{"id":4454,"date":"2026-07-20T07:29:59","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T11:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/ca\/?post_type=news&#038;p=4454"},"modified":"2026-07-20T07:32:05","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T11:32:05","slug":"team-of-the-world-cup-2026","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/ca\/news\/team-of-the-world-cup-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Team of the World Cup 2026 So Far: Our Best XI"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The World Cup 2026 is complete, and Spain are champions &mdash; so here is our <strong>Team of the World Cup 2026<\/strong>: a best XI drawn from the whole tournament, lined up in a 4-3-3. It leans on the champions but makes room for the tournament&#8217;s biggest forces. Here is the side, and the reasoning behind every pick. For the bigger picture, see our <a href=\"\/ca\/world-cup-2026\/\">World Cup 2026<\/a> hub.<\/p>\n\n<h2>The Team of the World Cup 2026: our best XI<\/h2>\n<ul><li><strong>GK:<\/strong> <a href=\"\/ca\/news\/unai-simon-stats\/\">Unai Simon<\/a> (Spain)<\/li><li><strong>DEF:<\/strong> <a href=\"\/ca\/news\/pedro-porro-stats\/\">Pedro Porro<\/a> (Spain), <a href=\"\/ca\/news\/pau-cubarsi-stats\/\">Pau Cubarsi<\/a> (Spain), <a href=\"\/ca\/news\/cristian-romero-stats\/\">Cristian Romero<\/a> (Argentina), <a href=\"\/ca\/news\/marc-cucurella-stats\/\">Marc Cucurella<\/a> (Spain)<\/li><li><strong>MID:<\/strong> <a href=\"\/ca\/news\/rodri-stats\/\">Rodri<\/a> (Spain), <a href=\"\/ca\/news\/pedri-stats\/\">Pedri<\/a> (Spain), <a href=\"\/ca\/news\/enzo-fernandez-stats\/\">Enzo Fernandez<\/a> (Argentina)<\/li><li><strong>ATT:<\/strong> <a href=\"\/ca\/news\/lamine-yamal-stats\/\">Lamine Yamal<\/a> (Spain), <a href=\"\/ca\/news\/kylian-mbappe-stats\/\">Kylian Mbappe<\/a> (France), Lionel Messi (Argentina)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n<h2>Goalkeeper and defence<\/h2>\n<p><strong><a href=\"\/ca\/news\/unai-simon-stats\/\">Unai Simon<\/a> (Spain)<\/strong> takes the gloves &mdash; no goalkeeper had a better tournament, conceding just once in eight games as Spain won the title. In front of him, <a href=\"\/ca\/news\/pau-cubarsi-stats\/\">Pau Cubarsi<\/a> anchored that record at 19, partnered by Argentina captain <strong><a href=\"\/ca\/news\/cristian-romero-stats\/\">Cristian Romero<\/a><\/strong>, superb throughout the runners-up&#8217;s run. <a href=\"\/ca\/news\/pedro-porro-stats\/\">Pedro Porro<\/a> takes the right-back berth after two goals, including the strike that beat France in the semi-final, while <a href=\"\/ca\/news\/marc-cucurella-stats\/\">Marc Cucurella<\/a> keeps the left-back spot after a tireless tournament.<\/p>\n\n<h2>Midfield<\/h2>\n<p>The engine room is built around <strong><a href=\"\/ca\/news\/rodri-stats\/\">Rodri<\/a><\/strong>, our player of the tournament. The metronome at the base of the champions&#8217; midfield, he controlled the biggest games and was immense in the final. Alongside him, <a href=\"\/ca\/news\/pedri-stats\/\">Pedri<\/a> pulls the strings, with Argentina&#8217;s <a href=\"\/ca\/news\/enzo-fernandez-stats\/\">Enzo Fernandez<\/a> completing the trio after the decisive knockout goals that dragged the beaten finalists all the way to the final.<\/p>\n\n<h2>Attack<\/h2>\n<p>The front three is loaded. <a href=\"\/ca\/news\/lamine-yamal-stats\/\">Lamine Yamal<\/a>, the teenager who lit up the tournament for the champions, starts wide. Through the middle, Golden Boot winner <a href=\"\/ca\/news\/kylian-mbappe-stats\/\">Kylian Mbappe<\/a> (10 goals) and Lionel Messi (eight) &mdash; the two deadliest forces of the World Cup 2026.<\/p>\n\n<h2>Player and manager of the tournament<\/h2>\n<p>Our <strong>player of the tournament is <a href=\"\/ca\/news\/rodri-stats\/\">Rodri<\/a><\/strong>: the heartbeat of a Spain side that conceded just one goal on its way to the title. Our <strong>manager of the tournament is <a href=\"\/ca\/news\/luis-de-la-fuente\/\">Luis de la Fuente<\/a><\/strong>, who added the world crown to the Euro 2024 title, his side blending youth and control as convincingly as anyone.<\/p>\n\n<h2>Honourable mentions<\/h2>\n<p>Plenty pushed for a place. Spain&rsquo;s <a href=\"\/ca\/news\/mikel-oyarzabal-stats\/\">Mikel Oyarzabal<\/a> (five goals, including the semi-final penalty) and <a href=\"\/ca\/news\/alexis-mac-allister-stats\/\">Alexis Mac Allister<\/a> were unlucky to miss out, as was final matchwinner Ferran Torres. Of those who fell short, England&rsquo;s <a href=\"\/ca\/news\/jude-bellingham-stats\/\">Jude Bellingham<\/a> (seven goals) and Norway&rsquo;s <a href=\"\/ca\/news\/erling-haaland-stats\/\">Erling Haaland<\/a> (seven) starred, while France&rsquo;s <a href=\"\/ca\/news\/michael-olise-stats\/\">Michael Olise<\/a> led all players with seven assists.<\/p>\n<p><em>19+ (18+ in AB\/MB\/QC). Please play responsibly. ConnexOntario: 1-866-531-2600 (ON) &mdash; see your province&#8217;s helpline for resources elsewhere.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<div class=\"schema-faq wp-block-yoast-faq-block\"><div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-totWca1\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\">Who is in the Team of the World Cup 2026?<\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\">Our 4-3-3 best XI is: Unai Simon; Pedro Porro, Pau Cubarsi, Cristian Romero, Marc Cucurella; Rodri, Pedri, Enzo Fernandez; Lamine Yamal, Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi.<\/p><\/div><div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-totWca2\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\">Who was the player of the World Cup 2026?<\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\">Our player of the tournament is Rodri, the midfield anchor of champions Spain, who conceded just one goal all tournament.<\/p><\/div><div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-totWca3\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\">Who was the top scorer at the World Cup 2026?<\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\">Kylian Mbappe won the Golden Boot with 10 goals, ahead of Lionel Messi on eight and Jude Bellingham and Erling Haaland on seven.<\/p><\/div><div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-totWca4\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\">Which team had the best defence at the World Cup 2026?<\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\">Champions Spain, who conceded just one goal in the entire tournament.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Our Team of the World Cup 2026 so far: a data-driven 4-3-3 best XI featuring Messi, Mbappe, Vinicius and the tournament&#8217;s meanest defence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3588,"featured_media":4455,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":"Team of the World Cup 2026","_yoast_wpseo_title":"Team of the World Cup 2026 So Far: Best XI | Squawka","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Our Team of the World Cup 2026 so far: a data-driven 4-3-3 best XI featuring Messi, Mbappe, Vinicius and the tournament's meanest defence.","footnotes":""},"tags":[263,262],"news-category":[],"class_list":["post-4454","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-canada","tag-world-cup-2026"],"acf":{"external_featured_image_url":"","hide_featured_image_pattern":false},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.0 (Yoast SEO v28.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Team of the World Cup 2026 So Far: Best XI | Squawka<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Our Team of the World Cup 2026 so far: a data-driven 4-3-3 best XI featuring Messi, Mbappe, Vinicius and the tournament&#039;s meanest defence.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/ca\/news\/team-of-the-world-cup-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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