Overview
- The third and final group-stage matchday on June 26–27 finalized most qualifiers and confirmed four Round-of-16 ties: South Africa vs Canada, Netherlands vs Morocco, USA vs Bosnia, and Brazil vs Japan.
- France beat Norway 4-1 to finish the group with a perfect record, a game that also drew attention because Norway coach Ståle Solbakken left Erling Haaland on the bench.
- Capo Verde advanced to the last 16 for the first time and will face Argentina, while Spain beat Uruguay 1-0 to top Group H and Uruguay were eliminated after a costly goalkeeping error by Fernando Muslera.
- Belgium won Group G and Egypt also advanced from that pool; Senegal’s 5-0 win over Iraq secured the team a third-place finish and strengthened Africa’s showing, with at least six African nations now through to the knockouts.
- The bracket is largely set but the final matchups depend on FIFA’s best-third calculations and tiebreak rules, so placement and some opponents will only be confirmed after the last group results are processed ahead of the Round-of-16 kickoff.