Just four matches into the largest FIFA World Cup ever staged, the buzz is already spreading across North America.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For the first time ever, the United States, Mexico and Canada are co-hosting the 48-team tournament, which kicked off with Mexico’s 2-0 victory over South Africa. All 48 nations entered the competition with one goal in mind: lifting the iconic World Cup trophy.<\/p>\n
Here’s a look at some fun fan moments, along with an overview of the most notable news surrounding the World Cup.<\/p>\n
Tyler Adams has had quite the past 24-hours, as he started and played all 90 minutes during USA’s 4-1 win over Paraguay. The very next day, he was celebrating another 4-1 victory, but this time it was the New York Knicks’ 4-1 series victory over the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n
Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer has fully recovered from a calf injury he sustained last month and is ready to go for Germany\u2019s World Cup<\/u> opener against Cura\u00e7ao on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The 40-year-old enters the World Cup having not played for Germany in almost two years after coach Julian Nagelsmann lured him out of international retirement.<\/p>\n
“(He\u2019s) definitely fit enough to start the game and he got better and better,” Nagelsmann said Saturday night. “He didn\u2019t really have the rhythm, but now he found the rhythm. He played a lot, we trust him a lot and I think \u2026 in order to have a good World Cup, we need Manuel in top performance and I think he can bring that.”<\/p>\n
There were questions about his health after he injured his left calf during Bayern\u2019s last Bundesliga game of the season in late May and missed the German Cup final against Stuttgart for what was called “muscular problems in his left calf.”<\/p>\n
The Bayern Munich captain is the only remaining member of the World Cup-winning team from 2014 on the Germany squad. This will be his fifth World Cup, which will tie the German record held by Lothar Matth\u00e4us.<\/p>\n
Reporting by The Associated Press.<\/i><\/p>\n
France center back William Saliba returned to full group training on Saturday at the team\u2019s World Cup base in Boston, easing fears over an ongoing back injury ahead of their tournament opener.<\/p>\n
The 25-year-old Arsenal defender had missed Thursday and Friday’s sessions to follow an individual recovery program.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The persistent back issue, which he suffered while playing in the UEFA Champions League final, was feared to keep him out of the World Cup, but France manager Didier Deschamps has downplayed the severity of the issue.<\/p>\n
It’s the city that never sleeps, and it’s the fan base that is always partying.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ahead of Brazil’s opening World Cup group-stage match against Morocco, fans of the five-time champions took over Times Square in New York City.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The last time Brazil played at a World Cup tournament in the U.S. was in 1994, when the team ended up winning it all. So these fans are expecting another stateside trophy. And with Brazil’s last win coming in 2002, there are high hopes that the streak can be snapped this summer.<\/p>\n
But don’t count out Morocco, which will be aiming for another semifinal run after 2022. Even rapper French Montana joined the party in Times Square to hype up the fans of the Atlas Lions.<\/p>\n
Scotland and its mighty Tartan Army (as its traveling fan base is known) is making themselves right at home in Boston ahead of its World Cup opening game vs. Haiti in Boston.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The fans are already in full voice as they have taken over Boston Harbor, complete with a party barge.<\/p>\n
The fans even had one of Boston’s finest doing some keepie-uppies \u2013 pretty impressive skills there by that police officer!<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, one Scotland fan also shared his experience discovering Buc-ee’s for the first time. Seems like it went over pretty well.\u00a0<\/p>\n
T\u00fcrkiye is back in the World Cup<\/u> for the first time since 2002 and, despite the long absence, captain Hakan Calhanoglu has made some bulletin-board worthy comments about his team\u2019s first opponent.<\/p>\n
“I think we will dominate (Saturday), the game, because we have more qualities and a more talented team,” Calhanoglu said Friday of Australia, T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s opponent at BC Place. “So we will see (Saturday) what happens.”<\/p>\n
T\u00fcrkiye has had its share of continental success throughout much of this century but did not qualify for the past five World Cups. Australia is playing in its sixth consecutive World Cup and advanced to the knockout stage in Qatar in 2022.<\/p>\n
“He\u2019s allowed to have his own opinion,” Australia midfielder Aiden O\u2019Neill said Friday about Calhanoglu\u2019s comments. “We\u2019ve got quality players on our team, too, so we\u2019re ready.”<\/p>\n
Calhanoglu, a 32-year-old midfielder who won a Serie A championship this season with Inter Milan, and Turkish manager Vincenzo Montella also complimented the Socceroos.<\/p>\n
“I would like to use some of their techniques because I think they are interesting techniques,” Montella said.<\/p>\n
Reporting by The Associated Press.<\/i><\/p>\n
While the United States men’s national team provided the crowd of 70,492 at Los Angeles Stadium with plenty of entertainment on the field, there were tons of star power in the stands as well.<\/p>\n
FOX Sports analysts Zlatan Ibrahimovi\u0107 and Thierry Henry caused an absolute frenzy as fans lined up for handshakes, pictures and more of the pair.<\/p>\n
But one meet-up was particularly fun was with Speed (aka, iShowSpeed), who appeared on the dais with the\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brazilian star Neymar Jr. will officially miss Brazil’s opening match against Morocco on Saturday. Neymar was named to Brazil’s 2026 FIFA World Cup squad despite a calf injury, and now won’t be available early on. Manager Carlo Ancelotti said that “Neymar is working very hard to recover as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n
“The expectation is that he will recover and rejoin the group next week.”<\/p>\n
In case fans didn’t already have World Cup fever, they can open their web browser.<\/p>\n
Google is officially ready for USA’s opener against Paraguay, as the home page features a custom, USA-themed Google Doodle.<\/p>\n
The Doodle features red text with a blue outline, as well as a soccer ball along with an interchanging USA crest replacing the “O’s” in Google.<\/p>\n
James Corden joined Christian Pulisic and the United States men’s national team for a training session ahead of their World Cup opener against Paraguay.<\/p>\n
After meeting with head coach Mauricio Pochettino and going through a film session with the players, Corden and Co. hit the pitch for practice, where he helped serve as a water boy.<\/p>\n
Corden tried to help Pulisic stretch out his legs after practice before he was stopped by a member of the coaching staff. As Corden walked off, Pulisic sprayed him with a water bottle.<\/p>\n
The DR Congo men\u2019s national team isn\u2019t set to play until Wednesday, June 17, against Portugal in Group K, but they\u2019ve already made a statement upon arrival in Houston, Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The squad arrived in style, stepping off the plane in striking black, jaguar-inspired outfits that quickly turned heads. The bold look fits their nickname, Les L\u00e9opards, and sets the tone for their World Cup presence before they even face Portugal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
DR Congo may be heavy underdogs, but they\u2019re already winning where it counts off the pitch, taking the fashion battle before kickoff.<\/p>\n
The Canadian men’s national team is set to face Bosnia and Herzegovina on Friday afternoon. Ahead of the match, head coach Jesse Marsch took a\u00a0subtle jab<\/u> at the United States men’s national team during his remarks on Thursday.<\/p>\n
“In the U.S., we had to beg players to sing the national anthem,” Marsch said.<\/p>\n
The United States conducted a months-long search for a new head coach in 2023, with Marsch emerging as the frontrunner and making it clear he\u00a0wanted<\/u> the job. Instead, they chose to rehire Gregg Berhalter, a decision that may have left Marsch with some lingering resentment.<\/p>\n
Marsch\u2019s subtle jab could take on added stakes if the United States and Canada meet during the FIFA World Cup. The two nations could potentially face off as early as the Round of 32 or the Round of 16.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The pressure of competing in the 2026 FIFA World Cup is high, but that hasn’t stopped players from enjoying some downtime with their teammates. Norway star Erling Haaland was spotted at the Stanley Cup Final between the Vegas Golden Knights and the Carolina Hurricanes.<\/p>\n
Haaland appeared to be enjoying himself as the Hurricanes secured a Game 5 victory, taking a 3-2 series lead over the Golden Knights. The Manchester City striker drew plenty of attention from fans in attendance as he took in the action from the stands.<\/p>\n
The Norway star was seen celebrating in the stands before turning his attention back to international duty, with Norway set to face Iraq in Group 1 play on Tuesday, June 16.<\/p>\n
Australia coach Tony Popovic has signed a contract extension through early 2027 on the eve of his team’s World Cup opening match against T\u00fcrkiye on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Football Australia said Friday that the 52-year-old Popovic’s deal now extends through the Asian Cup, which will take place in January and early February in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n
The former Australia international was hired in September 2024 and led the Socceroos to qualification for the 48-team tournament.<\/p>\n
“I\u2019m proud to lead my country into a World Cup, but most importantly, I want to ensure that our team is fully prepared and focused on our group matches against T\u00fcrkiye, the United States, and Paraguay,” he said of Australia’s opponents in Group D.<\/p>\n
Canada’s captain and star defender Alphonso Davies will miss Canada’s World Cup opener against Bosnia and Herzegovina. Davies’ status has been questionable due to an ACL tear and other injuries during the club season, which limited Davies to appearing in two of Canada’s last 21 games.<\/p>\n
Davies is one of the co-host’s more valuable players in terms of talent and experience, including 58 appearances in nine years with the national team. However, Davies’ injury does not rule him out of the entire tournament. His injury update and restraint from the opening match serves as a caution to heal his injury as the group stage unfolds.<\/p>\n
After playing for the Vancouver Whitecaps in the MLS, Davies transferred to Bayern Munich, where he’s played since 2019. \u00a0Canada is set to play Bosnia and Herzegovina on June 12, followed by Qatar on June 18 and Switzerland on June 24.<\/p>\n
Just ahead of Japan’s opening match against the Netherlands on June 14, captain and midfielder Wataru Endo has withdrawn his name from Japan’s World Cup squad and paired it with his national team retirement, per his statement on X. Endo has been dealing with an ongoing ankle\/foot injury since February.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Endo has played for the Japan national team for over a decade, where he made 73 appearances and scored four goals. As a veteran anchor in the midfield, Endo has also served as Japan’s captain since their previous World Cup in 2022, where they reached the Round of 16.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As for Endo’s professional career, he first played for Shanon Bellmare from 2010-15, followed by the Urawa Red Diamonds from 2016-19, VfB Stuttgart from 2019-23 and has played for Liverpool FC since 2023. With Liverpool, Endo played a prominent role in the team’s Carabao Cup victory in 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With Endo out, Japan has officially called Borussia M\u00f6nchengladbach midfielder Shuto Machino to join the 26-man roster. Machino is entering his second World Cup and his fifth year with the Japan national team.<\/p>\n
Following the injury of defender Leonardo Balerdi, Argentina has officially called up defender Marcos Senesi to the 26-man roster. Argentina is set to open their World Cup campaign on June 16 against Algeria.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Senesi has been training prior in case of a last-minute call-up, and was named to the roster after Balerdi’s muscle injury was ruled out. Senesi has played professionally since 2016, playing for clubs like San Lorenzo, Feyenoord, AFC Bournemouth and is currently with Tottenham Hotspur.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Joining Senesi in the back are defenders Lisandro Mart\u00ednez, Nicol\u00e1s Otamendi and Cristian Romero.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In what’s likely to be Lionel Messi’s last World Cup, Argentina will look to repeat their historic 2022 World Cup win this tournament.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tyler Adams, United States’ midfielder, is a fan of the National Basketball Association’s New York Knicks. The Knicks are in the NBA Finals, on the eve of the start of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, so members of the United States’ squad gathered together to watch what turned out to be the largest NBA Finals comeback in history, with the Knicks coming out on top.<\/p>\n
When New York won, the room erupted, with Adams especially going wild. And we know this because the reaction was caught on camera in the moment.<\/p>\n
That couch is destroyed, but at least no one watching the game ended up as damaged as it did after Adams went climbing and kicking all over it! If the United States ends up having a major comeback or win in the World Cup, maybe keep the players away from any obstacles like that, though. Just to be safe.<\/p>\n
Morocco replaced two injured players in its World Cup squad ahead of an opening game against Brazil, including star winger Abde Ezzalzouli.<\/p>\n
FIFA confirmed late Wednesday that former Barcelona player Ezzalzouli and Marseille defender Nayef Aguerd were withdrawn from the Morocco squad for the tournament.<\/p>\n
Ezzalzouli helped Real Betis qualify for next season’s Champions League and was a potential breakout star at the World Cup. Aguerd was a cornerstone of Morocco\u2019s historic semifinals team at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.<\/p>\n
They were replaced by Amine Sbai of French club Angers and Marwane Saadane, who plays in Saudi Arabia for Al Fateh.<\/p>\n
Morocco opens against Brazil on Saturday at MetLife Stadium near New York, then plays Scotland on June 19 near Boston and finishes Group C against Haiti on June 24 in Atlanta.<\/p>\n
Ezzalzouli injured his right knee in a warmup game against Norway last weekend, though initial tests suggested he could be retained in coach Mohamed Ouahbi’s squad to play in the knockout rounds.<\/p>\n
The last time Dejan Ljubicic played for Austria was nearly three years ago. Now a teammate’s injury has given him a surprise comeback at the World Cup.<\/p>\n
Austria coach Ralf Rangnick called up Ljubicic late Wednesday to replace key midfielder Christoph Baumgartner, who injured his right thigh while warming up for a pre-World Cup friendly against Tunisia last week and needed surgery.<\/p>\n
Ljubicic is set to join Austria at the team camp in Santa Barbara on Thursday, ahead of the team’s first game on Tuesday against Jordan. Austria also plays Argentina and Algeria in Group J.<\/p>\n
He’s more of a defensive midfield option than Baumgartner, who scored 17 goals in all competitions for Leipzig in Germany last season and has remained in camp to support the team.<\/p>\n
Ljubicic also plays in Germany on the Schalke team which secured promotion from the second division last month.<\/p>\n
Ljubicic has nine games for Austria but none at a major tournament. His last appearance was in a friendly against Moldova in September 2023, and he wasn’t in the squad for any World Cup qualifiers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY Just four matches into the largest FIFA World Cup ever staged, the buzz is already spreading across North America.\u00a0 For the first time ever, the United States, Mexico and Canada are co-hosting the 48-team tournament, which kicked off with Mexico’s 2-0 victory over South Africa. All 48 nations entered the competition […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4742,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}