United States 2 - 0 Australia

Scotland 0 - 1 Morocco

Brazil 3 - 0 Haiti

Turkiye 0  - 1 Paraguay

Joy for the United States, panic for Scotland, disappointment for Haiti and a shock exit for Turkiye at the hands of 10-man Paraguay.

The day’s highlights:

• Hosts USA comfortably beat Australia by two goals to nil to further underline their credentials as strong competitors at the 2026 World Cup. 

  
  

• Scotland suffered a defeat at the hands of Morocco that leaves them with a mountain to climb against Brazil in their final game. 

  
  

• Haiti became the first side to be eliminated from the 2026 World Cup with a heavy defeat coming at the hands of Brazil. 

  
  

• Turkiye swiftly followed Haiti out of the exit door, despite being tipped by some (including us) to have a good tournament. It turned out to be disastrous, with two consecutive defeats making their progress from the group impossible. We also saw the first player to be sent off under the new mouth-covering law, with Miguel Almiron the antagonist.

  
  

How were the games? What did we learn?

We learned that the hosts are looking strong, albeit defensively untested so far. We also saw that VAR won't hesitate to enforce the rules on mouth covering introduced before this tournament.

***

USA v Australia

USMNT underlined their 2026 credentials with another good win against Australia. The Antipodean side conceded early on to an unfortunate Cameron Burgess own goal, forced by the quick movement and low cross of Folarin Balogun. 

Missing key player Christian Pulisic through a calf injury, USA answered any questions the Australian attack offered up, largely dominating possession even without their star man. 

The second goal came through a deflection from Sergino Dest’s shot, with Alex Freeman in the right place at the right time to nod home and secure the win.

Do we now have to reassess our view of team USA’s chances? Or will elite European opposition in the later stages of the competition be their undoing? We’ll find out soon enough as USA on 6 point are now surely all but through to the last 32. 

***

Scotland v  Morocco

Scotland failed to land a glove on Morocco in a game that was characterised by the African side dominating possession. 

Morocco scored the only goal of the game almost immediately, with Ismael Saibari lashing into the top corner of the Scottish goal after latching on to a delightful pass from Brahim Diaz.

Scotland chased the game rather disappointingly, and didn’t land a single shot on target for most of the game. Later, they brought on runner Ben Doak, but even his direct attacking threat could not convert into winning the critical set pieces Scotland needed to try to get back into the game. 

Scotland had a late penalty shout denied when Scott McTominay was brought down in the area. The referee and VAR judged no foul play and Morocco closed out the result with a win without seemingly getting out of first gear.

Was there anything in it? ITV’s referee expert thought so. But repeated watches of the incident show that McTominay goes down very quickly under very little contact. It looked worse in the still than it did in real time, and VAR opted not to intervene with the referee’s on-field decision of no penalty.

In truth, it seemed to be the game plan for Scotland to attack the box in the hope of receiving contact from Morocco, but the African side didn’t get lured into the trap and Scotland offered little else offensively, saving a late Dykes header that sailed harmlessly wide.

They’re going to need some more ideas in their game against Brazil if they want to make a go at escaping the group. Their approach against Morocco suggested they are keenly aware of their own limitations and hoped for the referees to intervene, because they rarely otherwise threatened this Moroccan side.

***
Brazil v Haiti

Brazil dismantled Haiti in a statement win which sent Haiti out of the competition and underlined Brazil’s attacking depth as a response, perhaps, to the morale-draining draw in their first game against Morocco.

A Matheus Cunha double (23’, 36’) could have led to even more goals in the opening exchanges as Brazil dominated proceedings and Haiti were limited to counter-attacks that went seemingly nowhere. 

In the third minute of added time at the end of the first half, Vinícius Júnior made it three. But Brazil didn’t seem to take their foot off the gas, threatening many times more - most dramatically through a clever Vinicius Jr / Martinelli combination that resulted in Martinelli smashing a shot against the underside of the crossbar. 

“It should have been four” was the familiar refrain for much of the latter stages of the second half, with Brazil’s dominance never really threatened, even when Haiti found themselves on the ball for periods. Brazil’s insistence on winning the ball back with intensity and rapidly getting it forwards was evident and firmly on display. 

Endrick thought he’d made it four in the 77th minute but his goal was ruled out as a marginal offside. It didn’t stop him from celebrating. 

There was nothing wrong with Haiti’s approach to this game, or indeed the tournament as a whole. They were positive and they tried to attack the game. They were simply unable to cope with the quality or movement of Brazil.

***

Turkiye v Paraguay

A shock exit for Turkiye despite being offered the lifeline of a Paraguay player being sent off, this defeat consigns them to one of their worst tournaments in recent memory. Similar to the Scotland game earlier on, Paraguay took a very early lead and then held on to the bitter end. 

However, in doing so they had to withstand one way traffic from Turkiye as they pressed for an equaliser.  After a confrontation with Mert Muldur, Miguel Almiron was given his marching orders by VAR for covering his mouth at the end of the first half. 

There was an edge to the game from the first kick of the ball and the red card underlined it. 

Turkiye had plenty of the ball and plenty of shots, but their complete profligacy meant that their 30 shots against Australia and 32 against Paraguay are academic. If you don’t hit the target, you’re not going to score. 

And so that proved to be the tournament story for Turkiye who limply exit a tournament we had high hopes for them in.

Turkish delight it was not.

***

With two teams out today, you get the feeling we’re heading for crunch time in these group stages. Who will survive day ten? 

Bring it on.