2026 — The Tournament Of A Lifetime

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Defeat by Spain will surely prove World Cup swansong for multiple members of Belgium’s best batch of talent to date Nothing gold can stay, indeed, but Belgium’s greatest generation did themselves proud in a North American swansong. The manager, Rudi Garcia, and his players recovered from a thorny group stage to give Spain a stern test in this quarter-final, with Belgium only bowing out after their vital veterans were forced out of action. Friday’s warm-up compounded Garcia’s struggles to pick his ideal team. Amadou Onana entered the stadium on crutches, the victim of a torn anterior cruciate ligament in the last-16 win over the USA. Zeno Debast was omitted as Belgium and Sporting disagreed on whether the defender was fit enough to play, having made the bench only once this summer. Minutes before kick-off, the big blow: Youri Tielemans was erased from the teamsheet after suffering an injury in the warm-up. Jérémy Doku returned to the lineup and looked far livelier than he had throughout the group stage. The winger relished his match-up with Pedro Porro, finding ample space to collect the ball between the right-back and Lamine Yamal before incisively cutting into the channels to drag Spain’s midfield out of position. Unfortunately, his proactiveness left him a step behind Porro when Spain were at their most direct. With Maxim De Cuyper marking Lamine Yamal, Doku tried in vain to slow Porro as he readied for a cross after the hydration break. Moments later Fábian Ruiz dispatched the ball into the net. Spain began toying with the Belgians on the ball, bypassing any overzealous converging defenders before a runner sprinted into the ceded space to maximize the impact. And yet, Belgium refused to become the match’s passengers. After his double in the last 16, Charles De Ketelaere showed how training with Romelu Lukaku has refined his approach up top. In the 39th minute, the Atalanta forward fell as Aymeric Laporte slowed his attempt to set up for a throw-in at the edge of Belgium’s attacking third. Two minutes later, the ball returned to Belgium’s right flank as De Bruyne threaded a pass to Timothy Castagne. The right-back crossed it to a diving De Ketelaere, who deftly got on the near side of Pau Cabarsí to head home an equalizer with his side’s first effort on target. While Spain was quick to re-establish their dominance, Belgium found success when operating off Doku’s dribble. While little else was working for the Manchester City winger, perhaps still hampered by his earlier respiratory infection, his carries opened space for De Cuyper and other midfielders. Belgium nearly found a second goal as Doku worked a give-and-go with De Bruyne, but a deflected attempt fell to De Cuyper who failed to convert. Garcia’s side showed far greater resolve than the side that went out in the group stage in Qatar four years ago and fell in the last 16 of Euro 2024. Leandro Trossard was hooked after an ineffective hour as part of a triple change and was replaced by Lukaku as De Ketelaere moved wide. Axel Witsel checked in simultaneously, putting all four veterans of the 2014 World Cup squad on the pitch with half an hour to go. Belgium hustled to fill any ceded pockets of space. Gradually, the old guard looked overrun. While Thibaut Courtois proved vital, a falling save just before the second-half hydration break left him massaging his left hip on the ground. After trying to resume, he required a 71st-minute exit that left him in tears as fans of both nations stood to applaud a modern great. He was replaced by Senne Lammens. Kevin De Bruyne struggled with his fitness as well, taking a seat after a speculative 80th-minute lob. He drew a yellow card five minutes later after a clumsy challenge on Ferran Torres, with Garcia using his final substitution to replace the veteran before Spain could further exploit his hobbles. Ultimately, Courtois’ heir apparent was unable to complete the job. Cubarsí took a speculative attempt from outside the box, which Lammens was unable to claim and spilled back into the heart of the box. Mikel Merino was quickest to it, poaching the loose ball and powering it above a kneeling Lammens to send Spain to their first semi-final since 2010. While Courtois may make the next World Cup as an elder statesman, this will surely be the final tournament for multiple members of Belgium’s best batch of talent to date. The old guard fought valiantly, giving the European champions a stern test until the final whistle. Although the result does little to swat away suggestions of underperformance in past tournaments, Garcia’s men did themselves proud to the very end.

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Close00BBC Sport World Cup pundits Micah Richards and Wayne Rooney analyse substitute Belgium goalkeeper Senne Lammens' mistake which lead to Spain's winner in their World Cup quarter-final in Los Angeles. Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRelated topicsBelgiumFollow Belgium close panelYou are now following BelgiumUpdates from your Sport topics will appear in My Sport and in a collection on the Sport homepage.FIFA World Cup 2026Follow FIFA World Cup 2026 close panelYou are now following FIFA World Cup 2026Updates from your Sport topics will appear in My Sport and in a collection on the Sport homepage.SpainFollow Spain

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Mikel Merino’s amazing moment arrived once more, an entire country circling the corner flag with him as football, which somehow always finds a way, provided another absurdly tall tale. The man who came on to score the late, late goals that took Spain into a European championship semi-final two years ago and a World Cup quarter-final four days ago, only went and did it again. And this time it was even better, his two-month old son Marco, who he has hardly seen, in attendance here. “As he wasn’t there for the quarter-finals, I had to do it in the semi-final too so he could experience it as well,” Merino said. It is some experience, some hat-trick, some story. What Merino did doesn’t make any sense. For this to happen once is dramatic enough, for it to happen twice messes with your mind, for it to happen a third blows it to bits; what is this sorcery? It was 1-1, the seconds were slipping from them and Spain were desperately seeking a way through when he was introduced as a sub again. There were less than five minutes to go but he didn’t even need that many. By the time he came off again, he had scored the winner, and Luis de la Fuente was telling him how incredible this all was. That’s one word for it. The most alert man in the whole of Los Angeles, Merino entered the fray with the clock showing 85.32; it said 87.27 when Pau Cubarsí took aim, Belgium’s substitute goalkeeper Senne Lammens, sent on to replace the injured Thibaut Courtois, spilled it and Merino pounced, smashing the rebound into the net. He’d had less than two minutes and one touch but now the most super of supersubs had an 88th-minute winner to go with those he had scored on 119 against Germany and 91 against Portugal. As Merino set off on that now familiar celebration in honour of his father, Angel, Courtois could only watch from the bench, broken. Maybe he could have prevented this, prolonged Belgium’s resistance; Lammens could not, his look lost. This was cruel on Belgium, although Spain will feel justice was done given how they dominated and maybe even that destiny is calling them after two consecutive wins like this. Their coach certainly may feel vindicated at the end of an afternoon that opened with a big midfield decision being vindicated and closed with one too. The first of those was to replace Pedri with Fabián Ruiz and the PSG midfielder not only set up the first real opportunity, pulling back for Rodri on 10 minutes, but 20 minutes later scored the goal that had seemed to usher in a comfortable passage. A ball from Lamine Yamal, all smooth timing and perfect weighting, set Pedro Porro dashing into the area where he pulled it back for Dani Olmo. Olmo’s shot, swept first time, was pushed away by Courtois but Ruiz was there to score from the rebound, stuffing a ball up his shirt in celebration. Spain had been dominating for a while and now they had a lead that it was hard to imagine them letting go of. A lovely ball from Cubarsí had almost left Álex Baena one on one. A glorious one-touch move broke down on the edge of the area as Mikel Oyarzabal tried to back-heel it to Olmo. And a superb touch from Lamine Yamal enabled him to escape Jérémy Doku and hit the side-netting. This, in truth, seemed easy now. And then, suddenly, it wasn’t. 40 minutes and 12 seconds into the sixth game, at 12.40 Pacific Time, Spain conceded their first goal of this World Cup when Charles De Ketelaere headed Belgium level. It had started, as everything Belgium did, with Doku dashing forward, and concluded with a moment’s clarity from Kevin De Bruyne. His swift, unfussy first-time pass allowed Timothy Castagne to deliver a perfect cross and De Ketelaere got ahead of Cubarsí to score. The second half began with another superb pass from Cubarsí, this time to release Lamine Yamal only for Courtois saved. The flag was up anyway but a pattern was set, Lamine Yamal’s low shot soon squirming wide before Courtois pushed away the teenager’s curler and denied Oyarzabal. Yet there was also a serious warning at the other end when Doku and De Bruyne combined and Maxim De Cuyper, given a clear sight of goal, rifled his shot into the side of the net. Belgium held on with all they had but the cracks were showing, their strength sapping. Youri Tielemans had already had to be removed from the XI moments before kick-off, now just after the commercial break Courtois was forced off in tears, holding his thigh. De Bruyne would eventually have to go too. A giant obstacle had been removed from Spain’s path but, with countless exchanges cut out at the last, still they hadn’t quite found a way through. Ever deeper, Belgium resisted. The question was how long could they last? The answer, once that man came on, was not long: one minute and 56 seconds later, Mikel Merino had written another ridiculous chapter and Spain were in the semi-final.

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Close34Mikel Merino pounces on a mistake by substitute goalkeeper Senne Lammens to score an 88th-minute winning goal for Spain in their World Cup quarter final win over Belgium. Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRelated topicsFIFA World Cup 2026Follow FIFA World Cup 2026 close panelYou are now following FIFA World Cup 2026Updates from your Sport topics will appear in My Sport and in a collection on the Sport homepage.BelgiumFollow Belgium close panelYou are now following BelgiumUpdates from your Sport topics will appear in My Sport and in a collection on the Sport homepage.SpainFollow Spain

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4-1 defeat to Belgium averaged 33 million viewers on Fox Mexico v England neared 45 million across platforms The US men’s national team officially broke the record for ⁠most-watched soccer telecast in US history twice in a row. As disappointing as ⁠Monday’s 4-1 last-16 loss to Belgium was for fans, the pregame excitement helped attract 33.086 million ⁠viewers, according to Nielsen Media research. The audience peaked at 41.033 million during the ⁠9.15-9.30pm eastern time window. According to Fox, the World Cup ​English-language rightsholder in the US, ‌it was the ‌most-watched domestic telecast of any kind, on any network, ‌since Super Bowl LX brought in 125.6 million in February. Fox also said it was the most-watched non-NFL telecast on any network since Game 7 of baseball’s 2016 World Series. The USMNT had previously set a new mark in their last-32 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina, whose final English-language TV audience tally came to ‌26.4 million. Americans are tuning in to see more than just the home team. Nielsen Media ​research also confirmed this week that 21.742 million viewers watched the Mexico v England last-16 match Sunday on Fox. That was the most-watched non-USMNT World Cup ⁠telecast in English-language US history. Adding the audiences from ​Telemundo ​and Peacock, the match ​averaged a whopping 44.84 million. Those final ​numbers blew ‌away the ​New York ​Knicks’ title-clinching Game 5 win of the NBA Finals (24.5 million) and rivaled the AFC and NFC championship games, which had 48.6 million and 46.1 million on average, respectively.

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When it comes to the World Cup it's not all about the numbers - the letters are important too! With the semi-finals on the horizon we think it's the perfect time for our A-Z quiz. Can you name the best performing nation at World Cups for each letter of the alphabet? And remember, we're after the name of the country that was being used at the time, which might be different to the present day. After more quizzes? Go to our dedicated Football Quizzes and Sports Quizzes pages and sign up for notifications to get the latest quizzes sent straight to your device. What information do we collect from this quiz?Related topicsFootballFIFA World Cup 2026Play more quizzesQuiz: Name every nation at the 2026 World Cup Which World Cup team are you? Take our quiz World Cup quiz: Name every player in England's squad World Cup quiz: Name every player in Scotland's squad

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Close30Kylian Mbappe scores his eighth goal of this World Cup to make up for an earlier penalty miss with Ousmane Dembele adding a second as France prove too good for Morocco and move into the semi-finals. Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRelated topicsFootballFollow Football close panelYou are now following FootballUpdates from your Sport topics will appear in My Sport and in a collection on the Sport homepage.FIFA World Cup 2026Follow FIFA World Cup 2026 close panelYou are now following FIFA World Cup 2026Updates from your Sport topics will appear in My Sport and in a collection on the Sport homepage.FranceFollow France close panelYou are now following FranceUpdates from your Sport topics will appear in My Sport and in a collection on the Sport homepage.MoroccoFollow Morocco

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Close160All the angles of Kylian Mbappe's opener for France against Morocco in the 2026 World Cup. Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRelated topicsFootballFollow Football close panelYou are now following FootballUpdates from your Sport topics will appear in My Sport and in a collection on the Sport homepage.FIFA World Cup 2026Follow FIFA World Cup 2026 close panelYou are now following FIFA World Cup 2026Updates from your Sport topics will appear in My Sport and in a collection on the Sport homepage.FranceFollow France close panelYou are now following FranceUpdates from your Sport topics will appear in My Sport and in a collection on the Sport homepage.MoroccoFollow Morocco

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Close10France forward Kylian Mbappe sees his penalty saved by Morocco's Bono after having to wait over three minutes to take the kick in their World Cup quarter final in Boston. Shareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRelated topicsFootballFollow Football close panelYou are now following FootballUpdates from your Sport topics will appear in My Sport and in a collection on the Sport homepage.FIFA World Cup 2026Follow FIFA World Cup 2026 close panelYou are now following FIFA World Cup 2026Updates from your Sport topics will appear in My Sport and in a collection on the Sport homepage.MoroccoFollow Morocco close panelYou are now following MoroccoUpdates from your Sport topics will appear in My Sport and in a collection on the Sport homepage.FranceFollow France

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Striker says England one of the ‘clear favourites’ to win World Cup Also makes knowing reference to famous ‘Stay humble’ remark Erling Haaland has ramped up the World Cup mind games by saying England are the team under pressure when they face Norway in their quarter-final tie on Saturday. Haaland has enjoyed a sensational tournament, scoring seven times in four games, including twice in Sunday’s last-16 win over Brazil. Norway are flying in their first appearance on this stage since 1998 but, in characteristically mischievous fashion, Haaland insisted expectations should only be directed one way. Asked whether all the pressure is on England, Haaland replied: “Yeah”. Pushed on whether Norway could take advantage of that, the strikerreplied: “Yeah, definitely.” Last year Haaland gave Norway a 0.5% chance of winning the World Cup and, despite the evidence of recent weeks, he suggested the prospects are not much greater. “Really low still,” he said. “I think there are some clear favourites out there. England are one of them, so I think all of you should put every single pressure on the English lads.” This last was said with a smile. So was Haaland’s response to whether England supporters should “stay humble” before the match, a reference to his famous remark to Mikel Arteta following a draw between Manchester City and Arsenal in September 2024,. “I think everyone should stay humble but they should be confident of progressing, definitely,” he said. Haaland was similarly lighthearted form Norway’s training session in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday, expanding on his liking for Americans by calling them “kind of hilarious”. But there is serious business ahead and he admitted this summer’s personal and collective success has come as a surprise. “I didn’t expect this at all,” said the 25-year-old. “Even before the first game I didn’t expect it, and now I didn’t expect it. To be honest, to be in the quarter-finals with Norway in the World Cup, it’s quite surprising even for me. “Playing against Brazil was kind of crazy for us Norwegians and to win against Brazil, then go and play England in a quarter-final in the USA, is quite special. And I think if you watch the scenes back in Norway, this is not normal for Norway to be here.” Haaland, who was born in Leeds during his father Alf-Inge Haaland’s time at Elland Road, outlined the match’s personal significance. “It’s a special game, definitely,” he said. “I think for me, it’s super special because I play in England and I’m born in England, and you also play against teammates and everything. So it’s a bit … not weird, but it’s a funny game and it’s going to be nice.” Norway are on the verge of making more history and, while providing Norway’s ruthless spearhead, Haaland is determined to see the occasion’s fun side. “It’s a key for my daily life to train well, focus well and prepare well, but you also need to enjoy the moment and that’s what we’ve been doing now,” he said. “And as we play in the World Cup we just have to enjoy it because nothing lasts forever, and we have to just enjoy while we’re here.” Haaland and his teammates continue to enjoy a clean bill of health before facing England, with reports about a sickness bug in the camp earlier in the week having been exaggerated.

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US officials have held talks with Fifa over tournament Unclear whether White House has been involved The United States has expressed interest in hosting the 2029 Club World Cup as it seeks to capitalise on the commercial and sporting success of staging the World Cup. It is unclear whether there has been any involvement in the discussions from the White House or Donald Trump’s World Cup taskforce, chaired by Andrew Giuliani, who on Wednesday hailed the success of this summer’s tournament. “Soccer is no longer a future American story,” Giuliani said. “It’s happening right now. There’s just so much demand to come to the United States to watch the World Cup.” An unopposed joint bid from the US, Mexico, Costa Rica and Jamaica to host the 2031 Women’s World Cup is due to be ratified by Fifa this year. Fifa’s close relationship with the US government was illustrated this week by the Folarin Balogun affair, with Trump revealing he had asked its president, Gianni Infantino, to review the striker’s sending-off in the USA’s last-32 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina. In an unprecedented ruling during a major tournament Fifa’s disciplinary committee suspended the 25-year-old’s one-match ban, enabling him to play in Monday’s last-16 defeat to Belgium. Trump is due to leave office in January 2029, months before the Club World Cup, but to be in post when the decision is made. Fifa has not made an announcement over the timing or process for selecting the 2029 hosts, although a decision is expected next year, most likely after the Fifa presidential election is held in April. The USA was appointed to host the expanded 2025 Club World Cup without a bidding process, with the decision made unanimously by the Fifa Council in June 2023. It had been widely expected that the 2029 tournament would be awarded to two of the 2030 World Cup hosts – most likely Spain and Morocco – but there has been no shortage of interest from elsewhere. The Brazilian Football Confederation has stated it would like to host, and the Guardian has reported interest from Qatar. Fifa’s desire to expand the Club World Cup to 48 teams in 2029, supported by the major European clubs, is a potentially complicating factor and could strengthen any US bid. Another North American tournament would also be the most lucrative option for Fifa, which has been vindicated in its aggressive pricing strategy for this World Cup, with most matches selling out.

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Bjørge Lillelien’s famous rant after 1981 clash stemmed from Norwegian obsession with English football What do Lord Nelson, Lord Beaverbrook, Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Anthony Eden, Clement Attlee, Henry Cooper and Lady Diana have in common? On 9 September 1981 they were all beaten by Norway. At least that is according to the iconic Norwegian radio commentator Bjørge Lillelien. His triumphant, giddy and slightly unhinged rant after Norway beat England 2-1 in a World Cup qualifier has gone down in Norwegian folklore. It has also attained something of a cult status abroad, with the Observer declaring it in 2002 the greatest bit of commentary ever. “We have beaten England! England, the birthplace of giants!” Lillelien enthused, before listing some of said giants. Henry Cooper may seem an odd man out among the various statesmen and Lady Di, but then Lillelien was a notable boxing aficionado. “Maggie Thatcher, can you hear me? I have a message for you, in the middle of your election campaign. I have a message for you … As they say in the boxing bars around Madison Square Garden in New York: your boys took a hell of a beating! Your boys took a hell of a beating!” For those last two sentences Lillelien switched to English, just in case Maggie Thatcher could in fact hear him. At the time, Lillelien’s elation may have seemed a little excessive to some English observers. Norway were, after all, not the only team that beat England in 1981. Earlier that year they had lost to Switzerland, Scotland, Spain and Brazil, as well as drawn against Wales and Romania. The year before they had lost to Romania, Italy and Wales. They were hardly an unstoppable force. But in 1981 England had a special place in Norwegian footballing hearts that no poor run of form could diminish. Since November 1969 the Norwegian public broadcaster NRK had been showing live matches from the English first division during the winter, when Norwegian football was on a weather-enforced hiatus. With Norway having one television channel at the time, that meant every person who wanted to watch TV on a Saturday afternoon during those months would be watching English football. And the games enthralled the nation. “We would learn on Wednesday what game was going to be shown on NRK at the weekend, and there was a lot of excitement around that,” says Øyvind Alsaker, who will be commentating on Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final against England for the Norwegian broadcaster TV2. “Would your team be shown?” Alsaker, born in 1969, was part of the first generation that grew up with these televised games. “You would run outside and pretend to be Keegan and Toshack and all of these heroes,” he says. But it wasn’t always the big teams shown. On 14 January 1978, for instance, NRK somehow ended up showing Mansfield taking on Southampton in the second division – which, with all due respect to the Stags, must have seemed slightly baffling to the Norwegians. But this did lead to people in Norway forming emotional attachments to unlikely clubs. Gabriel Høyland, Erling Haaland’s great uncle who earned 23 caps for Norway, is a committed Burnley supporter. Kasper Wikestad, who commentated on Norway’s win against Brazil for NRK this week, is a Norwich fan. He was one of many Norwegians who grew up with England as his footballing nirvana. “It was the sound, the smell, the stars; it was the atmosphere, it was the chants from the stands,” he says. “It was our promised land. It felt so close, but at the same time so far away.” If England were going through a tough spell in 1981, Norway were just not very good. “It was a Norwegian national team that hadn’t been to a tournament in any kind of way since the 1938 Olympics,” Wikestad says. “England were our idols and our reference point. For Norwegians at that time, England and English football was like a dream. How good England were, how big the stars were, everything to do with England was huge. The idea that we could beat England at football in a qualifying match, it was a totally unrealistic dream.” Lillelien had always been something of an entertainer. “He was a man who made boring games fun,” Alsaker says. “We would turn on the sound from the radio, and watch the game on with the TV on mute.” With Norway taking a 2-1 lead and holding on for a historic win against England, Lillelien was already fraying at the edges. As Phil Neal hacked down the local hero Tom Lund from behind Lillelien erupted, calling Neal “a pig”. “The thug Phil Neal kicks Tommy from behind! Phil ‘pig’ Neal! Start retaliating! The English have thugs both in the stands and on the pitch!” As the seconds ticked away into added time, Lillelien felt the Polish referee, Jerzy Kacprzak, was too slow to blow the final whistle. “The referee keeps adding and adding and adding, he is on track for an English citizenship!” But just as this aspersion was cast, Kacprzak blew and Lillelien erupted again. “Norway have beaten England 2-1 at football! We are the best in the world!” And you know the rest. Today, Norwegians are still obsessed with English football. Norwegian kids grow up dreaming of playing in England, more so than at Barcelona or Real Madrid or anywhere else. “We now have three generations of Norwegians who have received English football intravenously,” Alsaker says. On Saturday it will be his job to convey the emotion of the occasion back to the Norwegian public. “It feels unreal. When I look at what I’ve experienced with the Norwegian national team over the last 25 years, it feels unreal that this is happening. I was thinking that reaching the round of 16 was just fantastic. And now we are playing for being one of the top four teams at a World Cup. It’s wild. It is a task I approach with great humility and a feeling of responsibility. So many Norwegians will be following this, I hope I will succeed in doing a good job. “Norway-England, of all things. A week ago, we thought that it couldn’t get bigger than Norway-Brazil, but there you go.” For Norwegians, no opponent we face on a football pitch could ever mean more than England.