The Best Games of FIFA World Cup 2026
Comebacks, VAR controversies, last-minute goals - this tournament had it all
After having gladly wasted an entire month watching an unholy amount of football in what was by far the best World Cup of my life, after having seen either the entirety, or part of, or the highlights of most of the 104 (!) games that were played in this tournament, after having even watched a game live in person (which is genuinely something I never expected to happen in my lifetime), after having ignored every other aspect of my existence (including some pretty important ones!), after having consumed a ridiculous amount of beer over the summer because I spent so much time in bars and pubs watching these games with various friends (you know who you are), and after having subjected myself to endless social media discourse and memes and debates on the various teams and players and happenings and controversies of the tournament, here is a ranked list of my very favourite games out of the 104 that were played at this 2026 FIFA World Cup.
13. France 4-1 Norway
June 26th, Boston Stadium, Group Stage
This was the last game of Group I for both France and Norway, and both teams were already guaranteed to qualify. Norway thus took the rest-your-best-players strategy to the very extreme: they rested 10 of their 11 usual starters (!), including the goalkeeper (!!), against a French team who were already looking like the tournament favourites. This made a lot of people very angry and was widely regarded as a bad move.
France, meanwhile, was like: rest is for the weak, we’re going to play our usual squad even in an inconsequential game and destroy these guys. And so they did: a little known player by the name of Ousmane Dembélé scored a beautiful hattrick from the right wing, with goals coming from both his left and right foot. Pure class. But what’s crazy is that this actually wasn’t the one-sided affair the final score seems to suggest. Despite playing their entire B-team, Norway actually could’ve made this a competitive match had they not missed a penalty and some easy chances. Now, if only they had a world class striker in their squad who would’ve converted some of those chances, but alas, we’ll never know…
12. England 2-1 DR Congo
July 1st, Atlanta Stadium, Round of 32
Thomas Tuchel’s England weren’t tournament favourites, exactly, but they were a team with ridiculously talented players that most football fans had high hopes on. This was their first elimination matchup, their first real do-or-die challenge… and Doctor Congo scored against them in the 7th minute, the game having barely even started.
That early goal lit a fire under England. The next hour was just attempt after attempt of England throwing everything they could against Doctor Congo’s goal, only to be thwarted by the Congolese goalkeeper and the defensive backline, including multiple desperate saves on the goal line itself. Congo created a couple of their own chances when they could, too, getting very close to almost doubling their lead and sinking the English ship entirely.
But real talent always makes itself known. In what would be the first of many comebacks that were to happen in this tournament, Harry Kane came to the rescue and gave England a much-needed equalizer in the 75th minute, which would’ve been contribution enough, but then went on to create a goal out of pretty much nothing in the 86th minute as well, securing a victory for the English, and giving the Doctor a taste of his own medicine.
11. Brazil 2-1 Japan
June 29th, Houston Stadium, Round of 32
In 2018, in a World Cup elimination game, underdogs Japan faced a star-studded Belgian team and, against all odds, went 2-0 up in the first half, before somehow conceding three goals in the second half, the last one in the final few seconds of the game, and thus getting knocked out in absolutely heartbreaking fashion.
In 2026, in a World Cup elimination game, underdogs Japan faced a star-studded Brazilian team and, against all odds, went 1-0 up in the first half, before somehow conceding two goals in the second half, the last one in the final few seconds of the game, and thus getting knocked out in absolutely heartbreaking fashion.
History never repeats itself, but it rhymes.
10. Germany 1-1 (3-4) Paraguay
June 29th, Boston Stadium, Round of 32
This is an interesting case of a game becoming instantly memorable despite not being a particularly beautiful or brilliant display of football. It was just a decent draw that eventually went on to penalties. Objectively speaking, I’d even say that this game was inferior to many others that didn’t make the cut here. But football is not an objective sport, the context and the experience of watching a game matters, and boy, what an emotional rollercoaster it was to watch this.
Or, to be specific, to watch the penalty shootout it concluded with, which is easily one of the most dramatic ones I’ve experienced. Through some insane twists and turns, Germany ended up two goals down in the final two kicks of the shootout, and all Paraguay had to do was score one goal out of the two remaining spot kicks. But they couldn’t even do that, as 40-year old Manuel Neuer somehow managed to keep Germany’s hopes of the World Cup alive, taking penalties to what’s aptly called “sudden death”, only for Germany’s next penalty taker to miss once again (!?) and for Paraguay to finally clinch the win.
This was the first major upset of the tournament. We couldn’t believe what we’d just witnessed.
09. Belgium 3-2 Senegal
July 1st, Seattle Stadium, Round of 32
“The hardest game to win is a won game.”
- Emmanuel Lasker (former World Chess Champion)
Senegal almost had it all. They scored two absolute screamers against a Belgian side that had the likes of Courtois, De Bruyne, Doku, and Lukaku still actively playing. They attacked, they created chances, they defended well. They held on to a comfortable advantage right up until the 86th minute. The 86th! All they had to do was defend a two-goal lead for just four more minutes and change, and they would’ve easily been in the round of 16.
Instead they conceded two goals in quick succession and saw their lead slip away, slowly then all at once. And then, in the last few minutes of extra time, they further conceded a penalty and thus a third goal, watching their almost-materialized dreams get completely shattered.
Senegal almost had it all - almost being the key word here.
08. Netherlands 1-1 (2-3) Morocco
June 29th, Monterrey Stadium, Round of 32
Just a banger of a game through and through. Both teams playing with everything they had, intensely physical and tactical, and plenty of chances created on each side. A game where key defensive tackles were celebrated as much as the goals. Netherlands have always done well at World Cups, but after Morocco’s dream run into the 2018 semi-finals, nobody was going to dismiss them as an easy opponent either. And both teams delivered, with Morocco equalizing the Dutch’s 1-0 advantage in stoppage time and managing to take the game into a penalty shootout that was unpredictable until the very end.
Fun fact: Brazil vs Japan (#11), Germany vs Paraguay (#10), and this very game all took place on the same day. Needless to say it was the single best day of the World Cup.
07. Japan 2-2 Netherlands
June 14th, Dallas Stadium, Group Stage
A ridiculously competitive and entertaining match. After a scoreless first half, the Dutch scored early in the second half, but Japan responded back almost immediately. But when the Dutch scored again to make it 2-1, Japan desperately needed an equalizer with less than half an hour left to salvage a draw out of this.
Now, the Dutch team consists of players who are, on average, quite taller and bigger than the Japanese. But despite this height difference, Japan kept trying to score by putting aerial crosses into the Dutch penalty box, in the hopes that somebody would head the ball into the net. I remember watching this game live and thinking to myself, you’re not going to win any headers against these guys, they’re much taller! Just play ground passes! Even the commentators echoed this sentiment, and on and on it went.
There’s this popular saying that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. But here’s the thing: sometimes, you do get different results. Which is exactly what happened: with just two minutes of regular time left to go, Japan scored an equalizing goal and salvaged a draw by, you guessed it, winning a header, making fools out of everyone who doubted them.
06. Norway 2-1 Brazil
July 5th, New York/New Jersey Stadium, Round of 16
Brazil as a nation has such a rich footballing history that anything short of a great World Cup performance brings criticism (there’s always an “inquest” when Brazil flops, LOL), especially when you have someone like Carlo Ancelotti managing your team. Ancelotti’s Brazil weren’t having a great tournament to begin with, and now in the round of 16, they were up against a Norwegian squad that had outperformed all expectations so far. Would they hold up?
Nope!
Despite Brazil’s overall domination for the better part of ninety minutes, Norway would outperform expectations once again, and knock the 5-time world champions out of the contest, in a game that had many unforgettable moments. Norway’s goalkeeper, Nyland, made some unfathomably great saves. In a move that baffled fans and commentators alike, Vinicius Jr did not take a penalty that Brazil won early on, instead handing the ball over to a teammate who then missed. Endrick missed a 1-on-1 immediately after being subbed in. It seemed like Brazil would eventually find a way through, only for Erling Haaland - who’d barely had a touch all game - to score a header in the 79th minute and put a massive dent in their hopes. And then, if that wasn’t enough, he would go on to score another cracker ten minutes later, all because the Brazilian defense made the mistake of accidentally giving him 3 nanometers of space in the vicinity of the penalty box. Oh, and Neymar scored a too-little-too-late consolation goal at the very end.
In addition to being an entertaining watch and a fun upset, this was one of the most visually aesthetic games of the tournament as well, with both countries playing in their iconic jerseys and Brazil’s yellow contrasting sharply against Norway’s red. I enjoyed the Norwegian fans’ celebrations with the drums as well.
05. Spain 0-0 Cape Verde
June 15th, Atlanta Stadium, Group Stage
A tiny island nation with less than a million people, participating in their first World Cup, in their very first game in fact, had the misfortune of going up against one of the biggest footballing nations in the world. Everyone expected Spain to take an easy win here, or maybe even humiliate their opponent the way Germany often does. Nobody could’ve seen what was coming.
Because back then we just couldn’t have known. We couldn’t have known that Spain would win this World Cup by conceding only one goal in total, with a decisiveness and control of the midfield that would keep even the likes of France scoreless. We couldn’t have known that Cape Verde would have a dream run of their own too, that they would be the only team to face both finalists and put up a hell of a fight against each, that their goalkeeper, Vozinha, would become a global sensation, and that they would end up being only team in this tournament against whom Spain were not be able to score even a single goal.
And boy did Spain try. They threw everything at the wall for the better part of ninety minutes. They even subbed in Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams, two star players fresh out of injuries that they hadn’t wanted to use against a “smaller” team like this one. And yet Cape Verde held on, through luck, through talent, through defensive discipline, and through sheer force of will, in one what is one of the most entertaining 0-0 draws I’ve ever witnessed.
04. Argentina 3-2 Egypt
July 7th, Atlanta Stadium, Round of 16
One of the most dramatic, intense, and unbelievable games of this World Cup, and also by far the most controversial one. Ridiculously great football from both sides, and a comeback for the ages.
I can’t not acknowledge the VAR shenanigans that made this match so controversial in the first place. I’d been rooting for Argentina in this game (France for the tournament overall), but still hated that one of Egypt’s goals was disallowed because the VAR referees noticed a teeny tiny foul that had happened in the buildup like a million miles away. (The on-field referee had been fine with it.) I was so glad when the same player scored later. This had been a VAR-heavy tournament in general and a lot of fans (including myself) had been complaining about its overreach, and this disallowed goal seemed to be the last straw for many. What made it worse was Mo Salah’s claim later in the game that he was similarly fouled in the buildup to Argentina’s third goal, but this time the VAR refs paid no attention to that transgression, even though they had for the one in Argentina’s favor. And so began all the “rigged” conspiracies and the “VARgentina” chants and the FIFA corruption allegations and the memes and so on. It all left a bit of a bad taste, which is the only reason why this game doesn’t rank higher on my list here.
Outside of that, though, what a classic. Egypt went 1-0 up. Argentina pushed hard to equalize, which left major gaps in their defense ripe to be exploited from a counter, which is exactly what Egypt did to then go 2-0 up. Would Argentina finally get knocked out?
Now, I’m sure you’ve heard of losing teams equalizing a 2 goal disadvantage, but how often have you heard of a team not just equalizing, but making it 3-2 within the original 90 minutes?
I’ll tell you how often this has happened: sixteen times. In total, like, ever. Here’s a fun stat (Tweet modified by me):
A team’s been down 2-0 in a football match on 10,318 occasions.
Only 16 have come back (0.16%) to win [and not just draw] at end of 90 minutes.
This game is the first time it ever happened in a World Cup.
That’s how inconceivably astounding what Messi and Co did against Egypt was. If you watched the game, I don’t have to tell you. And if you didn’t, I wouldn’t be able to do it justice anyway.
03. England 6-4 France
July 18th, Miami Stadium, 3rd Place Game
By far the most hilarious, unserious, and batshit insane game of the entire tournament. This is what you get when two talented teams who’ve been denied a chance at going into the final are forced to go up against each other in the humiliation ritual that is the 3rd place game, also known as the “bronze final”. Most people, even diehard fans, never tune in for the 3rd place game, and I wasn’t going to either, only doing so thanks to a friend. In retrospect if I’d missed this I would’ve felt a FOMO intense enough to remember for the rest of my life.
Because England went 4-0 up in the first half itself. 4-0! Have you ever heard of anything like this?! You’d think that would seal the result, but then France suddenly became the dominant team in the second half and made it 4-3 (?!), and they would’ve even equalized if Michael Olise wasn’t allergic to scoring. What even. And after all of that there were three more goals that ended up going in in the last fifteen minutes, making the final score 6-4, with Kylian Mbappé securing his Golden Boot and becoming the all-time leading World Cup goal scorer.
Just crazy stuff, I’m telling ya. To even try and breakdown this match will require its own blog post. Even the commentators couldn’t believe what they were watching. A 10-goal game in a World Cup - sometimes you just have to sit back and laugh.
02. Argentina 3-2 Cape Verde
July 3rd, Miami Stadium, Round of 32
This was the ultimate David vs Goliath matchup. A first-time nation going up against the reigning World Champions in a knockout round. Sure, Verde had already outperformed expectations by surviving the group stages in the first place (and snagging a draw against Spain), so nobody expected Argentina to have an “easy” game here, necessarily, but everyone did expect them to get the job done, leave no evidence, go home, and focus on more important teams ahead.
Instead this became the most stressful game of the tournament for me, because Cape Verde kept achieving the impossible. After them defending quite well, Argentina eventually opened the scoring as Messi snuck one past Vozinha, and the game’s entire tempo slowed down. Both teams seemed okay to carry on like this for quite a while, and gave the illusion that this would be a 1-0 match. But then Cape Verde sprouted up a goal out of nowhere, with a nutmeg pass assisting another nutmeg finish. Argentina simply couldn’t break through after that and the game went into extra time, which nobody had expected in the first place. But things would only get crazier.
Argentina then scored early on in ET and, again, both teams seemed okay to carry on like this, not committing players too hard, this time giving viewers the illusion that this would end as a 2-1 result. And then came an equalizer from Cape Verde’s Sidny Lopes Cabral that was not only unexpected, but so majestic, so beautiful, such a perfect right-footed curl of the ball from the left wing into the top right corner of the goal, it became most people’s favourite goal of this entire World Cup in that very instant, including mine. I still dream about it.
But that still wasn’t enough to take the game to penalties. Argentina somehow scored another one to make it 3-2 and to take the lead for the third time in this game. And this time they held on to it until the final whistle. But boy what effort it took for them to get there. Cape Verde left everything on the pitch. To call this one a dramatic and emotional rollercoaster would be an understatement. It was everything a game of football should be.
01. England 3-2 Mexico
July 5th, The Azteca, Round of 16
Some games you just know you’re never going to forget for as long as you live.
A Jude Bellingham brace. A silenced home crowd. 2-0.
An immediate retaliation from Mexico. 2-1.
Half time.
A red card for England. One more goal a piece. 3-2.
And then… England defending a one-goal lead against Mexico’s relentless crossing, for thirty minutes, with just ten men, at an altitude of seven thousand feet, in front of eighty thousand Mexican fans… and still standing strong at the end.
Wow.
This tournament might have had games with bigger score lines, crazier comebacks, later goals, or more dramatic narratives. But this was my favourite game of the 2026 FIFA World Cup because, apart from having a bit of each of those things, and apart from being a outstanding game of football in and of itself, it had the most atmosphere.
There was just something different about it right from the start. I felt it through the TV screen. Maybe it was the stakes, maybe it was the fact that it was being played at a venue in Mexico City called “The Azteca” (by far the best name for a football stadium I’ve ever heard), maybe it was the nighttime setting, maybe it was the high altitude, maybe it was Darren Fletcher’s and Owen Hargreaves’ fantastic commentary, maybe it was the sheer volume and responsiveness of the Mexican fans inside The Azteca. Or maybe it was the intensity and quality of the football itself, an endless torrent of chances, tackles, sprints, passes, and goals that made the game feel like it was happening at 1.2x speed. I don’t know what it was - probably a combination of all of the above - but it felt like something else. Even rewatching the highlights now doesn’t quite capture the feeling, the texture this game had as it was going on. It was its own moment. You just had to be there.