World Cup 2026 week one - results, surprises and early table standings

[Eastern Aaron]

The World Cup group stage is underway. With 48 teams and 104 matches over 39 days there is more football than any previous tournament in history. Post your reactions to the first week of results here. Key fixtures that have taken place or are taking place: Mexico vs South Africa, Brazil vs Morocco, Argentina vs whoever they open against, England vs Croatia June 17, USA vs Paraguay June 12 (LA ceremony game), Canada vs Bosnia and Herzegovina June 12 (Toronto ceremony game).

Which results surprised you. Who is looking dangerous early. Which supposed contender already looks shaky

[IronQuarry48]

Brazil vs Morocco was the opening week fixture that lived up to its billing. The quality gap between the teams was smaller than the rankings suggested and Guimaraes and Endrick combining for the goals was the good news for Brazil

[Inland Renegade]

Any team from Africa or Asia getting out of their group this year should be celebrated. The expanded format was partly about giving those federations more representation and more opportunity. Watching them take it is the best version of what 48 teams can produce

[Static Estuary]

The expanded 48-team format means some of the early group games are painfully lopsided. That is the trade-off FIFA made for more participating nations and more commercial revenue. The quality of group stage football is the cost

[StoneCold_Mike]

Argentina looking at their first tournament without Messi as a reliable starter is the ongoing adjustment story. Alvarez and Martinez are excellent but the team was built around Messi's positioning for a decade. That takes time to reorganise

[RightNutter]

The US hosting their own World Cup matches for the first time since 1994 is clearly generating huge domestic interest. The crowds are exceptional and the atmosphere in venues like SoFi and MetLife is different from anything a US World Cup game has seen before

[Eastern Aaron]

England vs Croatia result is going to tell us everything about whether this squad has actually learned to perform in knockout-pressure tournament football or whether the same patterns emerge