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Only four years to the next men’s World Cup – what can we expect from the 2030 edition?
If you thought the 2026 tournament was sprawling, think again with six host countries over three continents getting involved in four years’ timeIf the 2026 World Cup was the tournament’s largest edition yet – featuring 48 teams for the first time in its 96-year history, being played in three different countries – the 2030 World Cup is going to have an even bigger footprint. Continue reading...
Nico Williams, Ferran Torres and Spain’s adaptable World Cup excellence | Jeff Rueter
The two substitutes combined on the World Cup winning goal not by changing the game, but by offering it what it needed, when it was neededAs Spain built into the second half of extra-time of Sunday’s World Cup final, it was already clear that Argentina hoped to make them suffer. Every challenge left no stud unshown. Their defenders labored to block striker Mikel Oyarzabal from his typical lanes of service, with Spain taking 11 of their 20 attempts from beyond the box.Lionel Scaloni’s side may have been aggressive, but they were also just structured enough to withstand the endless monsoon of Spanish pressure. After the 62nd minute, when Luis de la Fuente brought his first two charges off the bench, Spain adapted to find new avenues to attack, adjusting with Enzo Fernández’s sending-off near the end of normal time. Continue reading...
João Gomes seals £38m Aston Villa move, Hall and Robinson on Manchester United list
Brazil midfielder Gomes joins from Wolves United sign young winger Thompson from SpursThe Brazil international João Gomes has joined Aston Villa in a £38m deal. The 25-year-old midfielder, who has 10 caps, ends a three-and-a-half-year spell at Wolves, for whom he made 130 appearances after signing from Flamengo.Gomes’s arrival at Villa follows the departure of Youri Tielemans to Manchester United and comes with Morgan Rogers on the verge of a £117m move to Chelsea. Continue reading...
At the World Cup of superstars, a team take home the trophy | Sid Lowe
The European champions conceded just one goal in the tournament and Spain’s success is a victory for a systemRelease the pressure, let it out. All of it and all of them. Again and again they had come, again and again they had been halted but they would not be denied. A dozen different players had taken aim at Emi Martínez’s goal but somehow he was still standing and time was slipping away, yet Spain refused to do so, so they came some more.And then, suddenly, only this wasn’t really sudden, the result instead of the purest logic, the clearest justice, Pedro Porro’s deep cross found Nico Williams at the far post and he headed back. The ball dropped deep inside the Argentina penalty area, bounced on the turf and just kind of sat there: waiting, willing someone take this moment. Continue reading...
‘It was crap’: Wayne Rooney’s candour helps BBC in World Cup final TV battle
BBC scored a late goal in head-to-head with ITV over the World Cup by being in the stadium for the final“I thought it was crap,” Wayne Rooney surmised on BBC One after enduring the half-time show. Amid a tense final, the interval was always going to be prominent, theoretically bringing light to the shade. Why the two UK broadcasters felt the need to transmit the karaoke session in full we will never know but at least the pundits struggled through it, too.Ally McCoist said it had “mentally scarred” him as someone in attendance, unlike many of his ITV colleagues who were sat in Brooklyn. The studio has rightly earned them kudos, creating a home alongside the East River with the Brooklyn Bridge providing the dramatic backdrop. With the game only an expensive train ride away, it was a surprise to see Roy Keane, Gary Neville and Ian Wright in familiar surroundings. Continue reading...
‘Where did they go?’: homeless people feel force of America’s brutality in World Cup clean-up
Fifa says football brings the world together but the unhoused in Atlanta feel targeted and completely excluded from the tournament“A lot of our community has been pushed out by the World Cup. We’re not just dollar signs, we’re more than that. We’re people and we’re frustrated that they’ve chosen to treat us less than human.”“They dropped me off there in the middle of the night. They call them Mormon centres or whatever, but it ain’t nothing but a warehouse of cops. It looked like a Fema camp. When I saw it, I left, I walked all the way back here. It’s because of the World Cup. They’re trying to make it look good for tourists. They don’t want the eyesores around.” Continue reading...