Discoveries of America: Messi breaks records, Curaçao works wonders
The second round of the group stage has ended at the FIFA World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico. It was after him that the tournament began to take on its usual shape: the first playoff participants were determined, teams appeared that lost their chances of getting out of the group ahead of schedule, and some favorites suddenly found themselves on the verge of failure. At the same time, the main stars of world football continue to rewrite history — Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have once again achieved record achievements. There were also big sensations: Curaçao and Cape Verde continue to surprise, while Turkey has become one of the main disappointments of the tournament. About the key events, heroes and losers of the second round — in the material of Izvestia.
Kone's terrible injury and David's hat trick
Qatar turned out to be one of the weakest teams in the tournament. In the opening round, the hosts of the previous World Cup miraculously gnawed out a draw against Switzerland, but the game looked terrible. And in the match with Canada, the score fully reflected the content — the Asians lost 0:6.
From the middle of the first half, Qatar played in the minority due to the removal of Ahmed, and in the 51st minute remained in the lead after a gross foul by Madibo on the Horse. The Canadian suffered a double leg fracture — and it looked terrible. The game was stopped for five minutes, the player was taken off the field, and the next day he underwent surgery — he will miss at least four months.
By that time, the Canadians had already scored three goals, and after the resumption of play they doubled their number. Jonathan David became the hero of the meeting — the Juventus striker scored the second hat-trick of the World Cup after Lionel Messi.
Mexico and the USA were the first to reach the playoffs.
Canada has almost guaranteed itself a place in the 1/16 finals, but the other World Cup hosts will definitely play there.
Mexico, after defeating South Africa, did not easily beat the stronger South Korea — a mistake by goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu, which Romo took advantage of, helped. Now Mexico has 6 points, and it has already secured the first place in the group.
The USA national team also secured the victory in the quartet. So far, both matches have been easy for the Americans — first they defeated Paraguay, and by halftime in the second round they were leading 2-0 with Australia and calmly took three more points.
Cunha and Vinicius brought Brazil its first victory
The Haitian national team was the first to lose even the theoretical chances of getting out of the group. After losing to Scotland, the Caribbean team expectedly lost to Brazil.
The South Americans did everything in half: Mateus Cunha scored a double, Vinicius scored 1+1. The score of 3-0 lit up on the scoreboard by halftime and remained there until the final whistle.
Zenit defender Douglas Santos played 90 minutes again and could have scored in the end. Luis Enrique did not appear on the field this time, but Carlo Ancelotti finally released Andrew — this was actively desired on social networks.
The Turkish disaster
The Turkish national team flew to North America with great hopes. At Euro 2024, Vincenzo Montella's team reached the quarterfinals, where they even beat the Netherlands by halftime, and by the 2026 World Cup, the young stars Arda Guler and Kenan Yildiz only became stronger and gained experience.
But Turkey failed. First, she unexpectedly lost to Australia, followed by Paraguay (0:1). Moreover, the South Americans spent the whole half with ten of them because of Almiron's stupidest removal (he covered his mouth with his hand when he said something to his opponent), but Turkey did not take advantage of this. 0 goals with 62 shots in 180 minutes — and an early loss of even theoretical chances of getting out of the group.
The Netherlands trampled Sweden
According to the sign, this match looked like one of the most interesting in the group stage, but in reality, the Swedes could not do anything against the Dutch. Brobby scored a double in the first half, Gakpo scored in the second, and only after that did the Netherlands allow the Scandinavians to score. Summerville set the final score.
5-1 — the Swedes first defeated Tunisia with such a score, and now they were defeated by the Netherlands. It is far from certain that Diekeres and Isak will reach the 1/16 finals, because the team has badly ruined the goal difference, and in the final round it will be strong Japan, which also won big against Tunisia (4-0).
Germany is in the playoffs for the first time since 2014
The German national team has already secured the first place in the group in two rounds. After defeating Curaçao (7:1), she overcame Côte d'Ivoire (2:1) with great difficulty. Kessier opened the scoring in the 30th minute, and the Africans led until the middle of the second half.
But everything was turned around by the exit of Stuttgart striker Deniz Undava — 8 minutes after appearing on the field, he equalized the score, and in added time brought the Bundestim victory and a ticket to the 1/16 finals.
Undav is one of the leaders of the sniper race, and he scored all three goals after coming on as a substitute. And for the first time since the victorious 2014, Germany will play in the playoffs - in Russia and Qatar, it sensationally did not get out of the group.
The historic draw of Curaçao
It seemed that in the first round, the Curacao national team had already completed the maximum program when they equalized the score in the match against Germany itself. However, in the game against Ecuador, Dick Advocaat's team showed that they were not going to put up with the status of an outsider and created one of the loudest sensations of the group stage — they did not miss the South American selection for the World Cup from the second team.
The hero of the match was 37-year-old goalkeeper Eloy Rom, who deflected as many as 15 goals. This is a World Cup record for games without overtime — only U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard made more saves in the 1/8 finals against Belgium 12 years ago, but that game lasted 120 minutes.
Curaçao still has a chance to reach the playoffs, but for this it is necessary to beat Côte d'Ivoire. Why not create another miracle?
Yamal's debut goal
In the match against Saudi Arabia, Spain proved that the goalless draw with Cape Verde was a misunderstanding. The reigning European champions immediately began to destroy the Asian team and by the 24th minute had beaten the opponent 3-0.
Oyarzabal scored a double and Yamal opened the scoring — it was the debut goal for the 18-year-old winger at the World Championships, but he did not become the youngest goalscorer in the history of the tournament. Seven football players were younger than him at once, including Dmitry Sychev at the 2002 World Cup.
Toothless Belgium
Few people considered the Belgian national team among the favorites before the World Cup, but it is still performing even below expectations. In the match against Egypt, Rudy Garcia's team escaped defeat (1-1), and Iran failed to score at all (0-0).
Although there were enough chances — 23 shots, 7 on target. A special mention should be made of the episode in the 59th minute, when De Kuyper did not score from the 2nd - the goalkeeper of the Iranian national team, Beiranvand, made perhaps the most memorable save of the tour.
The match was also remembered for the stupid removal of the defender of the Europeans Ngoy — he carelessly gave a pass back and immediately had to foul Taremi, who was running away one-on-one.
Belgium has only two points after two rounds — and it's not a fact that it will beat New Zealand and reach the playoffs.
A new surprise from Cape Verde and the goal of the Krasnodar midfielder
In the first round, the Cape Verdean national team and its 40-year-old goalkeeper, Vozinha, charmed everyone by preventing the Spaniards from scoring. Now the debutants of the World Cup have stopped another formidable opponent, Uruguay (2:2).
The first goal in Cape Verde's history was scored by Krasnodar midfielder Kevin Lenini, who hit a free kick into the goal through a leaky wall. Araujo and Canobbio put Uruguay ahead, but Varela pulled out a draw for the Africans, punishing goalkeeper Muslera for a mistake.
The Cape Verdean national team is still undefeated at the World Cup. If they beat Saudi Arabia, they will reach the playoffs: apparently, the Africans can do it.
Messi beat Klose
Argentina won a second landslide victory in a row — after Algeria (3:0), the world champions beat Austria (2:0). The uniqueness here is that Messi scored all five goals.
Everyone expected that this summer the great Argentine would break Miroslav Klose's record for World Cup goals, but few could have imagined that this would happen in the second round. Moreover, Leo had not yet converted a penalty at the start of the game against Austria, but before the break he still scored a record 17th goal, and after the 90th minute he added the 18th to it. Messi has already scored five goals at the 2026 World Cup - the most of all.
Mbappe goes after Leo
If Messi overtook Klose the other day, then Mbappe caught up with the German. The French national team played a match with Iraq just a couple of hours after the Argentina game, so Mbappe already knew everything and was as motivated as possible. As a result, it was the second double in a row: the 15th and 16th goals at the World Championships. The other strikers of the French national team also shone this evening: Oliset had two assists, Dembele had 1+1. The result is 3-0.
I also remember the game for its side problems. Because of the thunderstorm, the break between halves lasted not 15 minutes, but more than two hours — in the United States, mass events are temporarily stopped when lightning is seen within a 15-km radius.
Holann has a double too
So far, this World Cup has been distinguished by the excellent play of the star strikers. In the second round, Mbappe, Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Holland scored doubles. Moreover, the Scandinavian striker, having scored twice for Senegal (3:2), became the top scorer of the Norwegian national team at the World Cups — now he has four goals to his credit.
The Norwegians, like the French, have 6 points each, and in the final round they will play each other for the first place in the group.
Cristiano is writing a story
In the opening match of the 2026 World Cup, Portugal disappointed by failing to beat DR Congo (1-1). Cristiano Ronaldo, who could have played better in a number of episodes, was also criticized. His performance looked especially pale against the background of Messi's hat-trick in the match against Algeria.
However, in the game against Uzbekistan (5-0), the whole world saw the true Ronaldo — already in the first half he scored a double, or he could have scored a hat-trick. Separately, it is worth mentioning the second goal — Cristiano conceded the right to execute the most dangerous free kick to Nuno Mendes, although he pretended that he would be the one to score.
Well, the Uzbek national team suffered a painful defeat — there is now practically no chance of reaching the playoffs.
Kane's incredible blunder
In the opening match with Croatia (4-2), England charmed everyone with their frenzied pace, abundance of scoring chances and just passion. Of course, they also expected something bright from the game against Ghana, but the days of Gareth Southgate suddenly returned - the favorite could not crack the low and dense defense of the Africans, unexpectedly losing points (0-0).
The hero of the meeting was not even a Ghanaian football player, but a sorcerer named Nana Kwaku Bonsam. Before the game, he told the British media that he was going to "stop" Kane, who had played brilliantly and scored a double in the previous match.
It seems that everything worked out for the shaman: the best scorer in the history of the England national team was in the shadows the whole match, and in the 86th minute he missed a fantastic moment after hitting the crossbar of O'Reilly, when he shot above the goal from several meters.
Cordoba helped Colombia put the squeeze on Congo
The DR Congo national team in the first round has already surprised everyone with a 1-1 draw with Portugal, so the match with Colombia could give a modest team a ticket to the playoffs. From the very first minutes, the South Americans staged a real siege of the Mpasi-Nzo gates. They even scored, but Munoz's goal was canceled due to offside. By the 19th minute, the strike statistics were 8:1 in favor of Colombia — and there were still zeros on the scoreboard.
And then John Cordoba appeared on the field. The Krasnodar forward came out in the 58th minute and did not record the effective action, but it was his struggle that decided the episode. Cordoba put the body down, fell under pressure and prevented the defender from intercepting Quintero's pass to Munoz. Then there was a one—touch shot, a rebound from Capuadi and the winning goal that sent the Colombians into the playoffs.
The second round finally confirmed that the World Cup in North America is not going to be without sensations. While Messi, Ronaldo and Mbappe are rewriting records, teams like Curaçao and Cape Verde are proving that the difference in status no longer guarantees results. There are crucial group stage matches ahead, which will determine the first heroes of the playoffs and those for whom the tournament will end earlier than expected.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
