{"id":215815,"date":"2026-07-03T09:52:50","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T09:52:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/world-cup-2026-today-live-updates-news-as-portugal-survive-late-var-scare-to-set-up-spain-clash-july-3-espn\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T09:52:50","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T09:52:50","slug":"world-cup-2026-today-live-updates-news-as-portugal-survive-late-var-scare-to-set-up-spain-clash-july-3-espn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/world-cup-2026-today-live-updates-news-as-portugal-survive-late-var-scare-to-set-up-spain-clash-july-3-espn\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup 2026 today: Live updates, news as Portugal survive late VAR scare to set up Spain clash – July 3 – ESPN"},"content":{"rendered":"

You have come to the ESPN Africa edition, for other ESPN editions, click above.<\/p>\n

Portugal<\/a> survived late VAR drama to overcome Croatia<\/a> and set up a tasty round-of-16 clash with Spain<\/a> while Lionel Messi<\/a> is also in action later on Friday, and you can follow all the reaction and build-up with ESPN.
Cristiano Ronaldo<\/a> scored Portugal’s first goal to equalise, before Gon\u00e7alo Ramos<\/a> scored the winner.
– PREVIEW: Australia vs. Egypt at World Cup 2026: TV channel, how to watch in UK, kick-off time, live stream, referee, predicted line-ups<\/a><\/strong>
– PREVIEW: Colombia vs Ghana at World Cup 2026: TV channel, how to watch, kick-off time, live stream, referee, predicted line-ups<\/a><\/strong>
– PREVIEW: Argentina vs. Cape Verde: TV channel, how to watch, kick-off time, live stream, referee, predicted line-ups<\/a><\/strong>
But Croatia thought they had hit back 13 minutes into stoppage time through Josko Gvardiol<\/a>, only for VAR to disallow the goal two minutes later.
They will now play neighbours Spain in the round of 16 after Luis De La Fuente’s side breezed past Austria<\/a>.
Mikel Oyarzabal<\/a> scored twice, both from Marc Cucurella<\/a> assists, and Pedro Porro<\/a> scored, as Spain showed glimpses of what they are capable of.
Switzerland<\/a> also advanced to the round of 16, beating Algeria<\/a> 2-0 as Breel Embolo<\/a> and Dan Ndoye<\/a> were on the scoresheet.
It is the first time since 1938 that the Swiss have won a knockout game at the World Cup.
They will play either Colombia<\/a> or Ghana<\/a> in the round of 16.
Lionel Messi<\/a> is in action on Friday night, as Argentina<\/a> face Cape Verde<\/a> at 11 p.m. UK time.
Messi has been in fine form at this tournament, scoring six goals throughout the group stage as he overtook Miroslav Klose to become the all-time top goalscorer in World Cup history.
Earlier on Friday, Australia<\/a> face Egypt<\/a>, with the winners facing either Argentina or Cape Verde, before Colombia face Ghana in the late match.
– World Cup 2026 today: Live updates, latest news as it happened – July 2<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You have come to the ESPN Africa edition, for other ESPN editions, click above. Portugal survived late VAR drama to overcome Croatia and set up a tasty round-of-16 clash with Spain while Lionel Messi is also in action later on Friday, and you can follow all the reaction and build-up with ESPN.Cristiano Ronaldo scored Portugal’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":215816,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-215815","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}