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  For those who wondered if FIFA president Gianni Infantino could be shamed into a rapid resignation, we now have the obvious answer. Infantino is fighting on and on late Wednesday evening, he appeared to score a victory for the first time since his clandestine plot to sell off stakes in FIFA’s business came to light. Infantino summoned FIFA’s management board to Morocco and those in attendance signed off an extraordinary show of faith. Then there were some choreographed thumbs-up photographs. N...

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  ▪️ The financial and reputational impact on the World Cup ▪️ Might European nations pull out of hosting FIFA tournaments? ▪️ Will England's Women's World Cup play-off in October go ahead? ▪️ Could this backfire on UEFA and/or threaten Infantino's power? After European nations agreed to boycott FIFA tournaments, including the World Cup, we answer the key questions and consider what could happen next. 📝 @mjshrimper@twitter.com, @TBurrows16@twitter.com, @CWeatherspoon_@twitter.com, @megan...

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  Djed Spence starts for England in their World Cup semi-final against Argentina. The full-back has come a long way since having to wait 881 days for his first Tottenham start in December 2024 after moving to north London in the summer of 2022 and going out on loan to Rennes, Leeds United and Genoa. He has been outstanding from the bench during the 2026 World Cup — now he has a chance to shine in one of the biggest matches in English football history. 📝 @EliasBurke@twitter.com https://bit.ly/3...

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  Mikel Merino comes up trumps for Spain late on again. Pau Cubarsi's long-range effort was spilled by Senne Lammens — Merino was first to the loose ball to put his country in front. The Arsenal midfielder makes the difference just two minutes after coming off the bench — he only needed six minutes against Portugal on Monday.

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  The Folarin Balogun affair, claims of favouritism for Argentina… the last few days have seen lurid allegations made about this World Cup. But the competition has always been a breeding ground for conspiracy theories. CIA poisoning plots, rigged draws, Ronaldo and Nike… all are colourful tales which help make the tournament what it is. 📝 @TimSpiers@sportsbots.xyz 🔗 https://nyti.ms/4y5tXTL

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  The unsettling, unintentional story of the biggest soccer tournament in history and its expansion has been serious allegations of sexual assault around the globe — and football's aversion to saying anything about it. When Ghana head coach Carlos Queiroz criticised FIFA’s expansion of the World Cup to 48 teams as “ordinary” and “vulgar”, he probably didn’t realise how ironically and depressingly apt his choice of words were. https://nyti.ms/4f7G4H9

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  At Euro 2024, Lamine Yamal turned up with a backpack full of schoolwork. In May 2026, when joining up with his Spain team-mates in late May, he arrived in a Chanel outfit that was picked out by his private fashion stylist. From the handles of his matching handbag hung an exclusive set of pink Beats headphones that are not yet available to purchase. Under an Instagram post shared with his 43.3million followers, Spanish pop star Rosalia (28 million followers) was among those appreciating his loo...

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  Mexico beat Ecuador to win their first men's World Cup knockout stage match since 1986. Goals from Julian Quinones and Raul Jimenez — the two scorers in Mexico's 2-0 victory in their World Cup opener against South Africa — earned their country a place in the last 16, where they will face either England or DR Congo in Mexico City on July 5. From the high of their win over Germany, Ecuador, who finished the game with 10 men following Piero Hincapie's red card for covering his mouth i...

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  Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland took centre stage in the World Cup round of 32 yesterday. Here, we give the lowdown on today's matches and make our picks. 🇺🇸 Will Mauricio Pochettino’s USMNT take their big moment? 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 No slip-ups for England... surely? 🇧🇪🇸🇳 Would a Belgium loss to Senegal be a shock? Join us - and make your decisions ⤵️ 🔗 https://nyti.ms/4xX7RCD

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  Hundreds of Ghana fans, some of whom had travelled more than 5,000 miles from Accra for the World Cup, were stuck watching Saturday’s match against Croatia from the sidewalk outside Lincoln Financial Field. No one seemed to know exactly who was supposed to have tickets for the large group of Ghana fans; some thought a member of the fan association was supposed to arrive with them. One person told The Athletic she thought tickets promised to the waiting fans had been sold on the resale market in...

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  Davinson Sanchez was 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚 to scoring a World Cup winner for Colombia against Portugal — he was denied by the offside flag 🤏 If only he had a smaller shoe-size, Colombia would have won all three group stage games. It would have been nothing more than they deserved too. https://bit.ly/4oNF5QE

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  Offside by the smallest of margins brings chaos and heartbreak for Iran. Egypt and Iran have drawn 1-1 after Shojae Khalilzadeh had a go-ahead goal in second-half stoppage time disallowed by VAR.

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  A blow for Nico Williams and a source of concern for Spain so soon before the World Cup. The Athletic Club winger was withdrawn during his side's match against Valencia after appearing to suffer an injury. The 23-year-old was so impressive for Spain as they achieved glory at Euro 2024.

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  “We have never had a situation where a World Cup host has effectively declared war on one of the participating nations.” Adam Leventhal presents World Cup and War, a special podcast episode looking at what happens now after the break out of the conflict in the Middle East. 🎧 Listen now: https://bit.ly/4d39Con