The 2026 FIFA World Cup is drawing to a close ― and HuffPost continues to live-blog every twist and turn as the final looms at New York/New Jersey Stadium on Sunday.
Even before a ball was kicked, the 23rd edition of the tournament was engulfed in controversy: from Iran’s tough journey to the competition amid Donald Trump’s war, to the president’s close relationship with FIFA’s Peace Prize-awarding President Gianni Infantino. That’s not to mention Trump’s travel bans keeping some fans and officials out and the fury over soaring ticket prices.
Once the soccer actually began, much of the concern was eased — at least for a short while.
The sport’s biggest stars came out to play, and the Cape Verde’s Cinderella story captured the imagination. Off the field, Norway’s “Viking row” went viral and Boston was a sea of tartan as Scotland’s fans took over.
But the introduction of hydration breaks, seen as a vehicle for TV advertising, prompted booing from fans and questions about the fundamentals of the game being undermined. And Trump’s intervention in an effort to get a red card reversed for U.S. forward Folarin Balogun, which was fruitless, as the Americans were soundly defeated by Belgium, will likely leave a stain on this World Cup.
Check out the full games schedule on the FIFA website.
Follow along with our coverage below:
France Star Kylian Mbappe Offers 'Sloppy' Assessment Of World Cup Defeat To Spain
Kylian Mbappe offered a blunt assessment of France’s World Cup semifinal exit Tuesday, saying his team was too “sloppy” to keep Spain from controlling a 2-0 victory in Arlington, Texas.
The France captain pointed to breakdowns in both the game plan and its execution after Les Bleus were denied a third consecutive appearance in the World Cup final. Spain consistently created an extra man in midfield, leaving Rodri and Fabian Ruiz with the time and space to dictate possession.
“We were three against two in midfield and against Spain, that’s hard,” Mbappe said. “Fabian and Rodri had plenty of time to play. There was a lack of communication on the press. I think we should have done man-to-man press and force them to run with us.”
France entered the semifinal having won its first six matches and scored 16 goals, but struggled to establish its attack against Spain. Mikel Oyarzabal converted a penalty in the 22nd minute after Lucas Digne fouled Lamine Yamal, and Pedro Porro doubled the advantage shortly before the hour mark.
Mbappe said France’s plan had been to apply pressure high up the field and prevent Spain from settling into its preferred possession game. Instead, Spain regularly played through the press and quickly recovered the ball whenever France briefly regained it.
“We didn’t play the game we wanted, technically, tactically,” Mbappe said. “When you don’t do what you have to do in a World Cup semifinal, you don’t win.”
The Real Madrid forward also criticized France’s work with the ball, saying poor first touches and missed opportunities prevented his team from testing Spain when openings appeared.
“We were too sloppy technically,” Mbappe said. “We could not hurt them when we could have.”
Didier Deschamps tried to shift the match by removing Adrien Rabiot at halftime and later introducing Desire Doue and Rayan Cherki. The changes did little to disrupt Spain’s control, and Mbappe was held scoreless after entering the match with eight tournament goals.
He remains tied with Argentina’s Lionel Messi for the Golden Boot lead. Mbappe also scored eight goals at the 2022 World Cup, when France lost the final to Argentina in a penalty shootout.
“As the captain, I have to take all the responsibility and I have no problem with that,” Mbappe said. “We wanted to go to the final. We didn’t go.”
France will face the loser of Wednesday’s Argentina-England semifinal in Saturday’s third-place match in Miami Gardens, Fla.
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Argentine Players Spark Controversy With Taunting Political Banner After England World Cup Win
Argentina players held up a political banner declaring “Las Malvinas Son Argentinas” (“The Falklands are Argentine”) after their 2-1 World Cup semi-final victory over England on Wednesday, in apparent contravention of FIFA rules.
FIFA’s Stadium Code of Conduct bans “banners, flags, flyers, apparel and other paraphernalia that are of a political, offensive, and/or discriminatory nature” inside stadiums.
World soccer’s ruling body did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
The question of sovereignty over the islands in the South Atlantic known to the British as the Falklands and the Argentines as the Malvinas has been a long-running sore in relations between the countries.
They fought a short conflict over the islands in 1982, in which 649 Argentine soldiers and 255 British combatants died. Britain ultimately won and the vast majority of residents of the islands have said they wish to remain part of Britain.
But Argentina has long claimed it inherited the islands from Spain after its independence in 1816 and that Britain took control in 1833 through an illegal colonial act.
Lisandro Martinez and Giovani Lo Celso held up the banner, grinning, and waved to fans in the stands. It was unclear where the banner had come from.
It is not the first time the question of political banners has come up during the World Cup. Last month in Los Angeles, Iranian Americans waved pre-revolutionary flags that are symbols of protest against the Tehran government when Iran played. Those matches proceeded without incident.
England Coach Defends Strategy That Ended In World Cup Defeat To Argentina
England suffered yet another World Cup disappointment at the hands of Argentina, 2-1, on Wednesday in Atlanta. However, head coach Thomas Tuchel expressed “no regrets” over the strategy that led them there.
After controlling much of the early play and taking a 1-0 lead in the 55th minute, England seemingly went into a shell, attempting to pack the back end and protect its lead while losing the aggressiveness that got it the lead in the first place.
Argentina scored twice in the closing moments of the game, in the 85th and 92nd minutes.
“You can discuss this with a million coaches (but) I have to make a decision on the pitch,” Tuchel told the BBC. “I analyzed the match and I did it a certain way so that’s my responsibility. In the moment, no regrets. The team gave everything and we were very, very close. It’s not the moment to analyze the full tournament, we just went out because we lost a crucial match.”
In addition to adopting a more defensive posture, England’s late substitutions were also defensive in nature. In the 72nd minute, goalscorer Anthony Gordon was subbed out for defender Ezri Konsa.
On the broadcast after the game, Tuchel defended the strategy and the substitutions.
“We went to a back five to close the gaps inside and be strong in the air because straight after our goal, with no substitutions, we just conceded way too many crosses and way too many chances,” he said. “We tried to help but of course, the responsibility is on the coach and if it doesn’t go well, it’s easy to say it was wrong.”
Argentina Returns To World Cup Final By Beating England 2-1
ATLANTA (AP) — Defending champion Argentina rallied to beat England 2-1 on Wednesday and reach the World Cup final.
Trailing 1-0 going into the last five minutes of regulation time, Enzo Fernandez and substitute Lautaro Martinez scored for Argentina.
Read more from the AP:
England And Argentina Resume Epic Rivalry In World Cup Semifinal
ATLANTA (AP) — England and Argentina resume one of the fiercest rivalries in international soccer in the World Cup semifinals on Wednesday.
The two teams meet in Atlanta and the winner will play Spain in the final in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Sunday.
“I mean the two shirts are just iconic and the historic matches are iconic,” England coach Thomas Tuchel said.
A fierce rivalry
The World Cup rivalry between the nations dates back to 1962, but it was England’s 1-0 win in the quarterfinals four years later that saw it intensify. Argentina captain Antonio Rattin, whose death was announced on Saturday, was sent off in a bad-tempered match. England went on to win the World Cup for the first, and still the only time, in its history.
Twenty years on in Mexico, Diego Maradona scored the infamous “Hand of God” goal that helped Argentina to a 2-1 win in the quarterfinals on the way to becoming world champion for a second time.
That game also saw Maradona score what many believe to be the greatest World Cup goal ever when he dribbled the ball from the halfway line before beating England goalkeeper Peter Shilton.
“That will be forever in our hearts. It was just such a beautiful goal,” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said. “Anybody who loves football will remember that in the best way possible.”
England felt aggrieved again in 1998 when David Beckham was sent off for kicking out at Argentina midfielder Diego Simeone before losing the round-of-16 game on penalties.
Beckham got his revenge four years later by scoring a penalty in a 1-0 win that contributed to Argentina being eliminated at the group stage.
Given the heated rivalry, Tuchel has tried to manage the emotions of his players ahead of the semifinal.
“If a fixture provides so many iconic moments you cannot just say it’s just another football match, but as a coach we do exactly that,” he said. “We don’t speak about the historic events. We don’t speak about the iconic moments.”
Route to the semifinals
Neither team has had a smooth ride to the semifinals.
Argentina survived scares against Cape Verde and Egypt earlier in the knockout rounds and needed extra time to beat 10-man Switzerland 3-1 in the quarterfinals.
England had to rally for wins against Congo and Norway after going a goal down. It also endured a physically exhausting game played at altitude, and being down to 10 men, to beat co-host Mexico 3-2 in the round of 16.
Messi vs. Kane and Bellingham
The seemingly ageless Lionel Messi has been Argentina’s talisman once again, scoring eight goals and also providing crucial assists.
England has relied on its big hitters in Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham. Both have six goals so far, with Bellingham scoring twice in each of England’s last two games.
James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson
See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here
Timothee Chalamet 'Starstruck' By 1 Team At World Cup -- But It Wasn't France Or Spain
Timothee Chalamet said he was “starstruck” when he met the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders at Tuesday’s World Cup semifinal ― and we have the “rah” video to prove it. Read more below.
Astonishing New Detail Emerges In Trump’s World Cup Red-Card Intervention
Just one FIFA disciplinary official made the World Cup-rocking decision to reinstate Folarin Balogun after the American star was issued a red card in the round of 32, the Times of London reported Sunday. Read more below.
World Cup Weather Watch: England vs. Argentina
Here’s what fans can expect in Atlanta for the second 2026 FIFA World Cup semifinal game between England and Argentina on Wednesday, including temperatures, the Fan Comfort Index (FCI) level and any weather concerns.
See more World Cup weather news on The Weather Channel.
The World Cup’s Most Unexpected And Bonkers Star Lands In Boston
Fresh off its first-class flight from Glasgow, it received a reception befitting a visiting dignitary: a bagpiper in full regalia playing inside Boston Logan International Airport. Waiting to greet it were diplomats, the governor and Boston’s mayor.
The guest of honor? An orange traffic cone.
Tuesday’s arrival of the “Boston Cone” marked the latest chapter in the city’s unlikely love affair with Scotland’s Tartan Army, whose habit of placing traffic cones atop statues during the team’s World Cup run last month turned the humble orange cone into one of the tournament’s defining symbols.
“I have to admit, this is probably — yes, it is — my first official welcoming ceremony for a traffic cone,” Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said in the airport’s Terminal E, before signing her name to the cone. “But it’s a pretty special one, isn’t it? Because this cone tells the story of what happened this summer. What happened in Boston, what happened in Massachusetts.”
“And special thanks to the Scots for drinking all the beer,” she added to laughter. “I do promise you, when you return … we will never again run out of beer in Massachusetts.”
During Scottish fans’ World Cup visit, Boston bars struggled to keep up with the Tartan Army’s thirst, with some running out of beer and scrambling for emergency deliveries. The fans transformed parts of Boston into an unofficial outpost of Scotland, filling downtown with bagpipes, songs and chants while bright orange traffic cones sprouted atop some of the city’s most recognizable landmarks — from Samuel Adams outside Faneuil Hall to Red Auerbach outside TD Garden, former Mayor Kevin White near Quincy Market and even the beloved Make Way for Ducklings statues in the Public Garden.
“There are still some traffic cones atop our most important statues,” Boston Mayor Michelle Wu joked Tuesday, recalling how Boston had “unofficially become New Scotland.”
The official commemorative cone, decorated with illustrations celebrating Boston and Scotland and the slogan “No Boston, No Party,” will spend the next week visiting landmarks across Massachusetts to raise money for mental health charities before returning home to Scotland.
The tradition dates to Glasgow, where placing bright orange traffic cones atop public statues began as a late-night prank in the 1980s before evolving into an unofficial symbol of the country’s irreverent humor. The best-known example is the Duke of Wellington statue in the city center, where the cone has become so iconic that repeated efforts to remove it have been met with public opposition.
“It’s an in-joke that’s gone too far, actually,” one of the cone’s Scottish escorts, Danny Campbell, said, laughing as he stood beside the cone in a kilt. “But no, it isn’t a joke. This is a metaphor for life.”
Campbell said people can become consumed by “going to our jobs and cooking sausages and all the sort of serious stuff that adults have to do” and lose sight of what matters.
“That’s what our countrymen represented when they came here,” he said, speaking of Scottish fans’ stay in Boston. “They left stomachs and cheeks sore from laughing, they cleaned up after themselves, they spread joy and these people came together with humor and they built relationships with each other.”
“This is not just a silly cone,” Campbell said. “It means love. It means love, and that is the whole point.”
Argentina To Wear Jersey England Fans Dread The Most In World Cup Semifinal
Argentina’s dark blue jersey has become more than just an alternate strip. For many, it is part of the team’s football folklore, a shirt stitched with some of the nation’s most famous World Cup memories - and, perhaps, a little bit of good luck.
When the defending champions face England in Wednesday’s World Cup semi-final in Atlanta, Lionel Messi and company will swap their traditional sky blue and white stripes for their dark blue away kit.
Argentina wore dark blue against England in the quarter-finals of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, when Diego Maradona scored his infamous “Hand of God” goal and dazzling solo effort later dubbed the “Goal of the Century” in a 2-1 victory.
Twelve years later, Argentina again wore dark blue when they eliminated England on penalties in the round of 16 at the 1998 World Cup in France after a dramatic 2-2 draw.
England manager Thomas Tuchel understands the thinking.
“I would have done the same if there was any superstition combined with it,” he told reporters on Tuesday. “So credit to them. I was not aware of that.”
The German acknowledged that even at the highest level of professional sport, superstition remains a powerful force. “I have my superstitious routines. I will not tell you because another superstition is that if I tell you, it will not work,” he said, prompting laughter.
“We have routines that keep you grounded and calm through the day, and that will not change. We have, of course, also our lucky charms, and these things are just normal in high-level sport.”
If the shirt choice was driven by history and superstition, Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni appeared reluctant to embrace the narrative. “Well, I didn’t ask for the blue one. I don’t know who did, but perhaps it’s tradition,” Scaloni said. “I really don’t know. I can’t speak to that. And if Thomas had no issue, well, then you can say the same for myself.”
Argentina’s dark blue shirt draws from the country’s culture in featuring swirling blue fileteado-inspired motifs across a black base.
Fileteado is a UNESCO-recognised style of decorative art and lettering from Buenos Aires, characterised by vibrant colours, flowing floral motifs, 3D shading and highly stylized Gothic typography.
Whether it is a lucky charm or just another shirt, Argentina will be hoping history repeats itself with a win over England.
Yet Another World Cup Coach Heads For The Exit
Haiti has reached an agreement to part ways with coach Sebastien Migne, ending the Frenchman’s tenure after he led the country to its first World Cup appearance since 1974, the football federation announced on Tuesday.
The decision was made by mutual consent, the federation said in a statement.
Haiti thanked Migne for his “professionalism, commitment, and dedication”.
Migne, 53, had been in charge of Haiti since 2024.
Haiti exited the tournament in the group stage after losing 1-0 to Scotland, 3-0 to Brazil and 4-2 to Morocco.
Source: HuffPost
