Canada beat Qatar 6-0 on Thursday night. The match itself was almost secondary. What followed the final whistle — players and staff scrapping in the middle of the pitch — is what people are still talking about.
The flashpoint was Ismael Kone's broken leg, suffered after a challenge from Qatar's Assim Madibo in the second half. Everyone in the stadium heard the bones snap. Canada coach Jesse Marsch said exactly that. Madibo received a red card — Qatar had already had one player sent off earlier — and the Qatari bench lost the plot. When the whistle blew, both sets of players ended up in a shoving match at the centre circle that required officials to physically intervene.
Marsch wasn't in a diplomatic mood afterward. "I don't understand a reaction from their entire bench to try to start a fight about it being a red card when a clear foul just happened that broke a player's leg," he said. When asked about his exchange with Qatar coach Julen Lopetegui, he was even blunter: "I'm not spending one second — it's not worth any of our time to discuss."
Legal troubles follow players to the tournament
The brawl is the loudest story of the week, but it's not the only one that matters.
A French appeals court confirmed that PSG and Morocco defender Achraf Hakimi will stand trial for rape. He was first accused in March 2023. Hakimi posted on social media after the ruling suggesting the case only exists because of his fame — a claim his accuser's lawyer pushed back on directly, calling the court's decision a moment of "relief and hope" for her client and, potentially, for victims of sexual violence in football more broadly. Hakimi will continue playing at this World Cup while that trial date looms.
Ghana's Thomas Partey is in a different position. A Canadian federal judge rejected an appeal to allow the midfielder into the country while he awaits trial on seven counts of rape and one count of sexual assault — charges he denies. He missed Ghana's opening 1-0 win over Panama in Toronto and is sitting out at the team's base in Rhode Island. He's eligible for their next two matches, both on U.S. soil. Ghana got the three points without him, but how long that holds without a key midfielder is a real question for anyone looking at their group-stage odds.
Canada also blocked Ivory Coast forward Elye Wahi, arrested in May over alleged spot-fixing — manipulating betting outcomes during a match. He hasn't been formally charged yet, but the investigation was enough to deny him entry. That decision will have consequences for Ivory Coast's attacking options and shifts the calculus on how far they can realistically go.
Visa chaos, empty seats, and a referee controversy
Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha made seven saves in a 0-0 draw against Spain — the island nation's first-ever men's World Cup match. He broke down in tears on the pitch afterward. His grandparents, who raised him, died years ago. His mother couldn't get a U.S. visa in time to be there. The story went everywhere, and within days U.S. officials waived the visa fees and arranged travel so she could attend their next match against Uruguay in Miami. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries worked with Secretary of State Marco Rubio to make it happen. "No mother should miss the chance to see her child make history," Jeffries said.
Iran's situation is grimmer. Coach Amir Ghalenoei says his team was ordered onto a plane to Mexico minutes after their 2-2 draw with New Zealand, with no time for recovery. Their base camp had already been moved from Arizona to Mexico because of U.S.-Iran war tensions and visa uncertainty. Ghalenoei called his squad "the most oppressed in the World Cup." The Department of Homeland Security said Iran agreed to these terms. Both things can be true — and neither helps a team trying to perform at a tournament.
Somali referee Omar Artan was denied entry at Miami Airport entirely, cited for "association with suspected members of terror organizations." Artan said he had the right visa and called it "the biggest dream of my life." Somalia is among nearly 40 countries whose citizens face U.S. entry restrictions under current immigration policy. He never got to referee a single match.
- Australian VAR official Shaun Evans had to deny flashing a white nationalist hand gesture during the Germany vs Curaçao broadcast. FIFA investigated and found no breach of its disciplinary code. Evans called it an "involuntary twitch."
- The tournament's opening match between South Africa and Mexico saw three red cards — the most in a World Cup game since the infamous Battle of Nuremberg in 2006, when four players were sent off between Portugal and the Netherlands.
- Viral images showed large sections of empty seats at South Korea vs Czech Republic in Guadalajara. FIFA's response: fans were watching from the concourses. The cheapest group-stage tickets started at $140 this year, up from $69 at Qatar 2022. Final tickets, initially listed at $8,680, have since been repriced as high as $32,970 — compared to roughly $1,600 for the most expensive seat at the 2022 final.
The 2026 World Cup runs through July 19. There are still five weeks left.
