Second week of 2026 World Cup don begin, and we don see our first stinker of di tournament. Ghana and Panama do plenty running about, but nobody do anything significantly entertaining until di last few minutes plus stoppage time, when Ghana snatch di win and all three points.
England and Colombia both pick up wins too, beating Croatia and Uzbekistan respectively. But Portugal get to settle for a 1-1 draw against DR Congo. Dat one na di African nation first goal and first point ever for World Cup, causing di latest little shock for di tournament.
So far, di expanded field don result for more shock results instead of increase for blowouts, which be surprising yet welcome development. We hope e continue!
We begin di second set of group games with South Africa again; dis time dem take on Czech Republic, wey almost snatch point from South Korea for dia first game. Bafana Bafana were chaotic, at best, last week against Mexico, finishing di game with just nine men on pitch. Expect better from both sides for dis one.
Date and Time: Thursday, June 18, 2026, 12pm EDT; 5pm BST. Venue: Mercedes-Benz Arena, Atlanta, GA, USA. Referee: Tori Penso (USA). For TV: FOX, Telemundo (USA); BBC One (UK); elsewhere. Streaming online: FOX One, Peacock (USA); BBC iPlayer (UK). Chelsea interest: None.
Group B feature two 1-1 draws last week, so all teams get everything to play for. But not all 1-1 draws be equal: Switzerland were disappointing for dia draw against Qatar; Bosnia were quite lucky for dia draw against Canada.
Date and Time: Thursday, June 18, 2026, 3pm EDT; 8pm BST. Venue: SoFi Stadium, Los Angeles, CA, USA. Referee: João Pinheiro (Portugal). For TV: FOX, Telemundo (USA); ITV 1 (UK); elsewhere. Streaming online: FOX One, Peacock (USA); ITVx (UK). Chelsea interest: Former Chelsea midfielder Denis Zakaria start and play di full-90. But na former Chelsea prospect Miro Muheim make di bigger impact: e come on as defensive sub for di 89th minute as di Swiss try to lock down di 1-0 win, but end up scoring di own goal to equalize for Qatar five minutes later. Oopsies. Own goal, by di way, dey lead di tournament for scoring, joint-top with Lionel Messi on three goals.
Canada fall behind for di first half against Bosnia, and e take dem nearly an hour to finally equalize through Cyle Larin. Di hosts get plenty chances before and after to win am, but no fit make dem count. Qatar survive similar pressure from Switzerland for dia first game, so dis fit be yet another tight contest.
Date and Time: Thursday, June 18, 2026, 6pm EDT; 11pm BST. Venue: BC Place, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Referee: Cristián Garay (Chile). For TV: FOX Sports 1, Telemundo (USA); ITV 1 (UK); elsewhere. Streaming online: FOX One, Peacock (USA); ITVx (UK). Chelsea interest: None.
Mexico kick off di World Cup with a bang, but then manage to produce rather unimpressive 2-0 win over South Africa by di final whistle. A win na win, of course, and style points no dey count. But dem go probably get to step up dia game a bit against South Korea, wey also dey a bit wasteful against di Czech. Dem come back to win for di end, but dem go get to figure out wetin to do with a shockingly out of form Son Heung-min.
