The World Cup Is Here. And It’s Already Losing Its Mind.
We said it would be big. We had no idea.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup didn’t just arrive — it kicked the door in, set a world record in week one, and dared you to look away for even five minutes. Forty-eight nations. Three countries hosting. One hundred and four matches. Thirty-nine days of football that will ruin your sleep, your productivity, and your relationship with the concept of “just one more game.”
It started on June 11th in Mexico City — that iconic old ground, the Azteca, doing what it always does: making you feel like football invented itself specifically for that stadium. Co-hosts Mexico beat South Africa 2-0 in front of a crowd so loud the broadcast mics couldn’t handle it. Two red cards, two goals, and enough drama for a telenovela. Perfect opening night football.
Since then? Buckle up.
Messi Is Doing Things That Have No Right to Be Happening
Here’s what you need to understand about Lionel Messi right now: he is 38 years old, two days shy of turning 39, playing in his sixth World Cup, and he is currently the greatest goalscorer in the history of this tournament. Not the greatest Argentine. Not the greatest active player. The greatest. Ever. Men’s or women’s.
Monday night in Arlington, Texas, with 70,000 people screaming inside a Dallas Cowboys stadium that had very much become an Argentine living room, Messi broke Miroslav Klose’s long-standing men’s record of 16 World Cup goals. He then broke Marta’s all-time record of 17. Then he scored an 18th in stoppage time, basically because he felt like it.
He did all of this after missing a penalty nine minutes into the match.
Argentina beat Austria 2-0. Messi has all five of Argentina’s goals in this tournament — a hat-trick in the opener against Algeria in Kansas City, and then the brace that rewrote history. The defending champions are already through to the knockout rounds. “Beyond anything I’m so happy for the win,” he said afterwards. Which is exactly the kind of thing you say when you’ve just broken records that people thought were permanent.
He is the only man ever to score in six consecutive World Cup matches. He turns 39 on Wednesday. He plays Jordan next.
This is not normal. None of this is normal.
Meanwhile, the Rest of the World Is Trying to Keep Up
Kylian Mbappé is not sitting this out. France dismantled Iraq 3-0, with Mbappé bagging two more to sit second on the all-time men’s scoring list with 16 — equal to the record Messi just left in the dust. He’s broken his own record for most multi-goal World Cup appearances. He became France’s all-time top scorer earlier in the tournament. The Messi-Mbappé race that everyone wanted in 2022 is quietly becoming the defining subplot of 2026.
Germany arrived, looked at Curaçao, and scored seven goals. Seven. They followed it up with a 2-1 win over Ivory Coast. Sweden, somehow criminally underrated going in, thrashed Tunisia 5-1 and then turned around and lost 5-1 to the Netherlands. The Dutch then beat Sweden 5-1 in the second round. Group F has the energy of a pub quiz that got out of hand.
The United States beat Paraguay 4-1 in their opener — a result that had American fans genuinely believing — then backed it up with a 2-0 win over Australia. They’re through. The home crowd is everything people hoped it would be.
The Moments Nobody Saw Coming
Spain — Spain, the tournament favourites, former world champions, the team with Lamine Yamal who has spent months being described as the best teenager in football history — were held scoreless by Cape Verde. Cape Verde. A nation of 500,000 people. The draw reportedly produced the most painful betting loss of the 2026 tournament so far, which is saying something given some of the chaos we’ve witnessed.
Scotland ended a 28-year World Cup absence by beating Haiti 1-0. A country that has spent nearly three decades inventing elaborate ways to miss tournaments finally has a win to celebrate. The scenes. Honestly, the scenes.
Mohamed Salah led Egypt to their first-ever World Cup victory. Canada crushed Qatar 6-0. Norway, in only their second World Cup appearance in nearly three decades, have already made the knockout stages after Erling Haaland scored twice against Senegal.
We’re Not Even Halfway Through the Group Stage
This is the thing that makes it genuinely difficult to process. Everything above — the record books torn up, the upsets, the chaos, the 100+ goals scored — happened in under two weeks of football. There are 104 matches total in this tournament. The final isn’t until July 19th.
We haven’t had a knockout round yet. We haven’t had a penalty shootout in the 119th minute of a quarterfinal. We haven’t had the moment where someone nobody expected does something nobody saw coming, and you’re watching it alone at 2am on your phone under the duvet.
That’s all still ahead.
The biggest football tournament ever staged is running hot. Messi is rewriting history in real time. Favourites are dropping points. Underdogs are winning games they have no business winning.
We told you it was going to be worth it.
We undersold it.
