Mexico Has a New World Cup Hero: The Three Stars of Day 8

But the latter game was marred by a horror of an injury to Canadian midfielder Ismael Kone who suffered a clean leg break after being caught late by Qatar’s Assim Madibo.

After a scrappy first half, Romo broke South Korea's resistance early in the second with a close-range finish after a fumble from goalkeeper Kim Jun-hong.

Day 9 of the 2026 FIFA World Cup delivers four compelling group stage matches, led by a heavyweight Group D showdown between the United States and Australia in Seattle.

Way back when, a host nation winning the whole thing was commonplace, occurring in five of the first 11 World Cups when Uruguay (1930), Italy (1934), England (1966), West Germany (1974) and Argentina (1978) triumphed on home soil.