It is the 16th day of the 2026 World Cup and final standings will be decided in Group G, H and I.

First, let’s look at yesterday. I experienced the Blue Waves of Curacao at the Lincoln Financial Field Stadium in Philadelphia. Beautiful country under the Kingdom of Netherlands, they had lovely fans. Unfortunately they lost 2-0 to Cote d’Ivoire with Nicolas Pepe scoring a brace. The former Arsenal man still has goals in him, shooting past Room, the Curacao goalie.

I enjoyed the Mexican Wave in the stadium which went round about 5 times before it finally died down. Beautiful stuff. I made a couple of friends from Curacao, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire and Ireland. Football truly unites.

The result means the Ivoriens are through to the knockout stage of the World Cup for the first time ever. In other results, there was joy for Ecuadorian fans as they beat Germany 2-1 to pick up on the best 3rd slots.

In other results (Group F), Tunisia lost 3-1 to Netherlands, Japan and Sweden played 1-1 with an assist for Gyokeres. They both qualified for the knockout. Turkiye (I need to spell it how they have chosen) rounded up their World Cup with a 3-2 win over hosts USA, Australia and Paraguay went goalless. The Socceroos finished 2nd while the South Americans will have to wait.

Today, the big one is at the MetLife New York New Jersey stadium where France need at least a point to finish top of group I. Norway stand in their way and need all 3 points themselves to be top. It is going to be the Mbappe vs Haaland Show with both strikers scoring braces in each of their first 2 matches.

In the other Group I game, Senegal need three points and many goals when they face Iraq in Toronto. Hopefully, that is enough to secure a pass to the Round of 32 through the 3rd place route.

Group H holds a strong one for Cape Verde. Unbeaten in the tournament, they would look to see off Saudi Arabia while Spain play Uruguay. It is an open group though. Egypt can finish top of Group G with a win over IR Iran in Seattle. Belgium play New Zealand in the match.

Predictions: Norway 1-3 France, Senegal 3-0 Iraq, Uruguay 0-2 Spain, Cabo Verde 2-0 Saudi Arabia, New Zealand 1-3 Belgium, Egypt 1-0 Iran.

I arrived home some minutes short of midnight after enjoying the trip that included a SEPTA train, an Amtrak train and a Lyft by Ariana.