Cesar Azpilicueta
Former Spain defender and BBC Sport Columnist

Image source, Getty Images

When people talk about Spain winning this World Cup, of course they point to Lamine Yamal as being the key.

But you cannot win a World Cup on your own, especially this one with an extra game, probably some extra time in the knockout rounds, plus the heat and all the travelling as well.

So, the important thing for La Roja head coach Luis de la Fuente is that, along with Lamine Yamal, he has the team and the squad he needs for the next month.

When Spain won the 2024 European Championship, De la Fuente used all 23 outfield players in his squad during the seven matches. Everyone will have to be ready this time too.

As players, you always want to play every game but in any tournament like this you never know when the crucial moment can come for you to make the difference.

For Mikel Oyarzabal at Euro 2024, that moment came when he came off the bench to score the winner in the final against England.

Spain

Image source, Getty Images

Nico Williams has criticised Uruguay's Nicolas de la Cruz for a "completely unnecessary" tackle that injured the Spain winger, who is expected to miss at least his nation's World Cup last-32 fixture.

Williams sustained a muscle injury following the challenge in a 1-0 win for Spain that sent Uruguay home, calling it "one of the worst days of my life".

De la Cruz was booked for the tackle in added time, before team-mate Agustin Canobbio was shown a straight red card for diving in on Pau Cubarsi.

Williams, 23, has had an injury-disrupted season with Athletic Club in Bilbao and only made brief appearances as a substitute in Spain's three group games.

"Today is one of the worst days of my life. I am injured again after a very difficult year," he posted on social media.

"Yesterday, I suffered a new injury following an incident where a fellow professional acted out of frustration, unhappiness, and sadness over the situation he was going through.

"In my opinion, it was a play that could have been avoided, as it was completely unnecessary. But this won't stop me."

The Spanish Football Federation said Williams had suffered a "moderate" injury and still had a chance to return later in the tournament.

Cesar Azpilicueta
Former Spain defender and BBC Sport Columnist

These guys I have been talking about are all leaders but of course the person they look to most is the coach.

A lot of the players have been with De la Fuente for a long time, playing in Spain's youth teams, so he is like a father figure to them. He knows them very well and also they know he will be calm and will support them.

That again is key in a long tournament like this where you know that there will be some games where you cannot be at your best.

We saw that already with the draw against Cape Verde which no-one expected but then the way the team reacted against Saudi Arabia was exactly what was needed.

The squad is very close and you need that bond so you can stick together to face the challenges when a tough result like that arrives. That's the key to making it to the later stages.

We won the Euros under De la Fuente two years ago so they have the belief, but you can see the team is still improving and growing together now.

Some of the players arrived at this World Cup needing to build up their fitness, including Lamine Yamal.

The team is better with him in it, and the more he plays, the more expectation grows, but we also know everyone else will play their part.

Austria manager Ralf Rangnick says his team did not do any favours for Algeria in the 3-3 draw that saw them both qualify for the knockout round of the World Cup.

Algeria and their opponents Austria produced an incredible, and controversial finish to the groups as they both secured the point they needed to reach the World Cup knockout stages - and eliminate Iran.

Austria - who led twice - were heading out when Riyad Mahrez scored his second of the game to put Algeria 3-2 ahead in the 93rd minute.

At that stage, Iran were going through as one of the eight best third-placed teams.

But then Sasa Kalajdzic headed a 96th-minute equaliser to secure a point in the Group J meeting that sparked dramatic scenes of celebration among the Austria contingent in Kansas City.

In snatching that late draw, Austria became the first team to avoid defeat in a World Cup match having fallen behind after the 90-minute mark.

Iran - who had seen a late winning goal disallowed for offside following a video assistant referee check in Saturday's 1-1 draw with Egypt in Group G - are out despite being unbeaten, having drawn all three of their matches.

Algeria had been set to face Spain as Group J runners-up, but by conceding and finishing third they're instead up against Switzerland.

Spain topped Group H with a total of seven points.

Their first group stage match against Cape Verde ended in a goalless draw, Spain beat Saudi Arabia 4-0 in their second game and a 1-0 win over Uruguay took them to the last 32.

Meanwhile, Austria's journey to the last 32 was a little different.

They finished second in Group J, with a total of four points after winning one match, drawing one and losing one.

They won 3-1 in the first group stage match against Jordan, followed by a 2-0 loss to Argentina, then a 3-3 draw with Algeria meant both teams progressed to the next stage.

Helen Willetts
BBC Weather

First up, it’s Spain v Austria kicking off locally at midday (20:00 BST).

The match is in San Francisco, where playing and spectating conditions are expected to be pleasant, dry and sunny with low humidity and an afternoon high of 21C.

Portugal play Croatia, kicking off at 7pm local time in Toronto (midnight BST).

However, there is an orange extreme heat warning in place, as temperatures are set to reach 35C around the middle of the day and still be around 31C at kick-off. This is part of a long period of hot weather and even into the evening it will be uncomfortable for players and spectators.

On top of the heat and humidity, there will be a growing risk of thunderstorms through the evening, which, as we have seen, can significantly delay play.

Then finally Switzerland play Algeria, which kicks off 8pm local time in Vancouver, but in the early hours of Friday here in the UK (04:00 BST).

Again, the weather looks cool at just 16C in the afternoon, and not dropping much by kick-off. That’s because there will be a weather front moving over British Columbia and it could well still be raining at the start of the match, but the rain should start to ease then.

Monday morning. It's going to be fantastic.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves, people. There's matches tonight, three of them, with the first at 20:00 BST.

Let's do some build-up.

Mexico were quarter-finalists on the two previous occasions they were World Cup hosts - in 1970 and 1986 - and are now a win away from repeating that feat.

However, this is by no means a vintage Mexican side, with relatively few players based in Europe's top five leagues and the team's biggest name, Raul Jimenez, in the twilight of his career.

There had been some negativity before the World Cup around El Tri's style of play, with pockets of fans even booing them in goalless draws against Uruguay and Portugal, but the atmosphere during the tournament has been partisan.

Mexico coach Javier Aguirre says the support has been "a driving force" behind their run of four straight wins without conceding a goal at the tournament.

Opponents Mexico have played all of their matches so far on home soil, and the squad is clearly used to coping with the conditions - they have played 14 games at the Azteca so far in the 2020s, scoring 23 goals and conceding only four.

Their competitive record at the Azteca is 70 wins from 89 games, with 17 draws and only two defeats. They are also unbeaten in 10 World Cup games there.

Aguirre usually prioritises defensive pragmatism and often fields a narrow front three, with full-backs providing the width when Mexico attack.

Image source, Getty Images

Expectation and anticipation is bubbling over in Mexico, and who can blame the fans for getting excited, with one more game to come on home soil in the last 16.

Mexico have played 89 competitive matches in the Estadio Azteca, losing only twice. (W69 D17 L2).

Those two defeats were for World Cup qualifiers in this century (1-2 v Costa Rica, , external in 2001, 1-2 v Honduras, , external in 2013).

Image source, Getty Images

Mexico are unbeaten in the 10 matches they have played at Estadio Azteca across three World Cup finals.

They have won eight times and drawn twice, scoring 16 goals and only conceding two:

• 1970 World Cup: Mexico 0-0 Soviet Union (group stage)
• 1970 World Cup: Mexico 4-0 El Salvador (group stage)
• 1970 World Cup: Mexico 1-0 Belgium (group stage)
• 1986 World Cup: Mexico 2-1 Belgium (group stage)
• 1986 World Cup: Mexico 1-1 Paraguay (group stage)
• 1986 World Cup: Mexico 1-0 Iraq (group stage)
• 1986 World Cup: Mexico 2-0 Bulgaria (round of 16)
• 2026 World Cup: Mexico 2-0 South Africa (group stage)
• 2026 World Cup: Mexico 3-0 Czech Republic (group stage)
• 2026 World Cup: Mexico 2-0 Ecuador (round of 32)

England haven't played Mexico all that often throughout history (W6 D1 L2), but that last time they faced Mexico at a World Cup, England went on to win it. Just saying...

• Mexico 2-1 England, Friendly, 1959
• England 8-0 Mexico, Friendly, 1961
• England 2-0 Mexico, World Cup group stage, 1966
• Mexico 0-0 England, Friendly, 1969
• Mexico 1-0 England, City Tournament, 1985
• England 3-0 Mexico, Friendly, 1986
• England 2-0 Mexico, Friendly, 1997
• England 4-0 Mexico, Friendly, 2001
• England 3-1 Mexico, Friendly, 2010

Image source, Getty Images

Ideally, athletes competing at high altitude should spend a week or two living at that level in order to allow their body acclimatise and generate more red blood cells.

But England will only be arriving in Mexico City two days before the match.

"Maximum aerobic capacity at this kind of altitude usually drops around 10%, and that has a knock-on to performance," says Dr. Barney Wainwright, senior research fellow at Leeds Beckett University.

"There will usually be a 15-20% increase in fatigue. For the distance it's possible to cover, we would expect that to drop by 5-10%.

"Players will produce lactate much more quickly, creating an acidity in the muscle which builds fatigue and slows them down.

"Maximum sprint speeds won't be affected, but players will need to wait a bit longer to recover from each one and go again.

"We need oxygen in the brain for perception and decision-making, so particularly in the moments of the game where players are working really hard, that could impact key decisions."

He adds: "England might want to slow things down more to allow the players time to recover between bouts of high intensity play."

Image source, Getty Images

Asked why Scotland got a bank holiday for its nocturnal match, and England doesn't, the PM's spokeswoman said there was no plan to change the government's position.

She declined to answer whether the PM would be preparing to u-turn on his belief that football would be 'coming home' this year.

After beating DR Congo, England take on co-hosts Mexico next in Mexico City at 01:00 in the early hours of Monday.

Should they win that game, they face either Brazil or Norway in the quarter-final in Miami at 22:00 BST on Saturday 11th July. England will know who they could play next before that Mexico game, as Brazil v Norway will be finished by the time England v Mexico begins.

Their semi-final opponents, should they reach that stage, are still unclear, as the last-32 games are yet to finish, but Argentina are one of the eight they could play in the last four.

In the final, it is anybody from the other half of the draw. As it stands, that could mean France, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, the United States and more.

See the full knockout stage bracket here.

Daniel Austin
BBC Sport senior journalist

England have the daunting task of going to Mexico to play the tournament co-hosts at the Azteca Stadium.

Mexico's competitive record at the iconic venue is 70 wins from 89 games, with 17 draws and only two defeats. They are also unbeaten in 10 World Cup games there.

They have been in excellent form at this World Cup, too, with the tournament co-hosts having won all four games, scored eight goals and conceded none.

Mexico are ranked ninth in the world and have not lost a competitive fixture since a 2-0 defeat by Honduras in the first leg of the Concacaf Nations League quarter-final in November 2024 - a run of 13 unbeaten matches.

They produced a high-energy and intense first half against Ecuador in their last-32 match, establishing a two-goal lead after just half an hour against a side that had not conceded more than one goal in any match in more than two years.

The Azteca sits more than 7,000 feet above sea level, with that kind of altitude potentially causing shortness of breath, increased heart rate and fatigue for players who are not used to it.

Oh gosh, every married Steve in Folkestone I'd text your partner now and say that wasn't you.