Jordan v Argentina: World Cup 2026 – live
Key events
GOAL! Jordan 0-1 Argentina (Lo Celso 19)
Giovani Lo Celso scores a classy free-kick on his World Cup debut. The foul was harshly awarded for what looked a good challenge on the edge of the area by Abu Taha, who was also booked. Lo Celso strolled up and curled a sweet free-kick into the far corner. It might have gone in anyway, but Abulaila made the gap a lot bigger by shuffling to his left as Lo Celso took the kick.
16 min “Apropos of nothing, there is a potential Mexico v England match in the Azteca in the last 16,” says Graham Randall. “I would love to be able to make that. My eldest American-English kid has a Mexican-American girlfriend. Her dad is a massive Mexico fan and obviously I am a huge England fan. I guess it’s the American immigrant experience
“Back in 2017 – I won a trip to the Azteca to see USA v Mexico qualifier. Told that eldest kid the night before that we were going (he was 10). As someone whose first World Cup was 1986, getting to go to the Azteca was magnificent. Absolutely everything I ever thought it would be. Complete with all the riot police surrounding the USA away end along with the unidentified liquid thrown when Michael Bradley scored early on
“There was a video on ITV with Jon Champion and Ally McCoist waving lyrical about the Azteca. Is this a British thing about the Azteca?”
I don’t know whether it’s just a British thing, but it’s definitely a British thing. That said, I’m sure plenty of England fans associate it solely with the Hand of God.
15 min Just the 82% possession for Argentina, that’s all.
12 min Simeone wins the first corner for Argentina. Lo Celso takes, Otamendi heads over at the near post. Tough chance.
10 min “When a pal took me to my first American football game, I asked him why anyone would want to play as say, an offensive linesman (a blocker, basically),” says Justin Kavanagh. “Those guys have practically no chance of ever even touching the ball. In the home of the Dallas Cowboys tonight, the players of Jordan must know how they feel.”
Heh. They’ve actually had some decent possession in the last few minutes, though Argentina are still dominant overall.
7 min: Disallowed goal for Argentina Lo Celso, making his first appearance at a World Cup, is fractionally offside when he runs onto Alvarez’s pass and finishes majestically with the outside of his left foot. Nice move, though, and the first time Argentina have opened Jordan up.
4 min Exequiel Palacios has started at right-back with Giuliano Simeone in front of him. He rarely plays there but Argentina will have so much of the ball that he shouldn’t have to step too far out of his comfort zone.
3 min It’s like a home game for Argentina when they play in Dallas, and both players and fans are quickly into their work.
1 min Jordan kick off from left to right as we watch.
The match is preceded by a minute’s silence in memory of the victims of the earthquakes in Venezuela. It’s abysmally observed by a few clowns and immaculately observed by the majority.
The draw for the last 32
The ties are listed in bracket order – in other words, Germany and France will meet in the last 16 if they beat Paraguay and Sweden respectively. Somewhere in the world, Patrick Battison sighs.
Other potential crackers including Portugal v Spain (last 16), Germany v Netherlands (quarter-final) England v Brazil (quarter-final), France v Spain (semi-final), Brazil v Argentina (semi-final), England v Argentina (semi-final) and Argentina v France (final).
Yep, I know I’m getting carried away, that most of these games won’t actually happen. That’s what the World Cup bracket is for. Up the bracket!
The last round of Group K matches have just come to an end:
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Colombia 0-0 Portugal
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DR Congo 3-1 Uzbekistan
DR Congo are through to the knockout stage for the first time, another historic achievement in a group stage full of them. They will meet England on Wednesday. Colombia’s reward for topping the group is a match aaginst Ghana, while Portugal face a mouthwatering game against Croatia – and then, potentially, Spain in the last 16.
Melissa Hellmann
When Shahidul Partha was growing up in Kulkandi, Bangladesh in the early 2000s, many of the villagers watched World Cup matches on his family’s property. Upwards of 80 people piled into his front yard to watch the action on a 14in black-and-white TV, run by battery and one of the only sets in the area. To calm themselves, they sipped on milk tea and ate biscuits. The crowd cheered whenever Brazil or Argentina scored.
“It was a very nice moment and it was like they were playing with the players,” 35-year-old Partha says. He now lives in Hatfield, Pennsylvania and works as a software engineer, as well as a commissioner for the township and other local governments.
“When it is a goal, everyone is screaming loudly,” he says. “Everyone is excited, people are shouting, like: ‘Go, go, make it go.’ Sometimes they give directions: ‘Go this side, go this side.’”
Living thousands of miles away from Bangladesh, Partha continues to root for Brazil because, paradoxically, it reminds him of home.
While Bangladesh’s national soccer team have never qualified for the World Cup, that hasn’t stopped the population’s fervent support of the game. The south Asian nation of more than 170 million people and its diaspora have long supported Argentina and Brazil. The fandom is reflected in its audience: nearly 20% of the traffic to the Guardian’s live blog for Argentina’s opening match with Algeria on 16 June came from Bangladesh.
The knockout stage hasn’t quite been finalised. But it’s fair to say the draw is opening up for Argentina.
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Last 32 Cape Verde
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Last 16 Australia/Egypt
Australia in the last 16 would be a repeat of 2022, Aziz Behich and all that -
Quarter-final Switzerland/Iran/Algeria/Austria/Colombia
Team news
Odel al-Fakhouri and Ali Azaizeh come into the Jordan side in place of Musa al-Taamari and Mahmoud al-Mardi.
Argentina rest nine of the XI that started against Austria on Monday; the two men keeping their place are Emi Martinez and Lautaro Martinez.
Jordan (3-4-2-1) Abulaila; Nasib, al-Arab, Abu Dahab; Haddad, al-Rashdan, al-Rawabdeh, Abu Taha; Azaizeh, Olwan; O al-Fakouhri.
Subs: Bani Attiah, A al-Fakhouri, Abu Hashish, Abualnadi, Obaid, al-Rosan, Badawi, Jamous, Ayed, Sadeh, Abu Ghoush, al-Dawoud, Abu Zrayq, al-Taamari, al-Mardi.
Argentina (4-4-2) E Martinez; Palacios, Otamendi, Senesi, Tagliafico; Simeone, Paz, Paredes, Lo Celso; Alvarez, Lautaro Martinez.
Subs: Musso, Rulli, Monitel, Lisandro Martinez, Romero, Medina, Molina, De Paul, Barco, Gonzalez, Almada, Mac Allister, Fernandez, Lopez, Messi.
Referee Istvan Kovacs (Romania)
Nick Ames
The Cape Verde head coach, Bubista, said his team have “shown that nothing is impossible” after his side secured a historic meeting with Argentina in the last 32.
Cape Verde became the smallest country by population to reach the World Cup’s knockout stages, and the first debutants since 2010 to do so, after drawing 0-0 with Saudi Arabia in Houston. The result meant they finished second in Group H, a stunning achievement given they were deemed outsiders in a group also including Spain and Uruguay.
Rob Smyth
Crikey, that flew by. Sixteen days after Mexico and South Africa kicked off the 2026 World Cup, the bumper group stage ends with a Group J double header: Algeria v Austria, which you can follow with Sam Lewis, and Jordan v Argentina in Dallas.
Strictly speaking, this game is a dead rubber: Jordan have been eliminated and Argentina already know they will play Cape Verde in the last 32. But try telling that to the populace of Jordan, who are hoping to win their first point at a World Cup – or to the billions of Lionel Messi disciples across the globe. Messi has been in sparkling form so far, scoring five goals in two games, and leads a goat-studded race for the Golden Boot.
He’ll fancy his chances of extending that lead today, even though he won’t be starting the game. Messi is 39 years old and, if all goes to plan for Argentina, the match against Cape Verde on Friday will be the first of five knockout games in 16 days.
“Leo will most likely come on in the second half,” said the Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni. “We talked and agreed that it was better that way, but obviously it’s also good for him to stay in competitive form.”
And in goalscoring form. At the last World Cup in Qatar, Messi’s seven goals equalled the record for a player who didn’t win the Golden Boot. For a variety of reasons, that record is going to be obliterated at this World Cup.
Kick off 9pm local/12pm AEST/3am BST/10pm EDT
