Day 9 of the 2026 FIFA World Cup delivers four compelling group stage matches, led by a heavyweight Group D showdown between the United States and Australia in Seattle. The USMNT arrives red-hot after Folarin Balogun’s two-goal performance in a 4-1 opening win over Paraguay, while Australia also rolled in its opener, knocking off T\u00fcrkiye 2-0. Later, five-time world champion Brazil looks to right the ship against Haiti in Philadelphia after a disappointing 1-1 draw with Morocco to open the tournament. Scotland and Morocco also face off in Group C in Boston, and T\u00fcrkiye and Paraguay close the night on the West Coast in a Group D must-win for both teams. All four matches air on FOX or FS1 and stream live on FOX One.<\/p>\n
Fullback \u00b7\u00a0United States<\/p>\n
The U.S. team is at its best attacking from wide positions. Normally a fullback, Pochettino placing Dest further up the field to take advantage of his dribbling and shooting abilities. There are questions about Pulisic\u2019s health heading into this game and that would make Dest even more important to the team\u2019s offense from the right side.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Midfielder \u00b7\u00a0Morocco<\/p>\n
Morocco\u2019s teenage central midfielder is one of the top young players in this tournament. The French-born Bouaddi, 18, was given the challenging task of starting against Brazil in his World Cup debut, and he passed the test with flying colors as Morocco controlled the midfield for stretches. Currently at Lille, Bouaddi is likely going to find himself on one of the best teams in the world very soon. But while helping Morocco to a draw against Brazil was an acceptable result, Bouaddi will need to help deliver a win against Scotland.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Defender \u00b7\u00a0Brazil<\/p>\n
The 32-year-old central defender is Brazil\u2019s captain and leader. If the issues surrounding the team are anxiety and pressure, the captain will have to play a role helping to calm the team down and getting the players focused on the task at hand. Against Haiti, Marquinhos might not be tasked with a lot of defending, but his leadership responsibilities will be critical.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Defender \u00b7\u00a0Paraguay<\/p>\n
Paraguay\u2019s captain and top central defender is extremely accomplished in South American soccer, where he has won everything possible with Palmeiras. As Paraguay looks to force T\u00fcrkiye into low percentage shots, Gomez will be key to keeping Paraguay\u2019s defense in shape and organized. Gomez is an emotional leader and the winner of this game between two frustrated teams could come down to who has the best leadership.\u00a0<\/p>\n
All World Cup matches air on FOX and FS1, with every game streaming live and on demand on FOX One.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY Day 9 of the 2026 FIFA World Cup delivers four compelling group stage matches, led by a heavyweight Group D showdown between the United States and Australia in Seattle. The USMNT arrives red-hot after Folarin Balogun’s two-goal performance in a 4-1 opening win over Paraguay, while Australia also rolled in its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5079","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\/5079","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=5079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}