The most evocative fixture of the World Cup’s opening week unfolds on Tuesday afternoon in East Rutherford, New Jersey, where France begin their campaign against Senegal in a match freighted with historical resonance. Twenty-four years ago, in Seoul, a Senegalese side making their tournament debut stunned the reigning world and European champions 1-0, a result that still stands as one of the competition’s archetypal upsets. Now, at the MetLife Stadium, Didier Deschamps’s France — finalists in the last two editions and ranked third globally — confront an opponent that has since matured into the champions of Africa, led by the former 2002 player Pape Thiaw and carrying an unbeaten run into the tournament. For Les Bleus, the afternoon is not merely a group-stage opener but an immediate test of their credentials as many analysts’ favourites to reach a third consecutive final, a feat only Brazil and Germany have achieved.

Viewed from the broadcast centres of Latin America, the match is a prime-time offering. In Argentina, DSports and DGO carry the signal from 16:00 local time, while in Brazil, Globo, SBT, SporTV and streaming platforms deliver the game to a football-obsessed public. Mexican audiences can follow the action on ViX Premium, and across the United States, the 3 p.m. Eastern kick-off anchors a day that also features Norway’s debut against Iraq and the much-anticipated entrance of Lionel Messi’s Argentina against Algeria in Kansas City. In Indonesia, where the match begins at 02:00 WIB on Wednesday morning, state broadcaster TVRI provides free-to-air coverage, underscoring the global pull of a fixture that pits Kylian Mbappé, Ousmane Dembélé and Michael Olise against Sadio Mané and a Senegal squad steeped in European top-flight experience.

The broader Tuesday schedule reveals a tournament beginning to hit its stride. Norway, with Erling Haaland making his long-awaited World Cup bow, face Iraq in Philadelphia at 19:00 Brasília time, a match that will measure the Nordic side’s capacity to translate individual brilliance into collective threat. Later, Argentina launch their title defence against Algeria at Arrowhead Stadium, carrying the weight of a Conmebol confederation yet to register a victory in this tournament after four attempts. The day closes in Santa Clara, where Austria meet Jordan in a Group J encounter that, while less glamorous, could quietly shape the knockout permutations.

For France, the tension lies not in a lack of talent — their squad is valued at nearly $1.74 billion, the most expensive in the competition — but in the familiar challenge of forging coherence from abundance. Deschamps, in his 20th World Cup match as coach, has left out established names such as Antoine Griezmann and Eduardo Camavinga, betting instead on the dynamism of a new generation. Yet a recent friendly defeat to Ivory Coast, another African side, has tempered the sense of inevitability. Senegal, ranked 16th, arrive with the psychological armour of their continental title and the knowledge that they have already unpicked French certainties once before. Should they do so again, the group — which also includes a dangerous Norway — would instantly become one of the most volatile in the tournament. The afternoon in New Jersey, then, is not merely a curtain-raiser but a moment that could define the trajectory of a World Cup favourite and, perhaps, the entire Group I narrative.