World Cup 2026: Scotland on brink after Brazil defeat, EFL fixtures announced, and more – live

Forgive the domestic diversion but it’s Plan Your Next 10 Months Day for some of us, when we start sizing up weekends away and bending Christmas plans to our will – the EFL fixtures are out. Here’s the story:

Relegated Wolves will launch the Championship season at home to Blackburn, while West Ham head to Burnley in one of the more eye-catching fixtures on the opening weekend.

The EFL fixture list was released on Thursday and Wolves will play their first Championship fixture since 2018 under the new head coach César Peixoto at Molineux at 8pm on Friday, 14 August with the former West Brom manager Tony Mowbray back for a second spell in charge of Blackburn.

The Hammers and managerless Burnley were relegated alongside Wolves and they face each other in their opening match at Turf Moor on the Sunday. West Ham will start a new season outside the top flight for the first time in 14 years, while Burnley are back in the second tier for the third time since 2023.

The London Stadium, West Ham’s home since 2016, will host Championship football for the first time the following Saturday when Nuno Espírito Santo’s side face capital rivals Charlton.

Southampton play their opening fixture on the Sunday and will bid to put last month’s play-off saga behind them after being expelled for spying against Watford at Vicarage Road.

Some EFL/Wales news: Craig Bellamy has reportedly turned down the Burnley manager’s job, Sky Sports reports, boosting Welsh hopes he’ll stick around for the next Euros.

And the new fixtures are out – Middlesbrough v Lincoln, Burnley v West Ham and Cardiff v Wrexham are among the opening day standouts in the Championship. Full story to follow.

Today’s Football Daily podcast is here, a little belatedly. Get your ears round Max, Barry, Nicky, Ewan and Mark picking over the bones of last night:

World Cup Q&A. USA have certainly made people sit up and take notice. When the draw was made, their game against Turkey tonight had the makings of a crunch decider. But it’s nothing of the sort – the co-hosts have already swaggered through and Turkey are shock early departees.

So what’s the story here? Thankfully, our US writers will be on hand later for a livechat to answer your questions about the USMNT and much more. Join Alexander Abnos, Pablo Maurer and Jeff Rueter from 5PM BST (midday EST, 9AM PST)

The financial pre-eminence of the Premier League has been very evident at this World Cup, with the likes of Crystal Palace and Sunderland providing participants all over the place. Which is a clumsy way of segueing into some gratuitous praise of Haiti’s Wilson Isidor, whose howitzer against Morocco is a top-three contender for goal of the tournament. Haiti may have exited pointless, but they were competitive in all their games and left some lasting memories.

But anyway, goals of the tournament so far anyone? Most of the bangers appear to have been long-rangers thus far. Something to do with the ball?

The third-place permutations are going to be a fun conversational ice-breaker for us all over the next few days, notably Scotland fans. Thankfully, Keiron O’Hara is here to talk us through the hows and whys:

I don’t know that I have seen a summary of exactly what Scotland need to qualify. I’ve had a go at working it all out. Basically they need four of the following to happen.

Group 4: Australia beat Paraguay by 2 or more or Paraguay beat Australia by 4 or more

Group 5: Neither Ecuador nor Curacao win [or, unlikely, Ecuador don’t win but Curacao beat Cote d’Ivoire by 4 or more]

Group 6: Japan beat Sweden by 4 or more

Group 7: Egypt beat Iran

Group 8: Spain beat Uruguay

Group 9: Senegal draw with Iraq or Iraq beat Senegal by 1 or 2 goals (but not 3)

Group 10: Austria beat Algeria by 2 or more or Algeria beat Austria by 4 or more

Group 11: Congo and Uzbekistan draw, or Uzbekistan beat Congo by up to 3 goals (but not 4)

Group 12: Ghana beat Croatia by 3 or more

They’d’ve been helped if Bosnia and Qatar had drawn, and also if South Korea got a point against South Africa, but no.

Touch and go – probably groups 4, 5, 7, 8 and 11 are their best bets. Possibly 9 and 10. It’s not out of the question, but the odds are very much against.

You can stay up to speed by bookmarking this:

Football, famously, is a team game, something that appears to have eluded a certain type of pundit (and consumer). And Jonathan Liew has some wise words to say about this tournament’s intrusive cult of the individual:

“Cristiano Ronaldo’s record-equalling sixth World Cup got off to a disappointing start,” began the Reuters match report of Portugal’s 1-1 draw against the Democratic Republic of the Congo last week. And yes, OK: everyone knows how this game works and why everyone plays it. On one hand, perhaps the greatest sporting day in the history of the world’s 15th most populous country. On the other, 41-year-old man does not score. It’s no contest, really. Get those sweet keywords front and left. Harvest that delicious search traffic. Perhaps you even noticed how I just did exactly the same thing.

And yet something does feel qualitatively different this summer: a tectonic shift driven partly by events on the pitch and partly at the behest of the industry itself. This is a World Cup swimming in star names, and never have those star names been so unapologetically, unquestioningly invoked. France do not beat Iraq; instead Kylian Mbappé throws down the gauntlet to Erling Haaland, Harry Kane and the rest. According to Google, Miroslav Klose’s goals record has been searched more at this tournament than in the year he set it. At times the group phase has felt like an inconvenient distraction from the real business of the Golden Boot race. (Can Lionel Messi lift the one trophy he hasn’t won yet?)

Some tragic news from France, via AFP:

French second division footballer Kenzo Kies of Guingamp has drowned after he and three friends were caught in fast, choppy waters while cooling off in the heatwave engulfing the country.

Firefighters contacted by AFP on Tuesday said they had responded on Monday evening – when temperatures reached as high as 38C – to rescue four young men who were swimming in an area where the river forms waves.

By the time the firemen arrived three of the four had been pulled from the water while Kies was found in the water in a critical condition and taken to hospital.

“Guingamp was saddened to learn of the passing of Kenzo Kies, a young player at the club. Having joined Guingamp last summer, he was playing this season with the reserve team,” Guingamp said, who described Kies as a quiet and well liked teammate.

The club announced the news late Wednesday extending its deepest condolences to the family and friends of Kies, who was 21 and who had previously been at Lyon and Saint Etienne.

The heatwave affecting France has caused “40 deaths” by drowning since June 18. AFP

Thanks Taha, and greetings everyone, bleary-eyed as I am from repeatedly mumbling “they really ought to get it launched” at Scotland’s back four in our wee small hours.

But in the broader tournament narrative, South Africa’s historic win over South Korea feels like the big story of yesterday, but there’s plenty of Korean recriminations. This from Reuters after a defeat that hasn’t quite eliminated them yet, but has flagged serious shortcomings.

Former South Korea midfielder Park Ji-sung criticised the team’s performance in Wednesday’s 1-0 ⁠defeat by South Africa at the World Cup, and drew comparisons with their disappointing 2014 ⁠campaign that saw them ⁠exit ​in the group phase.

The Koreans, who started with captain Son Heung-min on the bench, still have ⁠a chance of advancing as one of the best third-placed teams but Park did not hold out much ⁠hope for them going deep into the tournament.

“We need to ​reflect on whether this was ‌overall a game we ‌tried to win,” Park said during TV commentary.

“There was no ‌visible plan for how to attack. This problem has been the same throughout this World Cup. It seems there were clearly some areas that were neglected during the preparation process …

“We had plenty of time to reflect on what went wrong at the 2014 World Cup,” said Park, who was ⁠a key figure in their run to the 2002 ​semi-finals on home ​soil. “But this time again, ​the preparation process and the results look like a ​repeat of that ‌time.

“Even if ​the possibility ​of reaching the round of 32 still remains, I am not confident that we can show a good performance on that stage with the current level of play.”

Time for me to hand over to Tom Davies. Fear not: I’ll return in the afternoon.

A lovely comment BTL:

South Africa also finished on four points in the group stage in 2002 and 2010 … but missed out on progressing. In 2010 it was down to goal difference and, eight years before that, on goals scored.

Expanding to 48 teams? Oh dear.

In admin news, AFP is reporting that Fifa has suspended Nepal due to third-party interference. Story below:

World football’s governing body FIFA has suspended Nepal’s football association, officials said on Thursday, barring the country from all international competitions.

Nepal is currently ranked 175th in FIFA’s world rankings. The women’s national team ranks 88th.

FIFA said in a letter to the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) that the decision came after “undue interference by a third party”, referring to arguments between ANFA and Nepal’s National Sports Council, the country’s authority for sports administration, over governance of Nepali football.

FIFA holds that a national football association must operate independently of government bodies.

FIFA decided on Wednesday “to suspend ANFA with immediate effect due to flagrant violations of the FIFA Statutes,” FIFA’s Secretary General Mattias Grafstrom said in the letter, shared by ANFA on Facebook.

The council had suspended ANFA in March 2026 for three months as the association was preparing for an election process that FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation had agreed to. It was later lifted in May.

The required elective congress has been repeatedly delayed, with the sports council issuing several directives, including the amendment of ANFA’s statutes under the country’s sports development act.

“The suspension is an issue of grave concern, we are consulting with all stakeholders to lift the suspension keeping Nepal’s football in priority,” ANFA spokesman Suresh Shah told AFP.

The suspension means Nepal can no longer participate in international competitions and the association will lose out on FIFA development programmes, courses or trainings.

“It impacts our players, barring them from opportunities and dampens dreams of aspiring players,” Shah added.

FIFA said the suspension will be lifted if the council revokes its March decisions and allows ANFA to finalise its electoral process.

“The government never wanted this… we are looking for alternative ways to address this crisis,” said Ram Charitra Mehta, a member secretary of the National Sports Council. AFP

Here’s a story on the wires from Associated Press, regarding comments made by former Germany midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger:

World Cup pundit and former Liverpool coach Jürgen Klopp broke off an interview after being asked about former Germany player Bastian Schweinsteiger’s characterisations about Côte d’Ivoire’s style of play.

“A bit African football, a bit unorthodox, a bit wild, a bit perhaps also not so conditioned by tactics. We have to be prepared for it to be unpredictable,” Schweinsteiger said as a commentator on German broadcaster ARD before Germany played Côte d’Ivoire last weekend.

Klopp seemed taken aback when asked about Schweinsteiger’s comments by Deutsche Welle in a huddle with journalists in New York on Wednesday.

“Now you want to carry on the subject,” Klopp responded. “No, no, I have no chance. I have no chance to answer this question. Everybody likes it so you bring me in this situation. It’s not my job that everybody likes it, but this is a serious subject, and I don’t even know what is appropriate to say. For African people it’s one thing, for other people it’s another thing, and I’m not here.”

Klopp said he had felt fortunate to avoid the subject.

“Thank God, I thought, nobody asked me about that. You found a moment. And surprisingly, you are German. That surprised me so much,” he said with irony before leaving. AP

Plenty of Scotland reaction BTL:

I am, admittedly, rather gripped by the golden boot race. It’s a bit of a surprise that no-one has won it twice, though Kylian Mbappé may change that.

This is a fascinating piece, highlighting just how much the World Cup can mean to those who don’t have their own national side in the mix.

Mauricio Pochettino’s US team are having a great time at home – but the last couple years haven’t been all that easy, writes Jeff Rueter.

For more permutations chat, click below:

Samuel Dodson asks:

While it seems rather poor from a competitive vantage point that teams could theoretically advance from their groups after 2 out of 3 abject performances and losses; has anyone done the computations of what would need to happen in the remaining group games for Scotland to progress? Are we rooting for Australia to thrash Paraguay, Germany to draw with Ecuador, etc? Or perhaps Gianni thinks the fun is in finding out at the end ?

Should I at least give it a go? You’re right: they could do with Australia thrashing Paraguay – both are on three points, with Paraguay on -2 goal difference. They need Ecuador and Curaçao to avoid winning, and the Tartan Army will be rooting for Japan against Sweden. I’m not sure I’ve got it in me to dissect anymore – we’ll just have to wait and see.

Amid all the best third-placed teams confusion … Bosnia and Herzegovina have made it through to the last 32.

Ben Fisher watched them beat Qatar:

Our first stop today is at Group E, featuring Germany, Ecuador, Côte d’Ivoire and Curaçao.

• Curaçao v Côte d’Ivoire – Philadelphia Stadium, 9pm BST, 4pm local time

• Ecuador v Germany – New York New Jersey Stadium, same time

Germany have already won the group – Côte d’Ivoire just need a point to finish second and reach the knockouts for the first time.

Out of all the hosts, it’s Canada who have looked the most shaky. After losing to Switzerland, they’ll play their last-32 tie in Los Angeles instead of Vancouver.

Mexico are having a lovely time: three games, three wins, six goals scored, none conceded. Oh, and Guillermo Ochoa – part of their 2006 World Cup squad – got to play, too.

What an intro.

Andy Robertson: “If you ask me now, I don’t think it’s enough, I don’t think we’ve done enough.”

Steve Clarke: “I think we’re going home.”

It’s not looking great.

Hello, hello, wonderful people. Remember this: it ain’t about how you start. Spain lost their first game in 2010, Argentina were stunned by Saudi Arabia in 2022 … and nine-man South Africa went down to Mexico a fortnight ago. No, I’m not saying they’re going to go and win it – but they are through to the knockouts for the first time after beating South Korea in Monterrey.

Scotland, on the other hand, haven’t scored since John McGinn’s winning strike against Haiti, leaving them with a nervous wait to see if their three points and -3 goal difference will be enough for a place in the last 32. Yep, the whole 48-team thing’s a bit off, structurally.

We’ll be reflecting on those results and looking forward to the next 24 hours: Groups E, F and D are all set to wrap up. Drop me a line and let’s talk ball.