Latest World Cup news today: Scotland's knockout fate as first third-placed qualifier confirmed

Hello and welcome to Sports Mole's live World Cup 2026 news blog on Thursday, June 25!

The group stage of the 48-team tournament is now drawing to a conclusion, meaning a stacked calendar of six games a day for the next three days, starting with last night's A, B and C finales.

Throughout the morning, you can catch all the reaction to last night's battles, before we build up to the closing fixtures in Groups D, E and F.

Latest World Cup news: Who's playing today? Who's through to the knockout rounds?

Ten of the 12 teams competing in Groups A, B and C have now had their fates sealed following the final rounds of fixtures in those sections, including Bosnia-Herzegovina, who became the first third-placed team to qualify for the last 32 with a 3-1 win over Qatar.

Bosnia have taken four points from their three matches and currently rank as the best third-placed team, and one that cannot be overtaken in the bronze-medallists standings no matter what transpires over the coming days.

The European nation will be joining Switzerland and Canada in the knockout stages, as the former's 2-1 win over the latter did not destroy the co-hosts' qualification prospects; they wound up in second place behind the Rossocrociati.

Near neighbours Mexico completed a perfect group phase with a convincing 3-0 win over the Czech Republic, who are out, while South Africa stunned South Korea 1-0 to qualify in second and leave the Taegeuk Warriors needing a third-placed reprieve.

Scotland are in the same boat after a heavy 3-0 loss to Brazil, while Morocco came from behind twice to sink Haiti 4-0 and advance in second spot.

Thursday's action begins with Curacao vs. Ivory Coast and Ecuador vs. Germany in Group E, before Japan vs. Sweden and Tunisia vs. Netherlands in Group F.

Group D then reaches its climax with head-to-heads between Paraguay and Australia, and already-eliminated Turkey and already-qualified USA.