The legendary figure of Alfredo Di Stéfano, arguably the greatest player never to grace the grand stage of a World Cup, knew what he wanted from a soccer match. “A game without a goal is like a day without sunshine,” he once wistfully mused.

Yet, some consider the exact opposite to be true. The former Italian manager Annibale Frossi infamously claimed that a 0–0 was the “perfect game” because “it is an expression of the balance between the attacks and defenses.”

Goals alone do not define the quality of a contest. The flow, fluency and feel of those 90 minutes is just as important as the context. Taking all these factors into consideration, while dispensing with any inherent bias, here’s how every match at the biggest World Cup ever compare.

40.Czechia 1–1 South Africa

South Africa boss Hugo Broos claimed that Czechia “don’t like to play football.” He may have a point. Whatever those two served up in the second round of group games certainly didn’t resemble the beautiful game.

39.Ghana 1–0 Panama

Who doesn’t love a late goal? Caleb Yirenkyi and the rest of his Ghana teammates certainly enjoyed his last-gasp winner against Panama. The less said about the 94 minutes which preceded it, the better.

38.Qatar 1–1 Switzerland

Switzerland came into its World Cup opener pranking the media with a hoax snake pit next to the training ground. The joke was on Murat Yakin’s team who slithered towards a pair of dropped points against a far inferior opponent.

37.Mexico 1–0 South Korea

The only type of goal befitting a game of such scant quality was precisely the type of howler which South Korea’s goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu committed to gift Mexico the decisive strike. The boos at halftime from a demanding home crowd were entirely justified.

36.Haiti 0–1 Scotland

A real slog of contest on a sticky night in Boston did not bother Scotland’s joyous contingent one bit. “Everyone said must win… we won,” Steve Clarke beamed. When is everyone going to start saying the Scots must play entertaining soccer?

35.Belgium 1–1 Egypt

The greatest example of a super sub in World Cup history—Romelu Lukaku forced an own goal 22 seconds after his introduction—was the highlight in a stodgy contest which left both nations dissatisfied.

34.Belgium 0–0 Iran

This tournament has been treated to some thoroughly entertaining goalless draws. This was not one of them.

While Iran boss Amir Ghalenoei may have called it “a beautiful game,” the only aspect with any claim to attractiveness was Alireza Beiranvand’s dramatic save.

33.Scotland 0–1 Morocco

The thousands of Scots which flooded into Gillette Stadium, still riding high from a week of well-documented celebrations draining breweries, booing anyone not buying alcohol and filling water fountains with dish soap, were silenced by Ismael Saibari’s opener after 69 seconds. There wasn’t much else for either set of fans to cheer thereafter.

32.Canada 1–1 Bosnia and Herzegovina

“History is about to be made,” the stadium announcer at BMO Field blurted out ahead of Canada’s first men’s World Cup match on home soil. That prediction was doubly true as the Canucks secured their first World Cup point.

However, the emotional toll of such an occasion weighed down on the fluency of the match.

31.Austria 3–1 Jordan

A match hidden in the shadowy folds of every conceivable time zone may not have been worth an all-nighter, but it would have offered a bit of spice to those in Austria and Jordan who rose in the small hours to see a spiky back-and-forth.

30.Switzerland 4–1 Bosnia & Herzegovina

Up until the second hydration break—the end of the third quarter, if you will—the most fascinating aspect of Switzerland’s clash with Bosnia & Herzegovina was how many fans had packed into SoFi Stadium.

The carnage really cranked up across the final 20 minutes, with five goals, two screamers and one red card stuffed into the closing stages.

29.New Zealand 1–3 Egypt

Mohamed Salah called it a “great achievement,” “a great win,” and “a great vibe.” It was undoubtedly history.

Egypt’s first ever World Cup win, 96 years after the nation missed its connecting boat to the inaugural tournament following a storm in the Mediterranean, was hardly straightforward. Salah and Co. were deservedly trailing to New Zealand with almost an hour elapsed before a late surge swung the balance of play unmistakably in favor of the proud African power.

28.Germany 7–1 Curacao

For 17 tantalizing minutes, the greatest World Cup shock of all time threatened to materialize as proud minnow Curaçao sat level at 1–1 four-time champion Germany.

However, the Mannschaft has suffered through enough schadenfreude at the previous two World Cups, romping back to put Curaçao in its place.

27.Brazil 3–0 Haiti

Thierry Henry, a French World Cup winner thanks to a victory over Brazil in 1998, cheekily requested a return to “samba soccer” for a must-win fixture over minnow Haiti. Whether that illusion of beautiful play has ever existed is a debate for another time (it hasn’t), and it didn’t spark into existence in Philadelphia.

Brazil won comfortably thanks chiefly to Haiti’s ineptitude. When the lowly Concacaf qualifier stopped playing directly into the Seleção’s hands—and Brazil stopped playing at all—it was Haiti who dominated the second half.

26.Spain 4–0 Saudi Arabia

The game that saw Lamine Yamal score his first ever World Cup goal was effectively over as a contest when Luis de la Fuente substituted his teenage talisman at halftime with Spain already 3–0 up.

25.Portugal 1–1 DR Congo

For a team with a player seemingly so hellbent on scoring—even if it is at the detriment of his teammates—Portugal did an awfully good job of not trying to score a second goal after an early opener. DR Congo remembered what its aim was and punished the complacency.

24.Spain 0–0 Cabo Verde

The only thing more noteworthy than Vozinha’s saves were his tears after the realization of a childhood dream. Spain had 51 touches inside Cabo Verde’s box, rattled off 27 shots and forced the 40-year-old shot-stopper into seven saves.

Yet, there would be no breakthrough and Cabo Verde even flirted with a stunning winner during a chaotic few closing minutes.

23.Mexico 2–0 South Africa

It’s remarkable to think that there were some audible whistles from the Mexican home crowd directed at their own team during this dreamy World Cup opener. There wasn’t much dissent elsewhere in a match with three red cards, two goals and one very happy Raúl Jiménez.

22.Ecuador 0–0 Curaçao

“I think I need a statue in Curaçao,” Eloy Room said, only half in jest, after making a record-equalling 15 saves to deny the luckless Ecuador in a goalless draw feverishly celebrated the World Cup’s smallest ever team.

21.USMNT 2–0 Paraguay

This could have been an even better contest if the USMNT maintained its momentum in the second half. The co-host would have to suffice with its best start to any World Cup since 1930.

20.Saudi Arabia 1–1 Uruguay

This was a fun back-and-forth which inspired more joy than Marcelo Bielsa’s demeanor may have suggested. Although, with his perennially sullen expression, as though he’s sitting on an upturned nail jutting out of his cooling box perch, that isn’t hard.

19.Turkiye 0–1 Paraguay

Türkiye could still be playing now and Vincenzo Montella’s desperately underwhelming outfit wouldn’t yet have found a goal against Paraguay.

The lame dark horse was playing against 10 men for half the match after an historic red card for Miguel Almirón—who committed the new offense of covering his mouth to have a casual chat—on the cusp of the interval. Türkiye racked up 32 shots, took 50 (fifty!) touches in Paraguay’s box and amassed an xG of 2.12, but still couldn’t find a way back from Matías Galarza’s second-minute opener.

“A match like this might occur once every 50 games,” Montella lamented, thinking back to Türkiye’s opening defeat to Australia which followed a similar pattern, “so it is surprising to see it happen twice in a row.”

18.Canada 6–0 Qatar

This game had the things that commentators like to pretend that people “don’t want to see”—mass scuffles, managers bickering with a windmill of arms—and the sort of stuff that no one actually wants to witness, namely, Ismaël Koné’s gruesome injury.

17.Sweden 5–1 Tunisia

There was plenty of reason for Graham Potter to go back and pour over the tape of Sweden’s emphatic World Cup opener; the linkup play between Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyökeres, another chance to see Yasin Ayari’s ripsnorters or maybe even working out what went wrong at the set piece which Sweden conceded.

However, Potter also revealed that he would be reviewing the footage to find out who gave him a bloody ear during some excessive celebrations.

16.Cote d’Ivoire 1–0 Ecuador

Every celebrity with even a vague connection to New York descended upon San Antonio to see the Knicks clinch the NBA Finals at the home of the Spurs. Yet, the city’s most famous rapper, Jay-Z, was instead in Philadelphia to watch a seemingly random group stage clash between Côte d’Ivoire and Ecuador.

The music mogul was treated to an entertaining contest with a jab-jab, thrust-thrust rhythm that was capped off by Amad Diallo’s well-taken late winner. It’s unclear if Jay-Z regrets his selection.

15.Iraq 1–4 Norway

Erling Haaland was promised and Erling Haaland delivered. Iraq also put up a fight—drawing level with Norway in the first half—and it was only a late flurry which put the self-styled Vikings out of reach.

14.Uruguay 2–2 Cabo Verde

“We could have won the match and we also could have lost the match,” Uruguay boss Marcelo Bielsa accurately surmised with his usual bluntness. The recklessness of a wild ride of a game was almost as captivating as the underdog spirit displayed by Cabo Verde, who went unbeaten for a second game on the spin in its World Cup debut.

The mother of goalkeeper Vozinha, granted a last-minute visa after her son’s tears and heroics against Spain, was not the only one to enjoy the ding-dong.

13.Uzbekistan 1–4 Colombia

In what other setting would Uzbekistan ever play Colombia? And when would so many people without any connection to either country make a point of watching this unlikely pairing?

Those who fully bought in to the myth of the World Cup were treated to an entertaining affair enlivened by a jangly medley of expert finishing and goalkeeping incompetence.

12.Australia 2–0 Turkiye

Who doesn’t like a revenge story? Türkiye bizarrely spent the buildup to this contest telling anyone who would listen how much better they were than Australia. Tony Popovic’s players heard those jibes and channeled them into the fuel for a glorious, entirely deserved victory.

11.USMNT 4–1 Paraguay

Weston McKennie had a message of defiance after growing up with soccer consistently considered an inferior sport in the U.S. landscape. “For the people [who] maybe say, ‘Oh, soccer’s boring’—well, you had five goals today,” he scoffer. The heaviest victory in USMNT World Cup history was anything but boring.

10.South Korea 2–1 Czechia

This is precisely what the World Cup is all about. Two teams from different continents full of contrasts, trading very different types of blows as they figure out how each other is trying to play before even getting onto the issue of stopping them.

9.Argentina 3–0 Algeria

After months of doubts over whether Lionel Messi would even show up—before a hamstring injury on the eve of the tournament threatened to take that decision out of his hands—there was the fear that Messi may be limping towards a sad farewell. Few elite sportspeople can ever bring themselves to leave when they are actually on top.

However, Messi proved to have at least a few more good performance left up his tattoo sleeves with a hat-trick display almost too perfectly scripted.

8.Brazil 1–1 Morocco

The much-hyped clash of two top-10 ranked teams in the group stage lived up to its lofty billing. The only minor surprise was that Morocco looked so much better than the five-time champion. Carlo Ancelotti felt compelled to apologize to the Brazilian public, but no neutral needed consoling.

7.Japan 4–0 Tunisia

“Do you know what would happen if we went back home today?” Hervé Renard asked the frazzled mess of Tunisian players he had inherited after a 5–1 pummelling from Sweden.

Whatever would have been awaiting them got a whole lot worse in the wake of a 4–0 thrashing from Japan, who should be treated to a hero’s welcome when they return to Tokyo for the beguiling brand of versatile attacking play they conjure up.

6.France 3–1 Senegal

Senegal very much threatened to pull off a repeat of 2002 for large swathes of a high-spec affair between two technically gifted teams before the Kylian Mbappé show kicked into gear.

The pilloried forward failed to attempt a single shot across the opening 45 minutes. He would end the match as France’s all-time record scorer with two more goals for his personal tally. “I’ve always wanted to go down in history,” Mbappé smiled after the match. Mission accomplished.

5.Iran 2–2 New Zealand

The soccer match which no one cared about just so happened to be one of the most entertaining affairs of the entire tournament. Go figure.

Months of fraught political tension culminated in protests from Iranian Americans against their own national team ahead of kickoff, with fans promising to actively root against a set of players framed, unfairly or not, as the regime’s propaganda tool. Yet, when the whistle blew and Iran twice pegged New Zealand back, the SoFi Stadium was soon transformed into a feverish pit of frazzled excitement.

“Two good teams, playing good football,” New Zealand boss Darren Beazley summarised with a smile.

4.Germany 2–1 Côte d’Ivoire

This game will be remembered for Deniz Undav’s decisive contribution off the bench—once against justifying Julian Nagelsmann’s insistence that he thrives against tired opponents and “tends to fade a bit when he has to work hard during the match”—but Côte d’Ivoire played its role in making this a fascinating encounter by taking the lead and threatening to extend it before a dramatic collapse. As Emerse Faé rightly surmised; “We had a great game.”

3.England 4–2 Croatia

England only scored five goals while suffering through to the final of Euro 2024. This new, disarmingly fun iteration under Thomas Tuchel racked up four in one entertaining clash with Croatia to kickstart its World Cup campaign.

The German manager’s message to his players at halftime was telling—and entirely un-English: “Let the shackles off,” he told his players while the score was 2–2, “What’s the worst that could happen?”

2.Netherlands 5–1 Sweden

After finding his Sweden side well and truly bullied by the human embodiment of a clench bicep that is Brian Brobbey, Graham Potter picked a fitting Mike Tyson quote to paraphrase: “You get a smack in the face and then you have to change your plan.”

1.Netherlands 2–2 Japan

This was an instant epic. A game that didn’t so much ebb and flow as wildly zig-zag as two tactically astute coaches exchanged as many duels as the wonderfully gifted players on the pitch.

And to think, it could have been even better if Japan hadn’t wasted the first 45 minutes playing with an inferiority complex it emphatically banished in the second half.