Folarin Balogun scored twice as the United States beat Paraguay 4-1 to open their home World Cup, the most-watched football match in US history at a reported 19 million viewers. Brazil were held 1-1 by Morocco, Canada and Qatar took their first-ever World Cup points, and a failed offside graphic in Qatar-Switzerland triggered the tournament's first governance row.
The USA delivered on co-host expectation; FIFA's first governance failure was self-made, not forced.
Folarin Balogun scored twice as the United States beat Paraguay 4-1 on 12 June at SoFi Stadium, with a reported 19 million American viewers making it the country's most-watched football broadcast.
United StatesFolarin Balogun scored twice on 12 June as the United States beat Paraguay 4-1 at SoFi Stadium. A reported 19 million Americans watched, the largest US football television audience on record.
Balogun's brace was the first two-goal World Cup game by a United States player since 1930. He switched his allegiance from England in 2023, and repaid that choice on the biggest stage.
Ismael Saibari put Morocco ahead before Vinicius Junior levelled as a Neymar-less Brazil drew 1-1 at MetLife on 13 June, leaving Group C open after one round.
QatarBrazil drew 1-1 with Morocco at MetLife Stadium on 13 June before 80,663 fans. Ismael Saibari scored first in the 21st minute. Vinicius Junior then equalised for a Neymar-less Brazil, who were dominated for long spells.
Morocco's coach Mohamed Ouahbi, appointed in March 2026 with no prior first-team experience, was making his senior debut. His side held the five-time winners and left Group C open after one round.
Cyle Larin equalised 121 seconds after coming off the bench to earn Canada a 1-1 draw with Bosnia-Herzegovina on 12 June, the first World Cup point in the co-host's history.
Canada drew 1-1 with Bosnia-Herzegovina in Toronto on 12 June, earning the first World Cup point in the nation's history. Cyle Larin equalised 121 seconds after coming off the bench.
The point ended a 40-year run across two previous tournaments in 1986 and 2022. Canada had lost all six of their World Cup matches before this draw, taken on home soil.
FIFA withheld the offside animation when a Switzerland penalty was checked on 13 June, then took three hours to cite a technical outage; Qatar equalised at 90+5 for their first-ever World Cup point as Gary Neville called FIFA 'a dictatorship' on air.
Boualem Khoukhi headed Qatar level at 90+5 against Switzerland on 13 June for Qatar's first-ever World Cup point. Breel Embolo's earlier penalty had put Switzerland ahead.
Football's governing body never showed the offside animation that normally explains the penalty decision, then took three hours to blame a technical outage. Pundit Gary Neville called the organisers a 'dictatorship' live on television over the missing graphic.
John McGinn's deflected 28th-minute strike gave Scotland a 1-0 win over Haiti on 13 June in the Boston area, the nation's first World Cup victory since the 1990 tournament in Italy.
John McGinn's deflected strike on 28 minutes gave Scotland a 1-0 win over Haiti on 13 June in Foxborough. It was Scotland's first World Cup victory since the 1990 tournament in Italy, a drought of 36 years.
Scotland had not even reached a World Cup since France 1998. The win puts them top of Group C above Brazil and Morocco, setting up a live decider against Brazil next.
Nestory Irankunda scored on 27 minutes at 20 years and four months to become Australia's youngest-ever World Cup goalscorer as the Socceroos beat Türkiye 2-0 in Vancouver on 14 June.
Australia beat Türkiye 2-0 in Vancouver on 14 June. Nestory Irankunda scored on 27 minutes at 20 years and four months, displacing Brett Holman's 2010 record to become Australia's youngest-ever World Cup goalscorer. Connor Metcalfe added the second.
Türkiye were returning to the World Cup after a 24-year absence, qualifying by beating Kosovo 1-0 . Irankunda's record and Australia's clean sheet are the sixth historic first across the opening round of the 48-team tournament.
Sideways on sporting results; upward on the VAR governance row. The binding test is the next match at Bay Area Stadium: if FIFA's semi-automated offside animation, introduced after Qatar 2022 to make VAR decisions visible, goes unshown again without a published IFAB-standard technical log, FIFA's three-hour outage explanation of 13 June becomes a pattern rather than a fault. Norway's FA-backed Article 15 ethics complaint against Infantino and the two US attorney-general subpoenas over ticket pricing both pre-date this episode; a second suppression hands each of those files a live tournament exhibit.
