The last of the 1/8 final matches at the 2026 FIFA World Cup ended on the night of Wednesday, July 8. The Swiss team, in a tense match in Vancouver, Canada, managed to defeat the Colombian team in a penalty shootout 4:3. Regular and extra time ended in a 0:0 draw. The confrontation between these teams was the only one of the eight pairs of this round of the playoffs when extra times and penalties were needed to determine the winner. Switzerland reached the quarterfinals at the World Championships for the first time since 1954.
A few hours earlier, one of the most dramatic matches of the World Cup took place in Atlanta, America. The Argentina national team managed to make a comeback in the last minutes and put the pressure on the Egyptian national team led by Mohamed Salah. The first two goals of the game were scored by the Egyptians: already in the 15th minute, Yasser Ibrahim scored a goal, and Mostafa Zico secured his team’s 67th success.
Argentina managed to score their first goal in the match only in the 79th minute – Christian Romero scored after a pass from Lionel Messi, who missed a penalty in the first half – for the second time at this World Cup. Messi himself scored his goal on the 83rd: already the 8th in a row at the World Cup, he is the leader of the top scorer race. The decisive goal against the Egyptian national team was scored in the second added minute by Enzo Fernandez after a pass from Lautaro Martinez.
The 1/4 final matches will be held from July 9 to 12
All matches in the quarterfinals and subsequent rounds of the playoffs will be held in US stadiums. The first teams to take to the field in Foxborough near Boston on the evening of July 9 are France and Morocco. The next day, Spain and Belgium will battle in Los Angeles. On the evening of July 11, the teams of Norway and England will compete for another ticket to the semi-finals at the stadium in Miami. On the night of July 12, the national teams of Argentina and Switzerland will take to the field in Kansas City.
The semifinals will take place July 14 and 15 in Arlington and Atlanta.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup takes place from June 11 to July 19 in North America. Most of the world championship games take place in the United States (in 11 of the 16 host cities), three more cities hosted matches in Mexico and two in Canada. The final match will take place on July 19 in the United States at the New York New Jersey (MetLife) Stadium in East Rutherford (New Jersey).