Day 22: Mbappé surges, Haaland waits for Brazil, Mexico breaks through

Coverage note: this ImagePost uses the completed June 30 knockout slate. The July 1 England–DR Congo, Belgium–Senegal, and USA–Bosnia and Herzegovina matches were still upcoming or active at the time of this snapshot, so they are not treated as final results.

Norway beat Côte d’Ivoire 2-1, France beat Sweden 3-0, and Mexico beat Ecuador 2-0, adding three more confirmed teams to the Round of 16 board. 1

Haaland decided Norway’s tie in the 86th minute, giving Norway its first World Cup knockout win and setting up a Round of 16 meeting with Brazil. 2

France’s 3-0 win over Sweden was Mbappé’s night: he scored his 17th and 18th career World Cup goals, Bradley Barcola added the other goal, and Michael Olise supplied two assists. 3

Mexico controlled Ecuador through Julián Quiñones’ goal-and-assist first half, Raúl Jiménez’s 31st-minute finish, and a fourth straight clean sheet; it was Mexico’s first World Cup knockout win since 1986. 4

Verified X pulse: ESPN FC posted that Piero Hincapié was sent off after VAR for covering his mouth, the second enforcement of the new rule at this World Cup; the tweet showed roughly 720K views at capture. 5 FIFA’s official account posted that Didier Deschamps recorded the most wins of any head coach in World Cup history; the tweet showed roughly 400K views. 6 B/R Football highlighted Mexico’s four straight clean sheets, and OptaJoe noted Haaland’s scoring run in 13 straight competitive internationals for Norway. 78