“Ivory Coast reached the knockout stage of the men’s World Cup for the first time — with France or Norway lying in wait in the last 32. It is also the first time they have won multiple matches in a single edition of the World Cup. An early goal for Germany against Ecuador in the other Group E game briefly gave Curacao hope of securing a third-place spot, but Nicolas Pepe’s first goal for Ivory Coast in Philadelphia was quickly followed by an Ecuador equaliser at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey to dampen the dreams of the team ranked 82nd in the world. In truth, Ivory Coast barely had to find more than second or third gear in this comfortable 2-0 win, while Ecuador pulled off a shock 2-1 win against Germany to seal third place in the group. …”
NYT/ATH
YouTube: Curaçao vs Ivory Coast Extended Highlights 🌎🏆 2026 FIFA World Cup
Ecuador deliver another stunning World Cup shock. Are Germany too flaky to win the title?
“Another day, another shock. Ecuador delivered the greatest day in their World Cup history with a memorable 2-1 win over Germany to confirm their place in the last 32 as one of the best third-placed sides. According to The Athletic’s projections, they are most likely to face co-hosts Mexico in the last 32, and possibly England in the last 16. After falling behind in controversial circumstances through Leroy Sane in the second minute, Germany looked well set to make it three wins out of three in the group stage but the impressive Nilson Angulo quickly equalised and Gonzalo Plata scored a 77th-minute winner. …”
NYT/ATH
YouTube:
Ecuador vs Germany Extended Highlights 🌎🏆 2026 FIFA World Cup
“Canada had to settle for the runners-up spot in Group B after a 2-1 defeat to Switzerland in Vancouver on Wednesday, but their performance did include one of the World Cup’s best assists and finishes. A draw or win for Jesse Marsch’s side would have secured top spot and allowed them to stay in the same city for their round-of-32 tie. It would also have allowed them a longer rest period, but it is the Swiss who have that advantage with Canada facing a tie in Los Angeles on Sunday, June 28 where they will most likely face South Korea. …”
“Wednesday marks the beginning of the end of group play in the 
“Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland did it again. They are the stars delivering at this World Cup and leading the chase for the Golden Boot. As a result, France, Argentina and Norway have all qualified for the knockout stage with a game to spare. Spare a thought for Jordan, whose hopes of progression ended on day 12, while Senegal have work to do to be one of the best third-place finishers. But how did it all affect our team rankings? …”
“England struggled to a 0-0 draw against Ghana in their second match at this World Cup after wasting chances late on to win the game at the Gillette Stadium. Thomas Tuchel’s side were excellent in their 4-2 win against Croatia in their opening match but they created far fewer chances against a resolute Ghana defence. 
“Is Lionel Messi the greatest of all time? His latest landmark achievement — breaking the record for most goals scored at the World Cup with his double against Austria — certainly strengthens his case. Messi, inevitably, was the centre of attention in Dallas, his goals earning Argentina a 2-0 win that booked the reigning champions’ place in the knockout stages. The Inter Miami forward’s 17th and 18th World Cup goals (and fifth in two matches) took him past Germany’s Miroslav Klose as the all-time leading scorer in football’s biggest tournament. It came after he missed a penalty earlier in the first half, a wasted opportunity that only delayed the inevitable. …”
“Six days after Cape Verde secured a scarcely believable 0-0 draw against the pre-tournament favourites Spain, they were at it again, this time drawing 2-2 with Uruguay in Miami. In their first ever appearance at a World Cup they have taken points off two teams that have won the tournament three times between them (Spain in 2010 and Uruguay in 1930 and 1950). 
“Lamine Yamal did not wait long to make his mark on his first World Cup start. The 18-year-old Barcelona attacker sparked a riotous performance from Spain against Saudi Arabia, scoring after 10 minutes to set his team on their way to a 4-0 victory which all but confirmed their place in the last 32. It was the perfect antidote for Spain, whose status as pre-tournament favourites had been dented by 
“Belgium stumbled to a 0-0 draw with Iran at SoFi Stadium on Sunday in a game that featured both a red card and perhaps the best save of the 2026 World Cup thus far. Belgium, the most talented team in Group G on paper, couldn’t unlock a resistant Iranian defense, and then had to survive the last 25 minutes of the match with 10 men after defender Nathan Ngoy was sent off for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity. 
“He’s frustrated, but he’s keeping in his anger. Abdoulaye—the pseudonym of a well-known Senegalese journalist who spoke to us—just doesn’t know if he’ll be able to cover his country’s match against Iraq, scheduled to take place in Toronto on June 26 as part of the upcoming football World Cup. Known as the Lions of Teranga—Senegal’s national team, named for the Wolof concept of hospitality—the squad is in Group I alongside France and Norway, who they’ll face at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium on June 16 and 22. Accredited by FIFA and with the necessary visas in hand, Abdoulaye sums up his dilemma. …”
“Omar Artan was already a hero before he came back to Somalia this week after being denied entry to the United States for the World Cup. Long before the controversy, he had become a household name in the country. As one former sports official told me, a warm welcome was guaranteed whenever he eventually returned to Mogadishu. But the decision by US immigration authorities to turn him away transformed the meaning of his homecoming. Somali journalists had spent the morning waiting for his flight from Istanbul to land. On the tarmac, a delegation of senior government officials waited patiently alongside us, flags in hand and many already cheering. Anticipating that he might return disappointed and disheartened, preparations had been made to roll out the red carpet and turn what could have been seen as a setback into a triumph. Participating in the World Cup, he said in a rare 2018 interview, had always been his dream. …”
“Michael Olise is probably the best creative player in the world at the moment. He racked up 26 assists for Bayern Munich last season. It was his shift into a more central role that transformed 
“Germany do not have a formidable World Cup reputation for nothing. The four-time winners were wobbling badly against a disciplined and polished Ivory Coast, trailing 1-0 to Franck Kessie’s goal and looking ragged. Enter Deniz Undav. The Stuttgart striker plundered two second-half goals, including a stoppage-time winner, to earn his side a place in the last 32. Here, The Athletic analyses the major talking points. …”
“Netherlands’ 5-1 thrashing of Sweden in Houston was the most tactically interesting contest of the World Cup so far; a perfect demonstration of how formations and shapes can dictate the flow of matches. Sweden’s strike partnership of Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyokeres worked effectively in their win over Tunisia — also a 5-1 scoreline — including assisting one another for goals. But in truth, they’ve rarely looked like an effective partnership for Sweden over the years. Although at times they combine well, it’s rare to see top-level international sides use two proper No 9s together, for good reason — the other eight outfielders are invariably overrun. Saturday’s game was a prime example. …”
“Let’s get something clear from the start: ranking the best and worst World Cup kits of all time is an impossible task. The 2026 World Cup marks the 23rd edition of the tournament over a span of 96 years of ever-changing fashion trends. There have been so many well-executed and just plain lovely kits representing a variety of countries over that span, as well as a considerable number of nightmarishly eye-melting ones, too. There are also a whole bunch that we remember as better or worse than the designs themselves because they were wrapped around indelible players, moments and memories. …”
“The U.S. men’s national soccer team rolled into the World Cup knockout rounds with a 2-0 win over Australia on Friday. In front of a raucous, star-spangled crowd here at Lumen Field, even 
“Mexico have become the first team to book their place in the World Cup knockout stage — and with their co-hosts Canada also making their mark with a huge win yesterday, attention now turns to whether the United States can continue to make home advantage count. This is the first World Cup to be held across three countries and so far the hosts are loving it. Canada recorded their first-ever win at the men’s World Cup finals, thrashing Qatar 6-0 in Vancouver yesterday to move into top spot in Group B, above Switzerland on goal difference. In the day’s final game, Mexico secured top spot in Group A with a hard-fought victory against South Korea in Guadalajara. …”
“Switzerland secured their first win at the 2026 World Cup by beating Bosnia and Herzegovina 4-1 through a late goal barrage largely from a pair of substitutes to ease fears that their profligacy against Qatar in the opener would cost them. Johan Manzambi and Rubén Vargas came off the bench together in the 71st minute and by the final whistle, they had scored the three goals to clinch a victory that put the Group B favorites on course for the knockout phase. 
“A 1-1 draw felt like a fair result as the Czech Republic and South Africa walked out of Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Thursday. It was not a good version of World Cup football, though. Both teams struggled to attack with any level of cohesion. In a group that features South Korea and co-hosts Mexico, the European and African sides look the weakest of the four. 
“Davinson Sanchez had been there in 2018. So had Johan Mojica and Jefferson Lerma. James Rodriguez? He’d been there in 2018 and 2014 — the same as Santiago Arias, David Ospina, Juan Fernando Quintero, Camilo Vargas. They had been absent eight years — eight painful years — but Colombia’s squad was positively dripping with World Cup history. They carried stories with them, especially the class of 2014: thrashing Japan in the grasslands of Cuiaba; Rodriguez’s volley against Uruguay at the Maracana; quarter-final heartache against hosts Brazil. All of it, the wistfulness and the war stories, the nostalgia and the nagging aches, came with them to Mexico for their Group K opener against Uzbekistan. …”
“England are almost guaranteed to reach the World Cup knockout rounds after a thrilling and at times chaotic win over Croatia in Dallas sent them top of Group L. The first half of England’s campaign brought four goals, with Harry Kane scoring a retaken penalty and heading in from an out-swinging corner, only for Croatia to equalise each time. First, Martin Baturina fired past Jordan Pickford from the edge of the box, then Petar Musa, a striker for local MLS side FC Dallas, finished a brilliant team move to bring it level at the break. …”
“Yoane Wissa whipped a header into the net and, instead of the normal celebration route — a joyous sprint to the advertising hoardings, or knee slide to the corner — he ran straight for the DR Congo bench. Immediately, the entire team began a choreographed dance, the 
“To watch Argentina at the World Cup feels like a religious experience: the spiritual fervour, the adoration, the total devotion to someone seen as a supreme being. It was like that in the 1980s when Diego Maradona was at the peak of his extraordinary powers; in the 1990s, when they waited for a new saviour to come and for decades until Lionel Messi led them to glory in 2022. Many of the supporters’ banners carry echoes of religious iconography. The most famous is a mocked-up image of Maradona and Messi together, fingers touching, like Michelangelo’s fresco of The Creation of Adam. …”
Bradley Barcola beats the onrushing Edouard Mendy to score France’s second goal
“When you’ve just drawn 0-0 against a country ranked 64th in the world and which has a population of around 500,000, you can no longer be considered favourites to win the World Cup. Spain will surely improve but they deservedly drop down Tuesday’s rankings. But where do Cape Verde land after shocking the world? And what about Belgium and Egypt after their opening draw? …”
“The World Cup saw one of its biggest-ever surprises when Cape Verde, playing its first game at the tournament, held Spain — European champions and many people’s favorites to win this summer — to a 0-0 draw. The first round of games in Group G ended with all four teams on one point, as another shock was avoided by a late goal from Maxi Araujo, as Uruguay came from behind to salvage a draw against Saudi Arabia. Romelu Lukaku made an immediate impact by forcing an equaliser for Belgium, after it had spent much of the game in Seattle trailing to Egypt, while the other game in that group saw Iran come from behind twice to earn a draw with New Zealand. …”
“
“Egypt are still waiting for a World Cup win 92 years after their first appearance as Romelu Lukaku took just 23 seconds to go from the bench to causing chaos in the box, forcing an equaliser for Belgium. Emam Ashour’s 19th-minute opener was a fine low strike from outside the box and was followed by strutting celebration after which he was knocked to the turf by a team-mate. 
Zion Suzuki dives in vain as Van Dijk’s header finds the net
“The five-time World Cup champions Brazil were outplayed by Morocco for large parts of their 1-1 draw in front of a sell-out crowd at MetLife Stadium. Morocco scored an excellent goal to take the lead when Ismael Saibari chipped the ball over the Brazil goalkeeper Alisson, after racing on to a brilliant pass from Brahim Diaz. Brazil were struggling but a moment of magic from Vinicius made it 1-1 with a superb individual goal, cutting in from the left and lashing a shot beyond Yassine Bounou. Brazil had made four of their allocated five substitutes before 65 minutes, in a clear sign of Ancelotti’s thoughts on the performance. …”
“Qatar scored four minutes into second-half stoppage time to earn a 1-1 draw with Switzerland, their first ever point at a World Cup. Boualem Khoukhi headed in for the side ranked 50th in the world, denying the 19th-ranked Swiss victory as the Gulf team achieved the first notable surprise result of this tournament. Perhaps it was justice of sorts for Qatar, given there was plenty of confusion surrounding the game’s opening goal. Charlotte Harpur and Dermot Corrigan analyse the main talking points. …”
“It began with thunderous chants of ‘U-S-A’ and climaxed with the best 45 minutes in U.S. men’s World Cup history. It was seven years and 364 days in the making, and it was worth every day, hour, second of waiting. U.S. soccer fans and players had, for years, dreamed of this moment, a glitzy World Cup opener on home soil, an unparalleled stage for their sport. They had dreamed of meeting it, of igniting America, of elevating soccer. But no one could have realistically envisioned this — 
The Bosnia-Herzegovina side warm up at the Estádio do Maracanã, 
“Union shop stewards inside SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles are handing out buttons which read ‘Kick ICE Out’ for workers to wear at the venue hosting FIFA’s World Cup match between the United States and Paraguay on Friday night. The Unite Here Local Eleven union represent over 2,000 workers at the venue who largely work in food and beverage concessions, including cooks, dishwashers, servers and bartenders. The Athletic received images of both cooks and bartenders wearing the buttons. The union said the language of their agreement with the stadium operators, Legends Global, permits employees to wear ‘one (1) official Union button while on duty’. …”
“Canada fought back to earn a brilliant 1-1 draw against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the two sides’ opening World Cup group match in Toronto, courtesy of a late goal from substitute striker Cyle Larin. Jesse Marsch’s team went behind to Jovo Lukic’s effort in the 21st minute, the Bosnia and Herzegovina striker scoring his first goal for his country. Without their captain Alphonso Davies, who is nursing a hamstring injury, and with Jonathan David wasting a fine chance to score in the first half, Canada were up against it. …”
“Protesters and police clashed outside Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium just before the FIFA World Cup’s opening match kicked off. Protest groups have warned of further disruption to the tournament, as they use the global spotlight to press demands on issues ranging from education reforms to disappearances.” 
“If you are an avid football fan, or indeed watched South Korea vs the Czech Republic on the opening day of the World Cup, you might be wondering why the recorded attendance and the number of empty seats in the stadium did not necessarily correlate. For the second game of the tournament, the attendance at Guadalajara Stadium was officially set at 44,985, just under 700 seats short of the stadium’s listed capacity (45,664), according to FIFA. With that in mind, you would expect to need a keen eye to spot empties, and certainly not be taken aback by the sight of so many vacant seats. …”
“Mexico outclassed South Africa in the opening match of the 2026 World Cup in Mexico City, winning 2-0 as three players were sent off in a chaotic start to the tournament. To put it in perspective, at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, there were only four red cards across the whole tournament. Julián Quiñones opened the scoring in the ninth minute for the co-hosts with a shot through the legs of the South Africa goalkeeper Ronwen Williams, and Raúl Jiménez, who nearly six years ago fractured his skull while playing in the Premier League, increased Mexico’s lead in the 67th minute. …”
“A World Cup is a special event not just for the sport of 
Police stand outside the Estadio Azteca, renamed the Estadio Ciudad de México for the World Cup, ahead of Thursday’s tournament opener.
“Soccer is a game of constantly moving parts — keeping track of it can be disorienting. Thankfully, starting formations provide a useful initial reference point, helping us make sense of the unfolding chaos. In theory, there are thousands of possible configurations of defenders, midfielders and forwards. In reality, most are captured by six broad shapes: 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3, 3-5-2, 4-4-2, 3-4-2-1 and 4-5-1. Since 2019-20, these six have accounted for 88 per cent of all formations used in club matches played in Europe’s top five leagues, and they will be the dominant shapes at the 2026 World Cup. …”
“The 
“The soccer haters are at it again. You can 
Senegal fans enjoy the Afcon final in Rabat in January, even if their team were stripped of the title after the controversy in the win against Morocco.
“You already know about the superstars who could light up the 2026 Fifa World Cup, but what about the next wave of talent? A record 1,248 players can feature in the USA, Canada and 
“WHEN Argentina won the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, their list of opponents contributed to one of the weakest paths to glory in the competition’s history. This was the last 32-team tournament and the addition of more low level teams this year will only dilute the overall strength of the World Cup. Even though Argentina beat France and also came up against Croatia and the Netherlands, they also had Saudi Arabia, Australia, Poland and Mexico on their fixture list. The average ranking of their opponents was 25.3, the highest of any World Cup winner since Uruguay in 1930. …”
“Global sporting events like the FIFA World Cup are often pitched to host cities as economic jackpots. It’s a promise fuelled by an influx of tourists, packed hotels, new jobs and billions in spending. But as the games approach, skyrocketing ticket prices, weaker-than-expected hotel bookings and broader economic uncertainty are raising questions about whether the event will deliver the windfall many cities anticipated. … Fans are also facing confusion about visas. The administration waived its visa bond programme that requires visitors from 50 countries to pay a $15,000 bond deposit. In May, it dropped the requirement for those who have tickets to a World Cup game. However, amid reported delays in visa processing, travellers might not make it in time, or could still be barred from entering the country. Domestic travellers are also feeling squeezed. …”
“The 48 teams competing at this summer’s World Cup are making their final preparations for the tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico. They have qualified for what will be the biggest World Cup yet, expanded from the 32 teams that had competed since the 1998 edition in France, with a host of debutants and plenty of countries not regularly seen on the global stage. Our writers have spent months watching the sides involved and compiling this guide to every country that will take the field this summer. This article is detailed, but that also means it is long. You can search for a particular national team you would like to know more about, or jump to the group you are particularly interested in. …”
“This summer, the World Cup enters its biggest era yet. For the first time, 48 teams will compete for the trophy, with matches spread across Canada, Mexico and the United States. The expansion brings familiar giants and four first-time qualifiers into the field, creating the largest edition in its history, with more matches and storylines than ever before. Alongside former winners are returning sides with long World Cup histories, nations ending lengthy waits to get back on the stage and debutants appearing at the finals for the first time. Each continent provides its own stories, from South America’s traditional heavyweights to Africa’s growing ambitions and Europe’s deep field of contenders. Below is all you need to know about the 48 sides. …”
”
Scissors Kick 