The Dutch are descending on the stadium in Houston in some serious numbers. Kick-off a little over two hours away.
Sweden’s fans are making themselves known too.
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The Dutch are descending on the stadium in Houston in some serious numbers. Kick-off a little over two hours away.
Sweden’s fans are making themselves known too.
Curuçao are back in action tonight, having enjoyed that equaliser for the ages against Germany before succumbing to their high-functioning attack. They face Ecuador, who need a win to validate their “dark horses” status after defeat to Côte d’Ivoire, in Kansas City at 7pm local time, 8pm EDT, 1am BST. Here are your guides:
Today’s Football Daily email has landed, and it focuses on Turkey’s/Türkiye’s exit, a real disappointment after their expansive performances at the last Euros.
When Turkey changed to Türkiye in 2022, president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced it was because the new name was “the best representation and expression of the Turkish people’s culture, civilisation, and values.” The rebrand, though, also had a less lofty reason. “The association with the bird genuinely annoys Erdoğan and the people around him,” explained Selim Koru of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, while even state broadcaster TRT conceded that the loose-necked Christmas bird was at least a factor in the revamp.
And although getting names right is important – just ask the good folk at Starbucks – some things never change. Save for the 2002 tournament in which the country finished a remarkable third, Turkey/Türkiye have an absolutely dreadful record when it comes to the World Cup – with 2026 being just their third appearance at a finals – and now they are out again after two miserable defeats to the flamin’ Socceroos and Paraguay. The latter was made all the more painful by the fact that the South American side played for more than a half with 10 men, after former Newcastle scuttler Miguel Almirón became the first player to be shown a red card for covering his mouth while speaking to an opponent. “We should have won these games … everybody’s sad, everybody’s crying,” sobbed umlaut enthusiast/Turkish wonderkid Arda Güler, who alongside Juventus’s Kenan Yildiz, it had been hoped might inspire his nation to come good on their “dark horses” tag. “We tried very hard but it didn’t work. But we should have scored some goals.”
“Emma Hayes makes a good point about being fair with the breaks,” emails Simon Dahlan. “But as Rory Smith said on Men in Blazers the other day, this makes the game more about the coaches and less about the players – their inventiveness, awareness, etc. (Hello, Pep-ball.) So here’s an idea: Let the breaks continue but keep the players and coaches separate. Bring the water to the players on the pitch or restrict the coaching staff to their seats while the players are on the sidelines. Allow the players to make tactical tweaks among themselves, which incidentally could re-elevate the role of captain.
“Two more notes: (1) The get-off-the-pitch-in-10 rule is working better than I expected. (2) Adjust the covering-your-mouth punishment to a yellow, not a red.”
Casemiro will be in Miami this week for Brazil v Scotland, and he’s set to spend next season there too, the midfielder having reportedly agreed a free transfer to join Inter Miami.
Despite a resurgence at Manchester United under Michael Carrick, Casemiro left Old Trafford last month. Inter Miami were always considered favourites to sign him but LA Galaxy retained ‘discovery rights’, giving them priority to agree a move, which means Inter Miami would be forced to pay compensation of up to £750,000 for the Brazilian.
More as we get it.
Ben Fisher
Club news you may have missed: Gary O’Neil is set to replace Kieran McKenna in the Ipswich hotseat. Ben Fisher has the details:
Gary O’Neil is poised to become Ipswich’s new head coach, with the 43-year-old expected to return to England from Ligue 1 Strasbourg.
There are only minor details to sort with O’Neil primed to succeed Kieran McKenna, who announced his wish to depart Ipswich after leading them to the top flight for a second time.
O’Neil joined Strasbourg, part of the BlueCo stable that owns Chelsea, in January, replacing Liam Rosenior, who accepted the Chelsea job after Enzo Maresca’s exit.
Last season, O’Neil led Strasbourg to eighth in Ligue 1 and they reached the semi-finals of the Conference League, in which they lost to Rayo Vallecano. Last November, O’Neil came close to returning to Wolves, his last job in the Premier League, but pulled out at the 11th hour amid reservations.
O’Neil has a longstanding relationship with Ipswich’s chief executive, Mark Ashton, who was involved in his signing at Bristol City, O’Neil’s penultimate club during his playing career. He counts Ipswich’s rivals Norwich among his former clubs as a player and last year he held talks with Southampton despite beginning his career at Portsmouth.
Some Germany-related correspondence about beer and snakes (though not, thankfully about beer snakes, the construction of which at cricket matches is designed deliberately to annoy me).
“I thought the German fans would be more dismayed by being charged $17 for beer-substitute,” splutters Roger Andrew. “Have you tasted American ‘beer’???” Cue the burgeoning American craft-ale fraternity to flood the inbox.
Meanwhile, Gregory Phillips has some more informed wildlife chat: “I grew up in Essex and now live about 90 minutes from Winston-Salem and can confirm copperheads are common here. Have come across them while gardening, and found one in my carport once, on the steps like it wanted to come in. There are also black widow spiders everywhere. For the 30 years since I moved to North Carolina I have maintained the British ‘all animals overseas are poisonous’ approach. Except my dogs. They’re friendly. Well, one of them is.”
Carlo Ancelotti has said he is likely to select Neymar when Brazil face Scotland on Wednesday, though whether that strengthens them or not is difficult to gauge. “Neymar will train individually tomorrow [Sunday],” said the Brazil manager. “Then, on Monday, he will be with the team and will be ready to play against Scotland.” Brazil may be without Raphina, who went off with a hamstring problem in the 3-0 win over Haiti last night.
Thanks Michael. And I rejoin you with news of a snake in the Germany camp. An actual snake, Bild reported. Joshua Kimmich said that the team saw a venomous snake around the base camp in Winston-Salem on Monday. “We saw a snake, we were told it was venomous,” said Joshua Kimmich, the captain. “If you get bitten, you have to go to the hospital. I don’t think you’ll die, but it’s certainly dangerous. I have the feeling that if you step on a snake like that, it can end badly. That’s why we’re trying to keep our distance from animals here. I have respect for the people here.” According to Bild, the reptile concerned was a copperhead, though Julian Nagelsmann joked in his pre-match media conference that it was an anaconda.
Germany face Côte d’Ivoire in Toronto today at 9pm BST, 4pm local and EDT.
That’s all from me on the blog. I’ll hand back now to Tom Davies. Cheers and enjoy the footy later.
In unrelated booze news:
Mexico City’s government said it is considering measures to limit the sale of alcohol in public spaces, after over 700,000 people gathered downtown to celebrate Mexico’s soccer team advancing to the knockout stage of the World Cup. After Mexico’s victory against South Korea saw massive street celebrations, Reforma Avenue – one of the city’s main arteries – was littered with trash and many of its yellow cempasuchil flowers had been trampled over. Authorities collected some 40 tons of waste around the historic centre.
German fans are kicking off about the beer prices in Toronto. “I have to tell you the beer prices in Canada and the U.S. are much more expensive than in Germany,” said Mats Kauer, 47. “In Germany, we pay about $6-$7 for a pint, but there it is about $10 to $14, and in the stadium, it is $17. That is ridiculous. You have to make it cheaper because beer is essential to life.”
Good lord, I have just looked up where Scotland’s final group game against Brazil is: Miami. Could not be a bigger vibe shift from Boston, I wonder if Pitbull and co will welcome the Tartan Army with the same warmth.
USMNT have already secured passage to the knockout rounds and face next already-eliminated Turkey, so is complacency a problem for Mauricio Pochettino and his side? The Argentinian said this after USA’s win over Australia:
“To be sure that we are going to arrive in good condition, like we arrived in the last two games.” Players and staff need to “keep being very tough with ourselves, to push to be better and better every day,” according to Pochettino, who said his players have the footballing nous to not let standards slip: “That is part of being intelligent … for me, the IQ of the players that I have in my squad, they are so high over the average.
Pochettino did not rule out making changes to his team for that clash. “We had a lot of fatigued bodies in the first half both physically and mentally,” he added. “I think it’s too early to talk about our decision against Turkey … if we want to win and we want to be one of the good teams, dreaming big, I think we need to talk about the team and not the (individual) names.”
“That description of Ronaldo as an “immobile slab of monetised wax” is some of the best sports writing I’ve ever read,” emails Nick Will. “And to those who say he is smart, and conserving energy, I’d make the point that I am currently on holiday on the Adriatic coast. I was smart and conserving energy until I fell out of bed this morning and clinically put away my breakfast. You don’t need to offer me a second chance. It doesn’t matter that I played no part in sourcing the ingredients, cooking them, or bringing them to the table. The important thing was that I was hanging around at the table and in a position to eat it.”
What a week for Morocco’s Ismael Saibari. The forward reportedly completed his medical as new Bayern player four days ago at Morocco’s camp in the US before a €55m move from PSV before the 25-year-old scored an absolute howitzer for his country against Scotland.
You can watch the video of that goal here, and Ewan Murray’s match report of Scotland’s narrow defeat is here.
Saibari was voted the best player in the Eredivisie last season after 15 goals and 8 assists in 27 league appearances, help PSV secure their third consecutive title.
Sid Lowe’s interview with David Raya is live! It’s remarkable that the Arsenal goalkeeper is second (or maybe third) choice for his country (depending on who you believe), but Athletic Club’s Unai Simón is Spain’s No 1. For now, at least.
A reminder that you can play around with group permutations in our Bracketology game.
Paraguay’s win over Türkiye was obviously a huge boost for the South American nation, but it was also pretty much the perfect result for Australia, too.
With Türkiye guaranteed to finish bottom of the group and eliminated – as the standings are now decided by head-to-head record rather than goal difference – the Socceroos are now highly likely to finish as at least one of the eight third-placed teams and will now play a weakened Paraguay, who will surely be fatigued by their 10-man exploits. who will be without the suspended Miguel Almirón.
If Australia win or get a draw against Paraguay, they will finish in second and play the second place in Group G (New Zealand, Iran, Belgium and Egypt are all currently on one point). If they lose against Paraguay, they still have a good chance of making it through, although as a third-placed team they would then face a group winners.
Good to see people are not getting carried away. USA have looked good, it’s true, but against … Australia and Paraguay.
The next two matches are a couple of ripsnorters: Netherlands v Sweden and Germany v Côte d’Ivoire, all of whom won their opening games.
Sweden were arguably the most impressive side in the first round of matches, sweeping aside Tunisia 5-1. It will be interesting to see if they line up with the same attacking line-up against a stronger Dutch side, who have been tipped by economist Joachim Klement to win the tournament. The German has developed his own formula that has previously accurately predicted the winners of the past three tournaments.
Iran plans to lodge a complaint with Fifa over travel restrictions its team is facing in the US at the World Cup. Due to uncertainty over visas and the conflict with the US, the Iranian team are commuting from their tournament base in co-host Mexico for their three group games in the United States.
US authorities require them to enter within 24 hours of a match and leave the same day, leading team coach Amir Ghalenoei to say Iran were the “most oppressed” team in the tournament.
“The Football Federation of Iran believes these restrictions are inconsistent with the principles of providing equal conditions for participating teams and may affect their technical preparation,” the federation said in a statement on Friday announcing its protest to Fifa. Fifa did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Andrew Giuliani, director of the White House World Cup Task Force, told the Telegraph that he would be open to renegotiating the terms of Iran’s entry to the United States. He added that Washington could consider allowing Iran to stay longer around their matches.
“Look, everything is dynamic, things can be discussed on this and we certainly want to create competitive fair play on the field, that’s why every coach on the team has got their visa, has the opportunity to come in,” he said in Seattle ahead of United States’ match against Australia. “The president wants to make sure this tournament strikes a competitive balance, while also making sure bad actors don’t get into the country. We’ve done that, with a month to go.” Reuters
Hello everyone! I’m still reeling from staying up to watch Scotland v Morocco, which as a new-ish father with a sleep deficit, is increasingly looking like a foolish decision.
Right, time to hand you over to Michael Butler for a bit. See you’se later.
Cold War Steve’s latest exclusive World Cup collage is with us:
A couple of contrasting views on Scotland from BTL. Hyndsight is not impressed:
I’m sorry to say that Clarke has to take full responsibility for that first half. Tierney and Robertson weren’t sure where they were playing. 3-5-2 is best for Scotland. Tierney on the left of a 3 and Robertson further forward. Doak is our only direct threat and we need a goal against Brazil because they always score.
Gunn
Hendry, Hanley, Tierney
Doak, McGinn, McTominay, McLean, Robertson
Shankland Adamsall depending on injuries.
Benwyvis2 begs to differ:
Gave one of the top ten teams in the world a run for their money despite losing a goal in the second minute. Could well have stolen a draw. And but for the early goal, might have stolen a one-nil win. The tactics were correct. Well done, Steve. Better luck trying to fend off Brazil.
Throwing things forward now, Saturday’s action starts with a couple of potential crackers. The Netherlands, who looked enterprising and fallible in equal measure against Japan, take on Graham Potter’s revitalised Sweden in Houston, who hammered Tunisia in their opener. Then Germany meet Côte d’Ivoire, each having won their first games.
Potter has been bigging up Alexander Isak in the buildup after his goal and two assists against Tunisia, as AFP reports. “Alex has had a season that has been interrupted,” Potter said. “Most football players would say they need a certain amount of time and games to get up to top, top level, so we’ve had to try to build Alex up. I think there’s more to come from him.”
Germany’s head coach, Julian Nagelsmann, said his team had to be prepared for Côte d’Ivoire’s athleticism. “Their speed is one of their biggest strengths and that’s what I think they do best,” he said, highlighting the French-born Ivorian winger Nicolas Pépé. “During the last game, he was everywhere,” Nagelsmann said.
On this day in World Cup Euros history: 1976 – Antonin Panenka won the final for Czechoslovakia with the most famous penalty of all time. And 50 years on, he sat down with Gavin Newsham for a good long chat:
Antonin Panenka laughs like a bear might, a low rumble, suggesting mischief among the memories. He is sat in an office at Bohemians football club in Prague, recounting the story of his impudent, revolutionary penalty that not only won the 1976 European Championship for Czechoslovakia against West Germany but soured his relationship with the goalkeeper his spot-kick humiliated, Sepp Maier. “He went 35 years without uttering a single word to me,” he smiles.
But the feud went much deeper. “I read some articles that he even had a shooting target in his garage with my face on it that he used to fire darts at. We get on well enough now though.”
Saturday marks 50 years since that moment in Belgrade’s Red Star Stadium slipped into football folklore. With the final locked at 2-2 after extra time, Czechoslovakia and the reigning world champions found themselves in uncharted territory: the first penalty shootout to decide a major international tournament.
One of the biggest gripes about the World Cup so far has been the advert hydration breaks, but Emma Hayes, from a coach’s perspective, has a more mixed view:
I’m not a fan of the hydration breaks that have been introduced at this World Cup, but they’re here for now and it is fascinating from a coaching perspective because the momentum has swung straight after several hydration breaks. That could suggest coach involvement has helped teams to tweak things.
Turning the game into four quarters – it felt inevitable it was going to head in that direction, and I hope it doesn’t carry on going in that direction. I don’t like it, but let me also be clear – when it’s hot, you really need it, for health and safety. So put yourself in Fifa’s shoes. If you only have drinks breaks in the hot cities you could be accused of giving certain teams an advantage with a chance for a tactical discussion over, say, a team playing in Seattle, where it’s cooler. Imagine turning around and saying: “We’ll only have VAR in some of the stadiums, not all.” You’re either going to have it or you’re not going to have it.
Having just watched the highlights of Paraguay v Turkey, would it be fair to describe it as a minor classic of its type? A spicy, high-tempo tear-up full of Scenes That Everyone No One Likes To See – and who doesn’t love a heroic defensive rearguard against relentless attacking (apart from fans of the losing team)? And the sending-off looked fair to be honest. That rule was brought in for a reason, whatever was said in this instance.
It’s been a star striker’s tournament so far – aside from the immobile slab of monetised wax playing at No 7 for Portugal – and that’s reflected in the big names already nestled in Golden Boot top 10. Here’s the current hit parade:
A first dive into the old mailbag produces this, from Gerry Scott, with which I heartily concur:
If best placed third placed teams are going to be able to advance from the group then goal difference should be preferred to head to head as a way of ranking teams. Türkiye should at least have the prospect of beating the US and overtaking one of Paraguay or Australia rather than already being out of the tournament.
I’m sure Gianni will be on it soon.
Football Daily has landed. Listen in as Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning, Lars Sivertsen, Jack Snape, Ewan Murray, Seb Hutchinson and Alex Abnos digest what they’ve just seen.
Matt Hughes
Some non-World Cup news now, from the ever-busy Matt Hughes:
Manchester City are close to reaching a financial settlement with Chelsea that will enable them to appoint Enzo Maresca as their new manager.
Chelsea are demanding compensation from City to release Maresca as they believe they have evidence that the Spaniard breached his contract at Stamford Bridge by talking to the club’s Premier League rivals when he was still their manager last season.
It has been widely reported that Maresca informed Chelsea he had been approached by both City and Napoli last winter in the chaotic weeks that led to his surprise resignation on New Year’s Day, a claim that has never been disputed.
Chelsea are adamant they deserve to be compensated for the loss of Maresca, whose departure destabilised a season that ended with them finishing 10th in the Premier League and missing out on European qualification, but they have a good relationship with City and have confidence an amicable agreement can be reached.
What do you think of it so far? It’s basically almost impossible to have a bad time at a World Cup, for all the oppressive politics and commercialism that seek to suffocate the spectacle. And here’s our writers’ verdicts on how they’ve found the first week and a bit.
This country is big enough to host a vibrant and fulfilling World Cup; it is simultaneously capable of hosting one that passes entirely unnoticed.
Turkey arrived at their first World Cup in 24 years with great expectations and a host of rising stars but crashed out goalless and in tears after another shocking failure to convert against Paraguay.
As Reuters reports, they had an astonishing 32 attempts on goal against Paraguay, scoring none of them, having had 30 – count ’em – in their opener against Australia, which they lost 0-2.
Arda Guler, the 21-year-old star of Turkish football, apologised to the nation. “We tried very hard but it didn’t work. But we should have scored some goals,” he said. “We should have won these games … Everybody’s sad, everybody’s crying.“
It was a stunning fall for a team that made a swashbuckling run to the Euro 2024 quarter-finals. A golden generation of players anchored by the young talents of Guler and Kenan Yildiz had appeared set to make their mark on the global stage.
Instead, Turkey’s players and staff will face a fierce reaction on the home front before their final group game against the USA, who have already qualified for the round of 32.
Paraguay coach Gustavo Alfaro said his players had shown their mettle after losing 1-4 to the USA in their first game. “It’s nothing about tactics or strategy here. This victory, this result is to the credit of the players,” he said.
Greetings everyone and welcome to day 10 of the World Cup. Readers in Europe have plenty to digest as they wake up. Scotland slipped to a 1-0 defeat by Morocco that could have been worse, after they went behind within two minutes and were thoroughly outplayed in the opening stages before I went to bed, but could have been better, with Scotland having two big penalty shouts turned down.
Elsewhere, we have perhaps the shock of the tournament so far with many people’s dark horses, Turkey, exiting already after a second straight defeat, to Paraguay, who had Miguel Almirón sent off for remarks made to Mert Muldur with his hand concealing his mouth, the first use of that new sanction.
The host nations continue to enjoy themselves, USA’s win over Australia securing their qualification for the knockouts, while Brazil eased to a 3-0 win over Haiti.
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