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The day was supposed to be defined by the showdown between Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappé at the World Cup, and Lamine Yamal was facing his biggest test of the tournament yet. It ended with Haaland on the bench, Mbappé and Yamal without scoring and Ousmane Dembélé stealing the show.
Here’s everything you might have missed on Day 16 of the 2026 FIFA World Cup:
THE BEST OF THE DAY
Time of day
Ousmane Dembélé was absolutely helpless in France’s 4-1 victory against Norway on Friday at Boston Stadium. The 2025 Ballon d’Or winner scored a hat-trick in the first half to take his overall tournament tally to four goals, one shy of the tournament high. Dembélé had gone 19 previous matches in major international tournaments without scoring a goal before France’s last game; now he has four in the last two.
Goal of the day
Pape Gueye has not started a game for Senegal at the 2026 FIFA World Cup; That might not be the case for much longer as Senegal successfully advanced to the round of 32.
In 33 minutes against Iraq, Gueye scored two goals and had one assist. He finished the game with the highest number of goal contributions on the team (3) despite coming on as a substitute in the 56th minute. Super submarine.
Assistance of the day
Nicolas Raskin and Romelu Lukaku came on in the 85th minute. A minute later, the two connected for Belgium’s fourth goal of the night when Lukaku scored. Talk about instant impact.
Salvation of the day
Any hopes Norway had of a comeback against France were dashed when Les Bleus goalkeeper Mike Maignan rejected a Jørgen Strand Larsen penalty. Maignan is the second French goalkeeper to save a penalty in the World Cup (excluding penalties) after Joel Bats against Zico in the 1986 quarter-final against Brazil.
Norway against France
- France won Group I and will play a third-place team from Group F or G. Norway finished second and will play Ivory Coast on June 30 in Arlington.
- France won all three of its group matches in a single World Cup for the second time since 1998. This is the fourth consecutive time that France has topped its group, one more than in its previous 12 appearances in the group stage.
- Dembélé’s first-half hat-trick is his first in a World Cup since Oleg Salenko in 1994, and the second-earliest hat-trick in World Cup history. He is the third player to score a hat-trick with France in a men’s World Cup, after Just Fontaine (two in 1958) and Mbappé (one in 2022).
(Photo by Daniel Castelo Branco/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)
- France is the first team since Poland in 1974 to have two players (Mbappé and Dembélé) score four or more goals in the same group stage of a World Cup (five by Andrzej Szarmach and four by Grzegorz Lato, first group stage).
- Friday’s match was Mbappé’s 15th World Cup start. He is the youngest player (27 years and 188 days) to make 15 starts in World Cup history, and is just two starts away from equaling Raphaël Varane for the most World Cup starts of any French player in history.
Senegal against Iraq
- Senegal finished third in the group and will wait to see if they advance as one of the eight best third-place teams. Senegal is seeking to reach consecutive World Cup knockout stages for the first time.
- Iraq became the fourth nation to lose its first six World Cup matches. Iraq has been outscored 16-2 in its two World Cup appearances.
- Ismaïla Sarr, Pape Gueye and Iliman Ndiaye of Senegal scored and assisted in the Senegal vs. Iraq. It is the first time a team has had three players achieve that feat in a World Cup match since Germany’s 7-1 victory over Brazil in 2014 (Toni Kroos, Sami Khedira, Thomas Müller).
(Photo by Ezra Shaw – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
- Sarr became the first Senegal player to score and assist in a World Cup match, and is now also Senegal’s all-time top scorer in the World Cup with four goals.
- Senegal’s Iliman Ndiaye became the first player in World Cup history to come on as a substitute and then score a goal, assist a goal, have five touches in the opponent’s box and make five dribbles.
Uruguay vs Spain
- Spain won Group H with seven points (2W-1D-0L) and will play the runner-up in Group J on July 2 in Los Angeles. Spain has already gone undefeated in the group stage of the World Cup seven times before (1950, 1990, 1994, 2002, 2006 and 2018).
- Uruguay has been eliminated from advancing to the knockout phase. Uruguay has been winless in the group stage of the World Cup on four occasions (1974, 1986, 2002 and 2026).
- Spain is now unbeaten in 33 consecutive games (24W-9D-0L) since March 2024, the second-longest unbeaten streak in team history, trailing only a 35-game streak broken by the United States in June 2009 in the Confederations Cup semifinals.
- This is the first time in World Cup history that Spain has completed the group stage of a World Cup without conceding a single goal.
- When Lamine Yamal begins, Spain remains undefeated with 17W-6D-0L.
Cape Verde vs. Saudi Arabia
- Cape Verde became the first World Cup debutant to advance beyond the group stage since Slovakia in 2010.
- Cape Verde is the smallest nation by population size (approximately 525,000 inhabitants) to ever advance to the knockout stage of the World Cup.
- Vozinha is the third goalkeeper to record multiple clean sheets in World Cups after turning 40, joining Peter Shilton (3) and Dino Zoff (2).
(Rico Brouwer/Socrates/Getty Images)
- Saudi Arabia has been eliminated from the preview.
- Cape Verde is the first team to advance from the group stage of a World Cup with three draws since Chile in 1998.
New Zealand vs Belgium
- Belgium won Group G and will play a third-place finisher from Group A, I or J in Seattle on July 1.
- New Zealand was eliminated from the tournament with a loss. He finished the tournament with one point.
- Kevin De Bruyne is the first player in Belgian history to score in three different World Cups (2014, 2018 and 2026). He is also now the oldest Belgian to score in a World Cup, at 34 years and 363 days.
- Romelu Lukaku scored his sixth World Cup goal, surpassing Marc Wilmots as the top scorer by any Belgian in World Cup history.
- Elijah Just scored his third goal of the tournament. He is New Zealand’s all-time leading scorer in the World Cup.
Egypt vs Iran
- Egypt finished second in Group G and will play Australia on July 3 in Arlington. This is the first time Egypt has advanced to the knockout stage of a World Cup, excluding the 1934 World Cup, which did not have a group stage.
- Iran finished third in Group G and will have to wait and see if they advance as one of the eight best third-place teams. Iran has never made it out of the group stage in its six previous World Cup appearances.
- Emam Ashour scored the second goal of his career for Egypt. His first two goals for Egypt have come in this World Cup.
- Ramin Rezaeian scored his second World Cup goal of the tournament and the third of his career. With his three goals and one assist in World Cups, he now has the highest goal contribution of any Iranian player in World Cup history, with four.
- Iran remains winless all-time (0W-5D-11L) in the World Cup when conceding first.
