Between match attendance and empty number of viewers watching at home or at fan events, there is no doubt that this year’s World Cup will break many records.
However, this latest record-breaking achievement from the 2026 World Cup is truly remarkable.
According to Google, Google Search saw its highest usage ever on Tuesday immediately after Argentina scored the winning goal in their second leg win over Egypt in the last 16 of the World Cup. This period surpassed the longest usage period for Google Search in the company’s nearly 28-year history.
This tweet is currently unavailable. It may be loading or it has been removed.
“Google Search broke all previous usage records and saw its highest usage in history right after Argentina scored their winning goal in yesterday’s match!” he said Google’s SVP of Insights and Information Nick Fox with an exploding head emoji in a post on X.
Google confirmed to Mashable that the move is based on the number of search queries per second that occurred on its search engine during the game, immediately after Argentina’s third goal.
Mashable Light Speed
Argentina, the defending World Cup champions, were on the brink of elimination as Messi and the rest of the team lost 2-0 until the 79th minute of the game. Argentina started a miraculous comeback, scoring three goals in 14 minutes, and the winner was scored in the third minute of extra time after 90 minutes.
Google tells Mashable that the top search query after Argentina’s winning goal was “argentina vs egypt,” as users searched for the match results.
Google also shared global Google Trends data with Mashable that shows other search queries that contributed to record-breaking Google Search usage after Argentina’s third goal.
In addition to “Argentina vs. Egypt,” these questions include:
-
Argentina x Colombia
-
how many world cup goals does messi have
-
who else is playing the world cup today
-
How many world cups has Argentina won?
-
what is it called when a player hits another player in a game
-
it is messi’s world cup
-
Where is the final game of the world cup played?
-
How many assists does Messi have in the 2026 World Cup?
-
who is the best soccer player in the world
-
who will argentina play in the world cup
As you can see, there was clearly a lot of interest in Messi in particular, who scored the second goal and was given the chance to assist the first goal. Messi’s goal was his eighth in the World Cup so far. Also, according to search data, it seems most users thought Argentina would face Colombia next. However, later in the day, Switzerland eliminated Colombia on penalties.
There are still plenty of World Cup matches to go – and even more records to break – with four quarter-finals, two semi-finals, and then the final to go.
Argentina will now face Switzerland next Saturday, July 11.
