Key World Cup Talking Points From the Opening Round

• Spain, one of the pre-tournament favourites, were stunned into a goalless draw by Cape Verde.
• Germany are fast disproving the idea that they can’t compete this summer.
• Lionel Messi smashed a string of records in Argentina’s 3-0 win over Algeria.
• Backing the underdogs has paid off nicely in the early matches.
• The outright market has already seen some eye-catching swings.

Portugal and Belgium both had forgettable outings, yet neither comes close to Spain’s letdown.

The Euro 2024 winners were fancied to stroll through Group H, and the hype started early. With Lamine Yamal leading a glittering forward line, the opener against Cape Verde looked like a gentle warm-up.

On paper it had mismatch written all over it. Spain’s deep history and a 65-place gap in the FIFA rankings told one story, and several leading crypto operators agreed. A Cape Verde draw was priced as long as 34.00.

As so often happens at a World Cup, the script went out the window. Whether it was complacency or a quiet belief that Cape Verde would roll over, Spain never clicked and couldn’t find a way through in a scoreless draw.

Before kick-off, Spain were a skinny 5.50 to win the lot. The Cape Verde result pushed their price out to 6.95 at plenty of best betting sites.

For pure shock value, this ranks with Argentina’s loss to Saudi Arabia in Qatar and France’s defeat to Senegal in 2002.

A World Cup debut can unsettle anyone, so a few nerves would have been understandable. Cape Verde clearly didn’t get the memo.

Their defending was courageous, the sort of effort people will replay for years. Spain threw wave after wave at them, and they repelled the lot to cling on for a point.

The takeaway was obvious: never write a side off just because the label says minnows.

Vozinha earns a mention all of his own. At 40 he became the oldest goalkeeper to keep a clean sheet on a World Cup debut, and the performance made him an instant star, with his Instagram following surging past eight million and still rising.

After Qatar, plenty assumed Messi would walk away, finally clutching the trophy that had eluded him for so long.

He turns 39 during this tournament, yet he keeps doing the improbable, and he’s right back at his bewitching best.

His hat-trick against Algeria was a finishing masterclass. Mbappe, Haaland and Kane all made statements of their own with two-goal hauls, but it’s Messi whose Golden Boot odds have tumbled.

Free of the old pressure, he looks like he’s playing for fun, and there’s likely plenty more damage to come.

Hardly anyone backed Germany before kick-off, with the squad written off as a work in progress.

They were barely part of the title talk, and bookmakers still tread carefully, with sites like Velobet holding them around 16.00. Those doubts vanished against Curacao.

Sterner tests will come, but Germany were merciless in a 7-1 win. The result edged them past Brazil (238) as the top-scoring nation in World Cup history (239).

Muller, Gundogan and Kroos have all retired, yet a new generation has arrived. Jamal Musiala, Felix Nmecha and Florian Wirtz could hand supporters plenty to cheer this summer.

The early World Cup talking points all point one way: the group stage rarely behaves itself. Upsets come with the territory, and this first round served up a few, some louder than others.

The clearest theme is the fearlessness of the supposed underdogs, who are leaving everything on the pitch. If that holds, there’s value in backing committed outsiders before kick-off, while their prices stay generous.

It’s still early and plenty will shift. Follow the odds through the rest of the group stage with your preferred bookies, and you’ll give your picks a much better chance.