FIFA World Cup 2026 LIVE updates: Australia’s Socceroos start campaign against Turkey

It is almost kick-off time in the first of four matches as the World Cup group stage really gets underway with four games in 11 hours. The Swiss are the overwhelming favourites to win this Group B clash. The game is being played at Levi Stadium, home of iconic NFL side the San Francisco 49ers, which has been renamed San Francisco Bay Area Stadium for the tournament under FIFA rules.

Qatar was an automatic qualifier for the 2022 World Cup as host country, and it had a rather disappointing showing at home, but it earned its way into the field this time. Almoez Ali is the country’s career scoring leader with 60 goals in 126 international appearances, but he’s been left on the bench today by Qatari coach Julen Lopetegui.

Their side is largely unchanged from that used to qualify for the tournament.

Switzerland qualified for its sixth straight World Cup and enters the tournament as the 19th-ranked team. The Swiss have never won a knockout-round game despite advancing out of their group three times. Switzerland is led by midfielder Granit Xhaka, who has 145 caps and a record 13th World Cup appearance for this country.

Qatar: Mahmoud Abunada, Pedro Miguel, Issa Laye, Jassem Gaber, Edmilson Junior, Akram Afif, Ayoub Alawi, Homam Ahmed, Yusuf Abdurisag, Boualem Khoukhi, Assim Madibo,

Switzerland: Gregor Kobel, Nico Elvedi, Manuel Akanji, Denis Zakaria, Breel Embolo, Remo Freuler, Granit Xhaka, Dan Ndoye, Ricardo Rodriguez, Ruben Vargas, Michel Aebischer

For all the pre-tournament trash-talking from their supporters, the US team put an exclamation point on da¥2’s action with a 4-1 win over Paraguay at SoFi Stadium in California, building a 3-0 lead by halftime and matching the team’s biggest World Cup victory.

Folarin Balogun scored two goals, and Giovanni Reyna added another in the final minute as the American team broke its record for goals in a World Cup game. Christian Pulisic was the offensive catalyst in the first half before sitting out the second half for precautionary reasons after getting kicked in the left calf.

Earlier, Canada secured their first ever World Cup group stage result with a 1-1 draw against Bosnia-Herzegovina in Toronto.

Cyle Larin — who had just entered the game — scored in the 78th minute to tie after the Canadians fought from behind for the majority of the afternoon. Bosnia’s Jovo Lukic scored in the 21st minute with a nifty header off a corner kick, briefly quieting the home crowd.

with Reuters

Hello, and welcome to our live coverage of day three of the 2026 World Cup, the day when the Socceroos will begin their campaign against Turkey at BC Stadium in Vancouver. Australian coach Tony Popovic said yesterday the side comes to this tournament ready to “spoil the party”.

It’s a gorgeous day here in Vancouver, 22 degrees, the sun is out, and so are the Australians, with around 10,000 in town for the match, which kicks off at 9pm local time (2pm AEST). It is impossible to escape Socceroos jerseys as you walk around Downtown and

There are three other matches before that – starting with Qatar versus Switzerland at 5am AEST in the San Francisco Bay Area, a highly anticipated Group C clash between Brazil and Morocco at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey at 8am AEST and the Tartan Army will be out in Boston when Scotland return to the World Cup for the first time since 1998 when they play Haiti at 11am.