World Cup: Superstars, shocks, Vozinha, Messi and Mbappé provide beguiling start to 48-team competition
SUPERSTARS walking the walk, muscle-flexing and shocks, kudos for teams across all six FIFA confederations and - most joyously of all - inspirational human stories to savour.
As opening weeks to World Cups go, the 2026 competition across North America has brought plenty to the table, despite all those pre-tournament concerns. It augurs well for the road ahead, whisper it gently.
Early days maybe, but the evidence so far suggests that the controversial 48-team format has enriched rather than diluted the tournament. Not just because of wonderful Cape Verde either.
Setting aside his disappointment after his highly-fancied Spain side were sensationally pegged back in a game that proved 0-0 draws can be brilliant rather than boring, head coach Luis de la Fuente graciously acknowledged: "Football is like that – there are no small opponents here."
Other minnows might not have secured such stunning results, yet history has been made all the same.
No better place to start than Curaçao, the smallest nation ever to take part in a World Cup by size and population.
With around 155,000 inhabitants, the Caribbean island of just 171 square miles with a population the same as Huddersfield.
Livano Comenencia wrote his name in Blue Wave folklore with an equaliser against Germany. Forget the 7-1 scoreline, this was theatre.
Like Curaçao, Iraq were vanquished in their opener, by Norway. Yet the story after was as much Ayman Hussein as two-goal Erling Haaland.
Hussein's leveller was Iraq's second-ever World Cup finals goal and first since 1986.
His story is borne from immense sadness. When he was 12 years old, his father - a soldier in the Iraqi army - was shot dead by al-Qaeda.
Further tragedy struck a few years later when his older brother was kidnapped. He has not been seen since.
Hussein decided to quit football to look after his family, but his mother pulled rank and he pursued his dream.
Not that it was easy to enter the US. He was detained for about seven hours in Chicago before eventually being allowed in.
A week in and it’s a competition that a 40-year-old journeyman goalkeeper called Vozinha will never forget. Or 500,000 Cape Verdeans back home.
Vozinha, who had previously toyed with quitting the game like Hussein, etched himself into competition folklore by thwarting Spain.
By full-time at the Atlanta Stadium, his life had changed. Tears flowed and his Instagram account went from 56,000 followers to five million.
That’s the World Cup for you. Special memories should not just be the preserve of the elite.
In terms of on-pitch controversies, there have not been too many, mercifully, as yet. There have been grumbles about ‘hydration breaks’ for sure - and it’s something still to get used to.
That said, the main source of opprobrium, certainly in this country, has centred upon the near-constant griping about the credentials of commentators, pundits, summarisers and even TV studios across social media. Better to just enjoy the football..
One controversy did arrive when the Swiss were awarded an erroneous penalty against Qatar, which FIFA blamed on a "technical outage".
Qatar's late leveller took away the sting in an opening round when several of the establishment were given food for thought.
Morocco held Brazil to a draw which Seleção were been grateful for after being comprehensively outplayed in the opening half-hour.
Japan twice came from behind to draw against the Netherlands, while Egypt weren’t far away from their maiden World Cup win versus Belgium.
Australia's shocked Turkey and there were unexpected draws for Gulf duo Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Fine goals too, step forward the Aussie's youngest ever World Cup scorer in Nestory Irankunda and two-goal Kiwi Elijah Just, Motherwell's finest. Irankunda was born in a Tanzanian refugee camp to Burundian parents, who had fled their homeland because of civil war.
The maxim that every tournament needs the very best to shine has also been adhered to with Kylain Mbappe and Lionel Messi carrying on from where they left off in Qatar.
Suitably affronted by Mbappé's brace against Senegal which saw him become France's record goalscorer at the age of just 27 - and move level with Gerd Muller with 14 World Cup goals, Messi got to work a few hours later.
Even if he was somewhat fortunate to get away with a stamp on Algeria's Aissa Mandi.
His first-ever competition hat-trick took his finals goal tally to 16. He is equal with Miroslav Klose as the all-time leading scorer. Further fun awaits.