World Cup 2026: Day 8 – Thursday 18 June

 

Another day of drama at the 2026 World Cup as Portugal dropped points against DR Congo, England and Croatia played out a six-goal thriller, Ghana left it late against Panama and Colombia saw off debutants Uzbekistan.

Let’s dive deeper…

 

Yesterday’s results:

Portugal 1-1 DR Congo

Much of the build-up to this game was dominated by talk of whether Cristiano Ronaldo would start, and if he would make any impact for Portugal.

The answer to those questions: yes, and no.

Five foot nine Joao Neves’ header gave the Portuguese the lead after six minutes, and at that point victory for Roberto Martinez’s men looked a formality.

But their finishing was poor, and they allowed DR Congo to grab an equaliser on the stroke of half time. A set-piece wasn’t cleared and Yoane Wissa managed to head past Diogo Costa, earning an eventual point for DR Congo in their first World Cup since appearing as Zaire in 1974.

Portugal were equally wasteful in the second half, Ronaldo had a couple of chances, but DR Congo held firm.

 

Uzbekistan 1-3 Colombia

Experienced World Cup participants Colombia were no match for Fabio Cannavaro’s Uzbekistan in the end on their World Cup debut, despite the Asian outfit finding an equaliser with half an hour to play.

It was near-total dominance from Colombia in the opening period and they were rewarded with the game’s opening goal on 40 minutes.

Soon after star man Luis Diaz had hit the post, the Bayern Munich winger played a brilliant ball over the top of the Uzbekistan defence which was poked beyond the goalkeeper by Crystal Palace’s Daniel Munoz.

However, the first-timers levelled against the run of play on the hour mark when a ball from deep was volleyed back towards goal, the shot was fumbled by goalkeeper Camilo Vargas and the rebound was put away by Abbosbek Fazyullayev of Istanbul Basaksehir – a monumental moment in the history of football in Uzbekistan.

But they weren’t level for long – Diaz would get his goal, finishing off a swift Colombian counter-attack, and substitute Jaminton Campaz was on the end of a cross with a thumping header to put the game to bed deep into stoppage-time.

 

England 4-2 Croatia

Arguably the game of the tournament so far came in Dallas in a rematch of the 2018 semi final in Moscow – but this time England got the better of Croatia.

In a match which was atypical of what is to be expected of Tuchel’s England, the Three Lions looked dangerous going forward – but somewhat vulnerable at the back.

All-time record goalscorer and talisman Harry Kane had England ahead from the spot on 12 minutes – a retaken penalty after Dominik Livakovic was found to have been off his line when the original penalty was saved – after Noni Madueke was fouled by veteran midfield legend Luka Modric.

The Balkan nation would find themselves level 25 minutes later thanks to a wonderful strike from outside the box from rising prospect Martin Baturina.

There was still time for two more goals in the first half – first Kane was left unmarked to head home from Declan Rice’s corner, then Croatia found themselves level again after a wonderful move ended with Ivan Perisic heading the ball down for Petar Musa to fire the ball past Jordan Pickford.

The goals and chances continued to flow in the second half as Jude Bellingham picked up Elliott Anderson’s pass to drive through the Croatia defence and finished past Livakovic, just 90 seconds into the second half.

If it hadn’t been for Livakovic, England might have had seven or eight, but he saved well to deny Nico O’Reilly, Djed Spence, and Harry Kane his hat-trick.

But a swift counter attack ended in substitute Bukayo Saka finding fellow replacement Marcus Rashford, who kept his composure to stroke the ball into the far corner to settle a thrilling encounter.

 

Ghana 1-0 Panama

In the other game in Group L, Ghana scored a 95^th minute winner to get the better of Panama.

The Black Stars were second-best in the first half as Cecilio Waterman and Cesar Blackman both went close, but came out fighting in the second half and Antoine Semenyo and Jordan Ayew both could have scored.

And in the 95^th minute, Coventry’s Brandon Thomas-Asante did brilliantly to beat his man and get the cross in for Caleb Yirenkyi to score from close range to leave Ghana jubilant and Panama heartbroken.

 

Today’s fixtures:

 

Group A

Czechia v South Africa

5pm (UK Time)

Atlanta

 

Mexico v South Korea

2am (UK Time)

Guadalajara

 

Group B

Switzerland v Bosnia-Herzegovina

8pm (UK Time)

Los Angeles

 

Canada v Qatar

11pm (UK Time)

Vancouver