It was a tense Tuesday in the soccer world as six teams punched their tickets to the 2026 FIFA World Cup and two of those teams will play matches at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood this summer.
Let’s start with Bosnia and Herzegovina, who stunned four-time Champion Italy in a penalty shootout after 120 minutes of chaos and courage. Italy’s loss means they will miss their third consecutive World Cup, while Bosnia and Herzegovina qualify for their second overall, and first since 2014. They’ll face Switzerland on June 18 in Los Angeles in group play.
Italy was ranked 12th in the FIFA World rankings making their loss even more shocking, and sending a football nation into crisis.
Next came Turkey, who grinded out a 1-0 win over Kosovo in Pristina. Turkey is ranked No. 22 in the FIFA World Rankings and will square off with the United States men’s national team at SoFi Stadium on June 25. The US is ranked No. 16 and would have rather faced Kosovo, who was ranked No. 78.
Elsewhere, Sweden, Czechia, and DR Congo all secured victories in the World Cup qualifiers on Tuesday and will book their tickets to the tournament. Iraq and Bolivia were tied at 1-1 at hallftime in the night game in Monterrey, Mexico.
All five matches were decided by either one goal or penalty kicks.
In total, 48 teams will play 104 matches, across 16 different host cities in three different countries.
SoFi Stadium will host five group play matches, two round of 32 games, and one quarterfinal match.
Here is the full schedule of games that will be played in Los Angeles:
June 12: USA vs. Paraguay
June 15: Iran vs. New Zealand
June 18: Switzerland vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina
June 21: Belgium vs. Iran
June 25: USA vs. Turkey
June 28: Round of 32 match
July 2: Round of 32 match
July 10: Quarterfinal
