England captain Harry Kane scored twice and Belgium beat Senegal with a last-minute penalty as both sides joined the United States in the last 16 of the World Cup.
England left it late as they relied on their all-time top goalscorer Harry Kane to score twice in a 2-1 win over DR Congo in Atlanta.
DR Congo’s Brian Cipenga fired the underdogs ahead inside the opening 10 minutes, silencing the England-dominated crowd.
The worries grew for superstitious Three Lions fans, with England having not trailed at any point in the tournament until then, nor ever won a World Cup game after trailing at half-time.
Goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi kept DR Congo in the game until Kane headed in an equaliser in the 75th minute.
Four minutes from time, Kane struck again to secure England’s place in the last 16.
"This game and the next one are two difficult games for different reasons. But we're in the part of the tournament where you have to grind wins out," Kane said.
England will play Mexico next at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, a venue famous for its high altitude.
Youri Tielemans slotted home a 125th-minute penalty as Belgium produced a sensational comeback from two goals down to beat Senegal in a dramatic last-32 World Cup tie.
Habib Diarra and Ismaila Sarr had given Senegal a deserved 2-0 lead, and they looked to be cruising into the next round before Belgium scored twice in the final four minutes through Romelu Lukaku and a Tielemans header to force extra time.
Then came the drama.
Senegal's Lamine Camara conceded the penalty after sliding in on Tielemans as the ball flashed across the face of goal, with the decision awarded following a VAR review.
Lukaku looked set to take the penalty but handed the ball to captain Tielemans at the last moment.
"We talked for a while. Romelu said, 'take it'. And I was ready to take it," Tielemans told reporters after the game.
U.S. striker Folarin Balogun continued his impressive World Cup form as his side beat Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0 in California.
After having a goal ruled out for offside, Balogun opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time with his third goal of the tournament before celebrating with LeBron James's iconic celebration.
Balogun's night then took a dramatic turn. As he challenged Bosnia's Tarik Muharemović for the ball, a tangle of legs resulted in the U.S. forward standing on his opponent's ankle. Following a VAR review, the referee showed Balogun a red card.
Despite being reduced to 10 men, the U.S. sealed victory when Malik Tillman curled in a superb free-kick eight minutes from time.
The U.S. will now face Belgium in the last 16.
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Iran and the United States remain at loggerheads over efforts to agree a permanent end to the war in the Gulf, according to a senior Iranian source who said there had been no progress in talks to revive the interim deal agreed in June and define a timeframe to implement it.
U.S. President Donald Trump has called for Iran to pay compensation for decades of deaths and damage, adding a new demand to peace talks as Tehran seeks compensation and sanctions relief before reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
A criminal court in Damascus has sentenced former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to death in absentia for premeditated murder, torture, arbitrary detention and crimes against humanity, according to Syria’s state news agency SANA.
Disruption in the Strait of Hormuz has increased the strategic importance of Bab al-Mandab, raising fears that instability in both waterways could trigger a wider global energy and trade crisis.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that Russia is preparing to deploy additional North Korean forces on its territory and has received more ballistic missiles from Pyongyang, arguing that their growing military cooperation poses a threat beyond Ukraine.
Millions of people across Spain and Iceland are preparing on Wednesday to witness a rare total solar eclipse, when the moon will pass directly between Earth and the Sun, briefly turning daylight into darkness along a narrow path.
Ukraine has agreed to refrain from targeting certain tankers using Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk following a request from U.S. Vice President JD Vance, the Financial Times reported, although Kyiv has continued strikes on Russian targets at the port.
Taiwan has criticised a planned joint naval exercise involving China and Indonesia near its eastern waters, describing it as a politically charged move designed to strengthen Beijing's claims over areas surrounding the island.
An overnight Ukrainian drone attack on Russia’s Black Sea port city of Novorossiysk killed an eight-year-old child, injured others and damaged residential buildings, port infrastructure and grain facilities, Russian officials and industry sources said on Wednesday.
Romanian military divers have destroyed two Gerbera-type drones found drifting near the Neptun Deep offshore gas development in the country’s Black Sea exclusive economic zone.
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