Seven teams have already booked places in the knockout rounds of the 2026 FIFA World Cup after the second set of group matches, and five others are out. Argentina, Colombia, France, Germany, Mexico, Norway and the United States have moved on, while Haiti, Jordan, Panama, Tunisia and Turkey have been eliminated.
That is why searches for how long is a World Cup soccer game are landing on this tournament now: the answer matters because the group phase is shaping the bracket in real time, and the second of three rounds has already separated the contenders from the teams running out of road. The competition is still producing a lot of scoring, with seven teams already through and five gone before the final set of matches has even started.
Lionel Messi is at the center of the draw again. At 39, he looks as sharp as ever and leads the Golden Boot race with five goals. Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland are one behind on four each, which gives the final round of group games a statistical edge that is easy to follow even for readers who are more interested in the clock than the bracket.
The broader picture, though, is more complicated than the scorelines suggest. Oliver Kay said he has been pleasantly surprised by how open so many of the games have remained, and argued that the tournament has produced so many goals that it has felt lively throughout. He also said there is a real lack of jeopardy, even if the football has been a lot of fun. That contradiction sits at the heart of this World Cup: goals are flowing, but the format is still leaving room for teams to survive deeper into the tournament than in older editions.
Some of the sharpest judgments came from the individual matches. Jacob Whitehead said South Korea were far worse against Mexico than expected after an excellent opening display against the Czech Republic. Phil Hay highlighted Eloy Room for Curacao against Ecuador, pointed to Alireza Beiranvand’s save of the tournament against Belgium, and said Vozinha was part of a Cape Verde side that looked like a proper football team. Lukas Weese noted that Curacao lost 7-1 to Germany before drawing 0-0 with Ecuador, a result that earned the country its first ever point at a World Cup.
There were harsher reads too. Carl Anka called Senegal’s defensive capitulation against Norway frustrating and said they need a four-goal victory over Iraq to have a chance of sneaking out as one of the best third-place sides. Tomas Hill Lopez-Menchero said Sweden were thrashed by the Netherlands by the same 5-1 scoreline they put on Tunisia in the opening round. Felipe Cardenas described Uruguay’s start as chaotic. Those are the margins that now decide whether a team keeps playing or goes home.
The final set of group matches will decide the rest, and that is where the real pressure begins. Seven teams have already done enough to breathe easier, but the next round will tell us who fills out the knockout bracket, who survives on goal difference and who leaves with one game still to play. By then, the search question will not be how long a World Cup soccer game lasts. It will be who has enough time left to stay in it.
