It’s the end of the first week of the 2026 World Cup, and so far, it’s been great fun. Eight more teams are yet to play their first games, so they are up today, including Thomas Tuchel’s England.
Here we go!
PORTUGAL vs. DR CONGO
Second World Cup for the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the first under that name after partaking in 1974 as Zaire, when they lost all three of their games.
Portugal meanwhile are one of the better teams to have consistently underperformed on the world stage in the 21st century, making it the quarterfinals
just once since finishing fourth in 2006. They’ve reached two Euros finals during that time, winning one, but the legacy of this generation and Cristiano Ronaldo specifically is down to its final chance. (Though not to worry, their new generation is already here and looking spectacular.)
Date / Time: Wednesday, June 17, 2026, 12pm EDT; 5pm BST
Venue: NRG Stadium Houston, TX, USA
Referee: Abdulrahman Al-Jassim (Qatar)
On TV: FOX, Telemundo (USA); BBC One (UK); elsewhere
Streaming online: FOX One, Peacock (USA); BBC iPlayer (UK)
Chelsea interest: One current Chelsea player on Portugal, Pedro Neto, and several former Chelsea players, including João Félix and Renato Veiga. Goalkeeper Diogo Costa has had a few turns in the Chelsea rumor mill as well, as has Rafa Leão, who’s coming off an horrendous season at AC Milan.
ENGLAND vs. CROATIA
The marquee matchup of this day, a rematch of England’s first match at Euro 2020/1, which was won by Raheem Sterling, 1-0.
Manager Thomas Tuchel has taken a slightly different approach in rounding up these Three Lions, looking to put together an actual team rather than just a collection of all-star talent. It’s a reasonable approach, but none of that will matter if England underperform. We’ve seen Tuchel work his magic in knockout tournaments, so hopefully he can conjure up something similar to our 2020-21 Champions League run.
Croatia had done very well in the last two World Cups, finishing third four years ago and runners-up in 2018, but they crashed and burned at the Euros two years ago and not even an unbeaten qualification campaign has manage to assuage fears that their time near the very top may be ending. A lot of familiar names are still here of course, including 40-year-old Luka Modrić, so Croatia may yet pull another rabbit out of their hat.
Date / Time: Wednesday, June 17, 2026, 3pm EDT; 8pm BST
Venue: AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TX, USA
Referee: Clément Turpin (France)
On TV: FOX Sports 1, Telemundo (USA); ITV 1 (UK); elsewhere
Streaming online: FOX One, Peacock (USA); ITVx (UK)
Chelsea interest: Tuchel’s initial selection was rather lean on Chelsea flavor — Cole Palmer was among the highest profile snubs — with only Reece James picked, but our numbers were recently doubled as Trevoh Chalobah got the call to replace the injured (and ex-Chelsea) Tino Livramento at the last minute. Speaking of ex-Chelsea, we do have a fair few, including Marc Guéhi, Noni Madueke, and Declan Rice. Meanwhile, Morgan Rogers is said to be one of our primary transfer targets this summer.
We have a couple former Chelsea players on Croatia as well, with Mateo Kovačić back fit after missing most of the season through injury and Mario Pašalić looking to carry his good season for Atalanta (10 goals in allc competitions) forward into the World Cup as well.
GHANA vs. PANAMA
The Black Stars have dimmed a little bit in the last decade or so, since their quarterfinal run in South Africa in 2010, but they’re back and still have the talent to cause a stir.
For Panama, this is just their second ever World Cup; they’re still looking for their first points at the tournament after losing all three of their games in 2018.
Date / Time: Wednesday, June 17, 2026, 6pm EDT; 11pm BST
Venue: BMO Field, Toronto, ON, Canada
Referee: Glenn Nyberg (Sweden)
On TV: FOX Sports 1, Telemundo (USA); ITV 1 (UK); elsewhere
Streaming online: FOX One, Peacock (USA); ITVx (UK)
Chelsea interest: Former Chelsea left back Baba Rahman recently collected his 50th cap, which is great to see considering all the injuries he had to deal with over the years.
UZBEKISTAN vs. COLOMBIA
Last to go in the first round of group games are Uzbekistan and Colombia. The former are celebrating their first ever qualification (outside of being part of the Soviet Union); the latter are looking to cause a stir,
Date / Time: Wednesday, June 17, 2026, 9pm EDT; 2am BST (next day)
Venue: Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, Mexico
Referee: Anthony Taylor (England)
On TV: FOX, Telemundo (USA); BBC One (UK); elsewhere
Streaming online: FOX One, Peacock (USA); BBC iPlayer (UK)
Chelsea interest: No Chelsea players on either side unfortunately.
