The group stage of the 2026 World Cup — the first to feature 48 teams — has drawn to a close, setting a 32-team knockout bracket that begins on June 28. Hosted across the United States, Mexico and Canada, the expanded tournament has already produced a string of upsets, none larger than the elimination of four-time champion Germany, while several nations reached the knockout rounds for the first time in their history.
The United States, one of the three host nations, finished top of Group D under head coach Mauricio Pochettino, securing the result the team had set as its goal when the tournament opened. The Americans won their first two matches before closing the group with a 3-2 defeat to Türkiye, a loss that did not cost them first place. Winning the group sends the US into a Round of 32 meeting with Bosnia and Herzegovina on July 1 at the stadium in Santa Clara, California.
Bosnia and Herzegovina advanced as one of the best third-place finishers, having taken four points in Group B behind group winner Switzerland. The matchup gives the US a knockout opponent it will be favored against, a reward for topping its group rather than qualifying as a runner-up or third-place side in the new format, which allows the eight best third-placed teams to progress.
The biggest shock of the group stage came in Germany's exit. A 2-1 defeat to Ecuador on June 25 knocked the four-time world champions out before the knockout rounds, an early elimination that ranks among the tournament's defining results so far. Ecuador's win lifted it into the last 32 at Germany's expense and underscored how the larger field has compressed the margin between traditional powers and ambitious challengers.
Elsewhere, South Africa upset South Korea 1-0 on June 24 to reach the knockout stage for the first time, and tournament debutants Cape Verde advanced from their group, the kind of breakthrough stories the 48-team expansion was intended to create. In all, a dozen teams were eliminated in the group phase, among them Türkiye, Uruguay, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, New Zealand and Panama.
The group winners reads as a roll call of the favorites: Mexico, the United States, Germany's conqueror notwithstanding, plus Argentina, France, Brazil, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Portugal and England all topped their sections, alongside Switzerland. Runners-up including Canada, Japan, Australia, Morocco, Egypt and Ivory Coast filled out the bracket, joined by the best third-place sides.
The Round of 32 runs from June 28 to July 3 and front-loads several marquee ties. South Africa, fresh off its upset, meets co-host Canada on June 28 at SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles, and Brazil faces Japan on June 29 in Houston. The tournament then narrows through the round of 16, quarterfinals and semifinals before the final on July 19.
For the host United States, the knockout round raises the stakes sharply. Group-stage form is now irrelevant; a single defeat ends the run. Pochettino's task is to carry a side that controlled its group into the unforgiving math of sudden-death football, beginning with a Bosnia team it should beat but cannot overlook, with a home crowd and a favorable draw offering the clearest path the Americans have had in a generation.