Spain reach World Cup final after Oyarzabal and Porro sink sorry France | World Cup 2026
Let this be a lesson for everyone foolish enough to cast Spain as underdogs. How they enjoyed dishing it out here, reducing France to passengers and surely guaranteeing nobody will make the same mistake twice. They will be favourites to win Sunday’s…
Didier Deschamps pays price for breaking free from the shackles that led him to glory | World Cup 2026
Maybe Didier Deschamps was right all along. He has been criticised over his 14 years in the France job for being too cautious, for prioritising control, for not unleashing his great fleet of attacking players. In this tournament, his last as national…
World Cup 2026: I still feel pain of ’98 but this can be different for England – Alan Shearer
I don’t think Argentina have played great football to get this far, but they have scored some great goals. They are an experienced and streetwise team, and they are also the defending champions. They are not as good as they were when they won it…
World Cup 2026: England v Argentina is Three Lions’ biggest match since 1966
England and Argentina met in another quarter-final in Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium at the 1986 World Cup, with the Falklands War four years earlier providing the backdrop. It was the day of Diego Maradona’s infamous “Hand Of God”…
World Cup 2026: Lionel Messi and the lengths to which Argentina have gone to protect him
Rodrigo de Paul has become, in this Argentina squad, what Jose Manuel Pinto once was at Barcelona, or Luis Suarez later became: the team-mate with whom Messi instantly feels at home. Their bond was forged on international duty. Until then, the…
Pedro Porro turns from defender to destroyer as Spain outwit France once more | World Cup 2026
“Let me loose in a prison and I’ll end up owning the place,” Pedro Porro once said. Let him loose in the penalty area and that will belong to him too. The whole world might: to him and the entire gang. When the Spain right-back burst into the box like a…
Thomas Tuchel: ‘Argentina will be fuelled by history – but we are ready’ | World Cup 2026
Thomas Tuchel believes England will face an Argentina team “fuelled by history” in their World Cup semi-final in Atlanta on Wednesday. It will be the sixth time that the nations have met at the tournament with the previous three coming after the…
‘It means love’: Scottish World Cup fans celebrate Boston with orange traffic cone | World Cup 2026
Fresh off its first-class flight from Glasgow, it received a reception befitting a visiting dignitary: a bagpiper in full regalia playing inside Boston Logan international airport. Waiting to greet it were diplomats, the governor and Boston’s mayor. The…
Mo Salah: Never Give Up
The story of Mo Salah’s unlikely rise to global stardom.
Thomas Frank: Inside the Tottenham manager’s eight-month struggle
Venkatesham and the club’s new leadership team will now be tasked with making their first appointment. It remains to be seen whether they seek an interim manager with a view to appointing a permanent boss in the summer, or want a full-time choice…