The 2026 FIFA World Cup, retold

With zero points and a goal difference of -11, Iraq finished as the worst team at this World Cup. No one really gave them a chance in the Group of Death with France, Senegal, and Norway, nor did they stand a chance. Aymen Hussein’s header against the Norwegians will live long in the memories of Iraqi soccer fans, but it was almost immediately followed by Zaid Tahseen essentially gifting Erling Haaland a brace. Not wanting to play favorites in the Golden Boot race, Tahseen let Mbappé have one in the rainy match against France. Finally, Iraq lost 5-0 to Senegal, who needed to win by at least three to advance. Unsurprisingly easy cannon fodder.

Prediction: group stage exit
Reality: group stage exit
Results: 4-1 loss to Norway, 3-0 loss to France, 5-0 loss to Senegal

For the three World Cups prior to this year’s edition, I have tried to watch basically every single match. I say that to contrast it with the fact that I did not see a single minute of Tunisia at this World Cup. Each of their matches was played either really late or while I was traveling. Going by their results, though, it seems like I didn’t miss much from them. I never had any belief in this team, and as it turns out, they didn’t have any belief in their head coach, who they sacked after their first match. Hervé Renard was appointed in his place, only to immediately lose 4-0 to Japan, exit after the group stage, and resign after 18 days in charge. Group F was also kind of a Group of Death for this team, but wow, this was a disaster. Just recently, Tunisia appointed Mouin Chaâbani as head coach; I can only wish him the best of luck.

Prediction: group stage exit
Reality: group stage exit
Results: 5-1 loss to Sweden, 4-0 loss to Japan, 3-1 loss to the Netherlands

The worst-performing debutants at the World Cup, Uzbekistan did themselves no favors by getting thrashed 5-0 by 41-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo and company. They did show some fight against DR Congo, holding a lead for nearly an hour, but ended up conceding three goals in each of their three losses. The lights were a little too bright for this team.

Prediction: group stage exit
Reality: group stage exit
Results: 3-1 loss to Colombia, 5-0 loss to Portugal, 3-1 loss to DR Congo

Haiti needed to start off well in their first match, against Scotland. Though they played better than many were expecting, they lost and were swiftly outclassed by Brazil in their next match. Which is not to say their tournament wasn’t memorable: no one who watched the 4-2 loss to Morocco will soon forget Wilson Isidor’s incredible strike. Qualifying for the next World Cup will be a tougher task with the three host nations back in the fray, but this experience—and Martin Expérience—should prove helpful.

Prediction: group stage exit
Reality: group stage exit
Results: 1-0 loss to Scotland, 3-0 loss to Brazil, 4-2 loss to Morocco

I watched very little of Jordan’s first-ever World Cup, with their first two matches taking place at 11 pm or later and their last match coinciding with Algeria-Austria (which we will be talking about!). So I have little to say, but it’s not often that a team ends their World Cup with zero points yet with a goal scored in each match. That is a commendable debut.

Prediction: group stage exit
Reality: group stage exit
Results: 3-1 loss to Austria, 2-1 loss to Algeria, 3-1 loss to Argentina

How many goals did you score at this World Cup? Yes, I’m talking to you. Whatever the number, congratulations, you scored as many, if not more (hello, Kylian, I know you’re reading) goals than the entire Panama national team. Some teams came to this tournament to etch their names in history. Panama left hardly a trace. In the future, people will doubt that they were ever here. A goalless tournament had not been accomplished by any World Cup team in 20 years. So, congrats, I guess?

Prediction: group stage exit
Reality: group stage exit
Results: 1-0 loss to Ghana, 1-0 loss to Croatia, 2-0 loss to England

When Livano Comenencia equalized against Germany after 21 minutes of Curaçao’s World Cup debut, you truly believed anything was possible. That may have been the only goal the Blue Wave would bless us with, but the party never ended. I attended their match against Côte d’Ivoire in Philadelphia, and it really seemed like half (if not more) of the stadium was supporting Curaçao, many of them neutrals. They certainly won people’s hearts. And we can’t forget goalkeeper Eloy Room’s 15 saves against Ecuador, the best goalkeeping performance in the history of the World Cup group stage. Curaçao departed the World Cup with just one point, but what a point it was.

Prediction: group stage exit
Reality: group stage exit
Results: 7-1 loss to Germany, 0-0 draw with Ecuador, 2-0 loss to Côte d’Ivoire

After losing every match at their home World Cup in 2022, Qatar won their first-ever point in a draw with Switzerland. (I still don’t really understand how that result happened. The early days of the World Cup where it seemed like Asian teams were unbeatable seem so far away now.) Of course, that was followed by one of the most disastrous performances in World Cup history, going down to nine men in a 6-0 loss to Canada. The subsequent loss in a must-win match against Bosnia was comfortable. Ultimately, a forgettable tournament.

Prediction: group stage exit
Reality: group stage exit
Results: 1-1 draw with Switzerland, 6-0 loss to Canada, 3-1 loss to Bosnia

The Kiwis' last-place performance in Group G, conceding 10 goals, probably did not help their case in the upcoming World Cup affirmative action lawsuit. What I didn’t expect is that they would score four goals of their own, mainly thanks to one of the World Cup’s best players I had never heard of, the irrepressible Elijah Just. Just just willed New Zealand into a draw with Iran before the All Whites’ status as the lowest-ranked team at this tournament made itself known, especially against Belgium. Like with Jordan, a goal in each match is at least worthy of recognition for an unfancied team.

Prediction: group stage exit
Reality: group stage exit
Results: 2-2 draw with Iran, 3-1 loss to Egypt, 5-1 loss to Belgium

This was my first big miss, prediction-wise. The case for Czechia in the Round of 16 was always a bit contrived: a team that survived and advanced to the World Cup on penalties surviving and advancing again. Things were promising at first, as Ladislav Krejčí headed the Czechs into the lead against South Korea, but they would go on to lose that match. A bad performance against South Africa was sealed with a draw thanks to a late penalty. A 3-0 loss to a Mexico team with nothing to play for finished the Czechs off. One of the least memorable teams at this World Cup.

Prediction: round of 16 loss to Türkiye (lol)
Reality: group stage exit
Results: 2-1 loss to South Korea, 1-1 draw with South Africa, 3-0 loss to Mexico

Four years after shocking the world with that famous win over Argentina, Saudi Arabia threatened to surprise again by taking the lead against Uruguay, but their first goal was to be their last goal. They were hopeless against Spain and utterly boring against Cabo Verde. To be honest, I thought they would end on fewer than two points, but last place in Group H was entirely predictable.

Prediction: group stage exit
Reality: group stage exit
Results: 1-1 draw with Uruguay, 4-0 loss to Spain, 0-0 draw with Cabo Verde

Uruguay’s group stage exit in 2022 was disappointing. This group stage exit was outright miserable. So miserable that their charter flight home was canceled and the players were expected to find their own way home on commercial. I was not alone in thinking that this group would be easy for them; it was anything but. An embarrassing tournament was capped off by a shameless straight-red-card tackle by Agustín Canobbio on Pau Cubarsí. Disastrous stuff.

Prediction: round of 32 loss to Argentina
Reality: group stage exit
Results: 1-1 draw with Saudi Arabia, 2-2 draw with Cabo Verde, 1-0 loss to Spain

In hindsight, Scotland’s tournament ended after they failed to beat Haiti by more than one goal. But that goal, scored by John McGinn, was a moment to remember. Against Brazil, the commentators theorized about how many goals Scotland could lose by and still qualify for the round of 32. As it turned out, they needed a draw. I thought they would get one against either Morocco or Brazil, but alas. To be fair to the Tartan Army, they did win Glasgow a sister-city partnership with Boston. No Scotland, no party. Indeed.

Prediction: round of 32 loss to Mexico
Reality: group stage exit
Results: 1-0 win over Haiti, 1-0 loss to Morocco, 3-0 loss to Brazil

On the 19th of June, I was left speechless. 62 shots to 14 over two matches. 63% and 78% possession. 90% pass accuracy, twice. An entire half against 10 men. Zero goals. Zero points.

“Fate was not on our side,” said head coach Vincenzo Montella after the unfathomable 1-0 loss to Paraguay, which followed a 2-0 loss to Australia, a combination of events that spelled elimination. And perhaps that was the only way to describe what had happened. But underneath the immediate statistics lay the fact that most of those shots were prayers from outside the box. They were throwing spaghetti at the wall. Nothing stuck.

Of course, because the funniest possible outcome is often the one that happens, they took just 10 shots against the United States, 4 on target—and won. If they had scored on just one of those chances against the 10 men of Paraguay, they would’ve been through to the knockouts. Instead, a team that I predicted to go to the quarterfinals on account of their great individual talent never even sniffed the round of 32, because individual talents trying to be the hero from 24 yards out is usually not a recipe for success. If it was fate, as Montella posited, fate sure did not want me to be right about Türkiye.

Prediction: quarterfinal loss to Spain
Reality: group stage exit
Results: 2-0 loss to Australia, 1-0 loss to Paraguay, 3-2 win over the United States

How do you know when your World Cup campaign has been a disaster? Answer: when your country’s president is calling on your Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to conduct a thorough investigation into the use of taxpayer funds to produce a group stage exit. Things had started so well, with Hwang In-beom producing a cheeky finish to kickstart a comeback victory over Czechia. Then the Mexico match was decided by a goalkeeping error. But still, you would have backed the Koreans to not lose to South Africa. Somehow, they failed to do just that.

I could make guesses as to what went wrong, but I suppose the upcoming legal inquiry will find out. With a simple goalless draw against South Africa, they would’ve finished where I thought they would: second in the group. I thought they could beat Canada. But against South Africa, they didn’t look like they could beat anyone.

Prediction: round of 16 loss to Japan
Reality: group stage exit
Results: 2-1 win over Czechia, 1-0 loss to Mexico, 1-0 loss to South Africa

FIFA, or the United States, or the United States of FIFA, seemed desperate to have Iran gone as soon as possible. It’s worth recounting how it happened, because the story of Iran’s elimination from the World Cup is a story of almost every single thing outside of Iran’s control going wrong.

Before the tournament, Iran requested to move their World Cup matches outside of the obviously inhospitable United States, with whom they had just entered a war. FIFA said no, for logistical reasons. The United States then implemented strict visa conditions for the Iranian team, giving them limited time in the country before their matches and forcing them to leave almost immediately after the final whistle. You have to imagine that such treatment could be responsible for at least one point Iran might have otherwise earned throughout the group stage.

What Iran did earn was three draws with New Zealand, Belgium, and Egypt. Of course, Cabo Verde also earned three draws, but because Uruguay and Saudi Arabia drew, the Blue Sharks qualified automatically. It’s worth noting that if that match had swung either way, Cabo Verde would have been eliminated from the tournament after the group stage, all else held constant. Iran, though, finished third in their group, mostly because they had a goal (correctly) disallowed for offside in each of their three matches. There were things that went wrong that were not in their control, but being offside was not one of them.

Even still, going into the final group stage matchday, Iran had somewhere around a 90% chance to advance to the round of 32. They just needed three things to not happen:

1. Croatia to get at least a draw with Ghana.
2. DR Congo to beat Uzbekistan.
3. Algeria-Austria to end in a draw.

And the rest is history. All of those things happened. The Congolese were tied until the 78th minute, but ultimately prevailed. And then, in the most heartbreaking fashion, Algeria broke the tie with Austria in the 93rd minute only for Austria to send Iran packing 3 minutes later. 3 matches, 3 draws, 3 points, 3 goals disallowed for offside, 3 things to not happen that did happen, capped off by a 3-3 draw where it seemed for 3 minutes like everything would be all right. Roberto Martínez, is that you?

Upon Iran’s elimination, Markwayne Mullin, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary, said, “I might’ve sung a song or two.” Three was probably too many.

Prediction: round of 32 loss to the United States
Reality: group stage exit
Results: 2-2 draw with New Zealand, 0-0 draw with Belgium, 1-1 draw with Egypt

The final World Cup standings will tell you that Cabo Verde was the worst team to make the round of 32. The final World Cup standings are a lie. Novels could be written about this team. People who had never given a second thought to soccer were watching a team from a country they had previously never heard of to cheer them on to the round of 16. Do you know how crazy that is? The entire country of Cabo Verde has fewer people than my city. Yet they fielded a team that could not be separated from both eventual World Cup finalists after a combined 200 minutes. Not just by an incredibly committed defensive showing, like against Spain, but by one of the most incredible goals in World Cup history, scored by Sidny Lopes Cabral in extra time against Argentina. The entire world watched as a 40-year-old goalkeeper with spells in Moldova, Cyprus, and Slovakia looked the greatest player of all time in the eyes and saved his ever-precise free kick. The man now has a sea slug named after him, for heaven’s sake. People will talk about Vozinha for decades.

Most World Cup fairy tales start and end in 90 minutes. This one lasted for over six hours. We can only hope that this is not the last time we will ever see something like this. Because as much as this was the summer of big names and big teams, the most conventional World Cup semifinalists ever—this was the summer of Cabo Verde. I will never forget where I was when I saw that Cabral goal, and neither will you.

Prediction: group stage exit
Reality: round of 32 loss to Argentina
Results: 0-0 draw with Spain, 2-2 draw with Uruguay, 0-0 draw with Saudi Arabia, 3-2 loss to Argentina (AET)

500 miles to the east of Cabo Verde, the end result was exactly the same: a 3-2 extra time loss in the round of 32. The circumstances, however, couldn’t have been more different.

Senegal showed immense resilience to recover from losses to free-scoring France and Norway to demolish Iraq and qualify for the round of 32. That is where I had them losing (to Portugal), but before the match against Belgium, I might’ve favored them. After 85 minutes, they were up 2-0, cruising and deservedly so. Then came utter calamity, as Belgium did what they did to Japan in 2018 and erased their lead within a matter of minutes. In extra time, a brutal penalty call was made, and Youri Tielemans made no mistake to score the latest goal in World Cup history and win it for Belgium.

Senegal went from being mere minutes from a round of 16 date with the United States to firing their head coach. It didn’t have to be this way. There was a sense that this team was meant for more, but in the end, they failed to surpass expectations.

Prediction: round of 32 loss to Portugal
Reality: round of 32 loss to Belgium
Results: 3-1 loss to France, 3-2 loss to Norway, 5-0 win over Iraq, 3-2 loss to Belgium (AET)

I have little to say about most of Algeria’s tournament: the supporting actor performance for Lionel Messi’s hat-trick, the comeback to eliminate Jordan, or even their listless performance in the knockout loss to Switzerland, which I predicted even before the tournament began. But I want to talk about the 3-3 draw with Austria, because I could not believe my eyes as I was watching it unfold.

The stage was set for a real World Cup After Dark belter in Kansas City. The situation was thus: if either team lost, they would be eliminated. If either team won, they would play Spain in the round of 32, and Iran would play Switzerland. But if they drew, Austria would play Spain, Algeria would play Switzerland, and Iran would be eliminated.

It is important to note that such a scenario would have been completely impossible in a 32-team World Cup. With only 2 teams from each group advancing, one of these two teams would have to go home, and there would not be a team in another group waiting on the result of this match. The prisoner’s dilemma was to be played out on the field. Cooperate—that is, play to a draw—and both teams get their best possible result: qualification, and for Algeria, qualification against a potentially easier opponent. Going for a win served no purpose besides ruining the opponent’s day. And so they were already calling it the Missouri Compromise.

But then there was the historical context: in 1982, before the days of concurrent final matches in the group stage, Austria and West Germany played to a seemingly agreed-upon 1-0 result to eliminate Algeria from the group stage. So the question was: would Algeria go from the victim of one disgrace to the perpetrator of another? Would this be a goalless draw to smite the Iranians?

No. It would be the greatest match of the entire group stage.

Austria set the tone with a goal sent in from over the top to Marko Arnautović, which made it clear that they were here to play soccer despite not exactly needing to win. That put Algeria on the back foot, but they equalized through one of the most hilarious goals I have ever seen. I’ll describe it for you.

The Algerian center-back Ramy Bensebaini crosses the ball all the way over to Riyad Mahrez, but it’s not a great pass. Instead of going out of bounds, though, it somehow bounces off the corner flag and stays in play. The Austrian defender Phillipp Mwene then grabs onto Mahrez’s leg to prevent him from getting to the ball, a clear and obvious foul, but the referee doesn’t call a foul, because Rafik Belghali is now all alone with the ball.

Belghali is a right-back who plays in the Italian second division, which makes what he does next all the more incredible. He kicks the ball directly into Xaver Schlager’s groin, sending him toppling like a domino. That leaves two men to beat: Marcel Sabitzer and David Alaba. Sabitzer slides, expecting a shot, giving Belghali enough time to make the cut. Alaba doesn’t have enough time to react, and Belghali fires the ball into the right side of the goal. 1-1. It’s so beautiful and so funny.

Both teams could’ve stopped there, recognizing each other as equals and shaking hands for a draw. But Sabitzer scored a rocket to make it 2-1, which obviously necessitated Mahrez to equalize. That should have been all she wrote.

And it almost was. There was a stretch of this match as it crept into stoppage time, where for over five minutes, the Algerian back line just passed the ball from left to right and right to left, the Austrians never getting a foot to the ball. Both sides seemed to accept the result. Then came a moment, in the third of four minutes of stoppage time, that I have been thinking about for days.

Farès Chaïbi has the ball behind all eleven of the Austrian players. Everyone is expecting him to just pass it to the right so Algeria can hold the ball. In fact, he has just received the 107th consecutive pass that Algeria has made. For context, Paraguay completed just 99 passes in their round of 16 match against France, in the entire match. So why would he do anything else?

Maybe he sees something. Maybe Houssem Aouar beckons for the ball, but if he does, it is so subtle that no one can tell except Chaïbi. He gains a bit of separation from the nearest defender, then receives the inch-perfect through pass from Chaïbi. He spins and flicks the ball into the path of Riyad Mahrez, who has timed his run to perfection and latches onto the pass, taking it first-time to send it past goalkeeper Alexander Schlager into the corner of the net. It is a goal that has come from absolutely nowhere, and it is absolutely brilliant.

Why did they score that goal? Why, after 109 consecutive passes, did they score to give themselves a theoretically harder task in the round of 32? Was it revenge for 1982? Was it just to see if they could do it? We will never get the answer to any of those questions, though, because 136 seconds later, Austria equalized to make Mahrez’s goal an afterthought.

It’s one of the most incomprehensible goals I have ever seen, in one of the most incomprehensible matches I’ve ever seen. I’m fascinated by it. Oh, and for all the talk about the easier round of 32 opponent, they lost to Switzerland anyway.

Prediction: round of 32 loss to Switzerland
Reality: round of 32 loss to Switzerland
Results: 3-0 loss to Argentina, 2-1 win over Jordan, 3-3 draw with Austria, 2-0 loss to Switzerland

Bosnia and Herzegovina rolled into the World Cup (at the expense of Italy) to the lyrics “I am from Bosnia, take me to America.” As it turned out, the World Cup would take them to America, who knocked them out in the round of 32. Overall, it was a proud tournament for the Bosnians, drawing with their Canadian hosts in the first match before beating Qatar in part thanks to a wonder goal from the 18-year-old Kerim Alajbegović. Solid stuff, especially for a team I wasn’t expecting to go through.

Prediction: group stage exit
Reality: round of 32 loss to the United States
Results: 1-1 draw with Canada, 4-1 loss to Switzerland, 3-1 win over Qatar, 2-0 loss to the United States

If you're coming here from the Algeria review… I have yet more ink to spill about that match, don’t you worry! Austria, like Algeria, were victim to a vintage Lionel Messi performance, handled Jordan, and were easily outclassed in the round of 32 (again, in the exact matchup I predicted). So really, I’m just here to talk about the final goal of that 3-3 draw, which, lest we forget, took place at 95 minutes and 7 seconds, in a match that was scheduled to last 94 minutes. But I’m going to start somewhere a little bit different.

On Saturday, August 26, 2023, I was at home watching my Premier League club of choice, Everton, play Wolverhampton Wanderers in their third match of the season. Both teams had come into the fixture after losing their first two matches. In the 85th minute, the score was still 0-0. Wolves threw on a 6-foot-7 Austrian striker by the name of Saša Kalajdžić, whom I had never heard of. He had never scored a goal for the club, having recently returned from an ACL tear, but it seemed like Wolves were hoping he could maybe do something in the final minutes of this match.

Two minutes later, he had headed the ball into the back of the net. A Wolves winner in the 87th minute to give them their first win of the season.

Kalajdžić tore his ACL again just six months later, his third such injury in five years. He would not return until the summer of 2025. But he made the Austrian squad for the World Cup. Riyad Mahrez’s goal to make it 3-2 means Austria were on the verge of being eliminated from the tournament. So, head coach Ralf Rangnick made the decision to bring on Kalajdžić, in the hopes that perhaps the tall man could get his head to the ball from a last-second set piece.

59 seconds after Kalajdžić entered the fray, fellow substitute Michael Gregoritsch headed the ball back across the face of goal, straight into the path of Kalajdžić. The header was perfect. It needed to be perfect. It nestled into the back of the net. 61 seconds earlier, Saša Kalajdžić was not even a character in the story of this match. 61 seconds later, he was a national hero.

He overcame three ACL tears for this moment, entire years spent off the pitch. Austria had not been to a World Cup in 28 years. They were desperate for this. Kalajdžić answered the call in one of the most incredible substitute performances the World Cup will ever see. And as I watched the goal be replayed, I couldn’t help but be taken back to that goal against my club back in 2023. Very few people watching this match would remember that he had done this before, on a much smaller scale. But I did, and I smiled, because I knew his story.

Prediction: round of 32 loss to Spain
Reality: round of 32 loss to Spain
Results: 3-1 win against Jordan, 2-0 loss to Argentina, 3-3 draw with Algeria, 3-0 loss to Spain

Sweden were a real team of contrasts this World Cup, weren’t they? They beat Tunisia 5-1, Yasin Ayari scoring wonder goals, and things were looking comfortable. Then they lost 5-1 to the Netherlands, who quite frankly made them look like Tunisia. Drawing with Japan in their final group stage match was critical, but boy was France just toying with them in the round of 32. Sweden both entertained us and let their opponents entertain us. What more could you ask for?

Prediction: round of 32 loss to France
Reality: round of 32 loss to France
Results: 5-1 win against Tunisia, 5-1 loss to the Netherlands, 1-1 draw with Japan, 3-0 loss to France

Given that South Africa’s return to the World Cup after 16 years went about as badly as it could possibly go, with two straight red cards in a 2-0 loss to Mexico, nobody was expecting them to turn the ship around and qualify for the round of 32. For nearly the first three hours of their tournament, they were held without a goal, but two goals were all they needed to make it through. At no point in the entire tournament did they seem good; they conceded more goals than they scored, which is usually not the sign of a good team. But they made it to the round of 32, which means they made it further than Uruguay, and you should always be happy about making it further than Uruguay at the World Cup.

Prediction: group stage exit
Reality: round of 32 loss to Canada
Results: 2-0 loss to Mexico, 1-1 draw with Czechia, 1-0 win over South Africa, 1-0 loss to Canada

Ecuador’s World Cup is proof that the transitive property does not apply to soccer. Germany beat Curaçao 7-1. Ecuador drew 0-0 with Curaçao. So Ecuador probably got destroyed by Germany, right? Nope. Ecuador won 2-1. Their recovery from being down against Germany with just one point to show for their tournament, to qualify for the round of 32, was nothing short of impressive. However, they never really looked threatening against Mexico, with just one shot on target. I had predicted a quarterfinal date for this team, believing in their strong defensive record and composure against top teams in qualifying, but I overlooked their lack of goals up front. And against Mexico, even the defense seemed to break down. In hindsight, they would have never beaten Norway and Brazil as I had predicted. World Cup qualifying, as it turns out, isn’t everything.

Prediction: quarterfinal loss to England
Reality: round of 32 loss to Mexico
Results: 1-0 loss to Côte d’Ivoire, 0-0 draw with Curaçao, 2-1 win over Germany, 2-0 loss to Mexico

Caleb Yirenkyi’s 95th-minute winner against Panama was crucial for Ghana’s tournament hopes, delivering a win for a team I thought had no chance given their pre-tournament form. They held their own against England, which was enough for them to go through. In the round of 32 against Colombia, though, they didn’t have a single shot on target. Nothing to write home about.

Prediction: group stage exit
Reality: round of 32 loss to Colombia
Results: 1-0 win over Panama, 0-0 draw with England, 2-1 loss to Croatia, 1-0 loss to Colombia

DR Congo’s opening draw with Portugal was one of the big shocks of the great first matchday of the World Cup. Yoane Wissa, who netted just three times for Newcastle United across the whole season after his 50-million-pound transfer from Brentford, scored three goals in the group stage alone, including a crucial brace against Uzbekistan. Lionel Mpasi had some great matches in goal, and for over an hour, he helped the Congolese maintain a lead over England in the round of 32. It would have been one of the most incredible upsets, but Harry Kane had other plans (namely, nailing my prediction). Between this match and Belgium-Senegal a couple hours later, it was not a great day for African sides holding late leads. But overall, a great showing for a side that had not been in the World Cup for 52 years.

Prediction: round of 32 loss to England
Reality: round of 32 loss to England
Results: 1-1 draw with Portugal, 1-0 loss to Colombia, 3-1 win over Uzbekistan, 2-1 loss to England

I remember waking up the morning after Australia’s 2-0 win over Türkiye, really regretting ignoring all the advice to not underestimate the Aussies. It was the only win they needed, as they were dominated by the United States and then played out a goalless draw with Paraguay that may have been the real disgrace of the tournament, allowing both sides to advance. Australia were then offered a great chance to keep marching onwards with a round of 32 matchup against Egypt, but the match went to penalties, and coach Tony Popovic’s keeper-swap gamble didn’t end up working thanks to some woeful penalty attempts. The wait for a knockout match victory at the World Cup continues for Australia, but the future is bright.

Prediction: group stage exit
Reality: round of 32 loss to Egypt
Results: 2-0 win over Türkiye, 2-0 loss to the United States, 0-0 draw with Paraguay, 1-1 draw with Egypt (4-2 loss on pens)

Between another failed “dark horse” campaign from Türkiye and another World Cup in which Japan looked great in the group stage and took a lead in their knockout match only to lose in the saddest possible way, I am beginning to think that maybe I should stop looking at analytics to predict some teams’ performance and instead consider, as Giorgio Chiellini once put it, “the history of the Tottenham.” Some teams, it seems, are predestined chokers.

Japan showed incredible fightback in an entertaining opening draw with the Netherlands, relegated Tunisia to the World Cup Europa League, and got the job done against Sweden. Then, as they had done in 2018 and 2022, they took the lead in their first knockout match. Brazil, who they had beaten in October, was the victim. But they couldn’t hold on, not even for extra time, because Gabriel Martinelli scored a 95th-minute winner for Brazil. I saw quarterfinal potential for this team, but it was not to be. So begins another cycle of soul-searching for a team that has somehow still not won a knockout match at the World Cup.

Prediction: quarterfinal loss to France
Reality: round of 32 loss to Brazil
Results: 2-2 draw with the Netherlands, 4-0 win over Tunisia, 1-1 draw with Sweden, 2-1 loss to Brazil

It is hard to say if any other World Cup campaign has ended in part due to the action (or inaction) of a barber, but Croatia in 2026 is a strong contender. Joško Gvardiol seemed to have scored one of the most incredible goals at this World Cup in the 103rd minute to send the match against Portugal to extra time, but a microchip in the ball detected a slight touch by the hair of Igor Matanović, ruling the goal out for offside. In previous editions of the World Cup, this goal may well have stood. But it was Croatia’s misfortune that this match was taking place in soccer’s most tech-addled, rules-obsessed era yet.

Croatia started the tournament with an entertaining goalfest loss to England and did just enough against Panama and Ghana to earn that knockout date with Portugal. I was counting on their extensive tournament experience to carry them through, but they relinquished their lead against the Portuguese. But at least it seems like this isn't it for Luka Modrić?

Prediction: round of 16 loss to Spain
Reality: round of 32 loss to Portugal
Results: 4-2 loss to England, 1-0 win over Panama, 2-1 win over Ghana, 2-1 loss to Portugal

Personally, I had a great time supporting Les Éléphants at this tournament, especially while I was in Philadelphia to witness their 2-0 win over Curaçao. The vibes were great. The campaign got off to an incredible start with the unexpected late winner against Ecuador from Amad Diallo, who together with the teenager Yan Diomande were clear standout players from this side. The Ivorians were just minutes away from drawing with Germany as well. The win over Curaçao brought them their first-ever World Cup knockout round appearance, but Norway proved too much to ha(ala)ndle. In any case, this was a successful tournament, full of promise, and I will be eagerly awaiting this team’s next move.

Prediction: round of 32 loss to Türkiye
Reality: round of 32 loss to Norway
Results: 1-0 win against Ecuador, 2-1 loss to Germany, 2-0 win over Curaçao, 2-1 loss to Norway

Ah, the Germans, unshackled from their group stage curse only for that to happen. Since winning the 2014 World Cup, things have mostly gone downhill. The latest indignity is a round of 32 loss to Paraguay, a loss that forced Julian Nagelsmann to step down as head coach, likely to be replaced by Jürgen Klopp. It was a loss that erased all the great moments they had at this tournament from memory: the 7-1 romp over Curaçao, Deniz Undav’s three goals off the bench, 40-year-old Manuel Neuer making one of the most stone-cold penalty saves I’ve ever seen. But it always seemed like this team’s best case scenario was losing to France in the round of 16. No one fears the Germans anymore; even in penalty shootouts they are now mortal. That is the feeling that has to change.

Prediction: round of 16 loss to France
Reality: round of 32 loss to Paraguay
Results: 7-1 win against Curaçao, 2-1 win over Côte d’Ivoire, 2-1 loss to Ecuador, 1-1 draw with Paraguay (4-3 loss on pens)

There was a time during this World Cup where the Netherlands looked like genuine contenders to win the whole thing. They had so many threats: Cody Gakpo was doing World Cup Cody Gakpo things, Brian Brobbey was clinical, Crysencio Summerville was electrifying, Virgil Van Dijk was an ever-present aerial target, and Bart Verbruggen was spectacular in goal. But they were faced with a serious challenge in the form of Morocco. The Netherlands could not hold their lead during stoppage time, and they somehow squandered a lead on penalties despite being the first team to take, an event that only happens about 10 percent of the time. They were so nearly there, but we were left wondering what could’ve been for this team.

Prediction: round of 32 loss to Brazil
Reality: round of 32 loss to Morocco
Results: 2-2 draw with Japan, 5-1 win over Sweden, 3-1 win over Tunisia, 1-1 draw with Morocco (3-2 loss on pens)

Do you know how hard it is to be an underdog at the World Cup and to still have everyone hate you? That is the feat Paraguay accomplished at this tournament. Between the unnecessarily physical play, the insults on and off the pitch, some of the worst passing accuracy this competition has ever seen, and “NUMBER 10, PARAGUAY, COVER HIS MOUTH, DECISION IS RED CARD,” this team will be remembered for basically doing everything except playing soccer. No one would have picked them to go as far as they did after their opening defeat to the United States, but Turkish incompetence and the heroics of Orlando Gill turned things around. I hope Paraguay can rehabilitate their reputation over the next couple years, because I’m sure they gained a lot of haters in 2026. I’m just astounded by the fact that this team made the round of 16 with a goal difference of -2. I mean, what are we doing?

Prediction: round of 32 loss to Germany
Reality: round of 16 loss to France
Results: 4-1 loss to the United States, 1-0 win over Türkiye, 0-0 draw with Australia, 1-1 draw with Germany (4-3 win on pens), 1-0 loss to France

Egypt, I was not familiar with your game. This was the only team to obliterate my group stage exit prediction and make the round of 16, and they were just minutes away from World Cup immortality before one of the most furious comebacks ever seen took place. A team that had never before qualified for the knockout stages of the World Cup did so with aplomb and was clinical on penalties against Australia.

When Yasser Ibrahim scored a header to give Egypt an early lead against Argentina, it was like that Comenencia goal for Curaçao against Germany: anything was possible now. When Mostafa Shobeir saved a penalty from Lionel Messi, we were given permission to dream. And then Haissem Hassan, a right-back from the Spanish second division, took the ball in the backfield, nutmegged Nicolás Tagliafico, and handed it to Mohamed Salah, who found the sprinting Mostafa Ziko, who fired it into the Argentine net, and it was utter pandemonium.

Then the goal was disallowed for a foul that occurred before the highlight even started, and we were forced back into reality. Because what is VAR’s role in adjudicating the game now? How far back are we going to trace the butterfly effect that led to a goal? But it didn't matter, because Hassan was there to assist Ziko again and no one could say anything about it. The most incredible of incredible things was happening.

Then, within a matter of minutes, the dream was dead. You can blame VAR for a lot, sure. But there is no excuse for conceding three goals in less than 15 minutes. They say 2-0 is the most dangerous lead for a reason. They started playing with fear, and then anger.

To look at the entirety of Egypt’s tournament, though, is to see success far beyond what many had envisioned for this team, and hope for the future. These players left a mark on the tournament. That is for certain.

Prediction: group stage exit
Reality: round of 16 loss to Argentina
Results: 1-1 draw with Belgium, 3-1 win over New Zealand, 1-1 draw with Iran, 1-1 draw with Australia (4-2 win on pens), 3-2 loss to Argentina

Canada did their nation proud at a home World Cup, making it to the round of 16 just a couple of weeks after earning their first tournament victory against the hapless Qatar. Stephen Eustáquio’s late, great strike over South Africa will be long remembered, and Jesse Marsch saying “I’d rather be us than them” after the 3-0 knockout loss to Morocco will hopefully be quickly forgotten. Also, Jonathan David is really good. Even after their tournament ended and there were no more matches left to be played on Canadian soil, Canada continued to contribute by sending billows of wildfire smoke in the general direction of the World Cup final. O Canada…

Prediction: round of 32 loss to South Korea
Reality: round of 16 loss to Morocco
Results: 1-1 draw with Bosnia, 6-0 win over Qatar, 2-1 loss to Switzerland, 1-0 win over South Africa, 3-0 loss to Morocco

Predicting a semifinal spot for Portugal was my first mistake. I rejoiced at the fact that Fernando Santos was no longer head coach, but I neglected to consider the appointment of Roberto Martínez, a man on all the “wanted” posters for the demise of the Belgian golden generation, in his place. He has already left the team. How much Martínez’s insistence that 41-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo start every match contributed to Portugal’s disappointing tournament is still very much up for debate, but the fact remains that this was a real letdown. Portugal failed to win their group due to a draw with DR Congo, and I would never have picked them to beat Spain, but they never really looked threatening in the way I thought they could. To fulfill their potential going forward, though, they have turned to Jesus. Jorge Jesus, that is. Ronaldo, we’ll see you in Lisbon in 2030.

Prediction: semifinal loss to England
Reality: round of 16 loss to Spain
Results: 1-1 draw with DR Congo, 5-0 win over Uzbekistan, 0-0 draw with Colombia, 2-1 win against Croatia, 1-0 loss to Spain

The vibes went from 100 to zero real fast. But it was nice when they were at 100, wasn’t it? The first half against Paraguay was nothing short of spectacular. I had never seen the USMNT play soccer like this. The golden generation was living up to their moniker. The team kept its composure against Australia and won the group; the loss to Türkiye came with the asterisk of the U.S. resting most of its starting lineup. The win over Bosnia was a first knockout victory since 2002, capped off by Malik Tillman’s impeccable free kick.

Everything was going so well. People were dreaming of a quarterfinal date with Spain. And then the whole campaign turned into a referendum on whether the President of the United States should be able to overturn a red card decision by phoning the president of FIFA, an event that had very little to do with the actual playing of soccer and created a whole lot of unnecessary noise. How much that noise affected the USMNT against Belgium is up for debate, but they did not look like their normal selves. Ultimately, they went out sad. The 4-1 round of 16 loss was worse than their 3-1 loss to the Netherlands in 2022. But we should not pretend that this team has regressed. Instead of remembering this tournament for the politics of it all, we can remember Malik Tillman’s two free kick goals, Flo Balogun’s great strike against Paraguay, and the emergence of Alex Freeman. It ended on a sour note, but for a while there, it was sweet.

Prediction: round of 16 loss to Argentina
Reality: round of 16 loss to Belgium
Results: 4-1 win over Paraguay, 2-0 win over Australia, 3-2 loss to Türkiye, 2-0 win over Bosnia, Herzegovina, 4-1 loss to Belgium

Nobody in Brazil was expecting great things from this team, and their low expectations were met, with the Seleção failing to make the quarterfinals for the first time in 36 years. Their group stage went the way I expected, a draw with Morocco followed by domination of Haiti and Scotland. Vinícius Júnior and Matheus Cunha made for a great strike force, surfing their way to victory. The win over Japan was nice, but it never felt like this team was destined for greatness. It was not that Brazil lost in the round of 16, it was that Brazil lost in the round of 16 and no one was shocked. Perhaps there was no more fitting sequence of events than Neymar scoring a meaningless 100th-minute penalty, talking trash to the Norwegian goalkeeper, and sobbing after the end of the match. Cada dia um 7-1 diferente.

Prediction: round of 16 loss to Ecuador
Reality: round of 16 loss to Norway
Results: 1-1 draw with Morocco, 3-0 win over Haiti, 3-0 win over Scotland, 2-1 win over Japan, 2-1 loss to Norway

I didn’t realize this at the time, but Colombia conceded just one goal in this World Cup, in their first match against Uzbekistan. Their defensive display across five matches was genuinely impressive. I definitely underestimated this team, but it also felt like their run ended sooner than it should have, following a largely drab goalless draw with Switzerland that ended with a loss on penalties. Not a bad showing, but perhaps there was something left on the table.

Prediction: round of 32 loss to Croatia
Reality: round of 16 loss to Switzerland
Results: 3-1 win over Uzbekistan, 1-0 win over DR Congo, 0-0 draw with Portugal, 1-0 win over Ghana, 0-0 draw with Switzerland (4-3 loss on pens)

“La maldición del quinto partido” was broken as Mexico won their first knockout match in 40 years against Ecuador, but the curse of the round of 16 proved stronger. The group stage went as well as it possibly could for the host nation—6 goals scored, none conceded—but the case for a quarterfinals appearance always rested on the strength of the altitude and the home crowd at the Estadio Azteca. I was impressed by how they brushed Ecuador away with ease, but against England in one of the great matches of this World Cup, they were unable to capitalize on their numerical advantage following an English red card. Probably the best showing of the three hosts, but the quarterfinals remain elusive.

Prediction: round of 16 loss to England
Reality: round of 16 loss to England
Results: 2-0 win against South Africa, 1-0 win over South Korea, 3-0 win over Czechia, 2-0 win over Ecuador, 3-2 loss to England

After three straight exits in the round of 16, Switzerland finally broke through to the quarterfinals! This was a great tournament for the Swiss following an early disappointing draw with Qatar, with the emergence of Johan Manzambi something to behold. Manzambi was injured prior to the match against Colombia, but Switzerland pushed through to the quarterfinals against Argentina. Remember when Vargas scored against Vargas? Unfortunately, the Swiss run ended after Breel Embolo was sent off for diving, and the remaining 10 men couldn’t hold on against the Argentines. No losses in 90 minutes across the whole tournament—nice work, Murat Yakin and company.

Prediction: round of 16 loss to Portugal
Reality: quarterfinal loss to Argentina
Results: 1-1 draw with Qatar, 4-1 win over Bosnia, 2-1 win over Canada, 2-0 win over Algeria, 0-0 draw with Colombia (4-3 win on pens), 3-1 loss to Argentina (AET)

Did you know that Ismael Saibari is really good? I didn’t. But after a goal in each of his group stage matches and the winning penalty against the Netherlands, his brilliance was undeniable, earning him a big move to Bayern Munich during the tournament. Morocco played well as maybe the first African nation to be seen as genuine tournament contenders. They just needed to not run into France, who beat them 2-0 to send them home just as they did in 2022. Tough but fair.

Prediction: round of 32 loss to Japan
Reality: quarterfinal loss to France
Results: 1-1 draw with Brazil, 1-0 win over Scotland, 4-2 win over Haiti, 1-1 draw with the Netherlands (3-2 win on pens), 3-0 win over Canada, 2-0 loss to France

I’ll admit it: I was wrong to doubt Belgium. I thought this team was fraudulent, that they would win their relatively easy group and immediately be exposed. And their group stage performance was underwhelming, with draws to Iran and Egypt, but when push came to shove, they pulled off a miraculous comeback against Senegal, whom I would’ve favored. Youri Tielemans had a great tournament, and Romelu Lukaku was a surprisingly effective super-sub. They were clinical and punishing against the United States before being brought back down to Earth against Spain, though Charles de Ketelaere was the only player at the entire tournament to break the Spanish defense. The Belgians have a lot they can be proud of.

Prediction: round of 32 loss to Czechia
Reality: quarterfinal loss to Spain
Results: 1-1 draw with Egypt, 0-0 draw with Iran, 5-1 win over New Zealand, 3-2 win over Senegal (AET), 4-1 win against the United States, 2-1 loss to Spain

Perhaps no one enjoyed their trip to the United States more than the Norwegians, who pulled off an incredible quarterfinals appearance in their first World Cup this century. Erling Haaland somehow became even more of a household name than he already was, the Viking row went global, and Ørjan Nyland had the match of his life in a win over Brazil. They were unstoppable and monstrous at times, beating Senegal as I thought they would, and while I felt their stars might skew towards their attack, the whole team came to play. One of the great dark horse runs in World Cup history, so close to a semifinal.

Prediction: round of 32 loss to Ecuador
Reality: quarterfinal loss to England
Results: 4-1 win against Iraq, 3-2 win over Senegal, 4-1 loss to France, 2-1 win over Côte d’Ivoire, 2-1 win against Brazil, 2-1 loss to England (AET)

For six matches, this French team looked like the undisputed kings of the world. No one could stop them; no one could even try. Senegal? Name a more iconic duo than Kylian Mbappé and Michael Olise. Iraq? Not even lightning can stop Mbappé. The Norwegian B team? Don’t patronize us, here’s an Ousmane Dembélé hat-trick in 32 minutes. Sweden? Mbappé and Olise at the double again. Paraguay? We’re tired of your antics, here’s another Mbappé goal for you. Morocco? How about Mbappé and Dembélé? Spain?

Ah, well, we had a good run, didn’t we?

France picked a bad time to have their worst match up to that point. Spain suffocated their playmakers, and France failed to get past them for the third time in a row. But the fact of the matter is that France will always be contenders at the World Cup. It says a lot that a semifinals loss is considered a failure. This was their third straight trip to the semifinals, and for the fourth World Cup in a row, they either lost to the champions or won the whole thing. While France didn’t go all the way, consider the final statistics, especially after that wild 6-4 loss to England in the third-place match: 22 World Cup goals for Kylian Mbappé at the age of 27, more than any player ever. Seven assists for Michael Olise at the tournament, surpassing Pelé’s record. 20 goals scored to 10 conceded. So many of those goals scored were things of beauty. They entertained us like no other team has.

Thus ends the Didier Deschamps era, the most successful period in French soccer history. A World Cup legend departs the stage, only to be replaced by another. Over to you, Zinedine Zidane.

Prediction: semifinal loss to Spain
Reality: semifinal loss to Spain
Results: 3-1 win over Senegal, 3-0 win over Iraq, 4-1 win over Norway, 3-0 win over Sweden, 1-0 win over Paraguay, 2-0 win over Morocco, 2-0 loss to Spain, 6-4 loss to England

The group stage for England was pretty quiet by the standards of this World Cup, with a win over Croatia that showcased the attacking potential of Thomas Tuchel’s side followed by clean sheets against Ghana and Panama. And then every single knockout match had a script you could only dream of writing.

1-0 down against DR Congo with 15 minutes to go, Harry Kane simply willed his team to victory with a brace. At the Azteca against Mexico, a place where countless teams have seen their hopes and dreams vanish into the thin Mexico City air, Jude Bellingham announced himself on the biggest stage of all with two goals in 98 seconds. Then came one of the great defensive performances of all time to preserve the result with nine men and one giant in Dan Burn. Norway necessitated yet another comeback, with Bellingham, the man for the big moments, on the scoresheet twice more.

Anthony Gordon’s goal could have proved decisive against Argentina, but Thomas Tuchel clearly did not watch Argentina’s previous matches, because England utterly collapsed. The final I thought they would reach evaporated in just ten minutes. This team has come so close, so many times. When will the storybook ending be theirs? And will Tuchel be the man to write it? This team was full of stars we knew would be stars and others we didn’t expect to have the matches of their lives, Burn and Djed Spence especially. They deserve something more, someday, perhaps at Euro 2028, which they will co-host. The ridiculous 6-4 win over France for the bronze medal could only do so much to ease their heartbreak.

I was right on one count of my prediction, though. Keir Starmer is no longer prime minister.

Prediction: final loss to Spain
Reality: semifinal loss to Argentina
Results: 4-2 win over Croatia, 0-0 draw with Ghana, 2-0 win over Panama, 2-1 win over DR Congo, 3-2 win over Mexico, 2-1 win over Norway (AET), 2-1 loss to Argentina, 6-4 win over France

Where to even begin? Argentina came into this tournament as defending champions and holders of the number 1 spot in the FIFA rankings, but their status as contenders rested largely on their 2022 players maintaining their performance four years later. Including, of course, a now 39-year-old Lionel Messi, a man who looked Father Time dead in the eyes and said “Hoy no.” You could excuse the focus on the individual rather than the team because for the duration of the group stage, it was virtually all Messi. A hat-trick against Algeria, a brace against Austria, even a goal off the bench against Jordan. Everyone expected this tournament to be a coronation for Kylian Mbappé as the greatest goalscorer this competition has ever seen, but it ended up being a sprint to the finish as Messi challenged him the whole way.

No questions were asked of Argentina during the group stage. Then came the knockout stage, a series of fever dreams so sensational that I find it impossible to believe that the players ever properly digested what happened. Argentina were pushed to the brink by Cabo Verde on a momentous night in Miami, and just four days later pulled off a comeback for the ages against Egypt. I do not recall ever seeing Messi this pumped. It’s like he’s gotten to the point in his career when even he is amazed by his own brilliance, at his continued ability to do this, an assist and goal within the space of four minutes to deny the upset. And if that wasn’t enough, they were sent to extra time by 10-man Switzerland and completed another sensational regular-time comeback against England. When the moment demanded it, when Messi demanded it, Enzo Fernández and Lautaro Martínez were there to answer the call.

I did not think Argentina would get this far; I did not think they would be able to bend but not break time and time again. Yes, there were fouls, more than any nation has ever committed at the World Cup. Yes, many of them may have warranted a booking but not yielded one. Yes, there were VAR controversies. But even as someone rooting for the underdog, you watched the goals and you couldn’t even be mad. They never, ever quit.

Against Spain in the final, the heroics of Emiliano Martínez kept things level for a long, long time, but the dam eventually had to break. The fouls didn’t work, they couldn’t even get the ball to Messi, and Fernández was sent off for sending Pau Cubarsí into orbit. After four odysseys in which they powered through by sheer force of will, they found themselves against the one nation that would hold firm. The runners-up had an unforgettable campaign. They fought, figuratively and sometimes literally. They never wanted to be liked. They just wanted respect.

Prediction: quarterfinal loss to Portugal (lol)
Reality: final loss to Spain
Results: 3-0 win against Algeria, 2-0 win over Austria, 3-1 win over Jordan, 3-2 win over Cabo Verde (AET), 3-2 win over Egypt, 3-1 win over Switzerland, 2-1 win over England, 1-0 loss to Spain (AET)

“How do you bet against a team that doesn’t lose?” I asked in my World Cup predictions on June 10. “It’s easy. You don’t.” And how could you? How could you bet against Spain? After beating Argentina in the final on Sunday, Spain now hold the record for the longest unbeaten streak in the history of international soccer: 38 matches dating back to March 2024. “Spain is coming,” I said in my recap of Euro 2024, which I also predicted Spain to win, and they haven’t lost once since. What they accomplished in this World Cup is nothing short of astounding. 14 goals scored and just one conceded in eight matches, a new tournament record for best defensive performance despite playing an additional match. They held an Argentine team that looked as if they had been given the Mandate of Heaven for much of the tournament to zero shots on target. It’s hard to win when you’re toothless and up against a shark. That shark was Ferran Torres, whose winning goal had shades of Andrés Iniesta’s own extra-time strike to win the final against the Netherlands in 2010.

“Football matches are not won by players, they’re won by teams. And the fact of the matter is that Spain have the best team at this World Cup,” I said in my initial predictions. And this tournament showcased exactly that. Rodri won the Golden Ball, yes, but there were so many committed performances on this Spanish roster. Mikel Oyarzabal had five goals of his own, but it was Mikel Merino who scored the winners against Portugal and Belgium. Pau Cubarsí won the Young Player Award as an unquestioned starter at center-back at the age of 19. And that’s before we even get to the headline player in Lamine Yamal, or Nico Williams, who came back from injury to deliver the final-winning assist to Torres, or Pedro Porro, who was sublime throughout the tournament. Unlike Argentina’s knockout stage epics, there’s much less to write about Spain’s run to the final because they made it look easy. They had all the answers to the test. Nobody could lay a finger on them.

The men are champions of the world. The women are champions of the world. Who’s going to stop them? Who could look at this team and think they possibly can? The world has two more years to figure it out. Because the last time Spain won the Euros and the World Cup back-to-back, they won the Euros again. This nation operates on generational cycles, and just 16 years after being blessed with a golden generation, they have unleashed another one.

Spain are champions of the world, and deservedly so.

Prediction: final win over England
Reality: final win over Argentina
Results: 0-0 draw with Cabo Verde, 4-0 win over Saudi Arabia, 1-0 win over Uruguay, 3-0 win over Austria, 1-0 win over Portugal, 2-1 win over Belgium, 2-0 win over France, 1-0 win over Argentina (AET)