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Inside the stadium, Ismaël Koné has arrived. He's walking on crutches as he heals from that brutal leg injury he sustained during last week's match against Qatar.

Andrew's comparison of this energized Vancouver street scene to the 2010 Olympics vibe for men's hockey is on par for sure; after Sidney Crosby scored the golden goal in that historic gold medal game, the city went absolutely bonkers. I was in the streets gathering fans' reactions, and I have never high-fived so many happy people in my life. It seemed like hundreds!

If Canada can pull off a win today against the Swiss, the number of high-fives I receive (and give) will be my gauge of which era celebrated better.

I'm a producer based in Prince George, B.C., but today I'm in Vancouver as a fan of the Canadian men's team. I'm currently in the fan march to the stadium where we just sang a rousing rendition of O Canada. 

I haven't seen Vancouver like this since the 2010 Olympics on the weekend of the men's hockey gold medal final.

Like in 2010, I got FOMO watching scenes of celebration and decided fairly late to come down from Prince George to take on the vibes.

The streets are packed with noisemakers, flags and chants. There's a lot of No. 8 signs being held up for Ismaël Koné. At one point people chanted "Kone, Kone Kone Kone'' to the tune of the classic "Ole, Ole Ole Ole."

Other vibes: a station for free Ricola cough candies of Swiss origin was set up; Canadian fans were (jokingly) boycotting them.

Switzerland has also made some big calls in the starting 11, including in the midfield.

Rubén Vargas, Djibril Sow, Johan Manzambi and defender Luca Jaquez all step into the lineup, replacing Dan Ndoye, Fabian Rieder, Michel Aebischer and Silvan Widmer. 

The 4-3-2-1 formation — sometimes known as the Christmas Tree — sees Breel Embolo lead the line, while captain Granit Xhaka and Remo Freuler start in the midfield. 

Swiss mainstays Nico Elvedi, Manuel Akanji and Ricardo Rodriguez join Jaquez in the defensive four, and Gregor Kobel starts again between the sticks. 

Captain Alphonso Davies isn't in that starting lineup, but coach Jesse Marsch said he's likely to come on as a substitute. 

"We will evaluate what we need of him in the game," Marsch said yesterday. "I would like to get him into the match, for sure. And I think that he can have a big impact, both on us physically and football wise, but also mentally, psychologically, to have our captain back, our best player back in the team. I think this is a big factor."

The 25-year-old star left back injured his left hamstring in early May while playing for Bayern Munich in a Champions League semifinal and has not played since.

It was the latest in a long list of ailments that have kept him from appearing for the national squad since March 2025.

"He's in training, he looks great, he looks fit, he looks ready to go, excited. So, let's see how things go, but I expect him to play," Marsch said.

Hello! I'll be providing the play-by-play for today's match.

It's the final Canadian match day of the group stage and Ismaël Koné isn't the only big name out of the Canadian midfield.

Stephen Eustáquio, who captained Canada in their last two matches, is out. He's replaced by Mathieu Choinière in the midfield.

Tajon Buchanan and Ali Ahmed retain their positions in the middle four, while Nathan Saliba slots in for the injured Koné. 

Cyle Larin and Jonathan David — the latter wearing the captain's armband today — lead the line. The defence remains unchanged from the 6-0 win over Qatar: Alistair Johnston, Luc de Fougerolles, Derek Cornelius and Richie Laryea.

Maxime Crépeau, who kept the first ever Canadian clean sheet in a men's World Cup in the Qatar win, starts his third game in a row as goalkeeper.

Back to today's match. If Canada wins or draws against Switzerland, they’ll win Group B, meaning they’ll stay in Vancouver for the next game and play the third-place team from either Group E, F, G, I or J. Most of those groups are not settled, so there are several possibilities.

If they lose and come in second, they'll play the runner-up from Group A at Los Angeles Stadium.

Here’s what those two scenarios look like:

In the unlikely — but possible — event Canada comes in third, there won't be a firm path forward until the group stage is complete later this week. That result is a longshot, though: Switzerland would need to beat Canada and Bosnia and Herzegovina would need to beat Qatar. The total margin of Canada's loss plus the margin of Bosnia's win would have to be nine goals or more. 

On the subject of goals, we also have a new all-time World Cup goalscorer. 

Lionel Messi bolstered his claim to be the greatest men's soccer player of all time after hitting his 17th and 18th World Cup goals in Argentina's 2-0 win against Austria on Monday. 

All five of Argentina's goals at this tournament so far have come from Messi, who turns 39 today. That means he also leads the race for the Golden Boot — the award given to the player who scores the most goals in a World Cup.

But some of the world's other great goalscorers are also starting to make their mark on this tournament.

French superstar Kylian Mbappé is at four goals — and joint second with 16 on the all-time list — having scored another pair in France's 3-0 win over Iraq. Joining him on four is Norway's goal machine Erling Haaland.

One goal behind in the Golden Boot race is none other than Canada's Jonathan David, whose hat trick against Qatar ties him with Germany's Deniz Undav.

And getting off the mark for Portugal yesterday was another legend: 41-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo, whose two goals against Uzbekistan made him the first player to score in six different men's World Cups.

In other tournament news: We're now at 141 goals scored so far in the 2026 World Cup, meaning the average is still sitting around three goals per game.

That included some one-sided results such as Japan and Spain recording 4-0 wins over Tunisia and Saudi Arabia, respectively; an impressive 5-1 win for the Netherlands over Sweden; and, of course, Canada's historic 6-0 win over Qatar. But there have also been tense high-scoring matches like Norway's 3-2 win over Senegal on Monday.

Notably, the tournament's minnows are still pulling surprises — and scoring goals. Curaçao registered its first ever World Cup point with a 0-0 draw against Ecuador, while the team from Cabo Verde, fresh from their heroic draw against world No. 2 Spain, then held world No. 16 Uruguay 2-2. 

Amazingly, that means Cabo Verde — ranked 67th in the world — has a shot at winning Group H if it beats Saudi Arabia in its final group game on Friday.

Speaking of Switzerland, mention of the mountainous country might conjure up images of alpine meadows and soaring snow-capped peaks, but the Swiss have also been scaling some heights in soccer since the mid-1990s.

They're now regulars at major tournaments, having failed to qualify for the World Cup just twice since 1994 — though they haven't made it past the Round of 16 since a quarter-final appearance in 1954.

They reached their highest FIFA ranking of No. 3 in the world in 1993 and are currently No. 19.

Typically an organized team that includes one or two players with game-changing flair, Switzerland is currently captained by veteran midfielder Granit Xhaka, who has made a record 148 appearances for his country.

Xhaka scored in Switzerland's 4-1 win last week over Bosnia-Herzegovina, which also saw Johan Manzambi — considered one of the country's rising stars — scoring twice as a substitute. Breel Embolo carries the main threat in attack, while the Swiss also have star power in defence in the shape of Manchester City's Manuel Akanji.

Make no mistake, this will be Canada's toughest game to date in this World Cup.

Canada and Switzerland have only faced off once before, with the Canadians winning a 3-1 friendly match in May 2022.

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