England legend Wayne Rooney has made his predictions for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and believes neither Argentina nor France will reach the final. The 2026 FIFA World Cup kicked off on Thursday with Mexico’s 2-0 victory over South Africa. In the coming days, some of the tournament’s biggest contenders, including France and Argentina, will begin their campaigns. However, England legend Wayne Rooney does not believe either side will make it back to the final. During an interview with BBC Sport, a group of former soccer stars that included Alan Shearer and Olivier Giroud were asked for their predictions ahead of this summer’s FIFA tournament. Rooney was among them and made his stance on two of the leading contenders clear. “England and Spain will make the final,” said the former Manchester United striker, who appeared in three World Cups with the Three Lions. He then added his preferred outcome for the title match: “Hopefully England will win it.” Rooney’s prediction is backed by the recent form of Thomas Tuchel’s side, which have won all of their matches in the European qualifiers and arrive at North America 2026 with their key players in excellent form. “I’m going with Kane to get the Golden Boot,” Wayne added. Former England star Wayne Rooney. Rooney’s potential surprise teams at the 2026 World Cup In the same conversation, Wayne Rooney was asked which teams could emerge as surprise packages during the tournament. “Norway could do quite well,” he began, referring to the team led by Erling Haaland. He then added another contender: “I like Ecuador too.” In a separate interview with Daily Mail, Rooney answered a similar set of questions and expanded on several other predictions. For example, when asked about the tournament’s best goalkeeper, he named a Premier League star: “Maybe David Raya, if he plays.” That caveat is significant, as all indications suggest Unai Simon will start in goal for Spain. Rooney defines what would qualify as a flop at the 2026 FIFA World Cup Finally, when asked which team could be the biggest disappointment of the World Cup, Wayne Rooney was cautious in his response. “It’s hard to flop, to be honest. Any of the big teams if they don’t go past the last 32, then I suppose that’s a flop,” he said. That assessment is tied to the tournament’s expanded format. In addition to the top two teams from each group, eight of the 12 third-place finishers will also advance to the knockout stages. The new structure increases every team’s chances of progressing, and combined with the addition of 16 more teams than in previous editions, it means several lower-ranked nations are now in the field. Those factors should allow the traditional powerhouses to reach the Round of 32 without major difficulty.
Given he recently distanced himself from a managerial role until the new season gets under way, I was surprised to see Thomas Frank installed as one of the early favourites for the vacant job at Ipswich. Prior to his difficult spell at Tottenham, the Dane did wonders at Brentford, and he knows how to get out of the Championship and STAY in the Premier League, which is something Kieran McKenna hasn't achieved yet in his career. Liam Rosenior was always going to be linked and I think he would be a sound appointment as well, despite it not working out for him at Chelsea.
There are worse ways to spend your 24th birthday than at your country's first World Cup base camp in 28 years, even if you can't tuck into any cake. Politely passing on the sugary gift from the Fifa broadcasters, Aaron Hickey admits it's a dream come true just to be here. Hickey managed just eight Premier League starts in 2025-26, but is a first pick for Scotland head coach Steve Clarke.
Ben Davies was due to become a free agent this summer, but his stay with Tottenham will stretch to 13 years after he signed a new contract. The post Davies signs new Spurs contract as Bissouma leaves on a free appeared first on SoccerNews.
Sunderland have announced their retained list for the 2026-27 Premier League season, with first team players Dan Neil, Dennis Cirkin, Bertrand Traore and Niall Huggins all being released. The Black Cats "remain in discussions" with Lutsharel Geertruida, who has spent the 2025-26 season on loan at the Stadium of Light from Bundesliga club RB Leipzig. After helping Sunderland gain promotion from League One, Neil captained the club back to the Premier League before joining Ipswich Town on loan in January.
Djed Spence will have to play the entire World Cup in a protective mask due to a "crazy challenge" from Liam Delap, which saw him sustain a broken jaw in Tottenham's penultimate Premier League game of the season. The full-back, who was named in Thomas Tuchel's 26-man England squad ahead of Newcastle United's Lewis Hall and Manchester United's Luke Shaw, revealed the injury will take three months to heal.
As relayed by Fabrizio Romano, Inter Milan’s sporting director Piero Ausilio has confirmed the club’s interest in Liverpool midfielder, Curtis Jones. “It’s no secret we’re following Curtis Jones. He’s a player we like, we’re not hiding”, Ausilio said. “We will see the developments”. Jones has been heavily linked with a move away from Anfield for […] The post Inter chief confirms Curtis Jones interest appeared first on SoccerNews.
Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now!Geopolitics World Cup Week is upon us, baby. We stand on the edge of greatness. Who will dream, who will dare to stay up on Friday night for the 3am (BST) kick-off of South Korea v Czechia, and live to tell the tale? Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone. Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone. Silence the pianos and, with muffled drum, bring out the television, let the morning come.Podcast-wise, I only listen to Football Weekly of course (ahem …) but I did happen to hear an interview with Jürgen Klinsmann. What’s fascinating about him is that whenever he’s interviewed he always trots out a story about Diego Maradona at Napoli doing a famous warm-up with ‘Live is Life’ playing in the background with him and his teammates warming up in the corner of the pitch and looking at him in awe. The problem is, that happened in a game in 1989 between Bayern Munich and Napoli in the semi-final of the old Big Vase but Klinsmann was at Stuttgart at the time. Stuttgart did play Napoli in the final, but Maradona didn’t do that warmup then, so he must have seen footage of the warmup so many times that he’s conflated the two. Memory is a funny old thing” – Noble Francis.Re: Graham Potter’s claim to be the best non-Swede to take the country to the World Cup (Friday’s Quote of the Day). Either he is unaware of the remarkable achievement of the English manager George Rayner who took them to the 1958 final (where they lost to Pelé’s Brazil) or he expects to win the whole damn thing! I’m weighing up whether to put this month’s housekeeping on them at 150-1” – Bob WilcoxImagine my shock when I read Friday’s Football Daily only to find that Neale Redington – whom I’m sure meant nothing by it – suggested that my questioning whether Andoni Iraola really wanted the potentially thankless job of Liverpool gaffer/convenient target meant that I might be a fan of Tottenham. But in the interest of full disclosure: no. I don’t really have a horse in the Premier League race, other than enjoying recent seasons of Manchester City for the sake of watching Erling Haaland turn world-class defenders into so many kanelsnurr. The team of my heart is the San Jose Earthquakes, but while I pull for a club that hasn’t won anything in quite some time, I still do not have the level of masochism necessary to be a Spurs supporter. Sorry. Wishing Iraola luck (he’s likely to need it)” –Ray Anselmo.May I ask who this Ricardo Lopes is who plays for Cape Verde and ‘Shamrock’? It couldn’t possibly be Roberto “Pico” Lopes of Shamrock Rovers, could it?” – Neill McGowan (and 1,056 others). Continue reading...
Andy Robertson left Liverpool this summer as a free agent, and Tottenham Hotspur have taken advantage of the situation to snap up the experienced left-back. Here he is, saying hello to the fans of his new club, while away with Scotland as they prepare for the World Cup. 📱 New message: Andy Robertson pic.twitter.com/k4fo0A0JZv — […] The post New Tottenham Hotspur signing Andy Robertson says hello to fans (Video) appeared first on SoccerNews.
According to David Ornstein of The Athletic, Bayern Munich are considering a swoop for Liverpool’s teenage talent Rio Ngumoha. The Bundesliga champions are keen to add a young player to bolster their options on the left side of attack, and Ngumoha fits the designs of head coach Vincent Kompany perfectly. They are, however, yet to […] The post Bayern Munich explore Rio Ngumoha move appeared first on SoccerNews.
⚽️ Latest football news before a big weekend of action⚽️ Get in touch: email John | And follow us on TikTokThe shortlists for the Men’s and Women’s PFA players’ awards have been revealed. Arsenal’s Premier League-winning trio of Declan Rice, Gabriel and David Raya all feature while Bunny Shaw and Yui Hasegawa have both been nominated for the Women’s Player of the Year award after helping Manchester City to title glory.Men’s Players’ Player of the Year nominations Continue reading...
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