The first day of round of 16 matches at the 2026 FIFA World Cup saw the pre-match favourites both advance through to the quarterfinals, as the first two of the last eight were decided. Here's how the first round of 16 knockout ties unfolded.
France beat Paraguay 1-0; they advance to meet Morocco in the quarterfinals.
Morocco beat Canada 3-0; they advance to the quarterfinals for the second consecutive time.
Here's how the games played out:
Paraguay 0 - 1 France
(Kylian Mbappé 70')
France made the quarterfinals of the World Cup for a fourth consecutive time, and continue to stay alive in their bid to make a third consecutive final, as they beat Paraguay 1-0 in the Round of 16 in Philadelphia on Saturday. Kylian Mbappe scored the only goal of the game for France, midway through the second half, as he had no issues with
France had only one shot on target in the first half, and that was barely a shot, as Jules Koundé rolled one into the arms of Orlando Gill from range, with his left foot.
France did increase the tempo a bit more in the second half, but couldn't really find a way past a well-drilled Paraguayan defence, until Désiré Doué injected some pace into an attack, and evaded Diego Gómez in the penalty area, before the Paraguayan attacker brought him down in the box.
Mbappe drilled the resulting penalty home into the bottom corner for his seventh goal of the tournament, drawing level at the top of the Golden Boot race with Lionel Messi.
Canada 0 - 3 Morocco
(Azzedine Ounahi 50', 82', Soufiane Rahimi 90+8')
Morocco became the first nation to qualify for the quarterfinal of this World Cup, as they beat Canada 3-0 in Houston on Saturday. The Africa side, who finished fourth at the last World Cup in Qatar in 2022, have once again reached the last eight, this time courtesy a brace from Azzedine Ounahi, and a clever finish from Soufiane Rahami.For the second time in their history, courtesy of Azzedine Ounahi's double and a clever finish from Soufiane Rahimi.
Canada started brightly, and had the better of the entire first half, but in the second half, they were undone by the ruthlessness of the Moroccan attack, with all three goals coming from superb finishes. Yassine Bounou kept Morocco level in the first half, most notably through a save to deny Tani Oluwaseyi.
Morocco had to withstand sustained Canadian pressure in the first half, but the African side took the lead five minutes into the second half, after a nicely worked free-kick routine ended with Achraf Hakimi pulled the ball back to Ounahi on the edge of the box, for the attacking midfielder to sweep it home with aplomb.
Ounahi put the game beyond any reasonable doubt in the 82nd minute, after Brahim DÃaz led a counter-attack and put the ball on a plate for him, for the midfielder to smash his effort almost into the roof of the net, and leave Canada with a massive task on their hands to turn the game around.
In the eighth minute of added time in the second half, Rahimi added to Morocco celebrations with a simple finish past Maxime Crépeau to give Morocco a third, as they became the first African nation to reach the quarterfinals more than once.
