Well, there we have it, almost in the blink of an eye the World Cup 2026 has come and gone and what five weeks of action, drama, controversy and fun we’ve had.
With 48 nations and 104 matches this was the biggest World Cup of all time, and some may think it was the best. It was certainly the glitziest and at times bizarre; but there was some scintillating football as well as some good old-fashioned studs up thuggery as we saw in the final as Spain played football, eventually successfully, against the warriors of Argentina.
So, let’s take a breath, but the kettle on and look at the SBOTOP top ten memories, most but not all good, of the 2026 World Cup.
Spain sweeps up the awards
Luis de la Fuente steered Spain to this World Cup triumph in impressive style, but there is no doubt he had the best squad of players, and the award ceremony underlined that fact as three of the four player awards were swept up by Spain players. Manchester City’ midfield ace Rodri is the Player of the Tournament while 19 year old centre back Pau Cubarsi is the first defender to pick up the Young Player Award. And so it is no surprise that keeper Unai Simon won the Golden Glove, conceding just one goal in eight matches.
The World Cup 2026 betting odds always backed a Roja win, and with players like these it all makes perfect sense.
The Best Golden Boot race
While Spain swept up most of the accolades, Kylian Mbappe won the Golden Boot with ten goals. But just look at the players hot on his heels. This was one heck of a race! Lionel Messi on eight, Jude Bellingham and Erling Haaland on seven, Harry Kane and Ousmane Dembele on six and the under-rated Spain star Mikel Oyarzabal on five. At the semi-final stage five and maybe six of this magnificent seven was still in the hunt.
Cape Verde stuns La Roja
The main benefit of the 48-nation format was that we got to see some exciting new entrants, and no more so than the Blue Sharks of Cape Verde. The African minnows were the only team to avoid defeat against Spain, bettering France and Argentina in the process, as they drew their opener 0-0, keeper Vozinha playing a blinder. Cape Verde went on to draw their other two group games to qualify for the knockout stage, where they gave Argentina one heck of a scare, taking La Albiceleste to extra time before losing by the odd goal in five.
Hydration breaks…no thanks
Three minutes taken out in the middle of each half were roundly booed by fans of all nations and, while there may be some merit in a quick refreshment in the heat of Mexico, to take a USA style ‘time-out’ in Canada or the USA’s air-conditioned stadia made little sense…other than, of course, for the advertisers.
Goodbye to three legends
The 2026 final was memorable not only for the contrasting styles of Spain and Argentina but also because it was most likely the last time, we will see the great Lionel Messi at a World Cup. When the 2030 competition comes around, he will be 43, and it’s surely certain that the Albiceleste will have to cope without him. Never say never though! And it’s also likely to be goodbye to Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Croatia talisman Luke Modric, aged 41 and 40. But don’t rule out a return for Cape Verde’s 40-year-old stopper Vozinha!
El Tri unveils Mora
While the likes of Lamine Yamal have taken up much of the World Cup 2026 news space, the hosts had their own teen star in 17-year-old Gilberto Mora who exploded onto the world stage. He began the first two games on the bench, but he started in Mexico’s final three games, playing brilliantly in El Tri’s Round of 32 win over Ecuador. Currently at Tijuana, Mora is on the radar of a host of top European clubs.
The Final half time show
If you were irritated by hydration breaks as I was, what about the half an hour of ‘entertainment’ midway through the final. The players must have been on edge for much of the extended half-hour, particularly those over 30 who would maybe need some physio to lessen the enhanced risk of injury while Madonna, the Muppets and Justin Bieber took centre stage.
Only in the USA!
Iran team’s political exile
Speaking of which, global tensions between Iran and the USA meant that the Iranian team, who had enough to worry about, also had to run their training camps in Mexico and play their matches in the USA. Iran’s brave footballers had no chance with this handicap and that’s why I’d love to see politics stay out of sport. I do stress this is a very difficult situation though for all concerned.
Norway sees off Brazil
Happily, back to the football, and Norway made a long-awaited appearance at the World Cup finals which meant Manchester City goal machine Haaland was finally on the biggest stage. And he delivered in some style as the Vikings pulled off their biggest result, beating Brazil in the Round of 16, Haaland scoring a superb brace.
Quinones kicked it all off
Let’s finish at the start with another classy goal getter, and respect to Julian Quinones who scored the first goal of the campaign with just nine minutes on the clock, seizing on South African error to beat keeper Ronwen Williams and send Mexico on their way to an opening day 2-0 victory. Raul Jimenez scored his first World Cup goal on a great night for El Tri.
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