few dance moves, himself. He recently took Fortnite players from the competitive gaming team FaZe Clan on a $20,000 shopping spree, but he seems to live a relatively humble life himself — he chooses to bike rather than drive a car.
Fortnite is available now on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Mac, PC, and iOS. An Android version will also be arriving later this summer, and all systems support cross-platform play. However, PlayStation users cannot interact with Nintendo Switch or Xbox One players, despite Nintendo and Microsoft both pushing for the feature in games.
