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The World Cup ended far sooner than anyone had hoped for the Americans. Following the United States’ 4-1 loss to Belgium, much of the attention centered on Christian Pulisic and whether the team’s biggest star delivered when it mattered most.

Pulisic’s urgency and passion came under scrutiny after his postgame comments were perceived by many as lacking emotion. His response even led some to question how much urgency and commitment he brought into what was arguably the biggest match of his career.

“I just totally twisted my ankle and my knee in one play,” Pulisic told reporters after the loss. “I mean, whatever. I have time to rest. It’s just an unfortunate way to finish.”

Pulisic suffered a twisted ankle and knee injury against Belgium, likely limiting his impact in Monday night’s loss. On Wednesday, he shared a heartfelt message on Instagram, thanking fans for their unwavering support of the United States throughout its World Cup run.

For a player expected to carry the team on his back, Pulisic’s overall energy and impact fell well short of the standard. Across four World Cup matches, he failed to score a goal, recording just two shots on target and one assist.

Pulisic’s focus will now return to AC Milan, where he will look to put the disappointment of the World Cup behind him and prepare for the upcoming Serie A season.

The United States, meanwhile, begins the long wait toward 2030. After falling short on home soil, the program will spend the next four years trying to turn promise into a breakthrough in Spain, Morocco and Portugal.

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“Bear Bets” are real wagers that Chris “The Bear” Fallica is actually making.

Is this one of the best World Cups of all time? 

That Argentina-Egypt match was about as good as it gets toward the end.

Here’s how I’m wagering on Match Day 28 — the first day of the quarterfinals.

This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners. If you sign up or place a wager, FOX Sports may be compensated. Read more about Sports Betting on FOX Sports.

World Cup Best Bets — Thursday, July 9

France vs. Morocco

Morocco was poor in the first half against Canada but ultimately did enough in the second half to get through. A slow start here won’t treat it as kindly, as France will take full advantage. 

Give France a ton of credit for getting past a gross Paraguay squad, one that wasn’t even trying to score. Morocco is dangerous for sure, but France has so much skill and depth that it should take a first-half lead and then see it out. 

Losing leading scorer Ismael Saibari is a massive deal for Morocco and I can see something along the lines of 2-0 or 3-0 France’s way.

Fallica’s Picks:   France to Win by 2+ Goals (+160), France/France Halftime/Full-time (+130)

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Adam Vinatieri, the NFL’s career scoring leader who was also widely considered the best clutch kicker in league history, will have one more celebration on the Indianapolis Colts’ home turf this season when he’s inducted into the team’s Ring of Honor.

Team officials announced Wednesday that Vinatieri would be honored during the Colts’ game against the Tennessee Titans on Oct. 18, a little more than two months after his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

Vinatieri will become the Colts’ 21st Ring of Honor honoree five years after he officially retired.

He’ll join a group that includes former teammates and fellow Hall of Famers Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison and Dwight Freeney, as well as Robert Mathis, Jeff Saturday and Reggie Wayne. Tony Dungy, the Hall of Fame coach for whom Vinatieri played; Hall of Fame executive Bill Polian, who signed Vinatieri as a free agent before the 2006 season; and late team owner Jim Irsay are also in the Colts’ ring.

The four-time Super Bowl champion shocked many when he left New England as the franchise’s career scoring leader after 10 seasons and wound up with longtime rival Indianapolis. But Vinatieri was far from finished and went on to break the Colts’ career scoring mark, too.

Though Vinatieri’s stats tell one tale: He finished his career with 2,673 points and as the league’s all-time leader in field goals made (599), field goal attempts (715), consecutive field goals made (44) and 100-plus point seasons (21). But it was his penchant for making kicks in the toughest conditions and most crucial moments that stuck with him.

His 45-yard field goal into swirling winds amid snowy conditions for New England in a January 2002 AFC divisional round game tied it and sent the Patriots into overtime against the then-Oakland Raiders. He then kicked a 23-yarder to start New England’s trek to coach Bill Belichick’s first Super Bowl.

Two weeks later, Vinatieri did it again by making a 43-yarder in the waning seconds to give the Patriots their first Super Bowl title with a 20-17 victory over the then-St. Louis Rams in much more ideal conditions.

Vinatieri 41-yarder with 4 seconds left broke a 29-29 tie with the Carolina Panthers for New England’s second Super Bowl title two years later.

Vinatieri continued to excel in Indy, where he first played inside a dome stadium and later a retractable roof stadium.

In January 2007, the South Dakota State alum made five field goals in a divisional round game that featured no touchdowns at Baltimore. The 15-6 victory set up an AFC title game rematch between the Colts and Patriots, this time in Indy with Vinatieri on the opposite sideline from Tom Brady and his ex-teammates. Vinatieri’s playoff run continued as the Colts reached their first Super Bowl since the franchise moved to Indianapolis.

Vinatieri made three more field goals and captured yet another ring while finishing that postseason with 49 points and 14 field goals, both one-season playoff records, while becoming the first player to make three or more field goals in four consecutive postseason games.

Vinatieri ranks second all-time in NFL victories (242), regular-season wins (221) and postseason wins (21) and is one of five players who appeared in a game at age 46. He’s the only player in league history to make 250 or more field goals and scored 1,000 points for two teams.

The three-time All-Pro also was a three-time Pro Bowl selection and a member of the NFL’s 100th Anniversary All-Time Team.

Reporting by the Associated Press.

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The largest turnover of Big 12 head coaches in seven seasons includes two first-timers at their alma maters, a national championship winner and another who last season almost got a Group of Five team into the College Football Playoff.

“I grew up a Big 12 kid,” new Kansas State coach Collin Klein said Wednesday. “And being able to be part of this conference as a fan, as a player, as a coach, and now being part of helping move our game and our conference forward is absolutely tremendous.”

Klein, part of Big 12 titles at K-State as a Heisman Trophy-finalist quarterback in 2012 and then an assistant coach a decade later, returned to Manhattan after Chris Klieman unexpectedly decided to step away last December. Klieman was among the newcomers in 2019, when the league last had four new coaches at the same time.

The other coaching changes this time are Utah alumnus Morgan Scalley, who nearly two decades ago recruited Klein as a quarterback, Jimmy Rogers at Iowa State and Eric Morris at Oklahoma State.

Scalley has been part of Utah’s staff since being a graduate assistant in 2007, three years after his last game as a defensive back for the Utes. He was their defensive coordinator for 10 seasons before his debut as head coach in a Las Vegas Bowl victory last New Year’s Eve, following Kyle Whittingham’s surprise departure after 21 seasons and then becoming Michigan’s coach.

Collin Klein’s Recruiting Visit To Utah

It was while recruiting the Colorado area as a graduate assistant that Scalley saw “this quarterback that I absolutely loved.” But since GAs can’t do off-campus recruiting, he couldn’t go see Klein in person.

“So I had him come to us, and on his own dime he flew out, showed up on campus in a suit and tie and left without an offer,” Scalley recalled Wednesday. “But you know who offered him? Kansas State. It was Collin Klein. Isn’t that crazy?”

Klein still remembers the visit, including lunch at a burger joint in downtown Salt Lake City with Brian Johnson, then going into his senior season as the Utes QB.

“Coach Scalley was tremendous. I mean, he was an unbelievable relationship builder, energy, detailed,” Klein said. “I knew he was going to be an unbelievable coach. I had no idea we’d end up coaching against each other in the same league as head coaches.”

Klein’s coaching career began as a GA at his alma mater in 2014, and he has since remained at Kansas State, except in 2016 as Northern Iowa’s QBs coach, and the past two seasons as offensive coordinator at Texas A&M, which made the 12-team playoff last year.

Close to where Jimmy Rogers Won FCS Title

After last season at Washington State, Rogers made his debut at Big 12 football media days 18 months after leading South Dakota State, his alma mater, to the FCS national championship. That title game was played only about four miles from the headquarters of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, where the conference’s annual two-day event wrapped up Wednesday.

“This is a perfect fit for me. I’m a big people person. I’ve recruited the state for seven years when I was at my prior tenure at South Dakota State, had a prior relationship with (athletic director) Jamie Pollard and felt really confident about the leadership that was in place here,” Rogers said. “(Another) portion of that is the opportunity to compete at a Power 4 school and to compete in the Big 12. … You win this conference, you punch your ticket into the College Football Playoff, you have an opportunity to compete for a national championship. That is the goal.”

Rogers replaced Matt Campbell, who left Iowa State after 10 seasons for Penn State.

From Denton To Stillwater

Morris took 21 players with him from North Texas, including quarterback Drew Mestemaker, the national passing leader last season as a freshman with 4,379 yards. The Mean Green were ranked for the only time since 1959 and missed out on a CFP berth after losing to Tulane in the American Conference championship game. The Green Wave made the playoff.

Before Mestemaker, Morris had coached quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes, Cam Ward and Baker Mayfield in college. The coach now takes over an Oklahoma State team that has lost 19 Big 12 games in a row — a streak that began with a 49-21 loss to Texas in the 2023 championship game before the Cowboys went 0-9 in Big 12 play each of the past seasons.

“Super-excited for Stillwater. It was a big draw for me and my family to come to Stillwater,” Morris said. “I’m from a small town in west Texas, and that’s how I wanted raise my family. So Stillwater has been nothing short of amazing. Super genuine people, hard-working, blue-collar organization.”

Reporting by the Associated Press.

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A month ago, before the first ball was kicked, France was the favorite in World Cup futures odds. 

Now, with a 5-0 record and a 14-2 goal differential, the French are even stronger favorites to lift the trophy.

And the public betting masses overwhelmingly believe in Kylian Mbappé & Co.

“Les Bleus have been popular since Day 1, given the quality of their team along with their star power,” Caesars Sports vice president of trading Craig Mucklow said Wednesday night. “In the futures, they are head and shoulders the most popular team remaining.”

Read on for more, as Mucklow assesses 2026 World Cup odds and action ahead of the quarterfinals.

This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners. If you sign up or place a wager, FOX Sports may be compensated. Read more about Sports Betting on FOX Sports.

Singing Les Bleus

Keep in mind that France is more than familiar with this territory. 

The French reached the past two championship matches, beating Croatia in 2018, then rallying to force overtime vs. Argentina in 2022, before losing in a penalty-kick shootout.

France enters the quarterfinals coming off two straight knockout stage shutouts — 3-0 vs. Sweden in the Round of 32 and 1-0 vs. Paraguay in the Round of 16. Bettors have been on France since the group stage and kept on riding Les Bleus in the knockout matches.

“One of the best results of the tournament for bettors came with France’s victory over Iraq,” Mucklow said of a 3-0 shutout, while noting that Mbappé netting two goals in that match contributed to a big win for Caesars customers.

The knockout stage raised the wagering interest in France. Of the 96 matches so far, both of France’s knockout games were among those drawing the most money.

“France holds the fifth- and eighth-best-handled games of the tournament to date, vs. Paraguay and vs. Sweden,” Mucklow said.

Keep in mind, too, that of the four matches drawing more money at Caesars, two involved the USA. So among non-USA matches, France was involved in two of the top six, in terms of money wagered.

And as Mucklow pointed out above, France is the most popular team in World Cup championship futures, taking more dollars than any of the other seven quarter-finalists.

“Of the remaining teams, they are the best result for bettors. Argentina follows as second-best, then Norway and Spain,” Mucklow said.

France opens the quarterfinal round with a 4 p.m. ET Thursday match. Spain vs. Belgium follows at 3 p.m. ET on Friday, and the quarters wrap up Saturday with Norway vs. England at 5 p.m. ET and Argentina vs. Switzerland at 9 p.m. ET.

All matches are on FOX.

Mbappé and Les Bleus have not lost any support from bettors across the tournament (Getty Images).

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Riding the Lionel Train

Defending World Cup champion Argentina has gotten all it could handle in its last two matches. The Argentines were nearly dealt the upset of the tournament in the Round of 32, edging huge, plucky underdog Cape Verde 3-2 in overtime.

Then in the Round of 16, Argentina trailed Egypt 2-0 late in the second half, seemingly destined for an early flight home.

But Lionel Messi & Co. weren’t to be denied. 

Cristian Romero broke through in the 79th minute, and Messi followed four minutes later to tie the match. Then Enzo Fernández scored two minutes into injury time, as the Argentines advanced with a shocking 3-2 comeback victory.

You might think that would give bettors pause, but Mucklow said it’s quite the opposite. In fact, during both those riveting matches, in-play betting on Argentina was massive.

“If anything, it has turned on bettors,” Mucklow said of Argentina’s heroics. “Rarely do you see world champions struggle with, in theory, lesser opponents. The Cape Verde classic was third in money and third in ticket count.

“Then, when you get the champs down 2-0 [vs. Egypt], the in-play odds for the match and To Qualify are both pretty inviting. That proved to be the case, as many customers took the 25/1 Argentina comeback in 90 minutes. Quite possibly, this was the greatest comeback in World Cup history.”

And the public betting masses tend to remember most the thing they saw last. In Argentina’s case, that’s two of the most thrilling victories of the 2026 World Cup, with Messi right in the middle of it.

So, no doubt, bettors will be back for more in Argentina’s quarterfinal vs. Switzerland, and in the futures odds.

“The Argentinians and the bettors are never out of it when one of the greatest of all time, in most likely his last World Cup, is still on the pitch,” Mucklow said.

Argentina is the second-largest championship liability at Caesars, behind only France.

Messi vs. Mbappé and More

The race for the Golden Boot is on, too, and no surprise, Messi and Mbappé are at the top. Messi leads a tight chase with eight goals, while Mbappé has seven, as does hugely popular Norway star Erling Haaland.

And England’s Harry Kane is in the mix, as well, with six goals.

At this moment, ahead of the quarterfinals, Caesars would prefer the Argentinian superstar win the award.

“The customers win big to Mbappé, but Messi is a [good] result for the book,” Mucklow said. “But don’t rule out Haaland and Kane, as one of them is guaranteed to progress to the semifinals, while Messi and Mbappé are not.”

Norway’s superstar Erling Haaland continues to apply pressure in the Golden Boot race (Getty Images)

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Indeed, since Norway faces England, Haaland or Kane have an edge on Mbappé and Messi. Caesars has Messi as the +110 favorite in Golden Boot odds, with Mbappé close behind at +125. Then there’s some drop-off to Haaland at +550 and Kane at +700.

There’s probably some value in taking Haaland or Kane, and certainly a better payout — if you can correctly pick which one stays alive this weekend.

Betting momentum on Haaland has picked up significant steam over the course of the tournament. Pre-tourney, Haaland was +1500, and apparently, quite a few bettors jumped on at better odds than exist now.

“Haaland is a big winner for the bettors, and rightly so,” Mucklow said. “He and Mbappé are probably the hottest and most dangerous strikers in the world. Norway has become the new tournament darling, after Cape Verde’s elimination, and the same could be said about the Great Norwegian and his Golden Boot popularity.”

Pre-tourney, Messi was almost as long as Haaland, at +1400, while Mbappé and Kane were +600 and +700, respectively.

Match Play

With France vs. Morocco kicking off first and having been on the World Cup oddsboard the longest, Mucklow said that matchup is the most popular quarterfinal.

But when all four matches are done, he projects that the Kane-Haaland showdown will outdraw the other three matches.

“We anticipate Norway vs. England will have the most handle of the quarterfinals, given the friendly kickoff time and the familiarity of the players,” Mucklow said.

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New Wisconsin athletic director Shawn Eichorst, who spent the last eight years at Texas, believes his new and old schools have much in common.

Both are well-regarded research universities in state capitals that belong to major conferences and have relatively similar enrollments.

He also pointed out one difference.

“There’s swag at Texas, right?” Eichorst said Tuesday during his introductory news conference. “There’s 30 million people in Texas. We’ve got swag, too, but we have a little humility with that deal. We need to get our shoulders up. We need to feel good about what it is that we’re doing.”

Wisconsin could gain more of that Texas swagger if its football program gets back to winning the way it did the last time Eichorst was employed in Madison. Eichorst, who most recently worked as a deputy athletic director at Texas, received a five-year deal worth $1.6 million annually, with provisions for increases and incentives. He was hired 2½ months after Chris McIntosh left to become the Big Ten’s deputy commissioner for strategy.

Eichorst worked at Wisconsin from 2006-11 when Barry Alvarez was AD and Bret Bielema was leading the football program. He followed that up with stints as an athletic director at Miami (2011-12) and Nebraska (2012-17) before Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte hired him in 2018.

He returns to Wisconsin with the Badgers coming off back-to-back losing seasons in football, a notable fall for a program that had 22 straight winning seasons from 2002-23. Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell has gone 17-21 after posting a 53-10 record with one College Football Playoff appearance in his last five years at Cincinnati.

Eichorst hasn’t worked with Fickell before but said he’s encouraged by their initial conversations.

“Obviously he’s won every place he’s been,” Eichorst said. “My expectation is more of me than him, meaning I need to pour into him, learn more about his program, how he has things set up, how his athletes are taken care of, how we’re supporting that endeavor. And then we can figure out, as we move along, what that might look like.”

Football struggles led to Eichorst’s downfall the last time he was an athletic director.

He fired Nebraska coach Bo Pelini in 2014 and hired Mike Riley, who had gone 93-80 in 14 seasons at Oregon State. Eichorst was dismissed shortly after Nebraska suffered an early-season loss to Northern Illinois in 2017. Riley was fired at the end of that season after going 19-19 in three years.

When Eichorst’s hiring was announced last week, he spoke about how much he had grown from that Nebraska stint. Wisconsin interim chancellor Eric Wilcots led the search and has emphasized Eichorst’s accomplishments at Texas, which has won the Learfield Directors’ Cup all-sports standings five times in the last six years.

Texas ranked anywhere from fifth to ninth in the Directors’ Cup standings in the five years before Wilcots’ arrival. Texas’ football team went a combined 23-27 from 2014-17 but has made two College Football Playoff appearances in the last three years.

“Everybody looks at the end result of what we did at Texas,” Eichorst said. “When we got there in 2018, we weren’t very good in a lot of areas. And that didn’t change overnight.”

Eichorst said one thing that has caught his attention about Wisconsin is the overall quality of its head coaches.

“You’re going to be as good as your coaches,” Eichorst said. “That’s it. If you have an elite group of coaches who are working together and uniting and galvanizing and learning from one another and taking it out to their individual programs, I think you can start to build something special. I go back to Texas. We built a room of really elite head coaches and put them at the top of everything we did to help guide us.”

Eichorst said this job is particularly important to him because of his Wisconsin roots. He was born in Lone Rock, about 45 miles northwest of the Madison campus.

He treasured his previous stint at Wisconsin and says he believes this school “represents everything that is great about higher education and college athletics.”

“Nobody will work harder for Wisconsin athletics,” Eichorst said. “I love this state, and I love everything that it represents. The passion is there. You can see it. I don’t have to make it up. I’ve lived it. It’s in my heart.”

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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports

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We are on to the quarterfinals. 

France will face Morocco in a 2026 FIFA World Cup quarterfinals showdown on Thursday, July 9, 2026, at Boston Stadium on FOX. 

The two nations meet for the first time since the 2022 World Cup semifinals, when France defeated Morocco 2-0. 

The round of 16 was France’s closest match of the tournament, a 1-0 win over Paraguay on Kylian Mbappé’s 70th-minute penalty. Les Bleus is the only team in this tournament to win all five matches in regulation, winning the previous four by multiple goals, and has a tournament-best goal difference of +12.

With his penalty against Paraguay, Mbappé extended his World Cup record to 11 knockout-stage goals. He has half of France’s 14 goals at this tournament. 

Meanwhile, four years after becoming the first African nation to make the World Cup semifinals, Morocco is now the first African nation to reach two World Cup quarterfinals. 

Despite taking only five shots, Morocco beat Canada 3-0 in the round of 16 to match its largest margin of victory at the World Cup. The Atlas Lions have scored 10 goals in the tournament, equaling the record for an African team at a single World Cup. 

After leaving 22 minutes into the Canada match, Ismael Saibari’s (hamstring) status is uncertain for this match. 

Let’s check out the odds for the massive France vs. Morocco matchup at FanDuel Sportsbook as of July 9. 

This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners. If you sign up or place a wager, FOX Sports may be compensated. Read more about Sports Betting on FOX Sports.

Kylian Mbappé is -125 to score against Morocco (Photo by Buda Mendes/Getty Images). –>

France vs. Morocco Odds

Moneyline

[–>
• France: -175 (bet $10 to win $15.71 total)
• Morocco: +500 (bet $10 to win $60 total)
• Draw: +290 (bet $10 to win $39 total)

Spread 

• France -0.5: -175 (bet $10 to win $15.71 total)
• Morocco +0.5: +145 (bet $10 to win $24.50 total)

Over/Under Total Odds: 2.5

• Over: -105 (bet $10 to win $19.52 total)
• Under: -115 (bet $10 to win $18.70 total)

France vs. Morocco Prediction, Pick

From FOX Sports Research:

• France advanced in six of its previous eight quarterfinals, winning four outright and advancing via shootout twice. Through its first five games this summer, France has been dominant, outscoring its opponents 14-2. While France’s offense looks unstoppable, leading the tournament in goals, Les Bleus can be scored on. Take over 2.5 goals.

How to Watch France vs. Morocco

• When: Thursday, July 9, 2026, at 4:00 p.m. ET
• Where: Boston Stadium, Foxborough, Massachusetts
• TV: FOX
• Stream: Watch 3 days free on FOX One, FOX Sports, FOX Sports App

Let’s take a look at some other bets for the match. 

Anytime Goalscorer Props

• Kylian Mbappé: -125 (bet $10 to win $18 total)
• Ousmane Dembélé: +170 (bet $10 to win $27 total)
• Jean-Philippe Mateta: +180 (bet $10 to win $28 total)
• Marcus Thuram: +180 (bet $10 to win $28 total)
• Désiré Doué: +255 (bet $10 to win $35.50 total)
• Ismael Saibari: +320 (bet $10 to win $42 total)

To Advance

• France: -390 (bet $10 to win $12.56 total)
• Morocco: +290 (bet $10 to win $39 total)

Both Teams to Score

• Yes: -106 (bet $10 to win $19.43 total)
• No: -120 (bet $10 to win $18.33 total)

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Kylian Mbappé and France meet Morocco in their 2026 FIFA World Cup Quarterfinal on Thursday, July 9, 2026 at 4:00 p.m. ET from Boston Stadium.

France arrive having won all five of their matches in the tournament, scoring 14 goals and conceding just two. France won a low-scoring affair with Paraguay in the Round of 16, 1-0. French star Kylian Mbappé is tied for second with seven goals in the Golden Boot standings with Norway’s Erling Haaland. Argentina’s Lionel Messi is in the lead with eight goals.

Morocco have reached the quarterfinals with a 2-0-1 group stage record and two knockout-round wins. Ismael Saibari has found the net three times while Azzedine Ounahi has scored twice in their run so far. In their most recent match, Morocco defeated Canada 3-0 in the Round of 16, with Ounahi scoring twice before Soufiane Rahimi added a stoppage-time finish.

Below are the details on how to watch.

How to Watch France vs. Morocco

[–>
• When: Thursday, July 9, 2026 at 4:00 p.m. ET
• Where: Boston Stadium, Boston, MA
• TV: FOX
• Stream: Watch 3 days free on FOX One, FOX Sports

France vs. Morocco Preview

Kylian Mbappé against Achraf Hakimi is the pressure point that decides this quarterfinal.

France has been overwhelming teams with volume and star power all tournament. That’s 14 goals in five matches, and Mbappé has driven seven of them himself while leading France in shots on target and chances created. Even in the tighter win over Paraguay, the French attack kept turning back to him as the outlet whenever the game got crowded.

Morocco has the personnel to make that duel a real fight, not a formality. Hakimi has created 12 chances in the tournament and does far more than defend on that side. Pin him back for 90 minutes, and Morocco loses one of its best transition weapons. Let him get forward clean, and France has to defend the space he leaves behind.

Watch the first few times France isolates Mbappé wide. That will tell you whether Morocco can contain him without breaking the rest of its shape.

Kylian Mbappé Sends France to Quarterfinals Thierry Henry & Zlatan REACT to Win & Preview Morocco

Check out the post-game recap between France and Paraguay, and preview the Round of 16 matchup between France and Morocco

France vs. Morocco Odds

World Cup Related Stories

Learn more about France vs. Morocco and check the full FIFA World Cup schedule on FOX Sports!

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Day 31 of the 2026 FIFA World Cup brings a pair of blockbuster quarterfinals, as Erling Haaland’s Norway meets Harry Kane’s England in Miami before Lionel Messi’s Argentina faces Switzerland in Kansas City. Norway, powered by one of the tournament’s top scorers in Haaland, looks to extend a surprise run, while England arrives in the quarterfinals after edging Mexico in the round of 16. In the nightcap, Messi and Argentina chase a semifinal berth against a Switzerland side that has yet to lose in regulation. Both matches air on FOX, with every game streaming live and on demand on FOX One.

World Cup Schedule for Saturday, July 11

Norway vs. England

• Time: 5 p.m. ET
• TV: FOX
• Stream: Watch 3 days free on FOX One
• Venue: Miami Stadium, Miami, FL

Norway reached the quarterfinals after finishing runner-up in Group I and knocking off the Ivory Coast 2-1 in the round of 32 and Brazil 2-1 in the round of 16. Erling Haaland is sitting one goal back from the Golden Boot Race lead with seven goals. England won Group L and has strung together knockout wins over DR Congo and Mexico, the latter a 3-2 thriller, behind Harry Kane’s six goals. A spot in the semifinals in Atlanta is on the line.

Argentina vs. Switzerland

• Time: 9 p.m. ET
• TV: FOX
• Stream: Watch 3 days free on FOX One
• Venue: Kansas City Stadium, Kansas City, MO

Argentina swept Group J with three straight wins and has since edged Cape Verde 3-2 and Egypt 3-2 in the knockout rounds, with Lionel Messi co-leading the tournament at eight goals with France’s Kylian Mbappé. Switzerland won Group B and advanced past Colombia on penalties in the round of 16 after a 0-0 draw, proving tough to break down all tournament.

WILL SPAIN AVENGE FRANCE IN SEMIFINALS? Instant REACTION to La Roja’s’ 2-1 win over Belgium ️

Melissa Ortiz, Sacha Kljestan and Brad Guzan react to and break down Spain’s 2-1 win over Belgium, thanks to hero Mikel Merino. La Roja will face France in the Semifinals.

Who Plays Today in the World Cup?

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• Norway
• England
• Argentina
• Switzerland

World Cup Related Stories

World Cup Scores Yesterday

How to Watch the 2026 FIFA World Cup

All World Cup matches air on FOX and FS1, with every game streaming live and on demand on FOX One.

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Three days after exiting the 2026 FIFA World Cup in embarrassing fashion, the U.S. Soccer Federation is already looking ahead to the next major international men’s tournament.

U.S. Soccer on Thursday announced that former LAFC coach Steve Cherundolo will lead the country’s Under-23 squad at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

The 47-year-old Southern California native, a member of three World Cup rosters during a decorated playing career spent entirely in Germany at club level, won an MLS Cup, a Supporters Shield and the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup while leading LAFC from 2022-25. Cherundolo, who posted an overall record of 106W-55L-32 with the Black and Gold, reached another MLS Cup final in 2023, losing to the Columbus Crew, and qualified LAFC for the 2026 FIFA Club World Cup by beating Mexican titan Club América.  

Steve Cherundolo of the U.S. National Team controls the ball against Jamaica on September 11, 2012 at Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.  (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)

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“Steve Cherundolo has been a proven winner, an elite talent developer, and a great ambassador for American soccer,” U.S. Soccer COO Dan Helfrich, who spearheaded the federation’s coaching search, said in the press release announcing the hire.

The Americans’ best finish at the Summer Games came in 2000 under the late Clive Charlies — Cherundolo’s college coach at the University of Portland.

The U.S. U-23s reached the quarterfinals at Paris 2024 after failing to qualify for the previous four men’s Olympic tournaments. As host, the Stars and Stripes automatically qualified for the 2028 event, which will be contested by just 12 teams — down from 16 two years ago. 

LAFC’s US head coach Steve Cherundolo speaks with his players during the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 Group D football match between US Los Angeles FC and Brazil’s CR Flamengo in 2025. (Photo by PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA/AFP via Getty Images)

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While just eight nations have hoisted the men’s World Cup, success at the Olympics has been easier to come by for mid-major national squads. Mexico — the USA’s chief soccer rival — won gold in 2012. Other non-traditional winners include Cameroon (2000) and Nigeria (1996).

Although it’s a U-23 tourney, each team is permitted up to three overage members. The hope is that with the 2028 edition in LA, senior U.S. squad mainstays like Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie Tyler or Chris Richards could be recruited to participate. 

“The 2028 Olympics present a critical platform to develop our next generation of players,” said Helfrich, “And further engage our passionate fan base as we pursue an Olympic medal at home.”

United States’ Best Moments 2026 FIFA World Cup™ 🇺🇸

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