Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Mexico and South Korea will aim to punch their ticket to the World Cup knockout rounds on Thursday when they meet in Guadalajara, knowing that a win would guarantee a last 32 berth. The Group A rivals head into the fixture at the Estadio Akron fresh from respective victories over South Africa and the Czech Republic in their opening games last week. The expanded 48-team format for this year’s World Cup — and the fact that the eight best-ranked third-placed teams will advance from the group stage — means that a win for either Mexico or South Korea would see them advance.
Co-hosts Mexico are bracing for a significantly tougher test against South Korea than South Africa provided. “We have to be very wary of the opponents’ attacking transitions,” Mexico coach Javier Aguirre said. “When we are attacking, we can’t let our guard down; if there are two Koreans up front, there need to be three Mexicans.” The build-up to Thursday’s game has been shrouded with intrigue, with a mystery drone spotted over South Korea’s training ground on Tuesday. Yonhap news agency reported that a South Korea team security officer spotted the device, and a Mexican military drone-interdiction specialist stationed at the training camp brought it down by emitting radio signals. Two men who were suspected to be the drone operators retrieved the crashed device and fled the scene in an incident which South Korea coach Hong Myung-bo described as “unfortunate” but insisted “did not impact us significantly.”
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In other games on Thursday, Switzerland will look to bounce back from their disappointing opening Group B draw with Qatar when they take on Bosnia-Herzegovina, while co-hosts Canada face the Qataris in Vancouver. Bosnia coach Sergej Barbarez is eyeing another upset — Switzerland are ranked 44 places above them by FIFA — urging his team to summon the spirit of their qualifying campaign, when they knocked out Italy during the playoffs. “When we were playing against Italy in the playoffs, we had a similar sort of sentiment publicly, but we stayed focused on ourselves,” Barbarez said. Thursday’s games kick off the second round of group fixtures.
Ivory Coast forward Elye Wahi will miss his country’s second match against Germany on Saturday after he was denied a visa to enter Canada. The Ivorian federation (FIF) said that Wahi could not travel because “the administrative authorisations necessary for his entry into Canadian territory have not been obtained at this stage.” The FIF gave no reason for his visa refusal but several media reported that Wahi had been questioned by French police over suspicions of spot-fixing after picking up a yellow card in a Ligue 1 match while he was playing for Nice mid-May. The public prosecutor’s office in Marseille confirmed to AFP that “a 23-year-old professional footballer, playing in the Ligue 1 championship, was arrested on May 29, 2026 in relation to an ongoing investigation.” Wahi is the second World Cup player to be denied entry into Canada after Ghana’s Thomas Partey, who is facing rape charges in Britain.
On Wednesday, England lit up the tournament with a roller coaster 4-2 win over Croatia in Group L which included two goals from captain Harry Kane and one from Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham. But while England got off the mark in style, there was disappointment for Portugal, who were held to a surprise 1-1 draw by the Democratic Republic of Congo. The result once again renewed scrutiny of Portugal coach Roberto Martinez’s support for Cristiano Ronaldo, the 41-year-old icon who is playing in his sixth World Cup. The veteran striker gave an ineffective performance, managing just 25 touches in the whole match, but Martinez defended the decision not to replace him. “It makes no sense to take off the best goalscorer in world football in a game that you need goals,” Martinez said. Ronaldo has now failed to score in 10 consecutive matches in major tournaments, and his country’s press turned against him on Thursday. Sports newspaper A Bola said that Ronaldo appeared “crushed by the pressure” and had become “himself a problem,” while Publico said the team “remains hostage to its faith in Ronaldo.”
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