2026 World Cup Week 1 Nuggets
1. Rash of red cards then…
There were three reds issued in the space of 43 minutes of the opening match between Mexico and South Africa. In the next 24 games nobody was sent off. Then in the first batch of second round matches three players received reds, including two from Qatar matching South Africa’s dirty double.
2. Plenty of braces and a couple of hat-tricks
Seven players scored twice in the opening round of matches, with Lionel Messi grabbing a hat-trick, there were 17 goals from eight players so they ate responsible for over a fifth of the total of 75 goals. Adding to the list in the first four set of second group games were Manzambi of Switzerland, then a hat-trick by Canada’s Jonathan David, with ten players now scoring almost a quarter of 89 goals
3. Own Goals galore
With six own goals in the first 28 matches and with 76 more remaining, the record for a World Cup tournament looks likely to be broken/smashed. 2026 has already matched the second highest number of OGs which was set in 1998 and the 12 in 2018 is very much in sight. The current rate of one every 5 games means we could reach over 20 OGs in the tournament.
4. Foreign influence
All of England’s goals in the win over Croatia coming from players playing their club football outside the UK, Harry Kane at Bayern Munich, Jude Bellingham at Real Madrid and Marcus Rashford at Barcelona. The last time this happened was in 2006 when David Beckham scored England’s only goal against Ecuador.
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