Competition
The World Cup delivered its most thrilling day yet, offering plenty of entertainment across all four matches.
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The group stage continued to take form as the World Cup progressed throughout Sunday in North America.
Goals were certainly not lacking (well, three out of four games isn't too shabby) in a captivating day of action across the United States and Mexico.
Here are all the major talking points from the four matches on day four of the 2026 World Cup, including a sleeping giant stirring, a dark horse emerging, and much more...
We might have all been overlooking Germany
Bookmakers had Germany listed as seventh-favorites to win the World Cup before the tournament kicked off.
BBC Sport asked 17 of their analysts to forecast the winner. Germany didn't receive even a passing mention from a single one of them.
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An English journalist colleague of ours, currently in the United States, was chatting with a local over breakfast on Sunday morning and dismissed the notion that Germany would win 8-0.
Results like that rarely occur at World Cups, surely, even when an established powerhouse faces a debutant minnow making its first-ever tournament appearance. We concurred. One-nil to the American, because he came remarkably close, as it turned out.
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That's...odd, isn't it? It's Germany!
Yes, they've been eliminated in the group stage at the last two World Cups. But this is a very different German squad—and, let's not forget, they were the only team Spain couldn't beat in 90 minutes at Euro 2024.
It's tough to gauge how much to make of their 7-1 victory. Far, far tougher tests lie ahead than taking on newcomers Curacao, a nation with a population just slightly smaller than Telford.
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But perhaps for the first time in World Cup history...we might all have underestimated Germany.
Japan: Confirmed to be quite good
England got a glimpse of what Japan can do on their day back in March's sharp 1-0 loss at Wembley. Brazil did too, in a 3-2 defeat to Japan five months earlier.
So we shouldn't be too surprised that the Samurai Blue gave as good as they got in an entertaining 2-2 draw with the Netherlands in Dallas.
Even without captain Wataru Endo and Brighton dynamo Kaoru Mitoma—both missing from the squad due to injury—Japan demonstrated plenty of talent and spirit in the squad to make an impact at this World Cup.
Hajime Moriyasu's side twice came from behind to secure a point in what, on paper, should be their toughest match of the group stage.
Japan might just be the ultimate dark horse of this tournament—and one we're really excited to watch throughout the summer.
As for the Netherlands...they still have some convincing to do if we're to believe they aren't headed for yet another in a long line of World Cup disappointments.
Amad Diallo defies fate to give Ivory Coast a massive last-minute victory
Ecuador finished second only to Argentina in the CONMEBOL qualifying section, despite being penalized with a three-point deduction for a historic player eligibility violation.
The secret to their success? An incredibly tight defense. Ecuador scored just 14 goals in their 18 games en route to securing their spot in the competition—but conceded only five.
Ivory Coast, to be fair, scored 25 goals in ten qualifying matches and were in similarly prolific form at this year's Africa Cup of Nations: even their elimination in the quarter-finals came in a 3-2 loss to Egypt. But more crucially: Les Elephants' defensive record was completely spotless in qualifying.
Until the 90th minute, it seemed like fate was conspiring to deliver the 0-0 draw those stats suggested was on the cards.
There was no other explanation for how a very enjoyable chaotic mess of a game had remained goalless for so long: Ecuador hit the woodwork three times, and Ivory Coast joined the party by hitting the bar themselves and squandering numerous chances after the break.
But their moment finally arrived: Wilfried Singo was given far too much space to sprint up the right and to the corner of the box before squaring for Amad Diallo to slot home.
That's a huge win for Ivory Coast. Their game against Germany is now something of a free hit; if they beat Curacao in their final match, they'll advance to the knockouts for the first time in their history. Ecuador, meanwhile, have a lot to do now.
Sweden's brilliant turnaround under Graham Potter continues
It would be fair to say Sweden were in a slump when Graham Potter took over from Jon Dahl Tomasson last October.
It was so bad, in fact, that Sweden didn't win any of their qualifying games against Slovenia, Switzerland, or Kosovo (twice)—and Potter couldn't change that story in the two remaining games he had in charge of the group stage.
But the quirks of Nations League implications meant Sweden were nonetheless handed a play-off game that Potter had four months to prepare for—and back-to-back victories over Ukraine and Poland were enough to put them on the plane to North America.
They could hardly have started the tournament any better. Potter's side were firmly in control from the very beginning in a 4-1 victory over a Tunisia side that kept ten out of ten clean sheets in their own qualifying campaign.
The irresistible-looking front two of Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyokeres had a hand in four out of five of the goals...if you believe VAR that Isak did indeed get a slight touch on the ball to make Mattias Svanberg onside for the final goal, anyway.
After his struggles at Chelsea and West Ham, Potter needed a job to restore some credibility to his name. International football is suiting him well so far.
Steven Chicken has been working as a football writer since 2009, with stints at Football365 and the Huddersfield Examiner. Steven still covers Huddersfield Town home and away for his own publication, WeAreTerriers.com . Steven is a two-time nominee for Regional Journalist of the Year at the prestigious British Sports Journalism Awards, making the shortlist in 2020 and 2023.
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