World Cup 2026 day 11 live: updates, scores and latest news

Co-hosts Mexico and USA are now joined by Germany as the three teams to have secured top spot in their respective groups, and a place in the round of 32.

There is some way to go before Gary Lineker’s famous quote that “football is a simple game … and at the end, the Germans always win” can be realised. Yet for the first time since lifting the World Cup in 2014, Die Mannschaft have made it out of the group stage.

That they did so owed everything to the dramatic intervention of the substitute Deniz Undav, the former Brighton forward who pegged Ivory Coast back shortly after coming on and then scored an excellent winning goal in the fourth minute of stoppage time.

Check out Paul Joyce‘s match report below.

Read in full: Deniz Undav strikes twice to book Germany’s place in last 32

Gary Lineker made a joke at the BBC’s expense after appearing on ITV’s World Cup coverage.

Lineker, 65, made a “guest appearance” during Saturday’s group E game between Germany and Ivory Coast.

The programme opened with Lineker pretending to be the presenter. “Thank you very much for joining us on ITV for this one, another day, another game, another channel…” he said before the actual presenter, Laura Woods, took over.

Read Matt Lawton‘s run-down of Lineker’s appearance below.

Read in full: ‘Your set is amazing’ — Gary Lineker’s jibe at BBC on ITV World Cup show

There are probably (make that, certainly) few managers at the World Cup whose playing CV includes spells at Blackburn Rovers, Huddersfield Town and Sheffield United, but Saudi Arabia’s Georgios Donis is one.

In fact he referenced his season playing in the Premier League at his pre-match press conference when talking about coping with the pressure of the game. The first Greek to play in the Premier League, with Blackburn in 1996-97, he left Ewood Park early the next season, shown the door — to keep the international theme going — by Roy Hodgson.

He was also asked whether he saw comparisons with four years ago — not that he was manager then — when the Saudis produced the upset of that World Cup by beating Argentina. “It’s nice to have miracles in football and we have seen it many times,” said Donis. “Of course, that’s a small percentage of games but it’s great to have these memories and, it’s important when you get to this stage of a tournament and play against these types of teams, to enjoy these games.”

Happy birthday to Spain manager Luis de la Fuente although just how happy his 65th is will depend largely on what happens against Saudi Arabia in Atlanta this afternoon and, more specifically going forward, the fitness status of Lamine Yamal.

The winger’s hamstring problem reduced him to a substitute role in the shock opening draw with Cape Verde, a selection decision by his manager that was second guessed massively by his home media.

There appears plenty of respect and good will towards the veteran coach yet, still, it felt like more than half of his 40-minute pre-match press conference was dominated by questions about Yamal’s fitness and the pressure de la Fuente is under after the first game.

“The best news is he is back,” said de la Fuente. “As for the minutes, it’s just a number — 55? 58? 63? It will depend on the game. There are games with a lot of pace when he could be exhausted after 50 minutes others he could play 80.”

It certainly sounds as if he is starting — we will soon see. But his manager was not in any mood to downplay the talent and potential of his 18-year-old prodigy.

“We have to let him follow his path but those players who have something different are ready for that. They’re geniuses,” said de la Fuente. “Like Dalí who can paint a picture, or Michelangelo. They’re different. What is exceptional to us, isn’t to them. In those extremes, they feel comfortable. Why? Because they are different. What we think is exceptional, they consider normal.”

Jérémy Doku, the Manchester City winger, could leave the Belgian World Cup camp next month to attend the birth of his first child.

Doku’s wife is due to give birth in the second week of July, when the quarter-finals are scheduled, and if Belgium make it that far – they only managed a 1-1 draw with Egypt in their opener – they may be without the 24-year-old.

“If you ask me what I want, my answer is that nobody wants to miss the birth of their first child,” Doku told Reuters, “but I also know that football involves many other considerations. I know the federation supports its players and understands their situations. We’ll see what we can do.”

Doku’s view drew bizarre criticism from the Belgian television journalist France Pierron, who said on Friday: “You’re living out a childhood dream, yet you’re going to walk away from it all to attend the birth of your child – a disgusting moment, if you’ll pardon the expression, where the dad is completely useless. There are guys who took out loans just to see the match, and you’re not going – all just to cut an umbilical cord.”

After Pierron’s rant drew fierce criticism on social media, she felt compelled to apologise yesterday, writing: “I was expressing a personal opinion within the context of a debate. These remarks are solely my own and in no way reflect a collective position. I understand that they may have shocked, offended, or hurt some of you, and I am sorry. My intention was never to minimize the place or role of fathers with their partners and children.”

Belgium face Iran in their second group game tonight.

Good afternoon and welcome back to The Times’ live coverage of the 2026 World Cup.

Last night, Curaçao earned their first ever World Cup point in their hard-fought 0-0 draw with Ecuador.

Tunisia became the third team eliminated from the tournament after another lopsided loss. This has been a tournament they’ll want to forget after their 5-1 loss to Sweden, sacking their manager and then last night’s 4-0 loss to Japan.

Attention now turns to day 11 and four more games in the second round of group stage fixtures. Spain kick off day 11 of the World Cup, facing Saudi Arabia in group H at 5pm BST in Atlanta, before Belgium face Iran at 8pm BST in group G from Los Angeles. Fresh from their draw with Spain, Cape Verde face Uruguay in Miami at 11pm, before Egypt face New Zealand in Vancouver at 2am.

Click here to read article