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⚽️ 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...

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.All parties caught lightning in a bottle during a tenure that has ended after Ipswich’s third promotion in four seasons. McKenna will not lead them into another Premier League campaign and, hearing his voice crack repeatedly during an intensely emotional farewell address to the fanbase, anyone could have been forgiven for wondering why. Ipswich are in a better position to attempt survival than in 2024-25, when they had returned to the top in stunning fashion after 22 years away. His stock remains sky high among supporters and those who employed him. Then there is the matter of a contract that put him among the top flight’s better-paid managers. 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...

Thomas Tuchel wants to ‘put a second star on the shirt’ after making big selection calls, but what will be Jude Bellingham’s role?This article is part of the Guardian’s 2026 World Cup Experts’ Network, a cooperation between some of the best media organisations from the 48 countries who qualified. theguardian.com is running previews from three countries each day in the run-up to the tournament kicking off on 11 June. Continue reading...

Northampton scrum-half reflects on his lifelong international ambitions, playing with freedom and his club’s Prem semi-final against LeicesterPlenty of aspiring young players will relate to how Archie McParland once felt. Northampton’s fast-emerging scrum-half, on the verge of a full England debut this summer, possessed the requisite talent but not always the freedom of expression to maximise it. Perfectionists can often be like that, so averse to making the slightest mistake they end up holding themselves back. Eventually there was a choice to be made: abandon all inner doubt and trust in his ability or stay frustratingly trapped in never never land. The turning point for McParland arrived just after Christmas in Bath when he starred for Saints in a pivotal league fixture at the Recreation Ground having been specifically encouraged by his coaches to follow his gut instinct. “That was the moment,” he says now. “I’d been training well but struggling to put it on to the pitch. In that game we felt quite free to play our game and it all worked out. Since then I’ve been able to show my game more and more.”In what has been an eye-catching personal season for the 21-year-old there was another prime example at Bath in the sixth minute of the Champions Cup quarter-final in April. Clean off-the-top ball, a deft lob by Rory Hutchinson, a glorious one-handed flick on by McParland to Fin Smith and great support from Tommy Freeman and Fraser Dingwall made for the slickest of first-phase strike plays. Saints lost a thrilling contest 43-41 but for a while their attacking game was untouchable. Continue reading...

Sources say it would have breached regulations to tell WSL or team details of safeguarding investigation into SullivanNeither the Women’s Super League nor West Ham United women’s team were aware of the restrictions placed on David Sullivan’s interaction with the team, the Guardian has learned. Sullivan, who is West Ham’s largest shareholder, has faced restrictions on his contact with the women’s team and their youth teams since 2023 because of a safeguarding investigation.The Football Association opened an inquiry in the same year after receiving a complaint, which the Guardian understands was an allegation of sexual misconduct unrelated to football. In a joint investigation by the BBC and the Times, seven women accused the 77-year-old of predatory behaviour, with alleged incidents dating back to the 1980s. Through his lawyers, Sullivan has said he denies the allegations. Sources close to the playing squad at West Ham’s women’s side have said the team are appalled by the allegations, which they were not aware of before the story broke this week. Continue reading...

In theory the hosts have an easy route to the last four, but even a weakened Australia team are still, well, AustraliaJust after midday last Sunday the England captain, Nat Sciver-Brunt, smashed the India captain, Harmanpreet Kaur, for six off Waterloo Bridge, straight into the Thames. The scratch-match, which involved all 12 competing captains, was part of a chaotic, eye-catching event to launch the Women’s T20 World Cup. Also involved were a red London bus, the International Cricket Council chairman, Jay Shah, and a day-long takeover of one of London’s busiest thoroughfares. A Women’s World Cup has never been this big, this important, or this annoying for black cab drivers.The England and Wales Cricket Board has poured a lot of resources into trying to achieve its stated goal of making this tournament “a movement, not a moment”. Last week Sciver-Brunt, Lauren Bell and Sophia Dunkley became the first cricketers to appear on a Piccadilly Circus billboard. The entire West End cast of Wicked are being transplanted to Birmingham on Friday evening, to perform the musical’s biggest hits as part of the tournament’s opening ceremony. Continue reading...

Rob Key says ECB need time to consider futureECB chiefs were in ‘shock’ after nightclub incidentThe England and Wales Cricket Board is considering imposing a complete ban on alcohol while players are on international duty as they ponder the best response to the incident at a Chelsea nightclub that led to Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson being dropped for next week’s second Test against New Zealand, and to the stream of embarrassing stories over the past eight months.Rob Key, the ECB’s managing director of men’s cricket, admitted on Thursday that it is now hard to say the players can show they are to be trusted to behave responsibly. The two players broke a midnight curfew and were then allegedly involved in a fight that broke out in the early hours of Monday morning, though there is no suggestion that either were active participants. “Everything we’ve looked at so far, everything we’ve found out, it looks like they were in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Key said. “They weren’t aggressive or anything, and actually it looks like they were on the receiving end of some pretty poor behaviour from other people.” Continue reading...

Ted Lasso will deliver a message of hope before the USA’s first game, in an America that is not a fit or desirable host right nowShortly before 6pm local time on Friday night at the Los Angeles Stadium, the actor who plays Ted Lasso – the fictional manager of a fake team in a falsely heartwarming version of football – will tell hundreds of millions of TV viewers tuning in to watch the start of the American leg of the Fifa World Cup that football unites the world.In an interesting twist, the actor Jason Sudeikis will do this at a time when the World Cup host is simultaneously bombing the second-ranked country in Group G, having recently murdered its head of state. The message of unity is one likely to be heard by the US president, Donald Trump, who has initiated six military conflicts in his second term, and whose brutally divisive immigration policies have now led to the barring of Omar Artan, the reigning African referee of the year. Continue reading...

20-year-old finished in blistering time of 12.75secFirst world record at NCAA championships since 1976American Ja’Kobe Tharp broke the 110m hurdles world record with a blistering time of 12.75sec at the NCAA outdoor track and field championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, on Wednesday.Tharp’s effort in the heats of the 110m hurdles improved upon the previous world record mark of 12.80sec, set by Olympic champion and fellow American Aries Merritt in Brussels in 2012. Continue reading...