Matchweek 1 of the 2026 FIFA World Cup came to a close tonight. Tomorrow, Mexico and South Korea have the chance to be the first team to qualify for the knockout stage if either can win in their evening matchup. For now, here is how today’s matches went, as well as what the groups look like going into Matchweek 2.
Portugal 1-1 DR Congo
Despite Portugal’s poor performance in its draw against DR Congo, Cristiano Ronaldo made history as the second player to feature in six World Cups, and is the oldest player to start in a World Cup match at 41 years and 132 days.
First, I have to give credit to DR Congo as they played a good game, scored a nice goal, and played with confidence despite it being their debut at the tournament and against one of the favorites.
Portugal, who in my opinion, could have squared away a win within the first half, did not play with any urgency. Given the upsets over the past week, one would think that teams would start to take things more seriously even when they are heavily favored to win.
Portugal did not learn from this and played calmly with no real desire to score being shown. Ronaldo played the full match but was not too involved as well as Bernardo Silva and Nuno Mendes who most would have expected to play more contributing roles.
With Colombia’s win tonight, Group K finishes match day one with Colombia on top, DR Congo in second, Portugal in third and Uzbekistan in fourth.
England 4-2 Croatia
This was the decisive game of Group L, as both teams were favored to battle it out for first place.
Given their last couple of encounters, I was expecting a lower scoring game, however a goal was scored on average every 15 minutes.
Harry Kane led England in scoring with his brace, followed by a goal from Madridista Jude Bellingham and Barça striker Marcus Rashford.
Croatia had goals from strikers Petar Musa and Martin Baturina. Croatia was disciplined in its formation in the first half and it seemed like the back and fourth scoring would continue as the first half ended 2-2.
However, in the second half, Croatia got stuck more in its defensive half and their formation became looser, giving England more opportunities to exploit Croatia’s back line.
Ghana 1-0 Panama
Last-second goal gives Ghana the win and takes them to second place in Group L.
It was a hard-fought game with chances from each side, but neither was able to break through. Panama had a slight edge going into halftime as it spent more time possessing in the Ghanaian half.
It was not until the 90+5th minute, out of the six added minutes in total, that winger Brandon Thomas-Asante streaked down the left side of the field, into the box and calmly finds Caleb Yirenkyi who only needed the slightest touch on the ball to knock it in from inside the six-yard box.
The game would go past the 100th minute, which included a Panamanian corner where they called their goalkeeper up to see if they could somehow tie, but even that wasn’t enough as the referee blew the whistle soon after to give Ghana its first three points of the tournament.
Colombia 3-1 Uzbekistan
Debutants score but it is not enough as Colombia jumps to first place in Group K.
Colombia controlled most of the game but only managed to take their first lead in the 40th minute when right-back Daniel Muñoz timed a perfect run into the box and was just able to get enough on the looping pass to deflect it over the keeper and into the center of the goal.
Uzbekistan equalized in the 60th minute as Abbosbek Fayzullaev found himself on the end of a freak deflection that went off the goalkeeper, then off the post, looped high over the crossbar and dropped perfectly to him. All he had to do was stand under the ball and have it bounce off his head as he was only three feet from the goal line.
Uzbekistan’s tying goal only stood for five minutes until Luis Díaz received a perfect tee for him to curl it back across goal with just enough pace that the keeper’s touch was not enough to stop it from rolling into the far right corner of the goal.
Then, in the final seconds of stoppage time, substitute Jaminton Campaz headed in a perfect cross from Cucho Hernández to make it 3-1.
This win puts the pressure back on Portugal, as now they cannot afford to lose and all Colombia has to do is keep up their form.
Standings after Matchday 1:
| Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D |
| 1. Mexico 3pts 2. South Korea 3pts 3. Czechia 0pts 4. South Africa 0pts | 1.Switzerland 1pts 2. Canada 1pts 3. Qatar 1pts 4. Bosnia & Herzegovnia 1pts | 1. Scotland 3pts 2. Morocco 1pts 3. Brazil 1pts 4. Haiti 0pts | 1. USA 3pts 2. Australia 3pts 3. Türkiye 0pts 4. Paraguay 0pts |
| Group E | Group F | Group G | Group H |
| 1. Germany 3pts 2. Ivory Coast 3pts 3. Ecuador 0pts 4. Curaçao 0pts | 1. Sweden 3pts 2. Japan 1pts 3. Netherlands 1pts 4. Tunisia 0pts | 1. New Zealand 1pts 2. Iran 1pts 3. Belgium 1pts 4. Egypt 1pts | 1. Uruguay 1pts 2. Saudi Arabia 1pts 3. Spain 1pts 4. Cabo Verde 1pts |
| Group I | Group J | Group K | Group L |
| 1. Norway 3pts 2. France 3pts 3. Senegal 0pts 4. Iraq 0pts | 1. Argentina 3pts 2. Austria 3pts 3. Jordan 0pts 4. Algeria 0pts | 1. Colombia 3pts 2. DR Congo 1pts 3. Portugal 1pts 4. Uzbekistan 0pts | 1. England 3pts 2. Ghana 3pts 3. Panama 0pts 4. Croatia 0pts |
As always, stay tuned to Futbolhijo.com for in-depth coverage of the biggest World Cup yet. Check back for my next article, where I will be covering matches and news that occur throughout the tournament. You can also read my previous recap of “the day of record-breaking performances.”
Covor photo: Photo: Harry Kane – Shutterstock – user: MDI – ID: 1241180179
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