The second full day of 2026 FIFA World Cup action featured a little German deja vu, a thrilling slugfest and a game of inches.
We break it all down below in our takeaways from Day 4 of the World Cup.
Germany debuted with a familiar scoreline
Germany is one of the winningest teams in World Cup history with four separate titles to its name, but it’s had a pretty poor run of form in recent tournaments: It crashed out in the group stage of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. The last time it won a World Cup knockout game was when it beat Argentina to lift the trophy in 2014.
Its most memorable World Cup knockout game win, though, came in the match before that, when it beat host nation Brazil 7-1 in the semifinals. That scoreline was Germany’s calling card and saving grace throughout all its difficult years: No matter how poor it was in the moment, it was still the team that brought the hammer down on Brazil on home soil.