The 2026 World Cup faces its decisive phase: which teams will manage to qualify and which will be left out of the fight for the title?

This Wednesday, June 24, the order of the groups and who will qualify or who will be eliminated begin to be defined. This is because the last matches of the group stage begin, in which most teams play for everything. These are some of the key matches, from the most intense groups of the third week of the World Cup.

In group B, starting at 9:00 PM (Spanish time), the group leadership will be disputed between Switzerland and one of the hosts, Canada, while Bosnia and Qatar will play for a spot in the next round. On this day, all matches from the same group will be played simultaneously so that everyone plays at the same time and under the same conditions. In the early hours of Wednesday, June 24, group C will also conclude at 00:00, in which Brazil will seek to seal its leadership against Scotland, which even losing could advance to the next round, and a Morocco that will also seek victory against an eliminated Haiti to try to be second in the group or even first.

Thursday, June 25, continues with the definition of group E, at 10:00 PM, in which Germany is already leader no matter what, and will play its match against an Ecuador forced to win if it wants to continue in the competition. The other match of the group pits Ivory Coast against one of the "Cinderellas" of the tournament which is astonishing the world with its level, Curaçao. Both have options to qualify if they win, so it will be a very intense and exciting match. The next day, at 9:00 PM, Mbappé's France and Haaland's Norway will fight for the leadership of group I. This match is for first place, in addition to pitting two of the young stars of the tournament against each other.

In the early hours of Saturday, June 27, there will also be great matches. Portugal and Colombia will play for the group K championship, leaving one of the most attractive clashes so far in the World Cup, due to the magnitude of the squads of both teams. And to close the group stage, that same morning at 4:00 AM, an Argentina already first in the group will close against Jordan a day that promises to be exciting and very intense.

Spain's turn

The matches of the Spain group will be played in the early hours of Friday, June 26 to Saturday, June 27 at 02:00 to finish deciding the future of the Spanish national team. Luis de la Fuente's team will play against the toughest opponent in the group, Uruguay. In addition, the Uruguayans will be playing for everything, since if they do not win or at least draw, they will be out of the World Cup. However, for Spain it is also a very important match, since if they win or even draw, they would be group leaders. The other group match will pit Saudi Arabia against one of the revelations, Cape Verde, who will dispute their future in the tournament.