As the 48-team expanded World Cup enters its final week of group stage play, Friday’s fixture list delivers the kind of star-studded matchup that even casual soccer fans have marked on their calendars for months: a clash between two of the game’s greatest modern strikers, Erling Haaland of Norway and Kylian Mbappé of France, in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
The highly anticipated Group G showdown carries even more off-pitch context: France head coach Didier Deschamps will miss the fixture after his mother’s recent passing, leaving assistant manager Guy Stéphan to lead the side in his place. Deschamps, who has already announced he will step down from his post after 12 years in charge following this tournament, returned to France this week to be with his family. Stéphan told reporters Thursday that Deschamps remains deeply affected by the loss, and that he would work to maintain normalcy for the squad to honor Deschamps’ trust. Defensive star William Saliba will also miss the match after being rested in training, while forward Marcus Thuram sat out practice as a precaution.
For Haaland, the Norwegian superstar downplayed expectations ahead of the clash, saying he had little focus on the France game immediately after his side’s opening win over Senegal. But the global soccer community is already hyped for the battle: Haaland has exploded in his first ever World Cup appearance, netting two goals in each of Norway’s opening wins over Senegal and Iraq to put his side on the cusp of knockout stage qualification. Mbappé, meanwhile, has continued to chase history, pushing his all-time World Cup goal tally to 16 – just two goals behind Lionel Messi’s all-time tournament record of 18, after scoring four goals in his first two matches.
Beyond the headline clash, Friday’s six matches across North America will decide the fates of multiple groups, with several teams facing do-or-die fixtures to keep their knockout stage hopes alive.
In Group H, European champions Spain will face South American powerhouse Uruguay in Guadalajara, Mexico, with both sides entering the match with high stakes. Uruguay has only earned two draws from its opening two matches against Saudi Arabia and first-time qualifiers Cape Verde, leaving the side relying entirely on a win to guarantee progression to the knockout round. A draw or loss would leave Uruguay’s fate hanging on the result of the final group match between Cape Verde and Saudi Arabia. For Spain, a draw will be enough to secure progression, but a win will lock in the side’s spot as group winners.
Cape Verde, the tiny African island nation of just 500,000 people, has already turned heads in its first ever World Cup appearance, holding pre-tournament favorite Spain to a scoreless draw in its opener before notching its first ever tournament goals in a 2-2 draw with Uruguay. Now the Blue Sharks have a chance to make history, with a spot in the knockout stage well within their reach when they face Saudi Arabia in Houston Friday evening. A win would guarantee Cape Verde finishes no worse than second in Group H, and even a draw could be enough to see the side advance. Defender Roberto Lopes made the team’s stance clear ahead of the match: “It’s in our hands. We have to go and take it.”
In Vancouver, British Columbia, both Belgium and New Zealand will face off in a must-win contest, with elimination on the line for the loser. The Group G table will also be finalized on Friday, when Egypt and Iran face off in Seattle to decide who claims the group’s top spot. The fixture comes with an unusual subplot: the match was already scheduled to be Seattle’s official “Pride Match”, coinciding with the city’s annual LGBTQ+ community celebration. Both Egypt and Iran, which rank among the world’s most repressive countries for LGBTQ+ people, attempted to have the public celebrations canceled, but their requests were denied. Iran has also faced unique travel hurdles during this World Cup amid ongoing Middle East conflict, with U.S. officials only recently easing travel restrictions that had previously forced the side to travel only on match days from their Tijuana, Mexico, base camp, allowing them to arrive in Seattle two days ahead of kickoff.
Other key matches Friday include a do-or-die clash between Senegal and Iraq in Toronto, with both sides still fighting to claim one of the third-place knockout spots that come with the expanded 48-team tournament format. The full slate of Friday kickoffs (all EDT) is: Norway vs France at 3 p.m. on Fox, Telemundo and Peacock; Senegal vs Iraq at 3 p.m. on FS1, Telemundo and Peacock; Uruguay vs Spain at 8 p.m. on Fox, Telemundo and Peacock; Cape Verde vs Saudi Arabia at 8 p.m. on FS1, Telemundo and Peacock; New Zealand vs Belgium at 11 p.m. on Fox, Telemundo and Peacock; and Egypt vs Iran at 11 p.m. on FS1, Telemundo and Peacock.
Off Friday’s pitch, the tournament already hit a major milestone: with just over half of all 104 scheduled matches complete, the 2025 World Cup hosted across the U.S., Canada and Mexico has already broken the all-time tournament attendance record, hitting 3,605,357 fans – passing the 3,587,538 record set when the U.S. last hosted in 1994.