World Cup: Facts on eliminated teams, red cards and players statistics so far
By Luke Oluoch, June 20, 2026The second round of group games continues this Saturday, June 20, 2026, as the leading side in Group E, Germany, takes on Ivory Coast in a highly anticipated second-round fixture at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The day’s action will be preceded by Graham Potter’s Sweden, who face off against the Netherlands in an earlier clash at 8:00 pm.
Ahead of the more riveting action, K24 Sports delves into the status of the competition for the remaining teams, the eliminated ones, and some of the unique records set so far.
Eliminated teams
Haiti and Turkey became the first casualties of the tournament. The Caribbean nation and its European counterparts were the first two teams to be officially eliminated from the World Cup.
Haiti, under former Harambee Stars coach Sebastian Migne, was ousted after a 3-0 defeat to Brazil. The side also lost their opening group match against Scotland and cannot mathematically advance to the round of 32 stage.
Vincenzo Montella’s side also bowed out after going down in their second match. The hard-fighting team exited having failed to score so far at the 2026 edition despite attempting 62 shots, the most attempts without a goal in any two-match span in the competition on record since 1966.
Plenty of teams have made it to the next round of the 32-team phase after staying unbeaten in their opening games. Hosts Mexico and Mauricio Pochettino’s United States, who made back-to-back wins in a World Cup game for the first time in 96 years, are among the teams to have secured passage to the next rounds.
Brace heroes
On the goalscorer leaderboard, eleven players have scored two goals or more in a single game so far at the tournament. The list is led by the only hat-trick hero, Lionel Messi, who inspired Argentina’s title defense with a huge 3-0 win over Algeria.
Others on the double include England’s Harry Kane, Canada’s Jonathan David, USA’s Folarin Balogun, Kylian Mbappé, and Erling Haaland, among others.
Red cards tracker
Paraguay’s Miguel Almirón became the first-ever player to get a straight red card for covering their mouth last night. This is after the implementation of a series of new rules ratified by IFAB and adopted ahead of the tournament, which also came into play.
The former EPL star got his marching orders for covering his mouth while talking to an opposition player, leaving his team handicapped.
The ongoing games have also witnessed an unprecedented surge in discipline during the group stage. Officials have already handed out 7 red cards (all straight reds), surpassing the total number of red cards shown in the entire 2018 (4) and 2022 (4) tournaments combined.
Themba Zwane and Sphephelo Sithole received their marching orders as the tourney kicked off on a feisty front and unprecedented disciplinary chaos.
Cesar Montes of Mexico later added to the list before Qatar’s Homam Mohammed and Madibo also got their marching orders in the asian nation clash vs Canada.
Tarik Muharemović of Bosnia, who tackled Swiss striker Breel Embolo just outside the 18-yard box, preventing a one-on-one between Embolo and the goalkeeper, is also on the list.