Most Tweeted Moments From the World Cup Group Stage

— -- It's the start of the knockout round at the World Cup today as Brazil takes on Chile in first game of the round of 16.

With just 16 teams still in contention for the trophy, it's safe to expect plenty of memorable moments from the high stakes showdowns that will be worth tweeting about.

During the group stage, more than 300 million tweets were sent about the World Cup. Here were the most talked about moments, according to Twitter.

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Most Talked About Game

Not surprisingly, the first game of the 2014 FIFA World Cup between Brazil, the host country, and Croatia got the most buzz. Brazil pulled off a win in Sao Paolo, beating the Croatians, 3-1.

Most Tweeted Moment

You would think one player appearing to bite another would cause Twitter to explode. Alas, the most tweeted incident wasn't Luis Suarez's "cannibal" moment. It was Brazilian star Marcelo's own-goal in the opening game, which had briefly put Croatia in the lead.

Most Mentioned Player

Argentina's Lionel Messi and Brazil's Neymar were the most talked about players on Twitter. Both scored four goals during the group stage. Rounding out the top three were Uruguay's Luis Suarez (him again!), who was banned by FIFA from nine international games after he appeared to sink his teeth into Italy's Giorgio Chiellini.

Most Retweeted

Italy's Mario Balotelli knew England's fate could rest in Italy's hands, er, feet, when the team took on Costa Rica in Recife. The striker tweeted his humorous take on the situation and it went viral -- garnering more than 177,000 retweets.

England and Italy ended up not advancing, so it looks like Balotelli will be going home sad and without that kiss after all.

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