World Cup 2026 Statistics – Day 7 (June 17)
Portugal vs DR Kongo 1-1 (Group K)
*Cristiano Ronaldo became the second player to have played in six editions of the World Cup, along with Lionel Messi.
*Cristiano Ronaldo, aged 41 years and 132 days, is the oldest outfield player to start a match in World Cup history.
He surpassed Atiba Hutchinson, who started for Canada against Croatia in the 2022 World Cup at 39 years and 292 days old.
Roger Milla was older than Cristiano (42 years and 39 days old against Russia in 1994), but he came on as a substitute.
*Cristiano Ronaldo has not scored in his last 10 games with Portugal in major tournaments (World Cup, Euro): his longest drought for the national team in matches of this kind.
*João Neves became the third youngest Portuguese scorer at the World Cup (21 years, 263 days), behind:
Cristiano Ronaldo in 2006 (21 years, 132 days),
Gonçalo Ramos in 2022 (21 years, 169 days).
*DR Congo scored their first-ever World Cup goal. They debuted (then Zaire) on 14 June 1974, and had to wait 52 years and 3 days for their first goal in the competition.
It is the second team to have waited the longest to score their first World Cup goal, surpassed only by Bolivia (64 years: debut 1930, first goal 1994).
The next are:
Canadá – 36 years (1986-2022)
Australia – 32 years (1974-2006)
North Korea – 32 years (1954-1986)
*DR Congo, as well as Haiti, returned to World Cup 52 years after their last appearance (in 1974). Only 3 countries take a longest time to return to the competition:
Wales: 64 years (1958-2022)
Egypt: 56 years (1934-1990)
England vs Croatia 4-2 (Group L)
*England have won a World Cup game 4-2 for the first time since the 1966 final vs West Germany.
*England have conceded two goals in the first half of a World Cup match for the first time since 2010 against Germany (also 2).
*Croatia suffered their first group stage defeat at the World Cup since 23 June 2014, against Mexico.
*Croatia conceded four goals in a World Cup match for only the second time in their history, after the 2018 final against France (2-4).
*Jude Bellingham became the youngest European player in history (aged 22 years and 353 days) to make an appearance at four different major tournaments (World Cup, Euro).
*Jordan Pickford has now played in five major tournaments for England, equalling Peter Shilton’s record among England goalkeepers.
*Luka Modrić became the first player to feature at five World Cups with the tournaments not to have come in consecutive order.
He has played at the 2006, 2014, 2018, 2022 and 2026 editions missing the 2010 (Croatia didn’t qualify).
*Croatia’s Ivan Perisic provided an assist, becoming only the second player in World Cup history to record assists in four different editions (2014, 2018, 2022, and 2026).
Only Lionel Messi has more, with assists in five editions (from 2006 to 2022).
Ghana vs Panama 1-0 (Group L)
*Ghana became the African nation with the joint-most wins (6) in World Cup history, tied with Nigeria.
*The only two winning goals scored in the 90th minute or later at the 2026 FIFA World Cup so far have both secured 1-0 victories for African nations, with Caleb Yirenkyi netting for Ghana and Amad Diallo scoring for Côte d’Ivoire against Ecuador.
*Yirenkyi scored the latest goal (90+5th minute) in the history of an African team at the World Cup (excluding extra time).
*Yirenkyi is the youngest player (20 years and 153 days old) in history to score a winning goal in second-half stoppage time at the World Cup, surpassing Daniel Fonseca’s goal for Uruguay against South Korea on 21 June 1990 (at 20 years and 281 days).
*Yirenkyi’s goal at 94 minutes and 4 seconds is the fourth latest goal in World Cup history to break a 0-0 deadlock in regulation time, after:
Cheshmi (Iran, vs Wales 0-2, 2022): 97 minutes 58 seconds
Totti (Italy, vs Australia 1-0, 2006): 94 minutes 26 seconds
Bouhaddouz (scored for Iran, vs Morocco 1-0, own goal): 94 minutes 6 seconds.
*Ghana’s starting goalkeeper Lawrence Ati-Zigi was substituted at halftime against Panama to Benjamin Asare.
Only twice in the history of the World Cup had a starting goalkeeper been substituted at halftime:
1994: Borislav Mikhailov (Bulgaria), vs Sweden, third-place match.
1994: Choi In-Young (South Korea), vs Germany, group stage.
Uzbekistan vs Colombia 1-3 (Group K)
*Fabio Cannavaro and Néstor Lorenzo, the coaches of Uzbekistan and Colombia, respectively, were both players in a World Cup final: Cannavaro with Italy in 2006 (captain and champion) and Lorenzo with Argentina in 1990 (runner-up).
Only once before in the tournament’s history have two opposing coaches played in a final:
Brazil vs Peru in the quarterfinals of the 1970 World Cup, with Mario Zagallo (Brazil coach) and Didí (coach of Peru), both team-mates World Cup champions with Brazil in 1958 and 1962.
*Fabio Cannavaro became only the fourth player in history to win a Ballon d’Or and take part in a World Cup as both a player and a coach, after Franz Beckenbauer, Oleg Blokhin, and Marco van Basten.
*Luis Díaz became only the 2nd Colombian player in history to score a goal and provide an assist on his World Cup debut.
The other was Antonio Rada in the 1962 World Cup (4-4 vs USSR).
*Colombia fielded their oldest ever starting eleven in their World Cup history (average age: 30 years and 184 days), beating the lineup on 22 June 1998 for a game vs Tunisia (30 years and 79 days).
*13 of the 14 nations of the Asian confederation, including Uzbekistan now, lost their first ever World Cup match (the only exclusion is a draw 1-1 of Kuwait against Czechoslovakia in 1982).