The 2026 FIFA World Cup continued on Saturday AEST with the Socceroos suffering a frustrating 2-0 loss to co-hosts the United States in Seattle.
Later, Turkiye was eliminated from the tournament after suffering a dramatic 1-0 loss to Paraguay, who were down to 10 men for the majority of the match. Elsewhere, Morocco defeated Scotland 1-0 in Boston, while five-time champions Brazil toppled Haiti 3-0 in Philadelphia.
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WORLD CUP MATCH CENTRE: Morocco defeats Scotland, stats and more
WORLD CUP MATCH CENTRE: Brazil defeats Haiti, stats and more
WORLD CUP MATCH CENTRE: Paraguay defeats Turkiye, stats and more
FULL 2026 WORLD CUP SCHEDULE WITH AUSTRALIAN TIMES AND DATES
PARAGUAY SAVE WORLD CUP SKINS AS TURKEY ELIMINATED
Ten-man Paraguay beat Turkey 1-0 at the World Cup on Friday, a result that kept their hopes alive and also guaranteed that co-hosts the USA win Group D.
Turkey’s defeat means they become the second team after Haiti to be eliminated from contention.
Matias Galarza scored the only goal in a game that featured the first sending off in World Cup history for a player covering their mouth during an on-field confrontation, for Miguel Almiron.
Galarza’s low, long-range shot evaded Turkey goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir after just 63 seconds.
Former Newcastle forward Almiron was given his marching orders in first-half stoppage time after covering his mouth while he appeared to direct a comment at Turkey’s Mert Muldur.
In a scrappy match, Deniz Gul had a golden chance to equalize in the 88th minute when Paraguay ‘keeper Orlando Gill could only parry a shot, but he stabbed his shot wide of the goal.
Merih Demiral glanced a header wide in the dying seconds and was almost in tears afterwards as the Turkey players slumped to the turf in bitter disappointment.
It means Turkey, after their 2-0 loss to the Socceroos earlier this week, has failed to score a goal in its first two World Cup matches — despite attempting 62 shots.
It’s the most attempts without a goal in any two-match World Cup span since 1966, per the BBC.
HAITI FIRST NATION TO BE ELIMINATED
Matheus Cunha scored twice as Brazil eased past Haiti 3-0 to breathe life into their World Cup campaign and close in on a spot in the last 32.
After a much-criticised display in their opening 1-1 draw with Morocco, the five-time world champions underlined the gulf in class with outsiders Haiti, who became the first country to exit this World Cup.
Cunha’s scruffy goal in Philadelphia gave Brazil the lead midway through the first half, and he struck again as Carlo Ancelotti’s side asserted their dominance. Vinicius Junior added a third before the break.
Brazil play Scotland in their final Group C game in Miami on June 24. Haiti’s first World Cup appearance since 1974 will end after they play Morocco in Atlanta.
The Selecao currently have the edge over Morocco for top spot on goal difference. If they finish first, they would face the Group F runners-up — likely to be the Netherlands, Japan or Sweden — in the next round.
Neymar did not travel with the squad as he continues his recovery from a calf injury, prompting Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva to joke he was “working remotely”.
As promised Ancelotti made changes after the insipid showing against Morocco, bringing United forward Cunha in for Brentford’s Igor Thiago and replacing Roger Ibanez with Danilo at right-back.
Despite a US government ban which has prevented fans travelling from Haiti, the Caribbean nation received loud support from the sizeable Haitian diaspora, which filled roughly half of the 68,324 crowd.
Aggrieved at not coming away with a point from their 1-0 loss to Scotland last week, Haiti coach Sebastien Migne urged his players to embrace the opportunity to play Brazil at a World Cup.
With 77 places separating the nations in the FIFA rankings, Brazil quickly took control and thought they had scored when Raphinha fired home, only for the Barcelona winger to be flagged offside.
It was a sign of what was to come though and Brazil broke the deadlock on 23 minutes.
Cunha sparked the move by winning possession in midfield and, after Vinicius’s shot was parried, he reacted quickest to block Hannes Delcroix’s clearance to send the ball trickling into the net.
Vinicius and Cunha combined again to double the lead, the former slipping his team-mate in behind the Haiti defence to blast in a powerful left-footed shot as he fell to the ground.
Brazil lost Raphinha to injury but scored a third before half-time as Vinicius ran onto Lucas Paqueta’s floated pass and steered through the legs of Johny Placide.
Haiti almost bagged their first World Cup goal in 52 years when Ricardo Ade’s glancing header at a corner forced Alisson Becker into a sharp stop, but it was a rare moment of hope.
The introduction of 19-year-old Endrick as Ancelotti turned to his bench triggered huge cheers from Brazil supporters, who nearly had another goal to celebrate when substitute Gabriel Martinelli rattled the crossbar.
Haiti refused to go down without a fight as Alisson made two late saves to preserve Brazil’s first clean sheet in seven outings, turning the page on an underwhelming start to the competition.
MOROCCO CAPTAIN SCORES AFTER 71 SECONDS
Ismael Saibari scored the fastest goal of the World Cup so far after just 71 seconds as Morocco beat Scotland 1-0 on Friday to close in on a place in the knockout rounds.
Saibari scored in Morocco’s opening 1-1 draw with Brazil last weekend and his clinical finish with just over a minute gone settled a hard-fought, physical contest watched by a crowd of 64,146 at the Gillette Stadium near Boston.
The 25-year-old, who was born in Spain and raised in Belgium, is reportedly on the brink of a 55 million-euro (AU$90 million) transfer from Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven to Bayern Munich.
The quality of his strike past goalkeeper Angus Gunn showed why he is attracting such interest, and it was telling that Scotland lacked the same quality in the opposition box — that helps explain why Morocco are ranked fifth in the world, and Scotland 40th.
With four points from two games, Morocco are now primed to advance to the last 32 as they aim to at least match their historic run to the semi-finals in Qatar in 2022.
However, it was a sobering evening for Scotland and their army of fans who have taken over Boston during this World Cup, as their team never really tested Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou.
The laboured 1-0 win over Haiti in their opening game at the same stadium last weekend — which was their first victory at a World Cup since 1990 — gave them a platform to build on and reason to believe they can progress beyond the group stage at a World Cup for the very first time.
Another win here would have secured progress from Group C, but their chances of going further remain up in the air going into their next match against Brazil in Miami next Wednesday.
Morocco, whose captain Achraf Hakimi started hours after it was confirmed he must stand trial in France on rape charges, face Haiti in Atlanta next.
Moroccan coach Mohamed Ouahbi went with an unchanged starting line-up here following the Brazil clash, but opposite number Steve Clarke made three changes.
Clarke sought to reinforce his defence, meaning striker Lawrence Shankland dropped out as defender Kieran Tierney came into the side to make a back five.
But that was of little use as Morocco went ahead practically from kick-off. The assist came from Real Madrid’s Brahim Diaz and Grant Hanley played Saibari onside as the latter latched onto the ball over the top, controlled and rifled high into the net.
Morocco, who defeated Scotland 3-0 when the teams met at the 1998 World Cup, threatened to overrun their opponents every time they got forward but were wasteful, with Bilal El Khannouss squandering a good chance on 36 minutes.
Scotland were as stodgy in attack as they have been for a long time, and it took until first-half stoppage time for them to create anything dangerous.
That was a cross whipped in from the left by skipper Andy Robertson that John McGinn was unable to make anything of, and the opening period ended without Bounou needing to make a save.
Morocco hit the woodwork five minutes into the second half as Saibari met a cutback by El Khannouss and his attempt was deflected onto the bar by Jack Hendry.
Moments later Gunn made a fine stop to keep out an El Khannouss header from a corner taken by Hakimi, who was regularly booed by the crowd.
Morocco nevertheless seemed content to see the game out and soak up what Scotland could throw at them.
Ryan Christie fired over on 64 minutes after being teed up by Scott McTominay, who hit the side-netting late on, but a Scotland goal proved elusive.