If the 2026 World Cup has proven anything, it’s that rankings carry little weight during the knockout stages. Now that the Round of 32 and Round of 16 have concluded, let’s recap the drama and surprises of these tournament rounds before we look ahead to the quarter-finals. From penalty shootouts to late-match winners, the path to the final has been blown wide open.
South America
L’Equipe Ole Newspaper Player Ratings Argentina vs Egypt 3-2 WC 2026- Messi, Enzo, Shobeir, Referee Letexier
Here is a look at the Argentina vs Egypt player ratings from the world sports newspapers following their epic Round of 16 clash at the 2026 World Cup. Argentina came from 2-0 down to beat Egypt 3-2, with Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez scoring a late winner for the defending champions.
Ole Argentine newspaper player ratings Argentina 3-2 Egypt
The Argentine sports newspaper was full of praise for Lionel Messi and Leandro Paredes, giving both of them a 10/10. Paredes made a match saving tackle to deny Egypt on the counter when the score was 2-2. On the Egyptian side, they liked winger Haissem Hassan and goalkeeper Shobeir. A quiet evening for Arsenal linked Julian Alvarez.
The paper gave French referee Letexier a 6/10, but did note that VAR didn’t check a potential foul by Alvarez on Salah in the leadup to Argentina’s match winning goal.
L’Equipe Gazzetta Diario AS Player Ratings Brazil vs Norway 2026- How did Gabriel, Haaland, Cunha & others fare?
Here are the newspaper player ratings for Brazil vs Norway at the 2026 World Cup. Norway caused one of the shock upsets of the Round of 16, eliminating Brasil after beating them 2-1, and will now meet England in the quarter-finals.
L’Equipe player ratings Brazil vs Norway 2026
Not surprisingly, French paper L’Equipe had double goal scorer Erling Haaland as the pick of the Norwegian players- he got a 9/10 here. Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes got a 3/10 in defence with Man United’s Matheus Cunha given a 4. The Brazilian team as a whole got an average rating of 4/10, which pretty much sums up their evening.
