World Cup 2026: What have we learned from the first round of group stage fixtures in the USA, Canada and Mexico?

The World Cup of the superstar

Now that we’ve seen all 48 teams in action at the World Cup, the picture is beginning to take shape.

Some look like genuine contenders, others look capable of being the dark horses and a select few appear to have about as much chance of going deep in this tournament as a cabbage winning a beauty prize.

This has been a World Cup so far for moments of genius – where the superstars are coming out to play. No superstar in your ranks, you’re going to struggle.

Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland, Harry Kane and Luis Diaz are all revelling in the spotlight. Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal have been the cautionary tale that, if your star man is not fit and firing, you will struggle.

Such is life at a World Cup. It’s been fun – and there is so much more to come.
Lewis Jones

2026 edition on course to break more records

The 2026 World Cup was already a record-breaker. More teams, more games and longer than ever before – but the on-field action is also set to go down in history.

Milestones were approached, met and passed on Tuesday into Wednesday as the world’s best players started scoring goals for fun.

Kylian Mbappe became France’s all-time record goalscorer with his superb double against Senegal and went two goals behind Miroslav Klose’s tournament record of 16.

But just a few hours later, Lionel Messi matched that with his hat-trick against Algeria. With at least two more games to come, both Mbappe and Messi could bump Klose down the list.

The Argentina captain has also joined Cristiano Ronaldo in appearing at the most World Cups (6), beating Lothar Matthaus’ previous record of five.

Harry Kane matched Gary Lineker (10) as England’s highest scorer at a World Cup with his double against Croatia. He already has the overall record for the Three Lions.

If England go all the way to the final, Kane will close in on Peter Shilton’s all-time appearance record of 125 caps. The Bayern striker matched David Beckham’s 115 caps in Wednesday’s opener.

And aside from the most kilts at a baseball game in history, there was another Scottish record: at 31 years and 238 days, John McGinn is the oldest player to score for Scotland at the World Cup, surpassing Kenny Dalglish (31y 103d).

Joe Jordan is Scotland’s highest-ever scorer at a World Cup with four goals – not entirely out of reach.
Charlotte Marsh

European teams struggle in the heat

Many questions were asked pre-tournament about how the conditions would impact teams not used to competing in such a climate. The answer is: dramatically.

The heat, humidity and hydration breaks have been a talking point. Before the tournament, only one European team had ever won the World Cup held outside of the continent.

The opening round of games has shown that we may be looking at a familiar tale. In the opening 13 games involving European nations against teams from other continents, just five were victorious – Germany against Curacao, Scotland against Haiti, France against Senegal, Norway against Iraq and Austria against Jordan.

Spain, Turkey, Switzerland, Belgium and Portugal were among those who were favourites in their openers and failed to pick up the win.

Those that played in closed-roof stadiums that had air conditioning shouldn’t have been affected as heavily, but they were.

Teams have taken different approaches to try and adjust, and it may just be a case of being patient and taking time to adapt. But for the majority of European sides, the heat has been too hot to handle and they are now on the back foot.
Callum Bishop

Hydration breaks shifting momentum

Hydration breaks have become a fixed feature of the matchday experience, regardless of whether a stadium is open-air or under a closed roof. Every game has seen a three-minute break in each half as players gather in the technical area to take on fluids and are able to talk to their coaching staff.

Netherlands captain Virgil van Dijk questioned their regular use: “If it’s really hot, it makes sense – but you have to look at each game separately.”

But are hydration breaks changing the flow of games? Momentum often shifts sharply in the minutes immediately after the restart.

Morocco flipped final-third dominance in both halves during their 1-1 draw with Brazil – despite Vinicius Junior equalising against the run of play in the 32nd minute.

Germany were wobbling with the scores at 1-1 against minnows Curacao going into the first-half hydration break before restoring complete dominance in a 7-1 win.

The impact, clearly, isn’t neutral. Some sides are using the break to seize control, while others lose their grip entirely. The data below tracks how momentum has swung for every team in the 10 minutes after play resumes.

Norway shifted attacking momentum in their favour and scored shortly after both hydration breaks during a 4-1 victory against Iraq.

Of course, attacking momentum can shift but teams are also hitting opponents on the break swiftly after taking on fluids. Australia scored both of their goals from transitions after hydration time-outs in their 2-0 win over Turkey.
Adam Smith

Pre-tournament concerns of dull group games prove unfounded

The only thing making fans yawn watching the World Cup so far has been the tough kick-off times for much of the opening round of fixtures (at least in the UK and Europe), with the games themselves serving up a feast of football over the past week.

An average of 3.12 goals scored per game so far is the highest of any World Cup to date, calming fears of a lack of jeopardy owing to the easier means of knock-out qualification and searing heat in parts of the Americas.

A timely report published by CIES Football Observatory on Wednesday, charting more than 10,000 professional matches, found players run on average a kilometre less in 35-degree heat than in matches played in 15-degree conditions, with energy and intensity naturally taking a dip.

But despite the heat reaching those figures across of a number of the games so far, the football itself has been as enthralling as ever – and done sufficient talking to distract from the unsavoury off-field issues which threatened to overshadow the early matches.
Ron Walker

Teams struggling for rhythm on dry MetLife pitch

The MetLife Stadium pitch is already a talking point after just two games.

The surface in New Jersey, where the final will be played on July 19, has come in for criticism following group games involving France and Brazil.

The 78,576-capacity stadium normally hosts NFL games involving the New York Giants and Jets on an artificial surface , but has had a temporary grass pitch installed for the tournament.

However, the quality of the surface in New York has been criticised by both Adrien Rabiot and Vinicius Junior.

“The pitch… I don’t even know if you can call it that. It felt more like an artificial surface – quite hard and quite rigid,” Rabiot said after Les Bleus’ 3-1 win against Senegal on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Vinicius also questioned the pitch’s dryness following Brazil’s 1-1 draw with Morocco, saying: “In the second half, with the heat, the pitch dries out very quickly. The game becomes very sluggish and we can’t get into our rhythm.”

This will certainly be one to monitor during the rest of the tournament, with the next fixture there Senegal against Norway on June 22, while England’s final Group L clash against Panama on June 27 also takes place in New Jersey.
Rich Morgan

Don’t underestimate the smaller nations

This summer’s expanded tournament has given four countries – Cape Verde, Curacao, Jordan and Uzbekistan – a first-ever World Cup opportunity, while the lowest-ranked country – New Zealand – are taking part for the third time.

Many had those five down as the whipping boys. But an abundance of spirit, heart and fearlessness means that has been far from the reality for some.

Admittedly, Curacao were hit for seven by Germany, but it was 1-1 for 17 minutes after Livano Comenencia cancelled out Felix Nmecha’s opener. New Zealand – managed by Englishman Darren Bazeley – twice took the lead against Iran in a thrilling 2-2 draw. Jordan gave Austria a scare, despite going on to lose 3-1.

It was Cape Verde, though, who produced one of the biggest shocks in the entire history of the tournament by holding favourites Spain to a goalless draw, with 40-year-old goalkeeper Vozinha the hero.

None of these nations will win the tournament. But this is a wonderful opportunity to show they are not just there to make up the numbers.

Dan Long

‘Snicko’ awards Sweden goal vs Tunisia

Sweden’s fourth goal in Monday’s 5-1 victory over Tunisia was awarded after a VAR review aided by ball-tracking technology similar to cricket’s Snickometer.

Substitute Mattias Svanberg scored just 18 seconds after coming on but the goal was initially ruled out for offside, with officials judging the midfielder to have been beyond the last defender when the free-kick was delivered.

However, using waveform technology linked to the match ball, more commonly known as ‘Snicko’, officials determined that Sweden striker Alexander Isak had made a slight touch before it reached Svanberg, who was onside as a result

The Adidas Trionda match ball is fitted with a microchip as part of the company’s Connected Ball Technology. The system records every touch of the ball and transmits the data instantly to VAR officials, helping them make more accurate decisions.

Replays shown after the review displayed a sensor waveform that spiked as the ball passed Isak’s outstretched foot, confirming contact that was difficult to detect with the naked eye.

The technology has previously played a role at major international tournaments, including the 2022 World Cup and Euro 2024.

At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the system helped determine that Bruno Fernandes, rather than Cristiano Ronaldo, scored Portugal’s opening goal in a 2-0 victory over Uruguay. Although Ronaldo celebrated as if he had headed Fernandes’ cross, the data showed he had not touched the ball.

A similar review was also used at Euro 2024, where Belgium had a goal disallowed against Slovakia after the technology detected a touch in the build-up.
David Richardson

Kick-off delays have become a theme

Kick-off delays are a rare occurrence on British shores but they have happened repeatedly during the tournament. It has become the norm for games to start several minutes later than scheduled.

The first fixture of the tournament between Mexico and South Africa set the tone, kicking off six minutes later than planned following the opening ceremony. The theme continued with a three-minute delay ahead of France’s win over Senegal on Tuesday.

Some say it is down to cultural differences, with slightly delayed start times not unusual in American sports. Others might argue FIFA have underestimated the time required to carry out the various elements of their preferred pre-match pageantry.

But it is another quirk of a tournament which also features hydration breaks, unusually lengthy periods of first-half stoppage time, and a general loosening of the game’s traditional time constraints.
Nick Wright

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