England vs France 6-4 **** Maignan 5, Gusto 5, Theo 5, Lacroix 6, Konate 4, Rabiot 6, Zaire-Emery 5, Olise 7, Doue 5, Cherki 5, MBAPPE 8* Subs: Dembele 7, Barcola 7, Digne 6, Upamecano 7, Kounde Henderson 6, Quansah 5, Spence 8, Konsa 6, Guehi 6, Rice 8, Rogers 6, Eze 7, SAKA 9*, Toney 5 Subs: Watkins 6, Anderson, Bellingham, James, Chalobah MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: B. SAKA
SPAIN vs ARGENTINA 1-0 A.E.T * Simon 7, Porro 7, Cucurella 7, Cubarsi 7, Laporte 6, RODRI 8*, Ruiz 6, Yamal 7, Baena 6, Olmo 7, Oyarzabal 5 Subs: Torres 8, Pedri 7, Williams 8, Merino 6, Zubimendi 6, Eric 6. MARTINEZ 8*, Montiel 6, Tagliafico 7, Lisandro 6, Romero 6, Enzo 4, Mac Allister 5, Gonzalez 5, de Paul 5, Messi 5, Alvarez 5 Subs: Otamendi 7, Paredes 4, Molina 4, Simeone 5, Senesi. MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: RODRI
Teams of the Tournament from the Independent: Miguel Delaney, Chief Football Writer – Vozinha; Porro, Cubarsi, Lisandro Martinez, Cucurella; Rodri, Paredes, Olmo, Bellingham; Messi, Haaland Richard Jolly, Senior Football Correspondent - Vozinha; Porro, Upamecano, Cubarsi, Nuno Mendes; Rodri, Odegaard; Messi, Bellingham; Mbappe, Haaland. Jack Rathborn, Sports Editor - Beiranvand; Porro, Cubarsi, Lisandro Martinez, Cucurella; Bellingham, Rodri, Olmo, Messi, Haaland, Mbappe Kieran Jackson, Senior Sports Writer - Vozinha; Porro, Saliba, Laporte, Cucurella; Rodri, Fernandez, Bellingham; Mbappe, Messi, Haaland Will Castle, Sports Reporter - Simon; Porro, Upamecano, Laporte, Nuno Mendes; Rodri, Fernandez, Bellingham; Messi, Haaland, Mbappe. Alex Pattle, Sports Reporter - Vozinha; Porro, Upamecano, Laporte, Cucurella; Rodri, Fernandez, Bellingham; Messi, Oyarzabal, Mbappe. World Cup 2026 team of the tournament: The Independent’s best XI
Some more from The Irish Times: KEN EARLY Team of the Tournament: Vozinha; Rice, Lopes, Laporte, Cucurella; Rodri, Enzo Fernandez; Olise; Messi, Haaland, Mbappé. Not a great tournament for right-backs, so let’s throw England’s temporary one Declan Rice a bone since we are preferring Michael Olise to Jude Bellingham at number 10. Bellingham scored more goals, but Olise “has more football in him”, as Graeme Souness would say. Cucurella’s an easy choice at left-back. Rodri was the outstanding central midfielder, Enzo has come through at big moments for Argentina, so we’ll have him over Fabian Ruiz. Pico Lopes partners Aymeric Laporte for getting a clean sheet against Spain, Vozinha for his saves and charisma. The front three picks itself. MARY HANNIGAN Team of the Tournament: Simón; Hakimi, Cubarsi, Upamecano, Cucurella; Rodri, Bellingham; Olise, Messi, Mbappé; Kane. KEITH DUGGAN Team of the Tournament: Simon; Porro, Upamecano, Laporte, Cucurella; Rodri, Fernandez, Bellingham; Messi, Mbappé, Haaland. PAUL HOWARD Team of the tournament: Simon; Porro, Cubarsi, Romero, Cucurella; Rodri, Paredes; Mbappé, Bellingham, Olise; Messi.
The Sun GOALKEEPER: Vozinha, Cape Verde BECAME an overnight social-media sensation for his stunning shutout against Spain at the start of the tournament. That splendid display in the 0-0 stalemate against the eventual winners saw his following on Instagram skyrocket from 50,000 pre tournament to 29million. The 40-year-old free agent also played well against Lionel Messi’s Argentina – surely someone will pick him up this summer? RIGHT-BACK: Pedro Porro, Spain THOSE who watched Tottenham scrap to Premier League survival on the final day of the season would not have predicted their two right-backs shining in the World Cup semi-finals. But while Djed Spence’s heroics were not enough to see England get past Argentina, Porro scored the killer second goal as Spain shocked favourites France. Porro was sensational all tournament and Spurs will be delighted they managed to tie him down to a bumper five-year contract midway through it. CENTRE-BACK: Pau Cubarsi, Spain AN essential part of a miserly Spanish defence who kept seven clean sheets in eight games. Playing alongside former Manchester City – and France – centre-back Aymeric Laporte, classy Cubarsi was the model of composure throughout and rightfully won the young player of the tournament award. Another fantastic product from Barca’s La Masia academy, it is amazing to think he is still only 19. CENTRE-BACK: Dayot Upamecano, France DIDIER DESCHAMPS revealed on Friday that Upamecano is known as “the Little Monster” in the France set-up. Harry Kane’s Bayern Munich team-mate followed up a fine season in the Bundesliga with an impressive tournament. His speed and technical quality on the ball were key to France conceding only two goals in their first six games, before Luis de la Fuente’s Spain gave Les Bleus the blues. LEFT-BACK: Marc Cucurella, Spain CURLY-HAIRED Cucurella has had one heck of a summer. On the day of Spain’s first game – when they were held to a 0-0 draw by plucky Cape Verde – it was announced the left-back was joining Real Madrid from Chelsea for £50million. That sparked an excellent World Cup for the ex-Brighton man who was great going forward and a rock in defence as Spain emerged as champions. DEFENSIVE MIDFIELD: Rodri, Spain AFTER a season plagued by injury, the 2024 Ballon d’Or winner looked back to his best and took home the player of the tournament award. Everyone in England knows his terrific ability to grip a game from the base of midfield and he was pivotal in helping Spain follow up their Euro 2024 win with glory here. How Manchester City must be desperate to get a new contract sorted so they can pair him with £116m new-boy Elliot Anderson. DEFENSIVE MIDFIELD: Enzo Fernandez, Argentina THE man we love to hate – or maybe just hate. But there is no denying the Argentina star is top quality and proved as much with that devastating late equaliser against England in that heartbreaking semi-final. He massively let himself down in the final with his daft red card but until that point he was key to Argentina getting so close. ATTACKING MIDFIELD: Michael Olise, France COPPED a bit of flak for a quiet display against Spain in the semi-final. But earlier in the tournament Olise was simply sensational, playing in a No10 role and displaying the kind of exquisite, defence-splitting passes that a peak Kevin De Bruyne would be proud of. Another star Real Madrid have their eyes on this summer, though Bayern Munich team-mate Harry Kane will hope that possible blockbuster switch does not come off. ATTACKING MIDFIELD: Jude Bellingham, England WHAT an emphatic answer to anyone doubting him ahead of the tournament. Kane was very good but Bellingham was unreal in the knockout games against Mexico and Norway, dragging England through with back-to-back braces. He hit seven goals in total and was the Three Lions’ talisman. Argentina may have shackled him but it does not deny the fact he is a world-class operator who we are lucky to call our own. STRIKER: Lionel Messi, Argentina SOME of us had never seen Messi in the flesh until that fateful night in Atlanta – and then left wishing we had not. The GOAT made a mockery of the fact he is turning 40 next summer by conjuring up two killer late goals to dump out England. Not only that but he scored a whopping eight goals in the tournament, coming up clutch for the nation that adores him time and again. STRIKER: Kylian Mbappe, France MBAPPE wrote on social media that the France team had “failed” outgoing boss Didier Deschamps, who is stepping down after the tournament. That is after the tournament favourites were dumped out by Spain in the semis. But that does not erase another excellent campaign individually by the Real Madrid mega star, whose 10 goals took him to 22 World Cup strikes overall and the golden boot.
Extremely surprised to see Vozinha in so many TOTT. I love a Cinderella story as much as the next guy, but this is a bit much. I guess the argument is that there weren’t many top-shelf keepers this year?
This seems to be a decently made video (albeit I so far only checked the clips for the one I had theoretically as a clear-ish number 1 choice in my perception, and he's at 5th, and perhaps no Voizinho at all would be an example of a contentious call, and most of all goalkeepers perhaps are judged by what they don't do wrong as much as what they do great so it's not only the best highlights that count....):
Final top 50 from the Athletic: 1. Messi 2. Mbappe 3. Rodri 4. Bellingham 5. Cubarsi 6. Laporte 7. Haaland 8. Kane 9. Olise 10. Dembele 11. Porro 12. Yamal 13. Rice 14. Hakimi 15. Oyarzabal 16. Vinicius 17. Upamecano 18. Gordon 19. Olmo 20. Saliba 21. Anderson 22. Cucurella 23. Fabian Ruiz 24. Saibari 25. Diogo Costa 26. Quinones 27. Simon 28. Trossard 29. Alvarado 30. Bruno Guimaraes 31. Sarr 32. Mac Allister 33. Romero 34. Balogun 35. Brahim Diaz 36. Enzo Fernandez 37. Luis Diaz 38. Schjelderup 39. Lisandro Martinez 40. Saka 41. Doue 42. Kobel 43. Odegaard 44. De Ketelaere 45. Emi Martinez 46. Rabiot 47. Lautaro Martinez 48. Merino 49, Tielemans 50. Ferran Torres
TOP 100 WORLD CUP 2026 (Ratings average) Using the sources I have gathered, I calculated the arithmetic mean to determine the best average ratings from the recently concluded World Cup. Should I obtain additional sources in the future, I will incorporate them and highlight any significant changes. The sources used are: As, Marca, Power Rankings, Mundo Deportivo, DBSCalcio, Kicker, Olé, happie11, Goal.com, Whoscored, Sofascore, Fotmob, Gazzetta dello Sport, Tuttosport, Corriere dello Sport, pep pep, Clarín, Flashcore, Besoccer, BBC, and Sport Express. I have complete data for most of these; a few are incomplete, though only a very small number of matches are missing—a gap that would not alter the final averages at all, or at most by 0.01 points. I had to exclude other sources—such as L'Équipe, La Repubblica, La Stampa, and Líbero—because they had published ratings for barely half of the matches. Con la ayuda de las fuentes que he conseguido, se ha realizado la media aritmética, obteniendo los mejores promedios de la Copa del Mundo recientemente finalizada. Si en lo sucesivo consigo más fuentes, las añadiré, dando a conocer los posibles cambios más destacados. Las fuentes utilizadas son las siguientes: As, Marca, Power Rankings, Mundo Deportivo, DBSCalcio, Kicker, Olé, happie11, Goal.com, Whoscored, Sofascore, Fotmob, Gazzetta dello Sport, Tuttosport, Corriere dello Sport, pep pep, Clarín, Flashcore, Besoccer, BBC y Sport Express. La mayoría de ellas las tengo completas, unas pocas están incompletas, pero a falta de muy pocos partidos, algo que no cambiaría en absoluto los promedios finales o, si acaso, en 0.01 puntos. He tenido que descartar otras fuentes como L'equipe, La Repubblica, La Stampa o Líbero, por no haberse publicado apenas la mitad de las notas.
DEL 100 AL 76 100.- Beiranvand (Irán): 6,37 99.- Renato Veiga (Portugal): 6,37 98.- Bruno Fernandes: 6,37 97.- Courtois (Bélgica): 6,38 96.- Rangel (México): 6,38 95.- Dumfries (Holanda): 6,38 94.- Brobbey (Holanda): 6,38 93.- Elvedi (Suiza): 6,38 92.- Pedri (España): 6,38 91.- Rabiot (Francia): 6,39 90.- Joao Neves (Portugal): 6,39 89.- Livakovic (Croacia): 6.39 88.- Romo (México): 6,40 87.- Mac Allister (Argentina): 6,40 86.- Pepé (Costa de Marfil): 6,40 85.- Maxi Araujo (Uruguay): 6,40 84.- Unai Simón (España): 6,41 83.- Verbruggen (Holanda): 6,41 82.- Wirtz (Alemania): 6,41 81.- Dibu Martínez (Argentina): 6,42 80.- Berge (Noruega): 6,42 79.- Lucumi (Colombia): 6,43 78.- Amad Diallo (Costa de Marfil): 6,43 77.- Gordon (Inglaterra): 6,44 76.- Van Hecke (Holanda): 6,44
DEL 75 AL 51 75.- Brahim Díaz (Marruecos): 6,44 74.- Upamecano (Francia): 6,45 73.- De Keteleare (Bélgica): 6,45 72.- Enciso (Paraguay): 6,45 71.- Balogun (Estados Unidos): 6,45 70.- Nakamura (Japón): 6,47 69.- Alisson (Brasil): 6,48 68.- Saka (Inglaterra): 6,48 67.- N'doye (Suiza): 6,49 66.- Kamada (Japón): 6,49 65.- Diney Borges (Cabo Verde): 6,49 64.- Summerville (Holanda): 6,50 63.- McKennie (Estados Unidos): 6,51 62.- Suzuki (Japón): 6,51 61.- Ashour (Egipto): 6,52 60.- Van Dijk (Holanda): 6,52 59.- Beach (Australia): 6,53 58.- Anderson (Inglaterra): 6,53 57.- Just (Nueva Zelanda): 6,54 56.- Sidny Cabral (Cabo Verde): 6,54 55.- Oyarzábal (España): 6,56 54.- Mpasi (Congo): 6,56 53.- Baena (España): 6,58 52.- Pina (Cabo Verde): 6,59 51.- Bruno Guimaraes (Brasil): 6,59
DEL 50 AL 26 50.- Ounahi (Marruecos): 6,60 49.- John Arias (Colombia): 6,61 48.- Kobel (Suiza): 6,61 47.- Wissa (Congo): 6,61 46.- Davinson Sánchez (Colombia): 6,62 45.- Lisandro Martínez (Argentina): 6,62 44.- Xhaka (Suiza): 6,62 43.- Rice (Inglaterra): 6,63 42.- Rezaeian (Irán): 6,63 41.- Dani Olmo (España): 6,63 40.- Puerta (Colombia): 6,64 39.- Luis Díaz (Colombia): 6,65 38.- Pico Lopes (Cabo Verde): 6,66 37.- Raúl Jiménez (México): 6,67 36.- Bono (Marruecos): 6,68 35.- Nuno Mendes (Portugal): 6,68 34.- Cuti Romero (Argentina): 6,69 33.- Lamine Yamal (España): 6,69 32.- Gakpo (Holanda): 6,70 31.- Alvarado (México): 6,71 30.- Trossard (Bélgica): 6,72 29.- Odegaard (Noruega): 6,74 28.- Kane (Inglaterra): 6,75 27.- Hakimi (Marruecos): 6,76 26.- Daniel Muñoz (Colombia): 6,77
Del 25 al 1 25.- Eustaquio (Canadá): 6,79 24.- Tillman (Estados Unidos): 6,80 23.- Laporte (España): 6,81 22.- Dembelé (Francia): 6,81 21.- Tielemans (Bélgica): 6,81 20.- Manzambi (Suiza): 6,82 19.- Saibari (Marruecos): 6,83 18.- Cucurella (España): 6,83 17.- Olise (Francia): 6,85 16.- Salah (Egipto): 6,86 15.- Vozinha (Cabo Verde): 6,88 14.- Yan Diomandé (Costa de Marfil): 6,88 13.- Diogo Costa (Portugal): 6,89 12.- Shobeir (Egipto): 6,89 11.- Gill (Paraguay): 6,90 10.- Cubarsí (España): 6,94 9.- Ismaila Sarr (Senegal): 6,97 8.- Rodri (España): 7,07 7.- Bellingham (Inglaterra): 7,19 6.- Porro (España): 7,23 5.- Quiñones (México): 7,26 4.- Vinicius (Brasil): 7,41 3.- Mbappé (Francia): 7,61 2.- Haaland (Noruega): 7,66 1.- Messi (Argentina): 7,74
yeah, was not expecting to see Maignan, Neuer and Becker in there. they are repleaceable by Vozinha and a couple of others easily
Yeah, lots of truth to that last point. As a spectator, I love watching someone like Pickford - but I find that a lot of it has to do with him making the easy stuff look hard. It makes for a good watch and certainly looks spectacular, but ultimately doesn't reflect all that well on his goalkeeping. Having rewatched the video, I'm reminded of how well Köbel played (on and off his line). He'd probably be my pick for keeper of the tournament. Honorable mentions to Diogo Costa, Beach and Verbruggen who also impressed. Simon and Bono were also very good, as expected.
On the Vozinha discussion - good to see Pico Lopes in the mix here! I thought he really stood out for Cape Verde, him and the rest of the defensive line made Vozinha's job much easier (although Vozinha proved very capable as well). Sort of a Vieira-Zidane '06 situation where the dirty work goes unnoticed by the general public.
BEST XI (CONSENSO) I have a substantial number of tournament "Best XIs," so I believe the conclusions drawn are highly significant. However, any new data that becomes available will be included, and I will note it if it significantly alters the final results. Overall, there has been a great deal of consensus this year regarding the composition of the "Best XI"; this is evidenced by the fact that seven players appear in over 90% of the lineups, while only twenty-four players exceed the 4% mark. Here is the ordered list: Tengo una cantidad muy importante de onces ideales del torneo por lo que las conclusiones creo que son muy significativas. Sin embargo, todas las nuevas aportaciones que puedan haber serán incluidos y, en el caso de que modifique importantemente los resultados finales, lo mencionaré. En general, este año ha habido mucho consenso a la hora de confeccionar un once ideal como prueba que siete de ellos superan el 90 % de presencias en ellos y solamente veinticuatro jugadores sobrepasan el 4 %. Aquí está la lista ordenada: 1.- Rodri (España) y Mbappé (Francia): 100 % 3.- Bellingham (Inglaterra): 98,70 % 4.- Pedro Porro (España): 97,84 % 5.- Cucurella (España): 95,24 % 6.- Cubarsí (España): 94,37 % 7.- Messi (Argentina): 90,26 % 8.- Haaland (Noruega): 56,93 % 9.- Cuti Romero (Argentina): 41,99 % 10.- Olise (Francia): 40,69 % 11.- Lamine Yamal (España): 40,48 % 12.- Unai Simón (España): 38,53 % 13.- Laporte (España): 25,97 % 14.- Saliba (Francia): 24,46 % 15.- Kobel (Suiza): 23,16 % 16.- Enzo Fernández (Argentina): 22,51 % 17.- Vozinha (Cabo Verde): 21 % 18.- Odegaard (Noruega): 19,91 % 19.- Trossard (Bélgica): 14,07 % 20.- Gill (Paraguay): 13,85 % 21.- Upamecano (Francia): 11,26 % 22.- Dani Olmo (España): 6,28 % 23.- Xhaka (Suiza): 4,98 % 24.- Nuno Mendes (Portugal): 4,55 %
Here is another ranking. It is derived from a weighted average of the various rankings I have found: FIFA Ballon d'Or, Sports Illustrated, USA Today, AIPS, ESPN (Mexico), ESPN (International), Sky Sports, The Athletic, and Fox Sports. These figures are likely to change as further lists are released; therefore, this ranking—based on those already published—should be viewed as provisional. I have listed the top 50. 1.- Messi (Argentina): 92,60 2.- Mbappé (Francia): 74,80 3.- Rodri (España): 63,20 4.- Bellingham (Inglaterra): 55,40 5.- Haaland (Noruega): 51,91 6.- Cubarsí (España): 43,66 7.- Olise (Francia): 43,14 8.- Kane (Inglaterra): 42,53 9.- Oyarzábal (España): 39,99 10.- Dembelé (Francia): 38,73 11.- Lamine Yamal (España): 35,96 12.- Achraf Hakimi (Marruecos): 30,06 13. Pedro Porro (España): 27,75 14.- Cucurella (España): 27,43 15.- Vinicius (Brasil): 27,34 16,. Simón (España): 27,05 17.- Upamecano (Francia): 25,03 18.- Quiñones (México): 24,91 19.- Rice (Inglaterra): 23,87 20.- Laporte (España): 21,79 21.- Saliba (Francia): 21,56 22.- Diogo Costa (Portugal): 19,15 23.- Ismaila Sarr (Senegal): 18,68 24.- Odegaard (Noruega): 18,30 25.- Olmo (España): 17,28 26.- Enzo Fernández (Argentina): 17,21 27.- Saka (Inglaterra): 16,23 28.- Ballogun (Estados Unidos): 15,97 29.- Mac Allister (Argentina): 14,55 30.- Trossard (Bélgica): 14,47 31.- Vozinha (Cabo VerdeI: 12,92 32.- Cuti Romero (Argentina): 12,78 33.- Alvarado (México): 12,51 34.- Anderson (Inglaterra): 12,23 35.- Brahim Díaz (Marruecos): 11,58 36.- Fabián Ruiz (España): 11,49 37.- Dibu Martínez (Argentina): 11,12 38.- Luis Díaz (Colombia): 10,95 39.- Gill (Paraguay): 10,82 40.- Gordon (Inglaterra): 10,75 41.- Pedri (España): 10,74 42.- Tielemans (Bélgica): 10,72 43.- Saibari (Marruecos): 10,52 44.- Salah (Egipto): 9,84 45.- Tillman (Estados Unidos): 9,10 46.- Lisandro Martínez (Argentina): 8,96 47.- Kobel (Suiza): 7,88 48.- De Ketelaere (Bélgica): 7,65 49.- Akanji (Suiza): 7,40 50.- Bruno Guimaraes (Brasil): 7,08
Taking into account the three rankings I have listed and weighting them based on the depth of their analysis, this would be the provisional ranking of the best players from the recently concluded 2026 World Cup. Considerando los 3 rankings que he puesto y ponderándolos en función de la profundidad en su realización, este sería el ranking provisional de los mejores jugadores del recién finalizado Mundial 2026