Group play closes today, and a small island off the coast of West Africa stayed up celebrating before the rest of us got our coffee. Cabo Verde, an archipelago of about 525,000 people, became the smallest country to ever reach a men's World Cup knockout stage. Six matches sort the rest of the bracket between Arlington and Miami, with DR Congo on the line right here in Atlanta, and inside that, US Soccer making a long-term move on Mauricio Pochettino. We've got it all today.

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Bubista walked into his press conference in Houston draped in the blue, white, and red of his country. His players, a few hours earlier, had stood on the pitch with phones in their hands, watching the final minutes of Spain against Uruguay come down to Álex Baena's deflected goal in Guadalajara. When that result was confirmed, Cabo Verde, an archipelago of roughly 525,000 people, had become the smallest country ever to reach the knockout stage of a men's World Cup.

They got there without losing a match. Three draws, three points, second in Group H. The 0-0 with Saudi Arabia on Friday completed a group stage that opened with a scoreless draw against Spain and a 2-2 against Uruguay. No debutant nation has finished group play unbeaten since Senegal in 2002, and no first-time qualifier has reached the knockout round since Slovakia in 2010. Both of those reference points feel earned here. Cabo Verde did not back into anything.

The goalkeeper carried much of it. Vozinha, 40 years old, denied Mohamed Kanno's first-half header, then leaped to deflect Mohammed Abu Al-Shamat in the 66th minute, and closed the night with a save on Abdullah Al-Hamdan in the 92nd. His mother, Ana Cândida Évora, watched from a luxury suite waving a small flag, present this time after visa issues kept her out of his seven-save performance against Spain. Sixteen million Instagram followers now sit on the other side of those gloves. Vozinha's own framing was simple. "We are small, but we have big hearts and we are fighters."

A woman in the crowd of 68,278 held up a sign that read "Small Islands, Big Dreams." It is the cleanest summary anyone offered. The Blue Sharks chased a winner late, Kevin Pina over the bar in the 50th, Laros Duarte saved in the 74th, Nuno da Costa wide in the closing seconds. None of it mattered once the Guadalajara result came in. The celebration started in front of the bench and rolled out across the stadium.

Next stop is Argentina in Miami Gardens on July 3. Bubista, asked about facing Lionel Messi, did not pretend the matchup was anything other than what it is, but framed the link between the two countries through something older than the bracket. Cabo Verdean families have emigrated to Argentina for generations, a diaspora thread running in both directions across the Atlantic. "We represent our island," Bubista said, "but we also represent Africa." On Friday, the smallest country in the field reminded everyone how much room there is inside that sentence.

The final Saturday of group play runs from Arlington to Miami with six matches, three groups still being sorted, and one knockout berth that gets stamped in Atlanta. England is positioning for a Group L finish, Colombia and Portugal are racing each other for first in Group K, Austria and Algeria are in a straight shoot-out for second place in Group J, and DR Congo are coming to Mercedes-Benz Stadium with their tournament in their hands.

Thomas Tuchel is missing Reece James to a hamstring issue and is still navigating the post-Ghana conversation about whether England can create anything in tight spaces. Bukayo Saka is in line for his first start of the tournament after working his way back from an Achilles problem. Declan Rice trained Friday but sits on a yellow card. Panama are eliminated, and coach Thomas Christiansen is unsure of his future past the July 31 expiration of his contract. A win or the right kind of draw sends England through as Group L winners.

The other half of Group L. Ghana enter on four points, Croatia on three, and Zlatko Dalić has already conceded out loud that his side has not been recognizable through two matches. Ivan Perišić leans on Croatia's record against African opposition since 2014 as a reason for confidence. Luka Modrić is 40, Perišić is 37, and the team that reached two of the last two World Cup semifinals is trying to find a version of itself that fits this tournament. Ghana, compact and stubborn, will not make it easy.

Group K's top spot comes down to Miami. Colombia arrive on the back of a 1-0 win over DR Congo and a midfield that has been built around Gustavo Puerta, the 22-year-old who has displaced Richard Ríos in the starting eleven and become one of the breakout stories of the tournament. Portugal come in off a 5-0 dismantling of Uzbekistan that has Roberto Martínez wrestling with whether to touch a winning side. The Portuguese press has Cancelo, Dalot, and Semedo all in the conversation at right back, where the assignment is Luis Díaz.

This is the only match on the slate in our backyard, and it is a do-or-die for both. DR Congo sit on one point. They drew Portugal, lost narrowly to Colombia, and need a result against Uzbekistan to reach the knockout round for the first time since the country competed as Zaire in 1974. Uzbekistan have lost twice but can still advance with a win. Congolese president Félix Tshisekedi posted a public message ahead of kickoff framing the match as a national moment for a country of more than 100 million people. The winner could end up back in Atlanta on Wednesday in a round of 32 match against England.

Argentina have already won Group J and confirmed a round of 32 meeting with Cabo Verde in Miami next Friday. The news that Lionel Messi will start on the bench came out Friday because of who was in the room. Enrique Macaya Márquez, 91 years old and covering his 18th World Cup, asked. Scaloni answered. "I'm only going to answer the question because it's you," the coach said. "Otherwise I'd dodge it. I'm only answering because you deserve it." Macaya Márquez was at the 1958 tournament in Sweden to see Pelé arrive. He covered Argentina's first title in 1978, Maradona in Mexico in 1986, and Messi in Qatar at 88. Emiliano Martínez may be the only regular starter Saturday. Nico Paz, who came on for Messi late in the win over Algeria, is expected to start in his place. Messi enters Saturday on 18 World Cup goals, the all-time men's record.

The other Group J match comes with a bracket twist. Austria and Algeria sit level on three points, Jordan have none, and Argentina have already locked first. A win puts the victor through in second. A draw keeps Austria in that spot on goal difference and likely sends Algeria through anyway as one of the best third-placed sides. The catch is that second place is on course to meet Spain in the round of 32, while third could be paired with Switzerland. Ralf Rangnick's Austria came out of the Argentina defeat with Stefan Posch having played through a broken jaw and somehow none the worse for it. Vladimir Petković's Algeria are sweating on Mohamed Amoura, who missed the 2-1 win over Jordan. The fixture also carries an old ghost. The last time Austria and Algeria met at a World Cup was 1982 in Gijón, where Austria and West Germany played out a result that knocked Algeria out and gave the world the phrase "Disgrace of Gijón." Both federations would prefer this one be remembered for the football.

Cabo Verde became the smallest nation in the history of the men's World Cup to reach the knockout stage on Friday. The video below is from the streets after the result was confirmed, supporters dancing, flags up, a country celebrating a place at the tournament that nobody outside of it predicted. Watch it. This is the part of the game that the brackets and goal differentials cannot get to.

US Soccer has put a four-year extension on the table for Mauricio Pochettino, a deal that would carry him through the 2030 World Cup in Spain, Portugal, and Morocco, and potentially through the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. The Athletic reported the offer first. ESPN and talkSPORT have both confirmed the basics. Talks have been running for months. Both sides have agreed to defer any final answer until the United States is out of the tournament, but the federation wanted the news out before Pochettino's current deal runs down to weeks and the European market starts circling in earnest.

It was already circling. Pochettino's representatives spoke with AC Milan in May, a job that eventually went to Rúben Amorim. Matt Crocker, the sporting director who helped recruit Pochettino in 2024, walked away in April for a role in Saudi Arabia. JT Batson, the US Soccer CEO, has described approaches from European clubs as the price of doing business with a coach whose résumé reads Tottenham, Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea. None of that is a problem on its own. The problem is the runway. Two World Cup wins on home soil, a group stage that ended with a dead rubber loss to Turkey, and a kind-looking round of 32 draw against Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday in Santa Clara have given Pochettino real leverage and US Soccer a real reason to move now.

How he got here is its own story. Pochettino's 2024 hiring was funded in significant part by private donor money, with Citadel founder Ken Griffin making the largest single contribution and Diameter Capital's Scott Goodwin among the additional backers. The federation has called those payments a philanthropic leadership gift. In plain English, US Soccer could not afford a top-bracket European coach on its own books and built a donor model to close the gap. Any extension will likely run through the same fundraising machinery. Batson has acknowledged the federation is in active conversations with wealthy donors and sponsors to keep competing for that level of coaching talent.

Pochettino himself has been the most interesting tell. He said this week that "it's difficult now to see yourself living in another place." Earlier this month he kept circling the same word in different forms, talking about the legacy of the connection between the national team and the fans, about being surprised by what Los Angeles Stadium felt like on opening night, about why this project matters past results. None of that is a signed contract. But for a manager whose career arc was supposed to bend back toward the Premier League, it sounds less like a man on his way out than a man weighing whether the version of the job that exists right now is bigger than the one he used to want.

The final Saturday of group play is a sorting day. Three groups still have business to settle, six matches still matter for either positioning or survival, and the first round of group stage exits has already been processed. Friday took New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, and Uruguay out of the tournament. By Sunday morning the round of 32 bracket will be complete. The texture of who is leaving, who is going through, and how the early storylines settle is becoming legible.

On The Field

New Zealand went home after a 5-1 loss to Belgium in Vancouver. Darren Bazeley's framing afterward was the kind of thing that only sounds like a cliché when you are not paying attention. Most of his squad will be back in 2030. They will be better for the experience, he said, and they have to be, because the goal is not group stage participation. Chris Wood, who was on the 2010 World Cup squad, said progression at this level requires playing the best teams. Egypt and Iran were rungs the All Whites cleared. Belgium was not. Saudi Arabia coach Georgios Donis was less philosophical after his side's 0-0 with Cabo Verde, calling his team's inability to create cause for concern. Different programs, different starting points, same end of the road.

Australia, who are through, lost two players from their roster on Friday. Full back Jacob Italiano is out with an adductor injury and Mathew Leckie, the 35-year-old veteran who scored the winner against Denmark to send Australia through in Qatar, is out with a hamstring. Coach Tony Popović has already adjusted, sliding regular left back Jordan Bos to the right as an inverted wingback. The 0-0 against Paraguay that confirmed Australia's qualification was the proof of concept.

Off The Field

In Guadalajara on Friday, Spain qualified for the round of 32 without Manolo el del Bombo for the first time in a generation. Manuel Cáceres, known everywhere as the drum-pounding superfan who followed La Roja for ten World Cups across five decades, died in May of last year at 76. He had told Reuters in 2006 that his target was 12 tournaments, that he would get there even if it required a walking stick. He made it to ten. Qatar was the first he missed.

The drum is still going. Supporters from the Marea Roja and Furia Española fan groups brought their own to Mexico and have spent the group stage carrying the rhythm forward. Sete Fernández, who calls himself the Trumpet of Spain, said in Guadalajara that there is no such thing as Manolo's successor, only people willing to continue his work. In the streets, that distinction has not stopped people from calling out his name when they see the drum. Fernández said the drumbeat will follow Spain wherever they play next, from Guadalajara to Miami if it has to. He has booked his return flight for July 19.

Canada are leaving Vancouver: The Swiss took their group, which means the Canadians are heading to Los Angeles to face South Africa in the round of 32 on Sunday. Forward Tani Oluwaseyi said the team has come to like hostile environments after two summers of Copa América and Gold Cup road trips through the United States. "It just gives you that extra motivation to prove all the fans around you wrong," he said. Tajon Buchanan put it more flatly. The knockout phase is where they wanted to be.

Cabo Verde, in tournament history: Curaçao were eliminated in this tournament's group stage and Iceland in 2018, both smaller-population World Cup nations than Cabo Verde and neither one reached the knockout round. Drawing all three group games has been enough to advance for Wales in 1958, Ireland and the Netherlands in 1990, and Chile in 1998. New Zealand managed three draws in 2010 and were eliminated. Cabo Verde now sit on the right side of that history.

Gotham FC win the 2026 NWSL Challenge Cup: Gotham beat the Kansas City Current 2-0 on Friday in Columbus, the first professional women's match ever played in the state of Ohio. Esther González converted a 37th-minute penalty after Lo'eau LaBonta brought down Jaelin Howell, and rookie Jordynn Dudley sealed it in the 79th. The match drew 11,369 to ScottsMiracle-Gro Field, home of the Columbus Crew and the future home of the league's 2028 expansion side.

Nationwide buys into the Crew at a $900 million valuation: Nationwide Mutual Insurance has agreed to take a 37 percent stake in the Columbus Crew, with 30 percent coming from Haslam Sports Group and 7 percent from the Edwards family. The deal is pending MLS board of governors approval. The Haslams remain controlling owners at 40 percent. The same trio was awarded the league's 18th NWSL franchise last month for a reported record $205 million fee.

Crew revenue ranks in the top quartile of MLS: Despite playing in one of the league's smaller markets, Columbus sits in the top quartile of MLS for both ticketing and sponsorship revenue, with total 2025 revenue estimated at $93 million.

OKC's USL Championship club adds Mayfield, Williams, and McLaughlin-Levrone: Baker Mayfield, Jalen Williams, and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone have joined the ownership group of Oklahoma City's incoming USL Championship club. They join previously announced investors Russell Westbrook, Jozy Altidore, Nik Bonito, Nick Gross, and the Chickasaw Nation. No individual stakes or amounts were disclosed.

The MAPS 4 stadium breaks ground in downtown Oklahoma City: The Populous-designed venue, roughly 10,000 seats, will anchor the new USL club's 2028 kickoff and is also slated for concerts and a prospective UFL franchise. The site sits alongside the Thunder's new arena and the Boathouse District venues tied to the LA28 Olympics. The club's name and branding are expected later this year.

SDH AM is available on-demand on YouTube, Twitch, and the SDH podcast feed. African football journalist Ali Howorth joined Jon Nelson to talk through what this tournament has been for African nations, and on a Saturday where DR Congo plays in Atlanta and Cabo Verde have already booked Argentina in the round of 32, it is the right conversation at the right time.

Atlanta Soccer Tonight goes live at 10 pm. We are closing out the group stage and walking through the round of 32 bracket as it gets finalized. Six matches' worth of sorting happens between now and then. Listen on 92.9 The Game, the Audacy app, or the 92.9 The Game YouTube channel.

While you are between matches today, three pieces on soccerdownhere.net worth your time:

"Lumumba Stands" — Michel Nkuka Mboladinga holds a statue's pose at DR Congo matches, modeled on Patrice Lumumba, the country's first prime minister. He has been doing it since 2013. The DR Congo players asked the federation to bring him to Mexico for the opener against Portugal. The federation paid. The United States denied him a visa, so on the day DR Congo plays in Atlanta with their tournament on the line, he will not be in the stadium.

"The Soccer Exhibition Sitting One Floor Above Dr. King's Papers" — Curator Daniel Fuller spent three and a half months traveling to four countries to build "The People's Game: Soccer and Human Rights" at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. Hand-painted St. Pauli banners, a sculptural soccer ball with 38 voice recordings from 23 countries, Fugees Family from Clarkston sitting next to Robben Island and São Paulo. Open through June 2027.

"Better Late Than Never: Haiti, Johny Placide, and a World Cup Worth the Wait" — Jon Nelson's feature on Haiti's farewell match in Atlanta. Johny Placide finishing his international career at 38, Wilson Isidor's goal of the tournament, the percussion band in section 232, and a team that qualified without a home stadium to call its own. "I'm leaving with mission accomplished."

MARTA has moved 1.7 million people during the first two weeks of the World Cup: Since June 11, MARTA has carried approximately 1.7 million riders to four matches, nine FIFA Fan Festivals, and other tournament events. The busiest day so far was Wednesday, June 24, when 220,000 rail customers traveled to Morocco vs Haiti, roughly 2.3 times the volume of a typical weekday. Match day service runs trains every five minutes, with shuttle trains for stadium egress, a 30-bus rapid response fleet, and Transit Ambassadors and FIFA volunteers stationed across the system in multiple languages.

Sony Pictures Entertainment invests $100 million in Cosm: Sony Pictures Entertainment is putting $100 million into Cosm, the immersive venue operator that screens live sports inside large-format LED dome theaters, leading a Series C round in exchange for a minority stake. SPE Chairman and CEO Ravi Ahuja will join Cosm's board. It is the company's first major capital infusion since a 2024 round valued the company at more than $1 billion. Cosm operates venues in Los Angeles, Dallas, and Atlanta, with Detroit opening this year and Cleveland in 2027.

Bayern Munich extend Coca-Cola partnership past 50 years: FC Bayern Munich have agreed a new five-year deal with Coca-Cola that pushes one of the longest commercial relationships in European football beyond the half-century mark. Coca-Cola remains exclusive soft drinks provider at the Allianz Arena and adds Powerade to the agreement as the club's sports hydration partner. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Real Madrid targeting €135 to €150 million in summer sales: President Florentino Pérez has identified Raúl Asencio, Fran García, Eduardo Camavinga, and Gonzalo García as the four first-team players Madrid is looking to sell this summer to balance the books, per Defensa Central. The club values Camavinga at €50 million but he does not want to leave, while Asencio's recent contract renewal complicates his sale despite a €25 million valuation. Marc Cucurella, Ibrahima Konaté, and Endrick are already lined up as positional replacements.

Michele Kang completes Olympique Lyonnais takeover: Kang, who became majority shareholder of OL on Tuesday, detailed the financial structure of her acquisition of 87.78 percent of the club at a Friday press conference at Groupama Stadium. The deal involved purchasing Eagle Bidco's debt from Ares for €26.3 million, a €71 million cash injection over two seasons, and Ares writing off €232.6 million of debt. The DNCG confirmed OL will remain in Ligue 1 with a cap on the wage bill tied to the takeover budget.

Canada rejected more than half of World Cup visa applications: Data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada from November 14 to March 31 showed only 41 percent of 17,000 applications from more than 160 countries were approved. Australia, Germany, Croatia, and New Zealand had all of their Electronic Travel Authorisation requests approved. Of 1,725 visitor visa applications from Ghanaian fans, just under 11 percent were approved. Ghana is not part of the eTA programme.

The deepest story at this World Cup keeps turning out to be about who is in the room and who is not. Macaya Márquez at his 18th tournament, going back to a teenager named Pelé in Sweden in 1958. Lumumba Vea, who has held a statue's pose for thirteen years, watching DR Congo play in Atlanta from somewhere that is not Atlanta. Cabo Verde's bench standing on the pitch in Houston, phones up, waiting on a result in Guadalajara that would tell them their country had just done something no country their size had ever done. Johny Placide finishing his international career in a building with a retractable roof, half a world from home. Presence at this tournament is being earned, and denied, in ways that will outlast the brackets.

Atlanta Soccer Tonight at 10 pm on 92.9 The Game, the Audacy app, and the 92.9 The Game YouTube channel. I’ll be there.

Song of the Day: "Nightswimming" by R.E.M. The Athens band's quietest song fits a day built on memory, on the people who keep showing up across decades, and on the moments worth holding onto long after the scoreboard goes dark.

Jason