World Cup roundup: America takes Group D — Morocco, Brazil first wins
USA cleaned up Group D with a win over Australia and advanced in the tournament. On the same day Morocco beat Scotland, Brazil won 3-0 against Haiti and Turkey held Paraguay goalless.
Here's a look at the key fixtures from Day 9 — what happened in that critical table, which player stood out, and how these results will affect the group going forward.
America vs Australia America (USA) has won Group D with a win over Australia. It was the second time the USAK had won two consecutive Men's World Cup matches—the next best didn't happen in 1930; But this hour has reached this point. Moreover, the United States became the first team in World Cup history to benefit from an own goal in two consecutive matches — a rare Laxmi goal.
At the same time, the U.S. For Christian Pulisic did not play in that match. The team's running record during his absence was 44 wins–16 draws–15 losses; Under Pulisic, the record is 45 wins–16 draws–26 losses (since 2016). Chris Richards completed 179 of 175 passes in the tournament for a completion rate of 97.8% — the second-best percentage since 1966 in terms of centurions (min. 100 passes, in first two overs); OPTA explained that the first place was in 1994 by Giorgi Popescu (122/124, 98.4%).
It's worth reiterating that Mexico won Group A first — Mexico clinched Group A on Thursday night, after which America opened Group D. In addition to America's victory, Turkey's unexpected defeat against Paraguay also had an impact.
Scotland vs Morocco Morocco are unbeaten in their last six group stage matches (3W-3D-0L) — their first defeat since a 1-0 loss to Portugal on June 20, 2018.
Ismail Saibari scored a goal at the World Cup for the second year in a row — becoming only the second African player to score in his first two World Cup appearances (the first being former Egyptian Mohamed Salah). Saibari's goal came in the first two minutes of the match — Morocco's fastest in a World Cup record. Morocco completed 601 passes in the match against Scotland — a record since 1966, the most by an African team at a World Cup in OPTA history. Scotland have just one win in 13 matches against African opposition at the World Cup so far.
Brazil vs Haiti Brazil beat Haiti 3-0 at the Philadelphia Stadium — Brazil's first win at the 2026 World Cup. Brazil have won at least one of their first two matches in each of the last 13 tournaments; The last time they didn't do that was 1978, occasionally ending in two draws.
Haiti became the first team to be eliminated from the World Cup. Moreover, with 241 total World Cup goals, Brazil surpassed Germany (239) to become the highest scoring country in world history. It was also the first match to score at least three goals and keep a clean sheet since Brazil 2010 (round of 16 in Chilo).
Brazil's average age in the match was 30 years 190 days — the oldest age report in the 1962 final after 30 years 216 days, according to OPTA.
Turkey (Türkiye) vs Paraguay Matias Galarza (Atlanta United) became the third player in the MLS club movement to score in the tournament — after Lionel Messi (Inter Miami) and Petar Musa (FC Dallas) — who gave Paraguay the win. His goal was the highest ever scored in the tournament; This equaled the pace goals scored by Brian McBride, Landon Dovanor and Clint Mathis for the USA in the 2002 tournament.
Galarza became the first player to score a goal in the 15th minute and receive a yellow card at the same time, breaking a legend since yellow cards were introduced in 1970 — according to World Cup records.
Gustavo Gomez made nine first-half clearances for Paraguay — the most clearances by a South American player in the opening stages of a World Cup, according to OPTA (equal to Walter Samuel's nine against Nigeria in 2002).
On the other hand, Turkey have not scored a single goal in two matches so far; The goalless effort despite 62 shots attempted in their first two matches was the most goalless effort in a two-match introduction since 1966, which OPTA tracked. Turkey have not conceded a goal in the last three World Cup matches (2002 semifinal vs Brazil, and subsequent matches against Australia).
Today's results will have a long-term impact on the group stage points table — some teams will be upgraded quickly, while others' play-off hopes could be narrowed. As you can see, this World Cup is full of many more surprises, records, and individual brilliance.