Every team for 2026 World Cup don start dia campaign, give us first proper look at di tournament leading contenders for United States, Canada and Mexico.
While one game no be enough to draw concrete conclusions, some of di big dogs don lay down marker. Oda ones, meanwhile, don raise some questions.
Small hand of di pre-tournament heavyweights fail to live up to expectations, while plenty outsiders produce performances wey suggest dem fit be dangerous as di competition dey progress.
With dat for mind, we rank and grade di six biggest World Cup favourites based solely on how dem impress for dia opening match.
Portugal draw with DR Congo no cause di shockwaves or get di upset factor of Spain failure to beat Cape Verde. E easy to scoff at Rodri when e dey sore loser mode, but im post-match comments get half point.
Spain get control, and di underlying stats suggest say for anoda day dem easily fit win. You no fit say di same for Portugal, and for dat reason dem dey dead last.
DR Congo out xG Portugal and be more dan worthy of dia point. Unlike Cape Verde, e no even look like dem work dat hard for am.
Dis fit be di best squad wey Portugal ever send to major tournament. Bruno Fernandes, Nuno Mendes, Vitinha and Joao Neves dey come into am off di back of world-class campaigns. Get dem pander to 41-year-old wey dey walk about na disastrous gameplan.
Cristiano Ronaldo don go 10 consecutive major tournament appearances without scoring goal. For dis evidence, you fit see why.
La Roja dey on di wrong end of one of di all-time great World Cup upsets. We dey oblige to point out say Cape Verde no be rabble wey only qualify by virtue of di expanded tournament. Dem top dia group for African qualifying, make am at di expense of Cameroon.
E na heroic backs-to-di-wall display for di ages wey deserve nothing but praise. As romantic as e be, and as we love am, di pre-tournament favourites and reigning European champions probably no suppose find am so difficult to make am pass centre-back wey spend im entire career for League of Ireland and clubless 40-year-old goalkeeper wey spend last season for Portuguese second tier.
Dis stink of di sterile domination game, so lacking for flair and invention, wey see dem pass demself to death and exit di last two World Cups at di hands of Russia and Morocco.
Di emergence of two wing wizards for Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams change everything for Euro 2024. Dominate possession and control di tempo while dem two dey carve open defences na winning formula – but dem desperately need dem fit and firing.
Late, rusty cameos no enough.
Few teams, no even di minnows, produce anything quite as bad as Brazil opening 30 minutes against Morocco. Spain and Portugal be insipid and anaemic, sure… But dem no be shambolic.
Di Selecao look shockingly ragged as dem get rings run round dem by Morocco, wey well worth dia early lead and fit get di game out of sight if dem small clinical. And yet, dem get draw. Good one, against excellent opposition, at dat.
Vinicius Junior produce stunning individual piece of quality to get dem back on level terms. Carlo Ancelotti make some tweaks, and dem look small more competent as dem comfortably see out forgettable second half. Very Real Madrid. Very Ancelotti. Very ominous? Never bet against star power.
Les Bleus be very fortunate no to go into half-time behind against Senegal, and Kylian Mbappe produce wey must be one of di worst 45 minutes of im career. Den everything change.
For di second half, France look every bit as terrifying for reality as dem do for paper. Dis fit be di most stacked attack ever send to major tournament, and we see evidence of dat for di manner wey dem blow away di African champions.
Di current Ballon d’Or holder, Ousmane Dembele, no dey look quite as at home for dis set-up as e do for im club, but Mbappe and Michael Olise dey look like dem get burgeoning telepathy and dem be unstoppable at points. Even Adrien Rabiot be very good.
Overall, e be complicated and confusing first half against Croatia. No be our assessment, dat na from assistant coach Anthony Barry for surprisingly frank half-time interview with ITV.
Croatia two goals be exceptionally well-worked, but we dey left with di sense Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville fit don be onto something when dem suggest England lack of elite-level centre-backs fit be wey go cost dem dis summer.
Jude Bellingham powerful run one minute into di second half, give England di lead for third time, set di tone for wey fit be di best, most impressive football England don produce for major tournament for over 20 years.
Luka Modric and Croatia finally dey look small over di hill – there go surely be tougher tests to come – but dem make am to di last four of di last two World Cups, and dis na England first World Cup win over top-15 ranked team since 2002.
Harry Kane first-half brace na reminder say England get di most in-form goalscorer for world football, dey look sharp, while Thomas Tuchel bold and proactive substitutes reap rewards and hint England no go fall into di same paralysed-by-fear trappings of im predecessor.
E dey remain open question weda England fit produce such intense, physically dominant whirlwind for more humid conditions, though.
France for 2002. Italy for 2010. Spain for 2014. Germany for 2018. All of dem go out for di group stages after no shake up group wey take dem to World Cup glory four years before.
You wonder if di same fate go befall Argentina, with Lionel Scaloni 26-man squad dey lean heavily on those wey deliver di goods for Qatar, including 38-year-old Nicolas Otamendi.
Lionel Messi turn 39 next week and don spend di last three years for MLS – surely e no fit continue to single-handedly win dem games?
Scaloni go with di same midfield three wey start di World Cup final – Rodrigo De Paul, Alexis Mac Allister and Enzo Fernandez. One na MLS player, and di oda two dey look knackered at di end of difficult, unconvincing seasons.
Why worry? Argentina dismantle genuinely not-bad Algeria, inspired by outrageous performance from dia legendary captain, transport us back to December 2022.
Dem no be completely perfect. Angel Di Maria no don adequately replace, Lautaro Martinez be poor, Thiago Almada be awkward fit, and there be concerning lack of width. But Emiliano Martinez no get save to make, Messi score three, and e fit get more.
Di only team for dis list wey produce complete 90-minute performance. Dem get plenty left to prove, but dis no dey look far off di side wey lift di trophy last time out.
