The 2026 World Cup hasn’t even kicked a ball yet, but the draw in Washington has already thrown up a handful of tasty individual battles Mbappe vs Haaland, Bellingham vs Modric, and Salah eyeing revenge on Courtois. The expanded 48 team format has produced 12 groups with more subplots than a Netflix series, and some of football’s biggest names are set for early fireworks in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Salah’s payback mission after Paris 2022
Group G sees Belgium take on Egypt, which means Mohamed Salah gets another crack at Thibaut Courtois, the keeper who ruined his night in the 2022 Champions League final. Courtois was ridiculous that evening, pulling off stop after stop and getting named MVP as Real Madrid nicked a 14th European title. Salah cut a frustrated figure, denied by a point blank save in the 83rd minute, and he hasn’t exactly forgotten it. Now he gets a chance to swing back on the world’s biggest stage, not a late night in Paris.
Mbappe and Haaland: goals, spite, and 90 minutes of carnage
Group I has the main event. France vs Norway, Kylian Mbappe vs Erling Haaland, two strikers treating football like a cheat code. Mbappe is closing in on Ronaldo’s calendar year record of 59 goals, already sitting on 55 in all comps and 30 from 24 games this season. Haaland isn’t far behind, smashing 33 in 24 matches for Manchester City. Nobody else on the planet is sniffing that output right now.
Norway have more than just Haaland, with Odegaard, Sorloth, Ryerson and Berg forming something that looks like a proper team, not just a social media friendly forward line. The pair have met only three times, with Haaland technically ahead 4-1 in goals scored. Mbappe usually wins the tie, Haaland wins the shootout, which tells you everything about how ridiculous both of them are.
Modric vs Bellingham: Madrid mates turned national rivals
Group L offers a slightly more sentimental blockbuster: Luka Modric against Jude Bellingham. They shared a dressing room at Real Madrid for two seasons, winning pretty much everything Champions League, La Liga, Super Cup, the lot. Modric took Bellingham under his wing, as the England midfielder delivered his best numbers yet: 23 goals, 13 assists, and about a million headlines declaring him football’s future.
But things shifted after Toni Kroos retired. Real briefly floundered, Bellingham’s output dipped, and Modric ended up walking away from the Bernabeu altogether, heading to Milan as his extraordinary era with Los Blancos closed. Now nearly 41, the Croatian genius will play his final World Cup, having already bagged a runners up medal in 2018 and third place in 2022. Bellingham will be desperate not to be cast as the sidekick in someone else’s farewell tour.
The World Cup usually throws up heavyweight clashes in the knockouts; this time the big names are colliding straight from the off. Old grudges, old teammates, ridiculous scoring stats and egos the size of stadiums all jammed into the group phase. And with Mbappe, Haaland, Bellingham, Modric and Salah all out to prove something, June can’t come quick enough.
