Welcome to day 28 of the 2026 World Cup finals and it is stand out one.
Today is the first one without a single match since the tournament kicked off on Thursday 11 June.
We are aiming to bring you a daily round up of the matches to come and recent results.
There were 48 countries at these 2026 World Cup finals, the most there has ever been. The matches to take place across Mexico, Canada and the USA.
We were left with 32 countries for the knockouts after 16 were eliminated in the group stage.
The 16 eliminated at the end of the group stage were: Czech Republic, Qatar, Haiti, Turkey, Curacao, Tunisia, New Zealand, Uruguay, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan, Panama, Uzbekistan, Scotland, Iran and South Korea.
Then you can add Egypt, Colombia, USA, Portugal, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, Paraguay, Australia, Cape Verde, Ghana, Croatia, Algeria, Austria, DR Congo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Senegal, Sweden, Ecuador, Ivory Coast, South Africa. Netherlands, Germany and Japan to that list as they exited in the rounds of 32 and 16.
We have now seen the completion of the last 16 round of games and time to take breath before the quarter-finals kick off on Thursday (9 July).
The final two last 16 matches couldn’t have been different.
The Argentina v Egypt ended up a bit of a classic, in terms of drama and talking points.
Egypt taking a deserved lead through Ibrahim on 15 minutes and then a poor Messi penalty easily saved five minutes later.
Zico put Egypt 2-0 up on 67 minutes and having been denied another goal by a feeble VAR decision due to a claimed minor foul at the opposite end of the pitch when the move started, it could have been even worse for Argentina.
Reaching the 79th minute saw Egypt still ahead but as they tired and Argentina pressed, with the assistance of the match officials the match turned around. Romero, Messi and then Fernandez in the 92nd minute with the goals, but Egypt with every right to feel hard done by due to the referee and other match officials.
I haven’t been impressed by Argentina and they looked a bit clueless in terms of inspiration, not helped by the fact they play with so little width. If they get the first goal then teams can struggle to break Argentina down but I think a better team than Egypt will feel confident if they can score first against Messi and his mates. I certainly don’t see them as remotely close to the level of France and if England did end up facing Argentina in the semi-finals, I would think we had every chance.
Colombia against Switzerland was a shocker, the worst game I have seen so far, the worst of 96. Although admittedly I haven’t seen all 96, though I can’t believe there has been worse than this one.
Scared to attack to any decent degree, Switzerland and Colombia played out a goalless 120+ minutes. Colombia threatened a little more in extra time but penalties it was, with the Swiss prevailing to meet Argentina.
From what I have seen of Switzerland in this tournament, they really missed the injured Johan Manzambi who Newcastle United are trying to sign. His flair and running from midfield leaving the Swiss with little attacking scope.
It is now 280 goals in 96 matches and this 2026 World Cup not far short of averaging three goals per game for the first time since the 1958 World Cup but the chances of it happening are now reducing in the knockout stages. The closest since 1958 was the 1970 Mexico World Cup that averaged 2.97 goals per match, this 2026 World Cup now averaging 2.92 goals per game after the first 96 matches. There are now only eight games left to play (including the third-place play-off match).
Here are the round of 16 results and the quarter-finalists (all kick-offs are shown as UK times and with the channel that is showing them.
Round of 16 knockout fixtures and results
Saturday 4 July
Canada 0 Morocco 3
France 1 Paraguay 0
Sunday 5 July
Brazil 1 Norway 2
Monday 6 July
Mexico 2 England 3
Portugal 0 Spain 1
Tuesday 7 July
USA 1 Belgium 4
Argentina 3 Egypt 2
Colombia 0 Switzerland 0 (Switzerland win on penalties)
Quarter-finals
Thursday 9 July
France v Morocco 9pm (ITV1)
Friday 10 July
Spain v Belgium 8pm (BBC1)
Saturday 11 July
Norway v England 10pm (ITV1)
Sunday 12 July
Argentina v Switzerland 8pm ITV1)
Semi-finals
Tuesday 14 July
France or Morocco v Spain or Belgium 8pm (TBC TV)
Wednesday 15 July
Norway or England v Argentina or Switzerland 8pm (TBC TV)
Third place play-off – Saturday 18 July 10pm
World Cup final – Sunday 19 July 8pm
Here is the full 2026 World Cup schedule: