World Cup Playoffs

The expansion of this summer’s 48-team tournament mean Tuesday’s games will be the best we see until the round of 16 Sign up for Soccer with Jonathan Wilson here Live in a World Cup host city? Tell us your stories There is always a slightly odd rhythm to the World Cup. The final round of qualifying games is almost invariably more exciting than the early games at the tournament itself, and now with 32 teams making it through the group stage and into the knockout rounds, that is likely to be even more true for the 2026 edition. Those final qualifiers in November were thrilling and meaningful – Troy Parrott’s hat-trick! Scotland scoring two absurdly good goals in the same game! DR Congo beating Nigeria on penalties as bottles rained down from the stands! Honduras failing to score against Costa Rica! – and Tuesday will be too as 12 teams battle for the six remaining slots. But for those not involved in World Cup playoffs, there is an unsatisfying phoniness to the friendlies they must play instead, with experimental line-ups and weary players going through glorified training exercises. While it’s never good to be letting in five goals, neither the USA nor Ghana should be too concerned about the defeats to Belgium or Austria.

Matt Davies-Adams takes the hotseat alongside Daniel Storey, Tom Williams, Duncan Alexander, Felipe Cardenas and Dan Kilpatrick as Tottenham say goodbye to another manager. Igor Tudor is shown the door by Spurs after just seven games in charge. The club are pushing to make former Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi his replacement, but is he what they need right now? Boos at Wembley for Ben White who scores, then gives away a penalty in England’s 1-1 friendly draw with Uruguay. And who will take the last six places at this year’s World Cup? The final qualifying playoff games take place on Tuesday. Produced by Lucy Oliva and Xavi Bird RUNNING ORDER: • PART 1: Tudor leaves Spurs (4:45) • PART 2A: England 1-1 Uruguay (26:30) • PART 2B: France 3-1 Colombia (36:30) • PART 3: USA 2-5 Belgium (43:30) • PART 4: World Cup playoff preview (49:30) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.