Key events
Barney Ronay
Thank goodness this is Dallas and not Gijon. There was ultimately no disgrace in a draw that served everyone, even if one might have forgiven Graham Potter and Hajime Moriyasu for shaking hands at half-time. At that point most onlookers may have fancied calling it all off too but a much sparkier second half served up two moments to cherish and left Sweden, who had risked throwing such a promising campaign away, certain of a spot in the last 32.
Sweden secured their place in the last 32 but Anthony Elanga, who scored against Japan, forgot a draw would see them through. Cameras caught him looking sad after the final whistle and manager Graham Potter explained:
It couldn’t have been any clearer for him, so he’s obviously thinking about something else. Bless him.
So yesterday’s results saw five more teams qualify for the knockout stage and you can catch up on all of the action across the reports:
Here is that piece for you now:
Preamble
Hello and welcome to today’s World Cup news blog where we will recap yesterday’s action, as well as teeing up today’s games and any news that drops in between.
Several teams qualified for the knockout stage yesterday including Sweden and Côte d’Ivoire. The implications of those has seen teams like Scotland are hanging on by a thread to remain in the competition.
Côte d’Ivoire will play either Norway or France as they finished runner-up in their group and their opponent will be decided later on as the two teams go head-to-head. The match up all eyes will be on though is between Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappé.
The two strikers will want to make the difference for their squads and there is a great piece on that which I will share with you soon. Let’s go.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2026/jun/26/world-cup-2026-norway-france-senegal-iraq-cape-verde-saudi-arabia-uruguay-spain-egypt-iran-new-zealand-belgium-live
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