Houdini

Switzerland were too wasteful in front of goal and paid the price. Top 3 could be more attainable for Qatar after this result.

Very much looking forward to this match. This should be a closely fought battle.

Alpine: Gasly [Q,R] v Colapinto Aston Martin: Alonso [Q,R] v Stroll Audi: Bortoleto v Hulkenberg [Q,R] Cadillac: Perez [Q,R] v Bottas Ferrari: Leclerc [Q] v Hamilton [R] Haas: Ocon [Q] v Bearman [R] McLaren: Norris[ Q,R] v Piastri Mercedes: Antonelli v Russell [Q, R] Racing Bulls: Lawson v Lindblad [Q,R] Red Bull: Verstappen [Q,R] v Hadjar Williams: Albon v Sainz Jr [Q,R] Pole Position: Russell Winner: Russell Fastest Lap: Antonelli

USA are dominating this so far, never seen them play like this before. Wonder if it's down to them or if Paraguay have become much worse nowadays.

All that money and the guy still can't get a decent trim!

Canada played really well in the 2nd half and deserved to get something from the game. It was an entertaining game as a whole and made it feel like the World Cup has really arrived. It's a shame that there's a bit of a wait until the next game but from tomorrow is when the games will be more continuous in the trademark of a World Cup.

I get the feeling that 1 goal might just be enough to beat Canada, I could be wrong though. The first goal in their matches will be really key.

2-0 to Mexico now. Going from bad to worse for South Africa!

It's looking comfortable for Mexico at the moment even though it's only 1-0.

Personalised national anthems with Tyla singing the South African anthem and the Mexican anthem being sung by who I presume is a Mexican singer. A nice touch, let's see if that will be a continuing thing.

Spain will hope that this will be a good omen for them and there is a very good chance that it will be!

Wolves improved a bit after Rob Edwards took them over and they could have stood a good chance of returning to the Premier League. The damage was already done by the time he became their manager. Even Pep Guardiola or even prime Sir Alex Ferguson wouldn't have been able to get them to safety from the state that they were in midway through the season.

This is probably the World Cup with the least amount of hype of all time. Today is the day that it starts but it doesn't feel like the World Cup fever is generally there, I'm personally looking forward though to what happens on the pitch and in the stands at the stadiums as that is what the World Cup is mainly about imo. I think this will be the easiest World Cup to avoid for people who don't like football, especially in the age of on demand content so hopefully it shouldn't be too unbearable for them.

A couple of managerial changes: Kieran McKenna has left incoming Premier League Ipswich. Rob Edwards has been sacked by outgoing Premier League Wolves.

Group Stage- Round 1 of 3 11 June: Mexico 2-0 South Africa (20:00 BST) - ITV 12 June: South Korea 0-1 Czech Republic (03:00) - ITV 12 June: Canada 1-2 Bosnia-Herzegovina (20:00) - BBC 13 June: USA 1-1 Paraguay (02:00) - BBC 13 June: Qatar 0-3 Switzerland (20:00) - ITV 13 June: Brazil 2-1 Morocco (23:00) - BBC 14 June: Australia 0-1 Turkey (05:00) - ITV 14 June: Scotland 3-0 Haiti (02.00) - BBC 14 June: Germany 5-0 Curacao (18:00) - ITV 14 June: Netherlands 2-1 Japan (21:00) - ITV 15 June: Sweden 0-0 Tunisia (03:00) - ITV 15 June: Ivory Coast 2-2 Ecuador (00:00) - BBC 15 June: Spain 6-0 Cape Verde (17:00) - ITV 15 June: Belgium 3-1 Egypt (20:00) - BBC 15 June: Saudi Arabia 0-3 Uruguay (23:00) - ITV 16 June: Iran 1-1 New Zealand (02:00) - BBC 16 June: France 3-2 Senegal (20:00) - BBC 16 June: Iraq 0-4 Norway (23:00) - BBC 17 June: Argentina 2-0 Algeria (02:00) - ITV 17 June: Austria 2-0 Jordan (05:00) - BBC 17 June: Portugal 3-0 DR Congo (18:00) - BBC 17 June: England 1-2 Croatia (21:00) - ITV Missed from above list is Colombia Vs Uzbekistan & Ghana Vs Panama My prediction would be Colombia 3-0 Uzbekistan, Ghana 2-0 Panama

Canada for the win!

Yeah the knockout stage will be really interesting with the extra number of teams and having to play one more knockout match than usual.

I had Argentina beating Brazil in the 2nd semi final. All of these are subject to change of course!

This is what my predictions and route to the final looked like:

You can predict how the tournament will play out using the link below! FIFA World Cup 2026™ Bracket Cha...FIFA World Cup 2026™ Bracket ChallengePlay FIFA Bracket Challenge and predict how the FIFA World Cup 2026™ will unfold!

Alpine: Gasly (Q, R) v Colapinto Aston Martin: Alonso (Q, R) v Stroll Audi: Bortoleto v Hulkenberg (Q, R) Cadillac: Perez (Q, R) v Bottas Ferrari: Leclerc v Hamilton (Q, R) Haas: Ocon v Bearman (Q, R) McLaren: Norris (Q, R) v Piastri Mercedes: Antonelli (Q, R) v Russell Racing Bulls: Lawson (R) v Lindblad (Q) Red Bull: Verstappen (Q, R) v Hadjar Williams: Albon v Sainz Jr (Q,R) Pole Position: Antonelli Winner: Antonelli Fastest Lap: Leclerc

These are my rough predictions for the final standings of group L: 1st Croatia 9 pts 2nd England 4 pts 3rd Ghana 4 pts 4th Panama 0 pts

These are my rough predictions for the final standings of group K: 1st Portugal 7 pts 2nd Colombia 7 pts 3rd DR Congo 3 pts 4th Uzbekistan 0 pts

These are my rough predictions for the final standings of group J: 1st Argentina 9 pts 2nd Austria 6 pts 3rd Algeria 3 pts 4th Jordan 0 pts