I resolved not to get too worked up about whatever happened in the USMNT’s completely meaningless game against Turkey after they’d already clinched the group …
I told myself DEFINITELY wouldn’t get worked up after it was revealed that they were going to play a squad almost entirely composed of backups …
But I’ll be honest. I got a little bit worked up after they lost 3-2 on a 99th-minute goal by Turkey’s Kaan Ayhan on the last kick of the match. I could link to a video of that goal, or I could just link to this video of Alejandro Zendejas getting blasted square in the nuts from point-blank range. Same diff.
– Rodger Sherman
Today’s Lineup
Canada hits the road in their home World Cup
Disgrace of Gijon #2 loading? (You have to read through 3,000 words to get to this one)
SHE set the WNBA scoring record?
🇨🇦📉 Uh-Oh, Canada? 🇨🇦📉
The World Cup is going GREAT for the three host countries!
🇲🇽🇲🇽🇲🇽 Mexico won all three of its group stage games for the first time ever! 🇲🇽🇲🇽🇲🇽
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸The USMNT won its group and has already had its highest-scoring World Cup ever! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦 And Canada … well… let’s have a talk. 🤔🤔🤔
There have been undeniable positives for Canada — but after a 2-1 loss to Switzerland on Wednesday, things are just a bit off. It felt like Canada had perfectly synced the best team in program history and their best player’s prime with these home World Cup games, providing a perfect launchpad for the Canadian soccer rocketship. But it hasn’t quite gone to plan.
First off, the good stuff. Canada had only played in six games in men’s World Cup history before this year, and lost all six. Their draw against Bosnia and Herzegovina was their first World Cup point ever; their 6-0 win against Qatar was their first World Cup win ever, and their Round of 32 game against South Africa will be their first knockout stage game ever. That’s a lot of big firsts!
But the game against Bosnia was frustrating — the Canadians clearly outplayed their opponents, but spent almost the entire game trailing and got bailed out by a spectacular late goal by Cyle Larin. And the game against Switzerland was a disaster.
If Canada had simply tied Switzerland, they would have won the group which would have set up Round of 32 and Round of 16 games in Vancouver. The scenes would have been phenomenal — 50,000 in red belting out O Canada. Instead, as second-place finishers, those games will be in Los Angeles and Houston. (For a second, it looked like the Canadians were going to have to play South Korea in Los Angeles which would’ve been an actual road game instead of merely a neutral site matchup.) It’s going to be the first time in World Cup history that a nation co-hosting the tournament has played a game outside of its home country.
Part of this makes me mad at FIFA. The second-placed team in Canada’s group should have also had its knockout round games scheduled in Canada!
If the USMNT finished in second or even third in their group, they still would have gotten to play home games. When South Korea and Japan co-hosted in 2002, the tournament was specifically laid out so both teams would get to play all their knockout round games in their home country unless South Korea made it all the way to the final, which was scheduled for Yokohama. (Which they almost did! They went all the way to the semis! Because it’s good to play at home!)
That wasn’t really on the table here — there are 11 American venues being used for the tournament, as opposed to 3 Mexican venues and 2 Canadian venues. But there are actually two Round of 32 games in Canada. Why couldn’t they have just made those the potential games for the top two teams in Canada’s group, instead of making one the potential game for Canada’s group-winner and the other for the runners-up in groups K and L, which Canada is not in? If they’re hosting the World Cup, they should have gotten to host the World Cup.
But on the other hand …. Canada should have just, like, tied against Switzerland. (They’re neutral! They love ties!)
The massive moose in the room: Canada is dealing with some key, brutal injuries. The best player in national history is Alphonso Davies, considered by some to be the best left back in the world. But Davies suffered a hamstring injury in Bayern Munich’s Champions League semifinal matchup with PSG in May. Canadian coach Jesse Marsch has repeatedly said that Davies will be available, but he didn’t even come off the bench when Canada was trailing late against Switzerland needing a goal; Marsch has since said that he was using Davies as “a decoy,” and that it worked, because Switzerland’s coach was asked several questions about Davies in his press conference. Marsch says Davies will be ready for Sunday’s knockout stage match, but I don’t believe him.
Center back Moïse Bombito has missed most of the last year with a broken leg; while he was able to come on for the second half of the rout against Qatar, his first competitive game since October, those are the only 45 minutes he’s played. And again, if Marsch didn’t use him in the critical Switzerland game, he’s probably not ready.
And in that Qatar match, midfielder Ismaël Koné suffered a horrific leg fracture, knocking him out of the tournament. Between Davies, Bombito, and Koné, they’re without three of their most important players.
It could still all work out. Their Round of 32 opponent, South Africa, might end up as the worst team to squeak out of the group stages. Win that game, and it’ll be hard to complain too much.
But it’s a real shame, because this Canada team has come so far. At full strength, they’ve been as good — or arguably better — than the USMNT, winning their last two matchups against each other. They made the semifinals of Copa America in 2024, while the United States got knocked out in the group stages despite hosting the tournament. If we wanna go back to 2022, they beat the USMNT in qualifying and finished on top of the CONCACAF qualifying.
You know how soccer has always been a sport on the fringes here, and our international success has been so limited? It’s the same story in Canada, except more extreme. This is only their third men’s World Cup! And out of nowhere, they turned into one of the region’s best countries. Like here in the States, soccer has long lagged behind more traditionally Canadian sports — hockey, then football and baseball and basketball and has only recently become something where Canada has shined.
Which is why this is so disheartening. After their remarkable rise, Canada should get to watch the best player and the best team in their nation’s history play knockout games in their home World Cup. It could’ve been a moment that boosted the Canadian soccer success story to a new level. Instead, they’re hitting the road, and we’re talking about injuries and scheduling and missed opportunities.
🤦 Disgrace Day 🤦
In 1982, Austria and West Germany played in one of the most infamous matches in soccer history: The Disgrace of Gijón, a game where the two German-speaking neighbors happily colluded for a result that got both teams into the next round. After a shocking German loss to Algeria, a team playing in their first World Cup, the Austrians essentially agreed to take a 1-0 loss that would allow both teams into the second round of the tournament.
Nothing quite that Disgraceful has happened in the 2026 World Cup — but as we reach the tail end of the group stages, it does seem like shenanigans are afoot.
On Thursday night, at the same time as the USMNT game, Paraguay and Australia played in a game where both teams knew they could advance with a tie. Sure enough: The final score was 0-0. Enjoy the “highlights!”
According to Fotmob, the teams combined for zero “big chances” and just .79 expected goals — the only game in the entire tournament so far with less than one expected goal between the two teams.
The teams combined for exactly 21 touches in the opposing box. For comparison: In the 0-0 draw between Belgium and Iran, there were a combined 57 touches in the opposing box. Neither team was called for an offsides all game, and there were only four corner kicks.
Still a far cry from Gijon: Opta Analyst ran the numbers on that game, and found the final shot came in the 54th minute. Both Paraguay and Australia did, at least, attempt shots on goal in stoppage time, so they were sorta trying to win the game.
I don’t bet a lot these days, because I realized the sportsbooks are better than me at predicting what will happen in sporting events. But knowing the scenarios, I did throw down $10 on Australia and Paraguay to tie last night. Guess who now has 22 dollars?
However, we have potential for a bigger Disgrace on our hands … and it’s between two of the main characters from the 1982 incident: Austria and Algeria.
Much has been made about the scenarios in play here. Both teams have three points and will advance with a draw, so they could settle on a tie.
However, the team that finishes second in the group will face Spain, while the team that finishes third will likely have an easier opponent. In that case, the best thing for Austria might be to take a 1-0 loss — just like they did in 1982.
What’s funny is the Disgrace of Gijón led to FIFA playing the final game of each group simultaneously, to prevent teams from knowing what had happened in other games and adjusting their plans. However, the new 48-team format has reintroduced that reaction to other results to this specific game: Algeria and Austria are in the final group to play, and will be in the last set of group stage games. That means they’ll know all the results of all the other groups, and will know exactly what’s required to be one of the top eight third-place teams that move on to the next round.
Because of their history, my guess is the Algerians have no interest in helping out the Austrians in any way. They’ll want to win and take revenge for 1982 … but Algeria winning might be exactly what Austria wants!
🇺🇸⚽️ “The World Cup is in America” moment of the day ⚽️🇺🇸
Norwegian fans at the Mets game, watching the Mets give up a huge home run and not realizing they’re supposed to be having a bad time:
🇪🇨 Ecuador 2 🇪🇨🇪🇨
🇩🇪 Germany 1 🇩🇪
Ecuador pulled a rabbit out of the hat in this one; after failing to score in their first two group matches, they rallied back from a 1-0 deficit, took the lead in the 77th minute, and held on for a win and a spot in the knockout rounds. Their Fabio-coded manager, Sebastian Beccacece, almost climbed out of the stadium with excitement.
🇿🇦 South Africa: 1 🇿🇦
🇰🇷 South Korea: 0
The South Africans are headed to the knockout rounds for the first time on this goal from Thapelo Maseko, who went over 600 days without starting a game before being loaned out to a team in the Cypriot league. The South Africans looked like one of the worst teams in the World Cup — their only goal in the first two games came on a handball at the top of the box — but it’s enough to get them through.
🇲🇦 Morocco 4 🇲🇦🇲🇦🇲🇦🇲🇦
🇭🇹 Haiti 2 🇭🇹🇭🇹
One of my favorite moments of the World Cup so far: the scenes of joy after Haiti took 1-0 and 2-1 leads in this game. Particularly after this 30-yard rocket from Sunderland’s Wilson Isidor:
Even though the team had already been eliminated from the knockout stages, the team and its fans wanted to savor every beautiful moment of their first World Cup since 1974. As I wrote before the tournament, this Haitian team hasn’t been able to play in front of a home crowd since 2021 due to civil unrest in Haiti; their coach has still never been to Haiti and many of their players haven’t been there in years. It’s a small miracle they were able to qualify for the World Cup, playing exclusively road and neutral-site games. They might have lost every World Cup game, but it didn’t matter: Haitians got to be happy about Haiti together with the world watching.
And it’s a damn shame that joy has to be mixed in with horrible news. On Thursday, the Supreme Court pulled temporary protected status from over 300,000 Haitians living in America, allowing the Trump administration to start deporting them to a nation where it’s not even safe for the soccer team to play.
🇧🇷 Brazil 3 🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷
🏴 Scotland 0
Absolute disaster from the Scots. All they needed to do was lose by one or two goals to have a really good chance of going through to the next round. But they played a dreadful game, somehow simultaneously risky and toothless; their attempt to play the ball out from the back led to one gifted goal for Vinicius Jr. and almost a second. They still have a chance of advancing, but with a -3 goal differential, it’s looking grim — The Athletic gives them a 12 percent chance of surviving.
🇳🇱 Netherlands 3 🇳🇱🇳🇱🇳🇱
🇹🇳 Tunisia 1 🇹🇳
Tunisia finishes with a -10 goal differential, the worst since North Korea in 2010. I guess firing their manager after the first game didn’t change much … still better than what happened to the North Korean manager, though.
🃏🃏 Full Deck +1 🃏🃏
OK, big Canadian vibe shift.
On Thursday night, Marina Mabrey of the Toronto Tempo tied the all-time WNBA scoring record with a 53-point game, drilling nine threes (also a record!) in a 125-97 win over the Los Angeles Sparks.
Mabrey has been around the WNBA for years … but who knew she had this in her?
Mabrey is the third player in WNBA history to score 53 points in a game; A’ja Wilson did it in 2023 and Liz Cambage did it in 2018. 53 feels like a really arbitrary number to be the all-time record, but everybody keeps ending up there, for some reason. I don’t like it. Doesn’t look good on a sheet of paper like 100.
Mabrey has been a consistent WNBA player and one of the league’s top 3-point shooters for years … but she’s always been a step below the league’s biggest names. She’s never made an All-Star team and was left unprotected by the Connecticut Sun in this year’s expansion draft, allowing the Tempo to draft her.
And she went sixth in the expansion draft! Not first or second or third or fourth or fifth! The Portland Fire drafted a player who’s currently their backup center while Mabrey was still on the board! (There’s a reason for that — Mabrey was an unrestricted free agent, and each team was only allowed to draft one — but still!)
And even then, Mabrey has only started going supernova after an injury to Brittany Sykes, who was Toronto’s leading scorer up until her injury. Last week, in their first game after Sykes’ injury, Mabrey had a career-high 37 points, another game in which she hit nine threes to tie the all-time record. And now she’s got a career-high that’s higher than everybody else’s career high.
Mabrey was a key factor on the 2018 Notre Dame national championship team, but fourth on the team in scoring behind Arike Ogunbowale, Jessica Shepherd, and Jackie Young. She was a second-round draft pick who took a few years to become a consistent starter. She’d finished top-10 in 3-pointers made in three separate seasons; she leads the league this year.
One sign the breakout was en route came in last year’s Unrivaled season, where Mabrey led the league with 25.3 points per game and set a league record with a 47-point, 10-three performance. (How many other players have the league scoring record in two separate leagues?)
Scoring in the league is wayyyyyyyyy up — 86.3 points per game, soaring past the all-time record of 83.1 points per game and more than 10 points better than the historical average of 75.1. Of the 33 40-point scoring performances in WNBA history, four of them have already happened this season, which isn’t even at the halfway mark. (There was even a game where two players had dueling 40-point games, a first in league history.)
It does feel like a matter of time until somebody gets past 53. Why not Mabrey?
🏀 A Ball rolls on 🏀
More big NBA trade news: LaMelo Ball has been traded to the Timberwolves. I honestly like the move for Minnesota — I think teams need multiple playmakers to have a serious chance at winning, and now Anthony Edwards has a running mate. But it does have a high potential for chaos, as LaMelo often veers into meme basketball.
🏔️⛷️ Mo Ski-Mo! 🏔️⛷️
Great news for anybody who read our Winter Olympics newsletters — ski mountaineering, the bizarre-yet-thrilling new sport from these Winter Olympics, has officially made the cut for the 2030 games! At first, it was only a temporary sport that may have been kicked off the program after one Olympics, but it’s officially coming back — although it’s still tbd for 2034 and beyond.
⚽️🏆 NWSL Challenge Cup 🏆⚽️
Friday, 8 p.m., in Columbus, Ohio (Prime Video)
Want more soccer? The NWSL returns from a month-long break with a supercup matchup between last year’s playoff champions (Gotham FC) and the team with the most regular season points (the KC Current). It’s the league’s first game in Columbus, but they’ll have a team there starting in 2028.
🏒🥅 NHL Draft 🥅🏒
Friday, 7 p.m., in Buffalo (ESPN)
The Maple Leafs are probably going to take Penn State prospect Gavin McKenna, with the first overall pick. The #2 prospect, Ivar Stenberg, is no slouch either — he just led Sweden to a World Juniors championship, and should be a great running mate (skate-mate? sorry not a hockey writer) for Macklin Celebrini with the Sharks. In an odd move, the Blackhawks traded away the #4 pick to the Sabres — the first time a team has traded away a top-5 pick since 2008.
🤏🏀 FIBA European Championships for Small Countries 🏀🤏
Championships Sunday (streaming on YouTube)
Just wanted to alert everybody to the fact that there is a basketball tournament for countries like San Marino and Malta. The men’s tournament is being hosted in Gibraltar; the women’s tournament in Kosovo, which honestly seems a little bit too big to be involved here but I’ll allow it.
⚽️🏆 World Cup 🏆⚽️
I think people really seemed to appreciate the “which of the two games should I watch” system I cooked up for this part of the World Cup where multiple games or on TV at once, so we’re doing it again.
I’m slightly tweaking the categories though: Win and in, Playing for a draw, For the group, It’s Complicated, Everything to play for, Matters to one team, Dead rubber, and SHENANIGANS ALERT. Spoiler alert: The most common result is “it’s complicated” so you might as well just watch all the games.
And then at the end of all that … a single knockout stage game on Sunday!
🇳🇴 Norway 🇳🇴 vs. 🇫🇷 France 🇫🇷
🥇 For the group 🥇
Friday, 3 p.m., in Boston (FOX/Telemundo)
Both teams have six points; France has the advantage on goal differential so they win the group with a draw. The group winner gets to play a third-place team (likely Sweden) while the second-place team will have to play Cote D’Ivoire. Right as I was about to hit publish here, I’m seeing Norway is resting Haaland for this game, so they’re essentially conceding the group to France.
🇸🇳 Senegal 🇸🇳 vs. 🇮🇶 Iraq 🇮🇶
🧑🔬🤓 It’s Complicated 🤓🧑🔬
Friday, 3 p.m., in Toronto (FS1/Universo)
Both teams have zero points, but still have a chance of advancing as a third-place team … kinda. If Senegal wins by one, they’d have three points and a -2 goal differential, which would be better than Scotland and likely good enough to go through. Iraq was outscored by six goals in the first two games, so they’d need to beat Senegal and win by multiple goals, which is probably asking too much.
This is the single most important match for Scotland’s hopes of going through to the next round. An Iraq win or draw here would double their chances of qualifying … I don’t feel like going into what would need to happen next, but this would be big for them.
🇺🇾 Uruguay 🇺🇾 vs. 🇪🇸 Spain 🇪🇸
🧑🔬🤓 It’s Complicated 🤓🧑🔬
Friday, 8 p.m, in Guadalajara (Fox/Telemundo)
Uruguay is one of three teams remaining that could end up anywhere from winning the group to totally eliminated based on what happens in the last game of group play. A tie should be good enough to get them through to the next round, but they’re completely eliminated with a loss which would leave them on two points. And being completely eliminated with a loss is a problem when you’re playing Spain, which might be the best team in the world.
🇨🇻 Cape Verde 🇨🇻 vs. 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦
🤓🧑🔬 It’s Complicated 🤓🧑🔬
Friday, 8 p.m., in Houston (FS1/Universo)
CAPE VERDE CAN ACTUALLY MAKE THE KNOCKOUT ROUNDS OF THE WORLD CUP. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. In fact, all they need to do is tie. The Saudis need a win, but they can only win when they’re playing against Lionel Messi.
🇳🇿 New Zealand 🇳🇿 vs. 🇧🇪 Belgium 🇧🇪
🤓🧑🔬 It’s Complicated 🤓🧑🔬
Friday, 11 p.m., in Vancouver (Fox/Telemundo)
Only a few miles away from being a matchup between New Zealand and Zealand. Kinda the same scenario as the Cape Verde-Saudi Arabia: Belgium is fine with a third draw; the Kiwis would make it through to the knockout rounds with a win, but that would be their first win in World Cup history and Belgium’s not exactly easy to beat.
🇪🇬 Egypt 🇪🇬 vs. 🇮🇷 Iran 🇮🇷
🤝 Playing for a draw 🤝
Friday, 11 p.m., in Seattle (FS1/Universo)
This game has been the center of controversy as Seattle organizers designated it the official Pride Match before the schedule came out … and then the organizers put two countries that criminalize homosexuality in the match.
On the pitch, we’ve got a classic match where both teams can get what they want with a draw. Egypt can go for the jugular if they want — a win would seal the group and eliminate Iran — but they can win the group even with a draw unless Belgium beats New Zealand by three or more goals.
🏴 England 🏴 vs. 🇵🇦 Panama 🇵🇦
😡🥱 Matters to one team 🥱😡
Saturday, 3 p.m., in New Jersey (Fox/Telemundo)
England is already through, Panama is already eliminated, but England’s opponents in the next round get a lot easier if they win and take first in the group.
🇭🇷 Croatia 🇭🇷 vs. 🇬🇭 Ghana 🇬🇭
🤓🧑🔬 It’s Complicated 🤓🧑🔬
Saturday, 5 p.m., in Philadelphia (FS1/Universo)
Both teams are basically already through, but basically any possible result is on the table. It should just be a fun soccer game between two good teams, definitely recommended over the England-Panama game.
🇨🇴 Colombia 🇨🇴 vs. 🇵🇹 Portugal 🇵🇹
🥇 For the group 🥇
Friday, 7:30 p.m., in Miami (FOX/Telemundo)
Colombia playing in Miami is basically a home game. Both teams can win the group with a win; Colombia is the one that actually beat DR Congo so they can win with a draw.
🇨🇩 DR Congo 🇨🇩 vs. 🇺🇿 Uzbekistan 🇺🇿
🥱😡 Matters to one team 🥱😡
Saturday, 7:30 p.m., in Atlanta (FS1/Universo)
The Congolese are through with a win and out with anything else; the Uzbeks are fully eliminated and have nothing to play for.
🇦🇷 Argentina 🇦🇷 vs. 🇯🇴 Jordan 🇯🇴
☠️ Dead Rubber ☠️
Saturday, 10 p.m., in Arlington, Texas (Fox/Telemundo)
Wow, Jordan vs. Messi. A matchup of two GOATs. It’s Argentina’s call whether to let Messi add to his Golden Boot lead and the World Cup scoring record or let him rest for games that matter.
🇩🇿 Algeria 🇩🇿 vs. 🇦🇹 Austria 🇦🇹
🚨🤪🚨 SHENANIGANS ALERT 🤪🚨🤪
Saturday, 10 p.m., in. Kansas City (FS1/Universo)
We already talked about this! Scroll up!
🇨🇦 Canada 🇨🇦 vs. 🇯🇴 South Africa 🇿🇦
🥊 Knockout round! 🥊
Sunday, 3 p.m., in Los Angeles (Fox/Telemundo)
WE MADE IT. WE MADE IT TO THE PART WHERE THE TEAM THAT WINS GOES TO THE NEXT ROUND. NO MORE “RANKING OF THIRD PLACE TEAMS.” NO MORE GOAL DIFFERENTIALS. JUST THE TEAM WITH MORE POINTS AT THE END GETS TO KEEP PLAYING!
Thank you for reading and for your support!
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