World Cup 2026: Day 4 – Sunday 14 June
Saturday saw
the busiest day so far of World Cup action: four games in total, of which I
only saw two but we’ll plough on with the analysis!
Victories
for Scotland – their first at a World Cup since Italia 90 – saw them soar to
the top of Group C, while Australia picked up an impressive victory against a
strong Türkiye side.
Let’s have a
look at yesterday’s results, and today’s fixtures…
Yesterday’s
results:
Qatar 1-1
Switzerland
A historic point
for Qatar, as Boualem Khouki rescued a draw for the 2022 hosts to earn them their
first-ever World Cup point.
Unsurprisingly,
most of the match saw dominance from the Swiss side, and they were rewarded for
their early pressure with a penalty after 15 minutes – despite replays
appearing to show that Remo Freuler was in an offside position when receiving
the pass before he was fouled by goalkeeper Mahmud Abunada.
However, the
penalty stood, and Breel Embolo, so often Switzerland’s go-to man at major
tournaments, stepped up to send Abunada the wrong way and give Die Schweiz the
advantage.
In total,
Switzerland had 68% possession, and 26 shots to Qatar’s six. They could have easily
grabbed more goals had it not been for heroics from Abunada to keep the score down.
And, against
all odds, the Gulf nation went up the other end in the 95th minute,
a cross came in from the left-hand side from Akrim Afif and skipper Khouki
climbed above his man to power a header past Gregor Kobel, and spark joyous
celebrations among Julen Lopetegui’s men.
Brazil 1-1
Morocco
The 11pm
kick off (UK time) saw a clash of a historical heavyweight in Brazil take on a
modern-day heavyweight in Morocco.
Fourth place
at the 2022 tournament, the North African outfit went toe-to-toe with the most
successful team in World Cup history, and got a deserved point.
Morocco’s
first-half dominance saw them take the lead thanks to a wonderful goal from PSV’s
Ismael Saibari. Brahim Diaz played a perfectly weighted pass through the heart
of the Brazil defence, and Saibari got between two defenders to lift a brilliant
finish over Alisson from 25 yards.
But in one
of Brazil’s few first-half chances, they found themselves level out of nowhere.
Vinicus Junior, on his 50th appearance for the Selecao, cut inside
from the left to fire an unstoppable shot past Yassine Bounou and into the top
corner.
Brazil had
the better of the second half, thanks in part to changes made by Carlo
Ancelotti at half-time, but could not find a winner, despite going close
through Igor Thiago – it was the final pass that really let Ancelotti’s men
down as they searched for a winner.
And Morocco
could have even stolen it right at the end – Alisson had to be alert to make a save
from Neil El Aynaoui’s long-range effort, before parrying it into the path of
Ayoube Amaimouni-Echghouyab, but the Liverpool shot-stopper displayed good
goalkeeping to dive at his feet and take the ball away from the Frankfurt midfielder.
Honours even in Group C.
Haiti 0-1
Scotland
A historic
fixture in the other Group C match: Haiti’s first appearance at a World Cup finals
since 1974, amid growing conflict and unrest in their home nation.
Scotland had
qualified for the first time since 1998, and hadn’t picked up a victory since
1990 – but that all changed last night.
Steve Clarke’s
men started with confidence and went close when Scott McTominay’s low drive
struck the base of the post – but they went ahead just before the half-hour mark.
Ben Gannon-Doak,
arguably Scotland’s most lively player, put in a cross from the right-hand side
after a delightful touch from Che Adams to pluck the ball out of the air – the low
ball into the box was pushed away by Haiti number 1 Johnny Placide, and fell to
John McGinn 15 yards out. The Aston Villa man’s left-footed shot took a wicked
deflection off Wolves’ Jean-Ricner Bellegarde and flew past Placide into the
net.
A goal that
was 28 years in the making. Scotland were jubilant, but there was a long way to
go.
For most of
the rest of the match, it was a very stop-start affair. There were a massive 44
fouls committed in total, and Algerian referee Mustapha Ghorbal gave out four
yellow cards, which suited Scotland as they looked to preserve their lead.
Haiti’s big
chance came with five minutes remaining, when right-back Arcus’ cross perfectly
found the head of Frantzdy Pierrot, but he sent his header agonisingly wide.
It was a very
nervy final few minutes, but Scotland got over the line. In truth, it was a
poor performance from the Tartan Army – but, for now, they couldn’t care less.
Australia 2-0
Türkiye
The final
match of the day saw a somewhat surprise result – Australia’s plucky young team
saw off a Türkiye side jam-packed with players playing in major European
leagues.
Despite
Turkish dominance – they had 72% possession and 30 shots to Australia’s nine,
it was the Socceroos who scored a goal in each half to secure the three points.
Watford’s Nestory Irankunda showed tremendous pace to latch onto a through-ball
from Paul Okon-Engstler, shrug off two defenders and smash the ball into the
bottom corner.
Australia
had lift-off, and it would get even better on 75 minutes. After surviving
another Turkish onslaught, Tony Popovic’s men showed good pressure to win the
ball back off Ismail Yuksek in midfield, Connor Metcalfe received the ball, ran
all the way to the edge of the Türkiye penalty area, and fired a brilliant low
shot past Ugurcan Çakir. Australia were in dreamland, and they managed to keep
a clean sheet to put them second in the group, only to the impressive USA.
Today’s
fixtures:
Group E
Germany v
Curaçao
8pm (UK
Time)
Houston
This is Curaçao’s
first-ever World Cup, a country with a population similar to that of Chelmsford…
and they’ve been thrown in at the deep end.
Germany are
not the force they were when they last won the tournament, in 2014, but will
still have far too much for the first-timers. The likes of Jamal Musiala,
Florian Wirtz, Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka are more than capable of
turning up on the big stage, while this will be veteran goalkeeper Manuel
Neuer’s last World Cup.
The most
notable names on the Curaçao squad list include Jurgen Locadia, once of
Brighton, Leandro and Juninho Bacuna, who have both played for their fair share
of English clubs, and former Man United and Luton man Tahith Chong, now at
Sheffield United. Decent enough players, but it will be a miracle if their
maiden World Cup voyage ends with a point or two on the board.
Sam’s
prediction: Germany 4-0 Curaçao
Ivory
Coast v Ecuador
12am (UK
Time)
Philadelphia
The other
game in Group E sees a clash between two sides in good runs of form. Ivory
Coast are unbeaten since exiting the African Cup of Nations at the
quarter-final stage to Egypt in January, while Ecuador are unbeaten in 19.
Les
Éléphantes, 34th in the world, do have an array of talent including
Simon Adingra, Nicolas Pepe, Yan Diomande and Manchester United’s Amad Diallo
that will probably get them reasonably far in the tournament.
Ecuador
boast plenty of Premier League proven players including Pervis Esutpinan, once
of Brighton, as well as Moises Caicedo and Piero Hincapie, and arguably have a
slightly superior squad, but I think this will be a cagey affair as both teams
find their feet in the tournament.
Sam’s
prediction: 0-0
Group F
Netherlands
v Japan
9pm (UK
time)
Dallas
The
Netherlands reached the last eight in Qatar, losing to eventual winners
Argentina. They have immense talent and depth all over the pitch, you can make
a Champions League-standard squad twice over with some of their players, and
will surely go far in the tournament.
Japan sit a
respectable 18th in the world and have some handy players, watch out
for Zion Suzuki in goal, a midfield three of Wataru Endo, Ao Tanaka and Daichi
Kamada – all of the Premier League, and the likes of Takefusa Kubo and Celtic’s
Daizen Maeda going forward. They will struggle to cope with the quality of the
Dutch in this one though.
Sam’s
prediction: Netherlands 2-0 Japan
Sweden v
Tunisia
3am (UK
Time)
Monterrey
The
picturesque Estadio BBVA in Monterrey is the setting for Sweden’s return to the
World Cup, after finishing as quarter-finalists in 2018 and failing to qualify
for Qatar.
Graham
Potter makes his World Cup bow with his side 38th in the world. Gone
are the days of relying on Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but with talent all over the
park, most notably a front three of Viktor Gyokeres, Alexander Isak and Anthony
Elanga, Sweden could impress again in North America and I can see them scraping
past Tunisia.
Tunisia
failed to qualify for Qatar and finished third in their group in 2018, so may
feel that they have a point to prove. They have a decent squad, if one where
nobody really stands out, and they could go down a similar path to what
happened to them eight years ago.
Sam’s
prediction: Sweden 1-0 Tunisia.
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