Soccer Football - FIFA World Cup 2026 - Group J - Argentina v Algeria - Kansas City Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri, U.S. - June 16, 2026 Argentina's Lionel Messi celebrates after the match IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters/Jay Biggerstaff
Argentina's Lionel Messi celebrates after the World Cup match against Algeria on June 16 in Kansas City.
City SC forward Simon Becher’s job description is to score goals, and he knows full well how hard it is to do.
So he watches the World Cup, watches players like Lionel Messi of Argentina or Kylian Mbappe of France or Erling Haaland of Norway and comes away thinking, '“Wow.”
“They're unbelievable players,” Becher said. “Some of the best players ever to play the game, and you have to appreciate it, especially as a goal scorer. It’s the hardest thing to do in the game, to score goals, and those guys are unbelievable. It's really cool to watch, and really special to watch. They do it at such a crazy rate.”
The players on City SC are, of course, not just soccer players, but soccer fans, and on a roster filled with players from around the world, there are many rooting interests in the dressing room. But there’s also an appreciation for when the game is played at its highest level.
Messi is, for the moment, the all-time leader in goals at the World Cup, with 19 going into Friday's play, but Mbappe is one behind him and considering he’s 27, 12 years younger than Messi, barring unforeseen circumstances he is likely to play in at least one more World Cup, and should eventually catch him. Haaland is even younger at 24, and is just getting started in his first World Cup, and already has five goals, though he may be limited by Norway being unlikely to advance as far in future tournaments as Argentina and France do.
So what does a goalscorer see when he sees the best? One of the things that stands out is that the best of the best excel at all aspects of goal scoring. They get to the right spot, they avoid defenders, and then they shoot accurately. Any one of those skills is a plus for a forward. Having all three makes them unstoppable.
“You look at players like that, they're so multi-dimensional,” Becher said. “They can take you 1 v. 1, they can take you into space, they can receive the ball so quickly on a turn and run at you. Mbappe, he's a track sprinter, he's so fast, and you combine that with the technical ability it's unbelievable their ability to finish and shoot.”
As a defender, Lukas MacNaughton comes at them from the other side when he watches them. And what he thinks when he sees them is, Good luck.
“I think there's levels in this game,” he said. “You have most of us, and then you have Messi, Mbappe, (Ousmane) Dembele (of France), (Michael) Olise (also of France), Lamine Yamal (of Spain), Haaland, and those guys are a different level. And they show it. You can talk about them and the speed at which they play, just their movement, the way they see things, the change of tempo, it's unbelievable. It's a different level.”
Only one of those players, Messi, plays in Major League Soccer, which is a point of pride for City SC players. And Messi’s international success, coming against the best players in the world, shows that everyone has trouble keeping up, not just MLS players.
“It clearly shows that he’s still got it,” said wing back Tomas Totland. “If people ever wondered if he still has what it takes, even though he plays over here, it clearly shows that he's one of the best players in the world, still. So, yeah, that's very cool, and it's also cool to see Haaland and Mbappe, and these big players getting to a good start.”
“I think it's a good message as well to people that are still watching the league,” said coach Yoann Damet. “and think that that league is not at the level. I think people are very often putting Messi’s performances (with Inter Miami) as a one-man show and showing for the level of the league, it is not what he's doing in the league, it’s he’s also doing it on the international stage, and I think it puts things back in order, in terms of, like, we've got a good league that is very competitive.”