With Lionel Messi, 38, widely expected to retire from World Cup football after this tournament, Argentina’s performances in 2026 offer early clues about who might carry the team’s leadership mantle in the years ahead. Messi’s Continued Influence Even at this…
The FIFA World Cup 2026 has placed two generations of French and Spanish attacking talent on parallel paths, inviting comparisons between an established superstar and the sport’s most closely watched teenager. Mbappé’s Continued Dominance Kylian Mbappé, 27, has been France’s…
Lionel Messi arrived at his sixth World Cup at age 38, widely expected to be his last, and he has used it to rewrite the tournament’s record books rather than fade quietly into retirement. A Record-Breaking Campaign Messi opened with…
The FIFA World Cup 2026 has been shaped by genuine sporting drama, but it has also faced a series of debates that started before the opening match and have continued into the knockout rounds. Tournament Expansion The jump from 32…
Introduction The clean narrative — that a five-time champion’s biggest star was shut down by a disciplined underdog defence — doesn’t quite hold up against what actually happened on the pitch in East Rutherford. Vinícius Júnior set up a golden…
Introduction By the time most players are considering a move to a bigger club, Kylian Mbappé had already broken Thierry Henry’s youth record at Monaco, won a World Cup at 19, and moved to Real Madrid in one of the…
Introduction Every football fan already knows the numbers: five Ballon d’Ors, the most goals in men’s international football history, a résumé that spans Sporting CP, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus and Al Nassr. Fewer know that a racing heart condition…
Introduction Reigning champions against tournament trailblazers: that’s the shape of Tuesday’s early Round of 16 tie in Atlanta, where Lionel Messi’s Argentina face Mohamed Salah’s Egypt for a place in the quarter-finals. Neither side arrived here comfortably. Argentina needed a…
Introduction Rosario is a river city, not a football factory in the way Buenos Aires is often described, yet it produced the player who now stands alone at the top of the World Cup’s all-time scoring list. Most supporters can…
