Expanding the World Cup to 48 teams always presented one obvious problem – it was an imperfect number for a tournament. With 32 teams, the maths was simple – eight groups of four teams, with the top two going through to a last 16, then quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final. By adding another 16 nations, […]

Watch all the angles of Kylian Mbappes second goal in France’s 3-1 win over Senegal. Source link

Thomas Partey will miss Ghana’s World Cup opener against Panama after wrongly telling officials in Canada he had never been arrested or charged with a crime. Partey, 33, was denied entry to Canada before Wednesday’s match in Toronto because of ongoing criminal proceedings in the UK. The Ghanaian government sought permission for him to enter […]

Tottenham encouraged to bid for Sandro Tonali, Real Madrid plot Ruben Dias move and Manchester United make Marcus Rashford valuation. Tottenham have been encouraged to compete with Arsenal and Manchester City for Italy midfielder Sandro Tonali, with Newcastle‘s asking price for the 26-year-old expected to be about £100m. (Telegraph – subscription required), external Real Madrid […]

Tottenham Hotspur have agreed a £52m deal with Brighton for Dutch defender Jan Paul van Hecke. The 26-year-old started in his country’s 2-2 draw with Japan on Sunday at the World Cup. Van Hecke has a year left on his current Brighton contract and showed no inclination to extend the deal. Brighton had already turned […]

In a small city in the state of Kansas, a World Cup love story has started. Algeria have made Lawrence their home for the tournament – and the city has been taken over by national flags. “When we found out that Algeria was coming here in February, we started preparations to make sure they knew […]

Former Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim has been appointed as head coach of Italian giants AC Milan. The 41-year-old has signed a two-year contract to replace Massimiliano Allegri, who was sacked after a catastrophic run of form at the end of the season led to the club missing out on Champions League qualification. Reports in […]

England are in talks over a behind-closed-doors game against Major League Soccer side Sporting Kansas City after the World Cup opener against Croatia. Any friendly is likely to be played between Wednesday’s fixture against Croatia in Dallas (21:00 BST) and England’s second group game versus Ghana next Tuesday (21:00 BST). It is understood that talks […]

Heart of Midlothian, Hibernian and Motherwell will find out their first opponents in European qualifying on Wednesday, but who might they face? Source link

Spain came into the game as heavy favourites but the spirit and ability shown by Lopes, who has played for Shamrock Rovers since 2017, and his team-mates proved enough to pull off a major shock. “I think everyone expected it to be a walk in the park for the Spanish, understandably,” added Stafford. “I think […]