Drama, emotion and of course a little controversy too.
The quarter finals are almost set at the 2026 World Cup.
Defending champion Argentina, after surviving a scare from Cinderella Cabo Verde, meets Egypt in Atlanta, Georgia at 12 noon EST, while Switzerland takes on Columbia in the last scheduled game on Canadian soil in Vancouver, British Columbia at 4 pm.
In case you hadn’t heard Canada, despite playing a great first half against Morocco, was eliminated in a 3-0 loss.
Morocco will now take on many so called experts and pundits favorite France in quarterfinal action Thursday.
Friday sees Spain take on Belgium on Friday. Belgium bested the United States 4-1 Monday after a controversial pregame decision saw American player Folarin Balogun receive a red card against Bosnia and Herzegovina. The rule states Balogun should have been suspended for one game but FIFA (the World Cup governing body) overruled the call allowing Balogun to play.
The move drew ire from around the soccer world, and also ended the dream of all three host teams after Canada, and Mexico were both ousted.
The England vs. Mexico game Sunday night was, as of now, the game of the tournament thus far. Leads, red cards, penalty kicks – it had it all.
Spain ended Cristiano Ronaldo’s World Cup run with Portugal, Although soccer’s all-time leading scorer said he will play club football for another one or two seasons.
The other two quarterfinals see upstart Norway – and all world goal scorer Erling Haaland – taking on England on Saturday.
Tuesday’s final Round of 16 matches will see the winners meet in Sunday’s last quarterfinal.
Some interesting statistics entering the Elite 8.
For the first time in World Cup history three different players have already scored seven goals.
Haaland, Argentina’s Lionel Messi and France’s Kylian Mbappe. England’s Harry Kane has found the back of the net six times.
France also features the tournament’s assist leader in Michael Olise with four.
The French have also scored the most goals with 14, Belgium has the most attempts on goal with 107. Canada is currently fourth in this category with 81.
Spain has made the most passes with 3,382.
Argentina has the best passing accuracy at 92-percent.
Canada, hence the question in lack of finishing (scoring) has made by far the most crosses at the World Cup with 156. Thirty-two more than second place England.
Paraguay’s Orlando Gill has made by far the most saves at 28. Of the goalkeepers remaining at the tournament Belgium’s Thibaut Courtois has made 13 stops.
And if you ever wondered how much running a world class soccer player runs during a game, Belgium’s Youri Tielemans has run 62071.07 metres – that’s over 38.5 miles – thus far.
So six of the top 10 World Cup ranked teams (before the tournament started) are all still standing in number one Argentina, second ranked France, No. 3 Spain, fourth ranked England, seventh seeded Belgium and number 10 Morocco.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup final is set for Sunday, July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Rod Mawhood is a lifelong Niagara native who has had the pleasure of working in all three mediums – Radio, Print and TV – for over 20 years. His first announcing gig was with the then St. Catharines Stompers. Since then he’s worked in radio and TV in Toronto, and currently is the announcer for the Niagara IceDogs and Niagara River Lions.
Rod also covers the Buffalo Bills for FOX Sports and the Buffalo Sabres for NBC Sports.
