Host nation kicked off the 2026 on Thursday in dramatic style, taking out in entrance of an electrical house crowd at Estadio Azteca.
Ahead Julian Quinones opened the scoring early, placing one at the back of the web simply 9 minutes into the sport, and veteran Raul Jimenez capped it off with a tearful, emotional first-ever World Cup purpose within the 67th minute to safe the win.
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The chaotic win noticed three gamers dealt crimson playing cards as El Tri walked away with a 2-0 victory.
However shortly after Mexico’s win, consideration shortly shifted to in Group F, broadly considered as one of many match’s darkish horses.
Japan captain that he had formally withdrawn from the World Cup. And at 33 years previous, he’s reportedly calling it on his worldwide profession totally.
The face off towards the in simply three days from now at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
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Endo performs professionally for , who simply completed fifth within the Premier League at 17-9-12. Endo signed a four-year cope with the membership in 2023, spending the earlier 4 years as a key piece for Bundesliga’s .
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On the worldwide stage, he’s been Japan’s captain since 2023 and has made 73 appearances since 2015.
Nevertheless, he suffered a brutal foot harm in February throughout a Premier League match that finally required surgical procedure.
After months of rehab, issues regarded promising main as much as the World Cup. Endo even performed the primary half towards Iceland in Japan’s warm-up pleasant on Could 31, earlier than formally being named to their World Cup squad.
Now, lower than 72 hours earlier than their opener, he’s eliminated himself from the match, and similar to that, Japan’s captain is gone.
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TOKYO, JAPAN – NOVEMBER 18: Wataru Endo of Japan is seen after the workforce’s 3-0 victory within the worldwide pleasant match between Japan and Bolivia at Nationwide Stadium on November 18, 2025 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photograph by Koji Watanabe/Getty Photographs)
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Changing Endo will probably be striker Shuto Machino, who has 5 targets in 14 appearances for Japan.
Nonetheless, dropping your veteran chief simply days earlier than the most important recreation of the match is troublesome for any workforce to handle, not to mention one which, whereas considered as a sneaky darkish horse, was broadly outdoors the listing of World Cup favorites.
The percentages are actually even additional stacked towards Japan, opening the door for the Flying Dutchmen to take full management of the group on Sunday.
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