The 2026 World Cup group-stage is over – and we’re already under way with the knockout phase of the tournament!

Among the teams in the last 32 are seven knockout debutants: Bosnia & Herzegovina, Canada, DR Congo, Egypt, Ivory Coast, South Africa and Cape Verde, who have been the story of the tournament and face Lionel Messi’s Argentina next. But which other countries reached the knockouts on their first-ever World Cup appearance? And which others made it through the group phase with three draws?

Elsewhere, there are some ties with intriguing political backdrops. Austria face Spain in a battle of the two branches of the Habsburg family, while co-hosts Mexico and Ecuador go head-to-head in the Latin American Embassy Derby. There’s also a sinister history between Germany and Paraguay, an assassination plot involving England and DR Congo, and an air base that will link the USA and Bosnia forever.

Plus: South Korea’s president intervenes following the country’s miserable World Cup performance, Marcelo Bielsa has a full-scale meltdown on camera and Tunisia stake a claim for being the worst team at the World Cup.

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Chapters:

00:00 – Intro

02:38 – Debutants and draws

05:10 – Knockout newcomers

10:50 – Cape Verde’s Messi meeting

17:51 – Political pairings

28:11 – Regrets and recriminations