The 2026 World Cup gave us everything. A 39-year-old Lionel Messi scoring hat tricks. Tiny Cape Verde nearly knocking off the defending champs. Jude Bellingham dragging England through the Azteca. And then there was the other stuff. The stuff that left a stain on the whole thing.
Let’s start with the match that actually mattered most for the trophy. Spain beat Argentina in the final, but the real drama came after the whistle. Ugly scenes. A flat ending to a tournament that had been anything but flat. Luis de la Fuente’s squad was the best team over the whole month, no argument there. They won Euro 2024 and then backed it up with a World Cup. That’s a golden generation right now.
But the expanded 48-team format brought genuine chaos and joy. Cape Verde and Curacao made their debuts and didn’t look scared. Erling Haaland scored goals like they were going out of style. Kylian Mbappe at 27 already passed Miroslav Klose’s all-time World Cup goals record. Two players did that this tournament, actually. Sorry, Miroslav.
And then there’s the Balogun thing. Here’s what happened. Folarin Balogun, the USMNT striker, got a red card suspension early in the tournament. Standard procedure. Except President Donald Trump called FIFA president Gianni Infantino and asked him to overturn it. And Infantino did. Just like that. The ban was suspended. Balogun played against Belgium in the round of 16. Belgium won 4-1 anyway. The whole thing felt rigged, and it was. Every reporter covering the tournament called it what it was: blatant political interference in a sport that’s supposed to stay out of politics. FIFA’s own laws forbid it. Didn’t matter.
Trump was uncomfortably everywhere during the tournament. He popped up at games. He made pronouncements. Infantino hinted at expanding the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams. That’s not a joke. The guy in charge of soccer’s biggest event seems to have no guardrails left. Multiple reporters covering the tournament said Infantino has lost control. He’s lost sight of what FIFA is supposed to be.
Best match of the tournament
Hard to pick just one, but Argentina’s 3-2 win over Egypt in the knockout stage had everything. Messi’s story was heading toward a quiet ending before that wild comeback. Cape Verde’s 3-2 loss to Argentina also delivered. Sidny Lopes Cabral’s goal in that game might be the single best strike of the whole tournament. He hit it from distance, left Emiliano Martinez frozen, and then celebrated like his soul left his body. That goal is now permanently in World Cup history.
England’s 3-2 win over Mexico at the Azteca deserves a mention too. Jude Bellingham played the game of his life. The atmosphere in Mexico City was volcanic. Fans from both sides sang all night. England had never won at that stadium. They left with one of their greatest-ever results.
Best player
Rodri won because he was the key to the best team. He controlled every game Spain played. But Messi at 39 was something else. He scored his first-ever World Cup hat trick to open the tournament. Then he kept scoring. He dragged Argentina to the final basically alone. Mbappe was the most dangerous attacker in the world through the group stage and the early knockouts, before going quiet in the semifinal. Three real candidates, and you could make a case for any of them.
The lasting image
Two things will stick. Cabral’s goal, because it was pure art from a tiny nation that almost pulled off the impossible. And Trump on the phone to Infantino, because it showed how fragile the line between sport and politics really is. FIFA didn’t protect the integrity of its own tournament. They rolled over. That’s not going away.
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