After a number of penalty shootouts, drama and controversy, the World Cup’s Spherical of 32 is lastly over. What does the second spherical of the knockout stage have in retailer for us?
The Spherical of 16 kicks off on Saturday with two matchups and two closely favored groups. Co-host Canada will get issues began in Houston in opposition to after a last-gasp winner in its Spherical of 32 recreation in opposition to . The Moroccans have excessive hopes on this event after ending third on the 2022 event in .
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, the favourite to win the World Cup, will then face within the afternoon recreation as appears so as to add on to his Golden Boot tally. The French have outscored their opponents 13-2 thus far this event. The Paraguayans are aiming to proceed their miracle run after knocking off in penalty kicks within the first spherical.
The winners of the 2 video games will play one another in Boston on July 9.
1 p.m. ET (Fox) — vs. Morocco
5 p.m. ET (Fox) — France vs. Paraguay
Comply with the World Cup proper right here on Yahoo Sports activities with stay updates, highlights, outcomes and the newest information beneath:
Live4 updatesSat, July 4, 2026 at 6:30 AM PDT
Paul Carr
With the Spherical of 32 within the books, it is once more time to power-rank the remaining groups within the .
As all the time, my two main components had been 1) how good every staff has appeared, and a couple of) how far the staff can realistically go given the bracket path forward. There is a new () prime staff, and several other others have shifted tiers, so let’s get to it …
SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA, UNITED STATES – JULY 1: (L-R) coach Mauricio Pochettino of USA, Matt Freese of USA celebrating the victory in the course of the World Cup match between USA v Bosnia and Herzegovina on the San Francisco Bay Space Stadium on July 1, 2026 in San Francisco Bay Space United States (Photograph by Eric Verhoeven/Soccrates/Getty Photos)
(Soccrates Photos through Getty Photos)
Sean Leahy
Jack Baer
Mauricio Pochettino had a problem on Friday, or at the least a problem along with making ready for Belgium.
The USMNT coach, an Argentinean nationwide, was to throw out the primary pitch on the Seattle Mariners’ recreation, days earlier than his squad’s Spherical of 16 recreation at close by Lumen Area. The person had zero baseball expertise, placing him prone to becoming a member of the 50 Cent Corridor of Fame.
Happily, the concerns turned out to be for naught. The 54-year-old Pochettino reared again and threw a wonderfully acceptable first pitch. It was looping and a bit excessive to be thought-about a bona fide strike, however straight sufficient that at the least 90% of first-pitch throwers would in all probability take that end result.
Sean Leahy
The Spherical of 16 begins at this time. Check out our to get knowledgeable about at this time’s matchups.