The 2026 World Cup is already coming into his fifteenth day of competitors, and his tales from the night time are as quite a few as ever. Because of this 20 Minutes presents you, all through the event, a recap of the most important occasions that came about throughout your sleep (within the absence of a return of freshness).
And issues nonetheless occurred, throughout the night time from Wednesday to Thursday, after the ultimate of group B Canada-Switzerland gained by the Nati (1-2), at 9 p.m. in Vancouver, and the great blow of Bosnia-Herzegovina in entrance of Qatar (3-1), which ought to assure it a ticket for the spherical of 16 of this World Cup. Come on, embark on a return to a really dense night time having accomplished teams C and A.
The match of the night time
Let’s face it, we did not guess on the best assembly by delivering at midnight on 20 Minutes a Scotland-Brazil (0-3) too shortly unbalanced, from a staggering reward from the Scottish protection to Vinicius (0-1, seventh). No, the actual thrill match of the night time came about on the identical time at Atlantabetween Morocco and Haiti (4-2). In our protection, it was arduous to foretell that the Haitians, already eradicated with out having scored a single purpose over the primary two days, would have the ability to maintain off the semi-finalist of the 2022 World Cup till the final quarter of an hour.
And in what means… Lenny Joseph provided himself a “Madjer” with the complicity of Yassine Bounou from the tenth minute of play (0-1), launching one of many biggest halves of this World Cup. In complete, 4 objectives have been scored, together with a marvel from the Haitian Wilson Isidor for the 1-2 (see beneath).
The Atlas Lions needed to work arduous, with Achraf Hakimi (1-1, thirty ninth) then the third purpose within the event from Ismael Saibari (2-2, forty fifth + 1) to remain within the sport. Even within the second half, we needed to wait till the 78th minute to see Morocco lastly take the lead because of Soufiane Rahimi (3-2), earlier than Strasbourg’s Gessime Yassine accomplished this offensive orgy (4-2, 89th). Haiti ends its fortnight with 0 factors, however by exiting via the entrance door, and stopping the Moroccans (2nd with 7 factors) from taking first place in Group C on purpose common.
The purpose of the night time
The standard of the aerial sequence of Nathan Saliba to supply a caviar to Promise David on the Canadian purpose, at first of the night towards Switzerland (1-2, 76th), pushes us to present him a particular point out. However the biggest potential purpose of this primary section of the 2026 World Cup got here to us from the lightning proper foot of Wilson Isidor.
We have been taking part in the forty third minute of play when the Haitian striker from Sunderland, educated at Stade Rennais, inherited a ball 20 m away, barely shifted to the best aspect. The suddenness, violence and precision of his missile within the prime nook of Yassine Bounou pushed us to return to the photographs about fifteen instances once we wakened. We are able to solely advocate this technique to open your eyes this morning.
The outbreak of the night time
It’s for the Moroccan coach Mohamed Ouahbi, who doesn’t cover the good ambitions of his group. “We now have entered one other dimension, the gamers imagine in themselves and the opponents respect Morocco,” stated the current successor of Walid Regragui, after the qualification of the Atlas Lions for the spherical of 16 of the event.
Earlier than persevering with, with out the slightest complexion: “We should imagine in it, we should intention for this title”. Morocco is in fact counting on its excellent 4th place in Qatar in 2022 and on its “title” on the CAN 5 months in the past, however we didn’t count on such an announcement, particularly after having taken 78 minutes to take the benefit towards the modest Haiti crew.
Comebacks of the night time
All the Brazilian individuals awaited this second with excessive impatience. And sure, within the very best context of an important success (3-0) having secured first place in Group C on the hour mark, the Seleção witnessed the good return of Neymar within the 76th minute of play. Injured in a calf for a number of weeks, the previous PSG star thus performed his first match for the choice… since October 18, 2023! An eternity due to this fact, therefore the tears seen after the top of the assembly in Miami.
The highest scorer within the historical past of the Seleção forward of King Pelé (79 objectives in 129 caps) stood out on Wednesday night with an providing in direction of Vinicius, wasted by the Actual Madrid striker (79th). The latter praised the return of the 34-year-old icon: “Neymar arrives at a vital second for us, he is likely one of the greatest gamers on the planet. The coach made the best alternative.” It stays to be seen what function Carlo Ancelotti intends to present to a “Ney” who is clearly very removed from his greatest durations, whereas a troublesome spherical of 16 towards Japan is taking form.
In a (new) festive night, with a 3rd consecutive success (3-0 towards the Czech Republic, in a match which began at 3 a.m. Mexico), the host nation Mexico, for its half, celebrated its goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa. At 40, the previous Ajaccian was in a position to substitute the holder Raul Rangel within the 78th minute of play, and thus provide himself a participation in a sixth World Cup (154th choice). Additionally very moved, Ochoa additionally had the pleasure of being on the origin of Alvaro Fidalgo’s closing purpose (ninetieth + 4), with a protracted, excellent restart in direction of Roberto Alvarado. All in a melting Estadio Azteca.
The qualifier of the night time
On this identical Group A, South Africa made historical past final night time, by rising from the swimming pools of a World Cup for the primary time. Bafana Bafana (2nd with 4 factors) will due to this fact play within the spherical of 16 because of Thapelo Maseko’s essential purpose, scored within the 63rd minute of an undecided match (1-0) towards South Korea (third with 3 factors and a future in suspense), 3 hours away in Monterrey.
The talk of the night time
What if Simply Fontaine’s legendary file (13 objectives scored within the 1958 World Cup) was this time threatened for good, and never by Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé or Erling Haaland ? No, we aren’t going to speak to you concerning the 20-year-old Swiss crack Johan Manzambi, scorer on Wednesday night of his third purpose of the event towards Canada (2-1)… however about our pal CSC! And sure, right here he’s now at 11 objectives, after the brand new boosts of the night/night time from goalkeepers Mahmoud Abunada (on Bosnia-Herzegovina – Qatar) and Yassine Bounou (Morocco-Haiti).
It’s troublesome to see how his formidable effectivity/consistency at this World Cup couldn’t permit him to beat his private file, till now caught at 12 objectives within the World Cup (in 2018 in Russia), when he nonetheless has precisely 50 matches left on this event. No arduous emotions “Justo”.
As we speak’s matches
The final day for 3 new teams of this 2026 World Cup will happen this Thursday night. We’ll due to this fact first be entitled at 10 p.m. to the 2 Group E matches performed concurrently, particularly Ecuador-Germany (in New York) and Curaçao-Côte d’Ivoire (in Philadelphia).
Our file on the 2026 World Cup
Then the World Cup will proceed with the result of Group F at 1 hour, marked by a tempting Japan-Sweden (in Arlington-Dallas), and by a threat of a brand new defeat for Tunisia.Hervé Renard going through the The Netherlands (in Kansas Metropolis). Lastly, we’ll focus at 4 hours on group D, with United States – Türkiye (in Los Angeles) and an undecided Paraguay-Australia (in Santa Clara).
