World Cup updates: Team USA looks forward to 2026

American sports fans are used to watching big college football games on the first Saturday of December, but international football will be on the menu this year.

The U.S. will take the field for a knockout round match against the Netherlands on Saturday at 10 a.m. It's simple: win and you move on to the final eight, lose and you go home. There will be no draws like the group stage.

The best news for the U.S. is that Christian Pulisic has been cleared to play and will likely start against the Dutch, who are ranked eighth in the FIFA world rankings. They will need Pulisic to anchor the team up front.

Incidentally, the U.S. player who set up Pulisic for the game-winning goal against Iran, Sergino Dest, was born and raised in the Netherlands. His father, however, is from Brooklyn, New York, and he chose to side with the Americans over the Dutch several years ago.

It won't be easy for the U.S. to advance though. The Dutch are given a 66% chance to win, according to FiveThirtyEight's match predictor, and the tandem of forward Cody Gakpo and midfielder Frenkie de Jong has been formidable.

The second match on Saturday (2 p.m., Fox) will be Australia against Argentina. The Argentinians, led by the legendary Lionel Messi, will be a big favorite. (In fact, FiveThirtyEight gives them an 83% chance of winning, tied for the largest of any round of 16 game.) The winner will face the winner of USA-Netherlands next week.

Switzerland picked up a 3-2 win over Ghana to advance to the knockout stage of the World Cup as the second-place team in Group G.

Brazil, which lost to Cameroon 1-0, had already qualified for the knockout stage with wins in their first two games. The win by Switzerland moved them into a tie with Brazil at 6 points, but the perennial favorites took the group on goal differential.

Still, the loss was the first for Brazil in a year and a half. They also hadn't lost in a group stage in their last 17 World Cup games. Cameroon's Vincent Aboubakar scored in the 92nd minute to get the win. He immediately removed his shirt in celebration, which earned him his second yellow card of the match and elimination from the match.

Neymar, still recovering from injury, did not play for Brazil. The team also started its backup goalkeeper.

Switzerland trailed 2-1 briefly in a heated match that even broke into an altercation in stoppage time. For the Swiss, Xherdan Shaqiri scored in the 20th minute, Breel Embolo scored in the 44th minute and Reemo Freuler scored in the 48th minute.

Brazil will face South Korea in its first knockout game, while Switzerland will face Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal.

American star Christian Pulisic, who was injured scoring against Iran in the final group match, has been cleared to play against the Netherlands in the first knockout match of the tournament.

Pulisic had been listed as "day-to-day" since suffering a pelvic contusion on Tuesday. He was helped to the sidelines after crashing into Iran's goalkeeper, but later came back on the field. He was eventually substituted out at the half.

The U.S. takes on Netherlands at 10 a.m. on Fox.

South Korea's Hwang Hee-chan scored in the 91st minute to give his team a shocking, come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Portugal and move them into the next round.

Portugal scored just five minutes into the match, but Korea's Kim Young-gwon tied it up in the 27th minute.

Despite the loss, Portugal was already assured of making the knockout stage and they took the opportunity to sub out star Cristiano Ronaldo in the 65th minute.

Uruguay defeated Ghana 2-0 in the other game in the group, but South Korea finished tied with Uruguay at 4 points in the group. The teams were also tied on goal differential and tied head-to-head, so they went to total goals scored to give the edge to Korea.

Several players on Uruguay angrily shouted and gestured at the referees as they left the field, drawing post-match yellow cards. Uruguay missed a penalty kick earlier in the game and were angry about not getting another penalty later in the game.

Portugal goes down as the winner of Group H with South Korea in second. That likely means a meeting with Brazil in the next game for South Korea.