Under the radar: These less-than-stars have made an impact at the World Cup

TORONTO (AP) — They’re the un-Messis, the not-Mbappés. They’re not even Haalands or Kanes.

While the biggest names in soccer are getting the most attention at the World Cup, the expanded tournament also has provided some unheralded players with moments to shine. Here’s a look at some of their exploits through the opening matches that concluded Wednesday.

Spoiler alert: Vozinha would have been on this list, but at 13 million Instagram followers and counting, the 40-year-old Cape Verde goalkeeper has become too famous for it.

Comenencia became the first-ever World Cup goal scorer for the smallest-ever country to qualify for the tournament. Curaçao fans may not remember their team’s 7-1 thrashing at the hands of Germany. They’re more likely to recall Comenencia’s strike from just inside the box.

“The goal was absolutely fantastic for all of us, for the nation as well,” winger Kenji Gorré said. “It’s more history being made. The first goal ever scored on the world stage, it’s just phenomenal, and we’re all grateful that we were here to experience it (with) all the people in the stadium.”

Comenencia, a 22-year-old midfielder who plays for Zurich in the Swiss Super League, has only recently reached the senior level. He played for the reserve teams of PSV Eindhoven and Juventus before securing a move to Zurich before the 2025-26 season.

Now he has a World Cup goal to his name.

While the 35-year-old center back won’t get credit for the goal, Khoukhi leaped with Swiss midfielder Miro Muheim for a cross and forced Muheim into scoring an own goal that equalized the match in stoppage time.

Khoukhi celebrated the goal like it was his own, wheeling away to the corner of the pitch as his teammates mobbed him on the ground. His efforts helped Qatar secure its first-ever World Cup point.

Despite playing professionally for more than 15 years, Khoukhi has hardly ever left Qatar. The defender spent the first seven years of his senior career at Al-Arabi and the last nine years at Al-Sadd.

Lukic had never scored for Bosnia before its opening draw against tournament co-host Canada. Playing for Universitatea Cluj in Romania, Lukic had made just one appearance for his country before May 29.

However, with Edin Dzeko and Haris Tabakovic injured, Lukic was called upon to make his first competitive appearance for Bosnia in Toronto.

The striker smashed in a header from close range off a corner kick in the first half and will forever be the answer to the trivia question, “Who scored the first World Cup goal on Canadian soil?”

Just was perfectly composed in New Zealand’s opening match. He needed just two shots to score twice against Iran in a 2-2 draw.

The winger plays for Scottish club Motherwell and has also played in Denmark and Austria.

He became the first New Zealand player to score two goals in a World Cup game.

Not a bad way to score your first international goal.

Ashour’s outside-the-box blast opened Egypt’s World Cup scoring in a 1-1 draw against European power Belgium. Teammate Mostafa Zico was so excited for Ashour that he knocked the goal scorer over during the celebration.

Despite the stars on the pitch in Seattle — including Jérémy Doku, Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah — it was the Al Ahly winger who was named man of the match.

Ashour has played just one season in Europe, spending most of his professional career in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

But then, the World Cup has a habit of featuring unlikely stars.

Owen Cameros is a student in the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State.

AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup

Egypt's Emam Ashour, right, shoot and scores the opening goal of the game during the World Cup Group G soccer match between Belgium and Egypt in Seattle, Monday, June 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

New Zealand's Elijah Just (11) celebrates after scoring a goal during the World Cup Group G soccer match between Iran and New Zealand in Inglewood, Calif., near Los Angeles, Monday, June 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Bosnia's Jovo Lukic (25) celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the World Cup Group B soccer match between Canada and Bosnia in Toronto, Friday, June 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Jared Freed)

Qatar's Pedro Miguel, yells as he celebrates after teammate Qatar's Boualem Khoukhi, right scored his sides first goal during the World Cup Group B soccer match between Qatar and Switzerland in Santa Clara, Calif., near San Francisco, Saturday, June 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Eakin Howard)

Curaçao's Livano Comenencia celebrates after scoring during the World Cup Group E soccer match between Germany and Curacao in Houston, Sunday, June 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England has held its main interest rate at 3.7% as the inflation pressures on the British economy have become more benign after the U.S. and Iran signed a deal to sign deal to end their war.

Thursday’s decision was widely anticipated after figures showed inflation did not rise as had been expected in May, holding steady instead at 2.8%.

Though that remains above the bank’s target of 2%, it raised hopes that the upward pressure on prices emanating from the spike in oil and gas prices after the start of the Iran war on Feb. 28 may have been less than anticipated.

Economists think rate-setters will opt against hiking rates over coming months, but only if the recent fall in energy prices is sustained. The pressure on central banks since the outbreak of hostilities in the Persian Gulf has been to raise rates. The European Central Bank hiked last week while on Wednesday, half of the policymakers at the U.S. Federal Reserve said that they could support a rate hike later this year.

Andrew Bailey, the Bank of England governor, said the recent decline in oil prices has been “encouraging” while noting they are still higher than before the war, a steer to markets that higher U.K. borrowing costs are possible.

“Whatever happens in the future, the higher energy prices of the past four months mean there’s already some inflationary pressure in the pipeline,” he said. “The Bank’s job is to make sure that doesn’t turn into sustained inflation above our 2% target.”

Two of the nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee remain concerned enough about those pipeline pressures that they voted for a quarter-point increase.

Because of the recent pullback in oil and gas prices, the bank has trimmed its forecast for inflation in the final quarter of the year to 3.25%. The hope is that inflation then starts to drop next year, freeing up the bank to cut rates, allowing mortgage lenders to offer cheaper home loans.

“If energy prices continue to moderate then the debate could once again turn again to rate cuts, but that might have to wait until next year,” said Luke Bartholomew, deputy chief economist at asset management firm Aberdeen.

FILE -Pedestrians walk past the Bank of England in London, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)