Lorraine Williamson
The World Cup has reached that beautiful, uncomfortable stage where the flags are still flying, the songs are still loud, but the group tables are beginning to bite.
After two games, hope has a different shape for every team. For some, it is already a celebration. For others, it is nervous maths, goal difference and the uncomfortable business of watching another match while trying to work out whether third place might still be enough.
This expanded 48-team World Cup has changed the rhythm of the tournament. The top two teams from each of the 12 groups qualify automatically, along with the eight best third-placed teams. That means more countries stay alive for longer, but it also means the final group matches arrive loaded with tension.
For the English-speaking countries, it has already been a tournament of noise, pride, frustration and wildly different emotions. The USA have turned home advantage into momentum. Canada have given their fans a night to remember. England remain well placed, but not fully convincing. Scotland have carried 28 years of waiting into every chant. Australia still have a route through. New Zealand need something close to a perfect final night.
And across the United States, a country still more associated with NFL, NBA, baseball and college sport than football, or soccer as it is widely known there, the World Cup is beginning to feel less like an imported event and more like something taking root.
The USA are not just hosting — they are performing
There is always pressure on a host nation, but the United States have turned that pressure into fuel.
The opening 4-1 win over Paraguay had the feeling of a proper arrival. It was not just a win. It was loud, confident and exactly the sort of performance a home crowd needed to believe this team could do more than simply carry the flag through the group stage.
Then came the 2-0 victory over Australia in Seattle, and the mood changed again. Suddenly, the USA were through to the round of 32 with a match to spare. The home support had grown with the team, and the players seemed to feed from it.
Reuters reported after the Australia match that American players praised the Seattle atmosphere, with the crowd helping to push the team over the line and into the knockout stage.
For a country where soccer has spent decades fighting for space alongside bigger domestic sports, this matters. The USA have hosted World Cups before, and the sport is not new there. But men’s soccer still does not occupy the same everyday place in American sporting life as it does in England, Scotland, Spain, Brazil or Argentina.
That is what makes this run interesting. If the home team keeps winning, the tournament becomes harder to ignore. The shirts become more visible. Bars get busier. Casual viewers become invested. Children start remembering the goals.
The USA now face Turkey in their final group match. They are already through, so the question is no longer survival. It is rhythm, confidence and whether they can top the group while keeping players fresh.
For American fans, this is the dream start. For the tournament, it is exactly what FIFA wanted from its main host nation: a home team that gives the stadiums a pulse.
America’s welcome has surprised visiting fans
Before the tournament, not everyone was convinced the United States would feel like a natural World Cup host.
There were worries about travel distances, ticket prices, visas, safety, transport and whether the host cities would understand the rhythms of football supporters. A World Cup crowd does not behave like a regular domestic sports crowd. It sings differently. It travels differently. It wants city squares, late-night gatherings, flags, drums and a sense of spontaneous theatre.
So far, many travelling fans seem to have found more warmth than they expected.
Reuters reported that supporters visiting the United States have spoken positively about the welcome, with social media filling with posts about American friendliness, 24-hour retail, food culture, free refills and the novelty of discovering the country through football.
FIFA’s fan festivals have also helped turn scattered host cities into gathering points, giving supporters somewhere to meet, watch games and feel part of a wider tournament even when they are not inside the stadium.
That matters because the atmosphere is not created by the match alone. It is created by everything around it: the songs outside the ground, the colours on public transport, the nervous fans pacing hotel lobbies, the strangers who ask where you are from and who you are supporting.
The United States is vast, and that still makes this World Cup feel different from a compact European tournament. But the welcome has given it its own character.
Scotland: 28 years, the 28th minute and one impossible dream
If any team has carried the weight of time into this World Cup, it is Scotland.
Their first game was already emotional before a ball was kicked. Scotland had not played at a men’s World Cup for 28 years. Generations of younger supporters had grown up hearing about France 1998 rather than remembering it.
Then, against Haiti, John McGinn scored in the 28th minute.
Sometimes football writes these small pieces of theatre so neatly that they would feel too obvious in a script. Scotland’s first World Cup goal after 10,224 days came in the 28th minute, in their first World Cup for 28 years.
The goal itself was not a thing of beauty, but that almost made it more Scottish. It was deflected, scrappy and glorious. It was not about perfection. It was about release.
The Tartan Army had waited nearly three decades for that moment. You could feel it in the celebrations: part joy, part disbelief, part relief. For the fans who had travelled across the Atlantic, it was the moment that made every flight, every hotel cost, every late night and every anxious group-stage calculation worth it.
Then came Morocco, and reality returned.
Scotland’s 1-0 defeat left them with three points from two games and Brazil waiting in the final group match.
It is a wonderful and cruel fixture. Brazil are the sort of opponent that makes fans dream in colour and panic in equal measure.
A win would be historic. A draw might be enough, depending on the third-place table. A defeat would leave Scotland watching results elsewhere and hoping the expanded format offers a way through.
Steve Clarke has spoken about the dream of taking Scotland beyond the World Cup group stage for the first time.
That is the before and after for Scotland. Before the tournament, many fans would have taken one win, one goal and one great memory. After McGinn’s 28th-minute moment, the dream became bigger. Now, against Brazil, they are not just tourists at their first World Cup in a generation. They are one result away from something Scotland has never done.
The Tartan Army has become one of the stories of the World Cup
Whatever happens on the pitch, Scotland’s fans have already left a mark on this World Cup.
They have filled bars, streets and stadium approaches with kilts, songs, flags and the kind of humour that makes neutral supporters smile. There have been moments of rowdiness, as there always are when thousands of travelling fans follow a team across continents, but the wider impression has been joy.
The Guardian described the Scottish support as one of the clearest examples of what fans bring to a World Cup, especially when a country has waited so long to be there.
That is why Scotland’s final group game matters beyond the table. The longer they stay, the longer the tournament gets to enjoy them.
For many travelling fans, this trip is not just about football. It is about fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, old friends, savings spent, holidays used, and memories built around a team that has often tested their patience.
Brazil now stands between them and another chapter.
England: always expected to win, never allowed to breathe
England live in a different kind of World Cup tension.
Unlike Scotland, they did not arrive simply grateful to be here. England arrived with expectation. That is what happens when a team has reached the later stages of recent international tournaments and has one of the strongest player pools in the world.
Since 2018, England have become used to going deep. They reached the World Cup semi-final in Russia, the Euro 2020 final, the 2022 World Cup quarter-finals and the Euro 2024 final. Those runs changed the country’s relationship with the national team. Hope came back, but so did pressure.
So when England beat Croatia 4-2 in their opening match, it felt like confirmation that Thomas Tuchel’s side could be serious contenders. There were goals, movement and ambition. But there were also defensive flaws, and in tournament football, even a good win can leave questions behind.
The second match last night ended in a 0-0 draw with Ghana in Boston, and brought a different feeling.
England had plenty of the ball, but not enough bite. The longer it went on, the more familiar the frustration became. Fans have seen this version of England before: controlled, technically strong, but suddenly blunt when the moment asks for a goal.
There was tension in the final stages, not because England were collapsing, but because the breakthrough would not come. Every cross carried hope. Every misplaced pass brought groans. Every Ghana counterattack reminded England that one mistake could turn a frustrating draw into a damaging defeat.
There was also an off-field edge to the night, with Ghana midfielder Thomas Partey jeered by England supporters. Reuters reported that the reaction followed renewed attention on the legal case he faces in the UK, where he has denied the allegations against him.
England now face Panama. The task is clear: win, qualify cleanly, and restore the momentum from the Croatia match.
They are not in trouble. But England rarely need to be in trouble for the national mood to tighten. Their past tournament progress means anything short of a strong run feels like underachievement. That is the burden this team carries.
Canada: from hopeful hosts to serious contenders
Canada’s World Cup has already given its supporters a moment that will live well beyond the group stage.
The opening 1-1 draw against Bosnia and Herzegovina was solid enough. It gave Canada a point and avoided the kind of nervous start that can destabilise a host nation.
Then came the 6-0 win over Qatar in Vancouver.
That was not just a victory. It was a release. The sort of night when a crowd starts by hoping and ends by roaring. Every goal seemed to lift the stadium higher. By the end, Canada were no longer playing like polite hosts. They were playing like a team that believed it belonged.
The before and after was immediate. Before Qatar, Canada were in a group-stage fight. After Qatar, they were looking at Switzerland with top spot in sight.
That matters for Canadian football. The country has built momentum over recent years, but a home World Cup gives the sport a different platform. A big win in front of home supporters can do more than change a table. It can change how a country sees its team.
Canada face Switzerland next. A win or draw would leave them in excellent shape. Even a defeat may not end the journey, but after such a commanding second match, Canada will want to go through with authority.
Australia: one big night needed
Australia have had the kind of tournament that can go either way.
Their opening 2-0 win over Turkey was strong, controlled and full of tournament maturity. It gave the Socceroos the platform every team wants: three points, confidence and a clear route to the knockouts.
But then came the 2-0 defeat to the United States.
Against a home side with momentum and a crowd behind them, Australia could not find the response. They were not humiliated, but they were pushed into a position where the final game now carries everything.
Paraguay are next, and this has the feel of a genuine tournament decider.
A win would almost certainly put Australia in a strong position to qualify, possibly as second in Group D. A draw may still keep them alive through the third-place route, but it would leave them waiting on calculations. A defeat would be dangerous.
For Australian fans, the mood is familiar: proud, stubborn, hopeful and slightly on edge. The Socceroos are often at their best when the task is clear and difficult. This one is both.
New Zealand need their best night
New Zealand’s campaign has been harder.
The opening 2-2 draw with Iran gave them a point and a sense that something might be possible. But the 3-1 defeat to Egypt narrowed the route sharply.
Now they face Belgium, and the equation is simple in the hardest possible way: they probably need a win.
That is the cruelty of the World Cup. For smaller nations, one mistake or one bad half can turn a hopeful campaign into a near-impossible mission. But because of the new format, the door has not completely closed.
New Zealand will need discipline, belief and a moment of quality. They will also need to survive long spells without the ball.
It is a big ask. But in this tournament, a third-place route means hope can linger longer than it used to.
What the final group games mean
The USA face Turkey already qualified, but still chasing top spot and momentum.
Canada face Switzerland knowing they can make a statement by winning Group B.
Scotland face Brazil with a chance to turn one emotional goal and one long-awaited win into something historic.
England face Panama needing to finish the job, calm the nerves and show that the Ghana draw was a warning rather than a weakness.
Australia face Paraguay in a match that could decide whether their tournament properly begins or ends.
New Zealand face Belgium needing something close to a perfect night.
That is why this point of the group stage is so addictive. The football is no longer abstract. Every scenario now has a consequence. Fans know what is at stake. Players know when the camera cuts to the bench. Commentators begin mentioning goal difference. Supporters in bars start checking other scores.
This is the moment when a World Cup becomes personal.
A tournament finding its voice
The 2026 World Cup was always going to feel different. It is bigger. It is spread across three countries. It asks fans to travel huge distances. It includes more teams, more matches and more calculations than ever before.
But after two group games, it is finding its rhythm.
The USA are discovering what happens when soccer has a home crowd and a winning team at the same time. Canada are feeling the surge that comes when a host nation delivers. Scotland have brought one of the great travelling supports back to the world stage after 28 years away. England are carrying the heavy expectation that follows teams who have gone close before. Australia and New Zealand are still fighting for the right to keep their stories alive.
For the fans who travelled, this is the before and after that makes a World Cup worth it.
Before the tournament, there were doubts, costs, logistics, long flights and nervous predictions. After two games, there are memories: McGinn in the 28th minute, Canada’s six goals, American celebrations, England’s frustration, Scottish songs and bagpipes in unfamiliar cities, Australian defiance and the knowledge that one final group match can still change everything.
That is the magic of this stage.
The tables matter now. The songs matter more. And for England, Scotland, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the next 90 minutes will decide whether this World Cup becomes a beginning, a breakthrough or a story of what might have been.