World Cup 2026 after the first round…record numbers and early messages

The curtain came down on the first round of the group stage of the 2026 World Cup, held in the United States, Canada and Mexico, after witnessing remarkable numbers and early indicators of the strength of the competition, led by the brilliance of Lionel Messi, and the decline of the influence of Cristiano Ronaldo, in addition to individual and group records.

Messi stole the show after scoring a hat-trick against Algeria, raising his tally to 16 goals in World Cup history, equaling the record set by Miroslav Klose, and topping the list of top scorers in the current tournament.

On the other hand, Cristiano Ronaldo limited himself to 25 touches of the ball during Portugal’s draw with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, his lowest tally in an entire match with his country in a major tournament.

The eight Arab teams did not achieve any victory in the first round, after Qatar, Morocco, Egypt and Saudi Arabia settled for a draw, while Tunisia, Iraq, Algeria and Jordan lost. Despite this, Saudi goalkeeper Mohammed Al Owais stood out by making nine saves against Uruguay, recording the second highest tally for a Saudi goalkeeper in the history of the World Cup.

In terms of numbers, Mexican Julián Quiñones, a Saudi Al-Qadisiyah player, became the first player active in the Saudi League to score the opening goal in one of the World Cup editions, while American Chris Richards achieved a full score by completing 83 passes with a 100% success rate, which is an unprecedented number since this statistic began being documented in 1966.

Swede Matthias Svanberg also needed only 18 seconds after coming on as a substitute to score the second-fastest goal by a substitute player in the history of the World Cup, while Morocco imposed itself with a distinguished performance against Brazil, recording 123 successful passes in the attacking third, which is the highest in its history in the tournament.

The German team concluded the first round as the strongest in attack after its sweeping victory over Curacao 7-1, while the tournament witnessed a decrease in expulsions, with the absence of red cards since the opening match.