Back then, I was young, watching football with the most primitive excitement. That was the World Cup where Zidane played the last football in his career, Fabio Cannavaro raised the Golden Cup, and Messi and Ronaldo first stepped onto the biggest stage on the planet. None of us at that time knew that these two people would dominate world football for nearly two decades.
20 years later, I entered the 2026 World Cup with a different mindset. Football is still football, but the way I see a match has changed. This is the biggest congress in history with 48 teams and 104 matches. The new format makes the group stage like a constantly moving chessboard. A goal in this city can change the fate of a team playing thousands of kilometers away.
The tournament also brings fairy tales that only the World Cup can create. Cabo Verde participated for the first time but made the whole world remember its name. They drew with Spain, Uruguay, passed the group stage and forced defending champion Argentina to fight until extra time. Norway also wrote history when reaching the quarter-finals under the guidance of Erling Haaland. The striker with the physique of a Viking warrior scored 7 goals, helping a football background that had been outside the World Cup for many years become a phenomenon. France continues to show the strength of a football power, while Argentina still possesses the bravery of a champion... But the team that left the deepest professional mark on me is Spain. They step up to the championship with a football that is both familiar and renewed. They still control the ball, still patiently stretch the opponent but are no longer stuck in endless horizontal passes. They play more directly, more powerfully and possess a solid defense system behind the beauty of combinations.
I watched Messi from a long-haired boy become a world champion. I watched Ronaldo from a show-off guy become one of the greatest scoring machines in history. I watched Modric go through the war to reach the Ballon d'Or, watching Neymar carry on his shoulders both pride and regret of Brazilian football.
However, the 2026 World Cup is not just a farewell. In the moment when legends leave the field, football has also introduced faces that will bring us into a new cycle. Mbappe, Haaland, Yamal and talents who have not yet been named will continue to create stories...
