{"id":1738,"date":"2026-08-01T05:18:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T05:18:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/?p=1738"},"modified":"2026-08-01T05:18:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T05:18:25","slug":"out-now-world-soccers-world-cup-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/?p=1738","title":{"rendered":"Out now: World Soccer’s World Cup Review"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Out<\/div>

<\/p>\n

\n

In this issue<\/h3>\n

All World Cups are unique, from ambition to bid to execution. The first triple staging with the expanded field of 48 teams and 1 04 matches was appropriate to a central host which boasts of being biggest and best. Biggest World Cup, certainly. But best? Demonstrably not.<\/p>\n

Football memory will cherish only a handful of matches amid the inevitable diminution of quality sliced into 23-minute slices by the advert-stuffed, momentum-busting hydration breaks.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, in football no dreams are greater than competing in and winning the World Cup. The ultimate achievement is granted to very few, as Didier Deschamps told his French winners in 20 18: \u201cWhatever your career now, you will always be world champions and no-one can ever take that away from you.\u201d<\/p>\n

In this issue of\u00a0World Soccer<\/em>, you\u2019ll find the complete story of the 2026 World Cup \u2013 every game, every goal, every player, the Team of the Tournament and tactical analysis.<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Contents<\/h3>\n

World Cup 2026 review<\/h4>\n

4 In pictures
10 Keir Radnedge<\/strong>: Tournament overview
13 Goals we\u2019d like to see again<\/strong>
14 Tim Vickery:<\/strong> Lionel Messi\u2019s World Cup story
18 Players of the Tournament<\/strong>
20 Team-by-team analysis<\/strong>
74 Henry Winter:<\/strong> Jude Bellingham \u2013 England\u2019s next captain
Plus\u20265 things we learned
76 Jonathan Wilson:<\/strong> Deschamps bows out betraying his principles
77 The World Cup In Numbers<\/strong><\/p>\n

World Cup 2026: The Complete Record<\/h4>\n

Group stage<\/strong>
34 Group A
36 Group B
38 Group C
40 Group D
42 Group E
44 Group F
46 Group G
48 Group H
50 Group I
52 Group J
54 Group K
56 Group L<\/p>\n

Knockout phase<\/strong>
58 Round of 32
66 Round of 1 6
70 Quarter-finals
72 Semi-finals
73 Third place play-off
73 Final<\/p>\n

World Service<\/h4>\n

80 South America <\/strong>Libertadores\/Sudamericana
82 North America<\/strong> Leagues Cup
84 Oceania<\/strong> OFC Champions League
86 Obituaries<\/strong>
87 Wales<\/strong> European Under-19 Euros
88-89 Moves\/Summer transfers\u00a0<\/strong>
96 Plus Results, Tables, Fixtures<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this issue All World Cups are unique, from ambition to bid to execution. The first triple staging with the expanded field of 48 teams and 1 04 matches was appropriate to a central host which boasts of being biggest and best. Biggest World Cup, certainly. But best? Demonstrably not. Football memory will cherish only…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1739,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.worldsoccer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2026\/07\/AUG-FC.png?w=3694","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[41,515,3331,40],"class_list":["post-1738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","tag-cup","tag-review","tag-soccers","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}