World Cup news today: Live updates as Mohamed Salah shines in Egypt victory

Hello and welcome to Sports Mole's live World Cup 2026 news blog on June 22!

The second round of fixtures in Groups G and H is now complete, but no more teams managed to join Mexico, the USA and Germany in the knockout stages with a game to spare.

On the second Monday of the 2026 World Cup, the superstar names take to the field again, as Lionel Messi's Argentina face Austria before Kylian Mbappe's France take on Iraq.

World Cup 2026: Latest news on June 22

Sunday's round of World Cup fixtures saw Belgium, Iran, Egypt and New Zealand try to get off the mark in Group G at the second attempt, but only the Pharaohs succeeded in posting their first victory of the Mundial.

Mohamed Salah was the star of the show in Egypt's 3-1 victory over New Zealand, registering a goal and assist as the African nation assumed control of the group, thanks to Belgium and Iran's 0-0 draw earlier in the day.

Iran were indebted to inspired goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand, who made seven saves to keep out a Romelu Lukaku-led Belgian side, who in turn received little from their all-time leading goalscorer.

However, Spain's star name Lamine Yamal had the desired impact on his full World Cup debut against Saudi Arabia, opening the scoring in a 4-0 rout as La Roja stormed to the summit of Group H.

A few hours later, tournament debutants Cape Verde earned another historic shock result, holding Uruguay to a 2-2 draw to leave themselves in third place, only behind the top two on goal difference.

Now, attention turns to Messi and Mbappe's pursuits of history, as the former needs just one goal in Argentina vs. Austria to surpass Miroslav Klose and become the all-time leading World Cup goalscorer.

At the same time, Mbappe will overtake the Germany icon with a hat-trick in France vs. Iraq, which precedes Norway vs. Senegal and Jordan vs. Algeria overnight.