Yan Diomande, welcome to superstardom

This is obviously a monster of a World Cup notebook, with a whopping 10 games to cover, so let’s get right into it.

Canada’s debut a real mixed bag

It is no exaggeration to say that Canada’s opener vs Bosnia and Herzegovina was the biggest match in the history of the men’s national team. Besides the obvious fact of them hosting a World Cup match, it was a winnable match (which they’ve never done) that could’ve gone a long way towards qualifying into the knockout stages.

The main takeaway one could have about Canada’s performance was how hectic the pace of play was when they had possession. Some of it was by design, as Jesse Marsch has molded them into a side which utilizes a direct approach and attack with speed. However, it seemed like they would try to hit it forward in almost any situation during open play with no regard for their rest defense. The good news is it did help them create some threatening moments, including their best chance in the first half which Jonathan David didn’t take advantage of from a loose ball recovery in the box. On the other hand, a different team other than Bosnia and Herzegovina could’ve taken advantage of the lack of structure once a turnover occurred.

In comparison, Canada’s 2nd half was a bit more mature. They were better at playing through Bosnia & Herzegovina’s defensive block, and it led to them nearly equalizing in the 53rd minute but Richie Laryea’s effort was partially saved by goalkeeper Nikola Vasilj and cleared onto the crossbar by Sead Kolašinac. Bosnia & Herzegovina remained a counter attacking threat on occasions during the 2nd half, but were otherwise content with being solid in their own half. The substitutions for Canada in Ali Ahmed, Promise David, and Cyle Larin in the 2nd half helped bring more dynamism to their attack, with David and Larin playing a major part in the equalizer. Ismaël Koné carried into space near the box, played it forward to David near the arc, who then tried an ambitious one touch pass towards Larin in the box. Amazingly, Larin was able to turn and score in one smooth motion. It was peak striker play.

No discussion about the match would be complete without mentioning how set pieces played a part in the result. Bosnia & Herzegovina’s deliveries felt more intentional than Canada’s, and their goal in the first half to take the lead was a simple yet effective routine where Kolašinac won the initial near post header and turned it into a flick-on for the eventual goal from Jovo Lukić. While Bosnia & Herzegovina felt a threat from dead ball situations, Canada was a lot more scattered. There were outswingers towards the middle of the box, attempts at going short, trying to thread delicate ground passes into the box. Canada even had moments of nearly conceding dangerous counters because of how woeful their set pieces were. Losing the xG battle handedly (0.26 vs 0.95 from Fotmob via Opta) is not a recipe for success.

Overall, it wasn’t a terrible result for either team, and Qatar’s surprise draw with Switzerland means the group is wide open heading into the second round of fixtures on Thursday. Bosnia & Herzegovina’s set piece prowess rightfully earned them a point in this fixture, and on another day, they might’ve been able to create some threatening shots from transitions. For Canada, finding a better way of operating within controlled chaos will be key as the wait continues for their first ever World Cup victory. —MM

USA dominate thanks to outstanding midfield play

Few experienced USMNT observers saw that performance against Paraguay coming. But there the U.S. were, tearing a normally durable Paraguay defense apart in an electric first half en route to a 4-1 win. It's at least in the conversation for the best half of soccer the U.S. men have ever produced.

The keys to their success in Los Angeles were largely about off-ball movement. As the tournament approached, Mauricio Pochettino finally settled into a system that, in possession, set up as a 3-2-4-1 while shifting into a 4-2-3-1 structure without the ball. Paraguay's mid-block 4-4-2, generally compact and leaning on some man-oriented principles in the midfield, thus faced a potential 4-v-2 overload centrally unless their wide midfielders or forwards chipped in to help.

After about 10 minutes in a warm-up friendly against Germany, Pochettino swapped McKennie and Malik Tillman out of their "natural" positions, moving McKennie up into the role he played frequently in the back half of Juve's season, while Tillman dropped in as a playmaking 8.

Paraguay surely saw this, but they seemed woefully unprepared for what it meant. Within three minutes, the U.S. shape left la Albirroja unable to press the ball as a unit, with McKennie sprinting away from Damián Bobadilla to attack the channel between defenders Omar Alderete and Júnior Alonso. Alex Freeman looped a pass towards the open man, McKennie improvized a flick-on, and Folarin Balogun had a shot from seven yards.

This was the warning, and Paraguay spent the rest of the half not heeding it. Freeman and Tim Ream faced almost no real resistance from forwards Julio Enciso and Antonio Sanabria, while McKennie (whose 19 sprints were the most of any player in the match), Tillman, Balogun, and Christian Pulisic kept creating huge pockets with a blend of decoy runs and coordination. The avenue from back to front was effectively a freeway.

In particular, McKennie kept escaping Bobadilla (who was mercifully hauled off at halftime) to consistently devastating effect. On the other side, Pulisic and Antonee Robinson both took advantage of right back Juan Cáceres' passivity after an early yellow card, further stretching Paraguay's shape to its limits.

The result was that the channels were generally wide open for McKennie to attack as the U.S. progressed play, and for Balogun to run through entering the box. The U.S. scored a 7th-minute opener thanks to McKennie's ability to get open and receive on the turn, and struck again by playing around Paraguay's shape with casual ease. Between those goals, Balogun had another strike chalked off, but once again it was a deep run (this time from Tyler Adams) that went completely untracked.

The eventual result was a situation where an exhausted Paraguay gave up the kind of goal you see when a top-flight side faces semi-pro competition in cup play. Here's what Tillman, after receiving a simple pass from Adams, faced before getting the assist on Balogun's second:

Paraguay has no pressure to the ball despite the U.S. playing at walking speed here, while their midfield is so scared of losing McKennie that they'd dropped within five yards of the center backs. Tillman has options on both flanks, and Balogun is already running the channel as he loves to do. Tillman's pass had good weight to it, but you may well play 5-a-side with people who can make this pass given the time available. —JA

Qatar scam a first-ever World Cup point

Qatar vs Switzerland looked the least appetising of the offerings on the first four-game matchday of this World Cup, but it threw up the first big surprise.

For the most part, the previous hosts looked to defend in a very low block and didn’t do a particularly good job of it. Switzerland took the lead through Breel Embolo’s penalty 17 minutes in and went on to create chances worth over 3 xG altogether, but they just refused to score again.

It looked like the Swiss could still coast home, but the California heat seemed to get to them at the end as gaps started to open up in their block, and Qatar finally managed to get forward. Ultimately, it was a centre-back thrown forward in a measure of last-gasp desperation who equalised with an emphatic header in stoppage time.

Despite the result, I still think the back-to-back Asian champions are one of the weakest teams at the World Cup. They just can’t seem to defend deep and counter well even against mid-tier sides, but this point already makes the tournament somewhat successful for them. —NS

Morocco play on their terms vs. Brazil

This was the first blockbuster clash of this World Cup, and it certainly lived up to the billing in the first half especially.

Morocco came out on the front foot and went on to score in the 21st minute by absolutely slicing Brazil’s defence through the middle. Brahim Díaz played a perfectly-weighted through ball to Ismael Saibari, who finished brilliantly.

Admittedly, this was a Brazil team with issues — their full-backs were weak links, the central midfielders were subpar defensively in various regards, and they didn’t always play out from the back well — but Morocco gave an excellent demonstration of how they’ve evolved since 2022.

The Atlas Lions’ historic run to the 2022 semi-finals was built on a block-and-counter approach, as they averaged 25% possession in their two knockout wins (and were ultimately undone by their own formula; France allowed them to keep 61% of the ball). Walid Regragui subsequently developed their possession-play in AFCONs, but his risk-averse nature limited their ceiling. So, his resignation earlier this year and succession by Mohamed Ouahbi could well be just what the team needed.

The 50-year-old led the under-20s to a historic World Cup victory at the end of 2025, and has injected some young blood into the senior squad since taking over. More importantly, though, he isn’t afraid to deploy more attacking setups in possession by committing numbers forward and platforming the stars to shine.

That said, his side isn’t going to be reckless either. Morocco showed that here by deciding to shut up shop in the second half with the scores level after Vinícius Júnior’s wondergoal. They allowed just two total shots between the 52nd minute and stoppage-time, and looked the more threatening towards the end.

The Atlas Lions are on course for a tough knockout path with a likely Round of 32 fixture against the Netherlands or Japan, but they look well-equipped to be able to take on any challenge. —NS

Scotland weren’t impressive, but got the job done

That earlier draw between Brazil and Morocco has put Scotland in an incredible position to advance from Group C after they managed to take all 3 points from a very tight matchup against Haiti.

At no point did Scotland show their best stuff in this match, and they required some very poor shooting from their opponents to hold on for the win. Though Ben Gannon-Doak and Scott McTominay certainly showed some flashes of brilliance, the Scots on the whole were unconvincing.

I imagine this was virtually a World Cup-ending result for Haiti, who are likely to be overmatched by their next two opponents. Scotland, meanwhile, now know they probably just need to scrape one more point. —KM

Australia frustrates Türkiye with great structure and counters

A tradition in the lead up to a major international tournament is hyping up Türkiye as a dark horse. We certainly made the case for it, in no small part due to this iteration possibly being the most talented squad they’ve ever had. They were perceived as clear favorites versus Australia in each country’s opener, according to Opta’s supercomputer. One notable change was Kenan Yildiz coming off the bench to start, although it was not known whether for precautionary or tactical reasons.

From the start, Australia were clear in attempting to defend resolutely in their 5-4-1 structure. Türkiye had a couple of bright moments in the opening stretch through clever quick interchanges, but it amounted to very tough angle shots, which Australia were content with conceding. The lack of coordinated depth runs made it easier for them to maintain their block, which frustrated Türkiye more and more over the course of the match.

Australia ended up breaking the deadlock in the 27th minute after Türkiye were caught flatfooted from goalkeeper Patrick Beach’s quick roll out, and Paul Okon-Engstler’s lob into space in the left channel for Nestory Irankunda to run towards. From there, Irankunda utilized a heavy touch very well to beat Ismail Yüksek and Merih Demiral for a clear chance, which he slotted home.

From there, the rest of the match saw Australia continue to frustrate Türkiye, even despite subbing in Kenan Yildiz to start the 2nd half. 20 of their 30 shots occurred during the 2nd, but almost none of them were of high quality. Even when they were able to find space near or inside the wide areas of the box, Australia had numerical superiority to deal with cut-backs or crosses without much of a worry. Australia ended up getting a second goal to seal the victory off of a failed counterpress effort from Türkiye in midfield, and Connor Metcalfe carrying into space before expertly placing a long range shot in the low right corner. Türkiye did a lot of huffing and puffing from a losing game state, but couldn’t come close to blowing Australia’s defensive structure down, as shown by Yash’s momentum plot.

This was the kind of result which throws Group D into flux. Türkiye’s upcoming match versus Paraguay becomes a near must-win, while Australia could provide an interesting challenge for the United States after their own impressive opener versus Paraguay. Despite Paraguay’s porous defensive performance, if Türkiye’s insist on remaining very heavily ball-to-feet and lacking depth off the ball, it could lead to another uninspiring performance in a few days. —MM

RIP Curacao, that was fun for a minute

Did everyone enjoy those 37 minutes where it looked like Germany were sleepwalking and Curacao actually had a chance to get a result? What a fun time that was.

Eventually, the Germans’ quality started to show and we ended up with the expected result. They didn’t even rack up that much xG; the Curacao central defenders and goalkeeper made life easy for the Germany attackers once the 2nd goal went in and they started to struggle mentally.

I don’t think we learned anything particularly noteworthy from this game, but Germany wobbled enough in the first half that they look vulnerable to higher quality opponents. —KM

Japan battle for a point vs. the Netherlands

This was a textbook game of two halves.

The first 27 minutes saw a grand total of one shot attempted, and there were only six more by the break. Both teams were quite careful to retain the ball when they had it and worked very hard to protect the centre defensively, adopting slightly different approaches in a 5-4-1 deeper block.

The Netherlands kept more possession and were especially slow with it, using a 4-1 base structure even in the middle third. They stepped up a bit in the second half and quickly took the lead from the second phase of a set-piece, after which the game rather opened up and went on to finish 2-2.

Japan’s initial response came through their liveliest attacker of the match, Keito Nakamura. The 25-year-old left wing-back had a couple of opportunities in the first half, and took one in the 57th minute with a well-placed finish into the bottom corner.

Though he does well cutting inside from wide, Nakamura sometimes played a very different role for his club team last season. He occasionally was Reims’ nominal centre-forward in Ligue 2, though he had the freedom to drop and drift around a good deal. He returned with 14 goals for the side that finished sixth, backing up an impressive 11-goal Ligue 1 campaign from the previous season.

In a Japanese side which lacks some attacking firepower given the absence of Kaoru Mitoma (and now a potential injury for Takefusa Kubo as well), Nakamura could go on to play a key role in this World Cup. The ex-LASK winger will surely be one to watch in the transfer window thereafter. —NS

Yan Diomande shines versus Ecuador

There was a lot of hype surrounding Yan Diomande heading into the World Cup, and for good reason. In his age 18 season, he had 12 goals and 8 assists for RB Leipzig and emerged as one of the most electric prospects in several years. The biggest clubs in Europe are trying to acquire him this summer, and Leipzig want an astronomical fee if they were to lose him. While plugged in football fans know how good Diomande already is, the World Cup is a great place to make yourself into a mainstream star.

Despite not coming away with either a goal or an assist, Diomande was as good as advertised in his World Cup debut. Piero Hincapié was the main guy tasked with trying to contain Diomande off the dribble in the first half, but had his hands full. He was able to pass him on multiple occasions, including at times from a standstill position. All the while, he was also utilized as Côte d'Ivoire’s main threat to create chances in different scenarios, including in semi-transition from a loose ball regain in the middle third. Diomande ended up producing some high quality chances in the first half, but Elye Wahi in the 17th minute and Nicolas Pépé in minute 34 weren’t able to put away good opportunities.

The second half was more of the same from Diomande. There was a whipped cross towards the box for another opportunity from Wahi, but that struck the crossbar. Later on, Diomande shifted over to the left side and still asked questions of Ecuador’s defense. By that point of the match, there were constant double teams thrown in his direction yet he still remained a major on-ball threat. It was an impressive performance overall from a teenager who’s already one of the best wingers in the world.

Interestingly, for how much Côte d'Ivoire relied on Diomande throughout the match, their 90th minute winning goal did not involve him at all. Rather, it was a brave solo carry from Wilfried Singo down the right side after escaping pressure, and firing a driven pass towards the middle of the box for Amad Diallo, who quickly opened his stance and expertly placed it home. A crucial three points were gained for Côte d'Ivoire, powered by their teenage phenom, and they’re one step closer towards the knockout stage. —MM

Tunisia sucked so bad they fired their coach

You may have noticed that my sections have been a bit Negative Nancy. This is a product of me taking on the sections where the other guys didn’t have much to say, because the games weren’t particularly interesting. This is going to be the most negative of the bunch, so I’d like to get a positive observation out of the way first:

The Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyökeres striker partnership rocks. I love that Graham Potter has configured his team around getting his two most talented attackers on the pitch together, and Sweden’s 3-5-2 looks pretty well-balanced, with players in sensible roles. I’m not sure how good they are yet, but they look promising.

Unfortunately, it’s tough to make a confident evaluation of Sweden’s quality because their opponent was shockingly bad, made truly uncompetitive by a bizarre goalkeeper selection. Aymen Dahmen has been the preferred starter for the past couple years, but 24-year-old Mouhib Chamakh got the nod in goal for this one, in just his 4th cap. He turned in a shocker, conceding 5 goals from 1.33 xG and 2.12 post-shot xG.

As a result, Tunisia have reportedly sacked manager Sabri Lamouchi and will let one of his assistants continue as interim manager for the rest of the World Cup. We’ll see if they put Dahmen back in goal. —KM

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