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Canada v Bosnia and Herzegovina: World Cup 2026 – live | World Cup 2026
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GOAL! Canada 1-1 Bosnia and Herzegovina (Larin 79)
Canada wheel it around but Bosnia are in full park-the-bus mode. Ignore me: here’s Larin with a cracking strike!
77 min The lively Oluwaseyi makes way for Larin.
76 min Bosnia string together a decent spell on the ball – that drinks break has taken away Canada’s momentum.
74 min Bosnia keep the changes coming. Sunjic and Alajbegovic come on.
73 min De Fougerolles narrowly escapes trouble as he twirls away at the back for Canada.
72 min Marsch barks out the orders before play resumes.
69 min Time for a drink. Kári Tulinius writes in:
Considering that Bosnia’s defense is slower than a bunch of heavy, slow things, Jesse Marsch’s plan to have his team run at them makes sense. However, the Canadians are too hectic, the last ball is usually far off the mark, and whatever opening has presented itself is lost.
68 min Can Bosnia really hold on for another half hour?
66 min Cleared off the line! Canada get closer and closer … but it’s just not happening for them. Katic heads away after Oluwaseyi heads across goal.
65 min Eustaquio receives by the edge of the area and lets loose … but it’s wide of the top right corner.
64 min Ahmed drifts in from the right and the hulking Promise tries to get away a shot on the turn. The Canadian subs have brought some pep.
63 min Promise is immediately into action, hustling away inside the Bosnia area … and the whistle goes against him for a foul.
61 min Canada are making some changes. Millar, Buchanan and Jonathan David come off. On are Promise David, Shaffelburg and Ahmed. Bosnia bring on Gigovic and Bazdar.
59 min Corner to Bosnia … and they continue to threaten from set-pieces. Muharemovic rises for the header but it’s over the bar.
56 min And just moments after that block, Demirovic is in for Bosnia … but he fluffs a one-on-one. That could’ve been a horrid moment for Canada.
Kolasinac to the rescue!
53 min Oh my days. Canada work the ball beautifully with some one-touch magic and Laryea is in, firing past the keeper … but Kolasinac retreats to block the ball, which smashes off the bar and to safety! An unbelievable bit of defending.
51 min It does feel like a matter of time for Canada. They’ve got the quality here … though a cross from the left goes straight to Vasilj.
49 min Well, what do we have here? Oluwaseyi chases a bouncing ball, Vasilj comes out to punch and collides with the Canada forward … both players go down and this is a serious penalty shout. The replays come in and the keeper does get the ball before getting the man.
47 min Oluwaseyi jinks away on the right, the path suddenly wide open for him, but his low ball in can’t find a teammate.
46 min And we’re back. Demirovic turns and shoots from range, ambitiously – Crépeau doesn’t let the awkward bounce trouble him.
Charles Antaki writes in:
I know that it’s literally a sideshow, but managers’ get-ups are always worth a look: here, the Bosnian manager is sporting a white T-shirt and Gianni-level white trainers; but the outstanding feature is a 1950s demob-style double-breasted suit. It may catch on.
Sergej Barbarez is looking resplendent.
Just catching up on some correspondence. Ceri Rees writes in from Pontypool, Ontario.
It breaks my heart to see the empty seats in Toronto. I’m an ex-pat and Brighton fan sitting an hour away and would have given anything to be at the game. But I, like so many other ex-pats and native Canadians alike, am simply unable to justify the price being asked for those seats. Shame on Fifa for preferring empty seats to fulfilling the dreams of real football fans.
Speaking of which …
HALF-TIME: Canada 0-1 Bosnia and Herzegovina
A frustrating half for the co-hosts. They’ve had most of the ball, a couple of decent chances, and loads of corners. But Bosnia have the goal.
45+3 min Long-throw time again for Canada … after a bit of pinball Johnston smashes an effort, but Kolasinac gets in the block. Cornelius rises to head a corner wide.
45+1 min We’ll have four added minutes. Lukic, the goalscorer, gets a yellow after getting his foot high on Buchanan.
45 min Demirovic goes in the book after lunging into Cornelius. Laryea shows decent pace to get back and shield the ball out for a Canada goalkick.
44 min Some glum faces among the home support as Kolasinac sends a throw into the Canada area.
42 min De Fougerolles launches a mazy dribble inside his half before Canada wheel it around at the back. Johnston and Memic have had a tidy battle over on Bosnia’s left wing, and the former goes down to win a foul.
40 min Canada’s gazillionth corner of this half comes and goes.
39 min Buchanan presses boost and zips down the right, stepovers in the mix, and wins a corner. Bosnia stay resolute.
38 min Another corner follows from the other side … but Canada aren’t threatening at all with the dead ball.
37 min Millar has looked sharp on the left for Canada and wins a corner.
35 min The camera finds Wrexham’s Ryan Reynolds. He also acts.
32 min The game’s stuck in Bosnia’s half … and Oluwaseyi muscles away Muharemovic to gain space inside the area … he has time but fires high with his left foot, unable to control the bouncing ball. That’s another big chance.
30 min Jonathan David is at the centre of things, this time winning Canada a free-kick from the left after a needless foul from Muharemovic. Canada waste it, though.
28 min Millar fizzes in a pass to Jonathan David inside the area … he shapes to have a go with his left boot but the effort is blocked. The lively Buchanan helps win Canada a corner.
27 min Johnston fight for the ball over on the right before Buchanan does the same, winning Canada a free-kick.
Time for a hydration break. Canadian fans may want something a little stronger. It was Kolasinac who assisted with the flick-on.
They’ve been threatening with the dead ball and they make it count with a corner. It’s simple stuff: a ball into the near post, flicked on and then headed in by Lukic, too close to miss from there. It’s his first goal in international football. Tidy time to get it.
Photograph: Kevin Sousa/Imagn Images/Reuters
GOAL! Canada 0-1 Bosnia and Herzegovina (Lukic 21)
Bosnia strike with the set-piece!
19 min Laryea rampages down the left for Canada with serious energy. Marsch’s men are moving with a bit more fluency now.
17 min Canada finally come alive. Koné splits Bosnia with a ball to Oluwaseyi, who crosses in from the left, searching for David. Canada push numbers forward as Millar sends in a cross of his own … moments later the ball breaks perfectly for Jonathan David inside the area and he goes first-time, hitting it straight at Vasilj. It’s a poor effort – he really needed to do more with it, could’ve even taken a touch before launching. Marsch fumes on the touchline.
15 min The corner is taken short and doesn’t cause any bother as Bosnia counter … but the ball hits the referee to stop play.
14 min Johnston fires in a quick throw, Jonathan David is on to it, crossing from the right and winning a corner …
The family of Shaun Burton, say they are “devastated” by the loss.
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Key events
In the opening half an hour against Cape Verde, Mikel Oyarzabal, the centre-forward, did not get a single touch.
Kyle Green gets in touch: “Your highlighting of Lalas and his absurdity is something that has prevented me from wanting to watch the coverage on Fox. While every channel has its pros and cons I just can’t.
“I’m 45 and probably the youngest of anyone who remembers him as a player instead of an opinionated insert insult here. As for the match this could be more competitive than it looks on paper Spain need a win the pressure is on them. Saudi Arabia could hold out for a draw and see what happens in their last match. “
News from the England camp, and it seems to be good news on Declan Rice.
“I’m ready and fit, raring to go. I was feeling a little bit of neural pain in my hamstring, which I was managing from after Christmas with Arsenal for a very long time. Obviously, not a lot of people would have known that. It was all behind-the-scenes stuff but it was a smart decision.
“In the end, that last 20 minutes is probably where you pick up the most, and it’s where you play a 70-minute match. But that last 20 is where you really feel your body going for it. And I think it was a smart decision because the last few days I felt really, really good.”
Alex Reid has penned today’s weekend special Football Daily.
Portugal v Uzbekistan on Tuesday enticingly pits the incredibly nice, incredibly 41-year-old-superstar-tolerant Roberto Martínez against Fabio Cannavaro, who’s won a Ballon d’Or as a player and the Chinese Super League as a coach. While the fixture following that game really does see the dream of Thomas Tuchel – in his first international job with England – taking on Queiroz, who is in charge of his ninth national side with Ghana.
The expected formations are 4-2-3-1 for Spain, and 5-3-2 for the Saudi Arabians.
The Saudi team features two Donis changes: Ali Lajami, a defender, and Nasser Al Dawsari, a midfielder, are preferred to Mohammed Abu Al Shamat and Mohamed Kanno. You may recall Salem Al Dawsari, the Saudi captain, as the man who scored the winner against Argentina.
An entertaining read, even for those of us who have just seen the clips.
In a conversation where his co-panelist is casually reminiscing about his days playing alongside Messi or exchanging shirts with Ronaldo Nazário at the World Cup, what exactly is Lalas going to talk about – coming on as a second-half substitute for Earnie Stewart in a friendly against Scotland in 1998? Helping the Kansas City Wizards finish last in the 1999 MLS Western Conference? Did Lalas enjoy an elite playing career? No. But does he do the background reading that could compensate for his relative lack of standing in a conversation with titans like Henry and Zlatan? Also no. But is he charming or funny or charismatic or otherwise magnetic on screen? Eh, no.
For the record, I once interviewed Alexi Lalas on the challenge of playing against Romario in the 1994 World Cup. He had this to say:
“He could kill you in so many different ways. If you remember from that World Cup, he scored so many types of goals. That ranged from solo adventures to an outside-of-the-right-foot half-volley off a corner kick. Romario was both the most difficult to play against and the best that I have faced.
“Roberto Baggio was doing his thing, but in terms of consistency and living up to the hype, he [Romario] was the best. As with all stars, there was a moment when the fans sit up in their seats, and that was a feeling I got with Romario. When it got close to him and the potential for his involvement in a play was there, everybody sat up in their seat. They knew that something spectacular would be happening.”
Saturday’s match reports here.
The Saudi Arabia coach, and Blackburn legend, Georgios Donis, spoke about the challenges facing his team: “Spain is not the same team when Yamal or Williams are on the bench.
“While they still have plenty of possession, they lack the individual one-on-one penetration when these two are missing. I’m not saying it’s a problem for Spain, but when those players are missing, they play in a different way. We saw this very clearly against Cape Verde.
“We are playing against one of the best teams in the world, and it’s very important that when you play against these kinds of teams, you should enjoy the experience and respect the opponent, but not too much.
“It is very hard for any team playing against Spain to have any time in possession. So what we must do is to be more in control of our movement and compact, and when the ball goes through the lines, be able to defend dynamically.
“It’s nice to see miracles in football, and we’ve seen favourites losing against underdogs. Of course, it’s great for Saudi football to have a great memory of the result against Argentina, but we aren’t drawing anything from that.
“I think we’ll feel more pressure in that [Cape Verde] game than we will against Spain.”
The Spain coach, Luis De La Fuente had this to say in his Saturday press conference: “This generation of footballers is highly competitive and really fired up… It’s going to be a completely different story,” he said at his pre-match press conference on Saturday. There is no drama or crisis. The bottom line is simply that we need to win tomorrow.”
Four changes for Spain: Lamine Yamal, Pedro Porro, Dani Olmo and Alex Baena also come into the side with Marcos Llorente, Fabian Ruiz, Ferran Torres and Gavi dropping out.
The teams – Lamine Yamal starts
Spain: Simon, Porro, Cubarsi, Laporte, Cucurella, Gonzalez, Rodri, Yamal, Olmo, Baena, Oyarzabal. Subs: Raya, Joan Garcia, Pubill, Grimaldo, Eric Garcia, Llorente, Merino, Torres, Fabian, Gavi, Pino, Williams, Zubimendi, Munoz, Iglesias.
Saudi Arabia: Al Owais, Abdulhamid, Tambakti, Lajami, Al Amri, Al Harbi, Nasser Al Dawsari, Al Khaibari, Al Juwayr, Al Buraikan, Salem Al Dawsari. Subs: Al Aqidi, Al Kassar, Majrashi, Yahya, Al Shehri, Al Boushal, Kadesh, Al Johani, Al Ghannam, Al Hajji, Al Hamdan, Mandash, Kanno, Thakri, Abu Al Shamat.
Referee: Raphael Claus (Brazil)
Perhaps one of the Saudi -players can write themselves into this high-grade selection?
Perhaps it can be their goalkeeper.
Madrid screening of Spain v Saudi Arabia cancelled due to heat
The public screening of Spain’s World Cup match against Saudi Arabia in Madrid on Sunday has been cancelled because of extreme heat forecast for the Spanish capital, officials said.
The match, due to kick off at 6pm local time on Sunday, had been scheduled to be shown on a giant screen installed by the Spanish football federation (RFEF) at a fan zone in Plaza de Colón in central Madrid.
Madrid city council and the federation decided to cancel the screening after national weather agency AEMET issued an orange heat warning – the second-highest level – for the Madrid region, with temperatures forecast to reach 40C.
“The decision has been taken with the aim of protecting the health of attendees, event staff and support services involved in the event,” Madrid city hall said in a statement, apologising for any inconvenience.
Officials urged supporters to watch the match indoors in air-conditioned spaces and avoid prolonged exposure to the heat.
Large parts of Spain are experiencing unusually high temperatures for June as a mass of hot air from North Africa moves across the Iberian Peninsula.
A total of 13 of Spain’s 17 regions are on orange alert for heat on Sunday, while the northern Basque Country bordering France is on red alert, the highest level.
Authorities advised residents and visitors to take precautions during the heatwave, including drinking water regularly, staying in cool environments, limiting outdoor physical activity during the hottest hours of the day and taking extra care of vulnerable people. AFP
Can Saudi Arabia repeat the magic of 2022?
Argentina arrived in Qatar on a 36-game unbeaten run. When Lionel Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot after 10 minutes, a comfortable afternoon seemed in the offing. Saleh al-Shehri and Salem al-Dawsari had other ideas, Argentina had three goals disallowed for offside in the space of 13 minutes and the greatest comeback in Saudi Arabia football history was made. Argentina went on to lift the trophy, while defeats to Poland and Mexico meant the Saudis did not reach the knock-out stage.
Unai Simon over David Raya is a controversial choice for De la Fuentes. The Arsenal keeper could lay claim to being Europe’s best this season.
“Those at the Champions League final had a few more days, so I got there on the Wednesday night,” Raya says. “I arrived a bit before Fabián [Ruiz]. I was saying hello to some of the others in reception when he arrived. I went to say congratulations; that was almost the first thing I did. I couldn’t really talk [to him] after the final; I just didn’t have it in me. The next day we talked about the game properly. Just two mates chatting … I was happy for him that he could lift the trophy for a second time.”
A high pressure game for the European champions, as Sid Lowe reports.
“If we had scored one, the game would have changed,” Martín Zubimendi said. Immediately after the game, De la Fuente had offered a simple analysis: when the ball doesn’t want to go in it doesn’t want to go in, he insisted. Spain had racked up 27 shots, after all. Ferran Torres had hit the bar and seen another clear opportunity saved. Vozinha, the 40-year-old goalkeeper who stopped that, saved six more and was named the man of the match. “There’s nothing to reproach the team for,” Rodri said. “We generated chances but couldn’t put it away; the good thing is they created almost nothing.”
We wait to see what role Lamine Yamal will play today. His coach would surely like to be able to use him.
The worst mistake we could make would be to compare him to anyone. He is the midst of a process. He has exceptional footballing maturity and lives it all with total naturalness. He has great serenity and strength. We have to let him follow his path but those players who have something different are ready for that. They’re geniuses, like Dalí [who] can paint a picture, or Michelangelo. They’re different. What is exceptional to us, isn’t to them. In those extremes, they feel comfortable. Why? Because they are different. What we think is exceptional, they consider normal.
Preamble
Spain’s campaign did not get off to a flying start, and Luis de la Fuentes may wake up in the night to visions of Cape Verde’s Vozinha. He will have Georgia on his mind ever since Monday. Saudi Arabia are no pushovers and gave Uruguay a scare in their opening match. Memories of downing Argentina four years ago still abound, and so Spain might beware. They can ill afford to go into the final game with Uruguay at a disadvantage. All eyes on Lamine Yamal, whose fitness situation remains opaque, though Spain need their other forwards to come to the party.
Kick-off 5pm UK, 1pm ET, 2am AEST. Join me.
A topless man can be seen driving erratically in Edinburgh before abandoning his car and attacking a black man and a delivery rider.
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