Former world champions Spain take on Austria in a round-of-32 clash in the 2026 World Cup at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood on Thursday.
Spain finished top of Group H with a 1-0 win over Uruguay on Saturday, although the manner of the victory was less than impressive.
Austria, meanwhile, could not have picked a more dramatic way to qualify, conceding in the 93rd minute of their game against Algeria, before Sasa Kalajdzic's 96th-minute equaliser put them through, finishing second in Group J.
The two teams have met each other three times in World Cups, with a win each, as well as a draw in 2000. The winner of this contest will set up a potential blockbuster round-of-16 tie against either Portugal or Croatia.
Here's everything you need to know about the game.
How to watch:
The match will be available on BBC One in the UK, Fox Sports in the U.S., Zee5 in India and SBS in Australia. You can also follow ESPN's live updates.
Key Details:
Date, kick-off time:
U.S. ET: Thursday July 2, 3 p.m.
UK BST: Thursday July 2, 8 p.m.
India IST: Friday July 3, 12.30 a.m.
Australia AEST: Friday July 3, 5 a.m.
Venue: SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, California
Referee: Glenn Nyberg (Sweden)
Team News and Predicted line-ups:
Spain
Luis de la Fuente will be without Nico Williams and Yéremy Pino, who both picked up injuries against Uruguay and face doubts over their participation for the rest of the tournament.
Predicted XI (4-3-3):
Unai Simón
Marcos Llorente | Pau Cubarsí | Aymeric Laporte | Marc Cucurella
Mikel Merino | Rodri | Pedri
Lamine Yamal | Mikel Oyarzabal | Álex Baena
Austria
Both David Alaba and Marko Arnautovic are facing a race against time to be ready for this game, after picking up knocks against Algeria.
Alexander Schlager
Stefan Posch | Philipp Lienhart | Kevin Danso | Konrad Laimer
Nicolas Seiwald | Xaver Schlager
Romano Schmid | Paul Wanner | Marcel Sabitzer
Sasa Kalajdzic
Talking Points
Spain require Yamal to be at his best to go through
Spain's rather listless performance so far has seen them struggle to a 1-0 win over Uruguay (that required a healthy dose of fortune), draw 0-0 against Cape Verde and put Saudi Arabia to the sword.
What's been conspicuous in all these performances is how dependent Spain have become on Lamine Yamal. The game where the Barcelona winger truly shone was against Saudi Arabia, while he had a quiet cameo against Cape Verde and was peripheral in the victory over Uruguay.
It is clear that Yamal is still nursing an injury, and losing wide options in Yeremy Pino and Nico Williams robs De La Fuente of any tweaks he could potentially make. Yamal's form has thus become crucial to whether Spain progress further in the competition.
Alex Baena has quietly been impressive on the other wing for Spain, however, and with all the attention on Yamal, he might find space to cause some damage. Spain haven't won a knockout match at the World Cup since lifting the trophy in 2010, and need their wingers to come up trumps to correct that stat.
Austria's high press can unbalance Spain
While Spain have yet to concede a goal in this World Cup (only allowing an xG of 0.54 across three games), Austria's matches have averaged four goals per game so far. Ralf Rangnick's high-risk, high-reward style looked to have cost Austria a knockout spot in their match against Algeria, only for Kalajdzic's incredible last-gasp equaliser to bail them out.
It sealed Austria's first knockout stage appearance since 1982 and, in a World Cup of upsets so far, they have the potential to cause another. Spain's high-possession, high-control style has not faced a truly cohesive press so far, with even Marcelo Bielsa's Uruguay appearing disjointed.
Austria have shown their ability to win the ball high up the pitch and score, while also conceding on the transitions. Given Spain's dependence on Yamal, however, Austria have a clear route to stopping Spain, and with Spain's midfielders, especially Rodri, well below their best so far, they can cause turnovers high up the pitch.
Rangnick's side have a path to victory, and while they will need luck to be on their side, it's not out of the realms of possibility for them to pull off an almighty upset and set up a round-of-16 clash with either Portugal or Croatia.