If the World Cup was taking its time to warm up, safe to say the knockout phase has been jammed with thrills and spills thus far, the latest batch of games producing no end of drama. A little more drama than England would have liked, mind, with BBC commentator Guy Mowbray left wondering aloud whether they were on the verge of their worst ever World Cup defeat – even more humiliating than losing to the United States in 1950! – when they went a goal down to the Democratic Republic of Congo.Woeful defending and iffy goalkeeping had contributed to them falling behind as early as the seventh minute when Brian Cipenga put DR Congo ahead, a lead they came close to doubling when Yoane Wissa rattled the post just before half-time. Those first 45 minutes saw England at their abject worst. It’s not that they didn’t create chances, though, but goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi was in a “thou shalt not pass” kind of mood, making a string of outstanding saves. Who else but Harry Kane came to the rescue with an equaliser in the 75th minute and a peach of a winner four minutes from time, just when extra-time was looming. As Mowbray put it: “Cry – ‘God for Harry, England and St George!” Mexico are up next for England ... in Mexico City.If there was a dramatic ending to that game in Atlanta, it was put in the ha’penny place next to events in Seattle, where Belgium came from 2-0 down with four minutes to go to force extra-time against Senegal. And then they scored the latest goal in World Cup history to win it, Youri Tielemans’ penalty clocked at 124 minutes 44 seconds. In time, Senegal will figure out how they lost that one, but it won’t be any time soon. Next up for Belgium will be the United States, who saw off Bosnia and Herzegovina in Santa Clara to keep their party going, Folarin Balogun scoring on 45 minutes before Malik Tillman wrapped up their 2-0 win from a free-kick eight minutes from time.The considerable dampener on the triumph was the sending-off of Balogun with half an hour to go, the Monaco man becoming the first player to score and pick up a red card in the same World Cup game since a certain Zinedine Zidane in the 2006 final. He deserved it too after he raked his studs down Tarik Muharemovic’s calf after the pair got into a tangle. Still, the States are through, this their first knock-out win since 2002.Results: England 2 (Kane 75, 86), DR Congo 1 (Cipenga 7); Belgium 3 (Lukaku 86, Tielemans 89, 120+5 pen), Senegal 2 (Diarra 24, Sarr 51); United States 2 (Balogun 45, Tillman 82), Bosnia and Herzegovina 0.Goal of the day: It had to be Harry, eh? 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 2-1 🇨🇩Harry Kane and England are not to be denied as the Bayern Munich man creates some space for himself before unleashing a world class finish beyond MpasiWatch all 104 games from the #FIFAWorldCup on RTÉ pic.twitter.com/tBmfmpa2XR— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) July 1, 2026 Moment of the week: When your nation – Paraguay – is one penalty kick away from advancing to the last 16 of the World Cup, and in the process inflicting on Germany their first ever shoot-out defeat in the tournament, but the telly signal fails just as Jose Canale steps up and for one moment, half the room has no clue whether he has scored. It brings a whole new meaning to “from agony to ecstasy”. Picture of the day: Your team is 2-0 up with four minutes to go and somehow manage to get knocked out of the World Cup. For these Senegal supporters gathered in Dakar to watch the game, it was the stuff of nightmares. Senegal supporters at a fan zone in Dakar after their team's defeat to Belgium in the World Cup on Wednesday. Photograph: Patrick Meinhardt / AFP via Getty Images Question of the day: Which English Premier League club’s players scored the most goals (seven) in the group stage of this World Cup? Coming up today: Spain v Austria, 8pm (RTÉ 2, BBC1), Portugal v Croatia, 12am (RTÉ 2, BBC1), Switzerland v Algeria, 4am (RTÉ 2, UTV).Elsewhere in sport: In advance of this weekend’s All-Ireland hurling semi-finals, Ciarán Murphy wonders whether we’re all being a bit presumptuous about the inevitability of a Limerick v Cork final – could Galway and/or Clare produce a twist in the tale yet? Gordon Manning looks at the shape Galway are in ahead of their meeting with Cork, elder Tribesman Conor Whelan leading them from the front.Gerry Thornley previews Ireland’s Nations Championship game against Australia in Sydney, Andy Farrell making five changes to the team that started the final Six Nations game, and hears from Jack Conan ahead of the encounter. Answer to question: Sunderland. There were three goals from the Netherlands’ Brian Brobbey and one each from Granit Xhaka (Switzerland), Habib Diarra (Senegal), Wilson Isidor (Haiti) and Nilson Angulo (Ecuador).