France faces Senegal today in one of the day’s biggest World Cup matches, and Kylian Mbappé is set to begin his campaign as France opens its latest push for the trophy. The game matters not just because of the name on France’s shirt, but because this is the kind of matchup that can tilt the tone of a tournament before it settles into rhythm.
That is why people are searching Who’s Playing Today World Cup now: the schedule is stacked, and the headliners keep coming. France enters the Senegal game ranked second in the world behind Argentina, while Argentina takes on Algeria tonight, Norway plays Iraq, and Austria meets Jordan at midnight. Norway is back at the World Cup after 28 years, and Jordan is making its World Cup debut, giving the day a mix of return and first-time drama.
Mbappé arrives with the kind of form that makes every France match feel bigger. The Real Madrid star scored a hat trick in the last final, and France is being asked to start again with the same expectation that has followed it for years: play deep into the tournament and do it with the pressure squarely on its shoulders. In a schedule filled with draws already, that expectation is what separates France from almost everyone else on the board.
The rest of the day’s results only sharpen the point. Iran opened its 2026 campaign with a 2-2 tie against New Zealand, and Elijah Just scored two goals for New Zealand, becoming the first player from that country to score more than one goal in a World Cup game. Cape Verde’s 0-0 draw with Spain was surprising for a reason that goes beyond the scoreline: Cape Verde is a nation of 10 volcanic islands off the coast of Africa with a population of just over 500,000, and Vozinha, the 40-year-old keeper, made 7 saves to hold Spain. Belgium and Egypt finished 1-1, and Saudi Arabia drew 1-1 with Uruguay, making the day feel less like a set of one-sided fixtures and more like a tournament where the favorites have already been forced to work.
That is the friction France carries into Senegal. The match is framed as a heavyweight start for one of the two most recent World Cup champions, but the memory hanging over it is from 2002, when Senegal beat then-defending champion France 1-0 in the opener. A favorite can control the narrative on paper and still walk into the same old trap on grass. France may be ranked second in the world, but Senegal has already shown once that the ranking does not play the match for anyone.
For France, the next step is simple and unforgiving: turn the Mbappé era of this tournament into an immediate statement, or spend the rest of the group stage answering for a game that should have gone its way. Senegal has already proved it can spoil the script. Today will show whether France is ready to write a better one.
