A tourist was seriously injured Friday evening after an agitated bull bison charged and launched him roughly eight feet into the air at Yellowstone National Park, in an encounter captured on video by a professional photographer camping nearby.

The incident occurred at the Bridge Bay Campground, located south of Fishing Bridge inside the park, according to Mike MacLeod, a professional photographer from Bozeman, Montana, who witnessed and recorded the attack. MacLeod said the victim, an older man, was walking with his young grandson when the bison, already visibly agitated, made the pair the target of its aggression.

MacLeod, who was camping at Bridge Bay when his wife first spotted the bull bison entering the area, said he grabbed his camera and began filming from what he believed was a safe distance. “I was just trying to get some dramatic footage of that bison having a fit,” MacLeod told Cowboy State Daily. “It’s changed my idea of what to expect from these guys at this time of year, because I would not have predicted that happening.”

According to MacLeod’s account, the bison initially charged a group of children who were photographing it from a distance on their cellphones, though the children were able to safely scatter. The animal then turned its attention toward a sapling before ultimately chasing after the victim and his grandson as they attempted to move away behind nearby trees. The bison hooked the man with its left horn on his hip and tossed him into the air, sending him into what MacLeod described as a full flip before he landed on his side. “The bison was at least 6 feet tall, and he was several feet above him,” MacLeod said.

MacLeod said the man and his grandson had been standing at what would generally be considered a safe distance from the animal, estimated at roughly 100 yards, when the bison suddenly charged. The National Park Service requires visitors to remain at least 25 yards, or 75 feet, away from bison at all times, given the animals’ unpredictable behavior and physical power. Bison can weigh close to a ton and run at speeds up to roughly 30 miles per hour, more than three times faster than the average human.

After the man hit the ground, MacLeod said the bison stood over him briefly, shaking its head in apparent agitation, raising fears among bystanders that the animal might continue its attack. MacLeod said he made the decision to intervene despite the risk. “I had to get the bison’s attention,” MacLeod said. “I was really afraid he was going to gore the guy on the ground, so I stopped videotaping and ran at the bison, yelled loud, and was trying to be as big and intimidating as possible.” Other bystanders followed MacLeod’s lead, shouting and approaching the animal until it ultimately ran off, allowing people nearby to rush to the injured man’s aid.

MacLeod, who said he previously worked as a combat photographer in the Army, credited his past experience with helping him stay composed during the incident. “I used to be a combat photographer in the Army,” MacLeod said. “I could see this thing coming.”

Yellowstone’s Emergency Medical Services responded to the scene and provided initial treatment to the victim, who was reported to be in significant pain, particularly in his hips and the leg on which he landed. The man sustained serious injuries, including a broken hip, and remained hospitalized as of Saturday. His name has not been publicly released by park authorities or his family. The man’s grandson, who escaped the encounter unharmed, later told MacLeod that his grandfather was “not out of the woods yet” and continued to experience considerable pain following the attack.

MacLeod said he found it difficult to understand why the bison singled out the victim and his grandson specifically, given that other visitors were positioned closer to the animal at the time. “I’ve been around bison for a while, but this was really weird,” MacLeod said. “Why did it pick those two? There were so many people around, and most of them were closer to and behind the bison. It was really weird.” MacLeod added that, unlike many similar incidents in the park, no one involved appeared to have acted carelessly around the animal. “I didn’t see anybody getting close,” he said. “People were yelling, ‘Careful, there’s a bison coming through,’ and they kept their distance. They were very respectful.”

The National Park Service had not issued a formal statement addressing the specific incident as of Saturday. Park officials and wildlife experts consistently caution that bison, despite their sometimes docile appearance, are wild animals capable of sudden and unpredictable aggression, particularly during their annual rutting season, which typically runs from June through September and can heighten agitation among bulls.

Friday’s incident marked the second confirmed human-bison encounter reported in Yellowstone so far this year. The first occurred June 26, when a 12-year-old was injured near Mud Volcano, an area located north of Fishing Bridge. Yellowstone has recorded a string of similar bison-related injuries in recent years, part of a broader pattern of wildlife encounters that park officials and safety advocates say underscores the ongoing risks tourists face when approaching or unexpectedly encountering large animals inside the park.

Bison remain one of Yellowstone’s most iconic and heavily visited attractions, drawing visitors from around the world hoping to observe the animals in their natural habitat. Wildlife researchers have noted that bison also play a significant ecological role within the park, with their grazing patterns credited with helping sustain the nutritional quality of Yellowstone’s grasslands. Despite that ecological importance, park officials continue to stress that visitors must maintain safe distances at all times, noting that even individuals who believe they are following recommended guidelines can still find themselves targeted by an animal that becomes suddenly agitated, as appeared to be the case in Friday’s incident.

As of Saturday, the extent of the victim’s ongoing medical treatment and prognosis had not been publicly detailed, and it remained unclear whether the National Park Service planned to release further information about the circumstances surrounding the attack in the days ahead.

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Will AI earnings eclipse big bank reports? (0:17) Taiwan Semi, ASML offer clues on AI demand. (0:54) Headline CPI seen cooling. (2:01)

Earnings season officially kicks off this week as the big banks report. But major updates on AI spending could overshadow the financial results.

Wall Street analysts remain overwhelmingly bullish on the banking sector, with no Sell ratings on the major banks reporting this week, including JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Citigroup (C), Wells Fargo (WFC), Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs (GS) and Morgan Stanley (MS).

Seeking Alpha analysts are a bit more cautious, though they also rate the sector a Buy overall.

This weekend, SA analyst Ian Brezek issued a rare Sell rating on Citigroup, arguing that consensus EPS estimates for 2027 and 2028 “may be too high, and there is a risk of downward revision, especially if financial markets weaken.”

Barring major disappointments from the banks, market attention is likely to shift quickly to chipmakers for the latest read on AI demand. Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) and ASML (ASML) are both due to report.

SA analyst Oliver Rodzianko says guidance will be the key focus for TSM. Investors should “look out for advanced-packaging capacity commentary, 2nm margin dilution, and perhaps most importantly, whether management still sounds like the business is supply-constrained.”

Here’s how the calendar shapes up:

On Tuesday, JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs (GS), Wells Fargo (WFC) and Citigroup (C) report.

On Wednesday, ASML (ASML), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Morgan Stanley (MS), BlackRock (BLK), Bank of New York Mellon (BK) and United Airlines (UAL) report.

On Thursday, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM) and Netflix (NFLX) report.

Regions Financial (RF) and Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) round out the week on Friday.

For Netflix, SA analyst Louis Gerard says it’s a “pound the table” Buy based on valuation.

“The only thing that has really deteriorated for the firm has been its price, while the new competitive behemoth I warned about is being assembled by Paramount under a mountain of leverage, and NFLX got paid $2.8B to not participate in that folly.”

Looking to the economy, inflation data dominate the economic calendar this week, with the June consumer price index due on Tuesday and the producer price index on Wednesday.

Economists expect headline CPI to fall 0.1% in June, bringing the annual inflation rate down to 3.7% from 4.2%.

Core CPI is expected to rise 0.2%, leaving the annual rate unchanged at 2.8%.

Wells Fargo economists say core services inflation should moderate in June.

“While supply-side developments continue to generate volatility in a handful of categories, the broader data do not suggest inflation pressures are re-accelerating across the economy,” they said.

In the news this weekend, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a longtime Republican lawmaker from South Carolina and one of President Donald Trump’s closest allies on Capitol Hill, has died at the age of 71 following a sudden and brief illness, according to a statement from his office.

No cause of death was disclosed.

The United States launched a new wave of strikes against Iran after Tehran allegedly attacked a commercial vessel transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

American forces targeted about 140 Iranian military sites, including communications, air-defense, drone-storage and naval mine-laying facilities.

Iran responded with missile and drone attacks targeting U.S.-allied Gulf states, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman.

And MGM Resorts (MGM) has reportedly opened discussions with People (PPLI) over a potential buyout after Barry Diller’s media company offered to acquire the casino operator in a $12.4B deal last month.

The Wall Street Journal reports that MGM has formed a special board committee and hired advisers to evaluate the bid, which it believes undervalues the company.

And for income investors, Pershing Square (PS) goes ex-dividend on Monday and will pay shareholders on July 21.

Abbott Laboratories (ABT) and AbbVie (ABBV) go ex-dividend on Wednesday. Abbott pays on August 17, while AbbVie pays on August 14.

Williams-Sonoma (WSM) goes ex-dividend on Friday and will pay shareholders on August 21.

Kuwait International Airport remains open and operational today, with commercial flights continuing to run through the facility’s Terminal 4 and Terminal 5, even as Terminal 1 stays closed indefinitely while repair work continues following damage sustained during regional strikes earlier this year.

The airport, located roughly 16 kilometers south of Kuwait City in the Farwaniya Governorate, serves as the primary aviation hub for the country, handling more than 15 million passengers annually and offering connections to more than 100 destinations worldwide. Kuwait Airways, the country’s national carrier, is currently operating out of Terminal 4, while Jazeera Airways, the country’s largest budget carrier by departure volume, continues to operate from Terminal 5. Both terminals have absorbed additional traffic that would normally flow through Terminal 1 while that facility remains offline.

Terminal 1’s continued closure traces back to a series of attacks earlier this year tied to broader regional conflict in the Gulf. Between late February and June 2026, Kuwait International Airport was targeted multiple times by drone and missile strikes linked to Iran’s broader campaign against Persian Gulf states, causing damage to the airport’s infrastructure, including its radar installation. All flights to and from the airport were suspended starting February 28 following the closure of Kuwaiti airspace amid the escalating conflict, forcing carriers such as Jazeera Airways to temporarily divert operations to Qaisumah International Airport in Saudi Arabia, located roughly two and a half hours from Kuwait by road.

Kuwait Airways and Jazeera Airways resumed operations from Terminals 4 and 5 on April 26, and Terminal 1 briefly reopened on June 1, allowing some non-Kuwaiti carriers to resume service through the facility. That reopening proved short-lived. Terminal 1 suffered more serious structural damage, including a partial roof collapse, during a subsequent strike on June 3, 2026, rendering the facility unsafe for passenger operations and prompting officials to close it once again. That second closure has remained in effect since, with no confirmed reopening date currently available.

Kuwait’s civil aviation authorities have emphasized a cautious, staged approach to restoring full operations across the airport. Sheikh Hamoud Mubarak Al Sabah, chairman of Kuwait’s General Civil Aviation Authority, said earlier this year that the phased reopening process was coordinated closely with domestic and international authorities to ensure operations resumed in line with the highest safety and security standards. He credited the political leadership’s support with helping expedite the airport’s broader recovery and separately thanked Saudi Arabia for facilitating Kuwaiti carriers through its airports during the disruption, while also highlighting coordination among Gulf Cooperation Council countries aimed at maintaining regional air traffic continuity throughout the crisis.

International carriers have gradually resumed service to Kuwait in the weeks since Terminal 1’s second closure, routing their operations temporarily through Terminal 4. Emirates, flydubai and Air Arabia relaunched service to Kuwait on July 2 as part of that phased resumption, following an earlier wave of returning Gulf carriers. Oman Air resumed scheduled flight operations on June 25, also operating through Terminal 4 rather than its usual gates in Terminal 1. Other regional carriers, including Saudia, Etihad, Qatar Airways and Gulf Air, have continued restoring service in progressive stages, while international carriers such as Air India, IndiGo, Turkish Airlines, British Airways and EgyptAir have been preparing schedule filings to resume their own Kuwait routes. Not every airline has returned on the same timeline; budget carrier Pegasus Airlines has maintained a suspension of its Kuwait routes through August 3, according to airline scheduling data.

Kuwait Airways, which operates a network of roughly 30 destinations, has offered complimentary flight rebookings to passengers whose itineraries were disrupted by the earlier closures, part of a broader effort by the country’s national carrier to preserve essential air connectivity throughout the shutdown period. Terminal 4 has effectively become the primary operational base for both Kuwait Airways and returning international carriers during Terminal 1’s closure, requiring ground crews to carefully manage scheduling in order to avoid bottlenecks during peak transfer hours as multiple airlines share the facility’s gate capacity.

Beyond the immediate recovery effort, Kuwait continues work on a broader long-term expansion of the airport’s infrastructure. A new Terminal 2, designed by the architecture firm Foster + Partners, remains under construction and is targeted for completion in late 2026. Once finished, the new terminal is expected to expand the airport’s overall passenger handling capacity to more than 25 million travelers annually, helping absorb the traffic that Terminal 4 has had to accommodate in Terminal 1’s continued absence.

Regional airspace conditions have also continued to influence bilateral flight scheduling in and around Kuwait. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency maintained a Conflict Zone Information Bulletin covering Gulf airspace through late June, reflecting ongoing caution among international aviation regulators even as conditions on the ground in Kuwait have continued to stabilize. Kuwait’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation has said it continues to monitor the broader security situation around the clock in coordination with relevant authorities both inside and outside the country, in order to maintain the highest levels of safety across Kuwaiti airspace.

For travelers planning trips through Kuwait in the near term, aviation officials and travel advisories have consistently cautioned that flight schedules remain subject to change based on evolving regional conditions, even as day-to-day operations at the airport continue without disruption. Passengers are generally advised to confirm the current status of their specific flights directly with their airline, or through the airport’s official flight status channels, rather than assuming full pre-conflict operational capacity has been restored across all of the airport’s facilities.

Overall, while Kuwait International Airport remains open and functioning today, with steady flight activity continuing through Terminals 4 and 5, the continued closure of Terminal 1 stands as a visible reminder of the lingering effects of this year’s regional conflict on the country’s aviation infrastructure, even as officials describe the broader recovery process as continuing along a positive trajectory.

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Some ChatGPT users reported trouble accessing OpenAI’s flagship chatbot early Sunday, with a tracking account estimating hundreds of affected users, though independent monitoring services showed the platform largely operational as of midday, illustrating the recurring gap between scattered complaints and confirmed, large-scale outages.

A post from the tracking account @status_is_down flagged the reported issue at 5:45 a.m. Sunday, asking followers whether they were also experiencing problems with ChatGPT or OpenAI more broadly. The scale and specific cause of Sunday’s disruption remained unclear as of publication.

Independent status trackers offered a mixed but largely reassuring picture of the platform’s overall health at the time. StatusGator, a service that monitors thousands of cloud services in real time, reported OpenAI as operational as of its most recent check Sunday morning, noting 23 user-submitted reports of outages over the prior 24-hour period, a volume within the range the service typically treats as background noise rather than a confirmed widespread failure. A separate check by the same tracker roughly seven hours earlier had similarly found OpenAI operational, logging 16 user-submitted reports in that window, with the tracker noting that an earlier smaller spike in complaints had already been resolved by that point.

UptimeRobot, which independently pings ChatGPT’s servers every five minutes from multiple global locations, reported no anomalies in its most recent automated check as of Saturday afternoon, finding no unusual response times or error codes. The service says it only flags ChatGPT as experiencing an outage after three separate confirmation checks from different global locations all detect a problem, a method designed to filter out issues tied to a single user’s device or local network rather than the platform itself.

OpenAI’s own official status page showed a mixed picture as well. The page referenced an issue affecting some users encountering 403 errors when loading or using ChatGPT conversations on iOS, an issue the company said it was investigating and would provide updates on as more information became available. It was not immediately clear whether that specific issue was connected to the broader outage reports referenced in Sunday’s social media post, or whether it represented a separate, narrower technical problem affecting only a subset of iOS users.

ChatGPT has a well-documented history of periodic outages since its 2022 public launch, with several notable incidents disrupting service for large numbers of users worldwide. In April 2026, ChatGPT experienced a partial outage that began around 10 a.m. Eastern time and left thousands of users globally unable to access the service, with reports on outage-tracking site Downdetector peaking at more than 8,700 in the United Kingdom and roughly 1,900 in the United States. OpenAI confirmed the “partial outage” at the time, later stating it had deployed a fix and was “monitoring the recovery” of the service, with most users regaining access within about 90 minutes.

That April incident affected a range of ChatGPT features, with user polling at the time indicating that difficulty accessing old conversations was the most commonly reported problem, ahead of separate complaints about being unable to sign in altogether. Additional outages have periodically affected specific ChatGPT features, including image generation, custom GPTs and the company’s Codex coding tool, according to tracking by outlets that monitor the platform’s status regularly. OpenAI has generally responded to such incidents with brief, limited public statements acknowledging that it is “investigating” a given issue, without always providing detailed explanations of the underlying cause, a pattern outside observers have noted as a recurring characteristic of the company’s outage communications.

Beyond individual outages, ChatGPT has also faced broader questions about reliability given its widespread integration into third-party products and services. Because a large number of businesses now rely on OpenAI’s underlying API to power customer-facing tools such as chatbots and automated support systems, disruptions to OpenAI’s core infrastructure can cascade into outages for companies that have built products on top of the platform, temporarily leaving their own customers without service until OpenAI resolves the underlying issue.

Users experiencing trouble with ChatGPT on Sunday were encouraged by outage-tracking services to rule out simpler explanations before assuming the platform itself was down. UptimeRobot’s guidance recommends trying to access chatgpt.com from a different browser, device or network, such as a mobile hotspot, along with disabling any active VPN, clearing the device’s DNS cache, or restarting a home router. If the site loads normally through one of those alternate methods, the tracker notes, the underlying problem is more likely local to the user’s own device or network rather than a confirmed platform-wide ChatGPT outage.

The service also cautions that even when its automated checks confirm a genuine outage, that does not necessarily mean every user is affected equally. Some disruptions are regional rather than global, some affect only specific features such as image generation or file uploads rather than the core chat function, and some manifest as unusually slow performance rather than a complete failure to load, complicating efforts by any single user to determine whether what they are experiencing reflects a broader technical problem or an isolated glitch.

As of Sunday, OpenAI had not issued a public acknowledgment specifically addressing the outage reports referenced in the morning social media post, and the company’s official status page did not reflect an active, company-confirmed incident tied to that specific report at the time of publication. The gap between individual user complaints and a formally confirmed platform-wide outage remains a common pattern across major online services broadly, with outage trackers generally relying on report volume crossing defined thresholds within short windows, combined with geographic clustering of those reports, before classifying an issue as a confirmed outage rather than a collection of unrelated, isolated problems.

The situation remains fluid, and further updates may emerge from OpenAI or independent outage-tracking services as the day progresses. Users continuing to experience access problems are advised to check OpenAI’s official status page directly for the most current information on any active incidents affecting the platform.

Southeast Asia’s soccer ambitions are rising, driven by AFF-led competitions, growing fan engagement, and commercial partnerships with Hyundai, Shopee, and MSIG. With expanding tournaments, youth development, and improved national team performances, ASEAN nations increasingly believe qualifying for the FIFA World Cup is becoming achievable through sustained investment and unity.

Key Points

• Southeast Asia’s soccer ambitions are rising, driven by the AFF’s flagship ASEAN Hyundai Cup (30th anniversary) plus new competitions under the ASEAN United FC platform, spanning men’s, women’s, and youth soccer.
• Commercial partners like Hyundai, Shopee, and MSIG are investing beyond sponsorship, boosting fan engagement, grassroots programs, and youth development, with the 2024 Championship reaching 541 million viewers.
• On-field progress (Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines) fuels AFF’s belief that collective effort across stakeholders can deliver Southeast Asia’s first men’s World Cup qualifier.

A Growing Regional Ambition

For decades, qualifying for the FIFA World Cup has remained an elusive goal for Southeast Asia, but growing belief now suggests it may be within reach. With over 700 million people and passionate fans, ASEAN nations have seen rising quality in domestic and regional soccer, larger crowds, and stronger competitiveness in Asia.

This progress stems from a long-term strategy led by the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF), supported by partner Sportfive. AFF president Khiev Sameth credits decades of investment in competitions, youth development, coaching, and governance—anchored by the ASEAN Hyundai Cup, now marking its 30th anniversary as the region’s flagship tournament.

Commercial Growth Powers the Game

Sustaining major tournaments requires more than ambition—it demands sustainable commercial backing. The AFF unified its four flagship competitions under the ASEAN United FC platform, allowing sponsors to engage audiences across multiple events year-round, a model Sportfive’s Seamus O’Brien says has accelerated regional development.

The results are striking: the 2024 ASEAN Championship drew 541 million broadcast viewers and a potential reach of 19.6 billion. This growth has attracted major brands like Hyundai, Shopee, and MSIG, whose involvement now extends beyond traditional sponsorship into fan engagement, digital campaigns, and community programs that strengthen the sport’s commercial and cultural value.

Investment Beyond the Pitch

While sponsorship cannot guarantee World Cup qualification, it strengthens the broader soccer ecosystem—supporting grassroots programs, youth pathways, and women’s soccer. MSIG, for instance, backs clinics and an all-girls escort program, reflecting the sport’s role as what CEO Clemens Philippi calls “a unifying force” across the region.

On-field progress reinforces this optimism: Indonesia has narrowed the gap with Asia’s traditional powers, while Vietnam and the Philippines reached the 2023 Women’s World Cup. AFF president Khiev Sameth emphasized that achieving the ultimate goal will require collective commitment from associations, clubs, governments, and fans, stating that unity and shared purpose can help Southeast Asia “earn its place on football’s greatest stage.”

Source : Global brands behind ASEAN soccer’s World Cup ambition – Sports – The Jakarta Post

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The 2026 FIFA World Cup semifinal bracket is officially set, with France, Spain, England and defending champion Argentina emerging from a dramatic quarterfinal round to claim the tournament’s final four spots, each team now two victories away from lifting the trophy.

What began as a 48-nation field has been narrowed to those four semifinalists following a quarterfinal round played across the United States from July 9 through July 11. France advanced with a 2-0 win over Morocco at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Spain edged Belgium 2-1 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. England overcame Norway 2-1 after extra time at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, thanks to a two-goal performance from Jude Bellingham. And Argentina defeated Switzerland 3-1 after extra time at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, with goals from Alexis Mac Allister, Julián Álvarez and Lautaro Martínez overcoming an early equalizer from Switzerland’s Dan Ndoye.

The semifinals will unfold on back-to-back days next week. France meets Spain on Tuesday, July 14, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, with kickoff set for 3 p.m. Eastern time. England faces Argentina the following day, Wednesday, July 15, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, also kicking off at 3 p.m. Eastern. Both venues feature retractable roofs, a design consideration expected to help manage conditions during the peak of the U.S. summer heat.

The two semifinal winners will advance to the World Cup final, scheduled for Sunday, July 19, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, a venue FIFA has referred to during the tournament as New York New Jersey Stadium. That match is also set to kick off at 3 p.m. Eastern time. The two semifinal losers will instead meet in the tournament’s third-place match, scheduled for Saturday, July 18, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, the day before the final.

As with every match in the World Cup’s knockout stage, neither semifinal can end in a draw. Should either July 14 or July 15 match remain level after 90 minutes of regulation play, the teams will proceed to two 15-minute periods of extra time. If the score remains tied after extra time, the match will be decided by a penalty shootout, the same format used to resolve any deadlocked knockout-stage contest throughout the tournament.

France’s path to the semifinals has been built on a mix of individual brilliance and squad depth throughout the knockout rounds, with the quarterfinal win over Morocco continuing a run that has positioned Les Bleus among the tournament favorites. Spain, meanwhile, needed a tightly contested win over Belgium to advance, extending a run that has featured some of the tournament’s most technically polished attacking football. Both sides now meet in what many analysts have flagged as one of the most anticipated matchups of the tournament’s closing stages, pitting two of European football’s traditional heavyweights against each other with a place in the final on the line.

England’s path to Atlanta came with significantly more late drama. Norway, appearing in its first World Cup since 1998, took an early lead through Andreas Schjelderup before Bellingham equalized in first-half stoppage time and then struck again three minutes into extra time to complete his two-goal display and send Thomas Tuchel’s side through. The victory pushed England into their third World Cup semifinal since lifting the Jules Rimet Trophy 60 years ago in 1966, following previous semifinal losses to West Germany in 1990 and Croatia in 2018.

Argentina’s route to the semifinals required a similarly grueling extra-time effort against Switzerland. Lionel Messi did not find the scoresheet himself but recorded an assist on Mac Allister’s opening goal in the 10th minute, his 10th career World Cup assist, before Switzerland equalized in the second half to force the match into extra time. Álvarez and Martínez ultimately delivered the decisive goals in the second period of extra time, sending Argentina through as it continues its bid to defend the title it won in Qatar in 2022.

In the United States, both semifinals will be broadcast on FOX in English and on Telemundo in Spanish, with streaming available through the FOX One and FOX Sports apps for English-language coverage and Peacock for the Spanish-language broadcast. Fans outside the U.S. will need to account for time zone differences when planning to watch; a 3 p.m. Eastern kickoff corresponds to 8 p.m. in London and 9 p.m. across much of Central Europe.

Both semifinal matchups carry significant historical and competitive weight beyond simply determining the tournament’s finalists. A France-Spain semifinal brings together two nations with a combined five World Cup titles between them, while an England-Argentina matchup pits a side chasing its first World Cup title since 1966 against the two-time defending champion looking to become the first nation to win back-to-back titles since Brazil accomplished the feat in 1958 and 1962.

Star power will also be on full display across both matches. Messi, playing in what is widely regarded as his final World Cup appearance at age 39, continues to lead Argentina’s pursuit of a second consecutive title, while Bellingham has emerged as the singular attacking force behind England’s run, having now scored in each of the team’s past two knockout matches. On the other side of the bracket, France and Spain both feature deep rosters stacked with players from some of Europe’s most prominent club sides, setting up a semifinal many analysts have described as a genuine toss-up given the overall strength of both squads.

With the semifinal matchups now locked in and just over two weeks remaining in the tournament, attention across the sport is expected to shift toward Dallas and Atlanta as France, Spain, England and Argentina prepare for a pair of matches that will determine which two nations advance to compete for the sport’s ultimate prize in New Jersey on July 19.

With the 2026 World Cup down to its final four teams, the race for the tournament’s adidas Golden Boot has narrowed into one of the tightest scoring battles in recent memory, led by a pair of the sport’s most decorated forwards and rounded out by a mix of established stars and breakout performers. Here is a look at the five leading forwards in the tournament heading into next week’s semifinals.

Kylian Mbappé currently sits atop the standings with eight goals, tied with Lionel Messi but holding the edge on FIFA’s assist tiebreaker after providing three helpers compared with Messi’s one. Mbappé reclaimed the lead with a goal in the 59th minute of France’s 2-0 quarterfinal win over Morocco, part of a run in which he has scored in all but one of France’s matches at this tournament, including multiple goals in three separate games. The French forward has now scored 20 career World Cup goals, one behind Messi’s all-time record of 21, and is chasing a second consecutive Golden Boot after winning the award at the 2022 tournament, a feat no player in World Cup history has ever accomplished twice. Playing alongside a deep France attack that also features Ousmane Dembélé, Désiré Doué and Michael Olise, Mbappé enters the semifinal against Spain as the tournament’s outright goal-scoring pace-setter.

Lionel Messi remains level with Mbappé at eight goals, a total he reached with a left-footed volley against Egypt in the round of 16, a match in which he also picked up an assist. Messi opened the tournament with a hat trick against Algeria and became the first player in the 2026 World Cup to reach seven goals with an early strike against Cabo Verde. Now 39 years old, Messi has never won a World Cup Golden Boot despite becoming the tournament’s all-time leading scorer, having been edged out by Mbappé’s final hat trick during the 2022 final. In Argentina’s quarterfinal win over Switzerland, Messi did not add to his goal tally but recorded his 10th career World Cup assist, extending his tournament-long emphasis on facilitating for teammates even as his own scoring pace has held steady.

Erling Haaland ranks third with seven goals, sitting one behind the co-leaders after a two-goal performance against Brazil helped push Norway into the quarterfinals. Haaland reached that tally despite not playing in Norway’s final group-stage match, and he later scored the winning goal against the Ivory Coast in the round of 32 before contributing both of Norway’s goals in the team’s 2-1 win over Brazil in the round of 16. Speaking to reporters after an earlier match against Senegal, Haaland offered a simple explanation for his prolific scoring pace. “It’s my specialty to score goals,” Haaland said. “I’m just really good at scoring goals.” Haaland’s tournament ultimately ended in the quarterfinals following Norway’s extra-time loss to England, closing the book on his Golden Boot bid for this cycle, though his seven-goal haul across four matches still ranks among the tournament’s most efficient scoring runs.

Harry Kane rounds out the group of established stars with six goals, a tally he built with an opening double against Croatia before a header against Panama made him England’s all-time leading World Cup scorer, surpassing Gary Lineker’s previous mark. Kane added two more goals in a comeback win over DR Congo in the round of 32 and converted a penalty in England’s dramatic 3-2 win over Mexico in the round of 16. While Kane himself did not score in England’s extra-time quarterfinal win over Norway, teammate Jude Bellingham’s two-goal performance in that match has kept England’s broader attacking output within range of the tournament’s scoring leaders as the team advances to face Argentina in the semifinals.

Rounding out the top five is France’s Ousmane Dembélé, who has emerged as one of the tournament’s standout attacking performers with five goals. Dembélé produced a first-half hat trick during the group stage and added a decisive fifth goal in France’s 2-0 quarterfinal win over Morocco, a strike that sealed the result and pushed France into the semifinals. His emergence as a consistent scoring threat alongside Mbappé has given France arguably the tournament’s most dangerous overall attacking group, one that has produced both the most goals and the most shot attempts of any remaining team in the competition.

FIFA’s tiebreaker rules for the Golden Boot could prove decisive given how tightly bunched the leading scorers remain. If two or more players finish the tournament level on goals, assists serve as the first tiebreaker, followed by total minutes played, with the player who has featured for less time ranked ahead. Should every tiebreaker remain equal, FIFA rules allow multiple players to share the award, an outcome that has never previously occurred in men’s World Cup history.

With Mbappé and Messi both still active heading into the semifinals, both retain a realistic path to finishing as the tournament’s outright top scorer, while Haaland and Kane’s runs illustrate how difficult it remains to sustain a scoring pace deep into a 48-team tournament format that rewards players from teams capable of advancing through all eight possible matches. Historically, the Golden Boot has not always gone to a player from the eventual champion, with past winners including England’s Gary Lineker in 1986, Croatia’s Davor Šuker in 1998 and Brazil’s Ronaldo in 2002 all claiming the individual honor despite their teams falling short of the title.

With France facing Spain and Argentina facing England in next week’s semifinals, at least two of the tournament’s top-five scorers, Mbappé and Messi, will have a chance to add to their totals before the race is settled. The Golden Boot will officially be awarded following the July 19 final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, once every remaining match of the tournament has been played.