The 2026 World Cup is certainly heating up as it approaches the final conclusion of the group phase and moves into knockout football which rarely disappoints. With the three host nations; Canada, Mexico, and the United States all qualified for the round of 32 alongside a few other nations, who will be joining them?
For Thomas Tuchel and England, they will be hoping for a win this coming Saturday against Panama to help them to top the group and hopefully have a favourable draw in the next round of the competition.
As always when it comes to the greatest sporting competition in the world, there are a lot of surprises along the way in the form of shock results. For those looking to engage with these match outcomes, finding a strong correct score can add an extra layer of excitement to the action.
One of the nations that has truly shocked the world with their performance so far in what is their debut World Cup is Cape Verde. They began their World Cup journey in arguably the toughest game possible against the favourites for the competition in European Champions, Spain. For a nation with a population of around 500,000 people and ranked 67th in the FIFA World Rankings, to hold on for a 0-0 draw against a giant of a nation is unbelievable and certainly something not many would have seen coming.
Cape Verde didn’t stop there however, as they went on to shock people again in their second game against two time World Cup winners Uruguay. They took an early lead in that game before conceding two goals in quick succession before the break. Cape Verde showed their tremendous spirit again as they scored an equaliser to make history for their nation once again!
However, Cape Verde are not the only nation to get a surprise result in this tournament, with the smallest nation in the competition’s history also doing the same. Curacao, which is a Caribbean island with a population of about 158,000 people, made history in their debut tournament also with a goalless draw against Ecuador in their second group phase match. 37-year-old goalkeeper Eloy Room was the star of the show on the night in which he equalled the most saves in a game in World Cup history with 15!
Pressure on the ‘Giant’ Nations
One advantage that underdogs such as Curacao and Cape Verde have when it comes to causing an upset on the biggest stage is the expectation and pressure on the so called ‘bigger’ footballing nations.
Nations such as Spain will be expected to comfortably beat these lower ranked sides, so therefore they might begin to get frustrated and lose composure if it isn’t working as they would have planned.
Smaller Nations Defensive Structure
The goal for the smaller nation when coming up against a massive nation on the World Cup stage will be to be defensively solid and possibly hit them on the break if given the opportunity. Therefore, it becomes harder for the favourites to break down the structure of the opposition even if they do dominate possession.
An example of this in this World Cup was during the Cape Verde and Spain game, where after the game Spain and Manchester City midfielder; Rodri made a rather controversial comment about Cape Verde’s style of play when he said “That’s how they play. They don’t get past midfield”. This comment got backlash as the argument is that if Cape Verde didn’t sit back then they do not have the individual ability to compete with Spain toe to toe.
Motivation of the Nation
For these smaller nations there is no guarantee that the players will ever get to play in another World Cup during their careers, so the motivation that that will give the team is second to none. It is the same for the fans who will travel in numbers to witness such a moment for their nation.
This is paired with the fact that during the tournament, specifically in the group phase, they have nothing to lose at all. Therefore, they can play with complete freedom as they know that any result they are able to achieve is historic for their nation.
Crowd Behind the Underdog
As with any sports event, the underdog is usually the more popular team or individual for the neutrals. This is because everyone loves a story of an underdog, beating someone or a team that they shouldn’t be able to against the odds.
When it comes to the World Cup, there are often many neutrals at the games from the host nation or just fans travelling to any game they can get tickets too. Therefore, the majority of the stadium can sometimes be supporting the smaller nation and that can help them to gain a slight advantage and push them to put in the extra yard.
Less Preparation than Club Football
In club football, teams get weeks on weeks to play together and usually a week to prepare for each individual game. Whereas when it comes to international football, in particular the World Cup, they may only get three or four days in between each match especially early on in the competition.
This obviously affects every nation competing in the competition, however it helps to slightly close the gap between the best and the rest as they don’t have as much of an advantage as they do week in week out in club football.
These five reasons all help to explain as to why the FIFA World Cup is the greatest competition in sport and it brings up many surprises each time to bring joy across the world of football.