Day 8: Canada make history, lose Koné, and the late drama keeps coming

Eight days in, and the tournament finally finished showing its hand: with Colombia and Uzbekistan kicking off in the small hours, all 48 teams have now been seen. By the time the sun went down on the schedule, though, the day had turned into something nobody planned — a Canadian coronation in Vancouver that swung, in the space of one tackle, from euphoria to silence.

Four matches, two of them blowouts, one historic first goal, one broken leg. Let’s start where the noise was loudest.

Canada 6-0 Qatar: a landmark night, and a hush no scoreline could fill

There’s a long version of Canada’s first men’s World Cup win, and there’s the short one: 6-0, Jonathan David hat-trick, Qatar down to nine. Canada had waited through 1986’s three blank games and a winless 2022 to score even a goal of their own; on Thursday at BC Place they helped themselves to half a dozen.

Cyle Larin set it off in the 16th minute, bundling in the rebound after Mahmoud Abunada could only punch David’s volley into his path. David then took over — a thunderous 29th-minute volley (his first goal in open play in more than a year, per the Associated Press), a scrappy poke on the stroke of half-time, and a stoppage-time tap-in to seal the treble. FIFA noted he became the first player to score a World Cup hat-trick on home soil since Geoff Hurst in 1966; theScore added he’s only the second to manage a World Cup hat-trick for a side that isn’t European or South American, after the USA’s Bert Patenaude in 1930. The strikes lifted David level with Lionel Messi atop the 2026 scoring chart and took his Canada record to 42 international goals.

Qatar made it easy. Homam Al-Amin’s 33rd-minute lunge on Tajon Buchanan was upgraded from yellow to red on review — one of several VAR card corrections the new-for-2026 protocols have already made routine — and the second dismissal, Assim Madibo’s 53rd-minute tackle on Ismaël Koné, is the one that will linger. Koné went down with what CBC and theScore reported as a broken left leg; he left on a stretcher with oxygen, was taken to hospital and faces surgery. Stephen Eustaquio waved frantically to the bench, players from both sides stood with hands on heads, and Jesse Marsch wrapped his midfielder in a long embrace as he was wheeled away.

What happened next was the kind of thing scripts overdo. Koné’s replacement, Nathan Saliba, curled in a free kick within minutes and lifted his stricken teammate’s No. 8 shirt to the crowd. Mohamed Al-Mannai turned a Jacob Shaffelburg shot into his own net for 5-0 before David’s late third. Canada finished with 79% possession and 30 shots to two — theScore, citing Opta, reckoned they racked up more touches in the opposition box than any team on record at a World Cup, and called it the biggest win by a CONCACAF nation at the finals.

“No one will forget this, and no Canadian will forget this day,” Marsch said afterward, per AP, holding up six fingers as he left the field. “It’s an incredibly seminal moment for everyone to understand that there’s talent in this country.” Larin, via FIFA, put it more bluntly: “We showed the world who Canada is. We are just getting started.” Prime Minister Mark Carney watched from the stands alongside FIFA president Gianni Infantino, among a crowd of 52,497. The win sends Canada top of Group B — and leaves Marsch to navigate the rest of the tournament without arguably his most important player.

Switzerland 4-1 Bosnia & Herzegovina: the 12-minute storm

For 74 minutes at SoFi Stadium, this was a grind — a resolute Bosnia, roared on by a sea of blue, frustrating a tidy-but-toothless Switzerland. Then Murat Yakin’s 71st-minute triple change detonated the whole thing.

Two of the substitutes did the damage. Johan Manzambi, on for less than three minutes, smashed home a loose ball for the opener; at 20 years and 247 days, the BBC noted, he became the youngest player to score twice off the bench in a men’s World Cup match. In between his goals, Tarik Muharemović was sent off for hauling down Breel Embolo as the striker broke clear, and Rubén Vargas — the other game-changing sub — curled in the second. Vargas then teed up Manzambi for his brace in the 90th, and Granit Xhaka thumped in a seventh-minute-of-stoppage penalty after Djibril Sow was felled. Ermin Mahmić’s thunderous volley off a corner was a consolation and little more.

“It’s probably the best moment of my career so far,” the Freiburg youngster told the BBC. Yakin, who now has a selection headache for the finale, just grinned: “He surprises us as well as the opponent.” Switzerland join Canada on four points — and the two meet in Vancouver on June 24 with first place in Group B on the line.

Czechia 1-1 South Africa: Bafana Bafana’s late escape

A study in nerves under the closed roof in Atlanta — and a reminder that World Cups can be lost in the second group game even if they’re never won there. Michal Sadílek lashed Czechia ahead inside six minutes (timed at 5:07, the earliest goal of the tournament so far, and Czechia’s fastest at a World Cup since Jan Koller in 2006, per FotMob), finishing a slick move sprung by Alexandr Sojka and Adam Hložek.

Then Czechia did what Czechia do. FotMob points out no nation has lost more World Cup games after leading 1-0 (eight, level with Sweden), and their habit nearly cost them again: with seven minutes left, referee Tori Penso — the second woman to officiate a men’s World Cup match, as Sportstar noted — pointed to the spot after Pavel Sulc handled Thapelo Maseko’s shot. Teboho Mokoena sent Matěj Kovář the wrong way to keep South Africa’s pulse beating and, per Al Jazeera, preserve their perfect World Cup penalty record (after Quinton Fortune in 2002 and a 1998 spot kick, all three of which earned points).

It was a day for the elder statesmen on the touchline, too: this was the first World Cup match with both head coaches aged over 70, the 74-year-olds Hugo Broos and Miroslav Koubek each having torn up their opening-day plans. “I’m very proud of my team — this is Bafana Bafana,” Broos said via Al Jazeera, before turning to the obvious: “we just have to win the game against South Korea.” Koubek, philosophical, told local media his players “gave it absolutely everything, and sometimes that might be more than a victory.” Both sides sit on a single point, and both now need a win in their finale. To complicate matters, Mokoena was booked and will miss it.

Uzbekistan 1-3 Colombia: Lucho lights up the Azteca

Hours earlier, with a crowd north of 80,000 turning the Estadio Azteca canary yellow (per Al Jazeera), Colombia made the kind of statement that befits a side that sat out 2022. The headline act was Luis Díaz, who had a goal and an assist and walked off with the official Player of the Match award.

Díaz teed up Daniel Muñoz’s outside-of-the-boot opener five minutes before the break in a 3-1 win, then restored the lead on 65 minutes after Abbosbek Fayzullaev had given the debutants a moment to treasure — his 60th-minute header was Uzbekistan’s first-ever World Cup goal. Fabio Cannavaro’s side, disciplined and dangerous on the break, kept swinging late (the woodwork was struck more than once), but substitute Jaminton Campaz settled it deep in the ninth minute of stoppage time, heading in Juan “Cucho” Hernández’s cross. There was even a slapstick subplot: Manchester City’s Abdukodir Khusanov took out both Díaz and a pitchside cameraman in one sliding challenge, earning a booking. Colombia march to the top of Group K; Uzbekistan leave with a goal in the history books and plenty to build on.

Where it leaves us

Group B is suddenly the group of the haves and have-nots. Canada (+6) and Switzerland (+3) are tied on four points and all but through; their June 24 meeting in Vancouver decides the group, with Canada needing only a draw to claim top spot and the kinder knockout path. Bosnia and Qatar, both on one, are reduced to long-shot maths via the eight best third-placed berths — worth revisiting our group-stage explainer on exactly how those slots work.

Group A is a genuine four-way scrap: Mexico and South Korea lead on three points apiece and meet next to sort out the top, while Czechia and South Africa (one point each) go to the final matchday knowing only a win keeps them alive. In Group K, Colombia’s three points put early daylight between them and a Portugal–Congo DR pair stuck on one.

Friday’s slate brings the United States, Australia, Scotland and Morocco to the stage. For everything live — the table-watching and the kickoff times — whatsthescore.football has you covered.

Sources

Canada 6-0 Qatar

Switzerland 4-1 Bosnia & Herzegovina

Czechia 1-1 South Africa

Uzbekistan 1-3 Colombia

Tournament data: WhatsTheScore schedule · Groups & standings