{"id":523693,"date":"2026-06-29T06:13:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T06:13:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/523693\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T06:13:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T06:13:20","slug":"who-is-playing-in-the-world-cup-knock-out-stages-and-when-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/523693\/","title":{"rendered":"Who is playing in the World Cup knock-out stages and when? \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The group stage has concluded for the 2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/world-cup\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/world-cup\/\">World Cup<\/a>, with Algeria and Austria the final teams to qualify for the knock-out rounds after a whirlwind 3-3 draw in Kansas. Iran were the unlucky team to miss out, with three points and zero goal difference expected to get through at the start of the tournament, In the end, though, too many teams reached four points.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">It\u2019s win or go home from now on until the final on July 19th and the matches just keep coming in the last 32. It took 16 days and 72 matches to eliminate 16 teams from the World Cup through the group stage. Now there will be another 16 teams knocked out in just six days and 16 matches. Here are the fixtures for the last 32 of the World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>Fixture times (Irish time):<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Sunday<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">South Africa v Canada, Sofi Stadium, Inglewood, Los Angeles, 8pm<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Monday<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Brazil v Japan, NRG Stadium, Houston, 6pm<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Germany v Paraguay, Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, 9.30pm<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Tuesday<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Netherlands v Morocco, Estadio BBVA, Guadalupe, 2am<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Ivory Coast v Norway, AT&amp;T Stadium, Arlington, 6pm<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">France v Sweden, MetLife Stadium, New Jersey, 10pm<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Wednesday<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Mexico v Ecuador, Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, 2am<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">England v DR Congo, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, 5pm<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Belgium v Senegal, Lumen Field, Seattle, 9pm<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Thursday<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">USA v Bosnia and Herzegovina, Levi\u2019s Stadium, Santa Clara, 1am<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Spain v Austria, Sofi Stadium, Inglewood, Los Angeles, 8pm<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Friday<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Portugal v Croatia, BMO Field, Toronto, 12am<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Switzerland v Algeria, BC Place, Vancouver, 4am<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Argentina v Cape Verde, Hard Rock Stadium, Miami, 11pm<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Saturday<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Colombia v Ghana, Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas, 2.30am<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Pico Lopes and his Cape Verde team-mates will face Lionel Messi's Argentina in Miami on Friday in the Last 32 of the World Cup. Photograph: Marvin Ibo Guengoer\/GES Sportfoto\/Getty Images\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782713600_963_RDFUQBDU6VGCJDWMSYEZDC3EBI.jpg\"   width=\"800\" height=\"533\"\/>Pico Lopes and his Cape Verde team-mates will face Lionel Messi&#8217;s Argentina in Miami on Friday in the Last 32 of the World Cup. Photograph: Marvin Ibo Guengoer\/GES Sportfoto\/Getty Images What games are worth watching and what games are worth staying up for?<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The best tie of the round is unfortunately among the least convenient for Irish watchers, as the Netherlands play Morocco at 2am on Tuesday morning. Portugal against Croatia could be worth a late night to see if Cristiano Ronaldo can score his first knock-out goal, while there will be considerable interest in Pico Lopes and Cape Verde taking on the reigning champions Argentina. With an 11pm kick-off on a Friday night, the pubs in Dublin will be happy to show that one.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">At more friendly times, Brazil against Japan on Monday at 6pm, Ivory Coast against Norway at 6pm on Tuesday, and Belgium against Senegal at 9pm on Wednesday are games that will appeal to the neutral.<\/p>\n<p>When does the last 16 begin?<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">There is no break between the last 32 and the last 16, with the winners of South Africa v Canada and Netherlands v Morocco playing at 6pm on Saturday, July 4th, before the winners of Germany v Paraguay and France v Sweden play at 10pm. Then two games a night roughly (some going into the early hours of the following day), until there is finally a day to breathe. There are no matches on Wednesday, July 8th, the first rest day of the World Cup, before the first quarter-final begins on Thursday, July 9th.<\/p>\n<p>How are the brackets looking for the draw?<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Germany could play France in a blockbuster last 16 clash should they both progress. Spain against Portugal is another potentially interesting one, as would hosts Mexico against England.<\/p>\n<p>Last 16 potential clashes<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Germany\/Paraguay v France\/Sweden<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">South Africa\/Canada v Netherlands\/Morocco<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Portugal\/Ghana v Spain\/Austria<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">USA\/Bosnia and Herzegovina v Belgium\/Senegal<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Brazil\/Japan v Ivory Coast\/Norway<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Mexico\/Ecuador v England\/DR Congo<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Argentina\/Cape Verde v Australia\/Egypt<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Switzerland\/Algeria v Colombia\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The group stage has concluded for the 2026 World Cup, with Algeria and Austria the final teams to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523694,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[11148,2956,61,60,65024,28776,51962,112,4018],"class_list":["post-523693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-england-football-team","tag-fifa","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-kylian-mbappe","tag-lionel-messi","tag-pico-lopes","tag-sports","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=523693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}