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The mystery deepens. Two US Soccer staff members were suspended by Fifa for their team’s World Cup defeat to Belgium on Monday.
Team manager Sam Zapatka and US Soccer vice-president of security Frank Pannell weren’t allowed at the match. Fifa has not given a specific reason for the suspensions.
US Soccer didn’t address the cause behind the punishment, although it did say it was unrelated to the federation’s work in getting Folarin Balogun’s red card suspended.
According to ESPN, the pair were sanctioned because of a violation of Fifa match protocols as well as people having access to areas where they shouldn’t have been. The suspensions were not due to any physical disputes or confrontations.
Belgian prime minister Bart De Wever, whose cat Maximus has been vocal about the World Cup on Instagram, has had another dig at the US over the Folarin Balogun red card issue, this time right in front of Donald Trump.
Speaking at the Nato summit in Ankara, discussing financial aid to Ukraine and sitting at the same table as the US president, De Wever said “This is also a very strong ‘red card’ to Putin. You can’t just take back a red card. You know that.”
Aaron Timms
People have been making fun of Kylian Mbappé since he was a kid, and he’s been having the last laugh almost as long. As a three-year-old growing up in the Parisian banlieue, Mbappé would sing the Marseillaise with hand on heart, and draw indulgent giggles whenever he announced – as he would often – that he was destined to play for France; he’s now the leading goalscorer in French football history. His parents’ friends once bought him a model of the Bernabéu in teasing response to his claims that he would play for Real Madrid; he’s now Madrid’s most important player. On Saturday, Mbappé spent the final minutes of a bruising last-16 encounter against Paraguay, in which he scored the decisive penalty, sauntering around the pitch with a big, stupid smile on his face. Wherever this man treads in the world of football, the result is always the same: Mbappé wins. And he’s laughing!
Read more from Aaron Timms here: Statesman, comedian and dealer of hard truths: how Kylian Mbappé became the king of this World Cup
Some words from Zlatko Dalić via AFP about his decision to step down from the Croatia job:
As much as I still feel the ambition and desire to achieve new successes with Croatia, I feel that this is the right moment to bring this incredible era to a close. I am leaving with a full heart and proud that I have made my contribution to the greatest achievements in the history of Croatian football.
Under Dalić, Croatia were runners-up at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, and finished third in Qatar in 2022.
Genuinely, if you are actually starved for international football on this, the World Cup’s first rest day, there is still some to be had. The Uefa’s U19 mens/boys championship has reached the semi-final stage. Both matches are on today and will be live-streamed on the Uefa website. Spain face Croatia in Denbigh, Wales at 5.30pm BST followed by Ukraine v Germany in Wrexham at 8pm.
Here is the video clip of Egypt’s manager, Hossam Hassan, vowing not to watch any more of the World Cup in protest at the refereeing decisions in his side’s defeat to Argentina. On the bright side, I guess that meant he didn’t have to sit through Colombia v Switzerland like the rest of us.
Zlatko Dalić steps down as Croatia head coach after nine years
Croatia head coach Zlatko Dalić has stepped down after nine years in charge, the Croatian Football Federation said on Wednesday.
The move comes less than a week after his side’s exit from the World Cup following a 2-1 loss to Portugal in the Round of 32. Under Dalic’s tenure, Croatia finished runners-up at the 2018 World Cup and third in the 2022 edition in Qatar, but the team exited the tournament early this time around.
“Following nearly nine years, head coach Zlatko Dalic has decided to close his incredibly successful chapter with Croatia,” the federation said in a statement, Reuters reports.
“Head coach, thank you for everything – the victories, the achievements, the qualifying berths, the medals, the unity, the respect, and your unwavering commitment to fight for Croatia, both on and off the pitch.”
Megan Swanick is on the case with this week’s Moving the Goalposts newsletter, which asks what does Sam Kerr’s return to the NWSL mean for the league, Gotham FC and the player herself?
In non-World Cup(-ish) news: Marcus Rashford is set to be re-integrated at Manchester United following the World Cup, with the forward currently expected to start next season as part of Michael Carrick’s squad. Jamie Jackson has the details for you:
Martin Belam
Well that was a game yesterday between Argentina and Egypt wasn’t it? Mystic Belam here said to his better half when it was 2-0 that I still backed Argentina to win, so I got to feel smug for the rest of the evening. Well, at least until I committed us to also watching Colombia v Switzerzzzzzzzz.
That’s my cameo complete. Time now to hand you to Martin Belam.
A line from Jeremy Boyce’s email perhaps echoes my feelings about Brazil (11:47). “What’s more certain is a point Leander Schaerlaekens made the other day. Isn’t it time for Brazil to stop entering competitions they are clearly no longer capable of winning, convert themselves into the soccerball Harlem Globe Trotters, taking the original Jules Rimet with them everywhere they travel and scoring for fun in an endless tour of exhibition games ? Those of us old enough to remember will always have Carlos Alberto at the Azteca 1970.”
An email from krishnamoorthy. “It was a tremendous fightback from Argentina but one feels they won ‘with a little help from my friends’. They could have won it fair and square but one feels sorry for Egypt. This is not some romanticizing of an underdog. I do like Argentina. I only wish they had won it differently. As a comeuppance I would love to see a 5-1 drubbing of Argentina by France on 19th July.”
It was an epic game. Both teams’ second and third goals were absolutely superb. A shame Egypt’s (initial) second didn’t actually count.
Something from the Guardian Community team. Tell us: do you support a national football team that you have no link to?
For me, it would be Brazil. I’m from the generation of youngsters that fell in love with the 1982 team and then bought the ‘Boys from Brazil’ video, watching in awe at the exploits of Pele’s 1970 team. That dummy that bamboozles the Uruguayan goalkeeper! Clodoaldo’s step over and jink prior to Pele’s caressed pass to Carlos Alberto to make it 4-1 in the final. I was desperate to witness a Brazil World Cup win but felt short-changed by the Dunga-led 1994 triumph as it was achieved with European pragmatism despite Romario adding a bit of gloss. Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho delivered my winning-with-flair wish in South Korea/Japan 2002 but since then there’s been a pattern: I start every World Cup cheering on Brazil but then have to admit to myself that I’m clinging to the past as they throw in a series of mediocre performances. It can’t ever be the same I guess. Gone forever is the feeling that Brazil could just grab players off the beach and they’d be superstars – Eder in 1982 the prime example. Now I look at Brazil and think players like Bruno Guimaraes would have been fifth choice back in the day.
Having waffled away, I do ultimately (and passionately) support England in a World Cup. Brazil are/were my exotic alternative if the Three Lions were rubbish. How about you?
Anthony Gordon has gone from being ‘not all that’ to ‘one of England’s key performers’ in the space of few World Cup days. Social media, eh. Fancy a player performing better in one game than the other. Unheard of!
Regardless of the noise (that hopefully he’s not listening to), the player himself is having a blast with Thomas Tuchel’s England.
“Camplife is amazing. I am absolutely loving it,” the England winger said on the latest episode of Extra Time. “We have got an unbelievable group, the best England group I have been a part of by a country mile, in terms of chemistry, in terms of connection, not just on the pitch but off the pitch.
“In terms of standards off the pitch, we are holding each other accountable, which is really important for any team that wants to be successful.”
Gordon assisted both Harry Kane’s goals against DR Congo and also won what proved the decisive penalty which his captain converted against Mexico. But the Barcelona wideman admits he wants to get on the scoresheet more often himself.
“I love finishing, it’s a big part of my game, I want to be a goalscorer. The only way I can truly get to where I want to be is by practising every single day. The more practice allows you to become free in the mind on game day,” he said.
“I have been speaking to H (Kane) and trying to gain as much knowledge as I possibly can because he can do it on both feet, doesn’t matter the angle, doesn’t matter off his touch, the ball finds a way into the net. I have been trying to pick up a little bit off him.”
Are we heading towards another France v Argentina final? There are certainly some similarites between this tournament and Qatar 2022. Take the Golden Boot…
Qatar 2022
8 Kylian Mbappe
7 Lionel Messi
USA/Canada/Mexico 2026
8 Lionel Messi
7 Kylian Mbappe (+ Erling Haaland of course)
Perhaps we get the reverse this time. Messi wins the Golden Boot but his team are beaten in the final.
Thanks Tom. Happy with those power rankings? I have to say I’m in absolute agreement until the very end. Both sides lost by a three-goal margin but I think Canada performed better in their loss than the USA did.
Here you are for yer power rankings: now the dust has settled – well, kind of – on the last 16, Will Unwin assesses the state of the participants.
And with that, I’ll hand you over to David Tindall. Catch you’se later.
For all the welcome eclecticism of this World Cup, it feels crushingly unsurprising that six of the eight quarter-finallists are European, a tally only exceeded in 1934 (eight, when travel, and arguments over travel, were factors in the lack of South American representation), 1958 (seven) and the last time we were in the USA in 1994 (seven). As recently as 2010, there were only three European sides in the last eight, though two of them made the final.
Egypt lodge complaint with Fifa over referee
This one isn’t going away. This just in from AFP:
The Egyptian football federation said on Wednesday it had asked for the officiating team who handled the Pharoahs loss 3-2 last-16 to Argentina to be thrown out of the World Cup.
“Hany Aburida, President of the Egyptian Football Federation, filed a complaint with Fifa, demanding an investigation into the French referee Francois Letexier… after the serious refereeing mistakes committed by the team of referees and double standards, which caused the Egypt team to lose the match and leave the World Cup,” said a statement from the federation.
On Tuesday evening, Letexeier ruled out a Mostafa Ziko goal ruled out when they were leading 1-0 after VAR intervened to spot a foul on Lisandro Martinez much earlier in the move.
A few minutes later, Ziko did put Egypt 2-0 up and on the brink of a place in the last eight for the first time but there was further controversy in added time, after Cristian Romero and Lionel Messi had brought the champions level.
In the buildup to Argentina’s winner scored by Enzo Fernandez, Egypt believe they should have instead been awarded a penalty for a pull by Alexis Mac Allister on Hamdy Fathy.
“Aburida demanded the investigation of the entire team of referees, including the video technology referees, because of the blatant errors and insisting on not reviewing some of the footage that we believe are in favour of the Egyptian national team, and we see in it the Pharaohs’ right to a correct goal and a penalty,” said the Egyptian statement.
It added that the president had also “demanded the exclusion of the referee and the entire crew from the World Cup after investigating these mistakes and proving the crime of discrimination against the Egyptian national team”. AFP
Chris Foy
Foy backs World Cup referees: we’ve all had our say on the officials; here’s someone who’s actually been a Premier League ref on how the people in the middle have got on.
The intervention of Donald Trump and Tuchel’s comments mean there is heightened noise around refereeing. As a referee you have to ignore that, and in elite officiating sports psychologists are there to help. I was never the best at getting rid of a bad decision – it would stay in my system for three to four days – but that’s different from letting it affect your performance. You have to be boring, and focus on the here and now.
There have been 13 red cards at this World Cup, after four at each of the previous two, but I don’t think there can be too many complaints. Player safety is paramount and Quansah and Balogun are a good example of where to draw the line. VAR has been used correctly for red cards not given on the field.
Perhaps Lionel Messi could do with a look at this video – our own Nikhita Chulani sifts the data in search of the perfect penalty.
EU lawmakers call for investigation of Infantino over Trump call
Just in, from AP.
Dozens of European lawmakers are gathering support to launch an investigation in the European Parliament of Fifa boss Gianni Infantino over his involvement in the decision to permit USA striker Folarin Balogun to play despite an earlier red card.
Balogun was shown a red card during the U.S. victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina in the World Cup on July 1, which normally would make him ineligible to play in the team’s next game, but Fifa lifted his suspension for a match on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump intervened with Infantino on behalf of the 25-year-old striker.
European Parliament lawmakers Barry Andrews, Lara Wolters and Niels Fuglsang said in a joint statement that the decision by soccer’s world governing body to “change the rule on red card suspensions mid-tournament is a disgrace and a perversion of justice.”
“Once again, we’ve seen Infantino and Fifa surrender to the demands of the Trump administration,” the statement said.
The lawmakers are asking the national football associations of the EU countries to spur the Fifa Ethics Committee to investigate Infantino and whether pressure from the Trump administration was a factor in the lifting of the suspension, as well as “other potential breaches of political neutrality” like awarding Trump the FIFA Peace Prize.
FIFA has said the lifting of the suspension was the decision of a disciplinary committee.
The lawmakers said that 35 colleagues have so far signed the letter.
“The beauty of sport is that it is based on impartial and transparent rules. When Infantino allows political pressure to determine who gets to play, this sense of fairness goes out the window,” they said. AP
World Cup Daily has dropped. Get your ears around Max, Barney, Archie and Barry chewing the fat over yesterday’s action.
On this day in World Cup history, 1990. It’s a toss-up between this final and that of 2010 as to which was the most shithousey World Cup final of all, but the tournament got its deserved winners overall, West Germany beating a petulant Argentina with Andreas Brehme’s late penalty.
“Neymar’s consolation penalty against Norway at the World Cup means his first international goal, scored on his first cap, was in the same stadium (MetLife) as his last international goal on his final cap,” writes Griffin Cant. “Are there any other players who have bookended their international career in a similar way?”
Find out the answer to this and more in this week’s Knowledge:
Time for a first delve BTL, and the various Argentina-Egypt talking points are unsurprisingly dominating.
Here’s MarkWatson1:
Well, you can bet your house on Argentina (Messi) winning the World Cup again. In the last few days we’ve seen it all collapse as a sporting spectacle. First the rescinded red card by Donald Trump and now the daylight robbery of Egypt. VAR was supposed to be used to ensure fairness but instead it’s just being used to tip the scales in favour of whoever is scheduled to go into the next round.
And nomiddlename:
The Egypt goal was rightly chalked off, I was looking at the hip/leg contact and thinking it was never a foul but replays showed the clear shirt pull. The trip on Salah immediately before the Argentina goal is slightly different, it looked like foul play and if the ref had given it VAR would almost certainly not have overturned it, but he didn’t and VAR didn’t try to re-ref the incident, was hoping for a penalty to be given there, and quite possibly it should have been given but once it’s accepted that not every contact is 100% foul play then maybe not, and it wasn’t to be
Great comeback byArgentina though
Whatever your view, it shows how Trump’s and Infantino’s conduct over the Balogun red card has intensified suspicion over everything else that happens at this tournament. And it also shows – for the millionth time – that VAR does not bring certainty or consistency. Fire it into the sun.
You may have missed … here’s a withering critique of Fifa’s handling of the Folarin Balogun red card case by Barney Ronay:
Frites 4 Cheats 1. Tintin 4 Tonto 1. Some good news here, perhaps. It seems Gianni Infantino was right after all. Football has united the world. Mainly football has united the world in gleeful satisfaction at the USA exiting its own World Cup tournament as soon as possible following the great and glorious Donald Trump Mr-Fix-It intervention.
This was the tone of the immediate global reaction to the USA’s invertebrate defeat in Seattle on Monday night, soundly beaten by a righteous and highly motivated Belgium: land of beer, waffles and sporting vigilante justice. Ghent 4 Bent 1. Antwerp 4 A twerp 1. Mayonnaise 4 May-have-interfered-in-due-process 1. I can go on. How long have you got?
So far much of the domestic US response has focused on an interesting but essentially irrelevant part of this, albeit one with a natural appeal to the polarised heart of the nation. Did the noise around Trump’s intervention, the admission, which is denied by Fifa, of prima facie attempted sporting corruption over Folarin Balogun’s ban (Trump’s exact words: “I was the one who got them to do it”) deplete the team’s chances?
Was this a case of Trump Exposed Reactor Core Phenomenon, a term I have just invented for the dynamic whereby Trump melts everything he touches while remaining indestructibly in place, still burping his dark energy into the skies?
Osasu Obayiuwana
The first quarter-final, Morocco v France, might be the most alluring and intriguing of the four ties, with Mohamed Ouahbi’s side – again the only African team to reach the last eight – chasing a second consecutive semi-final. Osasu Obayiuwana has more.
Over the past six decades, Morocco have achieved several performance milestones for Africa at the World Cup. The first country to qualify directly, for the 1970 finals in Mexico, they returned in 1986 and became the first team from the continent to make the last 16, then made that impressive semi-final run in Qatar four years ago.
Even if the Atlas Lions fail to match their 2022 performance, by losing to France on Thursday, they have made tournament history as the first African team to reach the quarter-finals at successive World Cups.
“The general feeling, amongst Moroccans, is pride and contentment in this team,” says Amine El Amri, a football journalist who, from his base in Casablanca, has been closely observing fans’ attitudes toward the team’s performance. “The main goal before the competition was to reach the quarter-finals, given the context, given the change of manager, with the departure of Walid Regragui and the coming of Mohamed Ouahbi. I think the victory over the Netherlands cemented the reputation of Ouahbi as a trustworthy coach. Many doubts about him were cleared up after that match.
“Beating Canada in the way we did, despite having a very difficult first half, has also added to that confidence. You have to be in Casablanca, in Marrakech, in every city and little town, to just measure how happy people are [with the team]. Our Saturday night was crazy – no one slept.”
Fulham confirm Arbeloa appointment
Fulham have named Alvaro Arbeloa as their new head coach on a three-year deal. He’ll hope for a less fractious dressing room than the one he had to grapple with at Real Madrid. Here’s the story.
Alvaro Arbeloa has been appointed as Fulham’s new head coach on a three-year contract.
The 43-year-old former Spain full-back, who finished last season in charge of his long-time club Real Madrid, succeeds Marco Silva after the Portuguese coach departed for Benfica at the end of his contract.
He said: “It is a real honour for me to be embarking on this new stage at Fulham FC, the oldest club in London.
“I feel a great sense of responsibility and I’m deeply grateful to Mr (Shahid) Khan and Tony Khan for the trust they have placed in me with Fulham in the Premier League.
“I am really looking forward to experiencing the atmosphere at Craven Cottage with Fulham fans.”
Fulham co-owner Shahid Khan said: “Alvaro was an original candidate who built an exceptional case through our meetings in June to become our next Head Coach, and it quickly became quite clear that he was – and is – the right choice.
“I am delighted that Alvaro has accepted the challenge to push Fulham forward, and I have no doubt that our squad, staff and fans will resonate with what his appointment means for the present and future of our club.”
He continued: “Alvaro is, by his own admission, very ambitious.
“He has spent quality time around the best players, clubs and methods in the game, experiences which will serve him well here at Fulham.” PA Media
Preamble
Greetings everyone. Welcome to the kind of day we’ve not had for four weeks – a day with no World Cup football! Time to finally tackle that pile of plates in the sink, that layer of dust on all work surfaces, that sock drawer. Or you could just stare blankly at the screen until the quarter-finals start on Thursday, or talk about it all here.
And we now know the identity of all those quarter-finalists after one of those days that all World Cups have – a thriller around which swirl rancour and accusations of bias towards big teams/players, followed by a frustrating, deadening 0-0 in which the side that missed the most presentable chances in 120 minutes inevitably lose the shootout. So commiserations Colombia and Egypt, and congratulations Switzerland – in their first quarter-final for 72 years – and Argentina.
Here’s that last eight schedule:
9 July France v Morocco (Boston, 4pm local/9pm BST/6am 10 July AEST)
10 July Spain v Belgium (Los Angeles, 12pm local/8pm BST/5am 11 July AEST)
11 July Norway v England (Miami, 5pm local time/10pm BST/7am 12 July AEST)
12 July Argentina v Switzerland (Kansas, 8pm local time/2am BST/11am AEST)
And here’s yesterday’s reports:
#World #Cup #Egypt #fury #Argentina #win #thriller #Croatia #coach #Dalic #quits #live #World #Cup
