The 2026 FIFA World Cup has already seen plenty of absolute bangers, incredible moments and surprises \u2026 and we’ve only completed Match Day 1.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mexico opened up the tournament with a strong showing against South Africa, the U.S. men’s national team had its best win ever at a World Cup and Lionel Messi tied the record for the most career World Cup goals with his hat trick on Tuesday. We’ve also seen 74 goals scored so far in the tournament, as all 24 matches had at least one goal scored.<\/p>\n
But which goals and moments were the best of the best? Which teams should we be keeping an eye on for the rest of the World Cup?<\/p>\n
Bob Bradley, Kaylyn Kyle and Walker Zimmerman answered those questions as they dished Match Day 1 superlatives on “World Cup Now.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bradley: <\/strong>The USA’s first-half performance vs. Paraguay<\/p>\n “I just loved the way we came out. I thought our football in the first half was fantastic. The tempo [on Folarin Balogun’s first goal was great]. Balogun has shown he can get goals and is sharp in the box and confident. But Christian [Pulisic’s] dribbling, Weston [McKennie’s] mobility, Balogun’s good positions in the box, Tillman moving around the field \u2014 there were so many parts to the first half and Paraguay just couldn’t get near us.”<\/p>\n Kyle:<\/strong> Lionel Messi scores first career World Cup hat trick<\/p>\n “I gotta go with the G.O.A.T, the great of all-time, Lionel Messi and his hat trick [on Tuesday]. Not only is he aging like a fine wine, but the ability to score goals like he did in different ways. I mean, his absolute goalazo outside the 18-yard box, then he finds himself driving inside the box \u2014 OK, it was sloppy from the goalie. But he was there at the right time, stepping up when his team needed him the most. Then, [his third goal] was just classic Messi.”<\/p>\n Zimmerman<\/strong>: Cura\u00e7ao’s Livano Comenencia scores vs. Germany<\/p>\n “There’s a lot of storylines. I think you can go a lot of different directions with this. But I’m going to focus on some of the debutants and to me, the Cura\u00e7ao goal was special. I know they ended up losing 7-1, but to get an equalizer against a top team like Germany and make it 1-1, I mean what a reaction of the Cura\u00e7ao fans that are in attendance. This was special. This is what the World Cup’s all about. We’ve said it so many times. It’s full of amazing moments. The picture [of the Cura\u00e7ao celebration] is what I have ingrained in my head. It was just a great moment.”<\/p>\n Bradley: <\/strong>Sweden’s Yasin Ayari’s first goal vs. Tunisia<\/p>\n “He scored two great goals. He’s really important [for Sweden] in the midfield \u2014 interesting, he’s got a Tunisian father. Of course, this game is emotional. But I think he’s been a really important part of this Sweden team and I expect more.”\u00a0<\/p>\n Kyle:<\/strong> Mexico’s Ra\u00fal Jim\u00e9nez’s goal vs. South Africa<\/p>\n “It shows what footballers go through. It was his first goal in a World Cup for Mexico. This player has gone through so much mentally, physically and emotionally. We saw the scary injury he had with the fractured skull. He wears that headband that protects him on the side. But then, he starts crying here because he lost his father back in March. He does this on the opening match of a World Cup. I’ve played in a World Cup, home and away, and I’ve started in both of those games, but never scored in a World Cup. It’s emotional, opening up the tournament in front of your family and friends, but I cannot imagine doing it without your father in the stands.”\u00a0<\/p>\n Zimmerman<\/strong>: Austria’s Romano Schmid’s goal<\/p>\n “You look at Austria, you look at the way they won their game against Jordan, I think this was the best strike of the tournament. There’s been a few really good ones. But this is just a knuckle to the upper right corner, and that’s just a phenomenal strike and a great first goal of the game. It set the tone for Austria to get their 3-1 win over Jordan.”<\/p>\n Bradley: <\/strong>Brazil<\/p>\n “Believe it or not, I\u2019m a little worried for Brazil at the moment. I just don\u2019t think the tempo was what we wanted from Brazil, and to be fair, I thought Morocco was really good. Morocco has a young midfielder, Ayyoub Bouaddi. He was sharp in the midfield and they\u2019re very quick and Brazil in the midfield to me seemed slow and behind the play. I\u2019m hoping that they can show more in the next match, but that was something of concern.”<\/p>\n Kyle:<\/strong> Portugal<\/p>\n “I feel like I might get crucified for this and I feel like I might be jumping the gun. I\u2019m nervous for Portugal and I know, but hear me out. The only reason I\u2019m nervous for Portugal is because they have one of the greatest players of our generation. You can throw [Lionel] Messi in there, you throw Cristiano Ronaldo in there. I think they\u2019re both generational players and I think they\u2019re both very different.\u00a0<\/p>\n “But when I looked at Portugal [on Wednesday], I felt frustration within the team and I felt frustration from Cristiano Ronaldo. Tuesday, we had Mbapp\u00e9 with a brace, Messi with a hat trick and [Erling] Haaland with a brace. Then today you have Harry Kane with a brace, so maybe frustration is settling into him. I\u2019m nervous to see what [Roberto] Martinez does with the lineup moving forward. Do you start him or do you bring him off the bench? What is best for the team? That\u2019s my biggest concern.”<\/p>\n Zimmerman<\/strong>: T\u00fcrkiye and Ecuador<\/p>\n “I\u2019m pretty torn, so I\u2019m going to list both of them. For me, it\u2019s T\u00fcrkiye and Ecuador. I think you look at both of these teams and they didn\u2019t get a result and they got zero points out of the first game. What\u2019s interesting is they\u2019re now having to still face the toughest remaining opponents in their group.<\/p>\n “T\u00fcrkiye has to face the USA on match day three, but then also Ecuador, who has to face Germany and so you look at is three points going to be enough for them if they don\u2019t? If they aren\u2019t able to beat one of the stronger teams in their group. Those are two teams that I have my eye on, in terms of being able to get out of their group.”<\/p>\n Kyle:<\/strong> Cape Verde<\/p>\n “Vozinha was fantastic. Player of the match for so many reasons, but he came up huge for his country. Whether it\u2019s saves off the line, tipping it over the bar, this was a guy we weren\u2019t talking about. We always talk about in the world\u2019s biggest tournament, young stars that will show up and show out, but rarely do we see someone that\u2019s maybe an unknown in world football like Vozinha.\u00a0<\/p>\n “He gained over 12 million followers [on Instagram]. Any chance you want to send some of those my way? I will not complain, but these are what I love to see. He\u2019s trying to get his mom to come to his second match, which is incredible to see. We saw her watching the game online, crying at all the saves, so phenomenal stuff.”<\/p>\n Zimmerman<\/strong>: Sweden<\/p>\n “For me, I think it\u2019s Sweden. I think their performance to get five goals, I know they\u2019re playing against Tunisia, who didn\u2019t have the best start and are in a bit of a tumultuous situation, but here\u2019s [Alexander] Isak. We talked about him before. His ability to control that 6-foot-4 frame and have the body control, the technical ability and you see him out there in transition with a great goal.\u00a0<\/p>\n “But for Sweden to put five away for me was a bit of a surprise, known as more of a defensive team who played with the back five, score a lot of set pieces, putting up five goals with a couple really nice goals from [Yasin] Ayari that we\u2019ll see later on in the show. It was a surprise performance for me.”<\/p>\n Bradley: <\/strong>France’s Kylian Mbapp\u00e9\u00a0<\/p>\n “I\u2019m sticking with him [Mbapp\u00e9]. I just see something about him when he plays for France and he takes the role of being captain in a real way and there\u2019s a commitment to what that team\u2019s all about and of course when he\u2019s got the right mentality he can do incredible things. We\u2019ve seen it in the last two World Cups and I think that\u2019s what\u2019s going to happen again this World Cup.”<\/p>\n Zimmerman<\/strong>: France’s Kylian Mbapp\u00e9<\/p>\n “I\u2019m glad he got on the scoresheet early and then he snuck an extra one for me in stoppage time, but I think this France team is so good. I expect them to go far in this tournament and he\u2019s a big reason why.”<\/p>\n Kyle:<\/strong> England’s Harry Kane<\/p>\n “This is because I don\u2019t want to be divorced. I married an Englishman and I\u2019m going to stick with it\u2026Harry Kane. We saw his world class today. He was absolutely fantastic for England. The first goal, stepping up from the PK [penalty kick], the first one, the goalkeeper came off the line and he tried to retake it, he stepped up, calm, cool,\u00a0 collected. But for me, he is the most informed striker in the world and I think England will go far in the tournament and that\u2019s why I\u2019m sticking with him. I just think he\u2019s a fantastic player and he can hurt you in multiple different ways.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY The 2026 FIFA World Cup has already seen plenty of absolute bangers, incredible moments and surprises \u2026 and we’ve only completed Match Day 1.\u00a0 Mexico opened up the tournament with a strong showing against South Africa, the U.S. men’s national team had its best win ever at a World Cup and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5006,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}