Over the past month, the spotlight of global soccer has been on the United States, Mexico, and Canada, the three host countries of the 2026 World Cup Finals. The Columbus Crew has left its imprint on the competition with two current and five former players participating, and six seeing action on the field. Some, like Steven Moreira, Cristian Martinez and Eloy Room, were integral members of their squads, while others, like Sebastian Berhalter and Cucho Hernandez served as key squad depth.

All seven players have been eliminated from the World Cup, either after the group stage or in the knockout round. With a break in the tournament between the Round of 16 and the quarterfinals, Massive Report felt it was a good time to review the performances of Crew players, past and present, on soccer’s biggest global stage.

Steven Moreira’s Cape Verde was one of the big stories of the World Cup. The Blue Sharks were World Cup debutants, but they didn’t play the underdog. They topped their qualifying group, which included Cameroon, Libya and Angola, before finishing second in Group D. They recorded epic ties against Spain, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia to advance to the round of 32, only to fall to Argentina in extra time in arguably the game of the World Cup.

Moreira played in all three of Cape Verde’s group-stage games, starting twice at right back and coming on late against Saudi Arabia. Cape Verde often played a low block, but Moreira was in his usual marauding, attacking form when the Blue Sharks broke out.

His tournament came to an end in an epic 3-2 loss to tournament favorites Argentina, but it was a World Cup to remember for Cape Verdeans worldwide, who celebrated a second-place group finish and took the defending world champions to extra time before bowing out.

Max Arfsten made a single appearance during the World Cup, a brief stoppage-time cameo in the United States’ Round of 16 loss to Belgium. He didn’t do much in his three minutes in the Americans’ 4-1 loss. He nearly appeared in the 3-2 loss to Turkey in the group stages, but head coach Mauricio Pochettino opted to bring in Sergino Dest instead.

Sebastian Berhalter had an interesting path to the 2026 World Cup. The Crew Academy product made a handful of appearances for the Black & Gold during the 2020 season, then spent the next year on loan to Austin FC before being transferred to the Vancouver Whitecaps for $50,000 in GAM ahead of the 2022 season. Berhalter finally broke out in 2025, elevating his game and earning a key substitute role for the U.S. in this tournament. He’s played in all five games of the USMNT’s run, coming off the bench against Paraguay, Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in the cup-ending loss to Belgium. He started the last group-stage match against Turkey, playing 90 minutes and tallying a goal and an assist.

Eloy Room remained the stalwart goalkeeper for the Curacao National Team during their World Cup debut. The former Crew netminder started all three group games and was the standout in the only point his team earned, a 0-0 draw against Ecuador. His 15 saves were the second-most in World Cup history, behind Tim Howard’s epic against Belgium in 2014, and the most by a player in regulation. It was a performance reminiscent of his 2019 Gold Cup run that saw him land in Columbus.

Cristian Martínez remained the leader of his Panamanian National Team, starting three games in the tournament and logging 242 minutes. The former Columbus winger didn’t score or record an assist as Panama went winless, but he played Ghana, Croatia, and England tough before bowing out without a point.

Cucho Hernandez’s transfer to Real Betis was focused on getting back into the Colombia National Team, and he accomplished his goal. Hernandez had three appearances at the World Cup. In his debut, an 11-minute cameo in the opening game against Uzbekistan, he may have made the assist of the tournament, winning a ball deep on the right side, fending off a tackle, and whipping a ball centrally for Jaminton Campaz to head home. Hernandez had to wait until the Round of 16 before getting back on the field. He entered as a substitute in the 82nd minute of the Round of 16 match and played through extra time, taking one off-target shot as the game ended 0-0. More disappointingly, his driven penalty was saved as Colombia went out 4-2 to Switzerland.

Miloš Degenek made the Australian National Team but was one of three players who did not appear in any of their four games at the tournament.

All in all, a successful tournament for Crew players.