OFFSIDE | WORLD CUP 2026: Messi, Mbappe, Haaland and the Day of Superstars | Football News
Hello and welcome to our new daily World Cup column: OFFSIDE.Whenever there is a World Cup, we usually get two headline ads from Nike and Adidas, who between them sponsor 26 of the 48 teams. Adidas’ ad was called Backyard Legends, headlined by Timothée Chalamet, where he is putting together a team to beat a troika of street footballers who have been unbeaten since 1996.It’s a throwback to football ads where the streets meet the legends, the kind we watched growing up in the nineties and noughties, which usually involved dropping professional footballers into different situations: hell, a Mission Impossible plot, or an airport. The ad is headlined by Timothée Chalamet and also features Lionel Messi as GOAT Emeritus, with special CGI versions of Beckham, Zidane and Del Piero. In the ad, Timothée Chalamet jokingly tells Messi: “You were my backup plan”. Meanwhile, Nike came up with a remarkable ensemble cast featuring footballers from past and present, from Eric Cantona to Kylian Mbappe to Erling Haaland, called Flip the Script, which has so many folks that it would even make Kevin Feige’s head spin. From Ted Lasso to Kim Kardashian, the ad was headlined by Kylian Mbappe, whose antics are a tad too much for the director before Erling Haaland comes in at the last minute to do Haaland things. Matchday 6 was the Dawn of Superstars, an amalgamation of both ads, with Lionel Messi showing he is not quite ready to hang up the boots yet as he scored a hat-trick against Zinedine Zidane’s son Luca Zidane, who hasn’t quite inherited his dad’s footballing prowess or headbutting capacity. In doing so, he became the oldest player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup, a record that belonged to Cristiano Ronaldo. He also equalled Miroslav Klose’s record for most World Cup goals (16), and it would be rather unwise to bet against him.For those a little confused about why the greatest French footballer’s progeny is playing for Algeria, like the absurdist philosopher Albert Camus, Zinedine Zidane also has Algerian heritage. Algeria was a French colony for 132 years.While Messi’s hat-trick was fabulous, Zidane was a little guilty of bad goalkeeping, particularly for the second goal, where he should have done better to parry it away. That’s not taking anything away from Messi, who served a timely reminder that he’s not a passenger in his 200th game. Of course, some, like Piers Morgan, believed Messi was meted out special treatment and was lucky to be on the pitch despite a tackle which he believed ought to have earned a red-card offence.
Meanwhile, France exorcised the ghost of Senegal beating them in 2002 with a thumping performance by Kylian Mbappe, who scored a brace and laid down the marker for the rest of the tournament. Interestingly, 10 of Senegal’s 22 players were born in France, and in this tournament, 98 players were born in France, ahead of the Netherlands (67) and England (49).There’s always an air of sorrow when a talented player fails to make the World Cup because they weren’t born in the right country, like George Best, but thankfully we won’t have to contemplate that with Erling Haaland, who scored his first World Cup goals and loomed like a machine of mass destruction. One interesting tidbit, though, was Zidane Iqbal’s introduction for Iraq, making him the first player of Pakistani origin to play in the World Cup.Messi has had his say on the Dawn of Superstars day, and now it’s Cristiano Ronaldo’s turn as Portugal take on the Democratic Republic of Congo at 10.30pm IST. While Ronaldo might be getting along, the Portugal team is full of superstars, including the Premier League Player of the Year Bruno Fernandes, who can assist from anywhere.Later in the night, at 1.30am IST, the team with the world’s most annoying fanbase, England, will square up against Croatia, who are still led by the ageless Luka Modric. Eight years ago, Croatia humbled England, who haven’t won the World Cup since 1966 and have lost in the last two Euro finals.Thomas Tuchel has taken some hard calls by leaving some talented players behind, including Phil Foden, Cole Palmer and Harry Maguire, and will look to Harry Kane to continue his remarkable scoring form.Meanwhile, Ghana face off against Panama at 4.30am IST, which sees Thomas Partey miss out for Ghana since he faces rape and assault charges in the UK and won’t be allowed on Canadian soil. And finally, Uzbekistan take on Colombia in the early morning fixture at 7.30am IST at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City. Fabio Cannavaro, the 2006 World Cup winner with Italy, has told his team they have “nothing to lose”, but they will find it hard against a team that has Luis Diaz and nostalgia merchant James Rodriguez.Till next time.
