Philadelphia, United States — The first time Ali Alkabasi saw Iraq play at a World Cup was on television when he was 13 years old. Forty years later, he was inside the Philadelphia Stadium as his nation returned to the big stage and faced former champions France.

Despite a crushing 3-0 loss in his team’s second Group I match, Alkabasi says he is grateful to witness Iraq live at the tournament.

“Seeing Iraq play in the World Cup is enough,” he told Al Jazeera.

“The performance wasn’t too bad. The result was expected. France are on another level. At least the Iraqi players were not just playing long balls. They tried to build up an attack.”

Iraqi fans stood up and saluted their team at the final whistle, and even at three goals down in the final minutes of the game, they cheered for every attack as if they could will it into becoming an equaliser.

‘Matter of pride’

For a country that has faced immense adversity over the past decades, Iraq’s participation in a World Cup brought unadulterated joy to fans, who travelled from across the US and the world to see their team in action.

Halah Maykhan, an Iraqi American who lives in Wisconsin, said Iraq’s return to the World Cup after four decades is a dream come true.

“We are living the dream. My homeland, Iraq, makes it to the World Cup finals in America, where I live. The dream for me is double,” Maykhan told Al Jazeera.

“I am so happy and so excited. This is a matter of pride for the Iraqi people.”

She expressed gratitude to the players for gathering Iraqis from all corners of the planet in one place to rally around the squad.

“We are with this team no matter the results,” Maykhan told Al Jazeera.

“Although they lack experience, we are hoping they do well, and we’re hoping all Arab teams do well.”

Two-time world champions France started the match with intensity, and superstar Kylian Mbappe quieted the raucous Iraqi crowd in the 14th minute with a screamer from the edge of the box – but not for long.

After the shell-shock, Iraqi fans returned to drumming up support for their team as chants of “Iraq, Iraq” rang throughout the stadium.

The process would repeat twice, with France’s goals only temporarily lulling the roars of the supporters of the Lions of Mesopotamia.

Despite the enormous gulf in quality between the two sides, Iraq did not just park the bus and clear the ball as far away as possible from their own goal.

They tried to keep possession and play through France’s high press.

Mohammed Abduljabbar, who lives in Texas, said while the result was disappointing, the team did what it had to do against a better opponent.

“Their performance was good. Yes, there were mistakes, but there were also some beautiful plays. We are proud of them, and we thank them for bringing us to the World Cup,” Abduljabbar told Al Jazeera.

He added that the feeling of watching Iraq at the stadium was “indescribable”.

A nation brought together by football

Beyond football, Iraq’s World Cup journey put on display a fortified national identity across sectarian and religious lines.

At the stadium on Monday, there were Kurdish and Assyrian flags waving alongside the national banner, but all the fans stood united behind the players.

Husam Nafea, an Iraq fan who drove for four hours from Virginia to see the match, said the country has been rising above divisions, and it is now even more unified around the team.

“Wherever we go, we as Iraqis are joyous and united, and hopefully, we remain this way,” Nafea, who was draped in an Iraqi flag, told Al Jazeera outside the stadium.

Over the past decades, Iraq has endured coups, wars, sieges, civil strife, a US-led invasion and the rise of ISIL (ISIS).

Now the country is experiencing a period of relative calm, but it remains near the centre of many geopolitical faultlines in the region.

Nawres Almamoori travelled all the way from South Australia to Philadelphia to watch Iraq in action.

He said the excitement around participation in the tournament is bringing much-needed relief to Iraqis.

“Iraqis have gone through and are still going through a lot,” Almamoori told Al Jazeera. “They deserve this joy.”

An actual storm caught up with Iraq and France on Monday, with heavy rain and thunder halting the match for nearly two hours at half-time.

As fans lined up to enter the stadium under the water dumping from the sky, Iraq fan Hassan Raad said he is unconcerned with the weather or the result.

“Rain, sun, freeze, desert – we are here for our guys,” Raad told Al Jazeera. “The result doesn’t matter. As fans, our job is to support the team.”

Ateka Saleh, an Iraqi American from Wisconsin, echoed the sentiment.

“No matter what happens today, they already brought us here, together, to be happy with them,” Saleh said of the players before the match.

“So, ‘thank you’ to them. We are very proud of this team.”

The United States had two clear choices to guard its goal at a home World Cup, and both of them were named Matt. One was the incumbent, a man who had started at the last World Cup and spent the years since chasing minutes across England and France. The other was a 27 year old from Wayne, Pennsylvania, who once walked away from Harvard to chase a professional contract and who, somewhere in his college days, wrote an academic paper on the science of saving penalties. When Mauricio Pochettino named his lineup for the opener against Paraguay, it was the second Matt who got the call. Matt Freese, the Ivy League goalkeeper from a family of scientists, is the last line of defense for the host nation.

It is the kind of backstory that sounds invented. A goalkeeper who studied penalty analytics at one of the most famous universities in the world, who then went out and won a shootout for his country by reading the moment exactly the way his research said he should. Freese has lived that script, and the most interesting part is that he refuses to talk about it.

The Harvard paper he won’t discuss

Freese came up through the Ivy League, playing his college soccer at Harvard before leaving early to turn professional. While he was there, he did a paper on penalty kick analytics, the kind of project that pairs a goalkeeper’s instincts with a researcher’s curiosity. For a man whose job would one day include facing down strikers from twelve yards in front of a roaring crowd, it was a strangely fitting thing to study.

That academic background became impossible to ignore at the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup. In the quarterfinal against Costa Rica, the game went to a shootout, and Freese put on a performance that looked like theory turned into practice. He saved three penalties as the United States won 4-3, dragging his team through on a night when nerves usually decide everything. Suddenly the country had a goalkeeper who was not just brave in a shootout but, it seemed, properly schooled in it.

Shootouts are often described as a lottery, and goalkeepers like to lean on that framing because it removes the blame when they lose. Freese’s record suggests he treats them as the opposite, a problem with patterns hiding inside it. A keeper who has studied where players tend to place the ball under pressure, who notices the small tells in a striker’s run up, and who keeps his composure long enough to act on that knowledge, tilts the odds in his favor a fraction. In a discipline decided by inches, a fraction is enormous. That Gold Cup night was the first time the wider American public saw the theory pay off in real time.

The natural follow up question, of course, was whether his Harvard research had helped him read those Costa Rican penalties. Freese shut it down with the wariness of a man protecting an edge. “I just don’t really want to talk about that,” he said. “It’s too early. I have too many penalty shootouts left in my career to really talk about that stuff.” It was a telling answer. Here was a player who clearly believed his preparation gave him an advantage, and who had no intention of explaining that advantage to the strikers he would meet down the road.

A family of scientists

The intellectual streak does not come from nowhere. Freese was raised in a family of renowned scientists, an environment where rigor and study were part of the household furniture. Most goalkeepers describe their development in terms of reflexes, handling and positioning. Freese carries the added layer of someone who grew up around people for whom asking why and testing the answer was simply how you approached a problem.

That combination, the scientist’s mindset and the athlete’s nerve, is rare in any sport. Goalkeeping is often described as the loneliest position in soccer, a job where a single error is remembered long after a dozen saves are forgotten. A player who can treat the position as a set of problems to be analyzed, rather than a series of fears to be survived, has a useful kind of armor. Freese’s refusal to discuss his methods only adds to the sense that there is more going on behind the gloves than a typical highlight reel reveals.

The long climb to a starting job

The path from Harvard dropout to World Cup starter was anything but smooth. Freese left college to join Philadelphia Union for the 2019 season, betting on himself the way ambitious young players do. It did not pay off quickly. He spent years struggling to break into the Union’s first team, stuck behind established options and waiting for a chance that kept not coming. For a while, the gamble looked like it might not work at all.

The turning point came in January 2023, when he was traded to New York City FC. The move finally gave him what Philadelphia never had, a clear runway to become a full time starter. He took it. Regular minutes turned a promising backup into a trusted number one, and his form at club level eventually pulled him into Pochettino’s plans for the national team. By the time the World Cup arrived, Freese had played 16 matches at the senior level for the United States, enough to be tested but young enough to still be rising.

His emergence came at the direct expense of a player many assumed would own the position. Matt Turner started for the United States at the previous World Cup and once belonged to Arsenal, but his recent years were defined by a lack of game time. He failed to make a single Premier League appearance for Arsenal, then drifted through Nottingham Forest, a loan at Crystal Palace, a move to Lyon where he did not feature, and a loan back to the New England Revolution. He is playing regularly again in MLS, but the missing years cost him, and the starting job slipped to Freese.

Pochettino’s quiet endorsement

Choosing a goalkeeper for a home World Cup is one of the most scrutinized decisions a manager makes, and Pochettino did not arrive at it on a whim. He gave Freese the gloves for the opener against Paraguay and has kept faith in him since, a sign that the trust built up over a year of work was real. Pochettino had watched both Matts closely, and he landed on the younger one, the player whose form was rising rather than the veteran whose minutes had dried up.

The decision has been vindicated by results. The United States opened the tournament with a commanding showing against Paraguay and followed it with a controlled win over Australia in Seattle, sealing top spot in Group D before the final round of group games was even complete. A settled, confident goalkeeper is one of the quiet foundations of any team that goes deep, and Freese has given Pochettino exactly that, a number one who looks like he belongs on the biggest stage rather than one merely surviving it.

Why his story fits this American team

There is something fitting about Freese as the face of this US goal. The American game has long sold itself on the idea that talent can come from anywhere and be developed in unconventional ways, that the player pool is not limited to a single pipeline. A Harvard educated goalkeeper who studied the math of penalties, walked away from his degree to chase a contract, weathered years on the bench and emerged as his country’s number one at a home World Cup is almost a mascot for that belief.

It also speaks to the depth of competition the United States now enjoys in a position it once worried about. Two genuine options, both named Matt, both with real pedigree, is a luxury earlier American teams would have envied. Pochettino had a real decision to make, and the fact that the man who lost out has a Premier League past tells you how high the bar has risen.

For Freese, the timing is everything. A home World Cup comes around once in a generation, and most American players his age will never get to play one on home soil with the eyes of their own country on them. He has arrived at it as a starter rather than a spectator, in a position where calm counts more than flash and where reputations are built on the nights nobody expected anything. From Wayne, Pennsylvania, to the biggest goal his nation can offer, he has reached this point by betting on himself at every turn, leaving Harvard, surviving the bench in Philadelphia, forcing his way past a more famous rival. None of it was handed to him.

Knockout soccer, of course, has a way of circling back to the very thing Freese once studied. If the United States advances deep into this tournament, the odds of a shootout grow with every round, and the host nation’s hopes may one day rest on a goalkeeper guessing right from twelve yards. Should that moment arrive, the Americans will have in goal a man who literally researched it, who has already won one shootout for his country, and who is far too smart to tell anyone exactly how he plans to do it again.

The header itself was nothing remarkable, a striker meeting a cross and steering it home, the sort of goal Raul Jimenez has scored hundreds of times. It was what happened next that stopped the Azteca in its tracks. The 35-year-old did not wheel away in the usual celebration. He stood still, looked up at the sky, and broke down in tears. In that moment, on the 67th minute of Mexico’s 2-0 win over South Africa to open the 2026 World Cup, everything Jimenez had survived to be standing on that pitch came pouring out at once. It was his first World Cup goal. It came months after his father died, and a little over five years after a fractured skull nearly ended far more than his career.

Roberto Alvarado supplied the cross. Jimenez rose to meet it and doubled Mexico’s lead in front of a home crowd that has followed every chapter of his story. For a player who has spent so much of his career being defined by what was taken from him, this was the rarest thing: a moment that gave something back.

The Night Everything Nearly Ended

On 29 November 2020, Jimenez was playing for Wolverhampton Wanderers at Arsenal when he went up for a header and collided sickeningly with an opponent. He suffered a fractured skull and needed emergency surgery that night. The injury was not a knock to recover from over a few weeks. It was life-threatening. Jimenez has since said that, based on his conversations with the doctors who treated him, it was a miracle he survived at all. His father later spoke about how the injury arrived at the peak of his son’s powers, when a move up the European ladder felt within reach, and how it changed the shape of everything that followed.

He came back, which was remarkable in itself. Within months he was training again, and eventually he returned to the pitch wearing the protective headgear that has become part of his silhouette ever since. He has worn it in every match since the surgery, a permanent reminder strapped to his head of the day football almost cost him his life. Most players who suffer an injury that serious never play at the highest level again. Some never play at all. Jimenez not only returned but kept scoring, kept leading the line for club and country, and kept his place in the Mexico side long enough to reach a home World Cup.

The Long Road Back

The months after the surgery were not a simple recovery so much as a careful negotiation with risk. Returning to football after a fractured skull meant clearance from specialists, a graduated build-up, and the constant question of whether heading a ball, the very action that had injured him, was safe to attempt again. Jimenez worked through all of it. The protective headgear was part medical precaution, part psychological permission, a way of telling himself it was acceptable to compete fully again rather than flinching from every aerial duel.

What is easy to forget is how good he had been before the injury. At Wolves he had become one of the Premier League’s most complete centre-forwards, a striker who held up play, linked others and scored regularly against the best defences in England. His father’s view, that the injury struck just as the biggest moves of his career were coming into reach, was not the bias of a parent. It was a fair reading of where Jimenez stood in late 2020. The version of him that came back was older and more cautious in some ways, but no less determined to prove the interruption would not be the end of the story.

A Goal for His Father

The grief layered onto the relief made the celebration what it was. Jimenez lost his father, Raul Jimenez Vega, in March of this year. When he looked to the sky after scoring, he was not performing a gesture. He was speaking to someone. Those who know him described it afterwards as a perfect day for a man who had endured a brutal one too many, the kind of release that only comes when something joyful finally arrives after a long stretch of pain.

Football celebrations dedicated to lost loved ones can blur into a familiar image, but the specifics here cut deeper. This was a player who had already faced his own mortality on a hospital table, scoring his first World Cup goal in his own country, in the months after burying his father. The emotion was not manufactured for the cameras. It was a debt visibly settled, to himself, to his family, and to the man who was not there to see it. The Azteca, a stadium that has witnessed Pele and Maradona at their peak, understood exactly what it was watching.

Chasing History in the Mexico Shirt

Lost in the emotion of the night is the fact that Jimenez is closing in on Mexico’s all-time scoring records. He has spent more than a decade as a central figure for El Tri, a reliable presence through changes of coach and generation. The goal against South Africa was a landmark for another reason too. For all his caps and all his goals for Mexico, the World Cup had never given him a moment like this. He had been to the tournament before without scoring. At 35, at what is almost certainly his final World Cup, he finally has one, and on home soil at that.

There is a wider significance for Mexico. A host nation needs a focal point, a player the crowd can pour its hope into, and Jimenez has become exactly that. His comeback story is woven into the country’s relationship with this tournament. When he scores, it is not just three points moving closer. It is a confirmation that the striker who nearly did not make it is still here, still leading the line, still capable of deciding the biggest matches his country plays.

The setting added its own layer. The Azteca became the first stadium to host matches at three different World Cups, having staged the 1970 and 1986 finals before this tournament returned to Mexico City. It is a ground steeped in the sport’s mythology, the place where some of the game’s defining figures produced their defining moments. For Jimenez to write himself into its long story, with a goal carrying that much personal history behind it, gave the night a sense of occasion that went beyond the scoreline. A stadium built for legends made room for one more piece of folklore, supplied by a local hero the country had nearly lost.

Why This One Resonated Beyond Mexico

Some goals belong only to the fans of the team that scores them. This one travelled further. The image of a grown man, a hardened professional, standing frozen and weeping after the simplest of headers, spoke to anyone who has carried loss into a moment that was supposed to be pure celebration. It is the kind of scene that pulls in viewers who do not follow Mexican football and may not have known Jimenez’s history until that night, then found themselves moved by it anyway.

The 2026 World Cup will produce faster players, flashier goals, and bigger names on the scoresheet. It is unlikely to produce many moments heavier than a survivor scoring for his late father in the country that loves him. That is the strange power of this sport. A header that any striker could finish became, because of who scored it and what he had been through, one of the most affecting images of the tournament’s opening week.

Still Standing, Still Scoring

Raul Jimenez will wear the headgear for the rest of his career, and it will keep telling the story whether he wants it to or not. Every time he heads a ball, every time he throws himself into a challenge, there is a quiet defiance in it. The doctors told him he was lucky to be alive. He answered by going back to the one activity that nearly killed him and refusing to do it tentatively.

However Mexico’s tournament unfolds from here, their number nine has already given them the moment that will be replayed for years. A first World Cup goal at 35, scored at the Azteca, dedicated to a father who is gone, by a man who once lay on an operating table with his skull fractured and his future uncertain. Football rarely offers endings that tidy or that earned. For one night in Mexico City, it did, and a striker who had every reason to walk away stood in the middle of it, looking at the sky.

Kylian Mbappe scored his second brace ‌of the tournament, and France eased to a 3-0 victory over Iraq ⁠in the first match ⁠of this World Cup beset by a lengthy weather stoppage.

Mbappe’s goals came nearly three hours apart after thunderstorms in the region on Monday delayed the second-half kickoff by a shade ⁠under two hours.

They take him to 16 all-time World Cup tallies, pulling him level with former record-holder Miroslav Klose. Earlier on Monday, Lionel Messi set a new benchmark of 18 career World Cup ⁠goals with his brace in Argentina’s 2-0 victory over Austria.

Mbappe’s four goals also place him one behind Messi in the 2026 Golden Boot race.

Reigning Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembele also scored after half-time for two-time champions France (2-0-0, 6 points), who are all but assured of progressing.

Their last-32 place will become official if Norway ‌win or draw against Senegal in the other Group I fixture. That match, staged about two hours away by car in northern New Jersey, kicked off near-simultaneously with the start of the long-awaited second half at Philadelphia Stadium.

Iraq (0-2-0, 0 points) remain alive for one of the eight knockout spots allotted for third-place teams.

They will probably need a win in their group finale against Senegal and help elsewhere. And they could be without Aymen Hussein, who scored their only goal this tournament in their ⁠opener, but exited on Monday in the 26th minute with an apparent injury.

France ⁠dominated the early stages, and Mbappe capitalised in the 14th minute.

On an innocent-looking sequence on the right, Mbappe received Michael Olise’s pass, took one touch to his left and, with Iraqi defenders affording him space, unfurled a powerful strike from ⁠the edge of the penalty area that sailed beyond Ahmed Basil’s dive.

The delay could have served as a recovery period for Iraq, who spent most ⁠of the match chasing the ball. Instead, they gifted France ⁠and Mbappe a second on a dreadful mistake from a goal kick.

Dembele was the provider for Mbappe’s tap-in. He scored 12 minutes later, after controlling Olise’s incisive pass into the 18-yard box and finishing low past Basil.

With the outcome never in doubt, ‌the weather provided the drama.

After referee Drew Fischer blew his half-time whistle as storms were already beginning, the skies opened further, and spectators were told to seek shelter in the stadium concourses.

Players finally ‌re-emerged ‌for warm-ups about 1 hour and 40 minutes later, and even then, the restart was delayed further as stadium personnel used squeegees to shuttle standing water off the east side of the pitch.

The Sun Belt is better now than it was when Hugh Freeze, Gus Malzahn, Bryan Harsin, and Blake Anderson were winning conference titles, but Butch Jones has his Red Wolves in the mix every year.

It took a few years, but Jones has a consistent winner now with three straight bowl appearances, 21 wins over the span, and with a team returning that should be good enough to challenge for a championship.

Can the Red Wolves Do Enough to Be Sun Belt Title Good?

Arkansas State Quick Hits

• Head Coach: Butch Jones (6th year, 26-37; 14th year overall, 110-91)
• Best Case / Worst Case: Win the Sun Belt title/Just miss out on a bowl game
• Key Player: Trey Owens, QB Soph. (or whoever wins the quarterback job)
• 2025 Record: 7-6
• Biggest Question: Can the defense do more despite the loss of all the top pass rushers?

Arkansas State Key 2025 Stats

• 2nd Quarter Points: 101, 3rd Quarter Points: 44
• Penalties: Opponents 116 for 999 yards, Arkansas State 82 for 752 yards
• Tackles For Loss: Arkansas State 81 for 345 yards, Opponents 81 for 309 yards

Offense

The offense kicked it in late in the season, but it needs to be more consistent and explosive.

It's a loaded team full of good veterans, but the missing pieces are big.

Overall, there needs to be more efficiency, better play from the line, and consistency, but the players are in place to be terrific for new offensive coordinator, Garrett Altman.

What’s Working

The offensive line returns just about everyone. It needs to be far better - the pass protection needs to show up - and the ground attack has to be much stronger, but four starters are back, there's decent depth, and there are plenty of strong reinforcements coming in from the transfer portal.

Top target and star Corey Rucker is gone, but just about every other important receiver returns, starting with 73-grab veteran Chauncy Cobb and No. 3 man Hunter Summers. Landing Boski Barrett from Vanderbilt helps an already strong situation.

There needs to be a lot more happening from the ground game, and it starts with giving the 1-2 punch of Kenyon Clay (the thump) and Devin Spencer (the quickness) even more work.

There's even more help coming from Corey Reddick Jr., a quick back from Valdosta State who ran for 651 yards and seven scores last year.

What Needs Work

The quarterback situation. Jaylen Raynor threw and completed more passes for more yards than anyone in the Sun Belt last year, and now he's at Iowa State. Now it's a fight for the gig - the Red Wolves don't have it figured out yet.

Ethan Crawford is back after seeing minimal action last year. Drew Dickey (Vanderbilt) is a smallish baller, and 6-5 Trey Owens (Texas) and 6-4 Jeremy St-Hilaire (Vanderbilt) are bigger options.

Consistent scoring. The Red Wolves failed to score 17 points four times, and went 1-5 when they failed to push past 21.

As a program, it didn't get more than 21 in 18 games over the last three years, and it wasn't just against the top teams on the slate.

The ground game has to be stronger. The line has to generate a push - the Red Wolves only averaged more than five yards per carry once, and that game against Georgia Southern was the only time it got more than 160 yards.

Player to Watch

Devin Spencer, RB Jr.
Can the 5-10, 175-pound speedster get the ball more? He's not a workhorse, and he'll split time again, but he averaged over five yards per carry and needs to have the ball in his hands at least ten times a game.

- Sun Belt Football Win Total Predictions

Defense

There's plenty of work to do.

The offense gets a lot of parts back, but the defensive side doesn't. There's a redo happening, with the portal playing a huge role for a defense that allowed well over 400 yards per game.

It wasn't great against the run, and it had a few meltdowns against the better passing teams. As long as it can keep teams to around 24 points, it should be okay.

What’s Working

The safeties are among the best in the Sun Belt. The main men are back, starting with the combination of AG McGhee and Brandon Barnes, who combined for 151 tackles and seven broken up passes last year. Brandon Greil is also back after making 54 stops. If that wasn't enough ...

The coaching staff brought in lots and lots of defensive backs. The safety situation is great, and it's even better with Makai Shahid (Youngstown State) and Jaylen Heyward (UCF) adding depth.

The corners are the stronger of the defensive back transfers, with Noah Flores (Utah State) Bryson Ross (Portland State), and Five Hamilton (Kennesaw State) ready to go right away.

Good things happen when the run defense holds up. It'll take a village of transfers to transform the line - eight linemen are entering the fun - and if they can be nasty against the run, everything changes on the defense.

The Red Wolves were 5-0 when allowing 160 yards or fewer, and 6-1 when giving up fewer than 185 yards. Basically, just don't get gouged.

What Needs Work

Where are the pass rushers? This was one of the best pass rushing teams in America, but the 16.5 sacks from Demarcus Hendricks and Eathan Hassler are done. Cody Sigler left for Auburn, and Drew Collins is off to South Carolina.

The portal needs to bring the production, but the new guys don't have any appreciable proven track record.

The linebacking corps needs the transfers, too. Top tackler Aaron Alexander left for North Texas, and after being banged up last year, Javante Mackey is gone to Texas State.

Joshua Ofor (NC State) and Tre Stevens (Lafayette) join veteran Nigel Nelson - 54 tackles last year - to try piecing things together.

The pass defense got torched. There's a reason why so many new players are coming in through the portal.

Even with a fantastic pass rush, the Red Wolves got hit for 245 yards per game. Opposing quarterbacks combined to complete 68% of their throws.

Player to Watch

AG McGhee, S Sr.
He's only around 190 pounds, but he works in a hybrid position in the ASU defense - part safety, part linebacker.

No matter where he plays, he makes things happen, with 100 tackles in his last two seasons at Marshall before coming up with 83 stops with a pick and five broken up passes last year.

Keys to the Season

• Find the pass rushers who can step up right away.
• Settle the quarterback situation as quickly as possible.
• Get more pop to the offense with both the downfield passing game and rushing attack.

Player Who Needs To Shine

Donquarius Parker, EDGE, Sr.
The transfers for the pass rush are mostly FBS players who haven't done much yet.

The 6-1, 240-pound Parker is one of the few players with plenty of experience, making 39 tackles with 5.5 sacks and 11.5 tackles for loss last year for North Carolina Central. He'll get every shot to be the main man on the outside.

Biggest Concern

The defensive line
The offensive side issues - quarterback, consistency, pass protection - should be helped by experience. The defensive line has to be even stronger against the run and find the same pressure, but with wholesale changes needed up front.

Biggest Game

Troy, November 28
This is hardly a perfect Arkansas State team coming into the season, but it has the talent and upside to win the Sun Belt West - by far the easier of the two divisions.

One way or another, a spot in the Sun Belt Championship should come down to the regular season finale when the Trojans come to Jonesboro.

Transfer Portal

The Red Wolves needed a lot of players, and they got a lot of players.

They totally rebuilt the defensive line and loaded up in the secondary, but the only thing that matters is the quarterback situation.

One of the several players coming in has to be an instant star for the veteran offense.

Best Signing

Makai Shahid, S (Youngstown State)
This could be whichever quarterback rises up from the pack - Trey Owens from Texas might be the best signing - but Shahid is right up there with the team's best new guys.

The Red Wolves are already good at safety, and they added more to the mix with the 6-0, 190-pound Shahid, who made 125 tackles with six broken up passes over the last two years at Youngstown State.

Biggest Loss

Cody Sigler, DT (Auburn)
In his one year at Arkansas State, Sigler turned into a whale of an interior pass rusher with five sacks and 35 tackles for loss. And now he'll be a part of the rotation at Auburn.

Other Names to Know

• Joshua Ofor, LB (NC State)
• Manasse Itete, OG (Florida State)
• Noah Flores, CB (Utah State)

CFN Season Prediction

To try threading this prediction needle, Arkansas State should be an okay team with an okay record and with strong overall results.

The glitches might not easily be fixed. The offense will be fine, but all the veteran offensive linemen have to form a better overall unit. The transfer portal will help the defense, but it has to be better, too.

But with the Sun Belt divisional format, it's possible to lose games and still be deep in the mix for the conference title. That's Arkansas State.

CFN Prediction: 7-5

Can the Red Wolves win the road games? Last year they lost to Kennesaw State away from home and dropped the date to a bad ULM team, but they also won their last three road games against South Alabama, Troy, and App State in close games.

This year, they should lose at Memphis and TCU early, and dates at Louisiana and Southern Miss lean loss.

It'll all come down to back-to-back road games against Coastal Carolina and Louisiana Tech late, and then the home game against Troy.

It'll be a fourth straight bowl season without too much of a concern, but it'll take a few breaks to play for the Sun Belt title.

Related: Sun Belt Football: Ranking All 14 Teams Heading Into Spring 2026

Deniz Undav scored two goals off the bench as Germany pulled off a thrilling comeback to beat Ivory Coast 2-1 in their ⁠World Cup Group E match, securing their place in the knockout stage for the first time since they won the title in 2014.

After having two goals disallowed in the first half on Saturday, Germany did not lose ⁠focus and used intricate passing to find their way, while the West Africans produced their dynamic brand of attacking football in a wild Group E clash.

Undav levelled the score with a controlled, volleyed finish in the 68th minute and struck again when he received a pass on the turn, before swivelling and firing home a ball that Yahia ‌Fofana had no chance at stopping.

The versatile striker now has nine goals in his last eight matches.

Simon Adingra had a late chance for Ivory Coast, but he failed to get a shot off in the area before Germany charged back down the field and Fofana blocked a low shot from Nathaniel Brown.

Ivory Coast had opened the scoring in the first half when Franck Kessie slotted home a rebound off a shot by Amad Diallo on a play created when Yan Diomande charged down the left side and sent in ⁠a cross.

With more than 100,000 people of German ancestry living in Toronto, Julian Nagelsmann’s ⁠men enjoyed plenty of support but were a frustrated group at the interval with nothing to show for their eight attempts on goal.

Germany looked to have opened the scoring when midfielder Aleksandar Pavlovic rose to meet a short corner in the 25th minute but was ⁠deemed to have fouled Fofana in the process.

The ruling left Pavlovic with his hands atop his head in disbelief while Fofana received some attention after the collision, and ⁠the partisan German crowd made their disdain for the referee’s decision ⁠known.

Shortly after, it was Ivory Coast who finally broke through with Kessie’s goal. The West Africans have scored in their last seven matches at the tournament – the longest such sequence on the global stage in their history.

Germany once again put the ball in the back of the ‌net, but their celebrations were cut short as the referee determined that Jamal Musiala had fouled Odilon Kossounou in the buildup.

Germany top Group E with six points and are through to the last 32, while Ivory Coast remain ‌on three after two matches. Ecuador and Curacao meet in Kansas City later on Saturday.

Germany will close out the group stage against Ecuador on Thursday in New Jersey, while Ivory Coast face Curacao in Philadelphia.

MLB team Los Angeles Dodgers‘ superstar Shohei Ohtani and his wife, Mamiko Tanaka, have announced the birth of their second child.

The couple shared the news Saturday through a joint statement on Instagram. Ohtani was recently placed on the Dodgers’ paternity list and stepped away from the team to be with his family.

“We are again overjoyed to experience this wonderful day in our lives together,” Ohtani and Tanaka wrote. “Thank you for being born safely. We would also like to express our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who has supported us throughout this journey.”

The couple did not reveal the baby’s name, gender, or exact birth date.

MORE: Yankees-Aroldis Chapman reunion becoming more unlikely

This marks the second child for Ohtani and Tanaka, who welcomed a daughter in April 2025. The family has largely kept personal milestones private since Ohtani announced their marriage in early 2024.

The announcement included a photo of the newborn’s feet wrapped in a blue blanket. Their dog, Decoy, also appeared in the family photo.

The timing comes during another remarkable season for Ohtani.

Shohei Ohtani is once again dominating this MLB season

The 31-year-old star continues to dominate as both a hitter and pitcher for the Dodgers.

Entering the weekend, Ohtani owns a .296 batting average with 15 home runs and 42 RBIs. On the mound, he has posted a 7-2 record with a 1.47 ERA and 78 strikeouts in 73.2 innings.

Ohtani remains one of the leading candidates for both the National League MVP and Cy Young Award. He has already won three consecutive MVP awards, including the last two in the National League.

The Dodgers have not missed a beat despite Ohtani’s brief absence. Los Angeles entered the weekend with MLB’s best record at 49-27 and a commanding lead in the National League West.

MORE: Phillies sign former Dodgers prospect, 27, after monster month

Ohtani is expected to rejoin the club before the end of the weekend. For now, however, baseball has taken a back seat as one of the sport’s biggest stars celebrates a major family milestone.

The Iranian football team began their World Cup campaign under the shadow of a war with the United States. They soon became collateral damage in the conflict with strict conditions on their visas to the US and other difficulties. Now, as a peace deal emerges between the US and Iran, experts have asked what this could mean for Team Melli – as the Iranian squad is known – in the tournament.

Although World Cup hosts have been at war with other nations at the time of tournaments, and Argentina was also in the midst of the Dirty War during the 1978 tournament, there has not been a single case of an organiser being embroiled in a conflict with another participant, as is the case with the US and Iran.

The US and Israel launched a war on Iran in February 28. Although a temporary ceasefire suspended much of the most intense fighting on April 8 and a peace agreement was signed this week, tensions between the two countries remain high and have spilled over into the supposedly apolitical World Cup.

This bubble burst in March when US President Donald Trump said on Truth Social that the Iran squad was welcome to the US but he “[did not] believe it ⁠is appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety”.

Iran’s football team has been held hostage to the US’s immigration whims right up till the start of the tournament. Players were granted visas for the US — where they play all their group stage matches — just 10 days before their opening match against New Zealand in Los Angeles – and have had to leave the country for their base camp in Mexico after finishing their games. Iranian-American political analyst and journalist Negar Mortazavi has described this as “extra animosity” towards Team Melli.

Whether the team would even be allowed into the country remained unknown as FIFA President Gianni Infantino appeared unable to secure any guarantees from Trump about the Iranian team’s visa situation.

Out of a rightful abundance of caution, manager Amir Ghalenoei’s side switched the team’s base camp from Arizona, US, to Tijuana, Mexico, at the last minute. The US doubled down on Tuesday and said the team had to depart within hours of the full-time whistle being blown. They had arrived just one day prior to kickoff.

As a hurried memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran began to materialise on Wednesday night, questions arose on its ramifications for Team Melli.

Can the peace deal really impact Iran’s football team in the US?

While neither side has released a physical copy of the memorandum of understanding, nor are World Cup-specific arrangements expected to be written in, experts hope that the agreement translates to more amicable treatment for the Iranian football team in the US.

“With a peace deal, things can change,” Mortazavi said in an interview with Al Jazeera.

“We can see President Trump’s rhetoric on Iran has dramatically changed over the past few days, and he’s suddenly talking about better relationships with Iran from a political and economic standpoint, and that can certainly extend to sports,” she continued.

The shift from threats to diplomacy sprouted last week when Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that “our relationship with Iran is a much different and better one than previous Administrations have had”. “Hopefully, this process will all work out quickly, easily, and smoothly.”

Mortazavi said that despite the World Cup’s stance on steering clear from politics, the US’s treatment of Iran’s team was a testament to how politics can impact the sport.

“I expect a US peace deal to open the door for better relations and hopefully have a positive impact on the situation of the team and remove some of the hurdles if the US can extend some goodwill gestures to the team,” she said.

A slight thawing of relations ahead of the peace deal announcement came as the US on Tuesday quickly reissued a multiple-entry visa for Iran winger Mehdi Torabi after his visa expired following the game with New Zealand.

However, political scholar Niki Akhavan cautioned that Trump might renege on the deal due to the immense pressure he faces from Republican anti-Iran hardliners, pro-Israel groups and Democrats for giving Iran “too much” in the peace deal.

“But, in the best-case scenario, issuing a multiple-entry visa for Torabi may be a good indication of some kind of flexibility on the US’s part to actually adhere to its responsibilities as a host nation,” Akhavan told Al Jazeera.

“The comments Trump has made today on Iran are friendly comments, we might see better treatment of the Iran team, which has been unfairly treated the most. It’s a sign of them softening their unreasonable stance towards Iran.”

Akhavan’s caution stood true as tensions at the World Cup reignited after the solitary goodwill gesture of Torabi’s visa renewal.

Iran announced on Thursday that it would lodge a complaint with FIFA after its football federation claimed its request to enter the US two days before their match against Belgium on Sunday was declined.

“Despite having submitted its preparation schedule for the tournament well in advance, Iran’s national football team has once again encountered restrictions imposed by the organisers, affecting the implementation of its technical staff’s plans,” a spokesperson for the federation said.

Part of the host nation’s responsibilities include each team’s safety, and, Akhavan argues that the US’s decisions regarding Iran’s logistics at the World Cup have been discriminatory and have deliberately attempted to hurt the team.

The logistical barriers were compounded when Iran’s World Cup ticket allotment for fans was withdrawn just before the tournament began. Additionally, several members of the squad’s technical staff were denied entry to the US, even though all football players were allowed.

“You’re actively disadvantaging a team; the whole idea is that everybody is level on the playing field, and the US’s actions thus far have been counter to that,” Akhavan said.

“I can only hope that one impact of this agreement is that they [the US] will adhere to their responsibilities [as host nation] and we’ll see some changes.

“Because this is unfair to these young men; this is their dream and they’re representing their people.”

Akhavan also emphasised that FIFA could have pushed the US to fulfil its responsibilities as a host nation and transcend the war and politics.

“Hopefully, now that there is an agreement, [Infantino] can use that as motivation to make peace part of the agenda of the World Cup. There’s a lot of empty gestures towards peace by Infantino and FIFA with the armbands and the FIFA peace prize,” Akhavan said, referring to Trump being the recipient of FIFA’s inaugural accolade in December.

“Let’s see if they can actually put some of that into material reality in terms of the Iranian team.”

The knockout bracket in the FIFA World Cup 2026 is starting to take shape.

It begins with the round of 32, which runs from June 28 to July 3.

What is the format and criteria for qualification, and which teams have progressed or been eliminated?

What is the format of the World Cup knockouts?

The top two teams in each of the 12 groups, along with the eight best third-place finishers, advance to knockouts.

The knockout phase begins with the round of 32, introduced for the first time at a World Cup after the expansion of the tournament from 32 to 48 teams.

Then comes the round of 16, followed by the quarterfinals, semifinals and a playoff for third place. The final is on July 19.

The stage-wise breakdown of the tournament’s schedule is:

• Group stage: June 11 to June 27
• Round of 32: June 28 to July 3
• Round of 16: July 4-7
• Quarterfinals: July 9-11
• Semifinals: July 14-15
• Bronze medal match: July 18
• Final: July 19

What are the rules change for the tie-breaker criteria at the 2026 World Cup?

FIFA is using head-to-head records instead of goal difference as the primary tiebreaker for teams level on points for the first time at a World Cup.

Haiti, Turkiye and Tunisia have been eliminated because they are unable to catch the third-placed teams in their respective groups, as they lost to those teams.

Tie-breaker criteria for World Cup groups

According to FIFA’s rules for the tournament, if two or more teams in the same group are equal on points after the group stage ends, the following criteria, in the order below, will be applied to determine the ranking:

Step one

• Greatest number of points gained in the group matches.
• Superior goal difference in the group matches between the teams concerned (head-to-head).
• Greatest number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned (head-to-head).

If the teams are still tied, the criteria below applies:

Step two

• Superior goal difference across all group matches.
• Greatest number of goals scored across all group matches.
• Highest team conduct score (players and team officials) relating to the number of yellow and red cards obtained.

If the teams somehow still cannot be separated, then the following criteria below applies:

Step three

• The two or more teams still equal on points shall be ranked according to the most recent published edition of the FIFA world rankings.

The criteria for the eight best‑ranked teams

The eight best teams among those ranked third will be determined as follows:

• Greatest number of points gained in all group matches.
• Goal difference resulting from all group matches.
• Greatest number of goals scored in all group matches.
• Highest team conduct score (players and team officials) relating to the number of yellow and red cards obtained in all group matches.
• The two or more teams still equal on points shall be ranked according to the most recent published edition of the FIFA world rankings.

Which teams have reached the World Cup round of 32?

(As of June 23, 02:30 GMT)

⚽️ Mexico (Group A) 

The cohosts were the first to qualify for the knockouts, after taking top spot in Group A with a 1-0 win over South Korea on Thursday, June 18. The Mexicans started their campaign with a 2-0 win over South Africa in a chaotic tournament opener.

⚽️ USA (Group D)

The United States were the second team to punch their ticket to the knockouts, thanks to their 2-0 win over Australia that sent them on top of Group D on Friday, June 19. The USA thumped Paraguay 4-1 to kick off their campaign.

⚽️ Germany (Group E) 

Germany became the third team to enter the last 32 with a 2-1 win over Ivory Coast on Saturday, June 20. The Germans – who failed to get out of the group stage both at Russia 2018 and four years ago in Qatar – started their tournament with a 7-1 thrashing of Curacao.

⚽️ Argentina (Group J)

Argentina sealed their ticket to the knockouts with a 2-0 victory over Austria on Monday, June 22, as Lionel Messi scored twice, becoming the World Cup’s all-time leading scorer with 18 goals. The Argentina captain also bagged his maiden tournament hat-trick in their 3-0 opening game win over Algeria. Reigning champions Argentina are guaranteed the top spot in Group J.

⚽️ France (Group I)

Pre-tournament favourites France secured a place in the round of 32 with a 3-0 win over Iraq later on Monday, as Kylian Mbappe scored a brace. The 2018 world champions beat Senegal 3-1 to kick off their tournament, with Mbappe scoring twice in that game, too.

⚽️ Norway (Group I)

Norway beat Senegal 3-2 in their second game of the tournament, sealing their place in the knockouts. The Norwegians, who are back at the World Cup after 28 years, started their campaign with a 4-1 thrashing of Iraq.

Which teams have been knocked out of the World Cup 2026?

⚽️ Haiti (Group C)

Haiti became the first team to be sent home packing from the World Cup after suffering a 3-0 loss to Brazil on Friday, June 19. Playing in their first tournament since 1974, they also lost 1-0 to Scotland in their first game.

⚽️ Turkiye (Group D)

Turkiye soon followed suit, bowing out of the tournament after a 1-0 defeat to 10-man Paraguay later on Friday. They also suffered a shock 2-0 defeat to Australia in the first group match – their first appearance at the tournament after 24 years.

⚽️ Tunisia (Group F)

Tunisia became the third team to be eliminated after they lost 4-0 to Japan on Saturday, June 20. The defeat came shortly after they suffered a heavy 5-1 defeat to Sweden in the opener. Tunisia were the first African team to win a World Cup match when they beat Mexico in 1978, but they have never progressed beyond the group stages.

Who: Germany vs Ivory Coast
What: FIFA World Cup 2026 Group E match
Where: Toronto Stadium, Toronto, Canada
When: Saturday, 4pm (20:00 GMT)
How to follow: Keep up with all updates on Al Jazeera Sport

One of the most mouthwatering matches in the second round of games in the World Cup 2026 group stage sees four-time champions Germany facing a talented Ivory Coast outfit in Toronto on Saturday evening.

Both sides made a winning start to their Group E campaign, in very different ways, as Die Mannschaft overcame an early scare against Curacao to romp to a 7-1 win, while The Elephants eventually pipped Ecuador 1-0 with a last-gasp goal, after the South Americans had hit the woodwork three times.

Germany under the radar?

After disappointing group-stage exits in 2018 and 2022, Germany came into this tournament somewhat under the radar, with the perennial powerhouse ranked only seventh-favourites to lift their fifth World Cup.

While they turned on the style thanks to young stars like Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz to pile on the goals against Curacao – the smallest nation by size and population ever to have taken part in a World Cup – and the goals have flowed in 10 straight wins, this will be a far stiffer test.

Curacao caused the German defence a few problems, especially in the opening half-hour, and it’s their pivotal central-defensive pairing of Jonathan Tah and Nico Schlotterbeck, playing in front of 40-year-old keeper Manuel Neuer, that will ultimately decide how deep the Germans can go in this tournament.

Dynamic Arsenal attacking midfielder Kai Havertz continued his recent goalscoring run for club and country with a double for Germany in the opening game, but he will likely find the Ivory Coast defence a harder challenge than that posed by Curacao’s backline.

By winning their group opener, Germany did what they couldn’t in 2018 and 2022 and appear certain to progress to a first knockout match since the 2014 World Cup Final. Whether they advance as group winners, or limp through in the minor places, might well come down to the result in Toronto.

A win against Ivory Coast would secure direct top-two qualification to the Round of 32 and would likely be enough to top Group E should Ecuador fail to beat Curacao four hours later in Kansas City.

In an alternate scenario, even with a German victory against Ivory Coast, Ecuador – if they can beat both Curacao and then the Germans in Thursday’s group finale – would make things very interesting, with the potential for three teams – Germany, Ivory Coast and Ecuador – to be locked on six points and tiebreakers needed to separate them.

It matters because the team finishing first will play a third-placed qualifier, while the runner-up will face the team finishing second in the group featuring France, Norway, Senegal and Iraq, and the team qualifying third would face a group winner, potentially England or Mexico.

Matchday 4 ✔️#FIFAWorldCup

— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) June 15, 2026

Pivotal match as Ivory Coast seek history

The Elephants might have ridden their luck, but ending Ecuador’s 19-match unbeaten streak across nearly two years in their opening game caught the eye of their fan base and will have raised expectations.

Amad Diallo’s last-minute winner ensured Ivory Coast have now won a game at all four World Cups for which they have qualified, and they can reach the knockout stages for the first time, if they defeat Germany.

In fact, they can seal top spot in Group E should they beat Die Mannschaft and Ecuador fail to beat Curacao in the other group game later on Saturday evening.

A draw against Germany would make for an intriguing group finale on Thursday night, as it would likely leave all three teams in with a chance of finishing first going into the final game, with Ivory Coast potentially needing to beat Curacao by more than six goals to ensure supremacy on goal difference.

How does the group stage work?

Germany, Ivory Coast, Ecuador and Curacao are in Group E.

They will play each other once in the initial stage of the tournament. The top two teams from each of the 12 groups – along with the eight best third-placed teams – will proceed to the next phase, the round of 32, which has been introduced at the World Cup for the first time.

Head-to-head

This will be just the second meeting between Germany and Ivory Coast.

The previous game was a friendly in November 2009, which saw Lukas Podolski score twice, including a last-gasp equaliser in a 2-2 draw.

Form guide:

(Last five games, latest match first)

Germany: W-W-W-W-W

Ivory Coast: W-W-W-W-L

Germany’s thumping win over Curacao last Sunday means they have won 10 straight games going back to September 2025 and have scored two or more goals in nine of those matches.

They have, however, struggled at the opposite end of the pitch, conceding goals in seven straight World Cup matches, their longest run since 1970, and their last clean sheet came in the 2014 final against Argentina in Brazil.

Ivory Coast go in search of a fifth straight victory, and confidence is high after both the Ecuador triumph last Sunday, which followed their 2-1 win against world number-three France in their final warm-up game in Paris on June 4.

Their last defeat came in the AFCON quarterfinal against Egypt in January.

5 - Last night for @equipenatciv vs Ecuador, Yan Diomande became the first player Opta has on record since 1966 to create 5+ chances (5), make 5+ tackles (5), win 10+ duels (11) and have 10+ touches in the opposition’s box (12) in a FIFA World Cup match.

🇨🇮 Star. pic.twitter.com/F98Hg8NvV1

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) June 15, 2026

Team news: Germany

Coach Julian Nagelsmann might well keep faith with the same XI that eventually put Curacao to the sword, but if he does, it might be tough on Deniz Undav.

The Stuttgart forward came off the bench to replace Jamal Musiala with 26 minutes to go and scored and provided two assists as Germany picked up their biggest win since the 2014 semifinal against Brazil. The versatile Undav has scored seven times and added four assists in just 10 appearances for Die Mannschaft.

Team news: Ivory Coast

Ivory Coast coach Emerse Fae likely has more decisions to make.

Elye Wahi started the win over Ecuador up front before being replaced just before the hour by Ange-Yoan Bonny.

He was initially denied entry into Canada for this match due to visa complications. He was linked to a sports betting scandal while playing for Nice in Ligue 1 last month, but has since been authorised to travel and could yet be involved.

Bonny and unused subs from the first game, Oumar Diakite and Evann Guessand, are alternative options in attack.

Diallo came off the bench to win it, and the Manchester United attacking midfielder will be pushing to start, which might mean a switch of flanks for teenage starlet Yan Diomande, who stole the show on the right against Ecuador and will be eager to put on a show against the nation in which he plays for RB Leipzig.

Germany predicted XI:

Neuer (goalkeeper); Kimmich, Tah, Schlotterbeck, Brown; Pavlovic, Nmecha; Sane, Musiala, Wirtz; Havertz.

Ivory Coast predicted XI:

Y. Fofana (goalkeeper); Doue, Singo, Agbadou, Konan; Diallo, Kessie, S. Fofana, Diomande; Bonny, Toure.

You can follow the action on Al Jazeera’s dedicated FIFA World Cup 2026 page with all the latest news, match build-up and live text commentary and keep up to date with group standings, real-time match results and schedules.

Iran’s 2026 World Cup team will lodge a complaint with FIFA claiming they are being subjected to travel restrictions during the tournament in North America, the Iranian football federation spokesperson said on Thursday.

“Despite having submitted its preparation schedule for the tournament well in advance, Iran’s national football team has once again encountered restrictions imposed by the organisers, affecting the implementation of its technical staff’s plans,” the spokesperson said, according to AFP news agency.

Iran wanted to fly from their base camp in Tijuana, Mexico, to the United States two days before their next group match against Belgium in Los Angeles on Sunday. But the Iranian federation claims its request was turned down.

“Given that the game will be played at 12pm local time in Los Angeles, the football federation of Iran requested that the team be allowed to travel to Los Angeles two days before the match,” the spokesman said.

“The aim was to provide sufficient time for players to adapt to the match conditions, complete their final training session, and finalise preparations.

“Despite the technical reasons presented by the federation, the request was once again denied.”

After Iran’s first World Cup game on Monday – in which they drew 2-2 with New Zealand in a politically charged encounter – US officials said that the team will have to leave the country within hours of the full-time whistle at their World Cup group games in Los Angeles and Seattle.

The response from the World Cup 2026 cohost nation came on Tuesday following criticism of its handling of the Iranian team’s visas and stay in the US after their first game.

The Iranian delegation left the US hours after the match in LA ended at about 8pm local time (03:00 GMT) and returned to their base camp in Mexico, prompting criticism of the US handling of their visas, as the team did not get a day to recover at their hotel.

‘Match day minus one,’ says US government

The US administration has pushed back against the Iranian claims.

Andrew Giuliani, the executive director of the White House FIFA Task Force, said on Monday that Iran had been informed in advance that they would be allowed to come into the US only on the day before the game.

“The team will be allowed to come in, match day minus one, so the day before the match,” Giuliani told CBS News.

“They’ll be asked to leave the day that the match wraps up, so the evening of the match. And they’ll be able to do that again in Los Angeles.”

He added that the procedure would be the same for Iran’s final group game against Egypt in Seattle on June 26.

Iran, who are in Group G, kicked off their campaign this week in North America after months of uncertainty over the team’s participation in the World Cup amid the US-Israel war on Iran.

Raul “Tala” Rangel produced arguably the save of the tournament during Mexico’s 1-0 victory against South Korea to clinch the top spot in Group A, marking the first time they topped a World Cup group since the 2002 edition of the soccer tournament.

During the 88th minute, a cross found South Korea’s Cho Gue-Sung alone in the box, and the forward tried to head the ball in for the equaliser. However, Rangel kept the ball out with his right foot as he fell to the ground. Yang Hyun-Jun came for a rebound, but the Guadalajara native somehow raised his right hand just enough to snatch the ball out of the air before it could cross the goal line.

Rangel’s intervention sealed the deal for Mexico, which went ahead earlier in the match when Luis Romo scored off a mistake from South Korea goalkeeper Kim Seung-Gyu.

“Raul Rangel, I think he is a hero right now with the double save. Initially, it was a really good service from South Korea, but Rangel was on point,” former Mexican player Janelly Farias stated on CBS. “That’s what makes a keeper great at this level. He did exactly what he needed to do.”

MORE:How to watch Mexico vs Korea for free: Live stream 2026 World Cup

Mexico head coach Javier Aguirre gets brutally honest on ‘ugly’ performance against South Korea

Despite clinching their Round of 32 spot, Mexico head coach Javier Aguirre was not fully satisfied with their performance. To Aguirre’s point, El Tricolor produced a worse expected goals (xG) than the Taeguk Warriors (0.48 to 0.67).

“It was a very close game; we ​didn’t give up a single centimeter and fought for every ball as if it were our last,” Aguirre told reporters. “It was a game where whoever made a mistake would lose, and it was them… It ​was a game to forget, but the result is one to remember.”

“We’ve been doing very well. It wasn’t a great match, but I think that our opponent didn’t let us do too much. But we still were able to score on that mistake, in addition to another two or three opportunities,” he continued.

For two decades, Mexico have relied on Guillermo Ochoa as their last line of defense. But on Thursday night, and probably for the rest of the World Cup 2026, Raul Rangel is their de facto starting No. 1, relegating Ochoa to the bench.