2026 FIFA World Cup: Stars Shine Amidst Surprising Underdogs

The 2026 FIFA World Cup has finally caught fire. The big names are doing exactly what they were brought here to do. Lionel Messi is scoring at a rate that defies his birth certificate, Kylian Mbappe has slipped seamlessly back into his World Cup alter ego, Erling Haaland is bullying defences, and now Cristiano Ronaldo has walked into the spotlight with a ruthless performance against Uzbekistan.

For all the noise around the expanded 48-team format, the football has done the talking. Cape Verde, Japan, Egypt and a clutch of so‑called minnows have refused to play the role of extras. The script looks different, more chaotic, more open — and it works.

Watching it all, and dissecting every twist for Zee5, is India defender Sandesh Jhingan. Speaking to Hindustan Times Digital, he cut through the noise around the game’s biggest stars and the tournament’s emerging storylines.

Messi at 39: still making people feel like children

Five goals in two games. Hat-tricks, braces, and the same left foot that has tormented defenders for two decades. Messi is 39 on paper, but the numbers and the performances belong to a man who has refused to slow down.

“I think it’s incredible, first of all, to have that longevity and that consistency to keep doing well,” Jhingan said, drawing on his own experience as a professional. For him, the true genius is not just the highlights, but the ability to stay at that level year after year.

He recalled a moment from the studio. A visual of a 100-year-old woman in the stands watching Messi.

When Jhingan sees that, he understands it immediately. Messi, he says, has that rare power to make people feel like kids again. If a centenarian can feel like a 10-year-old for 90 minutes, that’s not just talent. That’s football at its purest.

The unseen platform behind the genius

Messi’s brilliance, Jhingan insists, doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Argentina have been flawless at the back so far, yet to concede, with defenders throwing themselves into challenges and midfielders closing every gap.

For Jhingan, the real star behind the scenes is Argentina’s structure.

“The reason Messi is doing so well is because the team’s shape and compactness are so good,” he explained. He points to the coaching staff for building a system that bends around its players, not the other way round. The best coaches, he says, adapt their tactics to the tools at their disposal.

Argentina switch between sitting deep and holding a mid-block, but the common thread is control. Organisation. Clarity. That platform gives Messi the freedom to live higher up the pitch, where games are decided. The defenders and midfielders know their brief: win it back, find Messi, trust him to create the moment.

That belief, Jhingan says, is contagious. It feeds the entire squad.

The “Messi dependency” debate

Lautaro Martinez ran himself into the ground against Austria. Dropping deep, pressing, stretching the back line, linking play. Yet the narrative in some corners still circles back to a familiar accusation: Argentina rely too much on Messi, and their strikers aren’t scoring enough.

Jhingan doesn’t buy the criticism.

“If I’m an Argentine player or a fan, I wouldn’t mind being called reliant on Messi as long as the team is winning,” he said. In his eyes, Argentina are not a one-man band. They are a well-drilled unit built on organisation and defensive discipline.

They know when to drop, when to press, how to swarm the ball. That collective work creates the perfect conditions for Messi and the other forwards to decide matches. Results tell their own story: Argentina are winning, they are already through, and every player understands his role. For Jhingan, that’s the real measure of a team.

Mbappe and the weight of history

Every World Cup seems to drag a different version of Mbappe to the surface. Faster, sharper, more ruthless. His numbers at this level are already staggering, and he is still only in his late twenties.

“With his goals and his numbers, it’s incredible,” Jhingan said. But he knows the conversation around Mbappe can’t avoid the Messi-Ronaldo axis. Those two have become the benchmark, the standard by which every new superstar is judged.

To step into that bracket, Mbappe must do what they did: sustain greatness. Stay hungry. Stay fit. Jhingan has noticed a pattern — whenever the World Cup comes around, Mbappe finds another gear. Russia 2018, Qatar 2022, and now again in 2026. That, to him, is the true sign of a big player: the ability to rise when the stage is at its loudest.

Lamine Yamal and the defender’s dilemma

Another name has started to buzz around this World Cup: Lamine Yamal. He hasn’t played every minute, he hasn’t started every game, but when he is on the pitch, he leaves a mark.

From a defender’s perspective, Jhingan knows exactly how dangerous that profile can be. A winger whose first thought is always to take you on. To eliminate you.

“If you’re in a one-on-one situation with Lamine, most of the time he’s going to get past you because that’s his biggest quality,” he admitted. Yamal is one of those players you pay to watch. He brings joy, unpredictability, that old-school street football edge.

The trap for defenders, Jhingan warns, is to turn it into a personal duel. Marking him perfectly for 89 minutes means nothing if the 90th brings a deflection, a shot, a goal — and the headlines say you lost.

His solution is collective. Keep the team compact. Squeeze the spaces he receives in. Cut off the supply line. Midfielders must press, forwards must press, the back line must hold a high, aggressive shape. The aim is not to win every one-on-one. It’s to reduce how many of those situations arise in the first place.

Ronaldo, the critics and the coach’s call

No World Cup is complete without a Ronaldo debate. At 39, with questions over his mobility and recent form at the very top level, the noise has grown: should he be benched?

Jhingan doesn’t sit on the fence.

He calls the current debate “from the ones who never played professional football, or in case who never played much of it professionally.” Opinions are fine, he says, but one man’s verdict matters above all: Roberto Martinez’s. If the Portugal coach believes Ronaldo is good enough, he plays. Simple.

With Ronaldo and Messi, the spotlight never dims. If one scores and the other doesn’t, the discourse instantly shifts to age, decline, and legacy. Yet Jhingan points to the facts. Ronaldo scored heavily at club level, finishing as top scorer in the Saudi league. He also found the net regularly in qualifiers.

People forget that, he says. They zoom in on a bad day and ignore the body of work.

Golden Boot race: giants on a collision course

As for the Golden Boot, Jhingan sees a familiar cast assembling at the top of the chart. Messi already has a “very healthy lead” with five goals. Mbappe is lurking. Haaland is in the mix. The tournament has delivered exactly what fans wanted: the biggest names scoring the biggest goals.

Jhingan expects Ronaldo to join them soon. “I think today Ronaldo will kind of open his account as well in a big way,” he predicted, noting how often the forward responds when doubts swirl around him. When the criticism spikes, Ronaldo tends to sharpen his edge.

Messi, Mbappe, Haaland, Ronaldo. For neutrals, it’s a dream scenario: more goals, more subplots, more late-night arguments.

Backing Japan with his heart

When the conversation turns to the eventual winner, Jhingan doesn’t pretend to be neutral.

“I’m going to be biased. I’m going to root for Japan,” he admitted. Argentina are obvious contenders, he knows that, but his heart is with Asia. He wants an Asian team to punch through the glass ceiling, and Japan, with their organisation and courage, are his pick to go “as high as they can.”

In a World Cup where Messi is still rewriting records, Mbappe is chasing history, Ronaldo is fighting time, and new names like Lamine Yamal are announcing themselves, that kind of outsider’s dream doesn’t feel far-fetched.

The giants are roaring. The underdogs are refusing to bow. And somewhere between them, this World Cup is starting to look like the most unpredictable chapter yet.