WORLD CUP 2026: THE QUARTER-FINALS WRAP
Published: 13/07/2026 | By: Alex Courbat
Four matches, three days, and a tournament stripped down to its purest form. The 2026 World Cup has shed its group stage sprawl and its knockout round churn, and what remains is a semi-final field that reads like a script nobody would have dared pitch before a ball was kicked in June: France, Spain, England and Argentina, four heavyweights standing where the seeding always suggested they might, even if none of them arrived there quietly.
Boston set the tone first, and France did what France have made a habit of doing all summer. Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele shared the goals in a 2-0 win over Morocco that never quite let the Atlas Lions dream the way they had against bigger names earlier in the competition. It was efficient rather than spectacular, the kind of result that tournament favourites are supposed to produce when the stakes climb, and it sent France through to a mouth-watering last four without needing to empty the tank.
Los Angeles gave us something scrappier and, in its own way, more dramatic. Spain and Belgium traded blows for the best part of ninety minutes, Fabian Ruiz and Charles De Ketelaere cancelling each other out before Mikel Merino did what Mikel Merino has quietly built a habit of doing this summer, arriving late to decide a knockout tie that felt destined for extra time. It was the second injury-time intervention of Spain's tournament, and if there is a theme forming around this Spanish side it might simply be that they refuse to leave anything to chance until the very last kick allows it.
Then came the weekend double-header, and by common consent the pick of the lot. England against Norway in Miami had already been billed as box office, pitting Erling Haaland's genius against a Three Lions side that had just survived a breathless last-16 encounter with Mexico. What followed lived up to the build-up. Andreas Schjelderup's opener threatened to derail England's hopes before Jude Bellingham once again took centre stage, dragging Thomas Tuchel's side level and then striking the extra-time winner in a gruelling 2-1 victory. Another comeback, another knockout test passed, and another reminder that this England side possesses a resilience to match its undeniable talent.
Argentina's route through Kansas City carried a different flavour entirely. Lionel Messi may not have found the net this time, but he remained at the heart of everything Argentina did well, supplying the assist for Alexis Mac Allister's opener before Julián Álvarez and Lautaro Martínez struck in extra time to secure a 3-1 victory over Switzerland. The scoreline ultimately flattered the holders after another evening of genuine resistance, particularly following Dan Ndoye's equaliser and a contest that looked destined for penalties before Switzerland were reduced to ten men. The defending champions have not always been at their most fluent this summer, but champions rarely need to be. They need only to keep winning, and Switzerland's exit at Argentina's hands confirms that the holders remain the team every other semi-finalist would rather avoid.
Which brings the tournament to its final four, and a semi-final draw that could hardly have been kinder to neutrals. France meets Spain in Dallas on 14 July, a collision between the most ruthless attack left in the competition and the side that simply refuses to lose in the closing minutes. A day later in Atlanta, England face Argentina, Bellingham's growing influence against Messi's storybook pursuit of one more World Cup, in what already feels like the must-watch fixture of the round.
Whoever emerges will have earned it. All three co-host nations are gone, Brazil and Portugal went home before the last eight, and the four teams left standing have all had to survive genuine jeopardy to get here. If the quarter-finals were this good, the semi-finals have a serious act to follow.
