Power Rankings after two games: Who is No. 1 as U....
Key takeaways
- The superstars have been showing up and showing out so far at the venues across the United States, Canada and Mexico.
- At the underdog end of the spectrum, Cape Verde could still advance to the round of 32 in their first World Cup, after draws against world No. 1 Spain and Uruguay in group play.
- So, with two games down, how does the 48-team field look?
Why this matters: a sports story that could shift standings, legacies, or fan conversations.
The superstars have been showing up and showing out so far at the venues across the United States, Canada and Mexico. Lionel Messi broke the men's World Cup goals record -- then the all-time record for men and women -- with all five of Argentina's goals, as the Albiceleste opened their campaign with two wins. But Norway's resident big lad Erling Haaland (four goals in two games at his first World Cup) and Kylian Mbappé (four goals in two games for France) are right behind Messi in the race for the Golden Boot. Oh, and Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo got his first two goals of the tournament in a big win against Uzbekistan, becoming the first player in men's World Cup history to score at six different editions.
At the underdog end of the spectrum, Cape Verde could still advance to the round of 32 in their first World Cup, after draws against world No. 1 Spain and Uruguay in group play.
So, with two games down, how does the 48-team field look? As we did 100 days out from the World Cup, 30 days out, with 48 hours to go and after the first round of games, we're looking at how our global reporters feel about the tournament from a contenders vs. pretenders perspective after the second round. We asked our panel of 20 reporters to rank their top 15 favorites from No. 1 (meaning the trophy is theirs) to No. 15 (the cool outsider's pick for a tournament shock) and compiled their ballots into the collective ranking below.