World Cup 2026: France dazzle, Mexico swagger through, England v DR Congo buildup, and more – live
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Key events
Get yer ears round this lot – today’s World Cup Daily podcast.
The view from England now, and Jacob Steinberg’s preview of today’s game:
The part where Tuchel earns his corn starts now. England’s target at the World Cup is to put a second star on the shirt but it would be pushing it to say they sailed through the group stage. The surge against Croatia in Dallas is yet to be repeated. Jude Bellingham and Kane are performing in attack, but there are problems to fix in almost every part of the team and there is a banana skin in football form to deal with when England face the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the last 32 on Wednesday afternoon.
Slip up in Atlanta and it could be curtains for Tuchel. The pressure is on England. They have never lost against an African side at the World Cup and are not going to be feted if they secure a last-16 tie in Mexico City by beating the DRC.
While Andrew Beasley has the tactical lowdown on the DRC:
By keeping opposing teams a long way from their goal, the DRC are able to keep the quality of the chance they face low. Where the average non-penalty shot in the group stage was worth 0.10 expected goals, teams facing the DRC averaged just 0.06. Only Spain’s defence was better by this measure and they dominated possession to a far greater extent.
German investigators search DFB HQ over Euro 2024 ticketing
This just in from Reuters:
German investigators launched nationwide searches including at the offices of the DFB soccer association, the sport’s national governing body, over suspected ticket allocation violations, the Bild newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The raid was prompted by investigations into a German national and a French national among others, Bild said. A statement by police and prosecutors said searches were being conducted in several locations in Germany, without mentioning the DFB.
On this day in World Cup history: 1990 and England faced an African side in the knockouts …
Didier Deschamps’ reign as France manager has sometimes, and sometimes unfairly, been described as over-cautious and unspectacular, despite its successes. If France go all the way this year though, there’s no chance his final squad will be similarly regarded. Didi’s letting his stars run the show, as Leander Schaerlaeckens writes:
Deschamps, who lost his mother last week, will step down after this World Cup, but he seems determined to do things differently this time around. In this last gasp of his time in charge, he has suddenly subscribed to a kind of Great Man Theory, but for football. He has turned over control to Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé and, crucially, to Michael Olise, his attacking triumvirate laying waste to everyone they have so far faced.
Those three are working out a system for their entire side on the fly. It turns out Olise is more effective underneath Mbappé, who has finally embraced the lone striker role he long resisted. They have found by trial and error that Jules Koundé is best utilized through underlapping runs from right back. Such has been the French superiority over their opponents at this tournament that the skill and experience gap has more than sufficed to work on some things along the way.
Two dead in World Cup celebrations in Mexico City – authorities say
At least two people died on Wednesday during massive celebrations in Mexico City as the national team advanced to the round of 16 at the World Cup, according to the local government.
A 19-year-old woman and a 44-year-old man died of asphyxiation, according to the city’s health secretary.
Authorities have not yet confirmed the death of a third person, reported by local media. AFP
To the Democratic Republic of the Congo then, and Ed Aarons has had a chinwag with their former defender and captain Gabriel Zakuani – who I used to enjoy watching as a classy centre-back for Leyton Orient two decades ago – about the country’s chances against England. And Zakuani, who still works as a consultant for the country’s federation, is upbeat.
“There are holes in England. I think it’s been glaring,” he says. “When you sit back against England, they struggle to open you up. I don’t think they selected players who are capable of doing that on a regular basis. That’s what we’ll exploit. If you stop Jude Bellingham, I think you stop a lot of England. We’re very athletic and we’re very good defensively. And I think we’ve got a bit more than Ghana going forward.
“So I would say if we can hold them for as long as possible, we will get chances. And we just have to be clinical when we do get those chances. That’s the way I see us beating England.”
The Knowledge has dropped, to answer the question of high-scoring non-Golden Boot winners.
And here are the 2026 standings:
Another manager leaving his job is Ecuador’s dashing Sebastian Beccacece, whose contract was up anyway, per Reuters. “I don’t think we were able to achieve the feat we promised: to make this the best World Cup ever. Today it’s my by Mexico.
“That’s why I have to leave. I would have liked to continue because what I received from the players and the management warranted the possibility of continuing. But I understand how this works and it hurts, but I think the decision was clear.
“We were outplayed in the first half. We fought back, but we couldn’t find the goal that would have given us a boost.
“I have no complaints, only gratitude to the people and the players,” he said. “I received so much gratitude and affection from the bottom of my heart. The boys gave me two beautiful hours after the match and that’s what we’re left with.”
Koeman quits. The other big news from late-on yesterday was the resignation of Ronald Koeman as the Netherlands manager. Having initially struck a defiant tone in the aftermath of his side’s elimination by Morocco on Monday, the 68-year-old announced his departure late on Tuesday.
“Last night I took the decision to end my stint as head coach of the Dutch national team,” Koeman said in a statement on Instagram. “We all shared the dream of making history at this World Cup, but we fell short. No one is more disappointed by that than I am. As head coach, the responsibility ultimately rests with me”.
Depressingly, the Dutch exit was also followed by racist abuse aimed at the players who missed spot-kicks during the shootout in Monterrey. Justin Kluivert, Quinten Timber and Crysencio Summerville were subjected to discriminatory, racist and hateful comments on social media. “We find this appalling, and we will file a case with Meld Online Discriminatie [Report Online Discrimination],” read a KNVB statement. “Once a report is filed, their legal staff assess whether the statement constitutes a punishable offence. This can lead to a formal complaint being lodged with the public prosecution service, which may then initiate a criminal investigation.”
Preamble
Hello everyone, and welcome to day 21, after a day that reminded you why you fell in love with the World Cup (for all the malevolent forces that attach themselves to it) as a young kid. Many of us were young kids when France last dazzled on the global stage the way they are currently doing, back in their Platini-Tigana-Giresse pomp four decades ago. To that level of flair this current France are adding a ruthlessness and efficiency that has everyone proclaiming them as favourites, and all of it was in evidence in New York as Sweden were swatted aside, Kylian Mbappé scoring two more and Michael Olise, player of the tournament so far for my money, conducting everything artfully just behind him.
And then Mexico overwhelmed Ecuador at a stormy Azteca on an occasion that can best be described as proper, on and off the pitch. A raucous, engaged partisan crowd of the type we’ve not seen enough of cheering on the co-hosts, who showed no sign of their customary knockout round jitters to set up a meeting with the Democratic Republic of Congo or England.
Ah England. There’s an air of angst around them too after unconvincing performances against Ghana and Panama, and a sprightly DRC will pose new challenges. We’ll have all the buildup to the last 32 tie in Atlanta, the first of today’s matches at 5pm BST/12noon local.
Anyway, mail us your thoughts and in the meantime here’s yesterday’s match reports:
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