Mexico became the first team to reach the knockout round of the World Cup on Thursday after a 1-0 victory over South Korea while Canada edged closer to the last 32 after thrashing Qatar.<\/p>\n
A howler from South Korea goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu gifted a goal to Mexico’s Luis Romo and proved decisive as ‘El Tri’ hung on to win a tense battle in Guadalajara.<\/p>\n
The victory means Mexico are guaranteed to finish in top spot in Group A with a game to spare following South Africa’s 1-1 draw with the Czech Republic earlier Thursday.<\/p>\n
Finishing top keeps Mexico at home in the last 32 with a game against a third-placed team in Mexico City.<\/p>\n
South Korea are second on three points, with the Czech Republic and South Africa also still alive on one.<\/p>\n
In other games on Thursday, Canada moved to the brink of the last 32 after overwhelming nine-man Qatar 6-0 to secure their first ever World Cup victory in Group B.<\/p>\n
Switzerland, also in Group B, reignited their campaign with a resounding defeat of Bosnia-Herzegovina in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
– Injury horror –<\/p>\n
Tournament co-hosts Canada had lost all six of their previous matches at the World Cup, at the 1986 and 2022 finals, but brought that run of losses to a halt in spectacular fashion at Vancouver’s BC Place stadium.<\/p>\n
With Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney — wearing a replica Canada shirt — among a fired-up crowd, Jesse Marsch’s side ran riot to secure a win that leaves them needing only a point against Switzerland to finish top of Group B.<\/p>\n
A hat-trick from Juventus striker Jonathan David, one goal apiece from Cyle Larin and Nathan Saliba, and a Mohammad Manai own goal sealed Canada’s win.<\/p>\n
The victory was marred though by a serious left leg injury to midfielder Ismael Kone, who was stretchered off after being clumsily upended by Qatar’s Assim Madibo in the 51st minute.<\/p>\n
Madibo was initially shown a yellow card for the challenge which was subsequently upgraded to red. The stricken Kone was given oxygen as he was carried off the field, waving to fans.<\/p>\n
Canada coach Jesse Marsch revealed afterwards Kone was being treated in hospital for a suspected broken leg, adding that his staff had understood the severity of the injury immediately.<\/p>\n
“It was right in front of us, and everyone could hear the bone snap,” Marsch said. “I haven’t spoken to Ismael yet, but he’s at the hospital. He will prepare for a surgery.<\/p>\n
“Everybody’s a little shaken by the whole experience because of the nature of the injury, and also because Ismael is a big part of the heart of our team. It will be a big loss for us.”<\/p>\n
– Switzerland on track –<\/p>\n
Earlier, Switzerland got their campaign back on track with a 4-1 drubbing of Bosnia-Herzegovina at the SoFi Stadium.<\/p>\n
Johan Manzambi scored twice while Ruben Vargas and Granit Xhaka were on target in a late flurry of goals for the Swiss, who are dreaming of advancing beyond the last 16 for the first time at this World Cup.<\/p>\n
Bosnia, who upset Italy in a playoff to reach this year’s tournament, are nearing an early exit after a loss that leaves them with one point from two games.<\/p>\n
In other games on Thursday, South Africa\u00a0resurrected their slender qualification hopes with a 1-1 draw against the Czech Republic in Atlanta.<\/p>\n
Teboho Mokoena’s penalty earned a point for South Africa after Michal Sadilek opened the scoring for the Czechs.<\/p>\n
But Mokoena’s late spot-kick kept both teams in the hunt for the last 32, although they will almost certainly have to win their final Group A fixture to advance.<\/p>\n
rcw\/gj<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mexico became the first team to reach the knockout round of the World Cup on Thursday after a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":95280,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[336,6900,35286,5058,17,11948,6901,16034,6898,35432,27750,5046,35437,11434,31081,35438,35439,3772,472,35433,111,388,6793,35436,35428,27754,6899,6906,35427,6907,35440,35435,541,35431,35430,3191,49,6371,516,30,35434,35429,16036],"class_list":["post-95279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-336","tag-american-edition","tag-assim-madibo","tag-atlanta","tag-canada","tag-czech-republic","tag-english","tag-fbl","tag-global-edition","tag-guadalajaramx","tag-ismael-kone","tag-italy","tag-johan-manzambi","tag-jonathan-david","tag-juventus","tag-kim-seung-gyu","tag-larin-saliba","tag-latin-america","tag-los-angeles","tag-luis-romo","tag-mark-carney","tag-mexico","tag-mexico-city","tag-michal-sadilek","tag-mohammad-manai","tag-nathan-saliba","tag-online-news-en","tag-online-news-en_latin-america","tag-online-news-en_sports","tag-online-news-en_top-stories-int","tag-online-news-en_top-stories-sa","tag-online-news-en_us-sports","tag-qatar","tag-south-asia-news","tag-south-asian-edition","tag-south-korea","tag-sports","tag-switzerland","tag-top-stories","tag-united-states","tag-us-sports","tag-vancouverca","tag-wc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}