Welcome to day eight of the 2026 World Cup finals.
We are aiming to bring you a daily round up of the matches to come and recent results.
There are 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.
The 48 teams are divided into 12 groups of four, with the top two in each group automatically going through and the eight best performing teams who finish third in their groups.
So only 16 of the 48 countries will be knocked out after the 72 group games have all played out, with the other 32 teams going through to the knockout stages.
We have now reached a point where we are a third of the way through the 72 group games, all 48 teams have now played one match each. With 48 group matches still to be played across the 12 groups, 80 games in total when you include the knockout stages.
So what did we learn from the most recent four group matches, the final eight teams to play?
Newcastle United’s Yoane Wissa scored a very good header to equalise just before half-time, Portugal having scored after only six minutes. A very strange game as Portugal dominated possession but rarely threatened and didn’t have another shot on target. Ronaldo was as poor as his arch-rival Messi had been brilliant in Argentina’s 3-0 win with a hat-trick. DR Congo probably played as well as they possibly could have and actually probably deserved to win, All eyes on whether Portugal can move on from this AND what will happen with Ronaldo…?
The other match in Group K saw Colombia win 3-1 against Uzbekistan, although the World Cup newcomers gave them a scare when equalising on the hour mark. Colombia now top Group K and if DR Congo can pick up another three points minimum then they should qualify for the knockouts, they can give Colombia a game probably and will certainly be hopeful of winning against Uzbekistan.
Thursday saw England finally kick off their campaign. An exhilarating attacking performance saw them win 4-2 over Croatia with goals from Kane (2), Bellingham and Rashford. Great to see after what Gareth Southgate used to subject us all to and whilst the defending needs to be worked on, an excellent start for England who top Group L.
The other two teams in Group L looked set to play out a goalless draw, only for Ghana to score five minutes into added time. Panama looked surprisingly good and should actually have won the match. Difficult to judge these two teams based on this game, we will know a lot more after England face Ghana on Tuesday and then Panama up against Croatia.
It is now 75 goals in 24 matches and this 2026 World Cup still on track to average three or more goals per game for the first time since the 1958 World Cup.
The next six matches to be played across Thursday and Friday are detailed below, all kick-offs are shown as UK times and with the channel that is showing them.
Thursday 11 June
Mexico 2 South Africa 0 Group A
Friday 12 June
South Korea 2 Czech Republic 1 Group A
Canada 1 Bosnia-Herzegovina 1 Group B
Saturday 13 June
USA 4 Paraguay 1 Group D
Qatar 1 Switzerland 1 Group B
Brazil 1 Morocco 1 Group C
Sunday 14 June
Haiti 0 Scotland 1 Group C
Australia 2 Turkey 0 Group D
Germany 7 Curacao 1 Group E
Netherlands 2 Japan 2 Group F
Monday 15 June
Ivory Coast 1 Ecuador 0 Group E
Sweden 5 Tunisia 1 Group F
Spain 0 Cape Verde 0 Group H
Belgium 1 Egypt 1 Group G
Saudi Arabia 1 Uruguay 1 Group H
Tuesday 16 June
Iran 2 New Zealand 2 Group G
France 3 Senegal 1 Group I
Iraq 1 Norway 4 Group I
Wednesday 17 June
Argentina 3 Algeria 0 Group J
Austria 3 Jordan 1 Group J
Portugal 1 DR Congo 1 Group K
England 4 Croatia 2 Group L
Thursday 18 June
Ghana 1 Panama 0 Group L
Uzbekistan 1 Colombia 3 Group K
Czech Republic v South Africa 5pm (BBC1) Group A
Switzerland v Bosnia-Herzegovina 8pm (ITV1) Group B
Canada v Qatar 11pm (ITV1) Group B
Friday 19 June
Mexico v South Africa 2am (BBC1) Group A
USA v Australia 8pm (BBC1) Group D
Scotland v Morocco 11pm (ITV1) Group C