World Cup 2026 – Day 6

The stars came out to play today and showed what the best of the best do on the biggest stage: score goals and win.

Les Bleus (France) 3 v Lions of Terenga (Senegal) 1
France is good. Mbappe is great! Two goals today and the second one was special. To be fair, Senegal played pretty well throughout the game and it seemed like they might push for a tie late in the game, but then Mbappe did his thing and closed the door. Also, we got our first big controversy of the tournament (other than the freaking water breaks) when the ref did not call what looked like a pretty clear pk for France when Mbappe seemed to be fouled in the box. Nevertheless, Mbappe got his two and goes up to a tie for third all time goal scorer in the world cup with 14 goals. What is even crazier is (1) Mbappe could easily be playing in the next two world cups because he is only 27 years old and (2) he has played 15 world cup games which means he is scoring nearly a goal a game. (That is really really good).*

Lions of Mesopotamia (Iraq) 1 v Vikings (Norway) 4
Erling Haaland is good and lucky. But the scoreline is really not very fair to how Iraq played. Not only did they gift Haaland his second goal, but they had the better of the chances in the first half and should have scored a second and even a third. As the saying goes though, if and or butts, you be nuts. The second half was slower all around and Norway got their third in 76th, but again Iraq had a number of chances before that goal that could have leveled the game. To round it out though, Iraq ended the game (with essentially the last touch of the game) with an own goal. Unfortunately for Iraq they are in the Group of Death (with France and Senegal). Even if they continue to play well, they are likely looking at only two more games in their future. Hopefully, they don’t give up.

La Albiceleste (Argentina) 3 v Dessert Warriors (Algeria) 0
MESSI, MESSI, MESSII!!!!! How could anyone not like the guy, he is just the best and he isn’t dramatic about it. Just punches in for work, walks around a bit, scores some goals, and goes home to his family. With his hat trick (3 goals), he moves to 2nd place in all time world cup goals with 15! At 38, he is doing it at an age that is considered geriatric for soccer players. He also has played the most world cup games with 26 games. You can debate whether he is the best player of all time (Pele, Maradona, Teófilo Cubillas, etc.), but what you cannot debate, what is settled and in stone, is that he is the best player of his time. If you think otherwise . . . you can leave. He could have had a fourth this game when he scored but got called for offside in the 6th minute. What a human.Algeria, it must be said, played pretty well for at least the first half. They also had a goal called back for offside. But in the end they were slowly suffocated by Argentina and then ended by Messi. Fun fact, the Algerian goal keeper is the son of French legend Zinedine Zidane who is the son of Algerian parents who migrated to France before ZiZi was born.

The Boys (Austria) 3 v The Chivalrous Ones (Jordan) (winner, so far, of nicknames) 1
Chivalry is dead. Austria was given a pk at the end, but they also had a goal taken away for a hand ball so that was all even. Good game for about 75 mins.

Tomorrow’s Games – Finally getting through the first round of games
1 pm – Portugal v. Dem. Rep. Congo – BOOOO Ronaldo (but Portugal is a good team)
4 pm – England v Croatia – This should be a good game, although Croatia is old
7 pm – Ghana v Panama – probably a good game
10 pm – Uzbekistan v. Colombia – expanded tournament game (you can guess which team should win)

*the other players ahead of Mbappe are Ronaldo (Brazil) with 15, Messi, and Miroslave Klose (Germany) with 16