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Little God reviews the World Cup’s Round 1: how the star players and teams performed—from “solid” to “disappointing”!

On June 18, the opening round of the World Cup group stage wrapped up, with Uzbekistan losing 1-3 to Colombia. Asian teams had looked strong at first—2 wins and 4 draws—but over the last 3 days they lost 3 matches in a row, getting sent straight back to square one. Even more ridiculous, after this World Cup’s first round of matches, two powerhouse clubs with a combined total value of over 1 billion euros—Spain and Portugal—somehow failed to win a single game: one was held to a 0-0 draw by Cape Verde, Africa’s new force making its debut, and the other was pinned down and beaten 1-1 by the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

What is going on? A team worth 1 billion can’t beat a debut side?

That’s right. In Spain’s match, the possession rate was 74%, and they had 27 shots at goal—so what happened? The 40-year-old goalkeeper on the other side made saves that were hard to top, producing the best save of the match. For Spain, Rodri, Pedri, and Yamal—all starters from elite clubs in the midfield and forward line—still couldn’t create a single decisive, game-ending pass. Cape Verde, with a national population of only just over 500,000, made their first World Cup appearance and immediately forced a draw against the tournament’s title-hot favorites.

Don’t tell me Spain’s possession is impressive—what use is it? Cape Verde’s whole team crowded into a 30-meter zone inside the penalty area, and Spain simply couldn’t pass the ball through. In plain terms, when possession-based football meets a fortress-like defensive setup, it’s just busywork.

Portugal’s situation was even more frustrating. For Cristiano Ronaldo, it was his 6th World Cup, yet across the match he had just 3 shots, none on target, and received the lowest rating on the team. The Democratic Republic of the Congo played like it was on a street pitch—messy, ruthless, and unreasonable. Portugal’s players all wanted to show off their footwork, but it all turned into ineffective backward passes, and they couldn’t even get one ball through midfield. Instead, it was the Democratic Republic of the Congo that scored on a counterattack, forcing the ball into Portugal’s goal.

Ronaldo’s expression on the pitch was pure despair.

Guess what? After the match, some fans went straight on the attack online: “Should Ronaldo retire?”

After Round 1, let’s talk about the most “solid” teams—there are 3: Argentina, France, and England.

Argentina thrashed Algeria 3-0, with Messi scoring a hat-trick. All 3 goals were chances he created himself—no penalties, no lucky rebounds. After the match, the 23-year-old Algerian defender said, “I couldn’t stop him; he was like he was playing a real-life video game.”

That comment is honestly spot on. With Messi, his three goals—one was a long-range strike skimming along the ground; one was him breaking away in the box to set up a shot into the far corner; and the third was simply him bursting in all by himself and blasting it. At age 38, in his 6th World Cup—how absurd is his form?

France beat Senegal 3-1, with Mbappé scoring twice. Senegal’s goalkeeper, in a post-match interview, sighed: “He’s too fast—I didn’t even have time to react.”

Mbappé’s first goal in this match came from a burst of acceleration that left the opposing defender three positions behind at once; the goalkeeper was only halfway to making the save, and the ball was already flying into the corner.

England beat Croatia 4-2, avenging their 2018 semifinal loss. Bellingham played like a war god—2 goals and 1 assist—completely stunning Croatia’s “elder” gentlemen. After the match, Croatia’s midfield core Modrić said, “I wanted to play another round, but my body told me it was time to stop.”

All three of these teams were hard hitters in Round 1—none relied on luck.

Now take a look at the ones that underperformed. Spain and Portugal—these two brothers—didn’t look any better than the teams that lost. Spain couldn’t break through; Portugal couldn’t get anything going. One team was “possession constipation,” and the other had an offense that went silent.

Although South Korea won against the Czech Republic, Son Heung-min’s performance was heavily criticized. In that match, Son played like he was sleepwalking—he had 4 shots and all of them were off target, and his pass success rate was only 71%. Korean fans watched it and immediately exploded: “Is this our captain? Is this the Premier League Golden Boot winner?”

But if we’re talking about the most disappointing player in Round 1, it has to be Cristiano Ronaldo.

Why? Because the expectations were too high. Ronaldo is Portugal’s biggest IP in history, and this World Cup was almost being framed as his “last dance.” So what happened? He basically disappeared for the whole match; his shots were all wildly off, and he made two mistakes even with simple ball control. After the match, Portuguese media directly gave him a “4-point” rating, and the comments section was full of words like “goodbye,” “retirement,” and “the legend’s ending.”

What’s hard to understand is that the entire Portuguese team kept passing to him, but he didn’t even manage a decent shot. After the match, a defender from the Democratic Republic of the Congo said, “I defended him in his peak, and now he can’t run anymore.”

Those words sound harsh, but the data won’t lie.

In Round 1, Ronaldo’s three shots were all outside the goal frame; his running distance was under 8 kilometers, the least among Portugal’s starting players.

Liverpool legend Carragher went straight in with criticism after the game: “This isn’t the Ronaldo I know—he looks like he’s punching in to clock in for work.”

On the other hand, Messi—in his personal 6th World Cup—scored a hat-trick, leading the scoring charts, while also tying Klose’s all-time World Cup record for total goals—16. Two football veterans: one is still on the pitch, and the other is getting “kicked by the ball.”

Of course, this is only the first round of the World Cup—there are still two group matches left. Spain will face Germany next, and Portugal will play Uruguay.

Do you think Ronaldo can still turn things around one more time?

Drop your answer in the comments.