The Swiss took the zone after defeating the Canadians, while the Bosnians did the same against the Qataris to almost secure their qualification as one of the best third-placed teams
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The 2026 World Cup Matchday 3 kicked off with a bang. In two entertaining matches with several goals, Group B defined its standings: Switzerland defeated Canada 2-1 to take first place, while Bosnia and Herzegovina beat Qatar 3-1 and secured a spot as one of the best third-placed teams.
Switzerland 2-1 Canada
During the first half, the game was back and forth between the areas, with dangerous chances for both Canada and Switzerland, but neither could break the deadlock.
Just after the second half began, the Europeans struck quickly. In just 45 seconds, Rubén Vargas received the ball completely alone in the area and, after a touch, unleashed a low right-footed shot that went in at the near post past goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau for the 1-0.
Clearly more motivated than in the initial minutes, Switzerland became bolder and managed to increase the lead: in the 57th minute, Breel Embolo received the ball marked at the edge of the area and passed it to Johan Manzambi, who struck first time to make it 2-0.
Although Canada would pull one back 15 minutes from the end thanks to a goal from substitute Promise David, it wouldn’t be enough to level the match and take first place in the group, which ultimately remained in Swiss hands.
In the other match, Bosnia started with more presence than Qatar but couldn’t score until a little after the first cooling break, in the 28th minute, when young Kerim Alajbegovic unleashed a powerful shot from outside the area to make it 1-0.
The Europeans wouldn’t stop there as they maintained their offensive intent and just 5 minutes later reached 2-0: after a shot from the ageless Edin Džeko, the ball deflected off Qatari defender Sultan Al Brake, who scored an own goal.
Near the end of the first half, the Asians reacted. In the 41st minute, they took advantage of a defensive lapse from their rivals in the area to score a consolation goal, credited to Hasan Al-Haydos. They even came close to equalizing in stoppage time with a shot from Pedro Miguel, but his attempt hit the post.
Although much of the second half passed without major incidents, the Europeans would score the third with substitute Ermin Mahmic to definitively seal their third position.
With these results, Switzerland finished first with 7 points and will face one of the third-placed teams from GroupsE, F, G, I, or J (currently their opponent would be Belgium from Group G) in the Round of 32 next Friday, July 3, at BC Place in Vancouver.
Meanwhile, Canada finished second with 4 points and will face the second-placed team from Group A (currently South Korea) next Sunday, June 28, at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
Further down, although they have the same points (4), Bosnia finished third below Canada on goal difference (+5 to -2), although they have practically qualified for the next phase. Now, they will have to wait for the rest of the groups to determine their possible opponent and where and when they would play, but they already know that they will definitely face the United States (1st in Group D and the most likely opponent based on FIFA's combinations) or Germany (1st in Group E).
Finally, Qatar closed its poor World Cup participation with just one point, slightly improving its performance in its own World Cup, where they had not scored any points.
