Day 2 is in the books, and it belonged to Mauricio Pochettino’s US Men’s National Team, who produced one of their best ever performances in an absolute 4-1 beatdown of Paraguay. Paraguay had conceded just ten goals in their entire 18-game qualification campaign in South America, but they folded like a house of cards against Christian Pulisic & Co.
The US may have gotten a bit lucky with the own goal on the opener, but a first-half brace (nearly a hat-trick) from Folarin Balogun staked them to a 3-0
half-time lead. Paraguay got one back after the break, but the result was never in doubt, and Gio Reyna restored the three-goal margin thanks to a wonderful strike with the last kick of the game. I believe!
Earlier in the day, Canada wasted a number of chances to dispatch Bosnia & Herzegovina, and instead had to settle for a 1-1 draw.
All in all, a good day for the hosts. And now we truly begin the madness with more games than we can handle.
QATAR vs. SWITZERLAND
Qatar hosted the last World Cup but failed to register a point and scored just one goal in their three games. But they are the back-to-back Asian champions (2019, 2023) and this time, they got to the (expanded) tournament purely on merit, finishing the campaign under manager Julen Lopetegui with an almost entirely home-base squad.
By contract, Switzerland have made it to the knockout rounds in each of the last three World Cups, and will be hoping to do at least one better this year.
Date / Time: Saturday, June 13, 2026, 3pm EDT; 8pm BST
Venue: Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, CA, USA
Referee: Saíd Martínez (Honduras)
On TV: FOX, Telemundo (USA); ITV 1 (UK); elsewhere
Streaming online: FOX One, Peacock (USA); ITVx (UK)
Chelsea interest: There are two ex-Chelsea midfielders in the Swiss squad, one-time loanee Denis Zakaria and former prospect Miro Muheim, who was at Cobham for about four years (2014-2018) between the ages of 16 and 20. He’s been with HSV since 2021 and has helped them earn promotion back to the Bundesliga in 2025. They finished 13th last year, with Muheim playing nearly every game. Zakaria was a bit player for us in 2022-23, on loan from Juventus; he would join Monaco after that season, where he’s been a steady presence ever since.
Goalkeeper Gregor Kobel was linked with Chelsea a couple times in recent years, while left back Ricardo Rodriguez was subject to similar stories like a decade ago, when he was making is name at Wolfsburg. Him and Granit Xhaka are the two veteran leaders of the team these days; the latter of course resurrecting his career under incoming Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso at Bayer Leverkusen after facing a fair bit of ridicule at Arsenal, before returning to the Premier League and making an impact with Sunderland.
BRAZIL vs. MOROCCO
No introduction needed for the Seleção, who face the administratively crowned African champions, who were awarded that title nearly two months after actually losing the final to Senegal (amid some controversy).
Date / Time: Saturday, June 13, 2026, 6pm EDT; 11pm BST
Venue: MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ, USA
Referee: Slavko Vinčić (Slovenia)
On TV: FOX, Telemundo (USA); BBC One (UK); elsewhere
Streaming online: FOX One, Peacock (USA); BBC iPlayer (UK)
Chelsea interest: We’ve followed Brazil a bit more closely over the past year, after they appointed Carlo Ancelotti as manager last May and he started picking Estêvão, Andrey Santos, and João Pedro regularly for his team. Alas, Estêvão picked up a hamstring injury a couple months ago that’s ruled him out of the tournament, and neither Santos nor JP would end up getting picked for the final squad. The latter decision has left everyone flabbergasted, so hopefully Uncle Carlo knows what he’s doing. (And no, Neymar’s not fit to play and remains doubtful for the rest of the tournament as well.)
We don’t have any Chelsea representation at Morocco either, and our former player, Hakim Ziyech has not been in the frame for the past two years. He did briefly repair his relationship with the national team’s leadership after falling out with their previous head coach, but these days, he’s playing in Morocco and they picked just two home-based players, the two backup goalkeepers to Bono. They do have a couple kids from RC Strasbourg in the team, including winger Gessime Yassine and midfielder Samir El Mourabet. El Mourabet was born in the city and came up through the RCSA academy before becoming a key player at age 20 for our sister club this season.
HAITI vs. SCOTLAND
This is Haiti’s first World Cup since 1974 and Scotland’s first World Cup since 1998, so either way, some history will be made.
Date / Time: Saturday, June 13, 2026, 9pm EDT; 2am BST
Venue: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, MA, USA
Referee: Mustapha Ghorbal (Algeria)
On TV: FOX, Telemundo (USA); BBC One (UK); elsewhere
Streaming online: FOX One, Peacock (USA); BBC iPlayer (UK)
Chelsea interest: No Chelsea players on Haiti, but they do have a couple Premier League players in Wilson Isidor of Sunderland and Jean Bellegarde of Wolves. So just one Premier League player after Wolves finished dead last in the league.
Scotland are managed by Chelsea legend Steve Clarke (and have been since 2019); this is his first World Cup and third major tournament. They failed to win a game at either Euro 2020 or 2024. And unfortunately, his job to change that trend was made tougher when former Chelsea prospect and midfield enthusiast Billy Gilmour (and title winner in Italy under Antonio Conte at Napoli) suffered an injury during preparations and was ruled out of the tournament.
AUSTRALIA vs. TURKEY
Turkey are back in the World Cup for the first time since their historic run to a third-place finish in 2002. It’s unlikely that they will replicate that success (they haven’t done much on the international stage since a third-place finish at Euro 2008). Australia meanwhile look to build on their knockout round appearance four years ago, where they lost to eventual champions Argentina.
Date / Time: Saturday, June 13, 2026, 9pm PDT; 5am BST
Venue: BC Place, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Referee: Jesús Valenzuela (Venezuela)
On TV: FOX Sports 1, Telemundo (USA); ITV 1 (UK); elsewhere
Streaming online: FOX One, Peacock (USA); ITVx (UK)
Chelsea interest: Chelsea may be heading down under this summer for (part of) preseason, but there are no Aussies in our squad at the moment, just as there are no players from Turkey either. Real Madrid’s Arda Güler is worth the price of admission alone however (or the price of staying up late night, as it were).
