History produces its beautiful symmetries. The 2026 FIFA World Cup will experience its own chapter when Mexico take on South Africa in the opening match of the tournament at the iconic Azteca Stadium.
The match, along with another 71 clashes, was set in stone when the World Cup die was cast in Washington earlier this month.
The opening match will be a repeat of the 2010 opener, and Azteca’s legacy of seeing Pelé and Diego Maradona win the World Cup only adds to the splendor of the biggest ever repeat of the quadrennial tournament.
FIFA’s expansion to 48 teams from 32 has unfurled its tapestry across the hemispheres, weaving new, distant threads into the legendary fabric.
While it raises fears that the intensity of competition may be waning, as has been the case with the expanded UEFA Champions League, the charm of underdogs adds a touch of unpredictability.
Curacao and Cape Verde, whose combined population is smaller than that of Chennai, will test themselves against World Cup giants Germany and Spain.
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Portugal, still nursing the wound from conquering Morocco in 2022, will now face a Central Asian pioneer in Uzbekistan, coached by 2006 World Cup winner Fabio Cannavaro.
Meanwhile, compatriot Carlo Ancelotti returns to the World Cup after three decades, and in the same country, the United States.
The decorated manager now fills the role of tactician for the World Cup’s most decorated son, Brazil, and the Moroccans will provide his boys with the biggest challenge in the group stages.
Old gods and new
The 2026 World Cup offers a last possible meeting between the two legends of modern football: Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. The rivalry reached a nadir in La Liga, with Messi playing for Barcelona and Ronaldo for Real Madrid, but it remained barren on the international stage.
In five World Cups since their debut, there have been no clashes between Argentina and Portugal.
Messi (right) and Ronaldo (left) have met in friendlies and club competitions, but a World Cup match has so far eluded them. | Photo credit: AFP
Messi (right) and Ronaldo (left) have met in friendlies and club competitions, but a World Cup match has so far eluded them. | Photo credit: AFP
If Argentina top their group while Portugal sails through as one of the top two teams in their own group, Messi, now 38, and Ronaldo, now 40, would hope to walk into a World Cup sunset with one final battle.
But in their twilight, a new rivalry arises: the Nordic ‘There bombs’ Erling Haaland versus the French talisman Kylian Mbappe, who already won the World Cup in 2018.
Their match, unlike the first, is definitely a Group I clash and will dominate the headlines of most sports dailies the next day.
Football in America: Well, well…
Football in the United States remains the beautiful game that got away. While the World Cup draw at the Kennedy Center had far more razzmatazz than the 1994 ceremony, when the US last hosted the World Cup, it lacked the soul of a World Cup event, leaving far more room for glamor than the sport itself.
The main event, after drawing lots for the co-hosts, featured five sports icons on stage: Tom Brady, Wayne Gretzky, Aaron Judge, Shaquille O’Neal and Rio Ferdinand. Only one of them, Ferdinand, had been a footballer and he performed the draw.
Rio Ferdinand (left) was the only footballer on the podium during the World Cup draw and officiated the event. | Photo credit: REUTERS
Rio Ferdinand (left) was the only footballer on the podium during the World Cup draw and officiated the event. | Photo credit: REUTERS
It was baffling for a country, the US, that had won four FIFA Women’s World Cups and still had no representation on the podium.
In addition, there was no representation of athletes from Mexico, one of the co-hosts and the only one of the three to have played since the first World Cup in 1930.
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If there were any doubts about a disconnect, they were dispelled by TV presenter Dani Ramirez’s silly question to Ferdinand, a former centre-back, about how many goals he had scored against Iker Casillas.
The US will roll the dice again in the summer when the World Cup actually starts, one that can finally test whether they can truly understand the sport they are trying so hard to sell.
Published on December 10, 2025
