We now know who will be the four national left in the 2026 World Cup of soccer. In the semifinals this week, Spain is facing France on Tuesday in Dallas, and then England is facing Argentina on Wednesday in Atlanta.
In the quarterfinals, France beat Morocco 2-0 in Boston, Spain beat Belgium 2-1 in Los Angeles, England beat Norway 2-1 in Miami and Argentina beat Switzerland 3-1 in Kansas City. The wins for England and Argentina were extremely interesting as both games went into extra time. In England’s win over Norway, Jude Bellingham recorded a brace as he scored in the second minute of extra time in the first half, and then in the third minute of overtime. In Argentina’s win over Switzerland, Argentina had the man advantage for a significant portion of the game as Switzerland’s Breel Embolo was ejected in the 72nd minute for two yellow cards in the match. It took Argentina a while to capitalize, but Julian Alvarez and Lautaro Javier Martinez both scored in overtime.
This was the third straight game Argentina has been tested in the knockout round as the heavy favourite. They beat Cape Verde 3-2 in overtime in Miami on July 3 in the round of 32. In this game, the score was deadlocked at two before Argentina shockingly pulled out the win on an own goal by Diney. Then in the round of 16, Argentina found themselves down 2-0 to Egypt before scoring three straight goals in the second half for the one goal win.
The semifinals will feature the top four men’s soccer nations in the world based on the FIFA rankings. France is currently first, Argentina is second, Spain is third and England is fourth.
