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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Leaders from around the world are gathering in New York for the latest session of the United Nations General Assembly, with conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, global security, trade, artificial intelligence, climate change and economic development dominating the agenda.
World leaders return to the United Nations headquarters in New York on Friday for the fourth day of the high-level General Debate, with speeches and diplomatic meetings continuing throughout the day.
Finland and Sweden deployed fighter aircraft on Thursday after a group of Russian military planes was detected over the Gulf of Finland, the Finnish Air Force reported on Friday (25 September).
Iran on Saturday awaited a U.S. response to its proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end fighting in the Middle East war after the Wall Street Journal reported that President Donald Trump had rejected the deal.
Six people have died after a two-storey residential building in a tourist area of central Athens collapsed, the Greek fire brigade said on Saturday (26 September), following an explosion that the mayor said was likely linked to gas infrastructure.
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Swiss voters are due to decide on Sunday, 27 September, whether to enshrine a stricter interpretation of the country’s long-standing neutrality in the constitution, in a referendum that has reopened debate over Switzerland’s role in European security and international diplomacy.
The United States and China have agreed to lower tariffs on billions of dollars' worth of goods and establish a new channel for cooperation on artificial intelligence (AI), marking one of the most significant outcomes from Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Washington.
Russia and Germany have held their first ministerial-level meeting since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, signalling a rare diplomatic contact between two countries whose relations have deteriorated sharply over the course of the war.
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