<\/p>\n
France’s Kylian Mbappe (10) and his teammates gesture to fans following the World Cup Group I soccer match between France and Iraq in Philadelphia, Monday, June 22, 2026.<\/p>\n
Petr David Josek\/AP Photo\/Petr David Josek<\/p>\n
Erling Haaland festeja un gol por la selecci\u00f3n de Noruega en el duelo del Mundial ante Senegal, disputado el lunes 22 de junio de 2026 (AP Foto\/Frank Franklin II)<\/p>\n
Frank Franklin II\/AP Photo\/Frank Franklin II<\/p>\n
Ecuador’s Denil Castillo controls the ball during the World Cup Group E soccer match against Germany in East Rutherford, N.J., near New York, Thursday, June 25, 2026.<\/p>\n
Yuki Iwamura\/AP Photo\/Yuki Iwamura<\/p>\n
Cape Verde supporters react following the World Cup Group H soccer match between Uruguay and Cape Verde in Miami Gardens, Fla., Sunday, June 21, 2026.<\/p>\n
Rebecca Blackwell\/AP Photo\/Rebecca Blackwell<\/p>\n
Ivory Coast’s Nicolas Pepe, second from right, celebrates with teammates after scoring his side’s second goal during the World Cup Group E soccer match between Curacao and Ivory Coast in Philadelphia, Thursday, June 25, 2026.<\/p>\n
Matt Slocum\/AP Photo\/Matt Slocum<\/p>\n
Shortly after his team beat Senegal, Norway star Erling Haaland said he didn’t care all that much about its next game against France.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The rest of the soccer world sure does.<\/p>\n
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One of the marquee matchups of the World Cup takes place in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on Friday, when Haaland and the Norwegians face France and Kylian Mbapp\u00e9.<\/p>\n
Mbapp\u00e9, one of the world’s best strikers, has scored four goals in two games to push his World Cup total to 16, two behind Lionel Messi’s record.<\/p>\n
Haaland has put on a show in his first World Cup, scoring twice each in wins over Senegal and Iraq.<\/p>\n
This is a matchup even casual soccer fans won’t want to miss.<\/p>\n
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Also on Friday, Spain can clinch Group H against Uruguay, which likely needs a win to keep its knockout-stage hopes alive. Belgium faces New Zealand in what is likely a must-win for both sides.<\/p>\n
The winner of Group G will likely be decided when Egypt meets Iran in Seattle.<\/p>\n
Senegal also faces Iraq in a game both sides need to win to have a shot at advancing to the knockout stage as a third-place team.<\/p>\n
What to watch on June 25<\/p>\n
\u2014 Norway vs. France, 3 p.m. EDT in Foxborough, Massachusetts (Fox\/Telemundo\/Peacock)<\/p>\n
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\u2014 Senegal vs. France, 3 p.m. EDT in Toronto (FS1\/Telemundo\/Peacock)<\/p>\n
\u2014 Uruguay vs. Spain, 8 p.m. EDT in Guadalajara, Mexico (Fox\/Telemundo\/Peacock)<\/p>\n
\u2014 Cape Verde vs. Saudi Arabia, 8 p.m. EDT in Houston (FS1\/Telemundo\/Peacock)<\/p>\n
\u2014 New Zealand vs. Belgium, 11 p.m. EDT in Vancouver, British Columbia (Fox\/Telemundo\/Peacock)<\/p>\n
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\u2014 Egypt vs. Iran, 11 p.m. EDT in Seattle (FS1\/Telemundo\/Peacock)<\/p>\n
Cape Verde on the verge of knockout stage berth<\/p>\n
Cape Verde has made quite an impression its first World Cup.<\/p>\n
The island nation off the western coast of Africa pulled off one of the World Cup’s biggest surprises by playing pre-tournament favorite Spain to a scoreless draw in its opener. Cape Verde followed that up by scoring its first goals of the World Cup in a 2-2 tie against Uruguay.<\/p>\n
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Next up could be a monumental achievement for the Blue Sharks: a spot in the knockout stage.<\/p>\n
Beat Saudi Arabia in Houston and Cape Verde will finish no worse than second in Group H. Even a draw could be good enough to get the Blue Sharks out of the group, a monumental accomplishment for a nation of about 500,000 people and about 15 million new Instagram followers<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s in our hands,\u201d defender Roberto Lopes said. \u201cWe have to go and take it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iran, Egypt play for Group G win in Seattle’s World Cup \u2018Pride Match\u2019<\/p>\n
The Egypt-Iran match will likely determine the winner of Group G.<\/p>\n
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The game in Seattle has an awkward backdrop.<\/p>\n
By coincidence, the game will be a \u201cPride Match\u201d in Seattle, coinciding with the city\u2019s annual celebration of the LGBTQ+ community.<\/p>\n
Egypt and Iran are two of the most repressive places in the world for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and both sides tried to get the celebrations canceled, to no avail.<\/p>\n
Iran also has faced multiple hurdles playing in the United States in this World Cup due to the war in the Middle East. The Iranians had been forced to travel only on game days from their base camp in Tijuana, Mexico, but U.S. officials eased restrictions to allow the team to travel two days before the match against Egypt.<\/p>\n
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Uruguay facing must-win against Spain<\/p>\n
One of the highlight matches of the group stage takes place in Guadalajara, Mexico, with European champion Spain taking on South American powerhouse Uruguay, which will be in danger of not advancing if its loses.<\/p>\n
Uruguay was held to draws by Saudi Arabia and Cape Verde and now only a win against favorite Spain will ensure the team moves on to the next round. A draw or a loss will leave Uruguay\u2019s fate dependent on other results.<\/p>\n
Spain will advance with a draw, but only a win will secure La Roja first place in Group H.<\/p>\n
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Deschamps to miss France’s match against Norway following mother’s death<\/p>\n
France assistant coach Guy St\u00e9phan attended Thursday\u2019s prematch news conference in place of coach Didier Deschamps, whose mother recently died.<\/p>\n
The 57-year-old Deschamps is currently in France and will miss the team\u2019s final group-stage match against Norway on Friday. Deschamps previously announced he is stepping down as France coach after the tournament, 14 years after taking the job.<\/p>\n
St\u00e9phan said his thoughts continue to be with Deschamps and his family.<\/p>\n
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\u201cHe is very affected,\u201d St\u00e9phan said. \u201cI have a lot of exchanges with him, even just a few minutes ago. I will strive to make the situation as normal as possible and to prove worthy of the trust he places in me.\u201d<\/p>\n
William Saliba and Marcus Thuram sat out France\u2019s training session to rest. St\u00e9phan said Saliba also won\u2019t be available on Friday.<\/p>\n
More World Cup news<\/p>\n
\u2014 Ivory Coast into World Cup knockout round for 1st time as P\u00e9p\u00e9 scores twice in 2-0 win over Cura\u00e7ao<\/p>\n
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\u2014 Ecuador advances to World Cup knockout rounds, beats Germany 2-1 on Plata\u2019s 77th-minute goal<\/p>\n
\u2014 The World Cup is half over, with 54 of 104 matches complete. And the drama is just getting started<\/p>\n
\u2014 Canada will be first World Cup host to play game outside its borders<\/p>\n
\u2014 For Scotland and other teams in 3rd place, the World Cup waiting game is underway<\/p>\n
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\u2014 Schick retires from international stage after Czech Republic\u2019s World Cup exit<\/p>\n
\u2014 World Cup coaches are worried about yellow cards this week. Here\u2019s what to know<\/p>\n
\u2014 Demolition greets Sweden at its World Cup base camp during FC Dallas renovation project<\/p>\n
\u2014 Mexico teenager Gilberto Mora impresses in first World Cup start and could see role expand<\/p>\n
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\u2014 Day 15 of the World Cup, in photos<\/p>\n
Stats of the day<\/p>\n
The World Cup has set an attendance record with 3,605,357 fans, barely halfway through this year’s tournament. The previous record of 3,587,538 was set the last time the United States hosted in 1994.<\/p>\n
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AP sports writers Kyle Hightower and Tales Azzoni contributed to this report.<\/p>\n
See more of AP\u2019s World Cup coverage here<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"France’s Kylian Mbappe (10) and his teammates gesture to fans following the World Cup Group I soccer match…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[199,5416,5,28474,27578,1565,21,357,29,22,27,28475,28473,230,1980,210,28472],"class_list":["post-41602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-france","tag-didier-deschamps","tag-erling-haland","tag-france","tag-gilberto-mora","tag-guy-stephan","tag-lionel-messi","tag-marcus-thuram","tag-new-zealand","tag-package-100502-member-choice-sports-option","tag-product-30599-ap-sports-news-s-wire-only","tag-product-42059-world-cup-text","tag-roberto-lopes","tag-seattle","tag-spain","tag-uruguay","tag-william-saliba","tag-world-cup-schedule-results-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}