Welcome to the real World Cup – the tournament begins now | OneFootball

Among a lot of the most celebrated World Cup 2026 squads, coaches have already sought to ensure the intensity of training has gone up. There’s a new edge that only knockout football, and especially World Cup knockout football, can bring.

The Dutch squad perhaps put it best ahead of the most fascinating last-32 tie of all, against Morocco.

“It’s game on,” said Dutch defender Jan Paul van Hecke. “Now, the big games come.”

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Netherlands will face Morocco in the last 32’s most mouthwatering tie (PA)

And there have never been more of them.

This isn’t just the expanded knockout round to the biggest World Cup ever, but almost a super World Cup – the real World Cup with the tournament brought down to its essence.

It has finally reached the size of the most recent editions, at 32 teams, a number seen in many football circles as forming as close to perfect a competition as you could have. Except now there’s no give, no safety nets, no allowances.

It is sudden death, but with so many fixtures that make you feel alive. Pure knockout football.

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Austria and Algeria played out an entertainingly chaotic end to the group stage (AP)

In keeping with how the level of the tournament has actually raised with its expansion, there are so many excellent ties. Just looking at the draw is exhilarating.

Brazil-Japan is a match of quarter-final quality and Netherlands-Morocco perhaps a semi-final-level clash. On the other end, there are very few mismatches, and instead a lot of games that are very hard to call.

If that makes it a pity that some real challengers could fall so early – the equivalent of the old first round – it only speaks to the genuine sense of peril, that we should want this to have.

And despite the rightful sentiments that this is now “the real World Cup”, it has been very much shaped by an enjoyably rich group stage.

If the ill-advised new tiebreaker format ensured the first round didn’t quite have the crescendo it could have had outside the events involving Ecuador, Austria, DR Congo and – most lamentably – Iran, it does mean all that energy courses straight through into the next stage.

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Iran heartbreakingly missed out on the last 32 despite a series of admirable performances (Getty)

It is an energy that has primarily been driven by individual stars.

There arguably hasn’t been a World Cup like this since the 1950s, in how so many of the best players have immediately been at their best. This has duly been the first in history where five players have scored at least four goals in the group stage. And, with all due respect, there’s no Oleg Salenko here. All of the five are megastars, with Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, Vinicius Junior and Ousmane Dembele hitting four each, while Lionel Messi has scored six – the equivalent of the gold-standard golden boot feat for so long.

That’s the figure that has won the award the most, with eight of its 28 winners hitting that number.

Meanwhile, Messi could even potentially eye Just Fontaine’s individual tournament record of 13 from 1958. There’s still enough football to play.

The amount of it so far has already drowned out a lot of this World Cup’s external noise, even if it has also been too much to register at times; a wall of football. The goal of the tournament competition is already so wondrous, from Wilson Isidor’s against Morocco to Gio Reyna’s against Paraguay.

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Haiti’s Wilson Isidor may have the clubhouse lead for the World Cup goal of the tournament (AP)

Regarding the burgeoning hosts, Gianni Infantino might have been left a little embarrassed that Donald Trump hasn’t yet turned up to a game, but there’s a belief in football circles that Fifa’s biggest stroke of luck was the US president getting booed at the New York Knicks during the NBA Finals.

Trump’s absence has ensured even more of a focus on the football. That shouldn’t mean the tournament’s persistent issues are downplayed or disregarded however.

There has been a general disregard for the fans who have made it so vibrant, like the otherwise forlorn Scots.

Good crowds do not mean the ticket prices weren’t a disgrace. Logistics have been unnecessarily challenging. US cities and their stadiums might have been built for a country of automobiles, but more thought should have been given to the hundreds of thousands of fans who have travelled without them.

The disregard for Iran has been even worse, with striker Mehdi Taremi justifiably laying into both Infantino and Fifa for a “disaster” of a tournament. It is a stain on the body. The “unfair” treatment has raised outright questions of sporting integrity, making it all the more shameful how Infantino essentially used them for a PR opportunity. Taremi pointedly mentioned how the Fifa president “came to our changing room after the first game”, never further showing for them again.

And yet the manner that Iran ultimately went out, through that raucous late 3-3 draw between Algeria and Austria, only emphasised how the football itself endures.

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Iran captain Mehdi Taremi justifiably laid into both Fifa and Gianni Infantino over Iran’s treatment (Reuters)

The strikes from the stars have duly contributed to a goals-per-game ratio of 2.99, the highest since 1958. It perhaps speaks to the effect of the conditions that the next highest between now and 1982 was USA 94’s 2.71.

A certain spirit has invigorated the football, made all the more enticing by a range of different approaches. This World Cup might further the return of distinctive national styles, as the Pep Guardiola positional game continues to fracture at this level. Perhaps it’s then all the more symbolic that the Catalan’s arch influence, Marcelo Bielsa, ultimately failed to impose his own ideology on a shambolic Uruguay.

There has otherwise been no macro tactical trend as yet, outside specific individual moves like lofted balls into the channels and the use of false nines – or even nines as playmakers.

That has fostered a tournament of moments and bursts, rather than concerted constructed play, which has only further served the individual stars.

Underneath their level, there’s been a brilliant spread of talent, creating a wide field. Few teams are genuinely outstanding, but so many have been very strong. That is a product of the World Cup’s primary theme so far, which has been how diasporas and truly multinational teams have benefitted from the talent industrialisation of the wealthy western European nations.

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While few teams have been exceptional, plenty - such as Colombia - have been very strong (Reuters)

Africa has enjoyed the effects of this the most, with a historic World Cup, where nine of its 10 qualifiers have reached the last 32.

Asia has meanwhile endured a dismal World Cup, with only Japan and Australia getting through from their nine. It is similarly telling that Concacaf’s qualifiers have been the three hosts, with Curacao enduring the worst defeat.

There have been nowhere near as many of those as feared, though, as Cape Verde have so far enjoyed this World Cup’s greatest achievement. And there still might be more, fittingly enough.

The 48-team expansion is still undesirable in terms of numbers, and many problems persist, but it has been far more successful than anticipated.

There has been no phoney war to this point And yet, this is still the moment the World Cup gets real.