You don’t change a winning formula.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You don’t change a winning formula\u2026 The day after the spectacular opening at a packed Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, it’s Canada’s and the United States’ turn to kick off their World Cup with international star concerts, and two matches in Toronto and then Los Angeles.32 years later, without Trump
He has been the central figure of this 2026 World Cup co-hosted for the first time by three countries for months, given how much his unpredictability, statements, and policies have influenced the off-field agenda leading up to the tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet, Donald Trump, who has constantly promised the most spectacular World Cup, will not be in Los Angeles on Friday for the first match of the competition on American soil, between Team USA and Paraguay at 6:00 PM (1:00 AM GMT Saturday).He will be represented by his Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who will have previously been able to enjoy a very local show, featuring pop star Katy Perry and rapper Future, at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thirty-two years after the 1994 edition held solely on their territory, the United States, led by Argentine coach Mauricio Pochettino, hope this time to spark the enthusiasm of a country that still prefers American football over soccer.Canada in search of a historic victory
It will be Alanis Morissette, the timeless voice of the 1990s, who will have the honor of performing the national anthem in Toronto just before 3:00 PM (7:00 PM GMT), before Canada faces Bosnia and Herzegovina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We’ll see if that brings luck to the Canucks, who in their two World Cup appearances\u20141986 in Mexico and 2022 in Qatar\u2014have lost all six of their matches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They were drawn into a group that should theoretically be within their reach, with Qatar and Switzerland, in addition to Bosnia and the tireless Edin Dzeko, 40 years old (148 caps, 73 goals).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the Canadians will have to do without their leader, Bayern Munich left-back Alphonso Davies, who has been plagued by injuries this season and is still too unfit to play on Friday.Long live Mexico!
The forwards Julian Quinones and Raul Jimenez gave ‘El Tri’ a perfect start on Thursday in the competition, at the end of a match that didn\u2019t reach footballing heights, but wasn\u2019t boring either, unlike sixteen years ago in Johannesburg when these same two teams kicked off the 2010 World Cup (1-1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At 1:06 PM local time (7:06 PM GMT), a little behind schedule, referee Wilton Sampaio blew the whistle to start the first of the 104 matches of this World Cup. The Brazilian then handed out the first three red cards of the tournament, resulting in the ejection of two South African players and one Mexican.The roughly 80,000 spectators at the legendary Azteca, which was hosting its third opening match after 1970 and 1986\u2014a record\u2014first enjoyed a twenty-minute musical performance starring Colombian pop star Shakira, who performed “Dai Dai,” a song created for the occasion, accompanied by Nigerian afrobeat king Burna Boy, amidst dozens of dancers. A few incidents occurred in the Mexican capital. Thousands of fans tried to get into the fan zone set up at Zocalo square, causing major crowding. For several days, social unrest had been visible in the streets, raising fears of disruptions. At the kickoff of the first match, clashes broke out between several dozen protesters and law enforcement outside the stadium. This 100% Mexican opening day ended in the evening with South Korea’s well-deserved victory.keen and attractive at the expense of the Czech Republic (2-1) in Guadalajara.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A consolation prize for Omar Artan
Somali referee Omar Artan, turned away from the United States on Saturday where he was supposed to officiate during the 2026 World Cup, will be refereeing the UEFA Super Cup on August 12 between PSG and Aston Villa, UEFA announced Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Football is meant to bring people together, and UEFA wants to show its respect to Omar and his remarkable refereeing skills,” said the head of the European body, Aleksander Ceferin, in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The huge disappointment faced by Omar Artan, named African Referee of the Year in 2025, sparked outrage in Somalia, where he was welcomed as a hero upon his return on Wednesday, and has become a symbol of the tightening of U.S. immigration policy, which is supposed to welcome the whole world during the biggest football competition on the planet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
You don’t change a winning formula. You don’t change a winning formula\u2026 The day after the spectacular opening at a packed Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, it’s Canada’s and the…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"googlesitekit_rrm_CAow67bgCw:productID":"","_angie_page":false,"content-type":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_ayudawp_aiss_exclude":false,"_ayudawp_aiss_summary":"","_ayudawp_aiss_summary_provider":"","_ayudawp_aiss_summary_hash":"","page_builder":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[],"coauthors":[57],"class_list":["post-4892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/times509.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/times509.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/times509.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/times509.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/times509.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4892"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/times509.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4894,"href":"https:\/\/times509.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4892\/revisions\/4894"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/times509.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/times509.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/times509.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/times509.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4892"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/times509.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=4892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}