2026 FIFA World Cup Last 16 Roundup and Quarter-Finals Preview
Canada 0-3 Morocco
Morocco established themselves as the best team in Africa with a comfortable second-half win over co-hosts Canada! Canada actually played pretty decently in the first half, nullifying Morocco’s attacking threat as they created plenty more chances! However, despite an injury to star striker Ismael Saibari in the first half, Morocco would find themselves in front just 5 minutes into the second half through Azzedine Ounahi, the same Ounahi who would add a second in the 82nd minute! At this point, Canada had to go all out, leading them to get exposed at the back as Soufiane Rahimi killed the game off for good in the 98th minute! In the end, whilst the final 50 minutes of their tournament were very disappointing, this will go down as Canada’s greatest-ever World Cup to date; something the nation should be proud of! As for Morocco, they’re a Top 8 team in the world for a reason, with them becoming the first African side ever to make it to back-to-back World Cup Quarter-Finals!
Paraguay 0-1 France
Despite a very aggressive display from Paraguay, a Kylian Mbappe penalty was enough to send France through to the Last 8! This was a pretty feisty affair, with Paraguay committing a total of 13 fouls! There was also a ton of off-the-ball incidents, with the South American side’s game plan clear for everyone else to see! In some ways, I both understand and respect it, as Paraguay were never going to “out-football” France, but I also totally understand why everyone else, particularly the French, were so annoyed! Eventually, though, Diego Gomez fouled Desire Doue in the box, leading to Kylian Mbappe stepping up and scoring from 12 yards out to earn France a place in the Quarter-Finals! In the end, Paraguay beat Germany to even get to this stage of the competition, so they should be pretty pleased with their summer efforts! As for France, they remain as the favourites to lift the trophy in New York on July 19th, but their games aren’t going to get any easier moving forward!
Brazil 1-2 Norway
Brazil suffered their earliest World Cup exit since Italia 1990 as Erling Haaland kept Norway’s outside chances alive! Early on in the game, Brazil were awarded a penalty after Kristoffer Ajer was deemed to have fouled Matheus Cunha! Bruno Guimaraes would then step up, only to see his penalty saved by Orjan Haskjold Nyland as Norway would then go on to dominate possession! In the second half, Endrick missed a great chance to give Brazil the lead just moments after coming off the bench, before Norway would be the ones to strike first as Erling Haaland headed home in the 79th minute! In the 90th minute, Haaland would add a second in some style, before Brazil would at least get one back as Neymar converted a 100th-minute penalty! In the end, Brazil simply aren’t good enough to compete for the World Cup, with them needing to go back to the drawing board both on and off the pitch! As for Norway, as long as Erling Haaland keeps being Erling Haaland, Norway can go all the way!
Mexico 2-3 England
England found a way to stun Mexico at the Azteca in one of the all-time great World Cup games! After a bit of a “feeling out process” to begin with, England struck first as Jude Bellingham headed home at the back post in the 36th minute! Just 2 minutes later, Bellingham had scored again to send the Azteca into a complete stunned silence, with Julian Quinones having to fire one home just minutes before halftime to give the home crowd some hope! That hope would only increase when Jarell Quansah was shown a straight red card 9 minutes into the second half, but a complete loss of concentration quickly led to England being awarded a penalty after Raul Rangel brought down Harry Kane! Kane would then step up and score to give England a cushion with half an hour of regular time still to play! In the 69th minute, after Harry Kane conceded a penalty down at the other end of the field, Raul Jimenez converted from 12 yards out to get Mexico back into the game, but despite an absolute onslaught in the final 20 minutes of the game, the Mexican’s just couldn’t score! In the end, Mexico will be gutted to have finally lost at home for the first time since 2018; this loss will hurt them for a while! As for England, this has to go down as one of their greatest-ever wins! Can they go all the way now?!
Portugal 0-1 Spain
Cristiano Ronaldo’s World Cup dream looks to have come to an end at the hands of the reigning European Champions, Spain! Given the fact that these are two of the Top 5-ranked teams in the world, this was a pretty disappointing match as it felt like neither team was in that much of a hurry to win in 90 minutes! Portugal’s attack has come into question throughout the tournament, in fact, even before the tournament, with Roberto Martinez making every substitution possible, except bringing on Goncalo Ramos for Cristiano Ronaldo! This decision would eventually cost Portugal dear, with Spain substitute Mikel Merino scoring a 91st-minute winner to send his nation through to the next round! In the end, when they needed to, Portugal failed to make the tough decisions that they needed to make, and that has cost them dear! As for Spain, whilst it took them a while to win it, this team still hasn’t looked under threat once; that’s impressive!
USA 1-4 Belgium
After a mess of a week off the field, the United States’ World Cup journey came to an end as Belgium finally decided to show up! Before this match could even begin, there was an awful lot of controversy surrounding the air in Seattle, with FIFA making the decision that Folarin Balogun’s red card was suspended, meaning he was able to start this game! This ticked a lot of people off, Belgium included, as Charles De Ketelaere fired the visitors in front inside 9 minutes! The United States were able to get one back in the 31st minute through Malik Tilman, but just two minutes later, Belgium were back in front as De Ketelaere scored again! In the second half, a poor mistake by both Matt Freese and Tim Ream allowed Hans Vanaken to make it 3-1, before Romelu Lukaku added a fourth in stoppage time! In the end, the United States had done so well at this tournament up until this point, but this was a horror performance! As for Belgium, they’ve not played particularly well throughout the summer, but the fact that they’ve made it to the Quarter-Finals makes them dangerous!
Argentina 3-2 Egypt
If you thought there was a ton of controversy surrounding FIFA and the United States, we hadn’t seen anything yet! Unbelievably, Egypt found themselves in front inside 15 minutes through Yasser Ibrahim, with Argentina then failing to equalise when Lionel Messi saw his penalty saved by Mostafa Ahmed Shobeir! Julian Alvarez should be taking penalties moving forward! In the second half, Mostafa Ziko sent the Egyptian fans into a frenzy, but it wasn’t to last as his goal was ruled out by VAR for a foul in the build-up! Note this for later! Incredibly, Ziko would score a goal that would count this time, doubling Egypt’s lead, only for Argentina to get back on level terms with quick goals by Cristian Romero and Lionel Messi! But then, when Egypt were asking for a penalty, Argentina went down the other end of the pitch and scored through Enzo Fernandez to pull off a rather remarkable comeback! Remember when I said to note this for later? For me, the goal being ruled out was the correct decision, but if that’s the case, Egypt should’ve had a penalty! Overall, Argentina have survived again, with a ton of controversy to boot! As for Egypt, they have every right to feel like they’ve been robbed, but even still, they couldn’t see the game out despite how well they played for so long!
Switzerland 0-0 Colombia (Switzerland Win on Penalties)
Switzerland’s penalty curse finally came to an end as they edged out a gutted Colombia in Vancouver! This is one of the rare occasions where the roof being closed probably actually hindered the game, with the humidity being extremely high! From the beginning, this felt like a game where one team was going to survive, whilst the other was going to go home anything but satisfied! After only one or two notable chances, mostly on Colombia’s side, this game headed to penalties; something both teams have a bad history with! Davinson Sanchez would be the first player to miss his spot-kick, smashing the crossbar, whilst Zeki Amdouni would then score to give Switzerland a 2-1 lead! However, after Jaminton Campaz equalised, Manuel Akanji ballooned his penalty over the bar, only for Juan Hernandez to see his attempt saved by Gregor Kobel! Both Cedric Itten and Luis Diaz would then convert successfully, leading to Ruben Vargas stepping up and scoring to send Switzerland through to the Quarter-Finals! Overall, it’s taken them a while, but Switzerland are finally heading back to the Quarter-Finals for the first time since 1954! Congrats! As for Colombia, to concede just 1 goal all tournament and get eliminated on penalties in the Last 16 will hurt a lot; they could’ve challenged anybody!
Quarter-Finals Preview:
France VS Morocco
Two of the best 6 teams in the world face off in the opening Quarter-Final of the 2026 FIFA World Cup as France face Morocco in Massachusetts! France have been pretty faultless up to this point, boasting a tournament aggregate score of 14-2! As for Morocco, they remain unbeaten so far this tournament, with a positive 10-4 aggregate score! Overall, France won’t accept anything but winning this tournament, whilst Morocco aren’t scared of anybody! This is going to be good!
My Prediction: 3-2 (AET)
Spain VS Belgium
High-scoring Belgium will need to keep it up if they want any chance of stunning Spain in Los Angeles, California! Spain have had a pretty comfortable run up to this point (minus the fact that they couldn’t score against Cabo Verde), with their 9-0 tournament aggregate score proving that they simply don’t concede! As for Belgium, despite being poor for about half of this tournament, they have an aggregate score of 13-5, with 12 of those goals in their last 3 games proving that they’ve found their groove in front of goal! Overall, Spain have only lost 1 game since April 2023 (to Colombia); that’s insane! However, no team has had a better impact from the bench this summer than Belgium, so can they cause a surprise again?!
My Prediction: 2-0
Norway VS England
The two best centre-forwards in the world face off as Norway take on England in a blockbuster Quarter-Final clash! Norway have managed to win 4 games this summer on their way to this stage, boasting a pretty crazy 12-9 aggregate score! As for England, they’ve had to work hard to remain unbeaten this tournament, although their 11-5 aggregate score is decent going! Overall, this has already been Norway’s greatest-ever World Cup, whilst England have just come off the back of a pretty special victory! England are the favourites, but Norway can definitely win this one!
My Prediction: 2-1
Argentina VS Switzerland
Rather fittingly, Argentina will enter Kansas City as the Heels against a major underdog in Switzerland! Whilst they have won every game up to this point, Argentina have had to scrape through the Knockout Phase with a tournament aggregate score of 14-5! As for Switzerland, they’re still unbeaten this summer, and whilst an aggregate score of 9-3 is one of the least impressive of any team still here, the Swiss have done their jobs well! Overall, Argentina are once again heavy favourites to win this game, but it’s not exactly like Switzerland are going to panic, given the fact that they haven’t lost a major tournament game for 4 years!
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