{"id":15326,"date":"2026-06-29T09:47:50","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T13:47:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/us\/?post_type=news&#038;p=15326"},"modified":"2026-06-29T10:21:36","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T14:21:36","slug":"team-of-the-world-cup-2026","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/us\/news\/team-of-the-world-cup-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Team of the World Cup 2026 So Far: Our Best XI"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Our <strong>Team of the World Cup 2026<\/strong> so far is in: a best XI built on the numbers from the group stage and the opening knockout games. Lined up in a 4-3-3, it blends the tournament&#8217;s most miserly defenders with its deadliest attackers. Here is the side, and the data behind every pick. For the bigger picture, see our <a href=\"\/us\/world-cup-2026\/\">World Cup 2026<\/a> hub.<\/p>\n\n<h2>The Team of the World Cup 2026 (so far): our best XI<\/h2>\n<ul><li><strong>GK:<\/strong> Unai Simon (Spain)<\/li><li><strong>DEF:<\/strong> Denzel Dumfries (Netherlands), Pau Cubarsi (Spain), Ruben Dias (Portugal), Jesus Gallardo (Mexico)<\/li><li><strong>MID:<\/strong> <a href=\"\/us\/news\/pedri-stats\/\">Pedri<\/a> (Spain), Bruno Guimaraes (Brazil), <a href=\"\/us\/news\/michael-olise-stats\/\">Michael Olise<\/a> (France)<\/li><li><strong>ATT:<\/strong> <a href=\"\/us\/news\/will-lionel-messi-play-at-the-2026-world-cup\/\">Lionel Messi<\/a> (Argentina), <a href=\"\/us\/news\/kylian-mbappe-stats\/\">Kylian Mbappe<\/a> (France), <a href=\"\/us\/news\/vinicius-junior-stats\/\">Vinicius Junior<\/a> (Brazil)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n<h2>Goalkeeper and defence<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Unai Simon (Spain)<\/strong> takes the gloves as the only goalkeeper with three clean sheets &mdash; Spain are the sole team yet to concede a goal at the tournament. In front of him, <strong>Pau Cubarsi<\/strong> brings the composure that has anchored that record, partnered by Portugal&#8217;s defensive leader <strong>Ruben Dias<\/strong>, who has kept two clean sheets of his own. At full-back, Netherlands&#8217; <strong>Denzel Dumfries<\/strong> earns his place with two assists from right-back &mdash; the joint-most by any defender &mdash; while co-hosts Mexico&#8217;s <strong>Jesus Gallardo<\/strong> brings energy and two clean sheets down the left.<\/p>\n\n<h2>Midfield<\/h2>\n<p>The engine room mixes control and creativity. <a href=\"\/us\/news\/pedri-stats\/\">Pedri<\/a> (Spain) pulled the strings as Spain came through their group without conceding a goal, alongside Brazil&#8217;s tireless <strong>Bruno Guimaraes<\/strong>, whose three assists are the joint-most at the tournament. Completing the trio is France&#8217;s <a href=\"\/us\/news\/michael-olise-stats\/\">Michael Olise<\/a>, also on three assists, providing the final ball from the right of a midfield three.<\/p>\n\n<h2>Attack<\/h2>\n<p>The front three picks itself. <a href=\"\/us\/news\/will-lionel-messi-play-at-the-2026-world-cup\/\">Lionel Messi<\/a> leads the way with six goals &mdash; no one has more &mdash; in a vintage Argentina run. He is joined by France&#8217;s <a href=\"\/us\/news\/kylian-mbappe-stats\/\">Kylian Mbappe<\/a>, who has four goals and two assists as Les Bleus won all three group games, and Brazil&#8217;s <a href=\"\/us\/news\/vinicius-junior-stats\/\">Vinicius Junior<\/a>, electric on the left with four goals of his own.<\/p>\n\n<h2>Manager of the tournament so far<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"\/us\/news\/luis-de-la-fuente\/\">Luis de la Fuente<\/a> gets the nod. His Spain side are the only team yet to concede a goal, winning two of their three group games, blending youth and control as convincingly as anyone. See where the contenders stand in our <a href=\"\/us\/news\/who-will-win-the-world-cup-2026\/\">who will win the World Cup 2026<\/a> guide and how the draw is shaping up in our <a href=\"\/us\/news\/world-cup-2026-bracket\/\">World Cup 2026 bracket<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<h2>Honourable mentions<\/h2>\n<p>Plenty just missed out. France&#8217;s <a href=\"\/us\/news\/ousmane-dembele-stats\/\">Ousmane Dembele<\/a> was electric with four goals, including a first-half hat-trick against Norway, while Norway&#8217;s <a href=\"\/us\/news\/erling-haaland-stats\/\">Erling Haaland<\/a> also struck four times. England captain <a href=\"\/us\/news\/harry-kane-stats\/\">Harry Kane<\/a> weighed in with three goals, and Germany&#8217;s <a href=\"\/us\/news\/florian-wirtz-stats\/\">Florian Wirtz<\/a> caught the eye as one of the tournament&#8217;s sharpest creators.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Must be 21+ and present in a state where betting is legal. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<div class=\"schema-faq wp-block-yoast-faq-block\"><div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-totWus1\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\">Who is in the Team of the World Cup 2026 so far?<\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\">Our 4-3-3 best XI is: Unai Simon; Denzel Dumfries, Pau Cubarsi, Ruben Dias, Jesus Gallardo; Pedri, Bruno Guimaraes, Michael Olise; Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior.<\/p><\/div><div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-totWus2\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\">Who is the top scorer at the World Cup 2026 so far?<\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\">Lionel Messi leads the scoring charts with six goals, ahead of Erling Haaland, Vinicius Junior, Ousmane Dembele and Kylian Mbappe on four.<\/p><\/div><div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-totWus3\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\">Which team has the best defence at the World Cup 2026?<\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\">Spain are the only side yet to concede a goal, with goalkeeper Unai Simon keeping three clean sheets in the group stage.<\/p><\/div><div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-totWus4\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\">Who has the most assists at the World Cup 2026 so far?<\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\">Bruno Guimaraes and Michael Olise share the lead with three assists each.<\/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":15328,"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":[303,302,273],"news-category":[],"class_list":["post-15326","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-usa","tag-usmnt","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 v27.1 (Yoast SEO v27.1.1) - 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\/us\/news\/team-of-the-world-cup-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta 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