6/29/26: Brazil 2 — Japan 1 (Stats)
To start this game Japan opted, strangely enough, to sit in a low block and let Brazil have the ball, which the Brazilians happily complied with as they dominated the game early on. After Japan scored a surprise goal against the run of play at 29′, they retreated into an even lower block and gambled on playing defense for 70 minutes. Brazil became Spain, forced to play possession-style in compressed space. Japan’s tactic eventually faltered as Brazil equalized through a Casemiro header at 56′ from an assist by Gabriel. OT was avoided when Martinelli scored the game winner in injury time at 90+5′. Japan’s decision cost them dearly. Why would a team quite capable of attack simply defer and let the other team dictate? Because that can actually work (see Spain vs. Cape Verde post). While Japan counted on their discipline to defend, Brazil was able to resort to their legendary jogo bonito to pull out the victory. Before Martinelli’s strike, Vinicius nutmegged a Japanese defender at midfield and dribbled into the 18-yard box before shooting at goal in a canonical display of their style.
6/29/26: Germany 1 (3) — Paraguay 1 (4) (Stats)
This game was a perfect example of soccer’s paradox. How does a team that dominates every statistical category still lose? Paraguay eliminated Germany on PKs. Germany had 725 accurate passes to Paraguay’s 160, and 76% possession to Paraguay’s 24% — the most glaring examples. A potential winner by Tah was ruled no goal due to a foul on the Paraguayan keeper. While Germany outperformed Paraguay in every statistic, they underperformed in the most relevant part of the game — the one that decided the tied match — the PKs. But the losing team should never be blamed for that. It’s always a crap shoot.
6/29/26: Netherlands 1 — Morocco 1 (PKs: Morocco 3-2) (Stats)
Morocco dominated in possession stats (70% to 30%) but Netherlands scored a lightning-fast counter-attacking goal: the Dutch goalkeeper kicked it to a player in the middle, who headed it to a speedy winger who beat his man and, from the ground, passed it to Cody Gakpo, who scored. Three passes, ten seconds, a goal. Full stop. Not quite. Gakpo’s celebration was extra emotional, as he and his wife had lost a child 48 hours before kickoff. Issa Diop, Morocco’s CB, equalized on a header at 90+1′. Morocco prevailed in PKs. Justly so.
6/30/26: Mexico 2 — Ecuador 0 (Stats)
Mexico started this game like they were trailing 0-2 and desperate to get back in. It was a tactic reminiscent of Mexico’s approach against Germany in the 2018 edition when they surprised the Germans with an opening 2-1 win. Mexico sought to capitalize on the home field advantage right away, and they accomplished exactly that. This paid off at 22′ when Quiñones scored. Building from the back and then playing a direct ball over the top broke two defensive lines and launched Julián to a 1v1 opportunity against the lone defender. He did not hesitate or take an extra dribble but instead finished with a thunderous strike, driving the Azteca to a boiling point. The temperature was raised a bit more when Raúl Jiménez scored a second at 31′. After intercepting a pass and playing to his left, the ball was quickly passed back to him right in front of goal and, like Mbappé against Sweden, he took a slight touch before shooting quickly with the outside of his foot, swerving the ball away from the Ecuadorian keeper. Mexico’s engine up to that point was 17-year-old Gilberto Mora. Mexico ground out the victory in an ugly second half. Ecuador had the bulk of possession but did not really threaten at all. The Azteca, and all of Mexico, partied all night after Mexico won their first knockout victory since 1986, finally getting the “quinto partido.” In the process, Mexico set a record for winning the first 4 games without conceding a goal, becoming only the 5th team in World Cup history to do so.
7/1/26: England 2 — Congo 1 (Stats)
Congo scored a whippet of a goal early and hoped to hold off the Three Lions until Harry Kane finally got one past the Congolese keeper, who had up to that point played the game of his life making one astonishing save after another. England’s depth proved to be too much and wore Congo down. The best example was when Rashford was substituted by Saka — one superstar player for another. That wore Congo out. In the 88th, Kane, surrounded by three defenders, dribbled to his right away from all of them and delivered the winning goal. Kane, Mbappé, Messi — these are the elite players of the World Cup. They won games for their teams when the pressure was highest. One of these three teams should now be favored to win it all. England faced Mexico at the Azteca. We would find out if the vaunted stadium is truly one of the hardest in which to play the host country. Mexico better hope another Maracanazo is not in store. England last played there against Argentina in 1986. The ghost of Maradona would loom large in British minds.
7/1/26: Belgium 3 — Senegal 2 (Stats)
What is the most dangerous lead in soccer? It is a well-worn cliché that it is 2-nil, of course. Belgium pulled off another 3-2 win at the World Cup — in 2022, they came back against Japan in the second most exciting game of that tournament, second only to the final. Senegal owned the Red Devils for 80 minutes before Lukaku scored twice to equalize. Tielemans scored on a PK in the dying minutes of extra time, sparing everyone from the dreaded shootout. The PK was highly controversial and may not have been warranted. It was the second game of the day in which a superstar saved his country by scoring two goals.
7/1/26: USA 2 — Bosnia & Herzegovina 0 (Stats)
BiH had one good chance early and one late. In between it was a sandwich of total US dominance. Not even a dubious red card to the US’s best player, Pulisic, made a difference. The US’s Stillman scored on a cracking free kick to double their lead. The card would hurt the US moving forward as they faced Belgium.
7/2/26: Spain 3 — Austria 0 (Stats)
Two things stood out in this game for La Roja: they maintained their highly elevated possession game but played at a much higher tempo. Not surprisingly, Spain had the highest average percentage of possession — 69% — of any team in the World Cup. But unlike in group play, Spain played faster and with more urgency. Oyarzabal scored at 38′ but they buzzed at the Austrian goal like bees at their queen’s nest, hitting posts and forcing saves from the keeper in a hurried but purposeful frenzy. They could easily have scored two or three. Lamine Yamal returned to his dynamic self after his hamstring injury. Rodri also looked better, playing at a faster tempo. In that regard, Spain resembled France more than their usual methodical selves — meaning they were more direct. No 50 passes per shot attempt. That would no longer cut it. Second-half dominance continued. Porro scored on a header at 67′ and Oyarzabal scored a second later in the half. Spain was on the rise, similar to Argentina in 2022. After a slow start, La Roja played their best game and started to peak at the right time.
7/2/26: Portugal 2 — Croatia 1 (Stats)
It was a vibrant match with the best back-and-forth of the Cup so far, with pace and quality on both ends. Portugal opened the scoring and Ronaldo equalized with a surgical PK. This may have been the most controversial game, especially for Croatian fans. The PK itself came on a clear grab of the back, albeit with very slight contact. Croatia equalized at 98′ when a cross appeared to involve both a Croatian flick and the back of a Portuguese defender before being handled by a Croatian player. Was he offside or wasn’t he? That will be debated for a long time. CR7 and Portugal advanced, but because they had conceded the group to Colombia, they faced rival Iberian Spain — a rematch of the UEFA Nations League final from the prior year. It was a shame one of these giants would eliminate the other.
7/3/26: Egypt 1 (4) — Australia 1 (2) (Stats)
The Australians made two mistakes: they changed keepers for PKs, and had two center-backs take two of the first three kicks — both missed. Mo Salah with a Panenka — a gorgeous and audacious take. Love anyone with the audacity to do that.
7/3/26: Argentina 3 — Cape Verde 2 (AET) (Stats)
At the onset of this game, who would have thought that a country of 500,000 people could possibly beat the reigning World Cup champion, with the best player on the planet still performing at a high level, and with most of his mates still around seeking the vaunted repeat? The resistance lasted almost half an hour. Messi scored at 29′ on an exquisite trap of a long pass and a quick shot. Messi channeled his inner Michelle Obama — when the keeper goes low, you go high. As great as Vozinha had been, he was no match for the GOAT on this play. Impeccable technique from the all-time World Cup scoring leader, with 20 tallies and Mbappé in hot pursuit with 18. Apparently Messi is a late World Cup goal-scoring bloomer. He netted only 6 in his first 3 World Cups and has now exploded for 13 in the last two. The wine analogy fits like a glove. The second half was a surprise. Cape Verde equalized at 59′. Messi was denied by Vozinha on a free kick — as Vozinha was still organizing the wall, Messi quickly took the kick and angled it to the right post. Vozinha raced to it and deflected the ball out at the last second. If you were keeping score of the personal matchup, it was now 1-1. The game ended knotted at 1 at the end of regulation. At 92′ of extra time Lisandro Martínez righted the ship with a shot roofed into Vozinha’s left after collecting a Mac Allister flick to the back post from a corner kick. At 103′, stunner v2.0 — an unknown player named Sidny Lopes Cabral scored a “bend it like Beckham” postage-stamp curling missile to tie the game at 2. WTVF!! (V is for Veritable). At 111′ the normal order of things was restored when Romero headed a corner kick off a Cape Verde defender and past Vozinha — officially credited as an own goal. Minutes later Cabral almost scored again, but his free kick, destined for the back of the net, was saved by Emiliano Martínez — possibly the save of the Cup. And if that wasn’t enough, Martínez made another save, barely getting to a loose ball in the box ahead of a Cape Verde player. Martínez delivered again, clutch save after clutch save. Remember his kick save that staved off France in extra time of the 2022 Final. A remarkable game. The best and most dramatic game since the 2022 World Cup Final.
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