The countdown to the 2026 World Cup is on! Each day ahead of the tournament’s return to North America, Yahoo Sports will highlight an insight or moment that showcases just how grand the world’s biggest sporting spectacle has become — even beyond the expanded field of this year’s global event.

If you want to understand the scale of the World Cup, start with the crowds.

The 1994 World Cup still holds the attendance record, with 3,587,538 spectators packing into stadiums across the United States that summer. Helping that record number was the 94,194 in attendance for the final at the Rose Bowl in Greater Los Angeles to see Brazil beat Italy in a dramatic penalty shootout.

And it definitely wasn’t a one-off.

Each of the past four World Cups has drawn over 3 million fans in person. Brazil 2014 was the closest to matching the USA 1994 number with a total attendance of 3,441,450. 

As for sheer spectacle, nothing tops the most epic crowd in soccer history. The 1950 final between Uruguay and Brazil drew an estimated 173,850 fans to the legendary Estádio do Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro.

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Only two other individual World Cup matches have drawn over 100,000 fans. The 1986 final brought 114,600 Estadio Azteca in Mexico City to watch Argentina beat West Germany.

And back in 1970, a group-stage match attracted 108,192 fans to Estadio Azteca to watch Mexico beat Belgium 1-0.

The numbers sound almost impossible. But where the World Cup goes, the crowds follow.

Day 3 of the 2026 World Baseball Classic could see several teams fall into 0-3 holes to open pool play. Colombia, Great Britain, Nicaragua, Panama and Brazil go into Sunday each losing their first two games in the tournament.

Sunday’s marquee game pits Japan versus Australia, both of whom are 2-0. Among the other six games on the schedule, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Italy, Canada and Mexico each have an opportunity to improve to 2-0 by the end of the day.

Cuba faces Colombia, the Dominican Republic plays the Netherlands, Italy takes on Great Britain, Canada is matched up with Panama and Sunday’s play ends with Mexico facing Brazil.

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Japan 4, Australia 3

Masataka Yoshida’s 2-run home run in the seventh inning gave Japan the lead after going scoreless for the previous six frames. Japan added two more runs in the eighth on a pinch-hit RBI double from Teruaki Sato and Seiya Suzuki drawing a bases-loaded walk (after Shohei Ohtani was intentionally walked).

Ohtani finished 0-for-3 with two walks after coming into Sunday’s matchup with 5 hits, 2 home runs and 6 RBI.

Read more here.

Sunday’s WBC schedule, how to watch

• Japan vs. Australia, 6 a.m. ET on FS1/Fubo

• Cuba vs. Colombia, noon ET on FS2/Fubo

• Dominican Republic vs. Netherlands, noon ET on Fox/Fubo

• Italy vs. Great Britain, 1 p.m. ET on Tubi

• Israel vs. Nicaragua, 7 p.m. ET on Tubi

• Canada vs. Panama, 7 p.m. ET on FS2/Fubo

• Mexico vs. Brazil, 8 p.m. ET on FS1/Fubo

Monday’s WBC schedule

• Korea vs. Australia, 6 a.m. ET on FS1

• Dominican Republic vs. Israel, 12 p.m. ET on FS1

• Colombia vs. Panama, 12 p.m. ET on FS2

• Brazil vs. Great Britain, 1 p.m. ET on Tubi

• Cuba vs. Puerto Rico, 7 p.m. ET on FS1

• Venezuela vs. Nicaragua, 7 p.m. ET on FS2

• Mexico vs. United States, 8 p.m. ET on Fox

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The BMF title bout between Charles Oliveira and Max Holloway didn't live up to expectations Saturday night at UFC 326 in Las Vegas.

In what was expected to be an all-action banger turned out to be a stifling grappling exhibition by Oliveira, who won via dominant unanimous decision.

And it seems the masses weren't thrilled the BMF title wasn't decided by two fighters slugging it out in the center of the Octagon.

Here's what interested observers had to say about the lightweight rematch between Oliveira and Holloway:

Main card results

BMF championship - lightweight: Charles Oliveira def. Max Holloway via unanimous decision (50-45 All)

Middleweight: Caio Borralho def. Reinier de Ridder via unanimous decision (30-27 All)

Bantamweight: Raul Rosas Jr. def. Rob Font via unanimous decision (30-27 All)

Lightweight: Drew Dober def. Michael Johnson via KO (punch) at 1:53 of R2 | Watch finish

Middleweight: Gregory Rodrigues def. Brunno Ferreira via KO (punch) at 1:47 of R1 | Watch finish

Preliminary card results

Bantamweight: Cody Garbrandt def. Xiao Long via unanimous decision (28-27 All)

Middleweight: Donte Johnson def. Cody Brundage via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Featherweight: Alberto Montes def. Ricky Turcios via submission (anaconda choke) at 0:40 of R2 | Watch finish

Flyweight: Nyamjargal Tumendemberel def. Cody Durdern via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

Early prelims results

Flyweight: Su Mudaerji def. Jesus Aguilar via unanimous decision (30-27 All)

Light heavyweight: Diyar Nurgozhay def. Rafael Tobias via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

Light heavyweight: Rodolfo Bellato def. Luke Fernandez via TKO (punches) at 2:42 of R1 | Watch finish

The countdown to the 2026 World Cup is on! Each day ahead of the tournament’s return to North America, Yahoo Sports will highlight an insight or moment that showcases just how grand the world’s biggest sporting spectacle has become — even beyond the expanded field of this year’s global event.

The 2026 World Cup is just built different.

For the first time, this year’s World Cup will feature 48 teams instead of 32, a massive expansion approved by FIFA that reshapes the competition after nearly three decades of the same format. From 1998 to 2022, the World Cup field held steady at 32 nations. This June, it gets a lot more crowded.

The scale of the event is changing in other ways, too.

The 2026 version will be staged across three host countries — the United States, Canada and Mexico — the first time the World Cup has spanned that many nations. Mexico will become the first country to host matches at three separate tournaments, having previously staged the tourney in 1970 and 1986.

Those earlier editions produced some of the sport’s most iconic moments. In 1970, Pelé led Brazil to the title in his final World Cup. Sixteen years later the event was back in the country with Diego Maradona helping Argentina to the title over West Germany.

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This will be the first time hosting for Canada and second time for the U.S. following the 1994 World Cup, which helped ignite modern professional soccer in the country.

With 16 more teams qualifying, that means more matches will take place across North America than in previous World Cups. The 32-team tournaments had 64 total matches. The 2026 World Cup will feature 104 in 38 days.

Even the final is getting a refresh. The championship match at New Jersey's MetLife Stadium on July 19 will include a Super Bowl-style halftime show produced by Coldplay manager Phil Harvey and lead singer Chris Martin — a break that could surpass the traditional 15-minute halftime outlined in soccer’s Laws of the Game.