{"id":36910,"date":"2026-06-12T12:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T10:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=36910"},"modified":"2026-06-12T12:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T10:38:08","slug":"canada-us-step-into-the-spotlight-on-day-two-of-fifa-world-cup-2026","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/canada-us-step-into-the-spotlight-on-day-two-of-fifa-world-cup-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada, US step into the spotlight on day two of FIFA World Cup 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"elementToProof\"><span style=\"font-family: var(--global--font-secondary); font-size: var(--global--font-size-base);\">The FIFA World Cup 2026 moves into its second day <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" style=\"font-family: var(--global--font-secondary); font-size: var(--global--font-size-base);\">this Friday<\/span><span style=\"font-family: var(--global--font-secondary); font-size: var(--global--font-size-base);\">, with co-hosts Canada and the United States (US) taking centre stage as they begin their campaigns on home soil.<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\" dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\">The tournament officially kicked off on Thursday, when Mexico defeated South Africa 2-0 in the opening match, giving the hosts a winning start to the competition.<\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\" dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\">Now attention shifts to Canada, who will play their first-ever FIFA World Cup match as tournament hosts when they face Bosnia and Herzegovina in the opening Group B fixture in Toronto.<\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\" dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\">Bosnia and Herzegovina arrive at the tournament after a memorable qualification campaign that included a play-off victory over Italy, setting up what promises to be a significant occasion for both nations.<\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\" dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\">Later in the day, Los Angeles Stadium will host the United States&#8217; Group D opener against Paraguay. Under coach Mauricio Pochettino, the Stars and Stripes begin their World Cup journey against a Paraguayan side that impressed during CONMEBOL qualifying, recording victories over both Argentina and Brazil.<\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\" dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\">The matches mark a milestone for Canada and the US, almost exactly eight years after they were appointed to co-host the FIFA World Cup 2026 alongside Mexico.<\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\" dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\">With Mexico already off to a winning start, the focus now turns to their North American partners as they look to make their mark on football&#8217;s biggest stage.<\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\" dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\">&#8211;WendyMothata<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":21798,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-36910","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"The matches mark a milestone for Canada and the US","published_date":"","news_description":"The matches mark a milestone for Canada and the US","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/36910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/36910\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36911,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/36910\/revisions\/36911"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=36910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}