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The hosts are looking to book a place in the World Cup knockout phase. It is also a chance to showcase the diversity of the team and Seattle, where Friday’s game is being played
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Tournament has completed its first week and while the logistics have sometimes been challenging, the people and the football have been good
It was quite a contrast touching down in sleepy Kansas City hours after having witnessed the bedlam on the streets of New York when the Knicks won the NBA Finals and Brazil drew with Morocco. But this is a World Cup full of contrasts, from Fifa’s never-ending quest to make a quick buck ($5 a pop for a bottle of water in the media centre) to the warmth shown by locals I’ve encountered in the Big Apple, Kansas City and Dallas. Then there’s the football. It’s been hard to keep up with the volume of matches, but the opening round served up some classics, with DR Congo’s draw against Portugal on the same day as England beat Croatia capping a thrilling first week of action. Let’s hope it continues. Ed Aarons
It took nearly the full opening round, but a US scene that is usually focused on other sports has fully turned its eyes to socc– sorry, I mean football, forgot to code-switch. Fitting, actually, because at times this state of affairs has been awkward, like when the standard “loud men yelling” sports talk shows are forced to reckon with international football being the No 1 talking point and employing nobody that knows the scene. But these are growing pains. The sport is on at bars and delis, it is being discussed at school pickups and on the rides home. It’s beautiful and exactly what so many of us here in the States have been fighting for. Alexander Abnos
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Ten-man Paraguay scored the fastest goal of the World Cup so far to beat a hapless Turkey 1-0 in a dramatic Group D match, breathing life into their campaign and condemning their opponents to a miserable early exit.
Fired up after their humiliating 4-1 opening match defeat by the USA, Paraguay went ahead 64 seconds in when MatComment
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On a sticky, fun, occasionally boisterous, occasionally listless night in Philadelphia Brazil eased past a game but limited Haiti. All three goals in this 3-0 win came during a spell of first-half urgency driven by the high-grade wide play of VinComment
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- German official Felix Zwayer faces criticism for perceived injustices
- Tony Popovic encouraged by much improved second-half performance
The co-hosts’ second goal was awarded by the video referee, and it was contentious given what appeared to be an offside player in the proximity of goalkeeper Patrick Beach when he tried to recover from a misdirected shot.
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Nobody wants more stoppages in the game but it allows us, whether on TV or the touchline, to analyse what we see
In the NFL or NBA, a head coach can sometimes affect momentum in the game during a timeout. Even as a head coach in American football you get three timeouts per half. In most cases in soccer, players have to problem-solve and think on their feet.
I’m not a fan of the hydration breaks that have been introduced at this World Cup, but they’re here for now and it is fascinating from a coaching perspective because the momentum has swung straight after several hydration breaks. That could suggest coach involvement has helped teams to tweak things.
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Czech’s audacious defiance of Sepp Maier in Belgrade has slipped into football folklore: ‘The only disadvantage is that I don’t get any royalties from it’
Antonin Panenka laughs like a bear might, a low rumble, suggesting mischief among the memories. He is sat in an office at Bohemians football club in Prague, recounting the story of his impudent, revolutionary penalty that not only won the 1976 European Championship for Czechoslovakia against West Germany but soured his relationship with the goalkeeper his spot-kick humiliated, Sepp Maier. “He went 35 years without uttering a single word to me,” he smiles.
But the feud went much deeper. “I read some articles that he even had a shooting target in his garage with my face on it that he used to fire darts at. We get on well enough now though.”
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Who is winning the battle to be top scorer at the World Cup? Live and updated throughout the tournament
All-time World Cup goalscorers
The Golden Boot is awarded to the World Cup’s top goalscorer, with assists used as a tie-breaker if two or more players finish level. The 2026 tournament has three former Golden Boot winners taking part: Kylian MbappComment
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Paraguay set history at the World Cup, but not the kind they would have wanted when they faced Turkey
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Zlatan Ibrahimovic is known for speaking his mind at the best of times, and there has been no change during the World Cup
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Gary Lineker has been a familiar face on the BBC for more than two decades, but the former England striker permanently cut ties with the broadcaster last year.
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WORLD CUP DAY 9 ROUND-UP: Red card controversy, referee rants, Ronaldo's sisters kick up a storm, a Manchester United star wows and two countries are already out
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