The first World Cup staged across three nations has reached its knockout weekend, and the field of 48 is down to the last 16 with the drama already reshaping the bracket. Co-hosts Canada, who had reached the Round of 16 on home soil, were eliminated by a resurgent Morocco, ending one of the three home nations' campaigns and leaving the United States and Mexico to carry host hopes forward. France came through against a stubborn Paraguay to move into the quarterfinals.

Sunday delivers the tie the tournament has been waiting for. England travel to Mexico City to face co-hosts Mexico at a reworked Estadio Azteca, a cauldron that has staged two previous World Cup finals and now hosts a last-16 meeting with a quarterfinal place on the line. Earlier in the day, Brazil open proceedings against Erling Haaland's Norway in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the same stadium that will stage the final.

Monday closes out the round with two more heavyweight fixtures: Portugal against Spain in Arlington, Texas, an Iberian showdown with continental bragging rights at stake, and the United States facing Belgium in Seattle as the co-hosts try to keep their run alive on home soil.

From there the tournament accelerates. The quarterfinals run from July 9 to 11 across US venues, the semifinals follow, and it all resolves on Sunday, July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford. With a co-host already out, a Mexican fortress in play and an Iberian derby looming, the expanded World Cup's knockout rounds are set to test whether scale and spectacle can still deliver the old jeopardy.

The biggest World Cup in history kicks off on 11 June, and the scale is staggering. For the first time the tournament spans three host nations, the United States, Canada and Mexico, across 16 host cities, with 48 teams playing 104 matches over more than a month of football.

For FIFA, the expanded format is a windfall. Governing-body projections put tournament revenue at roughly US$8.9 billion, the bulk of its US$13 billion target for the 2023 to 2026 cycle, against a record budget of about US$3.76 billion. Broadcast income alone is forecast near US$3.8 billion, up more than a fifth on Qatar 2022, with sponsorship climbing to around US$2.4 billion. Prize money reaches a record US$871 million.

The picture on the ground is more complicated. FIFA has leaned on dynamic pricing for the first time at a World Cup, with seats for marquee fixtures running well into the thousands of dollars and resale listings for the final reaching eye-watering sums. The model has drawn criticism from fans and consumer groups, and with kickoff days away, thousands of tickets across host cities remain unsold.

Host-city economics are under fresh scrutiny too. Industry surveys point to hotel bookings tracking behind early forecasts, with one US lodging association reporting that most hotels it surveyed saw reservations below expectations. A softer-than-anticipated international turnout, blamed partly on tighter US entry rules and higher airfares, is squeezing the high-spending overseas fans that cities had counted on. Sports economists have long warned that mega-events rarely deliver the headline windfalls promised, citing substitution and crowding-out effects.

None of which dampens the spectacle. Once the group stage is in full flow, demand may yet rebound. But for the venues, hoteliers and host cities banking on a generational payday, the 2026 World Cup is shaping up as a test of whether the biggest event ever also pays out as advertised.