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Canada Hosts Portugal-Croatia Round-of-32 Clash Thursday

7/3/2026

23 2 Full Breakdown

Summary

Story summary

Canada will host the Portugal-Croatia Round of 32 match on Thursday, July 2, 2026, at 7 p.m. ET at BMO Field in Toronto.
Portugal finished second in Group K (1-0-2), beating Uzbekistan 5-0 as captain Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice.
Croatia placed second in Group L (2-1-0), winning over Panama and Ghana under captain Luka Modric.
Portugal (-130) and Croatia (+400) will see the winner meet the Spain-versus-Austria victor on July 6 in Dallas.

History

Historical Context

The 1994 FIFA World Cup, the first senior men’s tournament in North America, featured six groups of four (24 teams) and ran from June 18 to July 17, with ABC becoming the U.S. broadcaster. Its successful debut demonstrated the market potential of large-scale North American hosting, a model later cited as a basis for expanding the tournament format.

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Story summary

Canada will host the Portugal-Croatia Round of 32 match on Thursday, July 2, 2026, at 7 p.m. ET at BMO Field in Toronto.
Portugal finished second in Group K (1-0-2), beating Uzbekistan 5-0 as captain Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice.
Croatia placed second in Group L (2-1-0), winning over Panama and Ghana under captain Luka Modric.
Portugal (-130) and Croatia (+400) will see the winner meet the Spain-versus-Austria victor on July 6 in Dallas.

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