High-scoring Germany face a powerful Ivory Coast side at the World Cup on Saturday with the winner guaranteed a place in the last 32, while Sweden can also book their ticket.

Those three nations can join co-hosts the United States and Mexico who are already through.

Germany thrashed debutants Curacao 7-1 in their opener and would be confirmed as Group E winners if they defeat Ivory Coast in Toronto and Ecuador fail to beat Curacao in Kansas City.

Progressing to the knockout round would be a relief for the Germans who astonishingly have failed to reach that stage since they won their fourth World Cup in Brazil in 2014.

So tight are the margins that Ivory Coast could lock up their place in the next round too, if they beat the Germans.

Julian Nagelsmann said his team had to be prepared for Ivory Coast's athleticism.

"Their speed is one of their biggest strengths and that's what I think they do best," he told reporters, highlighting the French-born Ivorian winger Nicolas Pepe.

"During the last game, he was everywhere," Nagelsmann said of Pepe.

Ivory Coast could also count on forward Elye Wahi who has been authorized to enter Canada after initially being denied a visa over reported spot-fixing allegations in France.

Sweden face the Netherlands in Houston knowing that a win will secure a place in the knockout round -- an extraordinary turnaround for the Scandinavians who only qualified for the World Cup through the Nations League, essentially the back door.

Coach Graham Potter warned that Sweden striker Alexander Isak will get "stronger and stronger" as the tournament goes on.

Isak had a poor season by his standards, interrupted by frequent injuries, after Liverpool paid Newcastle United a British record £125 million ($165 million) for him.

He made a strong start to the World Cup, though, as the 26-year-old scored one goal and set up two in the 5-1 thrashing of Tunisia.

"Alex has had a season that has been interrupted," Potter said. "Most football players would say they need a certain amount of time and games to get up to top, top level, so we've had to try to build Alex up. I think there's more to come from him."

- 1,000th game -

History will be made in another of Saturday's games as Japan face Tunisia in Monterrey, Mexico for the 1,000th game at a World Cup.

Hajime Moriyasu warned his Japan side they will need to match the intensity of a Tunisia team fired up by the introduction of coach Herve Renard after Sabri Lamouchi became the first coach in World Cup history to be sacked after one game.

On Friday, the United States marched into the knockout round with a 2-0 victory over Australia in Seattle.

A day of raucous celebrations for the co-hosts got even better when Paraguay's 1-0 win against Turkey confirmed that the US would clinch top spot in Group D, ensuring a theoretically easier draw in the last 32.

A Cameron Burgess own goal in the 11th minute and a headed effort from Alex Freeman two minutes before half-time sealed a comfortable three points for Mauricio Pochettino's USA side, who have won the group with a game to spare.

After an unconvincing build-up to the World Cup, the Americans have made a dream start to the tournament with Friday's victory following a stylish 4-1 demolition of Paraguay in their opener.

"It was a fantastic game again, very good first half," Pochettino said. "I think we dominated the game against a very tough team.

"When the draw happened in December I thought it was going to be a really difficult, a really tough game."

In other games on Friday, Brazil took control of their destiny in Group C with a 3-0 victory over Haiti that ended the Caribbean nation's chances of progressing. Haiti join Turkey in exiting the tournament.

Two goals from Matheus Cunha and a Vinicius Junior strike sealed an easy win for the Brazilians in Philadelphia.

Brazil are now level on four points with Morocco, but lead the North Africans on goal difference.

Morocco secured their first win of the tournament on Friday with a 1-0 defeat of Scotland at Foxborough.

Morocco face Haiti in their final Group C game on June 24, while Brazil take on the Scots in Miami.

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US coach Mauricio Pochettino backed his "high IQ" players not to get carried away after they secured progress to the World Cup knockouts with Friday's win over Australia and sent fans' hopes soaring.

Thanks to an own goal and an Alex Freeman header, the US have reached the last-32 of the tournament they are co-hosting with a game to spare, winning two group matches for the first time since 1930.

The already-surging hype surrounding the US team's prospects among the American public sky-rocketed following the 2-0 win over the Socceroos in front of a jubilant crowd in Seattle.

Pochettino's men could be assured of top place in Group D in just a few hours' time if other results go their way, but the manager said he trusts his team not to treat next week's Turkey clash any differently.

"We need to go for the next one. To be sure that we are going to arrive in good condition, like we arrived in the last two games," said Pochettino.

His players and staff need to "keep being very tough with ourselves, to push to be better and better every day," he added.

Pochettino, whose stellar career includes leading Tottenham Hotspur to a Champions League final and managing the likes of Lionel Messi and Neymar at Paris Saint-Germain, said his players have the footballing nous to not let standards slip.

"That is part of being intelligent... For me, the IQ of the players that I have in my squad, they are so high over the average," he said.

If Turkey do not beat Paraguay later on Friday, the US will be guaranteed top spot in Group D, and a theoretically easier route into the knockout rounds.

The US still have to play Turkey in a group game next week. Pochettino did not rule out making changes to his team for that clash.

"We had a lot of fatigued bodies in the first half both physically and mentally," he said.

"I think it's too early to talk about our decision against Turkey... If we want to win and we want to be one of the good teams, dreaming big, I think we need to talk about the team and not the (individual) names."

As his players took a victory lap around the field, the fans sang along to "Livin' on a Prayer," and many will now be dreaming of a deep run into the World Cup that would defy most pundits' expectations in a tournament stacked with favorites like Spain, France and Argentina.

Pochettino himself has dared fans to dream of winning the World Cup, repeatedly asking "Why not us?" in press conferences.

The Argentinian coach paid tribute to Friday's crowd, comparing it to the football-mad country of his birth.

"Amazing. I was saying yesterday Argentina have amazing fans but I think we are matching Argentina," he said.

"Our fans, I'm so happy for them."

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Striker Alexander Isak will get "stronger and stronger" and is smiling again, Sweden coach Graham Potter said Friday in a World Cup warning to defences.

Isak had a poor season by his standards after Liverpool paid Newcastle United a British-record £125 million last summer for him.

He struggled for fitness and form, but showed some of his brilliant best as Sweden opened their World Cup with a 5-1 thrashing of Tunisia.

The 26-year-old scored one goal and set two up, with strike partner Viktor Gyokeres of Arsenal also netting.

Speaking on the eve of Saturday's tasty group clash with the Netherlands in Houston, the Englishman Potter said: "Alex has had a season that has been interrupted.

"Most football players would say they need a certain amount of time and games to get up to top, top level, so we've had to try to build Alex up.

"I think there's more to come from him.

"He's not at that place where he's at absolute maximum, but obviously with the quality he has and the type of player he is, he can still influence the game.

"I think he'll get stronger and stronger as the tournament goes, and that's where our work is to try and help him get better and better, stronger and stronger."

After a trying first season at Liverpool, where he made only 14 appearances in the Premier League and scored three goals, Potter said he saw a player enjoying his football again.

"That's the most important thing, I think, with Alex. I think he likes being with the team, he likes being with the players.

"He enjoys it, plays with a smile on his face.

"And if we do that, then he's fantastic."

There are several intriguing battles looming in the Group F match in Houston.

Chief among them, Isak will come face to face with Netherlands and Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk.

The Dutch, who drew 2-2 with Japan to start their World Cup, have another Anfield attacker in Cody Gakpo.

In the Netherlands midfield there is also Ryan Gravenberch.

The big win over Tunisia and the strike force of Gyokeres and Isak has sparked talk that Sweden could go far in North America.

But they only squeezed into the tournament via the playoffs, and Potter, who took charge in October, said: "We know that we're a work in progress and we're improving.

"We've taken a step, but all we've done is played one match. That's it."

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Alex Freeman said scoring a World Cup goal for the USA in Seattle where his father once scored two touchdowns for the Green Bay Packers was a "full circle family moment."

Emulating his NFL wide receiver dad, Freeman was the first to the ball when Sergino Dest's effort looped into the air, heading past Australia's 'keeper for the second goal in a 2-0 win.

Victory sends the United States into the knockout rounds of the World Cup they are co-hosting. 

Right-back Freeman has played a vital role defensively too across two matches so far.

He follows in the footsteps of father Antonio, who most famously caught a touchdown in the Green Bay Packers' Super Bowl XXXI win in 1997, but also grabbed two in a Packers win at Seattle the previous year.

"For me that is a full circle family moment. I think for me it just shows how great the family tree is," said Freeman, after Friday's win.

"I think that just shows how he can be great, but I can be great in my own way as well.

"And I think that just shows how amazing it is to have a dad who's successful and that could mentor me to be able to be ready for moments like this."

One of the youngest members of the US squad at 21, Alex Freeman only made his senior international debut last year, selected by coach Mauricio Pochettino based on his Major League Soccer performances for Orlando City.

Arguably one of the less starry members of the US starting XI, he has nonetheless made the right-back position his own, fending off Timothy Weah and pushing Sergino Dest further up the field.

He also earned a move this year to Spanish club Villarreal.

"It's hard for me to kind of take it all in, but I think it's good also to kind of go through these challenges at such a fast pace at a young age," said Freeman.

"I feel like for me it's just going to make me an even better player to be able to kind of adjust the different atmospheres and be able to kind of adjust the different circumstances."

The popular Freeman was mobbed by his teammates including most of the bench after the goal, initially ruled offside, was cleared by VAR.

"I was very anxious to see whether it was a goal or not. And then when it was a goal, I looked back and I saw my teammates running out there and thought 'Oh Lord'... it just made me very emotional."

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Joaquin Niemann scored better angry and unprepared than most players with perfect preparation in Friday's second round of the US Open after learning of a two-stroke penalty for throwing a club.

Niemann, who hurled his sand wedge in frustration Thursday evening after hitting two balls out of bounds, was told of the penalty just before his second round on Friday, then went out and fired a five-under par 65 at windy Shinnecock.

"I knew I had a misbehavior, but I feel like everybody had some, and it's never going to anything major like two-shot penalty," Niemann said.

"But it's their decision, and I feel like, yeah, I wouldn't be happy seeing players throwing clubs and behaving that way so yeah, I agree."

The 27-year-old Chilean had only 37 minutes to regroup after completing his first round on Friday before his second round began.

"It was hard," Niemann said. "Took me probably 30 minutes to get over it. I felt like a little bit extra penalized with two-shot penalty.

"It definitely helped me a little bit to have a better round today," he said.

Niemann birdied five of the first six holes, including the sixth -- where he threw his wedge the night before -- and finished with seven birdies and two bogeys in round two.

"Everything was on. Hit great tee shots. I kind of went out with a pretty aggressive mindset, so yeah, it worked out," he said.

With the two-stroke penalty for serious misconduct Niemann was scored a seven-over par 11 on the par-four sixth hole, the 15th of his first round. It left him with an eight-over 78.

"I hit it two times out of bounds on the right, two bad swings, then got pretty frustrated," Niemann said. "I felt like my body wasn't quite there."

Niemann also asked for relief from ants around his ball but was not given any.

"After that shot, I lay up, and the whole frustration went inside me. All the frustration that came inside me and had my club in my hand, and I couldn't resist to throw it away.

"I was looking around. There was no people. No one there. I'm not proud of it, but sometimes, all the expectation of trying to play well and things don't go your way, you get frustrated, and that was me there."

Niemann has won eight times in LIV Golf, most recently last month in South Korea.

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Brazilian star Neymar is "the first player in the world to be called up to the national side and be working remotely", Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva joked on Friday.

Neymar, Brazil's record goalscorer with 79 goals, only returned to training with the squad at the World Cup in the United States this week after recovering from a calf injury.

The 34-year-old missed the opening 1-1 draw with Morocco and has also been omitted by coach Carlo Ancelotti from the squad for their second group game against Haiti later on Friday.

"Neymar? He is not even playing!" Lula replied to a young boy when he mentioned Neymar's name.

"Neymar is the first player to be called up (to the national team) who is working remotely," added the 80-year-old, who was speaking during a ceremony at a hospital in the southeast city of Belo Horizonte.

Lula has been in fine form since the Morocco match, joking on Wednesday that he was thinking of signing Argentinian superstar Lionel Messi to play for Brazil. 

The former Barcelona and Paris Saint Germain striker was diagnosed in late May with an injury to his right calf, and has featured in just half of the games for his club Santos this year due to various fitness issues.

Ancelotti and his coaching staff are reluctant to rush the return of Brazil's all-time record goalscorer and compromise his availability for matches later in the tournament, according to Brazilian media. 

Neymar, who has not played for his country since October 2023, did train with his teammates for the first time on Wednesday.

He has been an integral part of Brazil's last three World Cup campaigns but there was some surprise at his inclusion this time owing to his series of injuries.

Brazil's final group stage game is against Scotland in Miami on June 24.

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Jonathan Toews, a three-time Stanley Cup champion and a two-time Olympic gold medallist with Canada, announced his retirement from the NHL on Friday.

Toews, 38, captained the Chicago Blackhawks to Stanley Cup titles in 2010, 2013 and 2015 in a stellar 15-year tenure with the team.

He returned to the NHL last season after a two-year absence connected to chronic immune response syndrome and long Covid, scoring 11 goals and delivering 18 assists in 82 games for his hometown team the Winnipeg Jets.

"I have to say I'm satisfied, I'm fulfilled," Toews said in announcing his retirement in Winnipeg on Friday. "I'm so thankful and grateful for the career I had."

The Blackhawks congratulated Toews on a "remarkable career" in a post on X that called him the "heartbeat" of the teams he led.

Toews also starred for Canada, winning Olympic gold in 2010 and 2014, a world title in 2007 and the World Cup in 2016.

He finished his 16-season NHL career with 383 goals and 529 assists in 1,149 regular season games for the Blackhawks and Jets.

Winner of the 2010 Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the Stanley Cup playoffs, he scored 45 goals with 74 assists in 137 career NHL playoff games.

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French Open champion Alexander Zverev will face American Taylor Fritz in the semi-finals of the ATP event in Halle after edging Raphael Collignon in straight sets on Friday.

The world number three and top seed won 7-6 (12/10), 7-6 (7/3) on the lightning-fast grass, with both men holding their serve throughout the match in the traditional Wimbledon warm-up ATP event.

Zverev converted his second match point against his Belgian rival to win in just over two hours in warm conditions in Germany's west. 

"It was an incredible match, with a very high level of play from both players," Zverev said, adding: "those two sets could have easily gone the other way."

The German will face Fritz in the semi-finals in his bid to win a maiden grass court title of his career, just weeks after breaking through for a debut Grand Slam victory. 

Zverev, who made the final in Halle in 2016 and 2017, has a poor recent record against Fritz, having lost his past six matches against the American. 

Earlier on Friday, Fritz battled past Ben Shelton in three sets, exacting revenge on his countryman five days after losing the title match in Stuttgart.

World number nine Fritz won 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (10/8), 7-6 (7/3) in two hours and 45 minutes.

Shelton, the world number five, beat the 29-year-old Fritz to claim his first career title on grass in the Stuttgart ATP tournament last Sunday. 

It was a battle between the two American big servers, neither player was broken throughout the match, with each set win coming through tiebreaks. 

Shelton triumphed in the opening set. Fritz, a career grass court specialist, fought back to claim the second, saving a match point to force a deciding set. 

Shelton fell to the grass midway through the third set and limped back to his bench but was able to continue. 

Fritz grew more confident as the match went on and was in control to win the third and final tiebreak. 

Later on Friday, world number four Felix Auger Aliassime plays Frances Tiafoe and fourth seed Daniil Medvedev faces Daniel Altmaier in the remaining quarter-finals.

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