Best of the World Cup So Far: The Goals, Saves and Breakout Stars

Beyond the results and the standings, a World Cup is really a collection of moments — the goals you replay, the saves that defy belief, the unknown names that suddenly belong. The opening days of 2026 have served up plenty of all three. Here are the performances that have stood out so far.

Start with the goal of the tournament to date, and it is hard to look past Lionel Messi's hat-trick against Algeria. The first of his three, a long-range strike, was the pick of the bunch — the kind of finish that tells you a great player has decided the occasion is his. That he did it to draw level with Klose's all-time World Cup scoring record only added to the sense of watching history.

Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland made sure Messi did not have the spotlight to himself. Mbappé's brace against Senegal included a thumping late effort from distance and carried him to the top of France's all-time scoring list, while Haaland marked Norway's long-awaited World Cup return with two goals against Iraq. The three most coveted forwards in the world all delivered, and the Golden Boot race is already crackling.

The save of the tournament has an unlikely owner. Cape Verde's 40-year-old goalkeeper Vozinha produced roughly seven stops to keep Spain out entirely in a 0-0 draw, frustrating Ferran Torres, Pedri and Aymeric Laporte in turn. It was less a single highlight than a 90-minute masterclass in defiance — and it ended, fittingly, with the veteran in tears at the final whistle.

For breakout stars, the tournament has already surfaced a few. New Zealand's Elijah Just announced himself with both goals in a 2-2 draw with Iran, the kind of double that turns a squad player into a name. The United States found a hero too, with their forward line clicking in a four-goal performance against Paraguay that ranks among the co-hosts' most emphatic World Cup displays.

There is a generational thread running through it all. The expanded 48-team field has handed debuts and minutes to a wave of younger players, and the early evidence is that they are seizing them rather than freezing. Allied to the veterans rolling back the years — Messi chief among them — it has made for an unusually rich blend of old and new.

On the betting angle, and we keep this deliberately low-key, the Golden Boot market is the one most directly shaped by these opening days. A hat-trick instantly vaults a player up the standings, and Messi's treble has done exactly that — but with Mbappé, Haaland and a clutch of others level early, the race is genuinely open. For information only: this is a long, volatile market, and chasing it after a single big performance is rarely wise. As ever, 18+, and bet only what you can afford to lose.