The final day of group stage play for Groups G, H and I arrives Friday at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with six matches on tap across three concurrent kickoff slots. The marquee matchup is Norway vs. France at 3 p.m. ET on FOX, a collision between two unbeaten group leaders featuring the tournament’s top scorers, Erling Haaland (four goals for Norway) and Kylian Mbappe (four goals for France). Later, Spain and Uruguay meet at 8 p.m. ET in a Group H finale in Guadalajara, while Belgium and New Zealand square off at 11 p.m. ET as Group G completes its final matchday in Vancouver. All six matches air on FOX or FS1 and stream live and on demand on FOX One.
Group I will be decided on Friday afternoon at Boston Stadium when Norway takes on France. It is an eagerly anticipated game between two teams, each with a perfect six points from two games, and it will feature two of the sports greatest goalscorers, Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland.
Both teams have already punched their respective tickets to the round of 32, but this game will decide the group winner. Due to a superior goal differential, France will win the group even if the match ends in a draw.
Both Senegal and Iraq enter this Group I game at Toronto Stadium with zero points after losing games to powerhouses Norway and France. This game is not completely dead rubber either. While a draw would eliminate both teams, a winner still has a slight chance of advancing as one of the top eight third-place teams. It remains to be seen if three points will be enough, depending on the final tables and goal differentials in other groups.
It will be a matchup of former World Cup champions on Friday when Spain and Uruguay clash at Guadalajara Stadium in Mexico to conclude Group H action. Spain currently sits atop the group with four points while Uruguay has just two points.
Led by Marcelo Bielsa, who is widely considered one of the most influential managers of his generation, Uruguay has disappointed at this World Cup after being held to draws against Saudi Arabia and Cape Verde. That has left the team in a difficult spot, in which it likely needs to defeat Spain to advance.
At this point, that seems unlikely, as Uruguay hasnt won any of its last six games, and Spain is arguably the best team in the world, with its unbeaten run in competitive matches now up to 33 games (24 wins and nine draws) dating back to March 28, 2023.
Everything will be on the line on Friday in Houston when Cape Verde takes on Saudi Arabia in Houston, with the winner likely advancing out of Group H and into the round of 32. Cape Verde enters the game with two points (even with Uruguay but behind by only one on the goals scored tiebreaker) from two draws, while Saudi Arabia has one point.
Cape Verde has become the Cinderella darlings of the tournament after playing Spain to a 0-0 draw, followed by a 2-2 draw with Uruguay. The archipelago nation just off the coast of continental Africa has a population of just 525,000, but came away with results against two nations that have won the tournament. A win would send Cape Verde into the knockouts, but a draw to finish with three points might suffice if other results break its way.
For both New Zealand and Belgium, advancing out of Group G and into the round of 32 likely depends on winning this game at Vancouver Stadium on Friday night.
Belgium enters this game in third place in the group with two points from two games. Rudi Garcias team has been disappointing through two games as the Red Devils arrived as a top-10 team in the FIFA World Rankings with hopes of making a deep run in the knockouts.
Two points is not the end of the world, but the big concern for the team has be
