The tournament is bigger than ever, but the examination remains the same. Messi, Mbappe, Haaland and Kane have passed the first test with distinction. Ronaldo, for now, still has work left on his paper. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

The FIFA World Cup 2026 has opened like an old Broadway theatre suddenly finding new light. Some curtains have risen on unfamiliar faces, some scripts have been torn up before the second act, and yet, at the centre of the stage, football’s great names have refused to fade into the background.

This was supposed to be a tournament stretched wide by expansion, vulnerable to mismatches. But the new arrivals and outsiders have proved they have not come as decoration. They have come with elbows out, voices raised and the belief that history does not belong only to the old houses.

But every World Cup also needs its constellations. It needs the players whose names pull millions towards a match before the first whistle. And in that sense, too, this tournament has been blessed early.

Lionel Messi has once again made time look negotiable. At 38, he no longer moves like a storm sweeping across the grass. He is more like a watchmaker now, measuring space in tiny, impossible units, appearing where the game needs a key rather than a hammer. Argentina’s opening 3-0 win over Algeria carried the calm of champions who still know their old compass works. Messi’s hat-trick took his goal tally to 16, level with Miroslav Klose as the World Cup’s all-time leading scorer.

Hours earlier, France’s Kylian Mbappé had briefly surpassed the Argentine after striking twice against a resolute Senegalese defence. If Messi bent the game to his rhythm, Mbappe had attacked it with urgency. He remains football’s lightning strike with his sudden, explosive movement that is almost impossible to contain once he gathers momentum. His two goals were enough to settle a contest that, for long periods, threatened to become terribly uncomfortable for France.

For Norway, returning to the World Cup after 28 years, Erling Haaland attacks the game like a door waiting to be kicked open. His football is not ornate. It is avalanche football, all speed, mass and certainty. The striker scored twice in a 4-1 victory over Iraq, becoming the focal point of a Norwegian side many regard as the country’s most talented generation. His movement stretched the Iraqi defence, his finishing punished every mistake, and his presence has transformed Norway from an outsider into a genuine threat.

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Harry Kane, meanwhile, offered England reassurance. Against Croatia, in a 4-2 win that could become a marker for what this team hopes to be, Kane scored twice and equalled Gary Lineker’s England World Cup scoring record. He finished with seven shots, three on target, created two chances and even produced a goal-line clearance in stoppage time, showing the world that England’s ambitions are built on something stronger than hope.

But not every great name has enjoyed the same beginning. Cristiano Ronaldo struggled to impose himself in Portugal’s 1-1 draw against DR Congo. The five-time Ballon d’Or winner looked flat, unable to summon the electricity that has so often been the antidote to Portuguese anxiety.

This contrast has made the opening week of the World Cup more intriguing. The tournament is bigger than ever, but the examination remains the same. Messi, Mbappe, Haaland and Kane have passed the first test with distinction. Ronaldo, for now, still has work left on his paper.

Published on Jun 18, 2026