BOSTON -- It wouldn't be a World Cup without shock results. From Cape Verde's draw with Spain to Ecuador's late winner against Germany and then Paraguay eliminating the four-time winners on penalties in the round of 32, the 2026 tournament has already delivered upsets that will be remembered forever.
For some nations, it only takes one memorable match to take a tournament from disaster to dreamland.
After a disappointing draw with Curaçao, Ecuador coach Sebastian Beccacece revealed that his wife and daughter were confronted by an angry fan. Fast-forward a few days, and Beccacece was jumping into the stands to celebrate with his family after victory over Germany earned the South Americans qualification for the round of 32.
The Paraguay fans in tears at Boston Stadium on Monday will only tell stories of Julio Enciso's goal and Jose Canale's winning penalty, and won't care a bit about their heavy opening defeat to the United States.
It was a result so big that back home in Paraguay, Tuesday was declared a national holiday. For their part, Gustavo Alfaro and his players will be looking to cause a few more upsets -- perhaps starting with France in the round of 16.
And Gunnar Halle, who was part of the Norway squad that shocked a heavily-fancied Brazil team featuring Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Cafu in the group stage in 1998, says that having belief that it's possible is crucial to any surprise result.
"I think you have to think you can do something," Halle told ESPN. "We had shown that against other big teams that we could do it. And I think the way we played and the way Brazil played, that's maybe suited as well.
"I think that the atmosphere in the group before was that we could do something, but obviously nobody really outside the group maybe was thinking that."
- World Cup match schedule: All fixtures, results, features - Overreactions to the R32 bracket: USA has an easy run? - Marcotti: Best XI of the World Cup group stage
Andy Townsend was in the Republic of Ireland team that beat heavyweights Italy 1-0 in 1994. He remembers the key that day being an early goal from former Liverpool midfielder Ray Houghton and stifling Italy's main man, Roberto Baggio.
"When you score first in matches like that it's big," Townsend told ESPN. "It really does make a huge difference. They had Baggio, [Franco] Baresi and [Paolo] Maldini, but we knew when we scored first, they were under massive pressure.
"I could see their coach, Arrigo Sacchi, pacing up and down the touchline. You could tell that they weren't happy with the way things were going."
Baggio scored five goals at the 1994 World Cup, but against Ireland he came up against an "inspired" Paul McGrath. "Baggio came into the tournament as one of the best strikers in the world, but Paul had his best game in an Ireland shirt that day," Townsend said.
"When you begin to frustrate players like Baggio, it has an effect on their team and it starts to rub off on everybody."
When it comes to causing a World Cup shock, finding a way to stop their best player goes a long way. Sometimes, inside knowledge helps too.
Argentina reached the final in 2014 and were fancied again in 2018 -- in part because of Lionel Messi, who arrived in Russia having scored 45 goals in 54 games for Barcelona the previous season. But when it came time for Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic to prepare for their group game, he had the advantage of being able to pick the brain of Messi's Barcelona teammate Ivan Rakitic.
In a prematch meeting between Dalic, Rakitic and Luka Modric, a plan was hatched to stop one of the best players in the world.
"Two days before the game, we did a good analysis -- me, Luka and the coach," Rakitic told ESPN. "We were speaking a lot about them, but also a lot about us. We had a really clear idea about how we wanted to defend and how we had to attack. We knew in every moment what we had to do.
"We had to get Leo out of the game and to bring him back as far as possible to receive the ball."
It worked. Messi was kept quiet, and Croatia shocked Argentina 3-0 before going on to reach the final.
"We were really ready," said Rakitic, who scored the final goal. "We did it with the right organization, and offensively we were really strong. It was one of the best games in the history of that Croatian generation."
Being on the end of a group stage surprise doesn't necessarily mean a team's World Cup chances are over. In Qatar four years ago, Messi's Argentina lost to Saudi Arabia in their first game but recovered to win the whole thing. Spain lost to Switzerland in their opening game in 2010 and still went on to lift the trophy.
Holders Argentina were shocked by Cameroon in the opening game of the 1990 tournament in Italy and still reached the final, when they lost to West Germany. It was the same in 1998 when Brazil lost 2-1 to Halle's Norway.
In 1994, Italy also recovered from losing to the Republic of Ireland to reach the final in Los Angeles where Baggio missed the decisive penalty in their shootout defeat to Brazil.
Ecuador, Paraguay and Cape Verde will remain underdogs for the rest of the World Cup, but Townsend believes what they've already achieved makes them even more dangerous. There's nothing better for the belief of a team than knowing you've already defied the odds once.
Ecuador will be underdogs again when they face Mexico in Mexico City in the round of 32 on Tuesday, but Townsend believes what they did against Germany and what Cape Verde achieved against Spain will give them a boost ahead of the knockouts. There's nothing better for the belief of a team than knowing you've already defied the odds once.
"It's important to go into big matches with momentum behind you," Townsend said. "We'd been to the Euros in 1988 and the World Cup in 1990 and we'd started to realize that, actually, we're here on merit and we're a good team.
"I don't ever think we felt we couldn't win the game against Italy. We knew we'd have to play well, and we knew that things would have to go right."
After that, according to Halle, the only other ingredient you need to pull off a World Cup shock is "a little bit of extra luck." Rakitic calls it World Cup "magic."
For the players of Paraguay, Ecuador and Cape Verde, they have already done enough to ensure they're remembered forever. Other teams are just one unexpected result away from going down in history.
In the round of 32, it could be DR Congo against England or Austria against Spain. Paraguay downing Germany on penalties has already set a high bar for the rest of the tournament. Ultimately, the beauty of a World Cup shock is that you never know when the next one is coming.
Not every team left in the tournament will have genuine ambitions to win it. For some players, the prize on offer during the rest of this World Cup is to create a memory that makes you a national hero for the rest of your life -- and provide a memory for an entire generation of football fans.
"The celebrations after beating Italy were amazing," Townsend recalls. "We went out into the carpark at Giants stadium where our friends and family were with a lot of Ireland fans having BBQs and a few beers. We stayed there for a few hours before jumping on the bus back to the hotel."
It has been 32 years since that result in New Jersey and Townsend and his teammates that day still get stopped in the street to talk about it.
"Always," he said. "When you're playing in games like that you never realize the effect those moments have on people's lives. It's only years later when you hear the stories of where they were and what they remember that you begin to realize. It's special to be part of that."
Source: https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/49224073/world-cup-upsets-shocks-ireland-italy-1994-paraguay-germany-2026-cape-verde