Kane, Chaos and the Latest Goal in World Cup History: The 1 July Recap

If you turned in early on Tuesday night, you missed the maddest finish of the tournament so far. Three Round of 32 ties, three winners through to the last 16 — and one of them settled deep into the small hours our time by a penalty that is still being argued over in every pub from Cork to Coleraine. England did their job, the USA did it the hard way with ten men, and Belgium did it in a manner nobody watching will forget in a hurry. Here’s how the night unfolded, and what it means before Thursday’s card.

England 2-1 DR Congo: Kane climbs above Pelé

England made hard work of it before Harry Kane settled matters. Meschack Cipenga stunned them with a 7th-minute opener for DR Congo, and it stayed that way until the captain took over — a 75th-minute leveller and the winner on 86 minutes to send England into the Round of 16. Congo, at their first World Cup knockout, can hold their heads high.

The headline, though, is Kane’s. That brace took him to 13 World Cup goals, moving him one clear of Pelé (12) on the all-time list. He had already passed Gary Lineker as England’s outright record scorer at this tournament; now he’s ahead of one of the game’s immortals. England go on to meet Mexico in the last 16 on Sunday 5 July.

Belgium 3-2 Senegal: the latest goal in World Cup history

Two-nil down to Senegal after Habib Diarra (25′) and Ismaïla Sarr (51′), Belgium looked out of it with five minutes left. Then Romelu Lukaku struck on 86, Youri Tielemans levelled on 89, and in the 120th minute plus five — a clock reading of 124:44 — Tielemans buried a penalty to win it in extra time. It is officially the latest goal ever scored in a men’s World Cup, and it arrived after the longest VAR review the tournament has seen. Not everyone thought it was a penalty; we’ve given that row its own full breakdown, Roy Keane’s verdict included. Belgium march on to face the USA on 6 July.

USA 2-0 Bosnia — the hard way, with ten men

Folarin Balogun put the USA ahead on the stroke of half-time, then turned villain: a 64th-minute red card, shown after a VAR look, left the hosts to see out the second half a man down. Malik Tillman’s free-kick on 81 made sure of it. The USA are through — but Balogun’s automatic ban rules him out of that last-16 tie with Belgium, a serious blow.

What it means for the outright

England’s win keeps them in the second tier of the market at 7/1 to 17/2 to lift the trophy (as of the morning of 2 July 2026, converted to fractional), still a fair way behind France and Argentina. Belgium remain rank outsiders at 35/1 despite the drama, and the USA are 25/1 — though losing Balogun for the Belgium tie hardly helps their cause. For the Irish neutral, the takeaway is simple: the favourites are wobbling just enough to make the knockouts genuinely open.

The Irish angle

For once the schedule was kind at the start and cruel at the end — England’s tie finished at a civilised hour, but if you stayed up for Belgium you were rewarded with history and robbed of sleep in equal measure. RTÉ and the highlights shows will be running the Tielemans penalty on a loop all week. Thursday brings Spain, Portugal and Switzerland into R32 action; our predictions for the 2 July card have the tips, and the teams hub tracks who’s left standing.

Odds shown are converted to fractional format for Irish bookmakers and were accurate as of the timestamp noted; always check the live price before betting. 18+, gamble responsibly.