{"id":4113,"date":"2026-07-09T13:37:50","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T13:37:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4113"},"modified":"2026-07-09T13:37:50","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T13:37:50","slug":"world-cup-bests-and-worsts-what-weve-loved-and-havent-through-the-first-96-matches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4113","title":{"rendered":"World Cup bests and worsts: What we\u2019ve loved (and haven\u2019t) through the first 96 matches"},"content":{"rendered":"
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After four weeks and 96 matches and 280 goals and 8,820 minutes of soccer (and four penalty shootouts), we on Wednesday reached the first rest day of the largest World Cup in history.<\/p>\n

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Forty teams are out. Eight remain.<\/p>\n

Just eight matches are left \u2014 four in the quarterfinals, two in the semis, the third place and the July 19 final at New Jersey\u2019s MetLife Stadium.<\/p>\n

Here are some bests and worsts of the tournament (so far):<\/p>\n

Best team: <\/strong>This is easy, France. Les Bleus have outscored opponents 14-2 while playing in a group that included Senegal and fellow quarterfinalist Norway. Coach Didier Deschamps\u2019 embarrassment of attacking riches \u2014 Kylian Mbapp\u00e9, Ousmane Dembele, Michael Olise, D\u00e9sir\u00e9 Dou\u00e9 and Bradley Barcola \u2014 have all been able to eat. France could probably field a B and C team that would reach the quarterfinals, their depth is so staggering. That they\u2019re on the tougher side of the bracket shouldn\u2019t matter. This is clearly the team to beat.<\/p>\n

Second-best team:<\/strong> Spain. The country\u00a0is known for passing and dribbling and scoring, but it is defense that has carried La Roja. Five matches, nine goals scored, zero goals conceded. Their total expected goals through five matches is 1.49; the next lowest by any of the quarterfinalists is double that. Shots on goal allowed: five in five matches. They\u2019re on the same side of the bracket with France, which makes for a delectable semifinal but robs us of the tournament\u2019s two best teams in the July 19 final.<\/p>\n

Biggest surprise:\u00a0<\/strong>Norway, with a population of 5.6 million, dispatched Brazil to reach the quarterfinals despite qualifying only three previous times in its history and missing the last six tournaments. But it\u2019s hard to ignore Cape Verde, the 10-island archipelago off the coast of West Africa with a population of 611,000 and no fully professional domestic league. Relying on a roster largely of players born elsewhere, it tied Spain, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia in the group stage, then took Argentina to extra time in the round of 32. Vozinha, the 40-year-old goalkeeper out of contract with his second-division Portuguese pro club, became an overnight folk hero.<\/p>\n

Biggest disappointment:\u00a0<\/strong>This is the first World Cup in history without Italy, Germany or Brazil in the round of 16. Italy didn\u2019t qualify for the third straight time. Germany hasn\u2019t won a knockout match since hoisting the trophy in 2014 and exited here against Paraguay in a penalty shootout. Neither of those, though, carried the expectations of five-time champion Brazil, which last won in 2002 but at least had done no worse than the quarterfinals in the five subsequent tournaments. This time, with respected Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti at the helm, the Sele\u00e7\u00e3o squeaked past Japan in the round of 32 before losing to Norway, a nation that had never reached the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

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Most overrated team: <\/strong>Argentina. Here\u2019s who\u00a0Argentina\u00a0beat to reach the quarterfinals: Algeria, Austria, Jordan, Cape Verde and Egypt. It\u2019s statistically the easiest route to the final eight in World Cup history, bringing cries of FIFA snowplowing a path for Lionel Messi and the monster TV ratings that come with him. This is an average Argentina team that has yet to face anyone in the top 20 of the FIFA world rankings and struggled to beat presumably overmatched Cape Verde and Egypt in the knockout phase, the latter requiring a much-debated VAR decision that reversed a goal. Now La Albiceleste get Switzerland, which last reached the quarterfinals in 1954, when it was a 16-team tournament.<\/p>\n

Best game:\u00a0<\/strong>England-Mexico. There are plenty of deserving candidates: Argentina\u2019s extra-time nail-biter against Cape Verde, Argentina\u2019s come-from-behind thriller against Egypt, Belgium\u2019s miraculous escape against Senegal, Morocco\u2019s shootout against the Netherlands, Portugal\u2019s 2-1 win against Croatia sealed by a sensor inside the ball, Algeria and Iran\u2019s wild 3-3 tie in the group finale. But for sheer theater, nothing topped England\u2019s 3-2 classic against Mexico in the round of 16 at famed Estadio Azteca. The level of soccer wasn\u2019t always high, but the elevation and drama were \u2014 two goals 98 seconds apart, two PKs, one red card, endless stoppage time, two nations holding their breaths.<\/p>\n

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Worst game: <\/strong>Colombia-Switzerland was a snoozer in the round of the 16, eventually settled by PKs after a scoreless draw through 120 minutes. But at least that was relatively high-level soccer. Even worse was Paraguay and Australia, a pair of flawed teams playing to nil-nil in the last group match, knowing a tie sent both through to the knockout stage.<\/p>\n

Best forward: <\/strong>The Golden Boot race is tight with Mbapp\u00e9, Messi and Harry Kane, but no striker has meant more to his team than Norway\u2019s Erling Haaland, despite being involved in just 4% of their play, completing a mere 35 passes and sitting out a meaningless group match. But it doesn\u2019t matter when you score seven goals on 18 shots. Norway probably doesn\u2019t survive the group stage without him.<\/p>\n

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Best midfielder: <\/strong>England\u2019s Jude Bellingham became the first player with two goals in a match at Azteca since Argentina\u2019s Diego Maradona in 1986. But it isn\u2019t just his four goals, two in the dramatic win against Mexico, that have defined his tournament. He\u2019s been superb at everything: shooting, scoring, dribbling, receiving passes, making passes, making runs, opening spaces, closing spaces, defending, winning ground and aerial duels. Kane has grabbed the headlines, but Bellingham is England\u2019s MVP so far.<\/p>\n

Best defender: <\/strong>Spain\u2019s Pau Cubarsi is at the heart of a defense that has allowed exactly zero goals through five World Cup matches. That\u2019s the quickest any center back has been a part of five World Cup clean sheets, surpassing the record of seven by Italian legend Paolo Maldini. The Barcelona man has completed 96% of his passes. He also has 19 ball recoveries and 23 successful defensive actions. And the craziest number: He\u2019s just 19 years old.<\/p>\n

Best goalkeeper: <\/strong>Morocco\u2019s Yassine \u201cBono\u201d Bounou has had his share of spectacular saves, as have several others in this tournament, but it is what he did in the penalty shootout against the Netherlands that separates him. He might have just revolutionized how keepers approach PKs, picking a side but staying upright instead of diving. The numbers concur: Only four of the last 12 shootout PKs he\u2019s faced in international tournaments have found the net.<\/p>\n

Best goal:\u00a0<\/strong>There are plenty to choose from, with a record 280 scored across the 96 games, or 2.92 per match. Haiti\u2019s Wilson Isidor had an absolute screamer from outside the box against Morocco. Kane\u2019s second goal, roofed into the net after evading two defenders, was the late game-winner for England against DR Congo. The looping, dipping shot by Uzbekistan\u2019s Eldor Shomurodov from an improbably tight angle was voted best goal of the first round. But the obvious choice here is Cape Verde\u2019s Sidny Lopes Cabral in the round of 32, bending a shot from the left side into the upper-right corner to tie mighty Argentina 2-2 in extra time.<\/p>\n

Best celebration:\u00a0<\/strong>No contest, Norway\u2019s\u00a0Viking row. The fans have been doing it everywhere, inside and outside stadiums. Then the team did it, sitting on the field after beating Ivory Coast to reach the round of 16, with captain Martin Odegaard banging the drum. They\u2019ll have to beat England on Saturday in the quarterfinals if we want to see it again.<\/p>\n

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