🌍 All 48 Teams

Algeria's World Cup ended in the Round of 32, beaten 2-0 by Switzerland in Vancouver on July 2 — goals from Breel Embolo and Dan Ndoye did the damage. It's Algeria's first knockout appearance since 2014, so there's genuine pride in how they got here, even in defeat.

The standout moment was the final group game: a breathless 3-3 draw with Austria in Kansas City that sent Algeria through as one of the best third-placed teams, despite having lost their opener 3-0 to Argentina. Captain Riyad Mahrez scored twice and set up a third in that game — the kind of night a captain dreams about.

Mahrez, 35, missed the 2018 and 2022 World Cups entirely, so this tournament was billed as unfinished business for him personally. He delivered in the one game that mattered most, even if Algeria couldn't carry the momentum past Switzerland.

Mahrez is the name to drop — the long-time Manchester City winger, still doing it at 35 for his country. Mention his two goals and an assist in that mad Austria draw and you'll sound like you actually watched it, not just skimmed the group tables.

Algeria go home having done more than most expected of a third-placed qualifier, with Mahrez's near-perfect night against Austria as the lasting image. There's enough coming through underneath him — Amoura, Belaili — that this feels like a changing of the guard rather than a full reset.

Messi is 39 years old, just battled through a World Cup semi-final admitting afterwards he was "really very tired," and is somehow still leading the Golden Boot race with eight goals. If he lifts this one, it's Argentina's fourth title and his own farewell tour written by a screenwriter with no self-control.

Argentina reached this final the hard way: 1-0 down to England with time running out in the semi, then two goals late on flipped it to a 2-1 win. Nobody in this squad seems to know how to lose calmly, which is either agony or entertainment depending on which shirt you're wearing.

This is Argentina's third World Cup final in the last four tournaments and their seventh overall — a run of sustained excellence that doesn't get talked about enough because Messi understandably eats all the oxygen in the room.

The referee is Slovenian official Slavko Vincic, and Argentina fans have one specific memory of him: he was in charge the day Saudi Arabia beat them 2-1 in 2022, still the biggest shock of that tournament. Best not to bring this up in the tunnel.

Despite defending the title and having the tournament's most potent attack — 19 goals, more than anyone else in the competition — Argentina go into the final as betting underdogs, with Spain favourites on every market. Mention this and you'll sound like you actually follow the odds, not just the shirt numbers.

Australia's tournament finished in the Round of 32 — a 1-1 draw with Egypt in Dallas on July 3 that went to penalties, where Egypt won 4-2. A cruel way to go: a game that could easily have gone either way, decided by a shootout.

The breakout story was 20-year-old winger Nestory Irankunda, who became Australia's youngest-ever World Cup goalscorer with a strike against Turkey. Born in Tanzania to Burundian refugee parents and raised in Adelaide, his story is as good as his finishing.

Reaching the Round of 32 at all was the platform Australia needed — they finished runners-up in their group to get there, a solid step for a team that's historically had to scrap for every point at this level.

Irankunda is the name for the file — a Watford winger with genuine pace already being talked about as the face of the next Socceroos generation. Say it right and you'll out-fan most casuals in the room.

This was meant to be a building tournament for Australia, and on that score it delivered — a penalty shootout exit stings, but a teenage breakout star plus a group-stage runners-up finish is more than plenty of nations get. The next cycle looks genuinely promising.

Austria's World Cup ended at the first knockout hurdle — a 3-0 defeat to Spain in Los Angeles on July 2, with Mikel Oyarzabal scoring twice and Pedro Porro adding a third. Spain outshot them 23 to 5, so this wasn't close on the day.

The moment to remember is how Austria even got there: a wild 3-3 draw with Algeria in the final group game in Kansas City, enough to send them through as group runners-up. Games like that are exactly why people watch group-stage finales.

Losing 3-0 to a team that went on to reach the final is a softer landing than the scoreline suggests — Spain proved to be one of the best sides in the tournament, and Austria simply ran into them at the wrong moment.

No single Austria player dominated headlines the way some breakout stars did elsewhere, and that tells its own story — this was a well-organised, collective effort that got them further than a star-studded lineup might have without the same cohesion.

Getting outclassed by the eventual finalists is nothing to be ashamed of. Austria did their job in the group and bowed out to genuinely one of the two best teams in the world — file this under 'no shame in it' rather than a low point.

Belgium's World Cup ran deeper than most — all the way to the quarterfinals, before losing 2-1 to Spain in Los Angeles on July 10. Fabián Ruiz put Spain ahead, Charles De Ketelaere equalised, and Mikel Merino's 88th-minute strike sent Belgium home. A genuinely good tournament ended on the smallest of margins.

The high point was the Round of 16 — a 4-1 demolition of co-hosts USA, with Charles De Ketelaere scoring twice. Beating a home team in the last 16, in front of its own fans, is exactly the kind of result that makes a tournament memorable.

Belgium's so-called golden generation — De Bruyne, Lukaku and company — has been fading for a few cycles now, so a quarterfinal run built around a new attacking focal point is a genuinely reassuring sign rather than a letdown, even in defeat to the team that went on to win it all.

Charles De Ketelaere is the name to know — scored in the Round of 16 rout of the USA and again in the quarterfinal against Spain, making him Belgium's most consistent attacking threat across the whole tournament.

Losing to Spain, who then went all the way to the final, is a defeat nobody would complain about. Belgium leave with their best run in years and a genuine successor to their aging core already delivering on the biggest stage.

Bosnia and Herzegovina's World Cup ended in the Round of 32, beaten 2-0 by hosts USA in San Francisco on July 1. Folarin Balogun scored just before half-time, was then controversially sent off just after the hour, and Malik Tillman added a second in the 82nd minute to finish it off.

Just reaching this tournament was the achievement — Bosnia hadn't been to a World Cup since 2014, and got here via back-to-back penalty shootout wins in the playoffs, first over Wales, then away to Italy in Zenica.

Going out ten-against-eleven after a red card stings, and it's worth being sympathetic rather than dismissive about it — these things happen fast in a match, and Bosnia were competitive right up until that moment.

The name that matters here is captain Edin Džeko, who led the team at 40 years old in what's almost certainly his final World Cup. He survived the siege of Sarajevo as a child and finishes his international career with 73 goals in 148 caps — comfortably the most decorated player his country has ever produced.

This was billed as 'Džeko's last dance,' and Bosnia gave him a send-off worthy of the name — a first World Cup appearance in over a decade, delivered in large part because of him. Whatever comes next for Bosnia, this tournament belonged to one player's remarkable career.

Brazil's World Cup ended in the Round of 16 — a genuine shock, beaten 2-1 by Norway in East Rutherford, New Jersey on July 5. Erling Haaland scored twice in the final ten minutes to turn the game, and Neymar's stoppage-time penalty was too little, too late.

The high point was Vinícius Júnior, Brazil's standout performer through the group stage, including a brace against Scotland — genuinely one of the form players of the tournament's opening rounds, and reason enough for optimism heading into the knockouts.

Losing to a team appearing at its first World Cup in 28 years is the kind of result that will sting for a while — Norway hadn't been to a tournament since before most of Brazil's squad were born, and this was their maiden quarterfinal. Worth naming plainly rather than dancing around it: this was a big upset.

Vinícius Júnior is the player to know — Real Madrid's forward and Brazil's most dangerous attacker throughout, even as the team fell short overall. Neymar, back from a long injury lay-off for his fourth World Cup, also deserves credit for the fight he showed in the final minutes, even in defeat.

Being knocked out by Norway rather than a traditional heavyweight makes this a harder loss to explain away, and Ancelotti's first World Cup in charge will face scrutiny because of it. But this is still a Brazil squad with Vinícius Júnior in his prime — the disappointment is real, and so is the talent to come back stronger.

Canada's World Cup as co-hosts ended in the Round of 16, beaten 3-0 by Morocco on July 4. Azzedine Ounahi scored twice and Soufiane Rahimi added a third late on, and Canada became the first of the three co-host nations to be eliminated.

The high point was history itself: a 1-0 win over South Africa in the Round of 32, Canada's first-ever win in a men's World Cup knockout match. Stephen Eustáquio scored the winner in stoppage time — the biggest goal in the country's World Cup history.

Eustáquio's form throughout the tournament was remarkable for a player who isn't a household name outside Canada — he created five chances from set plays in that South Africa game alone, matching a record set in a 2006 World Cup semifinal.

Stephen Eustáquio is the name worth knowing — a Portugal-born, LAFC-based midfielder who quietly ran Canada's midfield all tournament, then produced the goal of his life when it mattered most.

Being the first co-host eliminated will sting given the occasion, but a first-ever knockout win, on home soil, is a genuine marker for Canadian football — not the end of the story, but proof the program is finally somewhere new.

Cape Verde's fairytale World Cup debut ended in the Round of 32, a 3-2 extra-time defeat to defending champions Argentina on July 3 — but not before they came within ten minutes of one of the greatest shocks in World Cup history. An own goal in the 111th minute was the only thing that separated the two sides.

This was Cape Verde's first-ever World Cup appearance, full stop. A nation of around 525,000 people — smaller than Glasgow — went through the entire group stage unbeaten: a 0-0 draw with Spain, a 2-2 draw with Uruguay, and a 0-0 draw with Saudi Arabia, finishing as group runners-up without losing a single match.

There's no low point to soften here — this is about as close to a perfect underdog story as football gets, and it deserves to be told with the warmth it earned rather than picked apart for what went wrong.

No individual Cape Verde player became a global superstar overnight, and that's rather the point — this was a team effort by a squad nobody outside the islands had heard of a few years ago, doing something no one from home had ever done before.

Cape Verde arrived with nothing to lose and leave with one of the great stories of the tournament — an extra-time scare put into the reigning champions by the smallest nation at the World Cup. Whatever comes next for Cape Verdean football, this squad wrote the first chapter, and it's one worth telling for years.

Colombia's World Cup ended in the cruellest way possible: a 0-0 stalemate with Switzerland in the Round of 16, settled on penalties, where the Swiss held their nerve 4-3. Twenty minutes of extra time and nobody could score — that's either agonising or oddly fitting, depending on how you feel about penalty shootouts as a concept.

The high point was a near-perfect run before that: beating Uzbekistan 3-1, then holding Portugal to a scoreless draw to finish top of a tough group, followed by a 1-0 win over Ghana in the Round of 32. That's four games unbeaten, including a result against a team with Cristiano Ronaldo on it, before penalties finally got them.

Right-back Daniel Muñoz quietly became one of the stories of the group stage, scoring in wins over both Uzbekistan and DR Congo — not bad for a position where you're mostly supposed to just not concede.

Luis Díaz, now at Bayern Munich after leaving Liverpool, was Colombia's main attacking threat throughout. James Rodríguez, 34 and now Colombia's all-time World Cup appearance leader, ran things from midfield as captain — still doing the job he's done since 2014.

After the Switzerland exit, Colombian football royalty like Falcao were publicly unimpressed with how it ended. Worth remembering if it comes up: topping a group with Portugal in it and reaching the Round of 16 is a solid tournament by recent Colombian standards — the criticism is more about expectations than the actual results.

Croatia's tournament ended in the Round of 32, beaten 2-1 by Portugal — a step earlier than the semi-final runs they're used to from 2018 and 2022, but a fair result against a very good side.

The signature moment came in their final group game against Ghana: Luka Modric, at 40, became the oldest player ever to register a World Cup assist, setting up Nikola Vlašić's 83rd-minute winner, then blocked a goal-bound effort in his own box in stoppage time to make sure it counted.

Modric also picked up his 200th cap for Croatia during the group stage, in the win over Panama — a number very few players in football history ever reach, let alone at a World Cup.

Croatia lost their opener 4-2 to England, which looked like trouble at the time, but they responded by beating Panama and Ghana to finish second in the group anyway — the sign of a team that doesn't panic.

This was Modric's third World Cup taking Croatia to the knockout stage in a row, and quite possibly his last — at 40, there won't be many more chances. If this is the end of his international story, it's one worth remembering fondly rather than mourning; not many players get to leave a stage still making history on their way out.

Curaçao's first ever World Cup ended in the group stage, as expected, but the story was never really about winning it — this is a nation of about 156,000 people, smaller than Iceland was when they famously qualified in 2018, and they were there at all.

Their signature moment was a 0-0 draw with Ecuador, secured almost single-handedly by 37-year-old goalkeeper Eloy Room, who made a stack of saves to hold out for Curaçao's first ever World Cup point. Ecuador went on to beat Germany in their next game, which tells you how good that Curaçao defensive display actually was.

The low point, scoreline-wise, was a 7-1 opening defeat to Germany — but even that had a silver lining. Manager Dick Advocaat, 78 years old and a fixture of Dutch football for decades, said afterwards he was moved to see people back home still celebrating in the streets, 7-1 loss and all.

Curaçao's tournament ended with a 2-0 defeat to Ivory Coast, finishing bottom of a group that also contained Germany and Ecuador — a tough draw for a debutant by any measure.

Nobody expects Curaçao back at a World Cup any time soon — qualifying at all was closer to a miracle than a trend. But they've now got the record for smallest nation ever to play at one, and a night when the whole island partied after a 7-1 loss because they were finally there. That's worth more than three points.

Czechia's World Cup ended in the group stage, and it wasn't especially close — a loss to Korea Republic, a draw with South Africa, then a 3-0 defeat to co-hosts Mexico that eliminated them with a game to spare. Fourth in a four-team group is about as clear-cut an exit as it gets.

The one point of the campaign came from a 1-1 draw with South Africa, sandwiched between two defeats — a fair reflection of a tournament where nothing quite clicked.

Bayer Leverkusen striker Patrik Schick came in as Czechia's main goal threat, having recently become the first Czech player to reach 100 goals across Europe's top five leagues. He managed just one shot on target across all three games — the kind of quiet tournament that happens to strikers sometimes, and no reflection on what he's done for his country over the years.

Schick announced his retirement from international football immediately after the group-stage exit, closing out his Czechia career at a World Cup rather than fading out between qualifiers — there's something fitting about going out on the biggest stage available, even in defeat.

Czechia will regroup for the next cycle with a new focal point up front. It's a group-stage exit to forget, but Schick leaving the national side on his own terms, at a World Cup, is the kind of ending most international careers don't get.

DR Congo's World Cup ended in the Round of 32 against England — they actually took the lead, before Harry Kane scored twice late on to send them out. Losing to England happens to a lot of teams; taking the lead against them first is the part DR Congo can be proud of.

Just being there was already history: this was DR Congo's first World Cup in 52 years, and they became the first Congolese side ever to reach the knockout stage.

The breakout story of their whole run was Newcastle forward Yoane Wissa, who scored three goals in the group stage — including DR Congo's first ever World Cup goal, a stoppage-time equaliser against Portugal that turned a defeat into a point.

They backed that up with a 3-1 win over Uzbekistan, Wissa on the scoresheet twice more either side of a goal from Mayele — enough to send DR Congo through as one of the best third-placed teams in the tournament.

A 52-year wait, a first ever knockout appearance, and a new star in Yoane Wissa to build the next cycle around — DR Congo's tournament ended in defeat, but it's hard to find much of a downside in how they got there.

Ecuador's World Cup ended in the Round of 32, beaten by hosts Mexico at the Estadio Azteca — a tough draw and an even tougher venue, and their tournament finished there.

The result everyone will remember is the one before it: Ecuador beat Germany 2-1 in their final group game, the result that effectively set up Germany's shock exit a round later. Beating a team ranked well above you, in the game that decides who tops the group, is the kind of result that gets replayed for years.

It wasn't all attacking fireworks — Ecuador also ground out a 0-0 draw against World Cup debutants Curaçao, the tighter, less glamorous result that ultimately meant just as much to finishing third and advancing as one of the best third-placed teams.

Chelsea's Moisés Caicedo was the engine of the whole run, anchoring midfield and doing the unglamorous work that let Ecuador's more attacking players get on the ball in good positions.

Beating Germany and reaching the Round of 32 is a genuinely strong World Cup for Ecuador — the kind of tournament that raises expectations for next time, which is either exciting or a little bit dangerous depending on how the next four years go.

Egypt's World Cup ended in heartbreak in the Round of 16 against defending champions Argentina — they led 2-0 with 15 minutes left, then lost the lead and the game to a stoppage-time header from Enzo Fernández. As exits go, that's about as painful as it gets.

To get there, Egypt beat Australia on penalties in the Round of 32 — their first ever knockout win at a men's World Cup, in a history stretching back over 90 years. Mohamed Salah played every minute of it, hamstring issue and all, and scored his penalty in the shootout.

Salah had actually left the final group game, against Iran, with that same hamstring problem — the kind of injury scare that has an entire nation checking his fitness updates rather than the score.

Egypt qualified for this World Cup unbeaten, and the group stage needed a second-half comeback against New Zealand to land their first ever World Cup win, before finishing second in their group behind Belgium on goal difference.

A first-ever knockout win, a first-ever Round of 16 appearance, and a two-goal lead lost to the defending champions in the cruellest way possible — this was, by a distance, Egypt's best World Cup, even though the ending will sting for a while.

France finished the World Cup in fourth place after losing the third-place play-off 6-4 to England in Miami last night — genuinely one of the wildest scorelines of the whole tournament. Ten goals in a match both managers openly said they wished didn't exist is very on-brand for how that fixture always plays out.

Kylian Mbappé scored twice in the defeat and became the all-time leading World Cup goalscorer, taking his tally to 22 and passing Lionel Messi's previous record of 21. Slightly awkward timing — he made history in a match his team lost 6-4, so lead with the record, not the scoreline, and you'll sound like you know what you're talking about.

It was also Didier Deschamps' final game in charge of France after 14 years, during which he won the 2018 World Cup and reached the 2022 final. Bowing out with a 6-4 defeat in a play-off nobody wanted isn't the send-off anyone would have scripted, but a World Cup winner's medal means his legacy was never really in question.

France were already down to a patched-up defence, having lost William Saliba to a back injury in the semi-final loss to Spain. England took full advantage, with Bukayo Saka running riot — handy context for anyone wondering how a team this good let in six.

France arrived as reigning runners-up and one of the pre-tournament favourites; they leave in fourth after a semi-final defeat to Spain and a chaotic play-off loss. It's a comedown by their own recent standards, even if 'officially the fourth-best team on the planet' is still not a bad way to end a World Cup.

Germany's World Cup ended in the Round of 32, and it was arguably the biggest shock of the entire tournament: a 1-1 draw with Paraguay, ranked 41st in the world to Germany's 10th, before Paraguay won 4-3 on penalties. It's the first time in World Cup history Germany have lost a shootout.

Kai Havertz equalised early in the second half after Paraguay had led at the break through Julio Enciso — for a while it looked like normal service. Then Havertz, Jonathan Tah and Nick Woltemade all missed in the shootout, and Paraguay's goalkeeper made the saves that mattered.

There was also a Jonathan Tah goal ruled out by VAR in extra time, which will get replayed in Germany for a while as the moment that might have changed everything — though Paraguay deserved plenty of credit regardless of that call.

Group stage-wise, Germany had looked fine: a 7-1 win over Curaçao and a 2-1 win over Ivory Coast, before a loss to Ecuador in their final game — with qualification already sewn up — turned out to foreshadow the bigger upset to come.

Four-time champions going out in the Round of 32 to the 41st-ranked team in the world is the kind of result German football will be picking over for years. For everyone else, it's a reminder that World Cups are unusually good at humbling the favourites — no team, however decorated, gets to skip that lesson forever.

Ghana's World Cup ended in the Round of 32 on July 3rd, beaten 1-0 by Colombia — Jhon Arias scored inside 14 minutes and Ghana didn't manage a single shot on target for the rest of the match. It's a flat way to bow out, but they'd already done the hard part just by getting there, finishing third in a group with England and Croatia in it.

The high point was the group stage itself. A 1-0 win over Panama — settled by a 20-year-old, Caleb Yirenkyi, having the game of his life — and a battling 0-0 draw with England were enough to sneak Ghana through as one of the best third-placed teams, a route plenty of bigger names failed to find.

The rough patch was the finishing, or lack of it. Zero shots on target across 90 minutes against Colombia is the kind of stat that follows a team home — not a scandal, just a tournament where the final ball never quite arrived when it mattered.

Goalkeeper Benjamin Asare was Ghana's story. A home-based keeper making his World Cup debut, he came in and kept back-to-back clean sheets against Panama and England, with big saves against Bukayo Saka and Harry Kane along the way — the kind of run that gets a domestic-league goalkeeper a much bigger move.

Ghana leave with a young goalkeeper who just outperformed his CV, a teenager with a World Cup winner to his name, and a group-stage escape act that's more than most Black Stars sides have managed lately. Building on it is the job now — turning up isn't.

Haiti's World Cup ended in the group stage without a single point — but that was never really the story. This was Haiti's first World Cup in 52 years, since 1974, and they finished it having actually scored, which is more than a lot of people expected from a team that hadn't been near the tournament since disco.

The high point came in their last match, against 2022 semi-finalists Morocco. Haiti led twice — through a Yassine Bounou own goal and a brilliant strike from Wilson Isidor, their first World Cup goals in over five decades — before Morocco eventually won 4-2. For a team already eliminated, going toe-to-toe with one of the tournament's stronger sides was the moment that mattered.

The tougher stretch came earlier: a 0-1 opening loss to Scotland and a 0-3 defeat to Brazil left Haiti out of the tournament with a game still to play, and with no goals to their name yet. It set up the Morocco match as their one shot at leaving a mark, which they took.

Wilson Isidor was the man who delivered it — his strike against Morocco was the kind of finish that gets replayed regardless of the scoreline, and gave Haiti their first World Cup goal since before most of the current squad's parents were born.

Haiti leave with no points, no wins, and a first World Cup appearance in 52 years that ended with real goals and real belief on the pitch, however briefly. However long the wait for the next one is, this squad gave their country something to genuinely look back on.

Iran's World Cup ended in the group stage without losing a single game — three draws, against New Zealand, Belgium and Egypt, added up to three points and elimination anyway, decided by the tie-break maths of other groups' third-place teams. It's a strange way to go out: unbeaten, and still on the plane home before the knockouts.

The high point was arguably the Belgium game — a 0-0 draw in which Iran's captain, Mehdi Taremi, was fouled clean through on goal, getting a Belgian defender sent off and forcing his side to see out the last 25 minutes a man down. Holding a major European side to nothing with ten men on the pitch is a result Iran can be proud of.

The moment that actually cost them came in their last game, against Egypt. Shoja Khalilzadeh thought he'd scored a stoppage-time winner that would have sent Iran through automatically — the goal was chalked off for offside after a VAR review, by the finest of margins. That single call is the difference between a group-stage exit and a first-ever World Cup knockout appearance.

Taremi was the man to watch throughout — a penalty saved against Egypt, a header off the crossbar, and generally the player causing the most problems in every one of Iran's three games, even in the ones that finished goalless.

Iran go home unbeaten and could reasonably feel hard done by — three draws and one offside call away from history. Next time, the margins might just fall the other way.

Iraq's World Cup ended in the group stage with three defeats from three — 4-1 to Norway, 3-0 to France, 5-0 to Senegal — but simply being there was the real headline. It's Iraq's first World Cup since 1986, a 40-year wait, and they were drawn straight into a group with France, Norway and Senegal, all three of whom went through.

The high point actually came before the tournament: beating Bolivia 2-1 in the intercontinental play-off to book their spot at all, with Ali Al-Hamadi heading them in front and Aymen Hussein settling it just after half-time. That result is the reason Iraq had a World Cup to turn up to in the first place.

Once the group stage started, the football was tougher going — a genuine group of death, and the scorelines show it. There's no shame in it: France and Norway both progressed, and Senegal made it through as one of the best third-placed teams. Iraq just ran into three teams playing above them.

Ali Al-Hamadi was the one to know — the first Iraqi player ever to appear in the Premier League, at Ipswich Town, bringing pace and directness to a front line built around the more experienced Hussein's finishing.

Iraq leave with no points and a heavy goal difference, but also a first World Cup appearance in 40 years finally banked. Whatever comes next for Iraqi football, this squad are the ones who ended the wait.

Ivory Coast's World Cup ended in the Round of 32, beaten 2-1 by Norway on June 30th when Erling Haaland scored the winner with four minutes to go. It's a painful way to exit, but the defeat came after Ivory Coast had already made history — this was the first time in the country's history they'd reached a World Cup knockout stage at all.

The high point was getting there in the first place. Wins over Ecuador and Curaçao either side of a narrow loss to Germany saw them finish second in their group, and the Curaçao win was the one that actually sealed a first-ever trip to the knockouts — a genuine landmark for a football nation that's produced serious talent for decades without this exact box being ticked.

Against Norway, Ivory Coast were behind with 20 minutes left, then substitute Amad Diallo dragged them level — clearing a Norwegian effort off the line at one end before scoring at the other. It's the kind of twenty-minute cameo that should have won the game and instead just delayed the ending.

Amad Diallo was the impact story: on for the second half, decisive at both ends, and unlucky to finish on the losing side after doing more in thirty-odd minutes than most players manage in ninety.

Ivory Coast go home from their first-ever World Cup knockout appearance having lost it late to one of the tournament's biggest stars. That's a genuinely good problem to have — the ceiling just got higher than it's ever been for this team.

Japan's World Cup ended in the Round of 32, beaten 2-1 by Brazil in about as cruel a way as football manages — Gabriel Martinelli scored the winner in the sixth minute of stoppage time, after Japan had led for most of the first half. Losing to a five-time champion by the smallest and latest possible margin is still losing, but it's the kind of exit that gets you more respect than most wins.

The high point was the goal that started it all: Kaishu Sano, a 25-year-old defensive midfielder who'd scored exactly one goal in the Bundesliga all season, drove at Brazil's midfield, brushed past Casemiro and beat Alisson from 20 yards for his first-ever international goal. For about an hour, Japan were genuinely threatening to knock Brazil out.

The turning point was Brazil's response — Casemiro equalising just after the hour, and then Martinelli's stoppage-time winner snatching it away in the last minute Japan had left to defend. There's no real misstep to point to; Japan simply ran out of time against a side with more firepower on the bench.

Sano was the name that came out of this tournament. A relative unknown outside Japan before the match, his goal against Brazil made him one of the breakout stories of the whole World Cup, on a team not exactly short of talented players.

Japan leave having taken a five-time World Cup winner to the very last kick of the game. That's the kind of near-miss that tends to get remembered a lot longer than a routine group-stage exit — and it's a solid marker for wherever this team goes next.

Jordan's first-ever World Cup ended in the group stage with three defeats from three — 3-1 to Austria, 1-2 to Algeria, and 3-1 to a Lionel Messi-led Argentina — and they were already mathematically out before that last game even kicked off. For a country that had never played a single minute at a World Cup before this summer, the results were always going to be secondary to being there at all.

The high point came in the very first match: Ali Olwan scored Jordan's first-ever World Cup goal against Austria, racing onto a counter-attack and finishing calmly off the far post. It's a genuine piece of history — the first line in a chapter of the record books that, until this year, didn't exist for Jordan.

There isn't really a low point to single out beyond the draw itself — landing in a group with Argentina, the reigning champions, was always going to be brutal for a debutant nation, and Jordan competed without ever being disgraced.

Ali Olwan is the name to know — a 26-year-old striker who scored a hat-trick against Oman to clinch qualification in the first place, then became Jordan's first-ever World Cup goalscorer, capping a qualifying campaign in which he was one of the top scorers across the whole of Asian qualifying.

Jordan go home with zero points but a permanent place in their own football history — first World Cup, first goal, first taste of the biggest stage there is. Whatever comes next, nobody can take that away from this squad.

Mexico's World Cup, as co-hosts, ended in the Round of 16 — a 3-2 defeat to England on July 5th that will sting for a specific reason: England played the final 36 minutes with ten men after a red card, and Mexico still couldn't find the winner. Jude Bellingham's early double did the damage, and Julian Quinones and Raul Jimenez goals weren't quite enough to complete the comeback.

The high point was the run that got them there. Mexico won all three group games, then beat Ecuador 2-0 in the Round of 32 — their first knockout-stage win since 1986, scored at the same stadium, Estadio Azteca, with the exact same scoreline as their win over Bulgaria forty years earlier. That's the kind of coincidence that gets a nation talking.

The hard part to take is the England game itself — Mexico went 2-0 down inside 40 minutes, clawed it back to 2-2, then conceded again before England were reduced to ten men, and still couldn't find an equaliser across 36 minutes with the extra man. Being the better side on paper for over half an hour and still losing is a specific kind of frustrating.

Julian Quinones was Mexico's story of the tournament — three goals in four matches, level with Luis Hernandez's Mexican record for a single World Cup, set back in 1998. Raul Jimenez's goal added its own layer: a genuine comeback story for a striker who suffered a near-fatal skull fracture in a 2020 club match and is still scoring for his country at a World Cup on home soil.

Mexico leave with their best World Cup run in decades and a first knockout win since 1986, but the same ceiling they've had since then — the quarter-finals, still unreached since that very year. As co-hosts, they'll have wanted more, but this squad at least gave the country something to build real hope on.

Morocco's tournament ended in the quarterfinal, beaten 2-0 by France on July 9 — Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé did the damage. No shame in that scoreline: France went on to the final, and Morocco kept it level for the best part of an hour before the quality told.

The high point was the round of 32 — Morocco beat the Netherlands, one of the tournament's form teams, on penalties (1-1 after extra time, 3-2 on spot kicks) on June 29. They followed it up by dismantling co-hosts Canada 3-0 in the round of 16, with Azzedine Ounahi scoring twice.

That run means Morocco have now reached the quarterfinals or better in back-to-back World Cups — this one following their famous 2022 semifinal. No African nation has ever managed consecutive tournaments that deep. That's not a small thing to drop into conversation.

Yassine Bounou, the veteran goalkeeper, was the wall behind all of it — his saves kept Canada's best players out in the round of 16. Brahim Diaz, playing further forward, quietly set an African record with his fourth assist of the tournament.

Morocco co-host the 2030 World Cup alongside Spain and Portugal, so there's not much time to sulk about this one. Next time round they might not even need to get on a plane.

The Dutch went out in the round of 32 — beaten on penalties by Morocco, 3-2, after a 1-1 draw that went all the way through extra time (June 29). As group winners going in, that's about as big an upset as the tournament produced.

The high point came earlier: a 5-1 demolition of Sweden to top Group F with seven points. For twenty minutes against Morocco, chasing the game, they looked capable of doing it again — it just didn't quite happen.

The moment people will remember is Cody Gakpo's goal in the 72nd minute against Morocco, breaking the deadlock — scored just two days after he announced the loss of his unborn child. Whatever anyone thinks of the final result, that's a piece of real courage worth remembering long after the scoreline fades.

Gakpo was the Netherlands' standout across the tournament — their leading scorer and, on that night in particular, the emotional heart of the team as much as the attacking one.

A reminder that being the best team on paper counts for nothing over 120 minutes and a shootout. The Dutch will be back next time, still capable of beating anyone — and, results suggest, still capable of losing to anyone too.

New Zealand went out in the group stage with a single point to their name — a 2-2 draw with Iran — after losing 3-1 to Egypt and 5-1 to Belgium, the latter on June 26 ending their tournament. Only the third time the All Whites have ever made a World Cup finals, so simply being there was the achievement.

The high point was that opening 2-2 draw with Iran. Elijah Just scored both New Zealand goals, and captain Chris Wood set up each one — the first time a New Zealand player has registered multiple assists in a single World Cup match. A genuinely proud night for a small football nation.

The low point was Egypt's 3-1 win, sealed by a Mohamed Salah goal that gave Egypt their first-ever World Cup victory. Being the answer to someone else's piece of history is a familiar spot for smaller nations to find themselves in — bittersweet rather than embarrassing.

Chris Wood, the 34-year-old Nottingham Forest striker and long-serving captain, was the standout — his hold-up play and link-up work set up both goals against Iran. The unglamorous kind of contribution that doesn't show up on a highlights reel but wins you the point.

This was also the first time Oceania has had a direct, automatic spot at the World Cup rather than a play-off against a CONCACAF team — no last-gasp miracle required to get here, for once. That alone is worth celebrating on its own terms.

Norway's tournament ended in the quarterfinal, beaten 2-1 by England on July 12 — heartbreak, but the end of the best World Cup run in the country's history.

This was Norway's first World Cup since 1998, a 28-year wait finally over after a perfect qualifying campaign: eight wins from eight, scoring 37 goals along the way, eight more than any other qualifier. They did not arrive as tourists.

The high point, and one of the moments of the whole tournament, was beating five-time champions Brazil 2-1 in the round of 16 on July 5. Erling Haaland scored twice in the last eleven minutes to send Brazil out of a World Cup earlier than they had at any point since 1990.

Haaland was the obvious headline act — goals in the win over Brazil, top scorer for his country all tournament — but captain Martin Ødegaard was the calm head running the midfield underneath him, the reason Norway looked composed rather than just dangerous.

A first-ever World Cup quarterfinal after 28 years in the wilderness is not a bad way to end a 'please just qualify for once' era. Norway go home as one of the genuine stories of the tournament, and nobody who watched it will forget the name Haaland.

Panama's tournament ended the way it started — a defeat, this time 2-0 to England on June 27. They lost all three group games, to Ghana, Croatia and England, without scoring a single goal, becoming the first side to go through a whole World Cup without a goal in 16 years.

It reads brutally on paper, but Group L was one of the toughest draws going — England finished top, and both Croatia and Ghana went through as well. Panama were competitive for long stretches without ever getting the finishing touch that would have changed the story.

The defining moment of the group actually belonged to someone else: Harry Kane became England's all-time record World Cup goalscorer against Panama in that final game, passing Gary Lineker. History was made on the pitch that day — just not Panama's.

Adalberto Carrasquilla was Panama's best player throughout, a genuinely gifted midfielder who controls games from deep — the kind of player who makes a team's football look organised even when the scoreboard isn't cooperating.

Not every World Cup story gets a redemption arc. This one was a tough group and a quiet exit — but Panama were there, in the biggest tournament football has, and that's still more than most countries ever manage.

Paraguay's run ended in the round of 16, beaten 1-0 by France on July 4 — a single Kylian Mbappé penalty in the 70th minute the only difference between them and the semifinals. A tight, proud way to go out against the team that reached the final.

The story of their tournament was the round of 32: Paraguay eliminated four-time champions Germany on penalties, 4-3, after a 1-1 draw — widely rated the biggest shock of the whole tournament. Julio Enciso scored the opener that started it all.

Goalkeeper Orlando Gill was the actual match-winner in that shootout, saving spot-kicks from Kai Havertz and Nick Woltemade before Germany's Jonathan Tah blazed his over the bar. Not a bad way for a goalkeeper to become a household name overnight.

Getting there wasn't straightforward, either — Paraguay finished third in their group after a 4-1 loss to the USA, a 1-0 win over Turkey and a goalless draw with Australia, and still made it through as one of the best third-place finishers.

It's not quite as deep as their famous 2010 quarterfinal run, but knocking out one of the tournament favourites on the way is the kind of story Paraguayan football will be telling for years regardless of exactly which round it happened in.

Portugal's World Cup ended in the round of 16, beaten 1-0 by Spain on July 6 — Mikel Merino, on as a substitute, scored deep into stoppage time to send the eventual finalists through instead. As cruel a way to go out as there is.

That match very likely doubled as Cristiano Ronaldo's last-ever World Cup appearance, at 41. He'd equalised from the penalty spot in the previous round against Croatia, so it's not a bad way to bow out — a goal near the very end of a 20-year international career, even if the final result didn't go his way.

The high point was that round of 32 win over Croatia, 2-1, settled by a Gonçalo Ramos header in the 94th minute after Ronaldo's leveller — and a controversial VAR call that chalked off what would have been a late Croatia equaliser. Proper knockout football drama.

Portugal went unbeaten through the group stage (a draw with DR Congo, a 5-0 win over Uzbekistan, a goalless draw with Colombia) to finish runners-up in their group, before the round of 16 brought the run to a stop against the tournament's form team.

For one of the traditional big footballing nations, a round of 16 exit is the kind of result that gets filed under 'quietly disappointing' rather than catastrophic — but with Ronaldo's international career very possibly now over, this tournament will be remembered for who was playing more than how far they got.

Qatar's tournament ended in the group stage, finishing bottom of their group after a 3-1 defeat to Bosnia and Herzegovina on June 24. They also lost 6-0 to Canada, with a 1-1 draw against Switzerland the only point they picked up.

It's a quiet way to bow out for the team that hosted the whole competition just four years ago — back in 2022, Qatar were also the first-ever World Cup hosts to go out in the group stage, so this tournament continued a pattern rather than breaking one. Worth noting gently, not gloating about.

Captain Hassan Al Haydos scored their only goal of the tournament, in that defeat to Bosnia and Herzegovina — a proper veteran leading from the front even as the results went against his team.

The 6-0 defeat to Canada was the low point, a reminder of the gap that still exists between Qatar's squad and the rest of the tournament's better sides, even with a home World Cup's infrastructure and investment behind them.

Qatar arrive at a World Cup on merit now rather than as hosts, which is its own kind of progress even if the results haven't caught up yet. Worth remembering they're still a young football nation by international standards — there's more to come, just not this time.

Saudi Arabia's World Cup ended exactly how most people expected: bottom of Group H, out after three games, with just two points from draws against Cape Verde and Uruguay sandwiched around a 4-0 battering by Spain. There was no late drama — they were already out before their final group game, a 1-1 draw with Uruguay that changed nothing.

The closest thing to a bright spot was damage limitation — they held Cape Verde to a goalless draw and Uruguay to 1-1, results that would look fine on another day. Cape Verde, meanwhile, turned three draws of their own into a historic run to the knockout stage as first-time debutants. Saudi were just the opponent in somebody else's fairytale this time round.

It got messy before a ball was even kicked. Saudi Arabia sacked long-serving coach Hervé Renard back in April and handed the job to Greek coach Georgios Donis with barely six weeks to prepare. Then Spain took them apart 4-0, with 18-year-old Lamine Yamal and Mikel Oyarzabal doing the damage inside the first half hour — the kind of pre-tournament upheaval that rarely ends well, and didn't.

The name to know is captain Salem Al-Dawsari, at his third World Cup and still the player the rest of the dressing room defers to. He scored the goal that beat Argentina 2-1 at the 2022 World Cup, still the most celebrated moment in modern Saudi football — there was no repeat heroics this time, but at 34 and with over 100 caps, he remains the team's one genuine star.

The bigger picture here is patience — Saudi Arabia already has a World Cup guaranteed in 2034 as hosts, and this squad, drawn almost entirely from their own domestic league, looks like a project being built for the tournament after next rather than this one. Bottom of the group twice running isn't a good look, but nobody back home is panicking about eight years' notice.

Scotland's tournament ended with a 3-0 defeat to Brazil in their final Group C game, which sealed the group for Brazil and left Scotland third with 3 points and a goal difference of minus 3 — not enough to sneak through as one of the eight best third-placed teams. It's a group-stage exit, but for a country that hadn't been at a World Cup since 1998, simply being here to lose to Brazil was the headline, not the scoreline.

The high point is one for the history books: a 1-0 win over Haiti, John McGinn scoring the only goal, gave Scotland their first World Cup win in 36 years — the last one came in 1990, against Sweden. Say that out loud to a Scotland fan and watch them light up; it's the kind of stat that sounds made up but isn't.

The Morocco game was the one that got away — a 1-0 defeat to a side Scotland were genuinely competitive against, in a match that, had it gone differently, would have put qualification for the round of 32 firmly in their own hands going into the Brazil finale. It's the sliding-doors result of their campaign.

Captain John McGinn is the name that matters here — an Aston Villa midfielder who's been the heartbeat of this Scotland side for years, and the man who scored the goal that ended their 36-year World Cup win drought. He's exactly the sort of unglamorous, all-action midfielder who never gets talked about outside Scotland but is adored inside it.

The bigger picture is genuinely warm: this was Scotland's first World Cup since 1998 — 28 years in the wilderness — and they leave with a group-stage exit but also a first win in decades and a squad young enough to build on it. The last time Scotland were at a World Cup, Brazil and Morocco were in their group too; this time they were still there at the end, which says plenty about where this Scotland side is heading.

Senegal's tournament ended in the cruellest way possible: a 3-2 extra-time defeat to Belgium in the round of 32 on July 1, after leading 2-0 with five minutes left on the clock. Belgium scored twice in the last four minutes to force extra time, then won it with a stoppage-time penalty converted 124 minutes and 44 seconds in — the latest goal in World Cup history. It was the biggest comeback of the tournament, and Senegal were on the wrong end of it.

The high point came in their final group game — a 5-0 demolition of Iraq that made Senegal the first African team ever to score five goals in a single World Cup match, beating a record Algeria had held since 2014. It was exactly the kind of statement win they needed to scrape through as one of the best third-placed teams.

The Belgium collapse is the story that will sting for a while. Senegal were two goals up with the game basically won, then conceded twice in normal time before a VAR review — seven minutes long — awarded Belgium a penalty for a challenge deep in extra time. It's the kind of ending that invites a lot of second-guessing, and Senegal fans would be forgiven for still being annoyed about it.

Ismaila Sarr is the name to drop — the winger scored four goals across the tournament, including a brace against Norway and a beautifully taken chested finish against Belgium, and was arguably Senegal's most reliable outlet in every game they played. For a team that came within five minutes of the last 16, that kind of output from one player matters.

Senegal remain one of Africa's most consistent World Cup performers, and this is the sort of exit — agonisingly close, undone by a handful of minutes — that tends to fuel the next campaign rather than end it. There's no shame in losing the way they did; the shame, if there is any, belongs to whoever they concede stoppage-time penalties against next time.

South Africa's tournament ended 1-0 to Canada in the round of 32 on June 28, undone by a superb 92nd-minute strike from Stephen Eustaquio. It was a game between two nations both chasing their first-ever World Cup knockout win, and South Africa matched Canada for long spells and had good chances of their own — going out to a last-minute wonder-goal is about as respectable as a defeat gets.

The bigger story is that South Africa were even there at all: this was the first time in the country's history that Bafana Bafana reached the World Cup knockout stage. They did it the hard way, losing their opener to Mexico before Thapelo Maseko's 63rd-minute goal beat South Korea 1-0 and dragged them from bottom of Group A to second.

There isn't really a low point to be sensitive about here beyond the manner of the exit itself — a stoppage-time strike from distance that South Africa's defence couldn't have done much about. If anything, the turning point was the opposite of a collapse: Maseko's goal against South Korea is the moment their whole tournament pivoted from early elimination to history.

Goalkeeper Ronwen Williams is the one to know — a calm, experienced presence who anchored an organised defence through every game South Africa played, including 90-plus minutes of largely holding out a dangerous Canada side. Goalkeepers rarely get the headlines, but this is what a good one looks like when a team is punching above its weight.

This is genuinely one of the good stories of the tournament — a first-ever knockout stage appearance for South African football, built under manager Hugo Broos on organisation and resilience rather than star names. They'll go home disappointed to have lost so late, but this is the kind of campaign a country builds its footballing self-belief on for years afterwards.

South Korea's tournament ended with a 1-0 loss to South Africa on June 24 in their final Group A game, a result that eliminated them and simultaneously sent South Africa through to their first-ever World Cup knockout stage. Finishing third with one win from three games, it's a tidy but unremarkable line for a squad that had opened with real promise.

That promise showed on day one — a 2-1 comeback win over Czechia, South Korea's opening game of the tournament. Hwang In-beom equalised after Czechia's early header, then set up Oh Hyeon-gyu for the winner with 10 minutes left. It's the kind of gutsy, from-behind win that makes a tournament opener memorable.

The decision that will be talked about for a while is manager Hong Myung-bo's call to drop captain Son Heung-min from the decisive final group game against South Africa. It didn't pay off, South Korea lost and went out, and it reopened plenty of questions back home about the manager's judgment at the biggest possible moment. Nothing personal in it for Son — these things happen to captains all the time — but the timing made it sting.

Son Heung-min is the name every non-fan should still know: South Korea's captain and all-time record cap-holder, at his fourth World Cup and one of the most respected players of his generation. Being an unused substitute for his side's tournament-deciding match, potentially his last at a World Cup, is a strange note for a career like his to end this chapter on.

South Korea leave with a group-stage exit and a live debate about what comes next, both for the manager and for a squad that will eventually have to plan for football after Son. There's a decent core here — Hwang In-beom, Oh Hyeon-gyu and others showed real quality — but the next four years are as much about succession planning as tactics.

Spain reached the final by beating two-time champions France 2-0 in the semi — goals from Mikel Oyarzabal and Pedro Porro — and manager Luis de la Fuente's side have been unbeaten in 37 matches since a single loss to Colombia back in March 2024. That's not a hot streak, that's a different sport.

Nineteen-year-old Lamine Yamal is the story of this Spain team, and he marked final week with an Instagram post reading "Nuevayol, we're coming for you" — New York slang for the city hosting the final at MetLife Stadium. Confidence is not this squad's problem.

Spain have conceded exactly one goal in the whole tournament, the best defensive record of anyone left, going up against the team that's scored the most of anyone. It's genuinely being billed as the best attack in the competition against the best defence, which is the rare bit of tournament hype that's actually true.

Spain's Rodri called Messi "the greatest of all time" this week but was careful to add that Argentina "is much more than Messi" — which is either generous sportsmanship or a very polite way of saying Spain have done their homework on everyone else too.

This is only Spain's second-ever World Cup final; the first was in 2010, and they won it. There's no muscle memory of losing at this stage — mention that and you'll sound like you've actually followed them beyond this tournament.

Sweden's World Cup ended 3-0 to France in the round of 32 on June 30, with Kylian Mbappé scoring twice to take his tournament tally to six goals — level with Lionel Messi — and Bradley Barcola adding a third. It was comprehensive and one-sided from the start; France were simply the better side all night, and Sweden never really got a foothold.

The high point was their opening game, a 5-1 win over Tunisia in which Alexander Isak was named Player of the Match after a goal and two assists. It was the perfect showcase for why the Gyökeres-Isak strike partnership had been talked up as one of the most exciting front pairings at the whole tournament.

The 5-1 defeat to the Netherlands a few games later was the same scoreline as their big win over Tunisia, just pointed the other way — a properly chastening evening that took the shine off their opening statement. Sweden regrouped well enough afterwards to draw Japan 1-1 and scrape through as one of the best third-placed teams, which says something about the character in this squad.

Alexander Isak is the one to talk about — a genuinely top-tier striker who was Player of the Match in Sweden's best performance of the tournament, and forms one half of a strike partnership with Viktor Gyökeres that most countries would love to have. Both are still young enough that this won't be their last World Cup.

The bigger picture matters more than the scoreline here: this was Sweden's first major tournament in five years, having missed both the 2022 World Cup and Euro 2024 entirely. Getting back, and getting out of the group while doing it, is exactly the kind of foundation a country builds a proper squad on — this generation, with Isak and Gyökeres still building their peak years, has every reason to be taken seriously next time.

Switzerland's tournament is over after a 3-1 extra-time loss to Argentina in the quarterfinal on July 11 in Kansas City — a defeat, but also their best World Cup finish since 1954. Argentina went 1-0 up inside 10 minutes, Switzerland equalised, and then it all turned on one refereeing moment in the 71st.

The high point was topping their group and then grinding out two knockout wins nobody expected: a 2-0 win over Algeria in the round of 32, then a 0-0 stalemate with Colombia in the round of 16 settled 4-3 on penalties. Two clean, nervy knockout wins from a team that usually exits tournaments quietly.

The turning point against Argentina was cruel: with the score level at 1-1, Breel Embolo was shown a second yellow card for simulation after a VAR review in the 71st minute, leaving Switzerland to play the last 20 minutes plus extra time with 10 men. Argentina scored twice after that. Mention this gently — it's the kind of decision that divides pundits, not a moral failing.

Dan Ndoye was the breakout name of Switzerland's run — the winger scored the equaliser against Argentina and gave their attack a directness it's lacked for years. Say his name right and you'll sound like you actually watched the games: it's pronounced en-DOY-eh, not "en-doy."

Switzerland leave as the team that quietly had one of the best tournaments of anyone eliminated before the semifinals. Manager Murat Yakin will get plenty of credit for a run that outperformed expectations, and Swiss football gets a genuine talking point for the next four years: 1954 no longer being the answer to 'when did Switzerland last do this well.'

Tunisia's World Cup ended where it usually does — the group stage — after a 3-1 defeat to the Netherlands in their final match, following losses to Sweden and Japan. It's Tunisia's seventh World Cup appearance and they still haven't got out of the group at any of them, so this was disappointing rather than shocking.

There wasn't really a high point on the scoreline, but there's a human one worth mentioning: captain Ellyes Skhiri held the midfield together all tournament even as things fell apart around him, and Elias Achouri kept trying to make things happen going forward against difficult opposition. Small credit in a rough few weeks.

The turning point came early — a 5-1 defeat to Sweden was heavy enough that manager Sabri Lamouchi was sacked mid-tournament. His replacement, Herve Renard, couldn't turn things around before a 4-0 loss to Japan all but ended things. A tournament that unravels fast is hard to watch, but it happens to plenty of teams — no need to pile on.

Hannibal Mejbri, the 23-year-old midfielder who came through Manchester United's academy, was tipped as Tunisia's most exciting player coming in and showed flashes of the close control and directness that got people talking about him. Worth mentioning if you want to sound like you know the squad beyond the results.

Tunisia go home with three defeats and a coaching change, but a golden generation of Achouri, Mejbri and Skhiri is still young enough to try again in four years. Sometimes the kindest thing you can say about a rough tournament is that at least it's over.

Türkiye's tournament was already over by the time it produced its best result: a 3-2 win over co-hosts USA in the final group game, a dead rubber after back-to-back defeats to Australia and Paraguay had already sent them out. It's the kind of result that changes nothing on paper but ruins a co-host's night.

That win over the USA is the story to lead with — beating a co-host in front of their own crowd, scoring three, and doing it after already being eliminated takes a certain amount of stubbornness. It's a much better anecdote than the group table, which had them finishing bottom.

The low point was the start, not the finish: back-to-back losses to Australia and Paraguay in their first two games buried Türkiye's hopes before the final matchday even mattered. One of those defeats came in a Paraguay match where the opposition scored inside 64 seconds — the fastest goal of the whole tournament, and it came against Türkiye.

Kenan Yildiz, the 21-year-old Juventus winger tipped as one of the tournament's breakout stars, had a tournament to forget on the scoresheet — no goals, no assists — despite plenty of promising moments, including a shot that flashed just wide against Paraguay. Worth a sympathetic mention rather than a dig; these things happen to talented players under pressure.

Türkiye leave with one win, two defeats, and a squad — Yildiz included — young enough that this won't be the last word on this generation. Consider it a group-stage exit with a decent parting shot rather than a total washout.

The USA's home World Cup ended in the round of 16 with a 4-1 defeat to Belgium on July 6 — a lopsided scoreline that stung more because of everything riding on a co-host doing well in front of its own fans. It's the exact round US soccer has been trying to get past for over two decades.

The genuine high point came the round before: a 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round of 32, the USA's first men's World Cup knockout win since 2002. Folarin Balogun and Malik Tillman scored, and for one night the years of 'this could be the tournament' talk actually paid off.

The turning point was ugly timing: Balogun was sent off in that same Bosnia win for a controversial challenge, which meant he missed the Belgium game through suspension. Belgium then exposed the USA's defence for four goals, including one after a goalkeeping slip from Matt Freese. Missing your in-form striker for the biggest game of the tournament is the kind of bad luck worth being sympathetic about.

Malik Tillman was the USA's standout over the tournament — he scored direct free kicks in back-to-back matches, including one to briefly pull the Belgium game level at 1-1 before it got away from them. A genuinely rare skill to pull off twice at a World Cup, let alone as a co-host under that kind of pressure.

The USA got their long-awaited knockout win, then ran into a Belgium side that outclassed them — a normal, if painful, way for a co-host to bow out. The real story for 2026 was proving the drought was breakable at all; the next job is building a team that survives the round after.

Uruguay's tournament ended in the group stage with a narrow 1-0 defeat to Spain in their final match — a frustrating way to go out for a team with genuine pedigree, done in by draws rather than a bad performance. Two draws and a loss just wasn't enough to survive Group H.

The high point, such as it was, came against Cape Verde — a 2-2 draw where Uruguay came from behind twice against the tournament's feel-good debutants. It's not a famous win, but it showed a team that kept fighting even as the group slipped away from them.

The turning point was really the whole group stage: two draws (1-1 with Saudi Arabia, 2-2 with Cape Verde) meant Uruguay needed a win against Spain and didn't get one. For a team with this much history, exiting on points-that-weren't-quite-enough is a quieter kind of disappointment than a big defeat, but it stings just the same.

Federico Valverde was Uruguay's clear standout — the Real Madrid midfielder covered every blade of grass and gave the team its only real spark going forward. Striker Darwin Núñez, their top scorer in qualifying, spent most of the tournament on the bench and never really got the chance to change a game — worth mentioning as the what-if of Uruguay's campaign.

Uruguay leave as a team that competed in every game but never quite got the result to match, which is its own kind of frustrating. With Valverde still only in his mid-20s, there's a reasonable case this squad gets another proper run at it before too long.

Uzbekistan's first-ever World Cup ended in the group stage after a 3-1 defeat to DR Congo on June 27, having also lost to Colombia and Portugal. Losing all three games sounds bleak on paper, but for a country at its first World Cup, simply being there was the achievement — this is a genuine good-news story, not a cautionary one.

The standout moment came in that very last game: Eldor Shomurodov put Uzbekistan 1-0 up against DR Congo inside the first 10 minutes, and for most of an hour a first-ever World Cup win looked entirely possible before DR Congo scored three times in the final half hour to turn it around. A heartbreaking way to finish, but also proof this team could genuinely compete.

There's no need to dwell on a low point here — losing every game at your first World Cup, against Portugal, Colombia and a DR Congo side that made history of its own, is simply what a difficult group looks like. Worth noting gently rather than dwelling on.

Abbosbek Fayzullaev scored Uzbekistan's first-ever World Cup goal, heading in against Colombia in their opening match — a genuinely historic moment for the country, regardless of the final score. Say his name right and you'll impress: it's ah-BOS-bek fie-zoo-LAH-yev.

Uzbekistan leave with zero points but a full set of memories — a nation of qualifiers going toe-to-toe with Portugal and Colombia and briefly leading DR Congo. Genuinely one of the warmest stories of the tournament, and very likely not a one-off.