Early World Cup winners and losers: Messi a hero and Ronaldo a zero

Thursday marks the beginning of the second round of group-stage matches. It's been a thrilling first round of games, with plenty of goals, stars looking like stars and several shocks (though they were all draws rather than wins).

Let's look at some of our winners and losers from the first round of the 2026 World Cup matches:

WINNERS

Lionel Messi

Could we start with anyone else? There were perhaps some questions over Messi heading into this tournament. After all, he is about to turn 39 and still front and center for one of the tournament favorites. But the superstar answered any question in emphatic fashion against Algeria, scoring a sensational hat trick to move into a tie for most men's World Cup goals ever.

The USMNT

The U.S. men's national team has two main goals at this tournament, which are obviously intertwined: go on a deep run in the knockout stage, and help grow the sport in the United States. It's only been one game, of course, but the team's start against Paraguay went a long way toward both.

There is no better way to get the country's attention than winning in thrilling and emphatic fashion, and that's exactly what the USMNT did in a 4-1 thrashing of Paraguay. There will be bigger challenges ahead, of course, but it was mission accomplished in game one.

The little guys

If you made a list of the teams least likely to succeed at the World Cup before the tournament, you may have included New Zealand, Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia or Qatar. But none of those teams lost their openers, and outside of New Zealand (which tied Iran), they all managed a point against heavily favored opponents. Special mention must go to Cape Verde, which pulled off the shock of the first round of matches by drawing mighty Spain.

LOSERS

Cristiano Ronaldo

Much like Messi, there were also questions surrounding Ronaldo entering the tournament. But unlike Messi, Ronaldo's opening performance made those questions over his age and role on Portugal's team even more pressing.

Ronaldo was mostly invisible as Portugal only managed a 1-1 draw against Congo DR. The 41-year-old only touched the ball 25 times despite playing the full match, failing to get any of his three shots on target. One of those shots saw him rob what looked like an easy goal from teammate Bruno Fernandes.

Will Roberto Martinez follow in predecessor Fernando Santos' footsteps and bench Ronaldo at a World Cup?

Sabri Lamouchi

How bad does a World Cup opener have to be for a coach to immediately be sacked? Sadly, now-former Tunisia coach Lamouchi got the answer to that question last week.

Tunisia was hammered 5-1 by Sweden, as goalkeeper Mouhib Chamakh made an error that led to the first goal. Lamouchi went out on a limb for Chamakh, who wasn't expected to start, and the move completely backfired. Hervé Renard has since taken over on the bench.

Hakan Çalhanoğlu

The Turkey captain set some big expectations for his side ahead of its match against Australia, declaring that his team would "dominate" the Socceroos. Having provided sufficient bulletin-board material, Çalhanoğlu and Turkey went out and lost 2-0 in their first World Cup match in 24 years.

After the game, Çalhanoğlu still insisted that his team dominated, despite the loss. Whether it had more possession or shots, Turkey lost in the only stat that really matters.