If you're just tuning in to the 2026 World Cup for the first time now, where have you been?
The expanded 48-team tournament has produced five weeks of incredible entertainment encompassing all the highest highs and lowest lows that the beautiful game has to offer.
The important thing is that you are here now: The final will take place Sunday in New Jersey between Spain and defending champions Argentina.
For anyone who hasn't been following along, we wanted to offer a rundown of what's happened so far, featuring Lionel Messi heroics, underdog upsets and some mighty performances from the United States men's national team.
1. Lionel Messi still the GOAT
Lionel Messi. We couldn't possibly start anywhere else. The Argentina superstar turned 39 years old during this World Cup and has still managed to defy time itself by inspiring his team to a second successive World Cup final, once again putting up ridiculous numbers along the way.
Incredibly, Messi has already topped his own statistical output at the 2022 World Cup, which Argentina won in Qatar four years ago, and is leading the goal and assist charts at the 2026 tournament having dragged La Albiceleste through the bracket.
Many modern-day superstars have had their moments during this summer's World Cup -- the likes of France's Kylian Mbappé and Michael Olise, Brazil's VinÃcius Júnior, England's Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane -- but all saw their tournament come to a somber end.
Messi, the elder statesman, simply refused to roll over.
Amazingly, the Argentina forward is now set to play a familiar opponent in the shape of Spain's prodigious teenage winger, Lamine Yamal. The pair actually met before, some 19 years ago, when Messi quite literally anointed Yamal -- who was a baby at the time -- as part of a UNICEF charity photo shoot in Barcelona.
Soccer truly does work in mysterious ways.
How the iconic Lamine Yamal and Lionel Messi picture happened 🤩 pic.twitter.com/L1VrKc78yi
— ESPN UK (@ESPNUK) July 16, 2026
2. Cristiano Ronaldo (and the rest of the 'Last Dance' brigade) ended up in tears
Several older stars, many of whom were pushing 40 years old, had their participation at the 2026 World Cup pegged as their "Last Dance," given that they would be highly unlikely to be in any way fit and/or spry enough to feature at the next tournament in 2030.
Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Mexico goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa were the headline acts, given that they were all due to appear at their sixth World Cups. However, the likes of Neymar, Son Heung-Min, Kevin De Bruyne, Manuel Neuer and Luka Modric, plus a gaggle of other aging veterans, were all likely to see their international careers come to an end over the summer.
As it transpired, most of the "Last Dance" brigade saw their World Cup swan songs end in tears, with Neymar in particular unable to stave off the waterworks after being dumped out by Norway in the round of 16 (though he was able to recover in time to appear at a poker tournament in Las Vegas a few days later).
Ronaldo, too, saw his tournament end in a flood of tears after Portugal were eliminated by Spain at the same juncture. He didn't make much of an impact beyond a couple of largely superfluous goals against Uzbekistan in the group stage, and he departed with three goalkeepers having completed more successful dribbles than him.
After the Spain game, an emotional Ronaldo appeared to confirm that the 2026 World Cup would be his last, though given that the next one in 2030 is being co-hosted by Portugal (and that new coach Jorge Jesus has confirmed that Ronaldo remains part of his plans), we wouldn't necessarily bet against a certain striker doddering his way around the pitch at the age of 45 in four years' time.
3. 'Own goal' leads the Golden Boot race
There has been a record number of goals scored at this World Cup, which isn't much of a surprise given that the expanded format (from 32 teams to 48, and with introduction of an extra knockout round) saw the number of matches rise from 64 played at the 2022 World Cup to 104 this time around.
A total of 172 goals were scored at the 2022 World Cup, a record tally that was officially surpassed during the group stage of the 2026 World Cup when Auston Trusty scored for the USMNT against Turkey to notch the 173rd goal of the tournament.
Indeed, ahead of the final (and the third-place playoff game), the 2026 World Cup has set a huge new record of 297 goals scored in 102 games, with the vast array of formidable striking talent accounting for those goals.
Messi and Mbappé have eight goals apiece, Erling Haaland has scored seven goals in his debut World Cup with Norway, England's Kane and Bellingham have weighed in with six goals each and Spain's slightly makeshift striker Mikel Oyarzabal has notched five on his way to the final.
However, the standout poacher at the 2026 World Cup has been a prodigious force by the name of "own goal," which has struck 14 times so far to set a new record.
The number of own goals registered at the 2026 finals has surpassed the previous record tally of 12 set at the 2018 World Cup, which in turn was considered an abnormally high number at the time.
4. North America met Erling 'The Striking Viking' Haaland
Granted, the two-time Premier League champion and three-time Premier League Golden Boot winner was hardly an unknown entity ahead of the World Cup, but Haaland still proved to be one of the biggest breakout stars of the World Cup as a new global audience took the affable Norwegian colossus to their heart.
Norway's "Viking Row" celebration took North America by storm, as did the man who scored the goals to instigate it. As well as being a standout performer on the pitch in his debut World Cup, Haaland went repeatedly viral while documenting his tournament adventure on a day-by-day basis, with fans instantly warming to his humble personality and sense of humor.
The 25-year-old "Striking Viking" certainly made the most of his time in the United States, whether it be heading out into Dallas for some cowboy boot shopping, watching his beard grow in real time, becoming the subject of a hundred different memes or bringing a stuffed raccoon home as a souvenir.
5. Cape Verde shocked the world
Though Cape Verde wasn't the smallest nation to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, they certainly emerged as the underdog story of the tournament after excelling in the group stage, reaching the knockout phase and then playing out of their collective skins while taking reigning champions Argentina to the brink of elimination in the round of 32.
The African archipelago has a population of around 530,000 -- smaller than all but two of the 16 host cities chosen for the 2026 World Cup -- and yet its national team took the tournament by storm, pulling off remarkable draws against Spain and Uruguay before very nearly toppling Messi.
As it transpired, Cape Verde faced both of the eventual finalists during their World Cup campaign and gave both a scare, holding Spain to a stalemate in their opening group game before losing 3-2 after extra time against Argentina.
Several members of the Blue Sharks' squad have etched their name in World Cup folklore. Irish-born defender Pico Lopes became a national hero after being initially scouted using LinkedIn, and Sidny Cabral scored one of the goals of the tournament in extra time against Argentina.
However, the main man and breakout star of the entire 2026 World Cup is most certainly Cape Verde's veteran goalkeeper Vozinha, who saw his Instagram follower count skyrocket from 46,000 before the tournament to over 29 million, making him one of the most-followed active players in the world.
Vozinha made seven incredible saves in his World Cup debut to thwart Spain before going on to reproduce his none-shall-pass heroics in several subsequent games.
He is without a club, but he does now have a newly discovered species of sea slug named after him, which is about as high an honor that a professional footballer can ever hope to receive.
6. Giants fell early
The expanded World Cup format actually made it fairly challenging to get eliminated in the 2026 group stage (only eight teams were knocked out at the first hurdle), though it still proved a step too far for a few relatively big fish such as South Korea, Czechia, Scotland and Türkiye.
However, the real first-phase underachievers proved to be two-time World Cup winners Uruguay, who failed to win a single group game before being unceremoniously dumped out with the likes of Curaçao, Uzbekistan, Panama, Haiti, Jordan and Qatar.
A significant number of prominent sides also suffered early eliminations from the round of 32. Germany, the Netherlands, Croatia, Senegal and Japan all bit the dust in the newly introduced preliminary knockout round.
Germany's premature exit was arguably the most embarrassing of the lot as Julian Nagelsmann's side was sent packing by Paraguay, who were ranked 31 places beneath Germany in the FIFA World Ranking at the time, making it the fourth-biggest World Cup knockout upset (purely in terms of FIFA ranking) since the coefficients were introduced in 1992.
Brazil, who have won the men's World Cup more times than anybody, were then dumped out in the round of 16, as were Ronaldo's Portugal, who were beaten by their old Iberian foes Spain.
7. USMNT looked unstoppable, until it didn't
The United States dominated Paraguay and Australia in the team's first two group stage games to earn a round-of-32 matchup with Bosnia-Herzegovina, winning handily. A deep run looked imminent, but it all came crashing down in a 4-1 loss to Belgium in the round of 16.
Depending on how you choose to look at it, the United States went deeper into the 2026 World Cup than any of the three co-host nations after (technically) outlasting Canada and Mexico in the knockout stage bracket.
All three were actually knocked out in the round of 16, but thanks to the scheduling of the games, the fact that the United States' game against Belgium was played in Seattle on July 6 meant that the team spent one day longer at the World Cup than Mexico (who lost against England on July 5) and two days longer than Canada (who lost against Morocco on July 4).
All three co-host nations can also claim to have made it as far as five-time winners Brazil, who were shunted out of the 2026 finals by Haaland and Norway in the same round.
Granted, it's not much in terms of overall bragging rights, but it's something.
8. Mexico's duck, the Tartan Army takeover and a slew of memorable moments
Perhaps even more than the on-pitch action, it's the escapades outside of the matches that will truly live long in the memory.
Who could forget Merlin, the beloved Mexico duck mascot? Or Philadelphia's Rocky statue getting decked out in Ecuador gear -- and Ecuador promptly paying the price by losing their next match, in keeping with the well-known curse?
But the biggest hits by far were the fans, who traveled from across the globe in support of their teams and won the hearts of nearly every North American city they visited. From the Netherlands supporters' epic left-right dance, to Scotland and Boston forming a bond for the ages, to Algeria earning the adoration of Lawrence, Kansas (home of the Jayhawks), there's been no shortage of fan moments to treasure.
