Messi, Kane, Mbappe 'dazzle' at 2026 World Cup
Joe Prince-Wright, Nick Mendola, and Andy Edwards heap praise on the stars of the tournament, who have all showed up in a big way during the opening round of group stage matches.
Video Transcript
All right, gents, let's focus on the superstars at the World Cup.
We've had about a week of play now, and let's look at who's impressed us the most.
Obviously, the first week has been brilliant in terms of the big players.
We had a hat trick from Messi.
Haaland scored a couple.
Harry Kane scored a couple.
Kylian Mbappe scored a couple.
Nick, who dazzled most for you out of those big superstars?
And, sort of within games they had ups and downs, right, as well, but their, their star quality shone through in the end, and, this World Cup has really started off on a very positive note for those big players.
Yeah.
I am struggling not to go with Harry Kane.
Okay.
And the reason is I was reminded of watching him And E- England are better than this, so, so Joe, I'm not trying to scare you.
Oh.
But I was reminded of watching him when him and Son were at their best, and there was another guy, whether it be Moura or somebody off, running off of him, where he was dropping into the midfield, and you have to pay so much attention to him that it's opening up Son or whoever on the left.
It's opening up the guy on the right, the runs underneath.
and you could tell that i- as much as there are great players on England, that the directive from Croatia was, "Don't let that guy beat you."
And at least one time he did, not counting the penalty.
and he could have had another goal.
so for me, it, it is Kane if And maybe that is the scary part because I might be saying Haaland in a heartbeat when I see him playing against a different team.
Because I, I, I thought he was fantastic, but you have to recognize the opposition.
That's a game that everybody thought they were going to win.
and so, yes, that, that's my only asterisk is Haaland looked very good.
Yeah.
Andy, I think obviously Kane showed up, was very important in that England win against a very good Croatia team and was quarterbacking it, like Nick said, dropping deep almost as a holding midfielder at times and spraying the passes around.
And we know he's a great playmaker as well as a goal scorer.
Mbappe showed up when France needed him as well in the second half of that win against Senegal.
Obviously, first half struggled a bit.
So did the entire French team.
But then, clinical finishes, the way he linked up with Olise, and others was sensational.
so again, we saw that star quality from Mbappe.
But obviously you were in Kansas City to see that magical moment, magical night from Messi.
Just paint the picture.
Tell us what it was like and that hat trick, the way it happened, the emotion of it all, and just the great way to start the World Cup for Kansas City, for Messi and Argentina.
Yeah.
What a, what a, a, an introduction to attending the World Cup that was- for, for yours truly here, guys.
the, the enormity o- of the entire thing, it's the World Cup, is, is a new level that, you know, you, until you've experienced it, you know, you've, you've never experienced it.
But then you throw in the Messi, and then you throw in the Argentina fans and the way that they, they took over, not just the stadium, they took over the city for a couple of days and you couldn't, you couldn't go anywhere in, you know, the public spaces and see anything but the blue and white.
they were everywhere.
They're having a great time.
They are They bring so much energy and, and passion and I think joy, I think was the biggest word that I took from especially the game, and the way that, You know, there is expectation for Argentina, you know?
Y- there has always been, but now you've won a World Cup with Messi and you're back to win another one, so there's expectation.
But there's still so much joy in the way that they support the team and watch the team and watch the game, and that stood out to me as something that was, was completely different.
You can have both of those things.
Because you have expectations, it doesn't have to become, you know, a soulless, we demand to be impressed, we demand to win kind of thing the way that it does in, with some other sports teams around the world.
And, and for him to, to step up and deliver the way that he did in that moment was I mean, I, I had to look around the press box.
Is, is this really happening?
Is he really doing this?
Because you expect Again, you go in expecting that he's going to do something like that, and then he does it and you, you instantly can't believe that it's just happened and that you're there, to see it happen.
You know, he's played in Kansas City three times now.
He's, he's won all three games.
he's scored in all three games.
And so we've been incredibly lucky the last couple of years since he's come to Inter Miami, to see this.
And the man just never disappoints.
He never, ever disappoints.
He's less than a week from turning 39 years old.
He was still the best player e- far and away the best player on the field that night.
far and away still the most important player for Argentina.
And it You know, there were questions about them and him specifically coming into this tournament because, you know, it's been a little quiet, on the MLS front this season.
There was the weird, you know, talk about was he even gonna be on the team because he's not said he's going to the World Cup.
He's at the World Cup, and he's here to win it again.
and the, the way that he hit the ground running, the way that Argentina, um- you know.
You could see the way that they all live for Messi, the players, I mean.
Like, they are That, that I've never seen a team so, so tight, and unified and just solid together.
It was something incredible to watch.
And, and based on 90 minutes, granted, I think they're gonna do pretty well at this tournament.
Yeah.
And we loved reading your, report there, Andy.
So I'd urge anyone watching to head over to Pro Soccer Talk on NBCSports.com to read how Argentina, Messi, the traveling circus, took over Kansas City on a, incredible night in World Cup history.
Nick, can we look at some of the other big names?
Obviously Cristiano Ronaldo, as always comes up when we mention Messi.
Struggled, for Portugal.
They struggled to get him the service.
He struggled to kind of understand his role in that- draw against DR Congo for Portugal.
Bruno Fernandes as well struggled in that game, coming into this competition in such great form.
Vinicius Jr., he admitted himself, "I struggled for Brazil in that draw against Morocco."
Scored a, an absolute belter of a goal, but they had some struggles with their key players.
but then look at someone like Hakimi for Morocco, was excellent.
and then Christian Pulisic in 45 minutes was excellent for the USA.
I mean, any other sort of big names you'd like to focus on, either for good or bad reasons in this tournament so far?
Oh, good question.
Vinicius, by the way, 0 of 9 dribbles.
That is, that is difficult- Wow to do when you're that good and that explosive.
I'm, I've been looking at a big name, that, that has been dealing with, injuries and, and waiting to see how much are we going to see out of, out of Bukayo Saka, and I was so impressed.
So impressed.
I think with Arsenal at times they did We've talked about it, I'm not judging them for it, but there were the handbrakes were, they were not on when he went out there, and he just did so many good things.
The other team I wanna look at is Spain.
Yeah.
Look, we judge so much on results, but when you look at the passing, their passing percentages were in the high 90s, and they were all happening in the final third.
I, I just think that dam's gonna break, and Yamal, should he prove to be healthy, is, he's gonna have a game at this tournament.
He's too- Mm-hmm good not to.
Yeah.
And I mean, obviously he came off the bench, and you hope that he just keeps building his fitness up throughout.
Jude Bellingham as well from an England perspective.
He came out- Yeah with a big moment there early in the second half to make it 3-2, and, really kind of changed the narrative of that game and the momentum, with the way he was surging forward from midfield.
And he's got a lot of competition just to get a start for England at the moment with Morgan, Rogers, and others around.
So personally, I was really happy to see the Jude Bellingham of, yeah, a, you know, a couple of World Cups and a couple- Yeah of Euros ago.
He's still so young but, he's almost getting back to his best after a difficult, 12 to 18 months for sure.
So yeah, a lot of, superstars were, were showing out.
And Andy, is there anybody else who kind of caught your eye?
I guess we mentioned- Yeah Haaland, right, a little bit.
But, yeah, Norway were good as well, weren't they?
Th- they were.
I, I'm curious though, who's gonna be the main man for Germany?
Now, obviously they played- Yeah Curacao, they score seven goals.
It felt like the way that they were playing, everything revol- revolves around Florian Wirtz.
did anybody else- Okay see it differently?
No, I thought it was between him and Musiala- Yeah but I'm wondering how, I'm wondering how much of that is that they're two players who when they have the ball they just look it.
They just look like- Yeah like they have gifts.
That, that kid who shows up to the playground and you go, "Well, we're not playing 'cause he's winning."
both of those guys looked sensational.
But yeah, the, who, who is the target guy?
I mean, Fullkrug didn't even play.
Um- Mm-hmm Undav comes in and has I think, was it a goal and two assists, or at least was involved in three goals?
Germany was very, very interesting.
Yeah.
And then obviously we have the Netherlands, and Belgium with so many superstar players as well, but struggling a little bit.
so we'd love to see, you know, those teams getting their better players in some, you know, better positions up the pitch.
And, again, I think that is the name of the game, right?
We saw that with Argentina, England, and France.
They got their superstar players in the right positions, played to their strengths, and those teams are built to kind of feed their main players in Messi, Mbappe, and Kane, and, that was a big takeaway from the first week of the World Cup with those big nations that figured out how to do that.
They got some great results and, they're looking good to go on a deep run this summer.
All right.
Head over to ProSoccerTalk on NBCSports.com for all the latest on the World Cup.
We'll have you covered.
Nick, Andy, and I will be at plenty of games coming up over the next week, so head over to the website.
We will have everything you need from so many different cities and games.
It's been so much fun so far.
Nick and Andy, thanks for joining me.
Enjoy your travels.
Thanks everyone for watching.
Speak to you soon
