The 2026 World Cup has produced a dream semifinal field in Argentina, England, France and Spain
The four semifinalists are the four teams atop FIFA's world rankings.
With apologies to World Cup 2026 co-hosts Canada, Mexico and the United States, this is the perfect semifinal field. France and Spain on one side. England and Argentina on the other.
Is there anything better?Not according to FIFA’s world rankings. Yeah, they’re a very imperfect metric.
But this is the first World Cup ever with the semifinal spots occupied by the top four teams entering the World Cup. France is at No. 1, Argentina is at No.
2, Spain is third and England is fourth. A semifinal field with the USMNT or Mexico wouldn’t have been that farfetched given their home-field advantage. But it wouldn’t have been nearly as strong.
And each of the four global powers has been buoyed by its superstars. You don’t need me to tell you about Lionel Messi’s continued greatness. There are hardly any superlatives left to describe the 38-year-old’s pursuit of the Golden Boot and a second straight World Cup title.
If it wasn’t for Messi, 27-year-old France star Kylian Mbappé would already be the World Cup’s all-time goals leader. Messi’s eight goals in this World Cup give him 21 for his career. Mbappé already has 20 in 20 appearances.
And he’s got the slight edge over Messi for the Golden Boot thanks to two more assists.England’s Harry Kane is tied for fifth in all-time World Cup goals with 14 and became his country’s all-time leading World Cup scorer earlier in the tournament. Kane has six goals so far this tournament …
but he got caught for fourth in the Golden Boot race by his own teammate.Jude Bellingham scored both of England’s goals in its 2-1 win over Norway on Saturday afternoon. Bellingham has scored four times over England’s last two wins as he’s become a force in creating his own space in the penalty area and also poaching rebounds.
Bellingham, 23, started all five of England’s matches at the 2022 World Cup as a 19-year-old. After a rollercoaster season at Real Madrid, some England fans didn’t even know if he’d be a surefire starter in this tournament. Instead, he’s sh
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