July 9, 2026
There is something about the 2026 World Cup that has made it feel more open, more emotional, and far less predictable. Even when the favourites still come through, there have been enough moments where the script wobbles that you start to sense something else is just around the corner.
That was exactly what struck me watching Egypt vs Argentina this week. It felt like one of those games you think you already understand before it even starts. Argentina in control. Messi at the centre of it. A story you’ve seen before.
Then Egypt scored in the 15th minute. Messi missed a penalty soon after.
And just like that, everything shifted. Not because the result had already changed, but because it suddenly felt like it could. And that’s such a different thing. Because what does it mean when the script goes out the window? You lean in.
For a stretch of that match, it stopped being about what was supposed to happen and became about what might. Egypt were 2–0 up by the 68th minute, and that feeling only intensified. With this being only their fourth World Cup and the Round of 16 their best finish to date, you could feel the possibility of history creeping in. Were we really about to watch them reach the quarter-finals for the first time?
On the other side of it, Argentina fans looked as though they were bracing themselves for the unthinkable, with the added emotion of this potentially being Messi’s last World Cup. It was tense, messy, hopeful, and much more human than the neat version most people probably expected before kick-off.
That’s the power of the underdog. You don’t need a long explanation to understand it, and you don’t need a personal connection to the team either. You just feel the shift. The chance that something bigger than the scoreline might be unfolding in front of you. Before you know it, you’re rooting for a team you hadn’t given much thought to an hour earlier.
I definitely found myself doing that, right up until Argentina clawed it back with three goals in the closing stages and the game snapped, more or less, back to script.
Even then, the result wasn’t the part that stayed with me most.
The moment the game slipped out of its expected shape was when it became something far more interesting. That seems to have happened a lot in this tournament. Surprise runs, uneven match-ups that suddenly look very even, favourites pushed further than expected, and enough unlikely moments to leave people scratching their heads.
Norway reaching their first-ever quarter-final is a good example of that wider feeling. (Though, as an England fan, I will admit my warm feelings towards the underdog will be tested on Saturday.)
That’s what makes sport so compelling. It doesn’t follow a script, even when it eventually arrives at a familiar ending. The most powerful moments are often the ones nobody planned for. The missed chance that changes the atmosphere. The early goal that rattles the balance of the game. The look on a face that tells you belief has crept in.
Those are the moments that pull people closer because they feel real. They’re not polished. They’re not packaged. They just happen.
And from a film point of view, that matters.
When sport moves like that, you can’t be too rigid in how you approach it. You need a partner who is ready to move with the story rather than force it into a shape agreed in advance. Of course, there’s always a plan (and there should be), but the job isn’t just to execute one.
The job is to recognise when the real emotional centre of a moment has shifted, then stay close enough to capture it properly. That might be tension on the sidelines, a crowd sensing history, or the visible change in a team when belief starts to outweigh nerves. If you miss that, you miss the heart of it.
That’s a big part of how we think about sports films at Kingdom. Our role isn’t to smooth out the unpredictability but to be ready for it, because that’s where the best material often lives.
For example, in our work with the Iron Dames, the focus was never just on performance or results, but on the emotion behind it. The pressure, the resilience, and what it takes to compete at that level.
The same thinking runs through our wider social content approach too. Sport moves fast, and so does the way people watch it, so sports video production has to meet that pace with sharp visuals, real emotion, and stories that feel alive rather than overly managed.
In moments like this, where the expected narrative falls away and something more unpredictable starts to take shape, it’s worth asking a few honest questions about how ready you — and the agency you’re working with — are to respond in real time:
In the end, people don’t just respond to the result, but the feeling around it. Not just the winner, but the moment the expected story went off course and something more human took over.
Argentina won, and on paper that probably looks like the story returning to normal. But for a while, Egypt made everybody imagine something else. And that, to me, is the part worth paying attention to.
We’re Made to Move. Following the story as it unfolds and capturing the feeling behind it, wherever it goes. Ready for your next project? Get in touch.
Photo credit: ESPN
