Day 4 may not have been as entertaining as all the goals may lead us to believe — an average of nearly five scored per game, 19 total — but the Netherlands vs. Japan game lived up to its billing, certainly in the second half.
And for a brief, hot minute, Curaçao had history in their sights when they equalized against Germany. Alas, the “(Sponsored) hydration break” cooled their momentum, adding that to FIFA’s latest list of crimes. In the end, Germany had little trouble with the debutants, winning
7-1 thanks in part to a couple goals from Kai Havertz.
It was a similar story for (Graham Potter’s) Sweden, romping eventually to a 5-1 win over Tunisia. Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyökeres both scored, though the spectacular brace from Brighton & Hove Albion’s Yasin Ayari — who’s half-Tunisian, as it turns out — were the pick(s) of the bunch. And now there’s probably a hole burning in BlueCo’s checkbook.
Oh, and speaking of ex-Brighton men, Moisés Caicedo’s Ecuador fell to Côte d’Ivoire, 1-0, in what was the first involvement of an actual Chelsea player at the World Cup. We should have our second today, at least by official accounting, with Marc Cucurella’s Spain starting their campaign the day after the left back’s move to Real Madrid was agreed. Now he can indeed fully focus on the Cup, ey.
SPAIN vs. CAPE VERDE
The Champions of Europe taking on yet another newcomer on this stage. Spain have won the Euros three out of the last five times (reaching the finals four times), though surprisingly they’ve not made it beyond the Round of 16 since becoming World Champions in 2010, winning just three of the eleven games they’ve played at the tournament since.
But obviously they’re still one of the major favorites for the title — sorry, Cape Verde! — especially if Lamine Yamal can be at his best. He will be limited for this game, but should be fully fit by the business end of the tournament.
Date / Time: Monday, June 15, 2026, 12pm EDT; 5pm BST
Venue: Mercedes-Benzh Stadium, Atlanta, GA, USA
Referee: Adham Makhadmek (Jordan)
On TV: FOX, Telemundo (USA); ITV 1 (UK); elsewhere
Streaming online: FOX One, Peacock (USA); ITVx (UK)
Chelsea interest: Technically, Cucurella is still a Chelsea player, but unless something drastic happens, he’s joining Real Madrid in a €55+5m deal after the World Cup. Nico Williams and Ferran Torres are among players who had links with Chelsea in years past, but these days, these guys are all way too consistent and experienced to catch the eye of our sporting directors.
A good portion of Cape Verde’s team play in Portugal (not necessarily the top league), though a couple of them have made stops in random Central European leagues as well, including goalkeeper Vozinha, who played a couple seasons in Slovakia, and left back Stopira, who’s a certified legend at Hungarian club Fehérvár.
BELGIUM vs. EGYPT
Two fading golden generations try to find their last sparkle. Belgium didn’t even make it out of the group stage four years ago while Egypt have never even won a game in their three tournament appearances (seven games total), the last one coming in 2018.
Date / Time: Monday, June 15, 2026, 3pm EDT; 8pm BST
Venue: Lumen Field, Seattle, WA, USA
Referee: Ramon Abatti (Brazil)
On TV: FOX, Telemundo (USA); BBC One (UK); elsewhere
Streaming online: FOX One, Peacock (USA); BBC iPlayer (UK)
Chelsea interest: No current Chelsea interest, but certainly plenty of the ex-Chelsea kind, with Mo Salah, Romelu Lukaku, Kevin De Bruyne, and Thibaut Courtoisssss all kicking it still for their national teams (470 caps among them four).
Eden Hazard meanwhile kicking his feet up on a cooler full of beer, living his bestest life (possibly in the new Chelsea kit).
And there’s a bit of future Chelsea interest as well, with Mike Penders going along as the third goalkeeper. It’s unlikely that he will get to collect his first ever senior international cap, but what a great experience for the 20-year-old, before his expected arrival at Cobham back from his loan at RC Strasbourg.
Oh, and I suppose Diego Moreira should be mentioned as well. “Diegzy” had a cup of tea with us in 2023-24 before going on loan and then shifted to RCSA in an accounting exercise. Along the way, he switched from Portugal to Belgium, and now look at him; who would’ve thought.
SAUDI ARABIA vs. URUGUAY
Saudi Arabia caused a bit of a shock back in 1994, the last time the World Cup was in the US, reaching the Round of 16, beating Belgium and Morocco in the group stage before getting knocked out by Sweden. They’ve been to most World Cups since (missing only 2010 and 2014), but have not made it out of the group stages again, winning just two games in total.
Uruguay meanwhile are one of the tournament’s OGs, winning it all in 1930 and 1950 and making the final four three other times, most recently in 2010. Edinson Cavani and Luis Suárez are both still active (playing for Boca Juniors and Inter Miami, respectively), but Cavani retired from the national team a couple years ago while Suárez was not selected by head coach Marcelo Bielsa. And that’s probably good: Bielsa and Bitey on the same team might’ve unlocked a new level of football-craziness.
Date / Time: Monday, June 15, 2026, 6pm EDT; 11pm BST
Venue: Hard Rock Stadium, Miami, FL, USA
Referee: Maurizio Mariani (Italy)
On TV: FOX Sports 1, Telemundo (USA); ITV 1 (UK); elsewhere
Streaming online: FOX One, Peacock (USA); ITVx (UK)
Chelsea interest: All but one of Saudi Arabia’s players are based in the Saudi Pro League, and the one who isn’t, is called Saud, so he’s good to go by default.
Speaking of SPL-based players, Darwin Núñez was briefly linked with Chelsea this year, but thankfully those stories have gone away despite his agent’s best attempts. Now if they’d want to link Fede Valverde with us, that’d be perfectly fine. He wouldn’t need to play right back for us, right, Xabi? And as a bonus, no one would throw punches at him in training.
IRAN vs. NEW ZEALAND
Iran’s participation, and the logistics of that participation are perhaps the most politically charged issue of this World Cup, but they’re here and they’re set to play, and that’s good.
New Zealand meanwhile have the meme-king of the World Cup build-up, so they’ve got that going for them, and that’s nice, too.
Date / Time: Monday, June 15, 2026, 9pm EDT; 2am BST
Venue: SoFi Stadium, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Referee: César Arturo Ramos (Mexico)
On TV: FOX Sports 1, Telemundo (USA); BBC One (UK); elsewhere
Streaming online: FOX One, Peacock (USA); BBC iPlayer (UK)
Chelsea interest: Alireza Jahanbakhsh once scored an absolutely ridiculous goal against Chelsea.
And if that wasn’t enough, a year later, during lockdown, Mehdi Taremi would score an even more ridiculous goal against us, which would end up winning UEFA Goal of the Season before being nominated for the Puskás Award as well. (Though we would then win the Champions League, so I consider this a very fair trade.)
