From Germany’s elimination to the Mbappé and Haaland show: the 2026 World Cup decrees the importance of great center forwards
But why, wasn’t the era of the center forward over? Hadn’t the era of false nueves functional to the game begun, very technical but much less prolific? It was said that it was no longer the time of the Inzaghis or the Vieris. No, it seemed like the dawn of modern attackers, the Havertz or the Yildiz.
That desperate need for a real center forward
The reality, on the contrary, is very different. And this edition of the World Cup demonstrated it, right from the first match. The results speak for themselves: the national teams that have a great center forward, a killer finisher, go through. The ones they chase the myth of the cutting-edge game, of tiki-taka as an end in itselfno. Germany certainly wasn’t the same as 2014, it wasn’t the favorite team in the tournament, that’s for sure. But it was a quality team, full of young prospects and players with international experience at the highest levels. In short, it was unthinkable that he could come out against any Paraguay (with all due respect to Paraguay). And instead, lacking the great striker who solves big matches with a decisive strike, the result of his instincts from the penalty area, they failed to qualify for the round of 16.
Not so for France and Norway, led respectively by Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland. Not so for England, saved in extremis against the less famous Congo with a brace from its star striker, Harry Kane. Not so for Brazil and Argentina (even if the latter still has to play against Cape Verde to qualify): it is true that Messi and Vinicius are not real center forwards, but they are still attackers with the inevitable characteristics of extraordinary finishers.
What the 2026 World Cup says
There is another statistic that helps to understand the indispensability of having a real penalty area predator, and it is the ranking of the scorers of the 2026 World Cup. In the lead, jointly, Messi and Mbappé with 6 goals; behind Haaland with 5, Dembélé and Vinicius with 4. We could continue, but we’ll stop here. The top five scorers are all strikers of this type, champions with an exceptional sense of goal. Havertz, eliminated with Germany, had only scored 3. Yildiz, who did not arrive with the beautiful but sterile Türkiye, left even before the direct elimination phase.
So let’s stop praising that boring tiki-taka as an end in itself, that vicious false 9 that more often than not doesn’t pay and is remembered more for the goals eaten than for the ones scored. The attacker, the real one, the one who shoots and scores, is a figure who will never fade on the pitchwhich will always be fundamental in the game of football. He is the one who wins matches and trophies. It is he who the fans remember fondly after years. The others will inevitably fall into oblivion.
