Four former World Cup champions have reached the semifinals of the 2026 tournament for the first time since 1990, according to a report by Al Jazeera. Argentina, England, France, and Spain all advanced through the quarterfinals, each benefiting in different ways from errors or limitations in their opponents.
France had the most straightforward path. They beat Morocco 2-0 in Boston after Morocco coach Mohamed Ouahbi fielded a striker-less lineup. France manager Didier Deschamps addressed the decision plainly after the match: "I was quite surprised by the starting 11. I tried to understand why [Ouahbi] made these choices, no real forwards."
Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou kept the match scoreless longer than the lineup suggested it might be, saving a first-half penalty from Kylian Mbappe following a video assistant referee review of more than two minutes. Mbappe then opened the scoring with a dipping right-footer inside the far post after Morocco's injured forward Ismael Saibari's replacement, Soufiane Rahimi, entered the match in the 60th minute.
Spain's win over Belgium in Los Angeles was closer. Belgium's starting goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois was injured and did not play. With the score level, 19-year-old Barcelona defender Pau Cubarsi advanced and fired from close to 30 meters out. The shot was parried by substitute goalkeeper Senne Lammens, and Mikel Merino converted the rebound from close range in the 88th minute to give Spain a 2-1 win. Cubarsi's shot was his first attempt since Spain's opening 0-0 draw with Cape Verde on June 15.
England's advance came against Norway in a match that left manager Thomas Tuchel publicly dissatisfied despite the result. "We made life very difficult for ourselves," Tuchel said after the match. "The result is fantastic but I'm not happy with the performance." He added: "I'm impressed with the effort, team spirit and belief to overcome adversity. But I am also a football coach and I think we can play better. We had a lot of momentum swings for both teams. We made life difficult in the way we played, sloppy, a lot of technical mistakes, not fast enough, not repetitive enough."
Norway defended in a 4-5-1 shape throughout the match. England attacked in a 3-2-5 shape with Marc Guehi, John Stones, and Ezri Konsa in the back line, Declan Rice and Elliot Anderson in midfield, and left-back Nico O'Reilly pushed forward to give England an extra attacker. According to BBC Sport, Tuchel's preferred approach involves dominating possession, pressing aggressively, and playing deliberate passes to draw out opposition pressure before accelerating play toward forwards in space.
Tuchel's use of the phrase "not repetitive enough" drew attention after the match. BBC Sport reported the phrase was likely a reference to his desire for longer spells of possession built on short passing sequences designed to draw opponents out of shape. In the group stage against Ghana, Tuchel was heard instructing his players to play "short, short, short" before looking for a "long switch."
The semifinals will feature Argentina, England, France, and Spain.
