World Cup updates: Team USA looks forward to 2026

The first two matches of the day are underway in Qatar, including the final game for the home squad.

Qatar, which cannot advance to the next round after losses in its first two matches, faces the Netherlands, which currently stands atop Group A. The Netherlands would advance with a win.

In the second match, Ecuador and Senegal face off with the winner guaranteeing a spot in the knockout stage. A draw would also be enough for Ecuador to move on.

If Senegal-Ecuador tie and Netherlands loses, it will come down to goal differential to determine whether Netherlands or Senegal advances. Netherlands is currently plus-2 in goal differential on Senegal, so they are looking good.

The odds of beating Iran are in the U.S.'s favor, but the overall chances of advancing to the knockout round are not -- at least according to FiveThirtyEight's World Cup predictions.

The U.S. has a 38% chance of winning, while Iran has a 31% chance, with a 31% chance of a draw. Only a win will put Team USA into the next round, so that means there's a 62% chance they won't advance to the knockout stage.

For those looking even further down the line, the U.S. has less than a 1% chance of winning the World Cup -- the same as Iran. For those looking on the bright side, the U.S. does have a 15% chance of making the quarterfinals.

FiveThirtyEight uses its Soccer Power Index ratings to determine the likely winner. The SPI draws from a database of international matches dating back to 1905. For a full explanation of how the rankings work, click here.

Good news for the U.S. men's team – Qatar's psychic pandas Thuraya and Suhail have chosen the U.S. to beat Iran in today's must-win matchup.

The two pandas were gifted to Qatar from China to celebrate it as the host country of the World Cup. Every day, they are tasked with predicting which countries will win that day's matchups.

However, the pandas are not given the choice of a draw and they're not always correct.

The pandas also chose England over Wales, Senegal over Ecuador and Qatar over the Netherlands in today’s matches.

When Secretary of State Antony Blinken was asked about the unrest in Iran and China as it related to the game between the U.S. and Iran at the World Cup later today, Blinken said “let's let the athletes do their thing,” expressing his belief that there are no geopolitical implications beyond a competitive game.

“I'm certainly confident in [the athletes'] abilities to do well on the field. And I don't think there are any particular geopolitical aspects to this, other than that,” he added.

Affirming the right to protest, Blinken closed his answer, saying “protests that we're seeing in China, protests that we're seeing for different reasons, in Iraq, in other places — our position is the same everywhere, which is that we support the right of people everywhere to peacefully protest to make known their views, their concerns and their frustrations.”

-ABC News’ Noah Minnie