Once every four years, sports fans from across North America tune into soccer at a much higher rate to watch a battle of star players from around the world compete at the FIFA World Cup. Many of those sports fans know next to nothing about the players taking the field, so let's put the upcoming quarterfinal in terms that San Jose Sharks can understand by comparing some superstars to their Sharks counterparts. Let's start with probably the most well known player worldwide that remains in the tournament.

At 39 years old, Lionel Messi is probably in his last FIFA World Cup and there's no bigger name remaining in the 2026 iteration of the event. From a purely skill basis, it would be more than fair to compare Messi to Macklin Celebrini, but I didn't like the idea of comparing Celebrini to someone who is almost 40. As a result, I went with the next best option, Patrick Marleau.

At this point in time, there's nobody more synonymous with Argentina's national team than Lionel Messi. Just like, until Celebrini came along, there was nobody more synonymous with Sharks hockey than Mr. Shark, Patrick Marleau.

Ironically, Marleau and Messi's careers were somewhat inverted. For a long time, Messi had success domestically while playing in Spain, but struggled to win on the international stage. Marleau on the other hand had continued success in international play, but never had the opportunity to win the Stanley Cup during his illustrious career. Messi did eventually win the World Cup with Argentina in 2022, but for quite a long time it seemed that the most prestigious trophy in world soccer might elude him.

Despite both being teenagers, Macklin Celebrini's career to date has mimicked Lamine Yamal's fairly well to this point. Yamal is slightly younger than the Sharks' newest superstar, but he's been playing for FC Barcelona and the Spanish National Team for three years already.

Like Celebrini, who spent time with the Jr. Sharks organization, Yamal grew up with FC Barcelona, joining their academy in 2014. Despite their young age, both are considered to be among the best players in the world in their respective sport. Both are also on the path to being the face of their sport for potentially the next two decades.

Nobody in the history of San Jose hockey has encapsulated what it means to be a pure playmaker better than Joe Thornton. Belgian midfielder Kevin De Bruyne falls into the same category for soccer.

De Bruyne is considered one of the best playmakers in the history of the game and won the International Federation of Football History and Statistics' World's Best Playmaker Award on three separate occasions. Thornton, on the other hand, led the NHL in assists on three occasions as well. 

Both De Bruyne and Thornton are legendary playmakers in their respective sport. At 35 years of age though, De Bruyne is now more reminiscent of post-captaincy Joe Thornton.

Much like Owen Nolan was back in the day, England's striker Harry Kane is known for scoring goals and being very physical. Obviously, physicality means something very different in soccer, as Kane isn't out on the pitch throwing devastating body-checks along the sidelines, but he certainly uses his strength to his advantage.

Kane is a leader and he's been captain of the English National Team for nearly a decade, taking over that role in 2018. He has the fourth most goals in the 2026 iteration of the World Cup despite not being the fastest or most entertaining player on the field. He knows his job and he does it, simple enough. His hard-working style of play and tenacity are reminiscent of Owen Nolan's years as the Sharks' captain.

When Tomas Hertl first joined the Sharks nearly a decade and a half ago, he was mainly remembered for his flashy goals and highlight reel moments. For Morocco, Brahim Diaz does exactly the same thing. While goal-scoring isn't Diaz's main attribute, he can find the back of the net fairly regularly.

Diaz is a bit more of a playmaker, currently lacking a goal in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, but he sits second in assists with four. He creates chances either for himself or his teammates and while he's not the ideal first scoring option, he's very good in his role.

Swiss midfielder Johan Manzambi is often described as a "box-to-box" midfielder, which is essentially the soccer equivalent of a player with a 200-foot game. Manzambi can score goals, he's effective defensively and he'll do whatever he needs to help his team succeed, must like former Sharks captain Joe Pavelski. 

As a midfielder, scoring goals isn't a big of a part of Manzambi's game as it was for Pavelski, but no matter where he is on the pitch, he's making an impact. Manzambi doesn't always play the prettiest game, but he's an effective player who will do what it takes to win.

Now that we have the Sharks' franchise legends, and a future one, out of the way, things are going to get a bit more off the rails from here. Imagine if Jonathan Cheechoo was able to maintain his pace from the 2005-06 season and essentially become Alexander Ovechkin. If you do that, you basically have Erling Haaland. 

Haaland scores a lot of goals, considerably more than he gets assists. He's currently tied for the second most goals in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, trailing just the aforementioned Messi. Somehow, he just always ends up where he needs to be and puts the ball in the back of the net. 

Personality wise, Haaland seems a bit more like either the previously mentioned Thornton or Brent Burns, but on the field, he's one of the best goal-scorers in soccer. 

Admittedly, this is probably the weakest comparison on this list, simply because there aren't enough elite goal-scorers in Sharks history to completely fill out this list. Kylian Mbappe is one of the best players in the world and he scores a ton of goals. 

While Mbappe has scored as much as we're used to seeing from him during this year's World Cup, he still has a respectable four goals in six games. He's an elite goal-scorer and very fun to watch, much like Dany Heatley was when he scored 50 goals in back-to-back seasons with the Ottawa Senators shortly before joining the Sharks.

While this guide is likely far from precisely accurate, hopefully it gives Sharks fans a bit more of an idea of what to expect when they watch the World Cup Quarterfinal later this week, or on the other hand, it helps a soccer fan know what to expect if they're looking to become a Bay Area hockey fan.