In what might be an historic first, all three co-hosts of FIFA’s World Cup 2026 tournament advanced to the Round of 16.
Canada was the first to make history with a 1-0 knockout win over South Africa in the Round of 32 stage. Then Mexico followed with a 2-0 win over Ecuador and finally the United States punched its ticket to the next round with a 2-0 knockout win over Bosnia and Herzegovina.
It marked the first-ever trip for Canada to the Round of 16, Mexico’s first knockout stage win in 40 years and the first time the USA has advanced in a knockout match in 24 years.
It was all worth noting in bold lettering.
Stephen Eustáquio scored from distance in the 92nd minute to provide Canada, the runner-up in Group B in the group stage, with its history-making win. Overall, the 2026 tournament marked the first World Cup point, victory and knockout win for our neighbors north of the border.
Canada, otherwise known for its hockey prowess, entered the 48-team tourney ranked No. 30 by FIFA and ended its run among the remaining 16 nations. The Canadians carried a combined transfer value of $232 million compared to global heavyweights England and France, which carry values each in excess of $1 billion.
Canada finished group stage play with a 1-1-1 record with eight goals scored and three goals allowed. The Canadians kicked off play with a 1-1 draw against No. 61 Bosnia and Herzegovina, defeated No. 59 Qatar, 6-0, and closed the group stage with a 2-1 loss to No. 15 Switzerland, the Group B winner. Bosnia and Herzegovina advanced to the Round of 32 along with Canada and Switzerland as one of eight third-place teams.
South Africa was ranked No. 54 when it met the swashbuckling Canadians in the first knockout match in the Round of 32.
Despite missing its star player Alphonso Davies, who was not fit to play until the final 15 minutes of it 3-0 loss to No. 6 Morocco on Saturday, the mood was not necessarily one of disappointment but of optimism for the future. After all, European soccer giants such as the Netherlands (No. 8 ranking) and Germany (No. 12 ranking) both failed to make it out of the Round of 32.
Record television audiences and packed fan watch parties helped the Canadian Soccer Federation gather support for $25 million in gifts and commitments, reaching its goal 18 months ahead of schedule.
Morocco advanced to play No. 1 France in the quarterfinals on Thursday, July 9. The French shut out No. 37 Sweden, 3-0, in the Round of 32 and No. 34 Paraguay, 1-0, in the Round of 16.
Mexico, ranked No. 10 by FIFA, carried some superlative numbers into the Round of 32 after winning Group A with a spotless 3-0-0 record and only being one of two teams to as of then concede a goal. The Mexicans blanked South Africa, 2-0, shut out South Korea, 1-0, and stymied Czechia by a score of 3-0 to carry genuine momentum into the knockout stage.
Our neighbors to the South, cheered on by the sizable local Hispanic population, continued its mastery on the pitch with the shutout win over Ecuador, its fourth clean sheet in the tournament. Julian Quinones and Raul Jimenez each scored goals within a nine-minute span in the first half to carry El Tri to the victory.
Ecuador entered the match as a third-place qualifier from Group E.
Next up was No. 4 England, the Group L winner. English goalkeeper Jordan Pickford kept the the score level at nil-nil early on with a spectacular save in front of a packed Estadio Azteca (80, 824) on a misty evening that featured a one-hour lightning delay.
Estadio Azteca seats 87,523. It is the largest stadium in Latin America and the eighth largest football association stadium in the word. Besides home field advantage, the hosts also hoped to capitalize on the thin air by playing at an altitude of 7,352 feet.
Mexico carried play throughout the match except for three junctures when the English scored.
Jude Bellingham snapped Mexico’s shutout streak in the 36th minute and scored again just 98 seconds later for a 2-0 lead.
Quinones brought the crowd to life in the 42nd minute to halve the score to 2-1. England responded with a penalty kick tally by Harry Kane in the 60th minute to extend its lead to 3-1.
But Mexican fans were once again put into a frenzy when Jimenez converted a penalty in the 69th minute to once again make it a one-goal affair at 3-2.
England played the final 36 minutes with 10 men after a red car to Jarell Quansah and it showed as the desperate Mexicans attacked in waves in a bid to make a heroic comeback.
The run of play was lopsided from there with physical play in the box by defenders and Pickford denying the hosts time and again.
Mexico finished with a 66-34 percent edge in possession.
The bend but not break stance earned England perhaps its biggest win on foreign soil ever.
The English next play No. 19 Norway in the quarterfinals on Saturday, July 11, after the Norwegians, putting on one of the most inspirational performances in the tournament, topped No. 5 Brazil, 2-1 to improve to 4-1. Erling Haaland scored twice (79th and 90th minutes) to increase tournament-co-leading goal count to seven and further his chances of winning the Golden Boot award while goalkeeper Ørjan Nyland may actually have been the man of the match with 12 saves while the game remained scoreless until the very late stages.
Nyland blocked a penalty kick and also sprang from his line to stop a potential own goal.
Haaland is tied with Argentina’s Lionel Messi and France’s Kylian Mbappe. Kane is close behind with six goals.
The edge could go to whoever makes it to the bronze and gold medal matches.
Interest in the U.S. men’s program is definitely noticeable from past tournament appearances. Fans jam watch parties, wave American flags and are knowledgeable about rules of the game.
When Sam’s Army dropped its last group match, 3-2, on a last-second goal by Turkiye, fans remained at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood to cheer on their team even in defeat.
Nothing had been seen like that before. All those kids who grew up playing youth soccer in the 1970s and high school soccer in the 1980s and 1990s were now bringing their own kids to games. The United States had finally joined the rest of the world as a soccer nation.
The FOX network said its broadcast of the July 1 match was the most-watched English language soccer telecast in history with nearly 26.4 million viewers. It also set a record for most watched Spanish language telecast pertaining to a U.S. soccer match.
U.S. fans certainly had much to cheer for in their team’s win over Bosnia Herzegovina in Santa Clara. The Americans never trailed in the elimination match, though Bosnia and Herzegovina, the third-place finisher in Group B, controlled 52 percent of possession.
The U.S. hosts took a 1-0 lead in the 45th minute on a goal by Folarin Balogun. Malik Tillman sealed the victory with a goal curving shot on a free kick in the 82nd minute. Matt Freese made three saves to record the shutout win in front of 68,827 at Levi’s Stadium.
The Americans held on despite playing a man short following Balogun’s red card dismissal in the 64th minute. The defensive posture almost proved costly as Bosnia Herzegovina buzzed three potential net-finding shots just wide in the late going.
Team USA won Group D with a 2-1 record that included wins over No. 34 Paraguay (4-1) and No. 28 Australia (2-0). The Americans’ untimely loss to No. 27 Turkiye (1-2-0) prevented the Americans from claiming their first 3-0 showing in group stage play in history.
FIFA subsequently rescinded Balogun’s red card, making him eligible for Monday’s key matchup against a Belgian side that had collected a 2-0-2 record (1-1 tie against Egypt, 0-0 deadlock against Iran and 5-1 win over New Zealand in group play and 3-2 win over Senegal in the Round of 32).
Leandro Trossard had two goals in the win over New Zealand.
Balogun entered the match as the team’s top goal-scorer with three strikes, followed by Alex Freeman, Auston Trusty, Sebastian Berhalter, Gio Reyna, Cameron Burgess, Damian Bobadilla and Tillman with one goal each.
The Americans were hoping for their first-ever back-to-back knockout stage wins in Monday’s Round of 16 match against Belgium in front of 66,000 pro-U.S. fans in Seattle.
They played from behind in the onset as Belgium’s Charles De Ketelaere scored the match’s first goal in the ninth minute. The U.S. equalized in the 31st minute as Tillman made it 1-1. But the Europeans came back to take a 2-1 lead just two minutes later on De Ketelaere’s second goal in the game.
The game moved into halftime with a 2-1 Belgian lead. The momentum favored Belgium with an 11-2 shot advantage and 53 percent possession.
The Europeans padded their lead to 3-1 in the 57th minute on a goal by Hans Vanaken as Belgium scored on its first shot in the second half on a disastrous U.S. defensive mistake. It got even uglier for Team USA as Remelu Lukaku scored three minutes into injury time to close out the match — and America’s 2026 World Cup slate.
The Belgians finished with a decisive 15-6 advantage in shots, though the Americans rallied with a 4-4 standoff in shots in the second half to finish the match with 57 percent of possession.
But it wasn’t nearly enough as the United States was eliminated by a three-goal margin.
Belgium will play No. 3 Spain in Friday’s quarterfinals after its 1-0 win over No. 7 Portugal in the Round of 16 earlier on Monday.
All three World Cup hosts failed to advance beyond the Round of 16, though they gave it their best shot.
What teams will advance? The quarterfinal stage is July 9-11, followed by semifinals July 14-15. The third-place match is July 18, followed by the gold medal game on July 19.
The Round of 16 wrapped up on Tuesday. Argentina shaded Egypt, 3-2, in full time after trailing 2-0 in the 75th minute while the Swiss knocked out No. 11 Colombia, 4-3, in a penalty shootout following a scoreless tie to fill out the remaining two quarterfinal berths.
Messi, seemingly ageless at 39, had a goal and assist in the game to take over the tournament scoring lead with eight goals.
Argentina is bidding to become the first team to win back-to-back World Cup titles since Brazil accomplished the feat in 1958 and 1962.
Argentina will meet up with Switzerland in Saturday’s quarterfinals.
What’s beyond 2026? Morocco, Portugal and Spain will serve as co-hosts in 2030 — the 100th anniversary of the event.
World Cup 2026: By the numbers
ROUND OF 32 QUALIFIERS
Group Stage winners
(Automatic qualifiers)
Group A: Mexico (3-0)
Group B: Switzerland (2-0-1)
Group C: Brazil (2-0-1)
Group D: USA (2-1)
Group E: Germany (2-1)
Group F: Netherlands (2-0-1)
Group G: Belgium (1-0-2)
Group H: Spain (2-0-1)
Group I: France (3-0)
Group J: Argentina (3-0)
Group K: Colombia (2-0-1)
Group L: England (2-0-1)
Group Stage Runner-Up
(Automatic qualifiers)
Group A: South Africa (1-1-1)
Group B: Canada (1-1-1)
Group C: Morocco (2-0-1)
Group D: Australia (1-1-1)
Group E: Ivory Coast (2-1)
Group F: Japan (1-0-2)
Group G: Egypt (1-0-2)
Group H: Cape Verde (0-0-3)
Group I: Norway (2-1)
Group J: Austria (1-1-1)
Group K: Portugal (1-0-2)
Group L: Croatia (2-1)
Third Place Qualifiers
Group B: Bosnia and Herzegovina (1-1-1)
Group D: Paraguay (1-1-1)
Group E: Ecuador (1-1-1)
Group F: Sweden (1-1-1)
Group I: Senegal (1-2)
Group J: Algeria (1-1-1)
Group K: DR Congo (1-1-1)
Group L: Ghana (1-1-1)
ROUND OF 16 QUALIFIERS
•Mexico 2, Ecuador 0
•Switzerland 2, Algeria 0
•Canada 1, South Africa 0
•USA 2, Bosnia and Herzegovina 0
•Brazil 2, Japan 1
•Paraguay 1, Germany 1 (Paraguay wins 4-3 PK)
•Morocco 1, Netherlands 1 (Morocco wins 3-2 PK)
•Belgium 3, Senegal 2 (extra time)
•Egypt 1, Australia 1 (Egypt wins 4-2 PK)
•Spain 3, Austria 0|
•Portugal 2, Croatia 1
•France 3, Sweden 0
•Argentina 3, Cape Verde 2 (extra time)
•Colombia 1, Ghana 0
•England 2, DR Congo 1
•Norway 2, Ivory Coast 1
San Diego Wave kick-starts second half of NWSL season with 2-0 win over defending champion Gotham FC
The fireworks were on the field in the San Diego Wave FC’s 2-0 win over defending National Women’s Soccer League champion Gotham FC Saturday, July 4, at Snapdragon Stadium.
The star-spangled victory in front of 10, 592 fans allowed the Wave to remain in first place in the standings with a record of nine wins, four losses and one tie for a league best 28 points.
The San Diegans remain one standing point ahead of the runner-up Portland Thorns (8-3-3, 27 points) and three points ahead of the next three teams: Washington Spirit (7-2-3, 24 points), Utah Royals (7-3-3, 24 points) and 8-5-0 (KC Current, 24 points).
The Wave took a 1-0 lead on a long booming shot by Melanie Barcenas just before the end of ther first half, assisted by Kennedy Wesley.
The goal was the third of the season for the 18-year-old Barcenas while the assist was the first for Wesley in her professional career.
The San Diego defense held Gotham scoreless throughout the match, adding an insurance goal in the closing minutes by Trinity Byars, to snap the visitors’ six-match unbeaten streak.
On the game-clinching goal, Tatum Wynalda, daughter of U.S. National Soccer Hall of Famer Eric Wynalda, applied pressure on NY/NJ goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger with Gotham attempting to push up for the equalizer. Wynalda intercepted a pass and pished the ball to rookie Lia Godfrey, who then quickly played a through pass to an onrushing Byars.
The goal was Byars’ fourth of the season.
Goalkeeper Luisa Agudelo made her NWSL debut for the Wave, which secured its fourth clean sheet of the year.
Team depth remains a strong point for the Wave. San Diego has scored six goals from substitutes this season, the most of any team in the NWSL. The Wave has scored seven goals in the final 15 minutes of the second half this season, the most of any club in the league.
Gotham saw its record dip to 7-3-3 (21 points) to occupy seventh place in the 16-team table. The top eight teams in the regular season standings qualify for the playoffs.
San Diego remains at home for its next match Saturday at 5:45 p.m. against the Angel City FC (5-6-1, 16 points).
The Wave will play at Kansas City on Friday, July 17, then host the Seattle Reign on Pride Night on July 26, 2 p.m. kickoff.
