2026 World Cup: Cape Verde gives Argentina a big scare; Last 16 kicks off amid chaos Mexico v England – live | 2026 World Cup
Important events
double quotation mark I am English on my mother’s side and half Mexican-American. This [game against England] It’s probably the worst situation for me. I was born in the US but grew up in England so I have always been a fan of England as well as Mexico. But the older I get, and the more I visit Mexico, the more I appreciate and take pride in my Mexican origins. I don’t remember there being as great a level of excitement or camaraderie as there was at this time. Mexico does not have world-class players, so team cohesion is important. And the Mexican fans were really the 12th man, more than I’ve ever seen.
Were some of these written at 5.30 in the morning by a man questioning his life choices? There is only one way to find out.
What do you do as an England fan in Mexico City with some time to kill? Of course he goes to watch wrestling.
Paul MacInnes
double quotation mark It was a stunning image, one that best captured France’s World Cup campaign so far. He’s not the one who caught Michael Olise in full flight when he kicked a perfect bike that ungratefully left the Swedish post office. Or one of the players standing together on their private jet, turquoise hoods close to their chins. Instead it was a hug, first between Kylian Mbappé and Didier Deschamps, then the whole team, as they celebrated the opening goal of their last 32 win over Sweden in meaningful fashion.
More Messi magic yesterday. That man knows the way to the goal. Who is challenging him with the golden shoe? Find out here…
I’ve always thought that the Saturday Kitchen Live blog would do a good weekend business. People can argue about recipes, rate Matt Tebbutt’s introductions out of 10 etc and so on. If Lifestyle is reading, I’m available.
We had fish tacos last night and now I’m using leftover guacamole and some eggs. I think I will be sent off before the game against Mexico because I am showing my true colors.
As it looks like the England game doesn’t leave from 1am on Monday. Post how you plan to watch. Are you out again? At home? Will children be allowed to stay? Have you booked Monday off or will you be WFH?
Declan Rice says England are ready to face whatever Mexico throws at them at the World Cup on Sunday at the electrifying Estadio Azteca.
From unrelenting hostility to playing at a higher altitude, Thomas Tuchel’s side expect to face many obstacles as they seek to continue their quest to join Sir Alf Ramsey’s 1966 heroics in immortality.
England faced another headache just before flying to Mexico City as Fifa debated whether to move the last 16 match to extra time due to weather disruptions.
Tuchel’s team arrived on Friday to receive news that the match will be played at 6pm (1am on Monday in the UK) rather than being brought forward by six hours, with plenty of fun and games likely to await before kick-off.
“It will be like our away game,” England midfielder Rice said. “They’ve played all the games in Mexico so far, they’ve been at home the whole tournament, so for us it’s about being able to go there and face what’s going to be thrown at us.”
Mexico boast an impressive record at the Azteca, having lost just two of their 89 games away to England for the first time since Diego Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ helped Argentina to a 2-1 quarter-final win. PA Media
Nicola Davis
How does altitude affect performance? Nicola Davis has the answer.
Max Rushden
Max Rushden on Bolivian farmers and elevation.
double quotation mark Azteca is 2,200 meters above sea level – which means Dan Burn will be 2,202 meters above sea level. The hotel in Mexico will probably give him a single bed for the toddler, legs sticking out of the open window as the car horns of the home fans blare through the night. We saw what happened to the boys in Ecuador. Noise cancellation How can noise canceling headphones be found? How many dodgy hotels does England need for a good night’s sleep?
Barney Ronay
Barney Ronay was honored to be the greatest in Mexico City. Is this where England comes in handy?
double quotation mark Croatia was physically under pressure. Ghana was not there. Panama sent England into a pit of pain. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was smart, fearless and unfortunate. Through all of this the subconscious has been saying: Okay, when will it start? No, I mean really starting. When will it hit the canal? When do they have to be beautiful?
We will be looking forward to the England game. Yesterday was crazy as rumors started to spread about the change in the start time of the game in Mexico. My phone was ringing with school dads excited about not having to stay up until 3am BST to watch the whole game.
Now the single dad’s plan is to watch Brazil v Norway and Mike Bassett the England Manager before England kick off. More ideas can be found here…
Jonathan Wilson
Jonathan Wilson has looked at the African teams in this competition and whether they actually did well.
double quotation mark Nine African teams won with their own teams, and those who believed that Caf deserved better may say that they won. Uefa and CONMEBOL, the South American confederation, got 13 and five teams to the Last 32 respectively. It was Asia and, surprisingly, North and Central America that did not do well, with only Japan and Australia making it to the AFC and three Concacaf hosts. With that, this has been the best World Cup in Africa, even if Tunisia turned out to be one of the worst in history. By falling behind seven minutes and then four minutes and three minutes into their three games, they broke Mexico’s 96-year-old record for most time spent following a World Cup, taking the mark from 240 to 256 minutes.
The latest World Cup Daily is here. Get Max and Baz in your ears now!
Australia lost to Egypt on penalties in one of the most dangerous competitions. Changing goalkeepers is a bold move, especially when Matt Ryan makes Shilton his own.
Jonathan Wilson was there.
Some comforting words from Zlatan.
Jack Snape was left wondering what could have been.
Jurgen Klopp is the obvious – and best – choice in Germany. They were in the middle in the whole tournament, they were lucky against Cote d’Ivoire, then they lost to Ecuador and Paraguay. I was more impressed than Nagelsmann felt it could go on.
Klopp confirms talks over German job
Jürgen Klopp has confirmed that he is in talks to take over as coach in Germany and says he has “increased” the strength that was not there when he left Liverpool.
Klopp is one of the names chosen by the German soccer federation after Julian Nagelsmann resigned on Friday, four days after Germany lost on penalties to Paraguay in the World Cup round of 32.
“Julian has stepped down and (the federation) is working on a succession and he has contacted me during those discussions,” Klopp said, speaking from New York on German broadcaster Magenta TV in his role as World Cup commentator late on Friday.
We’ll move on to FIFA’s early draw but we’ll continue with Friday’s game.
I think I speak for many football fans when I celebrate Ghana’s elimination as they did not look good.
Ed Aarons witnessed their death in Columbia, Kansas.
Thank you David. Editorial Summary from the Guardian sports desk this morning as we react to the situation. We can play in many places and often catch the opposition.
In an earlier strategic re-arrangement, Will Unwin (better adjusted to reach heights) will now take over while I catch my breath. There’s a lot more to come from last night’s games, including Australia not really kicking Egypt.
A game like that deserves its own photo gallery so we oblige. Some crackers are in the set below.
“We did everything we could and we did it bravely, we never failed to stay honest, that’s why I’m proud of what my players did.” The words of Cape Verde coach Bubista after his team gave Lionel Messi and Argentina a big scare in Miami.
Rival manager Lionel Scaloni, in charge of his country for the 100th time, was a free man. “We faced a very difficult game, we are still here but it will not be easy, this is a very difficult World Cup, I hope the fans can drink now to rest a little.”
Lots of quotes here from last night’s epic.
Cape Verde came out behind the old one with Argentina
There is only one place to start – that old World Cup between Argentina and Cape Verde. Here’s Barney Ronay (who watched it happen at Miami Stadium) on how this tiny island nation took the World Cup holders to the brink.
“Cape Verde, again, was not finished. It pressed, winning three corners in quick succession. And with 102 minutes on the clock it made it 2-2, with a moment of incredible brilliance from Sydney Lopes Cabral, a goal that felt like one of the best moments of the World Cup, the shade of Josimar ’86, mixed with François and Omam, Omam-19.
“Cabral took the ball out on the left, dived inside, balanced his steps, then fired into the far corner past Emiliano Martínez, the ball seemed to hang in the humid Florida air, a white orb, following that parabola in the far corner.”
Background
Hello and welcome to the live broadcast of day 24 of the World Cup. We will have a reaction to the exciting day 23 and prepare for the first matches of the last 16: Canada v Morocco and Paraguay v France.
