The 2026 World Cup semi-finals are set. For the first time in World Cup history, the four semi-finalists are the top four ranked teams in the world. Spain vs France in Dallas on Tuesday. England vs Argentina in Atlanta on Wednesday.

Coach's-eye segment on the biggest statistical trend of the tournament: every team that has shot first in a World Cup penalty shootout at this tournament has lost. 4 for 4. And in the last 13 WC shootouts before this one, teams going first have won just 15% of them. Before that: 49%, essentially a coin flip. Something has shifted. If your captain wins the coin toss, they should pick to shoot SECOND. Most coaches are still telling them to shoot first.

Plus: quarter-final recap. France 2-0 Morocco (Mbappé goal + assist). Spain 2-1 Belgium (Merino again, and Spain's 6-match clean-sheet run ends). England 2-1 Norway after extra time (Bellingham brace, including one goal that Norway's manager thinks was affected by "a cable falling from the sky" — being called the Cable of God, a 1986 callback). Argentina 3-1 Switzerland (Álvarez golazo from outside the box in the 112th, Argentina's 6th straight WC semi).

My call for the whole tournament: Spain still to win it. England to beat Argentina in the semi. Spain to beat France. Final in New Jersey on July 19: Spain lifts it.

Jürgen Klopp is the new Germany head coach. Officially agreed Sunday, formal announcement in two weeks. Coach's-eye on what he inherits, what he changes, why the Wirtz reunion matters, and why it might still not be enough. Plus: the DFB paid Nagelsmann a hefty severance to walk away — that's how badly they wanted him gone.

The USA-Trump-FIFA saga: Balogun red-carded in the Round of 32 vs Bosnia. Trump called Infantino. FIFA overturned the suspension. Belgium then beat USA 4-1 with De Ketelaere brace and assist, Balogun with 10 first-half touches and one saved shot. Belgium's federation X account after the whistle: "Overturn this." Greatest federation tweet in modern football.

Ronaldo's World Cup career is over. Spain 1-0 Portugal, Mikel Merino 91st-minute winner in Dallas. Diogo Costa kept Portugal alive as long as he could. Spain's 6th consecutive clean sheet. Cristiano finishes his WC career with 9 total goals across 5 tournaments. He never won the trophy.

Cabo Verde went out 3-2 to Argentina in extra time — Lopes Cabral scored a goal-of-the-tournament candidate, Vozinha made 8 saves, Messi (with his 20th career WC goal, all-time record) publicly admitted Argentina couldn't press them properly. Bubista's coaching masterclass is the coach's-eye lesson of the tournament.

Round of 16 carnage: Norway 2-1 Brazil (Ancelotti's project dead), Morocco 3-0 Canada (host out), England 3-2 Mexico (host out), Belgium 4-1 USA (third host out), Spain 1-0 Portugal, France 1-0 Paraguay. Post-R16 favorites: Spain still my pick. Norway is the dangerous dark horse. France-Morocco Thursday. Norway-England is the quarter-final of the tournament.

NBA offseason: Giannis to Miami. Kawhi to Toronto. Jaylen Brown for Paul George (Celtics/Sixers). Ja Morant to Portland. LaMelo to Minnesota. LeBron leaving the Lakers. And the Warriors are trying to build the oldest superteam in NBA history — LeBron, AD, Curry, Draymond, Porziņģis — with a combined age of 178 in the starting five. Coach's-eye on why that's nostalgia, not a title strategy.

Tuesday: Argentina-Egypt. Wednesday: Switzerland-Colombia. Thursday: Quarter-finals start with France-Morocco.

Germany are out of the World Cup. Round of 32. Penalties. To Paraguay. The four-time champions just lost their first ever WC penalty shootout. To the 34th-ranked team in the world.

The Tah header in extra time that was disallowed should have stood — ESPN's VAR analyst confirmed it. Schmeichel, Shearer, Friedel all said the same. Plus the Woltemade handball claim. Plus the disallowed penalty in the Ecuador match earlier. The refereeing was a mess.

But the refereeing didn't lose this. Nagelsmann did. Same system in every match. Sané a "black hole" on the right for the entire tournament. Wirtz — the £116M Liverpool man — wasted on the left when his best position is behind the striker, exactly what Vladimír Šmicer just publicly told Liverpool not to do. No pace in the squad. Substitutions that fixed things, coming too late, again. And in sudden death of the shootout, the SIXTH German taker was Jonathan Tah — a center back who, per the German commentator, "has never taken a penalty in his entire career." Tah skied it. Canale buried it. Out.

Bonus: the Netherlands also went out on penalties to Morocco. Saibari scored the winner. Hakimi hit the post. Multiple misses on both sides. Morocco plays Canada in the round of 16.

Plus: Brazil 2-1 Japan with a 95th-minute winner — Ancelotti's project is also fighting itself. Canada beat South Africa 1-0 with a Eustáquio stoppage-time winner. Real coach's-eye on why so many penalties are getting missed across the day — it's coaching, not pressure.

Tonight: Norway vs Ivory Coast. The dark horse is still alive.