Messi and Diaz aside, South America’s World Cup openers raised more questions than answers
One round of group games in, only Argentina and Colombia have truly delivered for South America. Brazil and Uruguay were held, Ecuador and Paraguay beaten, and the continent’s swagger suddenly looks a little premature.
Jun 18, 2026
South America arrived at this World Cup with its usual swagger, six teams carrying the weight of a continent that believes the trophy belongs back on its side of the Atlantic. One round of group games in, the mood should be a little more cautious. Two of the six won. Two were held. Two lost. For a region that fancied itself as the counterweight to Europe, that is not the start the talking heads in Buenos Aires and Rio were promising.
The headline acts delivered, and that is the good news. Lionel Messi rolled back the years with a hat-trick as Argentina swept aside Algeria 3-0, the world champions looking every bit the side nobody wants to draw. Colombia followed up overnight, Luis Diaz scoring and creating as they beat World Cup debutants Uzbekistan 3-1 at the Estadio Azteca. When your two standard-bearers are firing through their best players, you can forgive the optimism.
The giants who stumbled
It is the teams behind them that should worry South American supporters. Brazil, five-time winners and forever the team everyone measures themselves against, could only draw 1-1 with Morocco, needing Vinicius Junior to rescue a point against a side that has long since stopped fearing them. A draw with this Morocco team is no disgrace, but Brazil do not travel to World Cups to settle for respectable.
Uruguay were arguably more frustrating still. They dominated long stretches against Saudi Arabia and walked away with a 1-1 draw, undone by a goalkeeper in inspired form and their own wastefulness in front of goal. On another night they win comfortably. At a World Cup, where the margins tighten and the schedule punishes dropped points, that kind of profligacy tends to come back to bite.
No room for the rest to ease in
And then there were the two who lost. Ecuador, usually so well organised, were undone by a late Amad Diallo strike that handed Ivory Coast a 1-0 win. Paraguay, back at the World Cup after a long absence, were taken apart 4-1 by co-hosts the United States, a chastening night that exposed the gap between simply reaching the tournament and competing once you are there.
None of this is fatal. The expanded 48-team format means a single defeat rarely ends a campaign, and there is plenty of road left. But the romance of the South American challenge has always rested on the idea that the continent travels as a bloc, that the smaller nations punch up while the giants set the standard. On the evidence of week one, only Argentina and Colombia are setting any standard at all.
You sense the next round of fixtures will tell us far more. Brazil need a performance to match their reputation, Uruguay need to start converting their chances, and Ecuador and Paraguay need points before the maths turns against them. The continent that talks the loudest before a World Cup now has to back it up. Right now, two of its six are doing the talking on the pitch, and the rest are giving everyone else reason to believe.