World Cup Recap

As the World Cup came, everyone was excited about which teams would win. A lot of people were thinking that Brazil and Germany had a good shot at winning it all because they’re always strong. But Argentina and France had some amazing players that could win it all! The games played during the knockout rounds were unpredictable. In every game, teams were fighting so hard just to stay in the tournament.

Overall, 104 games were played in this tournament. Around 308 goals were scored. That means that in every match, around 3 goals were scored. Many world records were broken: Curaçao and Cabo Verde, which became the smallest nation (by population) to compete in the World Cup. Spain is the first country ever to win the World Cup championship by conceding only one goal throughout the tournament. This means that throughout the entire World Cup, Spain was scored on only once: Belgium scored on them during the quarter-finals, with the score 2-1. Lamine Yamal states, “All I have to do is play football and make the Spanish people proud." Some individual world records include: Cristiano Ronaldo became the first player to score in 6 consecutive World Cups. Lionel Messi broke the records for most victories and most goals scored outside the box.  Michael Olise broke the record for most assists with 7 assists in the whole tournament. Kylian Mbappé now holds the record for goals in the World Cup with 22. There were many more records broken. 

The 2026 FIFA Men's World Cup had some truly shocking games and incredible runs that kept fans on the edge of their seats! One of the biggest surprises was when an unexpected team, like Morocco, managed to knock out some of the favorites, making it all the way to the quarter-finals.  Another huge upset was when fan favorite Germany was eliminated before the knockout rounds. These surprising outcomes made the tournament even more exciting and reminded everyone that in sports, surprises can happen at any moment!