The 2007 photo of Lionel Messi bathing a five-month-old Lamine Yamal has gone viral again: on Sunday, Argentina and Spain play the 2026 World Cup final and the two share a pitch for the first time.

By Vasco Almada

Image: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Our running World Cup 2026 tracker: results from every round, the updated knockout bracket and the day's big stories, updated through the 19 July final.

This is our running World Cup 2026 tracker, updated after every round through the final on 19 July at MetLife Stadium. Instead of hunting for the day's article, you'll find the results that matter, the stories shaping the tournament and the road to the final here — with the official schedule and results always available on FIFA's site. For the first time there is a round of 32 before the round of 16: the top two in each group advance along with the eight…

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Argentina 2-1 England in the 2026 World Cup semi-final: Gordon scored on 55, Enzo Fernandez levelled on 85 and Lautaro Martinez headed the 92nd-minute winner, both goals made by Messi. The final is Sunday, against Spain.

With five minutes left, England were going to the World Cup final. Then Argentina did the thing Argentina does, twice in a row. The holders won 2-1 in Atlanta on Wednesday in front of 68,239 people and will play Spain for the trophy on Sunday. For England it would have been a first final since 1966. They finished three minutes short. With Messi making both assists, which is the most predictable and least survivable way to lose a football match. England…

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Watching the 2026 World Cup in a room full of people from back home became this tournament's real habit. How watch parties and diaspora bars changed the way fans follow it.

One thing this World Cup has made obvious: plenty of people are no longer picking the match, they are picking the room. And the room, more and more, is a bar, a community hall or a square packed with people from the same place back home — people who do not need the stakes explained to them. None of this is new — watching football in company is as old as football. What changed is the scale. With the tournament spread across the United States, Canada and…

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The US travel ban covers 39 countries, four of them qualified for the World Cup 2026. Fans from five more faced a $15,000 visa bond — Cape Verde among them.

On Sunday, MetLife Stadium will fill up for the World Cup final. But there's a set of fans this tournament never got to welcome, and it wasn't for want of a ticket. They couldn't get a visa into the United States. The US travel ban covers citizens of 39 countries, and four of them qualified: Haiti, Iran, Ivory Coast and Senegal. There were carve-outs — players, coaches and essential squad staff got in, as did dual nationals, permanent residents and anyone…

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England face Argentina in Atlanta tonight and the winner goes to the final against Spain. Kick-off time, where to watch from Portugal, and why Messi has somehow never played England at a World Cup.

Twenty-four years after their last World Cup meeting, England and Argentina collide again — and this time a place in the final is sitting on the table. Spain have been waiting since yesterday, after seeing off France 2-0, and will spend the day watching this one with a notebook open. The match is today, 15 July, at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium, kicking off at 19:00 local time — which lands in the small hours in Portugal. Worth checking the exact time…

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Spain are already in the World Cup 2026 final on 19 July at MetLife Stadium. Here is the date, the kickoff time in Portugal, where to watch and who they might face.

The World Cup 2026 final is on Sunday, 19 July, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, just outside New York. Spain have already booked one of the spots after beating France 2-0 in the first semifinal; their opponent comes from England vs Argentina, which closes out the bracket on Wednesday. It is on Sunday, 19 July. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. US Eastern time, which is 8 p.m. in mainland Portugal — dinner time, in other words, for anyone planning to watch…

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Spain beat France 2-0 in the first World Cup 2026 semifinal. Oyarzabal scored from the spot and Porro added a second. La Roja now await England or Argentina.

Spain are in the World Cup 2026 final. In the first semifinal, played on Tuesday, La Roja beat France 2-0 and are now one game away from lifting the trophy for a second time. The first goal came from the penalty spot. Digne brought down Lamine Yamal inside the box and the referee pointed straight to the spot. Mikel Oyarzabal stepped up and made no mistake, sending the ball well beyond Maignan's reach. Then, on 58 minutes, Pedro Porro played a quick…

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The World Cup 2026 semi-finals are on Tuesday and Wednesday, both at 8pm Lisbon time. France-Spain and England-Argentina air free-to-air on RTP, SIC and TVI, and on Sport TV.

Only the best are left. After a knockout stage full of shocks, World Cup 2026 hands us four giants in the semi-finals — and both games land on back-to-back nights, at the same time, easy to catch in Portugal. Here is the quick guide to where and when. Both kick off at 8pm Lisbon time. France take on Spain on Tuesday, July 14, at AT&T Stadium in Dallas; England face Argentina on Wednesday, July 15, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. It is the…

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France, Argentina, Spain and England — the world's No. 1, 2, 3 and 4 — are all in the World Cup 2026 semi-finals. It has never happened before.

The World Cup 2026 semi-finals come with a footnote that has never appeared before: the four teams left standing are, exactly, the top four in the FIFA ranking. France first, Argentina second, Spain third, England fourth. For the first time since the ranking existed, the tournament has sifted its field right down to the theoretical elite of world football. There is usually a gatecrasher by this stage — a side outside the top 10 that muscles in among the…

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Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappé meet on Tuesday in the World Cup 2026 semi-finals. The Spanish prodigy has never lost a knockout game against the Frenchman: 5-0.

For almost twenty years, football organised itself around one question: Ronaldo or Messi? That era is winding down — and on Tuesday in Dallas, something like a succession gets played out. Lamine Yamal against Kylian Mbappé, Spain against France, a World Cup semi-final as the opening night of the rivalry likely to define the next decade. The symbolism is hard to miss. Cristiano Ronaldo, at 41, said goodbye to World Cups in the round of 16 — against Spain,…

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The USA-Belgium round-of-16 tie became the most-watched soccer telecast in American TV history: 46 million across Fox and Telemundo, close to NFL numbers.

Football has never stopped American television quite like this. The USA-Belgium round-of-16 tie at the 2026 World Cup — the 4-1 defeat that knocked out the co-hosts — has become the most-watched soccer telecast in US television history, according to final Nielsen figures: an average of 33.1 million viewers on Fox, plus 12.9 million on Telemundo, for a combined 46 million. That for one night, football played in the giants' league. The number sits within…

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England vs Argentina kicks off July 15 at 8pm Lisbon time (3pm in Atlanta). It's the first ever World Cup semi-final between the two — with the July 19 final at stake.

The bracket has closed with a blockbuster: England vs Argentina, Wednesday, in Atlanta. Nine decades of shared history — and, remarkably, the two have never met in a World Cup semi-final. There's a first time for everything, and this one is worth a place in the July 19 final at New York/New Jersey. The match is on Wednesday, July 15, at 8pm Lisbon time (3pm local) at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The official match page is on FIFA's site.

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Breel Embolo was sent off in the World Cup 2026 quarter-final under the mistaken identity protocol. Here is what the IFAB rule says and why it is a first.

The short answer: Embolo was sent off because the yellow card for the incident had been shown to the wrong player. On 72 minutes of the Argentina vs Switzerland quarter-final in Kansas City, Leandro Paredes was booked for an alleged foul on Breel Embolo. The VAR called the referee over, the replays showed the Swiss forward falling before any contact was made — and the decision flipped: Paredes's yellow was rescinded and Embolo was booked for simulation…

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Conor McGregor hurt his knee 69 seconds into his UFC 329 fight with Max Holloway, ending his first bout in five years in immediate defeat.

Sixty-nine seconds. That is how long Conor McGregor's return to the octagon lasted, five years after his last fight — and it ended in the worst way possible: with the Irishman limping and Max Holloway declared the winner at UFC 329 in Las Vegas. McGregor, 37, walked in like it was the old days — a mohawk to match his UFC debut, a sprint across the canvas and a flying kick straight off the bell. That is where it all came apart: on landing, his right knee…

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