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Day Ten: Undav's 94th-Minute Rescue, a Dutch Demolition, and Paraguay's Ten-Man Heist

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Day Ten is where the group stage stopped being polite. It opened in the small hours, UTC-wise — which is how a Friday night in Philadelphia and a Friday night in the San Francisco Bay Area both end up filed under June 20 on the schedule — with Brazil rediscovering their swagger and Paraguay pulling off daylight robbery. It closed under the lights in Houston and Toronto, where the Netherlands made a statement and Germany made an escape. Two of the pre-tournament’s hopefuls went home, the heavyweights flexed, and a brand-new rulebook claimed its first World Cup scalp. Let’s start where the drama peaked.

Germany 2–1 Ivory Coast: the supersub does it again

For an hour in Toronto, this top-of-the-table meeting was sliding away from the four-time champions. Emerse Fae’s Ivory Coast were sharp, physical and direct, and on 30 minutes they led: Yan Diomande — the RB Leipzig teenager reportedly on Liverpool’s radar — burned Joshua Kimmich and pulled back for Amad Diallo, whose blocked shot fell to captain Franck Kessié to ram in his first World Cup goal. Germany had already had two ruled out (an Aleksandar Pavlović header for a foul on the keeper, a Kai Havertz finish for a Jamal Musiala foul in the build-up) and looked, in ESPN’s blunt assessment, thoroughly average.

So Julian Nagelsmann blew the game up. His 60th-minute triple change — Deniz Undav, Nadiem Amiri and Jamie Leweling on, the defensive structure essentially abandoned — flipped it inside eight minutes, Undav volleying home Amiri’s cross to level. Then, in the 94th minute, Felix Nmecha slid him in, Undav turned his marker and finished, and Germany were through to the round of 32 with a game to spare. It is the first time they’ve reached the knockouts since 2014, after group-stage humiliations in 2018 and 2022. Undav now has nine goals in 11 caps — all, remarkably, off the bench — and shares the tournament’s scoring lead. There was history at the other end too: per Bundesliga.com, Manuel Neuer’s 21st World Cup appearance moved him past Hugo Lloris as the most-capped goalkeeper in the tournament’s history. “It’s just what Germany do,” Gary Neville told ITV. “Persistence, resilience — it’s so Germany.” The Ivorians, who can still qualify, lost more than three points: Wilfried Singo went down in tears clutching his left thigh on 80 minutes, his tournament suddenly in doubt.

Netherlands 5–1 Sweden: Koeman’s answer

If Germany scraped through, the Netherlands kicked the door down. Their 5–1 win in Houston was the kind of statement Ronald Koeman badly needed after the criticism that followed a 2–2 opening draw with Japan — and his big call paid off twice over. Brian Brobbey, handed a surprise first World Cup start ahead of both Crysencio Summerville and Memphis Depay, scored inside five minutes and again on 17, bullying Sweden’s back line in front of nearly 69,000 fans, King Willem-Alexander among them. Cody Gakpo, who set up the opener, then turned scorer with a clinical double inside eight minutes of the restart.

The numbers were almost as eye-catching as the football. Gakpo’s brace took him to five goals in seven World Cup appearances — level with Robin van Persie among Dutch group-stage scorers, per Sky Sports, and within two of Johnny Rep’s all-time Dutch finals record, per FIFA — and his fourth Dutch goal was, by the BBC’s count, the 100th goal of this World Cup, reached in just 33 games, the fastest a tournament has hit its century since 1958. Anthony Elanga’s breakaway finish briefly interrupted the rout before Summerville, superb off the bench with a goal and two assists, made it five. Sky Sports noted the Dutch are now unbeaten across 14 World Cup matches since the 2010 final — a run matching Brazil’s record streak of 1958–66. For Sweden, who had themselves thrashed Tunisia 5–1 on matchday one, it was a first three-goal World Cup defeat since 1958. “You can’t concede that many and hope to win,” admitted coach Graham Potter. Isak and Gyökeres, their feted strike pair, barely got a kick.

Türkiye 0–1 Paraguay: a 65-second goal, then a siege

Some teams lose because they were second best. Türkiye lost this one having had 79% of the ball, 31 shots and 11 corners — and it knocked them out of the World Cup. Matías Galarza settled it after 65 seconds, lashing a left-footer from 25 yards for the fastest goal of the tournament so far, hours after Morocco’s Ismael Saibari had set the mark at 71 seconds. Sports Mole noted it was the earliest goal by a South American side at a World Cup since Celso Ayala’s against Nigeria in 1998.

Then Paraguay had to suffer, and they did so with ten men for the entire second half. Miguel Almirón was sent off in first-half stoppage time for covering his mouth during a confrontation with Mert Müldür — the first red card at a World Cup under the new IFAB law (the so-called “Prestianni rule,” one of several quirks worth reading up on in our guide to the 2026 rule changes). Referee Iván Bartón confirmed it on the monitor; Paraguay coach Gustavo Alfaro called it harsh, warning against becoming “slaves to the rulebook” in comments to Al Jazeera. It didn’t matter. Goalkeeper Orlando Gill made five saves, Müldür hit the bar and the post, and La Albirroja held on. Türkiye, beaten in both games and never having scored, became the second team eliminated — Sky Sports clocked their two-match tally as the most efforts without a goal in the competition’s history. “Football is not logical,” shrugged coach Vincenzo Montella. “Not every time the team that plays better wins.” Paraguay, meanwhile, bounced back from a 4–1 opening loss to the USA and now face Australia in a straight shootout for second; the result confirmed the United States as Group D winners.

Brazil 3–0 Haiti: the Seleção click into gear

Brazil arrived at Lincoln Financial Field under mild scrutiny after a flat 1–1 draw with Morocco, and Carlo Ancelotti’s response was to start Matheus Cunha — a late substitute in the opener. The Manchester United forward repaid him inside 36 minutes. He tapped in the rebound after Johny Placide parried Vinícius Júnior’s shot, then thumped a Vinícius pass into the roof of the net, complete with his surf-and-slide celebration. “A dream fulfilled,” he told the Associated Press. Vinícius, the official Player of the Match with a goal and two assists, capped a three-goal first half by sliding home Lucas Paquetá’s pass in stoppage time.

It was tidy, ruthless and historically loaded. Cunha’s double, FIFA noted, nudged Brazil past Germany as the highest-scoring nation in World Cup history, on 240 goals — a neat bit of timing given who was playing in Toronto. Haiti, appearing at their first World Cup since 1974 and still chasing a first goal at the tournament since then, became the tournament’s first team mathematically eliminated; Alisson dealt with their second-half flurry. “We didn’t give up,” said coach Sébastien Migné. “Unfortunately, today we played Brazil — there was too much of a gap.” Ancelotti, calm as ever, said it was “what I expected,” and confirmed Neymar — Brazil’s all-time top scorer — should return from a calf injury for the group finale.

The standings picture, and what’s next

Two groups are now half-settled. In Group E, Germany are through on six points; Ivory Coast sit second on three and should finish the job against debutants Curaçao. In Group D, the USA are confirmed winners, Türkiye are out, and Paraguay (level on points with Australia) meet the Socceroos with second place — and a likely round-of-32 berth — on the line. Group C is a genuine three-way scrap: Brazil top it on goal difference from Morocco, both on four points, with Scotland a point back and Haiti eliminated. Group F belongs to the Netherlands for now on four, with Sweden, Japan and Tunisia still scrapping behind them.

The maths from here is governed by the expanded format — top two in each group plus the eight best third-placed teams reach the knockouts, as laid out in our group-stage explainer. The final round begins June 24 with Scotland–Brazil and Morocco–Haiti; Germany, Ivory Coast and the Group F sides follow on June 25, and Paraguay’s date with Australia closes Group D. Full fixtures are on the schedule, and live scores, as ever, at whatsthescore.football.

Sources

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