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If you want to see some of the best players in the world, then park yourself in front of Tuesday’s slate of round of 32 games at the 2026 World Cup. It’s time for some destination viewing. Ivory Coast and Norway open the day in Dallas with Norwegian superstar Erling Haaland facing a difficult test against an impressive team that is one of Africa’s best. The second game of the day takes us to New York New Jersey Stadium, where Sweden will need a shocking upset to advance past a powerful French team — headlined by Kylian Mbappé, Ousmane Dembélé and Michael Olise — that has expectations of playing in the final at the same stadium on July 19. Finally, Mexico will be looking to continue its perfect group stage campaign int the knockouts when it hosts Ecuador in Mexico City. Defense will tell the story in this game as Mexico has yet to concede at this tournament. Here is all you need to know for Tuesday at the World Cup: When: Tuesday, June 30, 1 p.m. ET Where: Dallas TV: FOX Stream: Watch three days free on FOX One While Norway is the favorite in Tuesday’s round of 32 matchup at Dallas Stadium, Ivory Coast will be difficult to beat and enters this game in strong form. Norway finished its group stage with wins over Iraq and Senegal before losing to France with a heavily rotated starting lineup that did not include Martin Ødegaard, Antonio Nusa and Erling Haaland. Those players will all return for this game, and with them, Norway boasts one of the strongest attacks in the tournament. Haaland has scored braces in his first two matches and has lived up to expectation. Ivory Coast had lofty expectations heading into this tournament after defeating France in Nantes earlier this month. Since then, Les Elephants have only lived up to the hype. Emerse Faé’s team conceded just two goals in the group stage, despite facing Germany and Ecuador. Physically, the Ivory Coast is one of the best teams remaining in the World Cup, but it also has a lot of skill. Its front line consists of wingers Amad Diallo of Manchester United and Yan Diomande of RB Leipzig — who is heavily linked with a move to Paris Saint-Germain — along with Villarreal’s Nicolas Pépé in the middle. While Norway, through Haaland, can score goals in droves, this game could be decided by its defense. Norway needs to improve in that area, as it has conceded at least one goal in each of the group stage games and has not kept a clean sheet in five matches. If Norway’s defense can raise its level, there is an outstanding chance it heads to the round of 16. Player to Watch Understandably, Haaland receives the most attention whenever talking about the Norwegian national team. But RB Leipzig winger Antonio Nusa is one of Norway’s most important players because he is one of the main scoring creators for Haaland. Nusa is going to be key in this game in making runs up the left side to get on the end of passes, typically from Martin Ødegaard or Sander Berge. If Nusa is effective with his crosses or passes, Haaland will be close to unstoppable. When: Tuesday, June 30, 5 p.m. ET Where: New York New Jersey TV: FOX Stream: Watch three days free on FOX One At the start of the round of 32, France looks almost unstoppable, and it will require something truly special from Sweden to pull off an upset when the teams meet on Tuesday at New York New Jersey Stadium. Les Bleus entered the World Cup as one of the favorites, and Didier Deschamps’ squad has done nothing to suggest that isn’t deserved. France scored at least three goals in each of its three group stage games. The star power of this French team is phenomenal. Kylian Mbappé has scored four goals and added an assist. Reigning Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé also has four goals and an assist. Michael Olise has been one of the tournament’s best midfielders in the group stage, and he has added three assists. Meanwhile, Sweden has some very good players but has done nothing to suggest it can come close to stopping the French squad. Graham Potter’s team has been very inconsistent while conceding seven goals in the group stage. Against a good Netherlands team, Sweden allowed five goals in a 5-1 loss. France’s defense must be careful, as Sweden has two elite forwards in Arsenal’s Viktor Gyökeres and Liverpool’s Alexander Isak, who can score against the best of teams. It is not impossible, but Sweden is going to need a lot of things to go right and a lot of luck to eliminate this French team. Player to Watch As the reigning Ballon d’Or winner, Ousmane Dembélé is a special player, but he didn’t score his first World Cup goal until this tournament. With that goal in the second game against Iraq, the floodgates opened, as Dembélé then scored a hat trick in the win over Norway in the group stage finale. Against a leaky Swedish defense, Dembélé could have a field day in this game. When: Tuesday, June 30, 9 p.m. ET Where: Mexico City TV: FOX Stream: Watch three days free on FOX One In its long and storied history, the Mexican national team has won just one knockout game at the World Cup. That was a 2-0 win over Bulgaria in the round of 16 in 1986 when it hosted the tournament. On Tuesday, exactly 40 years and 15 days since that win over Bulgaria, Mexico will have the chance to win its second knockout game when it takes on Ecuador at the same venue. Enthusiasm for the national team is very high right now after El Tri won Group A with a perfect nine points with wins over South Africa, South Korea and Czechia. In those games, Javier Aguirre’s team has not conceded a goal and has outscored its opponents 6-0. Mexico boasts an attack that does not rely on a single player to do the heavy lifting. In total, five different players scored the team’s six goals in the group stage, with Mateo Chávez, Álvaro Fidalgo, Raul Jiménez, Luis Romo and Julián Quiñones (twice) all finding the back of the net. Ecuador qualified for the knockout stages in surprising fashion as it needed a win over Germany in the group stage finale to advance. When Germany opened the scoring in the second minute, it did not seem possible. But Sebastián Beccacece’s team rallied for a comeback win behind goals from Nilson Angulo in the ninth minute and Gonzalo Plata in the 77th minute for the victory. Ecuador boasts one of the best defenses in the world. In the single-table CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying tournament, Ecuador was historically good, allowing just five goals and keeping 13 clean sheets. The team’s backline is led by Paris Saint-Germain’s Willian Pacho, Arsenal’s Piero Hincapié, and Club Brugge’s Joel Ordonez. In front of them is Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, who is one of the best defensive midfielders in the world. The problem for Ecuador, however, is on the offensive side, as it was shutout in its first two games. First a 1-0 loss to the Ivory Coast and then a shocking 0-0 draw with Curaçao. This game boasts two defenses that are tough to break down. Mexico has the advantage of playing at home and with several scoring options. But if Ecuador’s defense plays as well as it can, it might just win. But no one should be surprised if this game is decided on penalties. Player to Watch The Colombian-born attacker became a naturalized Mexican citizen in 2023 and has since become a very important player for El Tri. He was the Man of the Match in the opening win over South Africa and scored again in the win over Czechia. Now, he will be tasked with trying to find goals against a very good Ecuadorian defense. He has been in good form for most of the past year, and he recently finished as the top scorer in the Saudi Pro League for 2025-26 with 33 goals for Al Qadsiah FC.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

U.S. World Cup Team Training Base (IRVINE, Calif.) — There are two ways to look at the USA’s first knockout game of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. On the one hand, it’s a match fraught with danger. Losing in the round of 32 against tiny Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium would mark possibly the lowest moment in the century-plus-long history of the U.S. program. The Stars and Stripes have reached at least the round of 16 at three of the last four World Cups they’ve qualified for, but failing to do so at home, with arguably the most talented U.S. team ever, after comfortably winning their group, would be an epic disaster — worse than the 2017 defeat in Trinidad and Tobago that kept them out of the following year’s main event. The other, healthier perspective is more glass-half-full. That’s the way the American players are approaching the most important contest they have ever played for the national team before they leave Great Park, their base since arriving on the West Coast more than three weeks ago. “I think everybody knows what this game is,” midfielder Gio Reyna said before the U.S. delegation took an hour-long charter flight from Orange County to San Jose on Monday afternoon. “World Cups only come around every four years and, especially on home soil, this opportunity will really never come back.” Those colossal stakes are the reason many U.S. supporters are nervous. Although the World Cup co-hosts are the prohibitive favorite to beat the Bosnians and cruise into the last 16 — where they’ll face either Belgium or Senegal on July 6 in Seattle — anything can happen in a single match. An early goal against. An own goal. A red card. A career game from Golden Lillies keeper Nikola Vasilj. This is do-or-die, agony or ecstasy. There is no margin for error. Four years ago in Qatar, the U.S. rode into the knockout stage on the high of beating Iran to complete an undefeated group stage. Ninety minutes later, a 3-1 loss to the Netherlands dropped the team back on Earth, their World Cup over before they had time to process what had just occurred. Given that history, a few extra butterflies would be understandable — even for a 38-year-old veteran like captain Tim Ream. Ream logged every minute of the USA’s four matches at the last World Cup. “Would it be weird if I told you I don’t really feel too much pressure at this moment,” Ream said on Monday, prior to the Americans’ final training session. “It feels very different this time around than 2022,” Ream added. One reason is experience. Last time, just one of the 26 players selected to then-coach Gregg Berhalter’s roster had been to a World Cup before. Exactly half of them returned for this one under current boss Mauricio Pochettino. And while the performance in Qatar had to be considered a success considering the failure to make it in 2018 — especially for the youngest average starting lineup in the entire competition — the American players felt they could and should have done better. They are desperate not to leave anything on the table now that the business end of the World Cup is here. Ironically enough, that means not treating their next outing differently than the three that came before it this month. “In terms of pressure, there’s nothing added. Nothing extra,” Ream said.  “That’s the way we’ve approached every single game.” As fellow defender Auston Trusty said after last week’s meaningless 3-2 loss to already-eliminated Türkiye, “The risk is high every single game. That’s the mindset.” Still, the reality is that this next test means more. “This game is important for the country, but it’s also important for us as this team,” Reyna said. “This group deserves something special. … We hope to inspire generations to come.”​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

Germany won’t be advancing to the round of 16 at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and some might think the Germans have a legitimate gripe about how their loss to Paraguay in the round of 32 unfolded. In the final minutes of the first half of extra time, Germany defender Jonathan Tah scored on a header off a corner kick that would’ve given his side a 2-1 lead. However, it was determined that Germany defender Waldemar Anton fouled Paraguay goalkeeper Orlando Gill after a VAR review, disallowing the goal. Germany went on to lose in penalty kicks in arguably one of the biggest upsets in men’s World Cup history. Before Germany’s loss, though, at least one former goalkeeper sided with the Germans over what happened. “I don’t think it’s a foul,” former Denmark and Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel said on FOX’s “World Cup Live” in between the extra time periods. “I actually don’t think Anton did anything. He’s just there. The goalkeeper runs straight into him, and I think they got that wrong.” Not everyone on the panel agreed with Schmeichel. Former Nigeria midfielder John Obi Mikel argued that the attacker’s positioning justified the referee’s whistle, noting that the player was blocking the keeper without looking at the play. “I think it’s a foul,” Mikel said. “For me, when he impeded the goalkeeper, you can see the goalkeeper has his eyes on the ball. He has his eyes on the ball all the way through and the player’s just standing there. He’s not thinking about the ball. He’s not looking at the ball. And that’s exactly what happened. To me, it looks a bit soft. But I think the referee has made the right decision.” Former USA forward Clint Dempsey broke the tie on the panel, choosing to back Schmeichel’s perspective. “When you’ve got a goalkeeper who is a part of the goalkeeper union who says it’s not a foul, then it’s not a foul,” Dempsey said. The disallowed goal ultimately kept the game level, and Germany never had as good of a chance to take the lead as it did at that moment. It wound up losing in penalty kicks, 4-3, with Tah missing a penalty kick in the final round before Paraguay’s José Canale scored, continuing a rough streak for Germany in recent World Cups.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports