PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - JUNE 14: Amad Diallo #15 of Cote d'Ivoire celebrates scoring his team's first goal during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Group E match between Cote D'Ivoire and Ecuador at Philadelphia Stadium on June 14, 2026 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Ezra Shaw - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
FIFA via Getty Images
It was one thing for FIFA to expanded the World Cup to 48 teams for the first time in 2026, and another for the sports’ governing body to spread most of the benefits beyond the traditional power axis of Europe and South America.
More than half the tournament field is from outside those two federations that boast every World Cup title for the first time in the tournament’s history. That means more eyeballs than ever are on continental performance as federations try to make their case for 2030 and beyond.
Now that every team has played one match at the tournament, we can begin to evaluate whether teams from Africa, Asia and the CONCACAF region will repay FIFA’s generosity. Here is every continent’s record through one group match.
We may tire of European complaining, but at least they’ve mostly backed it up at this tournament. Of their three losses, one came in England’s 4-2 win over Croatia in the tournament’s only intracontinental match so far.
Tuesday afternoon’s tasty clash, complete with historical overtones a plenty, was billed as one of the best matches of the entire group stage. In the end, France made their case for being the World Cup favorites with two goals from Kylian Mbappé and a Man of the Match performance by Michael Olise.
Spain’s 0-0 draw against Cape Verde was more shocking, but owed to some excellent defending and goalkeeping, as well as some bad luck. Portugal’s draw against Congo was a far more accurate reflection of the play on the field, in which the Congolese tactics masterfully contained one of the supposed World Cup favorites and on another day might have even resulted in an historic victory.
The record looks worse than it is. Two losses came to genuine tournament favorites (France, Argentina) and a third against a host nation (Mexico). African teams have drawn arguably the toughest assignments in Matchday 1, With Spain, Portugal, Brazil and Belgium also on their collective fight card.
Along with Morocco’s draw with Brazil, this win felt like a turning point for an entire continent. It was no surprise that Les Elephants gave an excellent performance against La Tri, led by the sensational Yan Diomande. But we’ve seen plenty of those in previous tournaments by African outfits, only to result in draws or frustrating defeats. This time it was Amad Diallo’s well-taken winner in the 90th minute sealing a deserved win and halting Ecuador’s 19-match unbeaten run.
It wasn’t so much the final score but that Bafana Bafana looked genuinely rattled by the occasion and the Estadio Azteca atmosphere. On another day – one where Mexico’s attackers had knocked off the pre-tournament jitters – it might have been 4-0 or worse.
This is another performance that is better than the record shows for the most part, although Asian sides didn’t have quite has tough a Matchday 1 itinerary as their African colleagues. Where they were exceptional was in taking six points total from losing positions.
I hear you, Australia fans. The Socceroos played really well against a fancied Turkish squad and are in position to possibly be shock winners in Group D. But where South Korea’s victory was superior was in how they earned it, rallying from a goal down late at altitude, and doing it while while taking superstar Son Heung-min off well before full time.
It’s no real shame conceding a brace to Erling Haaland. But Iraq’s inability to keep the margin of defeat narrow when that very well could be the tiebreaker for one of the top eight third-place spots showed a bit of naivety that could prove very damaging.
South America remains one of the more stratified continents. Argentina looked like defending champions, Colombia like a dangerous side and Brazil a squad with more potential than their results showed. Ecuador, Uruguay and Paraguay all appeared very flawed.
Rumors of Lionel Messi’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner reminded us all that he was still South America’s leading scorer in 2026 qualifying with his first-ever World Cup hat trick, even if he was a bit fortunate not to be sent off for a reckless early challenge.
The Albirroja came into contest boasting one of the world’s best defenses, having conceded only 10 times in 18 World Cup qualifiers, and should’ve been boosted by the shock fitness of talisman Julio Enciso. Instead, their spirit was broken by halftime against an excellent-looking American squad.
The United States and Mexico both looked excellent in front of raucous home crowds. Canada’s draw could be excused given injury absences. But it was a real opportunity missed for the rest of the region that may have left confederation president Victor Montagliani rueing the conspicuous absence of talented Jamaican and Costa Rican squads.
Let’s be honest, not even the most optimistic American fans saw that particular performance coming. And while Paraguay deserve plenty of blame for what was a shockingly poor effort, Maucio Pochettino’s USMNT also deserves credit for intilling a killer instinct in his side that broke that Albirroja spirit.
Playing in front of a heavily pro-Panama crowd and against an opponent missing one of its best players, Los Canaleros fumbled what was easily their best chance at a first World Cup victory since they first qualified for the tournament in 2018. Now they need a miracle result against Croatia or England to advance.
The 2026 World Cup marks the first time Oceania’s confederation has received an automatic berth into the tournament, effectively handing New Zealand a free pass into the tournament.
Best and Worst is tongue in cheek when you’re only talking about one match. And yet it’s sort of fitting. The Kiwis would have been underdogs to Iran under normal circumstances, and will probably take the point all things considered. At the same time, given the adversity Team Melli is dealing with off the pitch, it could feel like an opportunity lost not to take three points after leading twice.
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