The 2026 World Cup Has Been E xtraordinary, The Best is Still to Come
Ronaldo is home. Brazil is out. Haaland is unstoppable. Mbappé is on fire. And somehow, Messi is still standing. The quarterfinals are here and the next two weeks will define football for a generation.
There is something about a World Cup quarterfinal that hits differently from everything that came before it, because at this stage the tournament stops being a festival and becomes something more urgent, more personal, more impossible to look away from, and the 2026 edition has spent the last three weeks building toward exactly this moment with the kind of drama that reminds you why football captures the world the way nothing else quite does.
Forty eight teams started this journey. Eight remain.
France have been the tournament's most complete side, winning all six of their matches without needing extra time, a record no other team can match, and Kylian Mbappé has been their heartbeat throughout, scoring eight goals and leading the Golden Boot race with the kind of form that makes you feel the trophy conversation starts and ends with Les Bleus, though football has a long history of humbling the favourites right when they feel most certain.
Argentina are still here, which given what happened against Egypt should perhaps not be taken for granted, because trailing 2-0 with barely thirteen minutes remaining Lionel Messi's side did what Messi's sides have always done in the moments that matter most, they found a way, scoring three times in the final stretch to complete one of the most breathtaking comebacks this tournament has ever seen and book their place in the quarterfinals against Switzerland, where Messi, at 39 years old and presumably playing in his final World Cup, will be looking to do what he has already done once and lift the only trophy that ever seemed to elude him.
Norway have been the tournament's great surprise package, knocking out Brazil in the round of 16 with Erling Haaland scoring both goals, a result that sent shockwaves through the competition and announced loudly that this Norwegian side is not here simply to participate, they are here to win, and with England standing between them and the semifinals on Saturday the stage is set for one of the most compelling quarterfinal matchups the tournament has to offer.
Cristiano Ronaldo will not be joining them, Spain eliminating Portugal in the round of 16 in a match that brought down the curtain on one of football's greatest careers at the international level, and with Ronaldo gone the tournament has one fewer living legend still standing, making everything that remains feel slightly more precious and slightly more final.
Morocco became the first African nation to reach the World Cup quarterfinals in back-to-back tournaments, a milestone worth celebrating on its own before France ended their run on Thursday with a controlled 2-0 win, and Spain have been equally impressive, reaching the quarterfinals without conceding a single goal across five matches while scoring nine, with sixteen year old Lamine Yamal emerging as one of the tournament's most electric presences.
Today Spain face Belgium, tomorrow Norway face England and Argentina face Switzerland, and by the weekend the four semifinalists will be known, the Golden Boot race between Mbappé, Messi, Haaland and Harry Kane will be tighter than ever, and the World Cup final on July 19 at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey will have its contenders.
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