Can Dembélé keep his Ballon d'Or in this star-studded World Cup? Major offer for Pochettino — Recap. day 16

The group stage of the 2026 World Cup is coming to an end: on the eve of the last day, the sixteenth day had no shortage of notable events. On a sporting level, the most striking performance came from France where Ousmane Dembélé scored a hat-trick against Norway (4-1), reminding the whole world of the extent of his talent, even in a team where media attention often focuses on Kylian Mbappé.

A historic event also occurred in Group H: Cape Verde, an archipelago of around 525,000 inhabitants off the coast of West Africa, qualified for the knockout stages after a 0-0 against Saudi Arabia. It thus becomes the smallest nation to reach the round of 16 of a World Cup.

Full results from day 16:

• Group I: Norway 1 - France 4 (France and Norway qualified)
• Group I: Senegal 5 - Iraq 0 (Senegal qualified)
• Group H: Cape Verde 0 - Saudi Arabia 0 (Cape Verde qualified)
• Group H: Uruguay 0 - Spain 1 (Spain qualified)
• Group G: Egypt 1 - Iran 1 (Egypt qualified; Iran can still qualify)
• Group G: New Zealand 1 - Belgium 5 (Belgium qualified)

The French victory at Foxboro, near Boston, was initially supposed to pit Mbappé against Erling Haaland but the latter was preserved by Norway. Dembélé, the reigning Ballon d'Or, took advantage of the opportunity to shine: his intelligence of the game, his speed of execution and his ability to shoot in small spaces made the difference. If the French reproduces this level against Sweden in the round of 16 (Tuesday), the selection of Graham Potter will have a lot to do.

Dembélé's treatment by the public and media is all the more notable given that the Frenchman won the Ballon d'Or last year, ahead of Lionel Messi, Lamine Yamal and Harry Kane, after a defining season with PSG who won the 2024-25 Champions League — and, according to the same thread, has won the competition again since.

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Another major topic off the field: Mauricio Pochettino, the coach of the United States, received a four-year contract offer from U.S. Soccer, a proposal made before the start of the tournament. No final decision will be made before the end of the competition, but the proposal underlines the popularity and appreciation of the work Pochettino has done since taking office in 2024. As co-hosts, the United States aimed for a convincing performance and dominated their Group D, including notable successes against Paraguay and Australia. The Americans will face Bosnia-Herzegovina in the round of 16 on Wednesday at Levi’s Stadium (Santa Clara). In the event of qualification, a round of 16 in Seattle against Belgium on July 6 appears to be an accessible possibility.

Norway chose another strategy: coach Ståle Solbakken made ten changes and left Haaland and Martin Odegaard on the bench to preserve his executives. Solbakken justified this choice by explaining that fatigue after the match against Senegal would have made the reintegration of his starters risky. Result: Norway finishes second in Group I and inherits a more delicate table (clash planned against Ivory Coast in the round of 16, then potentially the winner of Brazil-Japan).

Several scenarios still remain to be played out to determine the qualifiers among the teams on the margins: Iran, for example, saw a goal denied after a late VAR intervention against Egypt and remains under pressure. According to projections, Iran could still qualify, but combinations of results in Group J (and other matches) could eliminate them.

Saturday marks the last day of the group stage with matches in groups J, K and L. The posters to follow:

• Miami: Colombia vs Portugal — Portugal must win to finish first in Group K.
• MetLife Stadium (New Jersey): England vs Panama — England is aiming for first place in Group L.
• Croatia vs Ghana — challenge for second place in Group L.
• Group J: Austria vs Algeria — the result will determine who goes with Spain, already first (reminder: a draw could send both teams to the rest of the competition depending on the result configurations).

The knockout phase officially begins on Sunday (US time), with South Africa vs Canada in Los Angeles to kick off the round of 16 schedule.

In the end, this sixteenth day offered both historic moments (qualification of Cape Verde), brilliant individual performances (Dembélé's hat-trick) and meaningful structural decisions (the contract proposal to Pochettino): the rest of the tournament promises to be exciting.