The 1982 World Cup First group stage remains the only time England have ever won all of their group games at a major tournament.

Cristiano Ronaldo has now scored the same number of goals for Portugal as he did for Manchester United (145 v 145).

The last World Cup in which neither Fernando Hierro or Cristiano Ronaldo scored was 1990.

Cristiano Ronaldo has now scored more goals for Portugal after turning 40 years old than anyone has ever scored, at any age, for San Marino (9 v 8).

The game later on between Colombia and DR Congo will be just the third match in World Cup history between two countries that lie on the equator: 1974: Zaire v Brazil 2014: Brazil v Colombia 2026: Colombia v DR Congo 🌎 🌍

Fabio Cannavaro is the sixth World Cup-winning captain to return to the competition as a manager: Franz Beckenbauer (first WC as a manager: 1986) Daniel Passarella (1998) Diego Maradona (2010) Dunga (2010) Didier Deschamps (2014) Fabio Cannavaro (2026)

My article on how Lionel Messi broke one of the most iconic records in all of sport is free to read here: www.nytimes.com/athletic/738...

Lionel Messi has scored 11% of all the World Cup goals in Argentina's history.

Lionel Messi has now missed the most penalties in the history of the World Cup (three).

Keir Starmer's resignation means that by September there will have already been more UK PMs in the 2020s than there were in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s COMBINED.

Countries to have had a player score a World Cup hat-trick since Brazil last did (Pelé in 1958): 🇩🇪: 5 hat-tricks (3 as West Germany) 🇦🇷: 4 🇵🇹: 4 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿: 3 🇫🇷: 2 🇭🇺: 2 🇵🇱: 2 🇷🇺: 2 (1 as Soviet Union) 🇪🇸: 2 🇨🇦: 1 🇨🇿: 1 (As Czechoslovakia) 🇩🇰: 1 🇮🇹: 1 🇳🇱: 1 🇵🇪: 1 🇨🇭: 1 Yugoslavia: 1

Jonathan David is the first player from a host nation to a score a World Cup hat-trick since Geoff Hurst for England in the 1966 final.

Canada’s Jonathan David becomes just the second player to score a World Cup hat-trick for a non-European or non-South American team, after USA’s Bert Patenaude; who scored the very first World Cup hat-trick in 1930 against Paraguay.

Canada are the first host nation to score six goals in a World Cup match since Argentina’s 6-0 victory over Peru in the 1978 Second group stage.

Play Connections: Soccer Edition puzzle No. 8 here! ⚽️ 🧩 www.nytimes.com/athletic/con...

Harry Kane has now scored more goals at the World Cup than he has in friendlies (10 v 9).

England have won a World Cup game 4-2 for the first time since the 1966 final vs West Germany.

Jordan Pickford has now played in five major tournaments for England — equalling Peter Shilton’s record among England goalkeepers.

Scoring for England at three World Cups: David Beckham: 1998, 2002 & 2006 Harry Kane: 2018, 2022 & 2026

Luka Modrić has now played at the World Cup in the same team as someone born in 1971 and 2007: Born in 1971: Niko Kovač at the 2006 World Cup Born in 2007: Luka Vušković at the 2026 World Cup

Luka Modrić becomes the first man to play at five World Cups with the tournaments not to have come in consecutive order. He has played at the 2006, 2014, 2018, 2022 and 2026 editions (Croatia didn’t qualify in 2010).

Age when playing in fourth major tournament for England among selected midfielders: JUDE BELLINGHAM: 22 Jordan Henderson: 28 David Beckham: 29 Paul Scholes: 29 Steven Gerrard: 30 James Milner: 30 Glenn Hoddle: 30 Bobby Charlton: 32 Bryan Robson: 33 Frank Lampard: 36

Play Connections: Soccer Edition puzzle No. 7 here! ⚽️ 🧩 www.nytimes.com/athletic/con...

#OTD in 1970, West Germany's Gerd Müller — playing in a SF vs Italy — scored his ninth & 10th goals of that year's World Cup. He finished the tournament with 10 goals, with this the last time a player has reached double figures for goals in one World Cup. Will that change soon?

Seven of the last 13 World Cups hat-tricks have been scored by a player from either Argentina or Portugal, but only two of them have been scored by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

There have already been more matches at this World Cup than there were at each of the 1930, 1934 and 1938 World Cups and there are still 84 matches left to play in this tournament.

Lionel Messi has scored nine times at the World Cup since Cristiano Ronaldo last did.

Lionel Messi is the oldest player to ever score a hat-trick at the World Cup.

Lionel Messi becomes the oldest player to ever score more than once in a World Cup game.

There have already been more matches at this World Cup than there were at the 1934 World Cup and there are 86 matches left to play in this tournament.

Now outright top for both.

Now just Klose and Ronaldo.

Not only has that Kylian Mbappé goal seen him become France's joint all-time top scorer (57, tied with Olivier Giroud) it has also seen him become France's joint all-time top scorer at the World Cup (13, tied with Just Fontaine).

Only Miroslav Klose (16), Ronaldo (15) and Gerd Müller (14) have scored more World Cup goals than Kylian Mbappé (13).

Managing 1⃣ country at 4⃣ World Cups: Sepp Herberger: 🇩🇪 @ 1938, '54, '58 & '62 Walter Winterbottom: 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 @ 1950, '54, '58 & '62 Lajos Baróti: 🇭🇺 @ 1958, '62, '66 & '78 Helmut Schön: 🇩🇪 @ 1966, '70, '74 & '78 Óscar Tabárez: 🇺🇾 @ 1990, 2010, '14 & '18 Didier Deschamps: 🇫🇷 @ 2014, '18, '22 & '26 🆕

Fernando Muslera today becomes the first man to ever turn 40 years old while playing at the football World Cup.

#OTD in 1982, Hungary beat El Salvador 10-1 in the World Cup first group stage. It is the joint-biggest win in the tournament's history alongside Hungary 9-0 South Korea in 1954 & Yugoslavia 9-0 Zaire in 1974. However, Hungary still went out in the first group stage.

None of the last five teams to win the World Cup won all of their group games. The last champions to pick up nine points in the groups were Brazil in 2002.

World Cups where two Englishmen have managed foreign teams: 1934: Bob Glendenning 🇳🇱 & Sid Kimpton 🇫🇷 1938: Bob Glendenning 🇳🇱 & Jack Butler 🇧🇪 1994: Roy Hodgson 🇨🇭 & Jack Charlton 🇮🇪 2026: Graham Potter 🇸🇪 & Darren Bazeley 🇳🇿

This is just the second time that six+ players have scored in a World Cup game for 🇩🇪: 2002 v Saudi Arabia: Klose (3), Ballack, Jancker, Linke, Bierhoff & Schneider (six players) 2026 v Curaçao: Nmecha, Schlotterbeck, Havertz, Musiala, Brown & Undav (six players)

Most World Cup games played by goalkeepers: Manuel Neuer: 20 for 🇩🇪 🆕 Hugo Lloris: 20 for 🇫🇷 Sepp Maier: 18 for 🇩🇪 Cláudio Taffarel: 18 for 🇧🇷

Manuel Neuer today becomes the second goalkeeper to play at five World Cups, after Mexico's Antonio Carbajal (1950, 1954, 1958, 1962 & 1966).

Manuel Neuer being picked for this World Cup means that Euro '96 remains the last major tournament without either him or Jens Lehmann in the Germany squad.

Play Connections: Soccer Edition puzzle No. 4 here! ⚽️ 🧩 www.nytimes.com/athletic/con...

Scotland goalkeeper Craig Gordon (born in 1982) is older than two managers at this World Cup: Ivory Coast’s Emerse Faé (1984) and Germany’s Julian Nagelsmann (1987).

The games in Vancouver over the coming weeks will be the furthest west any World Cup fixtures have ever been played: Furthest north: Sandviken, 🇸🇪 in 1958 Furthest east: Sapporo, 🇯🇵 in 2002 Furthest south: Mar del Plata, 🇦🇷 in 1978 Furthest west: Vancouver, 🇨🇦 in 2026

Play Connections: Soccer Edition puzzle No. 3 here! www.nytimes.com/athletic/con...

Play Connections: Soccer Edition puzzle No. 2 here! www.nytimes.com/athletic/con...

Nineteen players at the 2026 World Cup were born after all of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luka Modrić made their debuts in the competition in 2006. Messi, Ronaldo and Modrić are all going to play at this World Cup.

The only two football World Cup finals where both teams had already lost in the tournament are 1978 & 2022. Both finals: 🇦🇷 Won 🇦🇷 Scored three goals Went to ET Loser was a European team playing in consecutive finals 🇦🇷 No 10 scored twice: once in first half & once in ET