The United States lost last night, 3-2, on a late goal by Turkey. But the biggest development? Star Christian Pulisic returned from injury and showed he was healthy in time for the knockout stage. The U.S. will take on Bosnia-Herzegovina in the round of 32.
In action today, Norway’s goal-scoring giant Erling Haaland locks his Viking horns with France’s lighting-fast Kylian Mbappé, who is hunting down the World Cup scoring record.
There’s another slew of big group stage games today, so come follow our NBC News live blog.
The U.S. rested nine regular starters in its narrow 3-2 loss to Turkey, because the U.S. had already won its group. The game was decided by a scrappy goal in the final minute of stoppage time.
Coach Mauricio Pochettino was afforded the luxury of giving seven players their first minutes of the tournament.
“He didn’t have to change nine to 10 guys, but he does because he believes in us, and that’s what you want as a coach,” midfielder Brenden Aaronson said.
Now the team enters the do-or-die knockouts on July 1 in Santa Clara, California. The Bosnians finished third in Group B, behind Canada and Switzerland. At least the U.S. will have Pulisic back. He played against Turkey, returning to action for the first time since exiting the opening game with a calf injury.
The rest of yesterday’s action included Ecuador stunning four-time world champions Germany 2-1. Ivory Coast beat Curaçao 2-0, Japan and Sweden drew 1-1, Paraguay and Australia drew 0-0, and the Netherlands finished top of its group by beating Tunisia 3-1.
Attendance for this summer’s World Cup has already surpassed the record 3,587,538 set by the 1994 World Cup, which was hosted in the U.S., according to FIFA.
Shortly after beating Senegal, Norwegian superstar Haaland said he didn’t care about Norway’s final Group I game against France because his team had already qualified for the knockouts.
But the rest of the world most certainly does, as the Manchester City forward will face off against legendary French striker Mbappé.
The European goal machines — who both command a weekly salary north of $600,000 — have started the tournament with a bang.
Mbappé has scored four goals in two games to push his World Cup total to 16, two behind Lionel Messi’s record for most all time, while Haaland has scored twice each in wins over Senegal and Iraq.
Meanwhile, Seattle’s stadium is expected to be brimming with rainbow flags today for a World Cup match between teams representing two of the most repressive countries for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
It was just a coincidence that the city’s “Pride Match” ended up as a high-stakes matchup between Iran and Egypt — with advancement from Group G still up in the air — and the move has come with plenty of pushback from both countries.
World Cup! All the games are on Telemundo and Peacock, and all times are Eastern:
That’s it for now! We’ll be back Monday.
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