​It’s safe to say that the 48-team 2026 World Cup has been a rousing success. The on-field action has been everything you could want in a major international tournament. You’ve had drama, controversy, big names rising to the occasion and underdogs proving they belonged on the global stage.Before Argentina and Spain meet to decided who will be crowned world champion, let’s take a look back at what we witnessed during this this past month at the 2026 World Cup.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe three tournament hosts — the United States, Canada and Mexico — each advanced out of the group stage without needing to be one of the better third-place teams. The USMNT and Mexico won their respective groups, while Canada finished second in Group B and won out on a tiebreaker over Bosnia and Herzegovina.The success continued into the Round of 32 as all three won their matches to advance to the final 16. Mexico won its first knockout stage match since 1986; same for the U.S., who hadn’t advanced out of that round since 2002. Canada, meanwhile, not only won its first-ever World Cup match when it blanked Qatar 6-0 during the group stage, but also won its first-ever elimination match beating South Africa 1-0.The good times for all came to an end, however, in the Round of 16. Canada was shut out by Morocco; the USMNT were defeated 4-1 by Belgium; and Mexico lost a hard-fought 3-2 battle at Estadio Azetca to England.EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY – JULY 5: Erling Haaland of Norway (D) celebrates his second goal with teammate Andreas Schjelderup (U) during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Round Of 16 match between Brazil and Norway at New York New Jersey Stadium on July 5, 2026 in East Rutherford, United States. (Photo by Calvin Hernandez/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)(Eurasia Sport Images via Getty Images)The big stage calls for big time performances. That’s what we got from Erling Haaland, Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Jude Bellingham, among a number of others.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementTake a look at the Golden Boot race and those names sit on top due to their goal-scoring exploits. Haaland finished with seven goals and led Norway to the quarterfinals. He not only performed on the field, he also enjoyed his time in the U.S.Messi started off the World Cup with a hat trick and delivered regular heroics during Argentina’s knockout round journey to the final.Mbappé bagged three braces in helping lead France to the semifinals for the third straight World Cup. Jude Bellingham joined Harry Kane and Gary Lineker as the only male England players to score six times in a single World Cup. His performances at the Azteca against Mexico and in Miami against Norway will not be forgotten.Much of the pushback when FIFA announced that the 2026 tournament would be 48 teams was that there would be a large number of blowouts. Only nine of the 72 group-stage matches featured matches that were decided by four goals or more — only two of those involved debutants