After a highly criticized World Cup debut, Spain’s Mikel Oyarzabal returned to Atlanta Stadium with a vengeance on Sunday

Spain and Saudi Arabia kick off the action in Atlanta, where La Roja looks to rebound from a scoreless stalemate in their opener against Cape Verde, while Saudi Arabia aims to pull off another surprising result. Attention then turns to Los Angeles as Belgium faces Iran, with the Red Devils trying to earn three points after an opening draw.

Spain is officially set to take on the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Here is the entire 26-man squad for the Spain national team.

The other three favorites ( Brazil, Spain, Portugal) all dropped points in draws, with two of those draws coming against massive underdogs. Before rating each team's concern level on a scale from 1 to 10 (with 10 meaning it's time for complete panic), let's talk through what this panic meter means.

The opening matches of the 2026 World Cup delivered surprises of all sorts, from a shock result for Spain to Messi's ageless wonder and Cristiano Ronaldo's aging frustration.

TAMPA — When Cape Verde’s Vozinha woke up on Monday morning, 50,000 people followed him on Instagram. A few days after the 40-year-old goalkeeper made seven saves and led Cape Verde to a 0-0 draw with Spain, he’s up to 13.7 million followers. But when the media asked on Thursday about his newfound fame, Vozinha declined to answer.

The updated FIFA World Rankings closed with world champions Argentina at the top of the pile immediately before the start of World Cup 2026. With the exception of Morocco, all of those teams finished their World Cup preparations with a win.