Get Ready For Mbappé, Haaland, Mexico In High-Stakes Round Of 32 Action

If you want to see some of the best players in the world, then park yourself in front of Tuesday’s slate of round of 32 games at the 2026 World Cup. It’s time for some destination viewing. Ivory Coast and Norway open the day in Dallas with Norwegian superstar Erling Haaland facing a difficult test against an impressive team that is one of Africa’s best. The second game of the day takes us to New York New Jersey Stadium, where Sweden will need a shocking upset to advance past a powerful French team — headlined by Kylian Mbappé, Ousmane Dembélé and Michael Olise — that has expectations of playing in the final at the same stadium on July 19. Finally, Mexico will be looking to continue its perfect group stage campaign int the knockouts when it hosts Ecuador in Mexico City. Defense will tell the story in this game as Mexico has yet to concede at this tournament. Here is all you need to know for Tuesday at the World Cup: When: Tuesday, June 30, 1 p.m. ET Where: Dallas TV: FOX Stream: Watch three days free on FOX One While Norway is the favorite in Tuesday’s round of 32 matchup at Dallas Stadium, Ivory Coast will be difficult to beat and enters this game in strong form. Norway finished its group stage with wins over Iraq and Senegal before losing to France with a heavily rotated starting lineup that did not include Martin Ødegaard, Antonio Nusa and Erling Haaland. Those players will all return for this game, and with them, Norway boasts one of the strongest attacks in the tournament. Haaland has scored braces in his first two matches and has lived up to expectation. Ivory Coast had lofty expectations heading into this tournament after defeating France in Nantes earlier this month. Since then, Les Elephants have only lived up to the hype. Emerse Faé’s team conceded just two goals in the group stage, despite facing Germany and Ecuador. Physically, the Ivory Coast is one of the best teams remaining in the World Cup, but it also has a lot of skill. Its front line consists of wingers Amad Diallo of Manchester United and Yan Diomande of RB Leipzig — who is heavily linked with a move to Paris Saint-Germain — along with Villarreal’s Nicolas Pépé in the middle. While Norway, through Haaland, can score goals in droves, this game could be decided by its defense. Norway needs to improve in that area, as it has conceded at least one goal in each of the group stage games and has not kept a clean sheet in five matches. If Norway’s defense can raise its level, there is an outstanding chance it heads to the round of 16. Player to Watch Understandably, Haaland receives the most attention whenever talking about the Norwegian national team. But RB Leipzig winger Antonio Nusa is one of Norway’s most important players because he is one of the main scoring creators for Haaland. Nusa is going to be key in this game in making runs up the left side to get on the end of passes, typically from Martin Ødegaard or Sander Berge. If Nusa is effective with his crosses or passes, Haaland will be close to unstoppable. When: Tuesday, June 30, 5 p.m. ET Where: New York New Jersey TV: FOX Stream: Watch three days free on FOX One At the start of the round of 32, France looks almost unstoppable, and it will require something truly special from Sweden to pull off an upset when the teams meet on Tuesday at New York New Jersey Stadium. Les Bleus entered the World Cup as one of the favorites, and Didier Deschamps’ squad has done nothing to suggest that isn’t deserved. France scored at least three goals in each of its three group stage games. The star power of this French team is phenomenal. Kylian Mbappé has scored four goals and added an assist. Reigning Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé also has four goals and an assist. Michael Olise has been one of the tournament’s best midfielders in the group stage, and he has added three assists. Meanwhile, Sweden has some very good players but has done nothing to suggest it can come close to stopping the French squad. Graham Potter’s team has been very inconsistent while conceding seven goals in the group stage. Against a good Netherlands team, Sweden allowed five goals in a 5-1 loss. France’s defense must be careful, as Sweden has two elite forwards in Arsenal’s Viktor Gyökeres and Liverpool’s Alexander Isak, who can score against the best of teams. It is not impossible, but Sweden is going to need a lot of things to go right and a lot of luck to eliminate this French team. Player to Watch As the reigning Ballon d’Or winner, Ousmane Dembélé is a special player, but he didn’t score his first World Cup goal until this tournament. With that goal in the second game against Iraq, the floodgates opened, as Dembélé then scored a hat trick in the win over Norway in the group stage finale. Against a leaky Swedish defense, Dembélé could have a field day in this game. When: Tuesday, June 30, 9 p.m. ET Where: Mexico City TV: FOX Stream: Watch three days free on FOX One In its long and storied history, the Mexican national team has won just one knockout game at the World Cup. That was a 2-0 win over Bulgaria in the round of 16 in 1986 when it hosted the tournament. On Tuesday, exactly 40 years and 15 days since that win over Bulgaria, Mexico will have the chance to win its second knockout game when it takes on Ecuador at the same venue. Enthusiasm for the national team is very high right now after El Tri won Group A with a perfect nine points with wins over South Africa, South Korea and Czechia. In those games, Javier Aguirre’s team has not conceded a goal and has outscored its opponents 6-0. Mexico boasts an attack that does not rely on a single player to do the heavy lifting. In total, five different players scored the team’s six goals in the group stage, with Mateo Chávez, Álvaro Fidalgo, Raul Jiménez, Luis Romo and Julián Quiñones (twice) all finding the back of the net. Ecuador qualified for the knockout stages in surprising fashion as it needed a win over Germany in the group stage finale to advance. When Germany opened the scoring in the second minute, it did not seem possible. But Sebastián Beccacece’s team rallied for a comeback win behind goals from Nilson Angulo in the ninth minute and Gonzalo Plata in the 77th minute for the victory. Ecuador boasts one of the best defenses in the world. In the single-table CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying tournament, Ecuador was historically good, allowing just five goals and keeping 13 clean sheets. The team’s backline is led by Paris Saint-Germain’s Willian Pacho, Arsenal’s Piero Hincapié, and Club Brugge’s Joel Ordonez. In front of them is Chelsea’s Moisés Caicedo, who is one of the best defensive midfielders in the world. The problem for Ecuador, however, is on the offensive side, as it was shutout in its first two games. First a 1-0 loss to the Ivory Coast and then a shocking 0-0 draw with Curaçao. This game boasts two defenses that are tough to break down. Mexico has the advantage of playing at home and with several scoring options. But if Ecuador’s defense plays as well as it can, it might just win. But no one should be surprised if this game is decided on penalties. Player to Watch The Colombian-born attacker became a naturalized Mexican citizen in 2023 and has since become a very important player for El Tri. He was the Man of the Match in the opening win over South Africa and scored again in the win over Czechia. Now, he will be tasked with trying to find goals against a very good Ecuadorian defense. He has been in good form for most of the past year, and he recently finished as the top scorer in the Saudi Pro League for 2025-26 with 33 goals for Al Qadsiah FC.