World Cup recap: South Africa beats South Korea, advances to play at SoFi Stadum

MEXICO CITY —  Mexico’s national team overcame a lackluster first half to beat Czechia thanks to a dream second half that allowed it to finish the group stage undefeated on a night that will be remembered as one of the greatest in Mexican World Cup history.

The celebration of Mexico’s 3-0 win Wednesday at Azteca Stadium turned into a tribute to legendary goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, who entered the game in the final minutes to receive a standing ovation unlike any other for a Mexican player in the history of the tournament.

South Africa 1, South Korea 0, final

South Korea could not find an equalizer in stoppage time, sealing a stunning loss. The team led by captain Son Heung-min was expected to play its knockout round game in front of essentially a home crowd at SoFi Stadium.

Instead, South Africa advances to the group stage for the first time in the country’s history and will play Canada at SoFi Stadium.

South Korea is clinging to hope it may be among the third-place teams to advance.

South Africa 1, South Korea 0, 90th minute

South Korea has lacked urgency and has only managed five shots against South Africa. A loss would leave South Korea hoping that it can be among the third-place teams that advance.

South Africa 0, South Korea 0, 69th minute

Tshepang Moremi passed to Thapelo Maseko, who shot to the right corner of goal and claimed a 1-0 lead over South Korea in the 63rd minute.

South Korea had no answers before the hydration break.

A loss would likely knock South Korea out of the World Cup, leaving the team reliant on other third-place countries delivering lesser results.

South Africa 0, South Korea 0, 51st minute

LAFC’s Son Heung-Min was among three substitutes made by South Korea to open the second half. It is his 13th World Cup appearance.

South Africa 0, South Korea 0, halftime

South Korea’s Kim Seung-Gyu recorded three saves, helping his team enter the halftime break tied 0-0 with South Africa. The South Koreans controlled possession 61% in the first half, but it only managed one shot on goal.

South Africa 0, South Korea 0, 25th minute

South Korea controlled possession 61% of the time and the teams earned one shot on goal apiece, remaining scoreless at the first hydration break.

South Africa 0, South Korea 0, 1st minute

South Africa’s match against South Korea has kicked off in Guadalupe, Mexico.

LAFC star Son Heung-min opens the match on the bench, a big change for the South Korean side. If South Korea advances, it will face Canada at SoFi Stadium on Sunday.

Brazil 3, Scotland 0, final

Scotland nearly surrendered another goal before time expired.

Brazil sealed a 3-0 win over Scotland and clinched a Group C win. Scotland has not technically been eliminated, but it hurt its chances with the 3-0 loss.

Morocco 4, Haiti 2, final

Soufiane Rahimi passed across the penalty area to Gessime Yassine, and Yassine tapped in the ball in front an empty net in the 89th minute. The goal was upheld after VAR review.

Haiti could not score in stoppage time and closed out its World Cup run with the loss.

Morocco 3, Haiti 2, 78th minute

Chadi Riad headed the ball toward the middle of the box and Soufiane Rahimi gathered it, hitting the ball to the top corner of goal. He gave Morocco its first lead of the match.

Brazil 3, Scotland 0, 60th minute

Bruno Guimarães led Brazil’s run toward goal, then tapped te ball to Matheus Cunha on his right. Cunha had clear look at goal and slide the ball past the goalkeeper for a score that could knock Scotland out of the World Cup.

Scotland probably needs to score at least one goal and avoid giving up another to have a viable shot at advancing.

Brazil 2, Scotland 0, halftime

Brazil’s Vinícius Júnior has been a menace for Scotland.

Bruno Guimarães intercepted a Scotland pass, whistled to the back post and Júnior headed it home.

Scotland has struggled to clear the ball and Brazil moved lightning quick when it forced two turnovers so far this match.

Scotland goalkeeper Angus Gunn narrowly deflected a Brazilian shot late in the second half to keep the score 2-0 at halftime.

Haiti 2, Morocco 2, halftime

Haiti and Morocco exploded for three goals in the final 12 minutes of the second half.

In the 39th minute, Achraf Hakimi puts away a deflected cross for Morocco to tie the game.

In the 43rd minute, Haiti responded. Jean-Kévin Duverne passed to Wilson Isidor on the right side near the penalty area. Isidor took one touch before shooting across the face of goal and placing the ball in the top left corner.

In the first minute of stoppage time, Achraf Hakimi passed to Ismael Sibari in the box, who pushed the ball to the bottom left corner of the net for a quick equalizer.

Brazil 1, Scotland 0, 26th minute

Scotland appeared to be off to a nightmare start in Miami Gardens, Fla., but it was saved by VAR.

Vinícius Júnior pressed as Scotland worked to clear the ball, forced a turnover and scored. After VAR review, the referee determimed Júnior tapped the defender’s calf before getting the ball and was called for a foul on the play, erasing the goal.

Scotland made it to the hydration break without surrendering another goal and is sure to discuss how to handle Brazil’s press that has generated both its scoring chances.

Haiti 1, Morocco 0, 10th minute

Jean-Kévin Duverne gathered the ball on the right side and delivered a low cross to Lenny Joseph, who taps the ball in with his back heel and scores Haiti’s first goal of the 2026 World Cup. A strong start for a Haitian team already eliminated from the tournament’s knockout round. This later was called an own goal on the goalkeeper, but Joseph unquestionably created the opportunity.

Brazil 1, Scotland 0, 7th minute

Brazil pressed Scotland’s defense as it works to clear the ball and Rayan stole it near the right side of the box. Rayan passed to Vinícius Júnior, who hesitated to freeze the goalkeeper and then easily scored.

Morocco 0, Haiti 0, 5th minute

Morocco is heavily favored in this matchup with Haiti that is scoreless early. Haiti has already been eliminated from the tournament and is playing for pride in its group stage finale.

Bosnia and Herzegovina 3, Qatar 1, final

Bosnia closed out a 3-1 win over Qatar, boosting its chances to be among the third-place group teams advancing to the knockout round. Qatar is officially eliminated from the World Cup with the loss.

There is a strong chance Bosnia may face the U.S. in the knockout round.

Switzerland 2, Canada 1, final

Canada tried to build on a flurry of energy after its first goal, but the team could not find an equalizer.

If Canada had drawn or won, the team would have played its knockout round game on home turf at BC Place in Vancouver. Instead, Switzerland poached that spot and Canada is headed to SoFi Stadium, where it most likely will play South Korea.

Bosnia and Herzegovina 3, Qatar 1, 80th minute

Stjepan Radeljić’s shot was blocked in front of goal and fell to Ermin Mahmic, who taps the ball in for a goal. Mahmic was given a yellow card for taking his shirt off during the celebration.

Switzerland 2, Canada 1, 76th minute

BC Palace has erupted after super substitute Promise David volleyed home a goal off a pass from Nathan Saliba, who was equally nimble setting up the shot by controlling an inbound pass with one foot and tapping it across to the box with the other.

It was Canada’s most fluid run to goal this tournament and arguably one of the prettiest goals of the tournament.

Switzerland 2, Canada 0, 57th minute

Switzerland dominated possession in the first half and had no goals to show for it. The team clearly adjusted well at halftime and turned its runs into better scoring chances in the second half.

In the 57th minute, Breel Embolo dribbled into the box and paused while waiting for Johan Manzambi to catch up on the right side. Manzambi booted a shot that slipped through the hands of the Canadian goalkeeper to give Switzerland a commanding lead.

Switzerland 1, Canada 0, 46th minute

Johan Manzambi led a run up the right side of the field about 40 seconds into the second half and whistled a pass across the face of goal. Rubén Vargas controlled it on the far left side of the box and shot the ball past Maxime Crépeau for the quick goal to open the second half.

Switzerland 0, Canada 0, halftime

Switzerland has dominated possession (70%), but Canada has the edge in shots on goal (3-2) during a scoreless first half.

If the score holds, Canada will win Group B and Switzerland will take the second place slot.

Bosnia-Herzegovina 2, Qatar 1 halftime

Bosnia-Herzegovina exploded for two goals in the 29th and 34 minutes to take a commanding lead before Qatar answered in the 42nd.

Kerim Alajbegovic wove through the Qatar defense for a right-footed shot near the top right edge of the box for Bosnia’s first goal.

Qatar tried to clear a Bosnia cross five minutes later, but it bounced off Sultan Al-Brake and rolled in for an own goal.

Then Qatar answered in the 42nd minute. Edmilson Junior controlled the ball at the back post and passed to Hassan Alhaydos, who tapped in the ball for Qatar’s first goal.

In the 49th minute, Pedro Miguel’s shot hit hard off the post, nearly tying the game.

Instead, Bosnia entered halftime with a 2-1 lead.

Bosnia-Herzegovina 0, Qatar 0 20th minute

Bosnia-Herzegovina has edged Qatar early with 55% of possession and two shots on goal, but no big chances have been created early in this scoreless match.

Switzerland 0, Canada 0, 19th minute

Both teams have made strong runs, but neither have scored.

Former LAFC Maxime Crépeau made a massive play in goal in the 11th minute, spreading his arms and legs to block Breel Embolo’s path to goal at close range. Embrolo should have been able to score with such a favorable matchup, but his effort was way off target by the time he finally tried to score.

Béla Guttmann may be the most consequential soccer coach you’ve never heard of. But if it weren’t for Guttmann, you may never have heard of Pelé.

And Brazil may never have become the greatest soccer-playing country on Earth.

That’s because Guttmann changed the shape of modern Brazilian soccer — and changed the sport forever — when he imported the revolutionary 4-2-4 system from Hungary to Sao Paulo in 1957. A year later, Brazil won the first of five World Cups and the joga bonito was born.

Brenda Jaimes pushed her way through an ecstatic crowd in downtown Santa Ana Thursday night, stopping in the middle of Fourth Street and calling attention to herself by shouting, “Me! Me!”

An hour earlier, Mexico beat South Korea 1-0 in the World Cup. Jaimes, a 22-year-old Santa Ana resident, was one of thousands of people who crowded into the neighborhood’s many bars and restaurants to watch the thrilling victory then spilled onto the streets to party.

Fans blew horns and spun noisemakers, chanting “México!” and “¡Sí se puede!” They brandished the Mexican flag seemingly everywhere: on banners, painted on cheeks, emblazoned on Jaimes’ tube top. They stood on the back of trucks and boogied.

SEATTLE — If a pregnant Nigerian woman had been allowed to board a plane 25 years ago, the U.S. team’s path through this summer’s World Cup may have unfolded much differently. Instead, a gate agent turned her away, insisting it wasn’t safe for her to fly from New York to London.

So Florence Balogun returned to Brooklyn, where she had been visiting relatives, and waited for her second son to be born. And when Folarin arrived a few weeks later, entering the world just hours before Independence Day dawned, he did so as an American citizen.

It was that quirk of fate that allowed Balogun, who lived just two months in the U.S., to represent the country on soccer’s biggest stage.

SEATTLE — Growing up the son of an NFL wide receiver, Alex Freeman said he felt a lot of pressure to play the American version of football, not the one the rest of the world plays.

“I always got asked if football was the path,” he said last summer. “But I always had a secret love for soccer.”

And he had to keep it a secret because he wasn’t sure his father Antonio, a Super Bowl winner with the Green Bay Packers, would understand.

But his stepfather did. Jake Hinkle introduced Alex to the sport and served as his first coach while his mother Rochelle urged him on.

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — World Cup tickets are expensive. Flights to North America are expensive. Hotel rooms in many places are expensive.

Then there’s the price of beer.

There are some fun — and yes, sometimes pricey — food and drink offerings at the venues playing host to the World Cup. A $75 caviar-topped tray of tater tots and a $40 empanada weighing in at 5 pounds for the daring or for sharing in Miami. Ribeye tacos for $8 in Guadalajara, Mexico. Something called a Twinkie cheeseburger that has nothing to do with dessert for $22 in Los Angeles.

May was a great month for L.A. Metro. And then came the World Cup, with droves of fans making their way to local stadiums and watch parties.

After the leap in ridership last month, early numbers in June show that game-day ridership is high for Metro. As for the experience of taking public transit in L.A. amid the crush, the reviews are mixed.

“The transit is impossible,” said Ignacio Santa Cruz, who had traveled to Los Angeles from Asuncion, Paraguay, to see his country’s national team play the U.S. on Friday.

VANCOUVER, Canada — When the first men’s World Cup game played in Canada kicked off last week, Anthony Totera sat in the stands and wept.

“It was a dream come true,” said Totera, who has spent most of his 57 years on earth promoting Canadian soccer. “I can’t describe the emotions. It was something surreal.”

If the 1994 World Cup, the first held in the U.S., forever altered the direction of American soccer, this summer’s tournament, which Canada is sharing with the U.S. and Mexico, has the potential to do the same for that country.

Imagine it. A neophyte coach, leading a team for the first time at any competitive level, and it being a high-profile assignment on the biggest of big stages.

A self-assured broadcaster, critical and competitive, having his bluff called, being invited to not just talk about it, but to be about it: Walk the walk, why don’t you?

A former player — scorer, shooter — being challenged to step up and right a listing ship while navigating politics and the push and pull of history and high hopes.

Imagine that guy going: “Bet.”

Fox has adopted a new split-screen approach to ads during the World Cup’s mandatory hydration breaks, after a stir among viewers over how it had been handling the pauses.

At the start of the tournament, the network aired full-screen ads during the three-minute breaks, cutting away from the field during the opening match between Mexico and South Africa. Soccer fans complained that they were missing on-field action, and the backlash mounted.

By the Mexico-South Korea match last week, Fox had changed course, running split-screen advertisements for the first time: two side-by-side panels, one keeping the camera on the stadium while the other played a commercial. The approach hasn’t been consistent, though. For Friday’s U.S.-Australia match, the network reverted to full-screen ads.

“Do you have an extra ticket?” a man shouted outside SoFi Stadium last Thursday.

The World Cup has been drawing fans from around the globe. But for many, getting a seat in the stadium has come at a steep price.

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Some were lucky enough to nab $400 to $500 tickets through official World Cup lotteries, others paid thousands of dollars to catch the action IRL. Tickets for the upcoming USA versus Turkey match were selling for more than $1,400 on resale sites.

The demand has been so high that authorities have been warning fans about how to avoid ticket scams.

As crowds flocked into the stadium, we asked attendees about how much they paid to get into the most-watched sporting event in the world. Here’s what they shared.

Playing in goal for the U.S. men’s national soccer team is a little like playing right field for the Yankees. You’re following a long line of great players, making the comparisons — and the high expectations — unavoidable.

Matt Freese is the latest to be thrown into that crucible. But he considers that pressure to be a privilege, not a problem.

“I wouldn’t say it’s intimidating, I would say it’s inspiring,” he said before the U.S. training session Tuesday morning in Irvine. “It’s a long line of goalkeepers that I’ve looked up to for my whole life — and there were some before my life as well.”

Two games, two wins and the U.S. is already through to the knockout stage of a World Cup it is hosting.

For forward Folarin Balogun, things couldn’t be going any better.

“You know, if someone said before the tournament, two games and you’d be through to the knockouts, I think we all would have taken it,” he said. “We’re delighted.”

On Monday, the U.S. got more good news when Christian Pulisic, its talisman, returned to training after missing 10 days because of a calf injury. So Balogun said the last thing the team wants to do is take its foot off the gas for Thursday’s group-play finale with Turkey.

GUADALAJARA, Jalisco — Before the World Cup, critics and fans of the Mexican national team debated whether Javier Aguirre’s third stint as head coach was the right decision. Two games later, the coach has led Mexico to the tournament’s knockout round.

Thursday’s 1-0 victory over South Korea at Guadalajara Stadium made the World Cup co-host the first in the tournament to advance while also clinching the top spot in Group A with one group play game remaining. After South Korea’s goalkeeper fumbled a ball, Luis Romo scored the goal that gave the Mexicans six points and pushed them to the top of the standings.

The Los Angeles Organizing Committee has collaborated with an array of agencies to create one primary fan festival and 10 official fan zones throughout the L.A. area during the 39-day World Cup.

Match broadcasts there will be available via Fox and Telemundo, allowing attendees to follow the tournament live throughout the competition. Each venue will have different programming.

How it started: A dream. A French machine-gun officer in the trenches during the First World War. A man named Jules Rimet, who believed an international soccer tournament would bring the nations together with the goal of peace.

How it’s going: The world’s biggest party. A 48-nation celebration of the world’s most beloved sport. Expected to generate about $8.9 billion, it’s become such a big deal that it’s being hosted by three countries — one of which, yes, launched a war on a competing nation in the months before the tournament.

The United States’ war with Iran, costly in all the profound ways that war is, also laid the groundwork for an uneven — and possibly precedent-setting — playing field.

SEATTLE — Jaysen Dickinson flew to Seattle from Vermont to cross an item off his lengthy bucket list.

“To see the World Cup and the U.S. play in the World Cup,” he said.

Kim Fletcher and her 17-year-old son Kelan caught a 5 a.m. flight from Sacramento last week for the same reason.

“It’s a must-do right now,” she said.

They weren’t alone. Tens of thousands of people poured into Seattle on Friday morning for the U.S. team’s group-stage game with Australia, turning the Emerald City into a sea of red, white and blue. Some had tickets, most did not.

Here are the results of every match played at the 2026 FIFA World Cup heading into Wednesday’s matches:

It’s crunch time at the 2026 FIFA World Cup with teams throughout the 48-strong field looking to stay in contention for the knockout stage or improve their placing in the round of 32.

The U.S., Mexico, Argentina, Germany, Brazil and Switzerland have already clinched spots in the round of 32 by winning their respective groups. France, Norway, Canada, Colombia, Morocco, Bosnia-Herzegovina and South Africa also are advancing. Haiti, Tunisia, Turkey, Jordan, Uzbekistan, Panama and Czechia, however, have been eliminated from knockout-round contention.

Here’s everything you need to know about World Cup matches being played Thursday and Friday across the U.S., Mexico and Canada (all times Pacific).

The first 13 days of the 2026 FIFA World Cup offered plenty of memorable moments.

Check out The Times’ daily recaps ahead of Wednesday’s six-game slate:

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