As of Thursday, all 48 teams have played their first match at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
While one match offers some insight into how the tournament might play out, it’s unwise to make any sweeping generalizations after the start of the group stage. To wit, the champions in 2022, Argentina, opened that tournament with a 2-1 loss to Saudi Arabia. The sky was certainly falling in Buenos Aires after that result, but the doom and gloom was premature.
Still, there are things to be gleaned from these first 24 matches and that’s just what we will do. Let’s take a look at some of the storylines that have stuck out thus far and where they might lead going forward.
Through these opening matches there have been no shortage of talking points, both good and bad.
The stars have shined
The FIFA marketing department, as well as all of its broadcasting partners and sponsors, has to be doing cartwheels in the office after the first week of matches. There can be no better advertisement for the tournament than the superstars of the sport doing what they do best on the biggest stage possible. If one of the goals was to grab the eyeballs of casuals, mission accomplished through 24 games.
Holders Argentina smashed Algeria, 3-0, on the back of a hat-trick from the ageless Lionel Messi. Playing in an unprecedented sixth World Cup. Messi’s trio of goals took him to 16 all-time at the World Cup, pulling him level for most ever with Germany great Miroslav Klose. The 38-year-old Messi and Argentina are looking to become the first team in 64 years to repeat as world champions.
Real Madrid’s season was one to forget with a shock managerial change in the New Year, nasty in-fighting and patchy form that led to a trophyless year. Kylian Mbappé is out to turn the page on his club campaign and did so in a hurry in France’s 3-1 opening win over Senegal. The 27-year-old Mbappé bagged a brace in the win, including a sensational strike from 30 yards out in stoppage time. The goals took him to 14 at a World Cup and the second goal was his 58th for Les Bleus, setting a new record for the national team.
Manchester City hitman Erling Haaland notched a brace in his first World Cup match as Norway topped Iraq, as did Folarin Balogun (United States), Yasin Ayari (Sweden) and Elijah Just (New Zealand). Harry Kane took his season total for club and country to a jaw-dropping 68 with two goals in England’s 4-2 victory over Croatia. The Bayern Munich superstar became the second England player to score at three World Cups after Manchester United icon Sir David Beckham.
What to do about CR7?
Portugal was a heavy favourite to top Group K heading into the tournament, but its opening 1-1 draw with Congo DR laid bare some big deficiencies in manager Roberto Martinez’s game plan.
After scoring six minutes in through Paris Saint-Germain’s Joao Neves, Portugal appeared to be on course for a comfortable win. That didn’t happen, though, with the offence drying up (the goal was Portugal’s only shot on goal), Congo DR doing well to grow into the game and a fine equalizer in first-half stoppage time from Yoane Wissa of Newcastle.
Almost stubbornly, Martinez had Portugal’s attack go through 41-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo for 90 minutes, despite the fact that it became evident well before then that the five-time Ballon d’Or winner was struggling mightily to imprint on the match.
The Al-Nassr forward cut a distressed figure for much of the match, spurning the few chances he did have and looking visibly disappointed that there weren’t more of them. Ronaldo’s afternoon was epitomized by a play midway through the second half when Francisco Conceicao did well to cut a ball back to the front of goal. Ronaldo, despite not being properly set, took a stab at it and sent it harmlessly wide with an unmarked Bruno Fernandes near the penalty spot in much better position for a scoring opportunity.
Martinez must make some adjustments ahead of Tuesday’s match with Uzbekistan, but does he have the stomach to bench Ronaldo? With Ronaldo being the focal point going forward, Portugal must rely on wing play to feed him, rather than allowing its impressive midfield to control the middle of the park. Fernandes, the Premier League’s Player of the Season who set the league’s all-time assist mark with United, was marginalized to the point where he wasn’t credited with creating a single chance over the 90 minutes.
There’s still plenty of time for Portugal to get this right, but the pressure on Martinez is growing by the minute.
Respect the minnows
When plans to expand the 2026 World Cup to 48 teams were announced back in 2017, one of the biggest criticisms was that it would represent a dilution of the quality of play. Forty-eight teams would mean that there would be squads present with no hope of winning and there simply to make up numbers against the sport’s giants. Nobody would want to watch minnows getting dummied for the sake of more revenue.
Through 24 matches, there have been a couple of lopsided results, but we’ve been quickly disabused of the idea that David can’t hold his own with Goliath.
Led by 40-year-old goalkeeper Vozinha, tournament debutants Cabo Verde, a nation of 500,000, confounded European champions Spain to a scoreless draw in a stunner. Qatar, having qualified for the World Cup for the first time, frustrated Switzerland for 90 minutes before snatching a stoppage-time goal to earn a 1-1 draw. As previously mentioned, Congo DR, in its first World Cup in 52 years, isolated Ronaldo and gave a seismic shock to Portugal in a 1-1 draw.
Sleeping on any opponent at this tournament is asking for trouble.
