Super Spanish summer

 

A record 48 nations took part in the 2026 World Cup hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States. A string of friendly matches and an Asian Cup qualifier in which Yemen defeated Lebanon 2-0 with a double from Nasser Mohammedoh in Qatar preceded the World Cup.  

In group A, South Korea came from a goal down to beat the Czech Republic 2-1 but were eliminated together with the Czechs after losing 1-0 to South Africa who progressed with hosts Mexico. Qatar earned their first ever World Cup point against eventual group B winners Switzerland who were followed into the next round by hosts Canada and Bosnia & Herzegovina. Canada lost ground after failing to win their group and had to play their remaining matches in America where they were knocked out 3-0 by Morocco with a brace from Azzedine Ounahi in the round of 16. Florian Balogun netted twice as the United States began their campaign with a resounding 4-1 victory over Paraguay while Turkey were shocked 2-0 by Australia who lost by the same scoreline to their American hosts. Having lost 1-0 to 10-man Paraguay, Turkey’s 3-2 win against the USA was not enough to keep them in the tournament as the hosts won group D but were later dumped out of the competition by Belgium in the round of 16 with Charles de Ketelaere netting twice for the visitors. Ecuador began with a 1-0 loss to Ivory Coast and were held to a goalless draw by debutants Curacao but made it out of group E after coming from a goal down to beat group winners Germany 2-1 while in group F the most remarkable result was Sweden’s 5-1 humiliation at the hands of the Dutch for whom Brian Brobbey and Cody Gakpo each scored a double. Iran drew all their group G matches including 0-0 against 10-man Belgium but failed to reach the next round. France hammered Norway 4-1 with a hat-trick from Ousmane Dembélé to top group I and Senegal followed these two teams into the next round after rattling 5 past Iraq with a brace from Pape Gueye. Norway eliminated Brazil 2-1 in the round of 16 with both goals coming from Erling Haaland. Ghana, who had defeated Panama with a goal in stoppage time, held England to a goalless draw, but the English won group L and went on to knock Mexico out 3-2 at the Azteca with a double from Jude Bellingham and finished third after a 6-4 thriller against France in which Kylian Mbappé netted a brace and Bukayo Saka scored a hat-trick for France and England respectively. In group K Portugal drew 1-1 with DR Congo; both teams progressed behind Colombia. Uruguay and Saudi Arabia drew 1-1 and failed to progress from group H which was won by Spain who began with a goalless draw against Cape Verde and continued with wins including a 2-0 victory over France in the semi-final which took them to the final where they met and defeated Argentina 1-0 in extra time to lift the World Cup for the second time in their history. 

All for the Cup

 

The year began with the Africa Cup of Nations in Full swing. Host Morocco had won their group despite a disappointing 1-1 draw with Mali. Another surprising result was Mozambique’s 3-2 win over Gabon that sent them through as one of the best third teams. Ivory Coast’s 3-0 victory against Burkina Faso in the round of 16 was their last hurrah in the competition while Nigeria celebrated a 2-0 triumph against Algeria in the quarter-finals but lost their semi-final match on penalties to the hosts who met Senegal in the final. The Senegalese thought they had won the cup with a goal in extra-time, but their disgraceful behaviour in the final resulted in the match and African crown being awarded to Morocco.

In the preliminary round of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, Eritrea upset Eswatini with Ali Sulieman scoring both goals in their 2-1 away win after he had scored a late goal in their 2-0 home victory and Burundi put the tie to bed when they netted 4 times in Chad without reply. Lesotho drew blanks against Seychelles in South Africa but came from behind to register a narrow victory a few days later while Djibouti enjoyed a 1-0 win in South Sudan but went out on aggregate having played both matches at the same stadium behind closed doors.

Viktor Gyökeres scored all 3 goals as Sweden eliminated Ukraine 3-1 from the World Cup in Spain before qualifying with a home win over Poland while Bolivia had their World Cup dreams shattered 2-1 by Iraq in Mexico. Completing the list of World Cup participants via the play-offs were Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Czech Republic and DR Congo.

In the Asian Cup qualifiers Sri Lanka triumphed 3-1 in Taiwan and Nepal lost 1-0 in Laos while in a CONCOCAF friendly series Bonaire sent St Vincent and the Grenadines home 3-1 losers and Aruba beat Liechtenstein 4-1 in the final of a FIFA Series in Rwanda.

 

Word Cup draws closer

 

Two rounds of matches in November completed the list of nations for the 2026 World Cup draw, including teams involved in the March pay-off matches.

Curaçao crushed their Bermudan hosts 7-0 before holding Jamaica to a goalless draw to become the smallest country ever to qualify for the World Cup finals and Haiti celebrated a 1-0 win over Costa Rica in Curaçao while Honduras suffered a debilitating 2-0 defeat in Nicaragua and Cecilio Waterman scored twice for Panama who enjoyed a 3-2 victory in Guatemala on their way to the World Cup.

Troy Parrott netted a double in Dublin in a 2-0 win over 10-man Portugal to keep the Republic of Ireland’s hopes alive before scoring a hat-trick in Budapest to break Hungarian hearts and send the Irish to the play-offs with the 3-2 winner coming right at the death. Denmark could only draw 2-2 at home to Belarus and with only a draw needed in Scotland, the Scots struck twice in stoppage time to qualify for the World Cup with a 4-2 win that sent Denmark to the play-offs while Italy took the lead but were humiliated 4-1 at home to group winners and third in the Ziaian rankings Norway for whom Erling Haaland scored twice in a minute to send the Azuri to the play-off matches where Slovakia will also be playing as they were thrashed 6-0 in Germany with Leroy Sane netting a double. With both teams already out of the running, Finland finished their campaign with an embarrassing 1-0 defeat at home to Malta while Kosovo scored twice at 10-man Slovenia and the 10 men of Romania lost 3-1 away to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Wales thumped their visitors from North Macedonia 7-1 with a Harry Wilson hat-trick to reach the play-offs and Ukraine also reached the play-off matches with 2 late goals against Iceland in Poland while Spain secured direct qualification despite drawing 2-2 at home to Turkey. Needing a win to top the group, Bosnia and Herzegovina were denied by a 1-1 Austrian leveller that sent their hosts through while in group E Bulgaria’s dismal campaign ended with them finishing bottom despite a 2-1 home win over Georgia.

In an Asian Cup qualifier, Singapore came from behind to win 2-1 in Hong Kong.  

One step to go

 

With a double fixture list of qualifiers in November remaining, Egypt, Algeria, Ghana, Cape Verde, South Africa, Qatar, England, Saudi Arabia, Ivory Coast and Senegal all booked their places in the 2026 World Cup.

Nigeria enjoyed a 4-0 home win with a hat-trick from Victor Osimhen against Benin to overtake them on goal difference and reach the second round while South Africa who had only managed a goalless draw at home to Zimbabwe 4 days earlier finished above them and qualified directly with a 3-0 win over Rwanda. The Zimbabweans ended their campaign with a loss to Lesotho in stoppage time in a game played in South Africa. Cameroon who were held to a goalless draw by their visitors from Angola reached round 2 behind Cape Verde while in other matches Zambia lost 1-0 in Tanzania, Kenya suffered the same outcome in Burundi and Guinea were 2-1 winners in Mozambique with Abdoul Karim Traore netting a double. Namibia were 3-1 losers in Liberia and Central African Republic scored in added-on time to win 3-2 in Chad while Sao Tome and Principe stunned Malawi 1-0 in Tunisia.

In Europe Albert Gudmundsson and Ruslan Malinovskyi scored twice for Iceland and Ukraine respectively, but it was Ukraine who prevailed 5-3 with 2 late goals in Reykjavik while Montenegro were humiliated 4-0 with a brace from Hanus Sorensen in the Faroe Islands who celebrated a 2-1 win against the Czechs a few days later and Sweden were shamed 1-0 at home to Kosovo. Albania triumphed 1-0 in Serbia while Austria were upset 1-0 in Romania and Northern Ireland put 2 past their visitors from Slovakia. North Macedonia returned home from Belgium with a goalless draw only to draw 1-1 with Kazakhstan while Belgium came from an early goal down in Wales to win 4-2 with 2 Kevin de Bruyne penalty conversion. Kenan Yildiz scored twice as Turkey battered Bulgaria 6-1 in Sofia while a goal for Hungary in stoppage time cancelled out a double from Christiano Ronaldo to make it 2-2 in Portugal and put the home crowd’s celebration on ice.

In CONCACAF Haiti won 3-0 in Nicaragua but lost 3-0 in Honduras while Jamaica were shocked 2-0 in Curacao and Suriname drew 1-1 in Panama who drew level in stoppage time.

In the Asian Cup qualifiers Turkmenistan suffered a shock 1-0 loss in Sri Lanka while Singapore enjoyed a 2-1 win in India and Bangladesh earned a 1-1 draw in Hong Kong. Teerasak Poeiphimai scored a hat-trick as Thailand smashed their Taiwanese hosts 6-1 and in a friendly match New Caledonia won 2-0 in Gibraltar.