World Cup Winners and Losers as tournament heads into the knockout stage Sunday
It wasn’t too long ago that naysayers, especially those overseas, predicted that the 2026 World Cup would be a disaster. Some even suggested it would be the worst World Cup ever.
Among the concerns:
Ticket prices are at an all-time high, so stadiums will be half-empty. Foreign visitors will feel unsafe because of U.S. immigration policies. It’s too hot and humid in the summer in this part of the world. The expanded field of 48 is too big and will dilute the competition. The tournament is too spread out over three countries and will lack the festive vibe that makes the World Cup so special.
As the group stage concludes and the Round of 32 kicks off Sunday, those concerns appear to have melted in the summer heat.
The 2026 World Cup has already drawn a cumulative attendance of over 3.6 million fans, breaking the all-time tournament record before the group stage has even concluded, per FIFA. The previous high was 3.58 million at the 1994 World Cup, also held in the United States.
The average attendance has been 64,110 fans per match and stadium capacity has exceeded 99 percent. The Fan Fests have also been packed.
As for the foreign visitors, they are not only having fun at the games, bringing their colorful chants and costumes, they are discovering an America many of them never knew existed, and posting videos on social media that have gone viral.
Because the country is so large and air travel is so expensive, many World Cup tourists have chosen to travel by car and chronicling their journey with videos about how much they love Waffle House, Chick-Fil-A, Big Gulp cups at 7-11, national parks, Taco Bell, Walmart, Costco, Bass Pro Shop, and Buc-ee’s. They also point out that Americans are friendly.
As for the expanded field, without it we would have missed Haiti making its return to the World Cup after 52 years and all the joy that brought the people in that country and the Haitian diaspora. We would have been deprived of the 64th-ranked Cape Verde team and its lovable 40-year-old goalkeeper Vozinha, as it became the smallest nation ever to qualify for the knockout rounds.
As the tournament heads into the knockout phase on Sunday, here are some winners and losers from the group stage…
Winner: Tartan Army. The fun-loving, kilt-wearing Scottish fans took over Boston and South Florida and endeared themselves to both communities. Locals left whiskey and beer on the front porches of their Airbnbs, high-fived them on the streets, sang with them at Fenway Park and loanDepot park and helped them drink pubs dry. Mark Rowe, owner of Mickey Byrne’s pub in Hollywood, one of the Tartan Army headquarters last week, said: “They are the nicest people I’ve ever met; didn’t have even the tiniest problem with them. Never seen anything like it.”
Winner: Lionel Messi. The 39-year-old Argentine legend and Inter Miami captain is still making magic, scoring all five of Argentina’s five goals in the first two matches, including a hat trick in the opener. He and his team head to South Florida for the Round of 32 match against Cape Verde on Friday.
Loser: Hydration Breaks. FIFA introduced mandatory stoppages midway through each half for water breaks, insisting that it is for the welfare of the players and not for a chance to show more T.V. commercials. But the breaks in action, making it a four-quarter game, disrupt the flow of the match and seem silly in the stadiums that have roofs and air conditioning.
Winner: Norway. Not only does the team feature star Erling Haaland, but its fans have captivated the world with their Viking Row, pulling imaginary oars and chanting “Ro! Ro! Ro!”
Winner: Japanese fans have made headlines for years for their tradition of staying behind after sporting events to clean up their sections of the stadium. Armed with large blue trash bags they bring along, they leave their seats spotless. Their team does the same in their locker room.
Loser: Uruguay. Despite its elite, Europe-based stars, the Uruguayan team underperformed and did not advance to the Round of 32. According to Uruguayan media, there was tension in the team camp, and hours before their game against Spain, Fede Valverde and several teammates complained to coach Marcelo Bielsa about the team’s training methods and tactics. Bielsa then gave the team a 48-minute lecture, which did not go over well.
Winner: Team USA. There is a lot of pressure on the U.S. team and coach Mauricio Pochettino as a host team. So far, they are delivering, advancing to the Round of 32 with a game to spare after outscoring its first two opponents 6-1. Pochettino made nine lineup changes for the final group game against Turkey, which USA lost 3-2 on the final kick of the game.
Winner: USA fans. From the moment Pochettino took over the U.S. squad, he has been begging Americans to get behind the team. Coming from soccer-crazed Argentina, it pained him to see the U.S. team playing “home” games in stadiums that felt like road games. He was nearly brought to tears during the group stage, as stadiums in Los Angeles and Seattle were packed with American fans, dressed in red, white, and blue, belting out the national anthem and chanting U-S-A!
Loser: Speaking of USA and chants…The team seems to have made great strides, but the American Outlaws supporters, who are terrific and were cheering for this team long before others joined the bandwagon, need to come up with a better chant to catch up with the top soccer nations. Here is the current chant…
“We love ya, we love ya, we love ya,
And where you go we’ll follow, we’ll follow, we’ll follow,
Because we support the U.S., the U.S., the U.S., And that’s the way we like it, we like it, we love it!”
Winner: African soccer. Seven African teams advanced to the Round of 32, the most ever to survive the group stage. Morocco, South Africa, Ivory Coast, Cape Verde, Egypt, Ghana, Senegal. Egypt is having a historic run. Ghana gave England fits. Senegal beat Iraq 5-0. Congo tied Portugal. And Morocco, which reached the semifinals at the 2022 World Cup, has scored seven goals so far.
Winner: France. Led by Kylian Mbappe and its start-studded roster, the French are living up to the hype.
Winner: Tim Payne. The little-known New Zealand defender had 4,700 Instagram followers before the World Cup. He leaves the tournament with 5.9 million after an Argentine influencer, in a gimmick to raise the profile of an unknown player, urged fans to follow Payne.
Loser: Dynamic ticket pricing. Yes, the stadiums are full, or near full, and that’s great. But it would be even better if tickets were more affordable and if FIFA’s ticket sales and distribution system weren’t so complicated. Tickets for most big sporting events and concerts are obscenely overpriced these days (Knicks playoff ticket prices were right up there with the World Cup), pricing out many of the fans who truly live and breathe the sport.
This story was originally published June 27, 2026 at 1:18 PM.