The first round of the 2026 World Cup group stage is over, and the tournament has already produced major upsets, comebacks and standout individual displays. An Israeli ranking highlighted the 10 best performances so far, led by Lionel Messi’s first World Cup hat trick and a string of elite showings from players across six nations.
Messi, days before turning 39 and in his 200th appearance for Argentina, scored three times in a 3-0 win over Algeria in his sixth World Cup. The article said the goals, a shot into the top corner, a finish after beating the goalkeeper on the rebound, and a perfect placement to the far post, showed he remains at the highest level. It added that one more goal would leave him alone atop the all-time World Cup scoring list.
Kylian Mbappe also made history for France in a 3-1 win over Senegal, scoring twice, including a strike from about 25 meters into the top corner, to reach 58 goals for his country at age 27. He first matched Olivier Giroud’s French record of 57 before moving ahead. Elsewhere, Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha, age 40 and a player in Portugal’s second division, was the hero of a 0-0 draw with Spain after seven saves and a huge social media surge that took his Instagram from a few thousand followers to more than 13 million.
The list also featured Erling Haaland’s two-goal debut for Norway in a 4-1 win over Iraq, Harry Kane’s brace and last-gasp goal-line block for England against Croatia, and United States striker Folarin Balogun’s two first-half goals in a 4-1 win over Paraguay. Germany’s Nathaniel Brown had a goal and an assist in a 7-1 rout of Curacao, Morocco’s 18-year-old Ayoub Bouaddi impressed in a 1-1 draw with Brazil, Sweden’s Yasin Ayari scored twice in a 5-1 win over the country where his father was born, and South Korea’s Wang In-beom helped engineer a 2-1 comeback over Czechia.
