The 2026 World Cup delivered unforgettable moments from start to finish, and on the latest episode of Man On, Joakim Noah and Jozy Altidore looked back at the tournament by handing out toasts and roasts.
From superstars like Kylian Mbappé, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to breakout stories, controversial VAR decisions and the three host nations, the pair shared their biggest takeaways from a memorable summer of soccer.
Here’s who earned a toast – and who got roasted.
🇫🇷 Kylian Mbappé: Toast
France fell short of winning the World Cup, but Noah had nothing but praise for Mbappé’s leadership throughout the tournament.
Kylian, we’re toasting to you. Your leadership has been impressive. I know you didn’t get the result that you wanted. You wanted to come home with that trophy. But, you know, I was very impressed with how you handled yourself through all the criticism. I was very, very proud of you, how you led this team. Um, you know, disappointing not to win, but overall just the way you handle yourself. Toast.
🐐 Lionel Messi: Toast
When Messi’s name came up, the decision was unanimous.
Come on, man. How do we not toast? 39 years old. And with the whole squad, just the leadership of that man. It’s next level. The humility with the bright lights on him. Shout out to the GOAT. Leo, we toasting to you, man.
🇨🇻 Vozinha: Toast
One of Noah’s favorite stories from the tournament was Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha, whose performances helped put his country in the spotlight.
Vozinha to me is the top story of this tournament. You know, just, uh, toast to what an unbelievable performance that he had, putting Cape Verde on the map the way that he did, the leadership. Vozinha, like, come on, man. Big toast. And then, Vozinha, getting your mom to the game, that mother-son love is unlike any other. So cheers to you for that. The world saw what you did.
🇵🇹 Cristiano Ronaldo: Toast… but his teammates get roasted
Ronaldo sparked the biggest debate of the episode.
Noah questioned the effort from Portugal’s supporting cast compared to the way Argentina rallied around Messi.
I’m a fan. Unbelievable career. We can toast to that. But when it comes to this World Cup, I didn’t see the same energy and love from his teammates. They didn’t play for him the way that Argentina plays for Messi. And the biggest debate to me when it comes to the greatest of all time is him and Messi. And this World Cup, I think it shows that there’s a big difference. The way your teammates play for you, it says a lot about you.
Altidore saw things a little differently.
I mean, I get that. I’ll play devil’s advocate a little bit. Like, I don’t know, man. For what Ronaldo’s done for Portuguese football, what he’s done for the country, the way he’s established that country as a power – I mean, they were great before, but Ronaldo elevated them. For the players to not want to play for him more… for me, I’m roasting them because Ronaldo pushed by himself the Portuguese football culture, the notoriety. Maybe there’s things that go with that, but I would have liked to seen more from his teammates, from the people around him trying to do more. And maybe I don’t know the full story, but I’m roasting the teammates. All of y’all. We’re toasting to Cristiano though.
🏴 Jude Bellingham: Toast
Both hosts loved seeing Bellingham soak in the moment with England supporters.
When they were singing for him the other night after the win and seeing him just enjoy the English fans singing his song, and him taking it in was just so beautiful. It was a beautiful moment. We’re toasting to Jude for sure.
🇨🇼 Eloy Room and Curaçao: Toast
Eloy Room has been a frequent guest on Man On, so there wasn’t much suspense when his name came up.
Noah immediately pointed to the veteran goalkeeper’s historic tournament and the role he played in Curaçao’s improbable World Cup run.
Eloy, our guy. Eloy from Curaçao. He’s been a guest on Man On many times. We love Eloy here at Man On. For me, it’s a clear toast. I mean, Curaçao was coming into this tournament with basically everybody betting against them. For him to come out 90 minutes, I think he broke the world record of saves in 90 minutes without conceding a goal. So, for me, we got to toast him.
The conversation then shifted to one of the tournament’s biggest surprises: how the expanded World Cup gave smaller nations a chance to shine.
There were a lot more teams this tournament. And a lot of people were saying countries like Curaçao shouldn’t be in the World Cup. We should let more European teams play. And you know what? The Cinderella story was such a big part of this World Cup, and it was just so fun to watch that. Watching these small countries just play against the big empires and try to get a win, I think it was beautiful to see. Shout out to Curaçao and Eloy. We toasting to the man. Eloy. Love, baby.
🇳🇴 Erling Haaland: Toast
From Norway’s run to Haaland’s celebrations, Noah was impressed throughout the tournament.
Haaland is very good at what he does. And the way that Norway represented themselves in this tournament, so impressive. The goal scoring, the celebrations, the fans, just an unbelievable country. Being part Viking myself, I’m half Viking. My mom is Swedish. So, you know, Norway, those are our cousins. So, yeah, we’re all going to Valhalla.
🏴 Harry Kane: Toast
England’s captain also earned praise despite falling short of the title.
Harry Kane, man. I mean, I think we got to toast to him. I know it was difficult with what happened to England. Um, I know they had high expectations. They ran into Messi and, like a lot of teams have, he puts you out of the tournament or he makes life difficult for you. But I think Harry Kane, man, as a leader, as a guy that’s been around a long time, I thought he had a great tournament and I was really happy to see him play well.
🇫🇷 Ousmane Dembélé: Toast
Noah believes Dembélé showed why he’s still among the game’s elite attackers.
He’s my guy, you know. I think there was a lot on the line for him individually. You know, possibly winning a Ballon d’Or. Did they do enough for him to get it? I don’t know. But, you know, it was tough. There’s just so much firepower up there. He had a great game where he scored like three goals in 25 minutes. He has that kind of talent. Look, he’s still my guy at the end of the day. We got to cheers to my man.
🇺🇸 Christian Pulisic: Toast
Altidore came to Pulisic’s defense and pushed back on some of the criticism surrounding the U.S. star.
Before you go, I’m saying toast. I don’t care about the hate for my man. That’s my homie, Christian. All love. Listen, we all have ups and downs. That’s part of our career. And it’s your turn to be the face. You’re going to have ups and downs, man. But what he’s done in Europe, Champions League winner, the clubs he’s played for, I don’t want to hear anybody talking about he’s not tough, he’s soft mentally. We can get to the World Cup, but there’s people out there questioning that – nonsense. I’m toasting to my man all day long. And I’m looking forward to the team rebounding in 2030.
🟥 The Referees: Toast
Referees don’t often receive praise, but Noah and Altidore made sure they got some.
It’s a tough job. There’s a lot of gray area whether you’re talking about basketball, you’re talking about football. So, you know, shout out to the refs, man. It’s a tough gig. Nobody likes you. You’re getting booed all the time. Toast to the refs, man. Y’all refs need love. They need care, too.
⚽ VAR: Roast
The only unanimous roast of the episode went to VAR.
Noah believes video review has done more harm than good.
I’m not loving VAR. I’m struggling to see how VAR was supposed to make things better. It was supposed to create less conversation and all I see is more conversation, more dialogue, more stoppage, stop and start. The referee was supposed to be in charge of the game. And now the referee is under scrutiny. Every play is checked.
He didn’t mince words when describing the impact.
It’s killing momentum. It’s killing the game. I hate it. We roasting y’all.
🇺🇸 🇨🇦 🇲🇽 USA, Canada and Mexico: Toast
The segment wrapped with praise for the three host nations.
While acknowledging there were challenges along the way, Noah believes the tournament showed the power of the World Cup to bring people together.
Emotionally, what the World Cup does, man, nothing like it. It’s the best. It shows all the sides of human emotion and it brings culture together like nothing else. So for me, for it to be in America at this time, I think it was very much needed. Like seeing Scottish fans and Haitian fans coming together. Where else do you see people coming together like that? So shout out to the World Cup.
Altidore closed the segment with one final toast.
Shout out to the World Cup. All the host nations. We toasting y’all. Mexico, USA, Canada. Job well done. Thank you for, I think, the biggest sporting event in history up until now.
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