2026 World Cup: Are you not entertained?

I could easily write a 1,000 words on each of the subjects that I’m going to touch on here, but that would just be showing off on my part. Let’s see how well I can boil down the essence of this World Cup.

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So, how do you feel about penalty kicks now?

Critics always pooh-poohed spot kicks to settle soccer games. “That’s like using a home run derby to decide the World Series,” they cry; or “Why not just use free throws to decide the NBA championship” they wail.

The fact of the matter is, penalty kicks may be the most dramatic way — ever – to decide a game, especially in the knockout stages of the World Cup. Refer to Paraguay beating Germany and Morocco topping Netherlands in spot kicks Monday for further proof.

You think American sports fans are nuts? They’re amateurs compared to soccer fans around the world. A missed PK in a World Cup knockout game is enough to pucker any player.

The perception and reality surrounding PKs has changed over the years. What has ramped up the drama is the fact that these spot kicks are no longer automatic. Penalty-kick goalkeeping has gotten infinitely better over even the last 10 years and most World Cup goalies are intimidating presences.

The camera angle from behind as shooters walk to the spot shows just how intimidating the scene can be. The goalkeepers look like giants and the goal looks as small as a cartoon mouse hole in the baseboards of a wall.

With these goalies can now able to cover the goal post to post, the pressure ramps up on the shooter. Now it’s just the shooter and goalkeeper in the glare of the spotlight, with 80,000 fans at full throat and 12 yards between the ball and the goal. There are reports out of Germany and Netherlands that some of the stars of those teams begged off taking PKs, essentially out of fear of missing.

Just have to beat the goalie. No problem, right?

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Unlike a lot of years, regulation games have been just as dramatic. Since Canada and South Africa opened Round of 32 play Sunday — the first knockout stage of the 2026 World Cup — eight of the 10 games have seen goals scored in the final 15 minutes of regulation and stoppage time, simply adding to the dramatic lore this World Cup is providing.

It opened Sunday with Canada scoring in the 92nd minute — second minute of second-half stoppage time — to get past South Africa, 1-0.

Monday saw one of the biggest upsets of the World Cup, this one or any other, and another close call.

Netherlands looked to be on its way through to the next round, taking a 1-0 lead in the 72nd minute. But Morocco found the equalizer in the first minute of second-half stoppage to force overtime. Morocco sent Netherlands home in PKs. It was the Oranje earliest elimination ever.

That result took the spotlight off Brazil’s last-second goal to beat Japan 2-1 in Monday’s opener. The five-time champs scored in the sixth minute of second-half stoppage time to pull out the win.

Tuesday might have featured the greatest upset in Cup history when Paraguay took down the mighty German machine in penalty kicks. But not before Germany had an apparent game-winning goal in the 101st minute wiped off after an official review determined the Paraguayan goalkeeper was fouled.

Norway’s win over Ivory Coast almost seemed routine by comparison, but that game saw Ivory Coast score the game-tying goal in the 74th minute, only to see Norway steal the win with a strike in the 86th of a 2-1 victory.

That takes us to Wednesday’s fireworks. It opened with England, looking down and out, trailing Congo 1-0 for most of the game. But England battled back with the tying goal in the 75th minute and the game-winner in the 86th.

The afternoon game saw Belgium score twice in the final seven minutes of regulation and then pulled out the win at the death of overtime with a VAR penalty-kick conversion in the 120th minute.

Wednesday ended with the United States’ 2-0 win over Bosnia. Malik Tillman’s goal off a free kick just outside the penalty box in the 82nd minute wasn’t nearly as dramatic as the others — it doubled the lead for the US.

But considering it came with the Americans playing with just 10 men because of a red card to Folarin Balogun, the team’s leader scorer, there might not have been a more important goal on the day.

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What has truly made this tournament electric is the fact that the best players in the world are playing like it.

Kane is just the latest example as his two-goal brace against Congo sent England into the round of 16. That’s five goals in four games for Captain Kane, one behind France’s Kylian Mbappé and Argentina’s old-man Lionel Messi, who each have six.

The No. 1 Viking, Erling Haaland, has certainly lived up to his hype with five goals thus far, including the game-winner Tuesday. Another Frenchman, Ousmane Debélé, who is in the running for world player of the year, is also on the goal-scoring leaderboard with four goals, tied with Brazil’s Vincius Junior.

Heck, even 41-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo has found the back of the net for Portugal.

These guys are the cream of the world crop and they are absolutely showing out.

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Yes, France — or Argentina or Brazil — may end up winning the World Cup and there will be those who will lament, “again?”

Argentina, Brazil and France have combined to win 10 of the 22 World Cup championships and have looked to be the class of the 2026 tournament. And one of those teams may win it again.

But it doesn’t take away from the fact that this has been the most competitive World Cup that I can remember. The rest of the world has caught up to the world soccer powers and have put those teams on notice that they can play this game.

With the exception of a few blow outs during group play, the round of 32 knockout stage has been riveting.

Nearly every one of the 48 teams that played in the 2026 World Cup has at least one player playing in a major league around the world, playing against the best players in the world and it is showing on the sport’s greatest stage.

Nathan Mollat has been covering high school sports in San Mateo County for the San Mateo Daily Journal since 2001. He can be reached by email: nathan@smdailyjournal.com.