Lionel Messi's heroics, Cape Verde's run, viral ducks and other top moments from the 2026 World Cup

It's safe to say that the 48-team 2026 World Cup has been a rousing success. The on-field action has been everything you could want in a major international tournament. You’ve had drama, controversy, big names rising to the occasion and underdogs proving they belonged on the global stage.

Before Argentina and Spain meet to decided who will be crowned world champion, let's take a look back at what we witnessed during this this past month at the 2026 World Cup.

Successful home cooking for the hosts

The three tournament hosts — the United States, Canada and Mexico — each advanced out of the group stage without needing to be one of the better third-place teams. The USMNT and Mexico won their respective groups, while Canada finished second in Group B and won out on a tiebreaker over Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The success continued into the Round of 32 as all three won their matches to advance to the final 16. Mexico won its first knockout stage match since 1986; same for the U.S., who hadn't advanced out of that round since 2002. Canada, meanwhile, not only won its first-ever World Cup match when it blanked Qatar 6-0 during the group stage, but also won its first-ever elimination match beating South Africa 1-0.

The good times for all came to an end, however, in the Round of 16. Canada was shut out by Morocco; the USMNT were defeated 4-1 by Belgium; and Mexico lost a hard-fought 3-2 battle at Estadio Azetca to England.

Eurasia Sport Images via Getty Images

The game's biggest stars showed up and delivered

The big stage calls for big time performances. That's what we got from Erling Haaland, Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Jude Bellingham, among a number of others.

Take a look at the Golden Boot race and those names sit on top due to their goal-scoring exploits. Haaland finished with seven goals and led Norway to the quarterfinals. He not only performed on the field, he also enjoyed his time in the U.S.

Messi started off the World Cup with a hat trick and delivered regular heroics during Argentina's knockout round journey to the final.

Mbappé bagged three braces in helping lead France to the semifinals for the third straight World Cup. Jude Bellingham joined Harry Kane and Gary Lineker as the only male England players to score six times in a single World Cup. His performances at the Azteca against Mexico and in Miami against Norway will not be forgotten.

Minnows make noise

Much of the pushback when FIFA announced that the 2026 tournament would be 48 teams was that there would be a large number of blowouts. Only nine of the 72 group-stage matches featured matches that were decided by four goals or more — only two of those involved debutants (Germany 7-1 over Curaçao; Portugal 5-0 over Uzbekistan).

The two biggest Cinderellas of this World Cup were Cape Verde, who finished second in Group H with three draws, including against Spain, and DR Congo, who were one of the eight-best third-place teams. Both team made the Round of 32 and put up a fight to stay in the tournament before falling short of advancing to the final 16.

DR Congo went ahead after seven minutes against England and held the Three Lions until the final 15 minutes of the second half. Two goals from Harry Kane in a span of 11-minutes sunk the Leopards and ended a memorable run.

Two days later, Cape Verde took part in one of the matches of the tournament and pushed Argentina to the brink. The match needed extra time, which saw Sidny Lopes Cabral level the score at two in the 103rd minute, sending Hard Rock Stadium into a frenzy.

It wasn't to be, however, as an own goal in the 111th minute signaled the end of The Blue Sharks' time at the World Cup.

Michael Reaves via Getty Images

Dramatic endings

Algeria and Austria trading goals in stoppage time led to a wild 3-3 final group stage match. The result knocked Iran out of the World Cup and advanced both teams to the Round of 32, setting a date for Austria with Spain and matching Algeria with Switzerland.

Gonçalo Ramos saved Portugal against Croatia in the Round of 32 with a 94th-minute winner to keep their tournament dreams alive:

Cristiano Ronaldo's World Cup career would end in Portugal's match, however, thanks to a Mikel Merino winner in the first minute of stoppage time in the Round of 16 against Spain. Ronaldo is the first man to both play and score in six World Cups.

After failing to get out of the group stage in 2018 and 2022, Germany continued its disappointing run with a Round of 32 exit in 2026. After winning its group, Julian Nagelsmann's side were bounced by Paraguay losing in a penalty shootout for the first time ever in a World Cup.

Finally, Argentina vs. Cape Verde will never be forgotten. Just sit back and enjoy.

The fans really enjoyed themselves

The World Cup allows fans from all over the world to travel and experience different cultures. It also lets those traveling fans bring their culture to the tournament's location.

Scotland's Tartan Army enjoyed themselves wherever they went, traffic cones and all.

The "Viking row" spreadacross North America with Norwegian fans doing it at baseball games, on escalators — wherever they were, the "row" came with them.

Japanese fans experienced the joys of bar-b-que … and brought energy to every news interviews they gave to local media.

Mexico had Merlin the Duck. And the Scots had a waterfowl friend of their own.

While "Lumumba Vea" may not have been able to attend every DR Congo match due to visa issues, his presence was felt after going viral following the Africa Cup of Nations.

The Dutch made it Oranje everywhere they went.

"Country Roads" and "Wonderwall" were among the sing-songs for the USMNT and England, respectively, that delivered an immense about of crowd energy after wins and good vibes going forward.

The 2026 World Cup have fans everything they wanted out of a great international tournament. Argentina and Spain are deliver even more memories in the final as we all get set to count down the 1,400-plus days until the 2030 World Cup kicks off.