Group K · Match 64
Colombia vs DR Congo
8:00 PM CST · Estadio Akron · Guadalajara
Colombia vs DR Congo kicks off at 8:00 PM CST on June 23, 2026 at Estadio Akron in Guadalajara.
In Colombia that's 9:00 PM GMT-5. In DR Congo: 3:00 AM GMT+1.
Colombia face DR Congo at Estadio Akron (49,850 capacity) in Guadalajara on June 23, 2026, with kickoff at 8:00 PM CDT (UTC-5) in Group K of the FIFA World Cup 2026.
Colombia’s 2014 World Cup run produced one specific image that travels ahead of every tournament since: James Rodriguez’s volley against Uruguay in the round of 16 in Rio de Janeiro. He controlled a diagonal pass on his chest 25 yards out and struck it left-footed into the top corner before it hit the ground. It won the Puskas Award for goal of the year. He finished the tournament with six goals and the Golden Boot at 22 years old. Colombia reached the quarter-finals, their best World Cup finish. The 2026 squad inherits both the benchmark and the expectation.
DR Congo’s second group match brings them into contact with a South American side in a Mexican stadium with 49,850 Liga MX-seasoned supporters who know how to fill a space. The Leopards have developed a pipeline through Belgian and French football, the colonial and linguistic connections that send Congolese players to Anderlecht, Bruges, and Lyon. That pipeline produces players who are technically sophisticated enough to compete in European football and physically imposing enough to make matches in Central African heat. Estadio Akron’s compact shape creates intimacy that rewards organised defending and punishes careless possession. DR Congo’s European-trained squad understands that environment.
When is this match? 8:00 PM CDT in Guadalajara means 10:00 AM JST the following morning in Tokyo and 2:00 AM BST in London. Colombian diaspora communities in Miami, New York, and Madrid will follow from the evening hours. Kinshasa watches at 3:00 AM local time. The Guadalajara crowd, neutral but loud, will create an atmosphere that belongs entirely to Mexico.
James Rodriguez scored six goals in 2014 and won the Golden Boot. DR Congo’s players have spent their careers in European football preparing for exactly this level. Estadio Akron decides which of those stories continues into the final group day.