Egham Town · Goalkeeper · #0 · England · 34 yrs
⚽️ Kick-off at 9pm EDT/2am BST/11am AEST⚽️ Player guide | Bracketology | Golden Boot | Mail BeauThe likely starter at striker for the United States will be key to how the team builds up in attack. Jeff Rueter on what we saw from Balogun in the pre-World Cup friendlies: Continue reading...
Tara Warren of the Independent Football Regulator was an executive director at West Ham until DecemberA nonexecutive director of the Independent Football Regulator will not be involved in the inquiry into allegations of sexual misconduct against David Sullivan to avoid a conflict of interest over her links to West Ham.Tara Warren was an executive director of West Ham United and the club’s women’s team before joining the football regulator. Continue reading...
“History is about to be made,” the understandably giddy stadium announcer said in the seconds before kick-off and while this was not the perfect start, Canada will not forget Cyle Larin’s equaliser against Bosnia and Herzegovina in a hurry.Trailing to Jovo Lukic’s first international goal, Larin stepped off the bench and pulled the co-hosts level with his first touch, lashing in 121 seconds after his entrance. It felt like a shot that carried pent-up frustration at being left out of the starting lineup, and maybe at losing his chance to play in the Premier League next season after Southampton’s expulsion from the playoffs. Continue reading...
President gave ticket to a young female soccer fan‘I gave it to someone who couldn’t go, who loves football’The Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, explained on Friday why she was absent from the Estadio Azteca during Mexico’s opening match with South Africa, saying tickets to the match were unaffordable for most Mexicans and that she had given her ticket to a young female soccer fan.“Stadium tickets are very expensive,” Sheinbaum said during her daily morning news conference. “As president it’s better that I give my place to someone who couldn’t have gone, who loves football, especially a young woman, and I can celebrate it with the people for free.” Continue reading...
Röhl expected to join RB SalzburgMcInnes turned down chance to manage Rangers in 2017Rangers are likely to move for the Hearts manager, Derek McInnes, if Danny Röhl completes a move to RB Salzburg. The Ibrox club and Salzburg are in talks over a deal for Röhl, who was appointed by Rangers last October. The 37-year-old began his coaching career elsewhere in the RB stable, at Leipzig. There is a rising sense in Glasgow that he will accept Salzburg’s overtures, with a switch likely to happen within days.In that scenario, Rangers are expected to turn towards McInnes. The former Rangers player guided Hearts to second place in Scotland’s Premiership this season, with the Edinburgh club losing out on what would have been their first title since 1960 on the final day of the season, after defeat at Celtic Park. McInnes took over at Hearts after leaving Kilmarnock in the summer of 2025. He was Scotland’s manager of the year within 12 months. Continue reading...
Usage in opening matches focused on replays of goals from a unique angle, offering the viewer greater depth to watch from homeNot all of Fifa’s innovations at this men’s World Cup have been an instant hit with fans. But amid the clutter of the opening day, one success did seem to emerge – the new and improved refcam view.As part of their matchday equipment a small, high-definition “stabilised” camera is attached to the referee’s headset. Before the tournament, the Italian veteran referee Pierluigi Collina, chair of Fifa’s referees committee, said: “We think that it is a good chance to offer the viewers a new experience … from an angle of vision which was never offered before.” Continue reading...
Breaks have been added at World Cup for player safetyFox missed small amount of action during breakFox is facing criticism from fans in the US after introducing full-screen adverts while players take hydration breaks during its World Cup broadcasts.Fifa introduced the three-minute breaks for the World Cup amid fears that players could struggle in the heat of North America this summer. The breaks take place once each half in every match, regardless of temperature. Continue reading...
Ex-Arsenal forward signs three-year deal with champions‘The way City plays suits me really well,’ says 31-year-oldBeth Mead believes Manchester City’s playing style suits her own and has described her move to the Women’s Super League champions on a three-year contract as a “no-brainer”.The 31-year-old forward, who has scored 40 times in 81 appearances for England, has become City’s first signing of the summer, having completed a free transfer from Arsenal, whom she left at the end of the season after nine years. Continue reading...
Jibril Rajoub attended opening match in Mexico but becomes latest football official hit by US visa issues, he saysThe head of the Palestinian Football Association has said he is unable to travel to the United States with other federation heads attending the 2026 Fifa World Cup because he has not been issued a visa.Jibril Rajoub went to the opening match between Mexico and South Africa in Mexico City on Thursday. But he is among several people accredited to attend the World Cup who have been denied visas or have yet to receive them from the United States. Continue reading...
Platini among former players to accuse captain of creating distraction as Deschamps defends captain’s right to speak“If there’s one wish I have, it’s for you to ask my players about the opponents, about football,” Didier Deschamps told journalists after announcing France’s World Cup squad. “I understand that you might feel obliged to ask other questions, but they’re not there to answer them.”Deschamps has found himself batting away questions about off-pitch matters beyond his scope before his final tournament as head coach. He has sought to protect his players from media scrutiny while insisting they are anything but sheltered from the wider political issues surrounding this tournament. Continue reading...
Jackett spent whole playing career with WatfordHe managed seven clubs including Millwall and WolvesThe former Watford and Wales player Kenny Jackett, who managed clubs including Wolves, Millwall and Swansea, has died aged 64.Jackett won 31 Wales caps during a playing career spent entirely with Watford, his local club, before starting his managerial career with the Hornets in 1996. He took charge of more than 900 games across spells with seven clubs, most recently Leyton Orient, but also including Portsmouth, Millwall and Swansea. Continue reading...
Eight years on from being sacked by Spain on the eve of the World Cup, Julen Lopetegui will get his chance on the big stage as head coach of QatarWhen the Qatari national team’s flight from Dublin touched down in Los Angeles at 2.12pm on 30 May there was applause on board the Boeing 777‑300ER. For the 26 players arriving in America, this represents the first time they have qualified for a World Cup. For the coach who has led them there it is the third, but this time is different; this time he will get a game.“Football didn’t owe me anything,” says Julen Lopetegui in the dining room at the team hotel in Montecito, Santa Barbara, yet maybe he owed himself a moment like this. And, he says, if there were many reasons to answer the call from Doha 12 months ago, the simplest stood out most of all: this is the World Cup. Continue reading...
South Korea rallied from a goal down to defeat Czechia 2-1 and make a winning start to their World Cup Group A campaign, much to the delight of their fans and the sizable local Mexican support they enjoyed in a festive Guadalajara.South Korea joined Mexico on three points at the top of the group after the co-hosts beat nine-man South Africa 2-0 in the tournament opener in Mexico City. Continue reading...
From Ogris’s Florentine charge to Quagliarella’s Ellis Park chip, half a dozen World Cup classics that deserve to be better rememberedThe first six or seven World Cups certainly are not without their charms, but they are noticeably light on the kind of viscerally spectacular goals that we take for granted in the modern game. Hardly surprising when you contemplate what teams of the era had to endure: quagmire-like pitches, boots comprising 50% leather and 50% landfill, and balls so heavy that they basically constituted gym equipment. Continue reading...
One of football’s great arenas roared as El Tri eased past South Africa, offering fans a fleeting escape from the tensions gripping the capitalThe walk to Estadio Ciudad de México – most fans know it as the Azteca – on Thursday did a pretty good job of laying out the two sides of Mexico as the World Cup kicked off.Flanked by volunteers and channeled towards the stadium by steel barriers, the lucky few to have scored a ticket to the tournament’s opener between Mexico and South Africa chanted, waved the country’s tricolor flag and cracked beers in the middle of the street. The path was flanked with performers, the sound of traditional banda music providing a festive atmosphere. Continue reading...
Mexico City played host to this year’s first game as an emotionally charged Azteca witnessed Shakira’s big returnMexicans have waited 40 years to witness a World Cup in their own country and the pride felt from becoming the first nation to stage three tournaments has been easy to sense in the city all week. Those fortunate enough to have secured tickets were not going to miss out. Despite road closures and multiple protests from striking teachers and families of the country’s 130,000 disappeared making travel challenging, all 83,000 seats at the Azteca were filled 90 minutes before kick-off, with Fifa’s fears of being forced to delay proceedings proving unfounded. Continue reading...
⚽️ Infantino tells fans to ‘chill’ in response to Fifa’s critics⚽️ Match centre | Player guide | Bracketology | Mail JohnBTL chat is thus far dominated by Gianni Infantino’s ritual pre-tournament torching of his own dignity. SonOfThe Desert offers this:“Infantino is just absolutely wretched, isn’t he? An absolute nothing of a man, sucking up to tyrants because he thinks it makes him look strong. ”But you know what’s really annoying me? All those heads of national associations who could have unified around a candidate - anyone - to oppose Infantino and try and rescue Fifa from humiliation. Couldn’t be bothered though, could they? Might’ve had to do some actual work that way.New York has honored two footballing greats by temporarily renaming streets after Thierry Henry and Pelé ahead of the World Cup kickoff …Crowds gathered at West 50th Street and 6th Avenue in downtown Manhattan to mark the unveiling of “Thierry Henry Way” by city officials, according to FOX Sports. Continue reading...
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Manager caught lightning in a bottle with three promotions in four seasons but his need for a break to prioritise a young family is refreshing When the tears have dried, the adage will ring true for Ipswich and Kieran McKenna. They will smile because it happened and reflect that, despite the hurt, sometimes it is best to part while the love still burns.Perhaps they will also marvel at the unlikely magic football occasionally sprinkles. It is an industry in which people and places are thrown together, coming and going, sticking or not. When McKenna arrived in Suffolk four and a half years ago he could have been another hired gun; instead he transformed a community’s relationship with its club and left a legacy that should span generations. Continue reading...
Australia, the US and Paraguay will have their work cut out to match the Crescent Stars’ young midfield but a shaky defence is a genuine concernTurkey coach Vincenzo Montella has been building one of the nation’s strongest teams in living memory. A youth-driven squad with two genuine stars – Arda Guler and Kenan Yildiz – several players were not even born when the Crescent Stars last qualified for a World Cup and finished third in 2002.In past tournaments, Turkey were often labelled as “dark horses” – which turned out to be more of a curse than a blessing. This time, Montella has constructed a squad that sits among those on the rung below heavyweights Spain, France and Argentina. Continue reading...