Seven teams had already booked their place in the knockout stage at the 2026 FIFA World Cup by the end of the second set of group matches, while five teams were out. Argentina, Colombia, France, Germany, Mexico, Norway and the United States moved through, and Haiti, Jordan, Panama, Tunisia and Turkey were eliminated.
The reason readers are searching now is simple: the bracket is starting to take shape, and so is the scoring race. Lionel Messi of Argentina, 39, led the Golden Boot chase with five goals, while Kylian Mbappe of France and Erling Haaland of Norway were both on four. That makes the tournament feel settled in one sense and wide open in another, because the teams that have already advanced are not the only story left on the board.
There has also been more unpredictability than a checkpoint like this usually suggests. One writer said he had been pleasantly surprised by how open so many of the games had remained. Another pointed to South Korea’s difficult showing against Mexico, while a third highlighted the quality of fringe goalkeepers. Carl Anka called Senegal’s defensive capitulation against Norway frustrating, and said they would need a four-goal victory over Iraq to keep alive any chance of going through as one of the best third-place sides.
Other results showed why the group stage has felt more volatile than tidy. Curacao earned the country’s first ever point at a World Cup with a 0-0 draw against Ecuador. Sweden were thrashed by the Netherlands 5-1, and Uruguay had a chaotic start. Even with seven teams already through, the second round did not produce the kind of damage-free progress that makes a tournament feel predictable.
The next question is which of the remaining teams will join the seven already through before the final group matches are done. The answer will shape the knockout field as much as the goals at the top of the scoring chart, and Messi, still leading the race at 39, remains the reference point for both.
