Two goals, a red card and a 24-year-old streak broken \u2014 and that was just in the United States’ first knockout stage match of the tournament. Between that and two more unforgettable comeback wins from England and Belgium, it was a day at the World Cup to remember.<\/p>\n
Here’s the best of Match Day 21 at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.<\/p>\n
Forward \u00b7\u00a0United States<\/p>\n
Down a man and with a trip to the round of 16 on the line, the USA found a hero in Malik Tillman.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The USA found itself up on Bosnia and Herzegovina 1-0 thanks to Folarin Balogun’s first-half goal in round of 32 action, but the second half became tense after Balogun was given a red card. In the 82nd minute, Tillman threaded a free kick over Bosnia’s wall.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A huge moment after Balogun’s red card had left the U.S. on its heels. A huge way to respond to seal the win and ensure that the USA would win its first knockout game since 2002. It’s now on to Seattle and a date with Belgium with a quarterfinals spot on the line.<\/p>\n
Striker \u00b7\u00a0England<\/p>\n
England needed someone to step up in the second half against DR Congo, and it’s no surprise who did.<\/p>\n
The Three Lions’ all-time-leading goalscorer bagged the equalizer in the 75th minute on a header, and then he scored a banger in the 86th to win the game. Both goals were assisted by substitute Anthony Gordon, whose pass for the second goal put Kane at the top of the 18-yard box. There was work to do from there, though, and the England captain created space and unleashed an unstoppable effort that not even DR Congo goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi could stop amidst an impressive performance. (More on that later.)<\/p>\n
Winger \u00b7\u00a0England<\/p>\n
Kane will deservedly get all the headlines following his heroic performance against DR Congo, but Gordon’s lobbed cross was exactly where it needed to be on Kane’s first goal, and that assist ultimately sparked England’s comeback.<\/p>\n
Gordon assisted on both of Harry Kane’s goals, becoming the first England player in World Cup history to be directly involved in more than one goal as a substitute.<\/p>\n
Goalkeeper \u00b7\u00a0DR Congo<\/p>\n
Mpasi had an eventful first half, from preserving DR Congo’s lead with multiple impressive saves to almost conceding a penalty.<\/p>\n
Mpasi’s best save came when Jude Bellingham came flying in for a header after a cross from midfielder Declan Rice. Mpasi reacted quickly and got his left hand up in time to maintain the 1-0 lead for his country.<\/p>\n
The save was so impressive that Bellingham even gave Mpasi props moments later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY Two goals, a red card and a 24-year-old streak broken \u2014 and that was just in the United States’ first knockout stage match of the tournament. Between that and two more unforgettable comeback wins from England and Belgium, it was a day at the World Cup to remember. Here’s the best […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5965","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\/5965","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=5965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}