2026 World Cup: Semifinal schedule announced
via Le Matin3 min read
The semifinals of the 2026 World Cup have been set, featuring four top-ranked nations. On Tuesday, July 14, France will play Spain at the Dallas Stadium. The following day, Wednesday, July 15, England will face Argentina at the Atlanta Stadium. All four teams, France, Argentina, Spain, and England, have previously won the World Cup trophy. This marks the first World Cup with 48 teams.
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This summary was AI-generated from a story originally published by Le Matin.
BreakingThe death toll from the earthquakes in Venezuela on June 24 has reached 4,333, according to Mr. Rodr铆guez, the president of the Venezuelan National Assembly. This figure is an increase from the previous count of 4,118 deaths and 16,740 injured reported on Friday. The two earthquakes, measuring magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5, occurred 39 seconds apart and primarily impacted Caracas and the neighboring state of La Guaira. Over 19,000 displaced individuals are currently living in makeshift camps in these areas. Mr. Rodr铆guez, who is also the brother of interim President Delcy Rodriguez, did not provide an update on the number of missing persons, which the UN had estimated at around 50,000 shortly after the disaster. He noted that 315 bodies, representing 7% of the total victims, had not yet been identified as of Friday. Mr. Rodr铆guez denied claims that the government would halt search operations for bodies, assuring that the clearing of debris is proceeding slowly and that there is still hope of finding survivors in some locations. The government estimates that approximately 25,000 homes will need to be rebuilt. To address this, more than 40 plots of land, totaling about 584,000 square meters, have been made available in La Guaira for new housing construction. These plots are located in safe plains, away from the heavily affected coastal zone where hundreds of buildings were damaged and over 180 completely collapsed.
Must ReadArgentina secured its place in the World Cup 2026 semifinals after defeating Switzerland. Alexis Mac Allister opened the scoring for Argentina in the 10th minute. Switzerland equalized in the 67th minute with a goal from Dan Ndoye, but their challenge intensified after Breel Embolo received a red card in the 72nd minute. Despite being a man down, Switzerland held on until extra time. Juli谩n 脕lvarez put Argentina ahead again in the 112th minute, and Lautaro Mart铆nez sealed the victory in the 120th minute of extra time. Earlier, England qualified for the semifinals by beating Norway 2-1, with Jude Bellingham scoring both goals. The other semifinal match will be between France and Spain.
The Moroccan national team, the Atlas Lions, has returned to Morocco after reaching the quarterfinals of the 2026 World Cup. Their impressive run concluded with a 2-0 loss to France. The team finished second in their group with 7 points, behind Brazil on goal difference, after a 1-1 draw with Brazil and victories against Scotland 1-0 and Haiti 4-2. Under coach Mohamed Ouahbi, they advanced to the round of 16 by defeating the Netherlands 3-2 in a penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw. They then secured their quarterfinal spot with a 3-0 win over Canada. Morocco was the only African and Arab team to reach the quarterfinals in this first 48-team World Cup edition, finishing among the top 8 football nations globally.