The 2026 FIFA World Cup has moved into its next stretch, and Wednesday and Thursday bring a slate that puts two first-timers front and center: the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uzbekistan. The tournament’s first six days are over, the U.S. and Mexico have already opened with wins, and the schedule now turns to a set of matches that could reshape the early tone of the 48-team event.
That is why Fifa Games Tomorrow is drawing searches now. The guide covers matches across the U.S., Mexico and Canada, with kickoffs listed for Wednesday and Thursday at 10 a.m., 1 p.m., 4 p.m., 7 p.m. and 9 a.m. in the matches highlighted for the opening phase. Cristiano Ronaldo, 41, is in the field for a sixth time, and his Portugal side opens against the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has waited since 1974 for a return to the tournament.
For the Congo side, the route back has already carried more than one layer of significance. The team qualified by beating Jamaica in extra time in an inter-confederation playoff in March, then saw its final pretournament tuneup against Chile canceled in Spain because of health concerns tied to the Ebola outbreak in Congo. It later played Chile in France and lost 2-1. Before that, its only two defeats in the last year had come against Senegal and Algeria. That is the backdrop to a first game against Portugal, which is ranked fifth and arrives with Ronaldo still chasing another chapter in a career that has already stretched across five previous World Cups.
Uzbekistan brings its own milestone. It is a first-time qualifier and finished second to Iran in its Asian Confederation group, with Eldor Shomurodov leading the national side’s scoring history and appearances while also sharing the lead in Turkey’s Super Lig with 22 scores this season. The rest of the guide carries familiar names with sharp edges: Colombia is back after missing the 2022 tournament; Néstor Lorenzo guided it to a 28-game unbeaten streak between 2022 and 2024; Croatia meets England again after winning their last World Cup meeting in extra time in the 2018 semifinals; and Panama and Ghana begin another test of whether their recent tournament résumés can turn into results.
The other pressure point sits with the teams that have been here before but still have something to prove. Panama has seven players from its 2018 squad back and still seeks its first World Cup win, with Ismael Diaz and captain Anibal Godoy among the returnees. Ghana has qualified for five of the last six World Cups but has not gone beyond the group stage since 2010, and Jordan Ayew remains its all-time leader in caps and active leader in goals. South Africa also enters the week shorthanded, without two key midfielders, a reminder that the opening matches are being shaped as much by absences as by ambition.
The next question is not whether the schedule matters. It already does. It is whether the teams making rare returns, or first appearances, can turn a long wait into a fast start when Wednesday and Thursday finally arrive.
