The opening games of the 2026 World Cup have been all about the biggest stars in the world showing up on the biggest stage in the world, except for one notable disappointment — Cristiano Ronaldo.
On Tuesday, Kylian Mbappe scored twice in France’s victory over Senegal. Erling Haaland also scored twice in Norway’s win against Iraq. Then came an iconic performance from Lionel Messi as he netted a hat trick against Algeria to become the joint top scorer in World Cup history with Miroslav Klose.
On Wednesday, all eyes were on Messi’s generational counterpart, Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, to see how he would respond. Given Ronaldo’s personality and pride, the wide expectation was that he would go all out to try to match his peers and rivals.
Alas, it was not meant to be. Ronaldo cut an isolated figure as Portugal slumped to a stunning 1-1 draw against Democratic Republic of the Congo.
He spent most of his time languishing in the penalty area as Portugal passed around him without any real purpose or ambition. In spite of having a 75%-25% possession advantage, Portugal actually had fewer attempts on goal than DRC did in the match. And Ronaldo’s most meaningful contribution was taking chances away from his teammates and firing them wide of the goal.
On the Fox post-match show, Thierry Henry explained that Ronaldo’s desire to score goals for himself is actually hurting Portugal.
“The team needs to score, not you need to score,” Henry said as he encapsulated the situation perfectly. He highlighted a specific example where Ronaldo took a golden chance away from a waiting Bruno Fernandes in the second half to force an awkward shot wide.
“Because he wants to score, he goes into the path of Bruno Fernandes. If he goes into the six-yard box, you’ve been in that situation Alexi, you would have had to follow him. Then it would have been a tap-in for Bruno Fernandes. But because he wants to score, he goes in the path of the backpass. You see both players and it’s easier for you to defend. And that’s my thing, the team needs to score, not you,” Henry added.
This is the kind of analysis that soccer fans has been yearning for from Fox Sports for many years in televising the FIFA World Cup. Henry has been one of the top analysts on television with his work on CBS’s Champions League coverage and his addition to Fox along with Rebecca Lowe and Zlatan Ibrahimovic have dramatically lifted the network’s efforts in 2026. How they continue to relate to working with Alexi Lalas is another story.
Portugal remains one of the top favorites for the World Cup and still boasts what may be the deepest roster in the tournament. But if the team insists on being built around Ronaldo, who has just one goal in his last seven World Cup appearances, they won’t live up to their potential.

Striker Elye Wahi, who is playing for Ivory Coast at the World Cup, was arrested for alleged spot-fixing in Marseille just a couple of weeks before the World Cup began, ABC News confirmed on Wednesday.
He was taken into custody and released shortly after. The investigation is being handled by the prosecutor in Marseille.
The French football league said Wednesday that an “unusual amount of bets” were placed internationally on Wahi receiving a yellow card during a Ligue 1 game with Nice in May.
Wahi started in attack for Ivory Coast when they beat Ecuador 1-0 in their opening game at the World Cup, hitting the crossbar early in the second half of that match. Ivory Coast faces Germany on Saturday in Toronto.
In a statement, the French league said it was alerted by partners monitoring betting markets about suspicious betting activity at international level concerning Nice’s home game against Metz on May 17, which ended 0-0, and in which Wahi was shown a yellow card.
“These alerts concerned an unusual amount of bets being placed on a caution [yellow card] being issued to the player Elye Wahi,” the Professional Football League (LFP) said, adding that it immediately passed this information to relevant police and gambling authorities, as well as the French Football Federation.
The LFP has also taken legal steps of its own.
“A criminal complaint against persons unknown has been lodged over alleged acts potentially amounting to sports corruption and organized fraud,” the LFP said, without naming Wahi.
Wahi’s representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
May 17 was the last round of the Ligue 1 season.
Less than two weeks later, Wahi helped struggling Nice stay in Ligue 1 when he scored twice in a 4-1 win over Saint-Etienne in the second leg of their promotion-relegation playoff.
The 23-year-old Wahi had joined Nice on loan from German club Eintracht Frankfurt in January and scored nine goals in 18 games overall, helping Nice reach the French Cup final.
A lively striker with pace and a good first touch, Wahi was once among Europe’s most promising young strikers, and clubs have paid transfer fees totaling nearly 90 million euros ($104 million) to sign him.
Three years ago, Wahi joined Lens from Montpellier for 35 million euros after scoring 19 league goals and turning down a move to Premier League club Chelsea.
Lens sold his contract to Marseille for €25 million the following season. Just 13 league games later, Wahi joined Frankfurt on a five-and-a-half-year contract. The German club paid €26 million for Wahi’s contract, getting just one goal in 25 games in return.
Spot-fixing is the illegal manipulation of a specific part of a match, often for betting purposes, typically without affecting the overall outcome of said match.
Information from ABC News and The Associated Press was used in this report.

Alex Pereira is confident things weren’t properly handled in his fight at UFC Freedom 250, and now he’s considering his options to rectify them.
In the interim heavyweight title fight Sunday at the White House, Pereira (13-4 MMA, 10-3 UFC) lost to Ciryl Gane by second-round TKO. He’s since protested some of the shots were to the back of the head – and that a foul should’ve been called.
“Are we saying these shots could’ve switched the results of the fights? It could have. It could not have,” Pereira told MMA Junkie on Wednesday through his interpreter and coach Plinio Cruz. “We’re not blaming it on this. But maybe with all those shots, I could’ve came back much better on the feet than when I took all those shots. … The more it started sinking in my head, I saw how bad was the referee’s posture. He did not look to protect my physical integrity of that fight, which is his job.”
Pereira said he was exploring legal options to rectify the situation but didn’t clarify if he meant an appeal with the commission or a different route. His management, ToughMedia Corp., later confirmed to MMA Junkie that they are “looking at all grounds for an appeal.”
“I had a long conversation with my manager last night,” Pereira said. “We are going to pursue this legally. We’re going to talk to our lawyers. The bill is going to come from some people.”
Referee Herb Dean issued an instructional video Tuesday about the back-of-the-head rules in response to the ongoing public conversation. Dean showed the areas that are legal and illegal, according to the Unified Rules of MMA. Pereira didn’t dispute the general information Dean presented in the video. His issue was that he doesn’t think Dean applied it properly, all the more frustrating considering he said he spoke to Dean the day prior about Gane being a frequent fouler.
“All props to Ciryl Gane with that jab, but then when I got knocked down, he followed up,” Pereira said. “I tried to do a sweep. When Ciryl Gane saw he was about to get swept on the floor, he started throwing those illegal shots. Just for the record, Ciryl has a history of doing these kind of things. But we’re not saying he’s doing it because he’s a bad person or anything like that. Maybe it’s just his instincts when he’s in trouble. He gets desperate and starts doing stuff like that. But the ref is there to protect me and Ciryl. Knowing he had this kind of behavior, I did address this to the referee the day before when we had a rules meeting. This was addressed to take action.”
Alex Pereira on Herb Dean: ‘Maybe his time is up’ as a referee
Pereira went as far as to say Dean should not referee again – and definitely won’t be refereeing his fights.
“First of all, he does the complete opposite of what he posted on that video,” Pereira said. “He posted on that video explaining the rules, but he did not follow his own rules that he followed in that video. Herb had a record of making mistakes like that. He had some good times. People talk good, but at the same time he does have a record, just like anybody on the job. He probably has some good moments but is getting old and getting a little uncomfortable. He’s just getting a little more aggravated. I think everybody has had enough of that. Maybe his time is up. Because when you deal with things like this, (I am) not only talking about fighting. It’s starting to become a life-threatening situation. Somebody can risk their lives with shots like that.
“I might fight for sometime. We don’t know how long. Eventually I’m going to retire. I am speaking for the new generation, for the people who are coming there in the future – these kids, the other fighters. This can end up really bad. I think everybody already had enough of Herb Dean. We don’t know if he should even continue on the job at this point. He got comfortable, and he just keeps getting every so often, there’s more and more stuff happening the same way with him. … 100 percent (he won’t referee my fights again).”
Alex Pereira concerned about more than himself
Pereira said it’s not potential financial loss or stunted legacy gain that has him the most concerned about the way things went down Sunday.
For him, it’s about health and safety – and a fear of what blows to the back of the head can do down the line to a combat sports athlete. Pereira referenced boxer Prichard Colon, who in 2015 suffered a brain aneurysm and paralysis due to rabbit punches absorbed in a boxing bout.
“Look at this situation with the boxer Prichard Colon, for example guys,” Pereira said. “He’s doomed for the rest of his life. It breaks my heart to see something like that because we are talking about someone’s life – a person’s life who got messed up because of things like that. I think it’s time to finish and end that.”
If nothing changes with the result of his bout, Pereira hopes he can persuade change going forward for others.
“At the end of the day, I’m just trying to avoid this becoming something major and a regular behavior,” Pereira said. “Because what if this turns into a strategy? They know the referees don’t stop, so they take the guys down and knock the guys down and just follow up with heavy shots on the back of the head until something worse happens to somebody.”

Major League Baseball has once again found itself in the middle of a controversy of its own making. And Sen. Josh Hawley wants some answers.
Late last week, several pitchers from the San Francisco Giants made headlines on the team’s “Pride Night” game against the Chicago Cubs. Two of those players, including starting pitcher Landen Roupp, wrote Bible verses on their hats next to the rainbow-colored Giants logo. Another, Sam Hentges, didn’t wear it at all, choosing instead to use the traditional, “regular” cap.
As one would expect, outrage from left-wing sports media swiftly followed. But it seemed as though any “controversy” or criticism would mostly end there. Until news broke late Monday night that the league office had issued a warning to those two players who wrote the verses that any further writing would be punished.
That decision has swiftly backfired.
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL WARNS SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS PLAYERS FOR WRITING BIBLE VERSES ON PRIDE NIGHT HATS
It’s no secret that MLB under Commissioner Rob Manfred has generally leaned to the left. As with most sports leagues, there’s concern and fear over backlash from that side of the political aisle, and little attention paid to criticism from the right. Which is why Manfred moved the 2021 All-Star Game out of Atlanta after Joe Biden called a new voting bill “Jim Crow 2.0.” Activism from Stacey Abrams sealed the deal, and the game was moved to Colorado.
But this decision has invited scrutiny over the league’s standards and whether they enforce those standards differently based on the political ideology or religious beliefs of the players involved. Scrutiny that’s now coming directly from the federal government.
On Tuesday, Sen. Hawley posted a letter he sent to Manfred, demanding answers for what he calls a “pattern of discrimination” within the league.
WASHINGTON NATIONALS APOLOGIZE TO PITCHER AFTER FIRING DIRECTOR WHO ADMITTED TO RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION
“I write with grave concern over your reported decision to issue a formal warning to three Major League Baseball (MLB) players for publicly expressing their Christian faith. This follows a high-profile undercover investigation that revealed at least one MLB team discriminated against a player based on his Catholic faith. You must answer for what appears to be a pattern of discrimination within MLB against baseball players who profess their Christian faith,” the letter states.
Hawley also explained that the warning issued to these Giants players seems to contradict their past enforcement, or lack thereof, when it comes to speech from a different perspective.
“The league’s claim that it merely forbids “writing of any kind” on its uniforms does not survive a cursory review of the league’s recent history,” he continues. “In 2020, MLB itself turned its uniforms and its fields into a billboard for political and social messages. It created jersey patches reading ‘Black Lives Matter’ and ‘United for Change.’ It authorized ‘BLM’ to be stenciled onto pitching mounds. And it suspended its own equipment rules so that players could display progressive political slogans on their cleats.”
Hawley then goes on to ask for a “complete copy of the uniform regulation” that the league used to warn the Giants players, as well as a “list of every instance” in which other players were similarly warned or punished under that same policy during the last five seasons. Importantly, he also asks Manfred to provide “any policy, directive, or expectation” on whether players are “required, encouraged, or expected to wear Pride Night” uniforms or hats, as well as any potential repercussions they might face for refusing to comply.
ZERO BS. JUST DAKICH. TAKE THE DON’T @ ME PODCAST ON THE ROAD. DOWNLOAD NOW!
Sen. Hawley also exclusively told Fox News Digital that he believes the league is “using its power” to “target Christians.”
“MLB has a sweetheart deal from the federal government,” he said. “They play by different rules than any other business in America. But now MLB is using its power to target Christians and trample free speech. It’s anti-American. And MLB needs to course correct immediately.”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
There are any number of steps the league could have taken to prevent this controversy from boiling over. But they’ve chosen, seemingly, selective enforcement based on the statements being made. Would they have warned a player for writing “BLM” on their hat? Or “love is love” or “end racism,” or any similar remark? Or are Bible verses where they draw the line?
Manfred’s answer, assuming he actually provides a detailed one, will be a fascinating insight into just how committed the league is to elevating one ideology above others.

Rep. Barry Moore won the Republican primary runoff in the Alabama Senate race, NBC News projects, making him the heavy favorite in the general election to succeed Sen. Tommy Tuberville this fall.
Moore, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump, defeated former Navy SEAL Jared Hudson for the GOP nomination. The two candidates were forced into a runoff after no one secured more than 50% of the vote in a crowded May 19 primary field.
Alabama’s Senate seat opened up after Tuberville launched his run for governor last year. He easily won the GOP nomination in the race last month.
In a victory speech Tuesday, Moore pointed to his relationship with Trump.
“When I call [Trump], he takes my calls, and we can work together with the senators, that delegation and certainly the president of the United States to make sure that Alabama has an opportunity to bring the jobs back here that we need,” Moore said.
Trump held a tele-rally with Moore last week and reiterated his endorsement Monday on Truth Social, calling Moore “an America First Patriot who has been with me from the very beginning.” Moore’s campaign featured Trump’s endorsements in multiple advertisements.
Moore, a former state lawmaker who was first elected to Congress in 2020, has pushed against allowing transgender women and girls to play in women’s sports and criticized “lawless Democrat sanctuary” cities while positioning himself as a staunch pro-gun advocate.
Hudson, who is the CEO of groups that work with law enforcement to combat child trafficking and focus on firearms instruction, tried to run as a political outsider. He ran unsuccessfully for Jefferson County sheriff in 2022.
And while Moore won Trump’s backing, Hudson campaigned as a “warrior for President Trump’s America First Agenda.”
“I will deploy to the Senate to defend President Trump with the same ethos they taught us in SEAL training: I am never out of the fight and I will not fail,” Hudson said on his website.
The runoff campaign turned negative. An outside group aligned with Hudson accused Moore, who served in the Alabama National Guard and Army Reserve, of “stolen valor.” In a 2024 letter to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed by dozens of GOP lawmakers, the Republicans accused Walz, then the Democratic vice presidential nominee, of misrepresenting his military service. Moore is listed as a signer, which marked him as having served as a “staff sergeant.”
Records shared by Moore’s campaign, though, indicated Moore was discharged with a rank of cadet.
Moore’s campaign released further information, saying his pay grade was “E-6 Staff Sergeant,” adding that “Barry has never called himself a retired Staff Sergeant, or even a Staff Sergeant nor did he retire from service — he was honorably discharged.”
Moore’s campaign also defended the title discrepancy on the Walz letter in a release on his website.
“That was a coalition letter signed by a lot of people, and the Staff Sergeant and retired title line was supplied by its organizers,” the website said. “He has never used that title and never affirmed it.”
Moore also faced questions about a 2020 ad in which he said he has “been in those combat boots,” though he did not serve overseas or in combat.
“Members of the National Guard wear combat boots to train. Here is a link to the shoe,” Moore’s website said, responding to questions about the ad.