The performance of the minnows
Many predicted that the expansion of the World Cup to 48 teams would render the Group stage largely meaningless, and would lead to a number of very one-sided matches. In the event, there were few walkovers, and one or two of the less-heralded teams massively exceeded expectations. Chief among them was the team from Cabo Verde, a country with a population similar to that of Liverpool. Their debut was dramatic, a scarcely believable draw against Spain, built upon a heroic rearguard action and a world-class performance by 40-year-old keeper Vozinha. They followed up with draws against Uruguay and Saudi Arabia to qualify second from their group, then took defending champions Argentina into extra time in their first knockout game. When they exited the tournament they did so having not lost a game in normal time.
The performance of the superstars
It is not uncommon for the world’s best players to come to major international tournaments and underwhelm with their performances. They may be exhausted after an intense club season, may find their national team colleagues are not quite up to their exalted level, or may feel the pressure of expectations from an entire country. 2026 was different. The game’s superstars (well, most of them at least) came to the World Cup party and delivered. Mbappe, Messi, Haaland, Bellingham, Dembele, Kane, even Vinicius Jr during Brazil’s brief run, all made world class contributions up-front, scoring goals and making assists at record levels. It was, though, another who walked off with the FIFA Golden Ball for Player of the Tournament, Rodri, the midfield general who conducted his Spain side to one of the more convincing tournament victories of recent times. A true maestro.
The demise of Cristiano Ronaldo
Portugal arrived in the USA as one of the pre-tournament favourites. Winners of the 2025 UEFA Nations League, their squad featured players in every position who star for the top teams in Europe’s best leagues. At centre forward stood the remarkable Cristiano Ronaldo, the all-time leading goalscorer and appearance maker in international football, now in his sixth World Cup finals. There was, though, a question mark against him – was he, at 41 years old, a little bit past it at the very top level? The answer, sadly, was ‘probably’. Aside from a couple of goals against an outclassed Uzbekistan, Ronaldo contributed little to his team. In the other four games that he played (where he was on the pitch almost every minute), he managed a sum total of seven shots (five on target) and not a single assist. He looked a shadow of his former, brilliant self, and it was the considered view of most pundits that Portugal would have fared better with a more energetic presence up front. It was a disappointing World Cup farewell for one of the game’s true legends.
The gamesmanship of the Argentinians
It was a great relief to most football fans around the world when Argentina finally succumbed to Spain in extra time in the World Cup final. Not only had they decided to pull up the drawbridge for the game’s biggest showpiece, not producing a single shot in normal play, but also, they had displayed throughout the tournament the most cynical gamesmanship. Their approach to many matches – particularly the semi-final vs England – seemed to be to wind up their opposition and prevent any rhythm to their game, by relentless grabbing, niggly fouling and playacting, only coming out to play when circumstances demanded it. What made it worse was that contentious decisions went their way so often that it seemed FIFA were willing Messi and his teammates to the title. Their violent and graceless reaction after losing the final was just the final nail in the coffin for any dignity or sportsmanship they might once have had. Good riddance.
The third/fourth place play-off
Traditionally a game that no-one wants to play in and that most fans can’t be bothered to watch, the 3rd/4th play-off in Miami turned out instead to be one of the most entertaining games seen at this, or indeed any, World Cup tournament. England arrived on the back of an all-too-familiar collapse, effectively conceding the semi-final to Argentina after going ahead. Opponents France turned up on the back of a surprise humiliation administered by Spain. Of the two, England looked as though they had bounced back best, racing into an incredible 4-0 lead at half-time. France seemed to come to after half-time, scoring three quick goals to get back to 3-4 and looking for all the world as though they would stage one of the great comebacks. But, an exchange of goals was followed by the coup de gras, a superb individual effort from England’s player of the tournament, Jude Bellingham, to seal a 6-4 win. Yes, it was some way removed from real football, but it was great fun nevertheless.
The hydration breaks … and half time in the final
Sadly, so much of what FIFA is about nowadays seems to be about money. No doubt egged on by their avaricious US hosts, they hatched an idea that would offer huge revenue raising opportunities – a hydration break in each of the two halves of the match. The pause in play would give commercial broadcasters up to three minutes to screen highly lucrative adverts. It meant that a game that had been played for over 150 years in two 45-minute halves, became a game of four quarters, with managers able to make changes more three times in a game rather than only once. And FIFA did not stop there, overriding long-standing rules regarding the maximum length of the half-time break (designated as 15 minutes) to allow spectators to “enjoy” (sic) some “high-class entertainment” in the World Cup final. Is nothing sacred? Evidently not if the financial carrot is attractive enough.
The reinstatement of Folarin Balogun
As a Middlesbrough fan, I can declare a (very) minor personal interest in Folarin Balogun, who had a brief and not entirely convincing loan spell at our club. He then went on to make more impact as a striker in France, then for his adopted country, the USA. (Balogun was actually born in the US, but only because his pregnant mother was not allowed to fly home to England to give birth). WC26 gave him an opportunity on ‘home’ soil and he grabbed it with both hands, earning back-to-back Player of the Match awards, and proving to be his side’s most effective forward. His World Cup, though, looked like it had come to an end when he was sent off against Bosnia and Herzegovina incurring an automatic one-match ban. FIFA, however, mysteriously decided that his ban should be suspended, allowing him to play in the US’s next match, against Belgium. When it transpired that Donald Trump had called Gianni Infantino to discuss the matter, the bad smell that emanated from the surprise decision was especially pungent. Balogun, to be fair, was blameless in all this, but the controversy looked like it affected him and his teammates. They lost 4-1 to the Belgians, and very few in the wider football world shed a tear for them.
The treatment of ‘undesirables’
One could make a plausible argument to say that Iran should never have been at the 2026 World Cup given the country’s human rights violations, and their record in fomenting international discord. But, like it or not, FIFA did allow them to compete, and their football team qualified for the finals fair and square. Their US hosts clearly felt that Iran should not be there and did everything they could to make them feel unwelcome. Several members of the Iranian party were denied visas, the team was forced to move training base from Arizona to Tijuana, Mexico, ticket allocations were pulled, and they claim to have been hounded out of the US minutes after their final group game finished. That they only narrowly failed to qualify for the knock-out phase was a minor miracle in the circumstances. They at least did manage to participate. Somalian referee, Omar Artan, who would have become the first Somali to officiate at a World Cup, was denied entry at Miami airport despite holding a diplomatic passport and a single-entry US visa. He at least has the consolation of being appointed by UEFA to ref the European Super Cup final.
No Scotland, no party
One of the most enjoyable aspects of the 2026 World Cup was that pretty well every team was able to play in front of a big part of their diaspora in the United States. Some countries, such as those from nearby South America had predictably big supporter bases, but who knew that there were hundreds of thousands of Cape Verdeans in New England or 800,000 people of Norwegian descent in Minnesota. There are, of course, many Americans who claim Scottish ancestry, and they were supplemented by 40-50,000 fans who crossed the Atlantic to support their team in a first WC Finals appearance for 28 years. The Scotland fans seemed genuinely pleased just to be there, and joyously lived up to the mantra of ‘No Scotland, No Party’. The city of Boston enthusiastically adopted them – especially the bar owners of Boston who reported happily that the Scots had drunk them dry – and many locals became overnight Scotland supporters. A shame all-round, therefore, that the team fell at the first hurdle, failing to qualify from their group.
The coming of Saint Jude
It’s hard to believe now, but there was some debate before the World Cup as to whether Jude Bellingham should be in the England squad. Some thought the Real Madrid star was getting a little too big for his boots, and couldn’t really be bothered turning it on for his country. It looked as though Thomas Tuchel bought into the scepticism, benching Bellingham for two warm-up games, and making comments that were not entirely positive. The doubters could not have been more wrong. Bellingham was superb throughout, topping almost every positive statistic for his country, not just scoring or assisting, but winning possession, making runs in behind and completing the most sprints. He showed up as not only a world-class player, but also a big-game player. His run, dribble and shot to finish off France in the 3rd/4th place play-off was a glorious final act in what had been a stunning tournament for the still-only 22 year old.
Erling and Jude’s embrace
Although, sadly, one of the final memories of WC26 will be the appalling scenes at the end of the final from some of the Argentinian players, there were many acts of sportsmanship to gladden the hearts of football fans worldwide. One that really shone out was the embrace between Norwegian striker, Erling Haaland and England’s Jude Bellingham at the end of the quarter final between their two sides. The two had played together, indeed grown up together, at Borussia Dortmund and had clearly become good mates. When the game finished, with England recording a narrow and (let’s be honest) fortunate win, Haaland came over to hug and congratulate Bellingham, despite what must have been his own crushing disappointment. Haaland, in fact, became an even bigger star at WC26 than he had been beforehand. With a series of light-hearted posts and an increased profile in the biggest market of all, he added a staggering 32.1m new followers to his Instragram profile. In this, at least, he beat his mate Bellingham, who could manage ‘only’ an extra 12m.
Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino
Need I say more. Seeing the two of these sitting together at the World Cup final was stomach-churning. It was something of a relief, not to mention a surprise, that POTUS managed to bring himself to let the Spaniards take the trophy after he had presented it. We half expected him to parade it around the ground himself, claiming he had won the cup for being the greatest president of all time. At least we have a couple of years now to prepare ourselves for Trump’s next unsavoury instalment at the 2028 Olympics.
STOP PRESS – It also looks as though Infantino may meet his come-uppance, after his ill-advised attempts to hijack the world game, although most will only believe it when they see it.
And the best team won
On 22 March 2024 Spain played Colombia in a friendly match at, of all places, the London Stadium. The match was billed as “an exciting opportunity for Spanish football to shine on the international stage.” In the event, it was something of a snoozefest as Spain lost 0-1 to their South American opponents. This defeat, a rarity even then, has become even more of a collector’s item since – Spain have now not lost a single game (outside of penalties) for over two years and a record 38 games.
Strange to recount that they started the World Cup with a bit of scare, a 0-0 draw against unheralded Cabo Verde, but from that point on they were unstoppable. The key, as it often is with Spain, was their control of midfield, backed by a well-organised and skilful defence. They dominated possession in every match, conceded fewer shots on target than anyone else, and conceded only one goal throughout the whole tournament – to De Ketelaere of Belgium in the quarter final. When they did score, it was pretty much a guarantee that they would win. The final saw them utterly dominate Argentina, restricting the South Americans to not a single shot on goal in normal time. They were the best team with the best players (Rodri won the Golden Ball, Unai Simon the Golden Glove and Pau Cubarsi the award for Best Young Player) and thoroughly deserved their title.