Messi vs England, Mbappé vs Spain: The World Cup enters its final stretch

Apparently, the surprise results at the World Cup came to an end with the Round of 16, as the quarter-final matches produced no major upsets — the four teams that were expected to reach the semifinals have made it through.

France, meanwhile, had little trouble overcoming Morocco in the quarter-finals (2–0), preventing the African side from repeating their historic achievement at the previous World Cup, when they sensationally reached the semifinals. Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé were once again on the scoresheet — they now have eight and six goals respectively at this tournament. As a result, France have reached the World Cup semifinals for the third consecutive time.

At the same time, the European champions, Spain, defeated Belgium in a much more intense quarter-final clash (2–1), and the two teams that we also named among the tournament’s main favourites before the start of the competition will now face each other for a place in the final. And, frankly speaking, few would dare to say with certainty which of them has the better chances.

With all due respect to the French national team, I cannot claim that they are clearly superior to Spain. It is true that Spanish wonderkid Lamine Yamal has not shone at this tournament in the same way as Mbappé, but who can guarantee that he will not “wake up” precisely in the semifinal and score a couple of goals against France — just as, for example, Jude Bellingham produced a brilliant performance with a brace that helped England defeat Norway 2–1.

Norway may be leaving the tournament without medals, but they are departing having won the hearts of millions of fans, primarily thanks to the outstanding performances of Erling Haaland.

After sensationally knocking Brazil out of the tournament, Haaland and company, unfortunately, were unable to repeat the feat against England. At times they lacked experience, at times luck, and at times chance itself intervened, as Bellingham's goal was, frankly speaking, scored against the rules.

At the end of the first half, Norwegian goalkeeper Ørjan Nyland took a goal kick, and the ball struck the cable of the spider camera. Possession then immediately went to the English, who instantly broke forward, and, as a result, Bellingham equalised the score. It therefore turns out that the camera cable had a significant impact on the course of the match. According to the rules, French referee Clément Turpin was required to stop play when the ball struck a foreign object, but this did not happen. This incident added to the already nearly overflowing basket of numerous refereeing mistakes at this championship.

Incidentally, thanks to Bellingham, as a midfielder for Real Madrid, the Spanish club made World Cup history, as the total number of goals scored by its players at the 2026 FIFA World Cup reached 19, setting a new tournament record. Previously, the record for the highest number of goals scored by representatives of a single club at one World Cup was 18, achieved by Honvéd in 1954, Bayern Munich in 2014, and Paris Saint-Germain in 2022.

At the current World Cup, the Real Madrid players on the scoresheet are Mbappé (France, 8), Bellingham (England, 6), Vinicius Junior (Brazil, 4), and Güler (Türkiye, 1).

England will now face the reigning world champions, Argentina, led by Lionel Messi, who has managed to set yet another record at his sixth World Cup without even taking his tally of goals any higher—he has scored eight so far in the tournament.

In the quarter-final against Switzerland, which ended in a 3–1 victory for the world champions (albeit only after extra time – editor's note), Messi provided an assist that became his milestone tenth across all World Cups. In doing so, he surpassed the record of another football genius—his compatriot Diego Maradona, who registered nine assists across four World Cups (1982, 1986, 1990, and 1994).

And something tells me that in the semi-final we will see Leo score goals against England as beautifully as those Maradona produced 40 years ago at the World Cup in Mexico. Isn't that right, ladies and gentlemen?

Vugar Vugarli, exclusively for Caliber.Az