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Two places in the last four are up for grabs today. England start favourites against a Norway side carried this far by a red-hot Haaland, while the holders Argentina meet the tournament's meanest defence in Kansas City. Our predictions, the odds and what to watch.
Argentina are heavy favourites and unbeaten in seven meetings, but Switzerland arrive without a single deficit all tournament and a defence Colombia could not crack. Here is where the last-eight tie will be decided, and why the goals market is tempting.
Norway have never been this far, and England have never fielded a defence this unsettled. Opta calls it the tightest quarter-final of the eight, and it may come down to whether anyone can handle Erling Haaland.
Every serious signal in Kansas City points to the holders: the bookmakers, Opta and a lopsided betting market. Yet Argentina's shaky knockout defence and a Swiss side that has not trailed all tournament keep this quarter-final honest.
England are the bookmakers' pick and Opta's, if only just, for tonight's World Cup 2026 quarter-final in Miami. Norway have Erling Haaland, and that is usually enough to make anyone nervous.
Deschamps' side beat Morocco to reach the last four, and a win over Spain in Dallas on Tuesday would send France into a third final running. Only two nations in the tournament's history have ever managed it.
Two summers ago few outside France knew his name. Now Desire Doue is Didier Deschamps' first-choice left winger, and he starts against Spain in Tuesday's World Cup semi-final in Dallas.
The reigning Ballon d'Or holder has a hat-trick, four goals and back-to-back Champions Leagues to his name. France's Ousmane Dembele meets Spain in Dallas on Tuesday with one of the game's rarest sets almost complete.
Victory over Belgium stretched Spain's unbeaten run to 36 matches, level with Scaloni's Argentina and one short of the men's international record held by Mancini's Italy. France, in Dallas on Tuesday, stand between them and history.
France and Spain meet in the World Cup semi-final in Dallas on Tuesday, only the second time they have crossed paths at a World Cup. Their recent knockout history, from Zinedine Zidane's 2006 masterclass to Lamine Yamal's rise, points firmly one way.
Pau Cubarsi and Aymeric Laporte have anchored the meanest defence at the World Cup. On Tuesday in Dallas they face the tournament's top scorer, with a place in the final at stake.
Olise, Kone and Barcola all dodged the booking that would have ruled them out of Tuesday's semi-final, but France still cannot be sure of Aurelien Tchouameni. Spain, for their part, are easing Nico Williams back.
FIFA still had nearly 1,200 seats for the World Cup 2026 final on sale at $7,380 as of 10 July, even as a lawsuit and a subpoena circle its pricing. Here is what final and semi-final tickets cost, and the only official ways to buy them.
Coldplay's Chris Martin has curated an 11-minute show for the World Cup final at MetLife Stadium on 19 July, with Madonna, Shakira, Burna Boy, BTS, Justin Bieber and even the Muppets on the bill. Here is who is performing, when the final kicks off, and why the fixture has a halftime show at all.
France meet Spain in Arlington on Tuesday, with the second semi-final still up for grabs. Here is the full closing-week schedule, kickoff times and every confirmed way to watch in the US and UK.
A 2-1 quarter-final loss to Spain, and a goalkeeper limping off in tears, closed the book on the most gifted Belgium side in a generation. The succession, though, is further along than the mourning suggests.
A goal kick, a jolt in the thigh, and Thibaut Courtois was gone on 71 minutes. Belgium lost their keeper, then their quarter-final, and now Real Madrid wait on news neither camp has yet given.
Twice in a week the Arsenal midfielder has come off the bench to settle a World Cup knockout tie for Spain. It is a pattern now, not a fluke, and it started by heading the hosts out of a home Euros.
Spain won it 2-1, but Opta had them at 17 shots to five and 2.08 expected goals to 0.37. This is the tactical story of a quarter-final the scoreboard kept insisting was close, and never really was.
Six outlets, six sets of marks, and on Pau Cubarsi they sat more than three points apart. Here is how the graders scored Spain's quarter-final win, from Mikel Merino at the top to Senne Lammens at the bottom.
