The Guardian

Ever since France midfielder Alain Giresse struck the World Cup’s first shootout penalty in 1982, a total of 342 players have stepped up to face the goalkeeper for the most nerve wracking test in football. We take a look at some of the players who took their shot at glory from the spot Continue reading...

The striker is driven by a sense of destiny but to be remembered as an all-time great outside England requires big-game performances Five days to win the Ballon d’Or. The way to do it: outshine Lionel Messi in Atlanta, then see off Kylian Mbappé or Lamine Yamal on Sunday. For Harry Kane, nothing will come without a fight. The England captain was doubted when he was a kid, back when the youth coac…

Emerging stars need a leg up from media and marketing teams to ensure they get the recognition they deserve By any measure it is a remarkable achievement. While many have fantasised about how it might feel to score a try for the All Blacks, no one in history has now lived that dream more frequently than Will Jordan. At the weekend the New Zealand wing took his tally to 50 tries in only 56 appeara…

England face Argentina in the World Cup semi-finals after Hampshire v Essex, Notts v Surrey, Yorkshire v Somerset and Northants v Gloucestershire in the T20 Blast By the 99.94 Cricket Blog This article is from The 99.94 Cricket Blog Continue reading...

Lille teenager impressed during the World Cup Signing would make it £200m on two midfielders Manchester City are intent on signing Ayyoub Bouaddi for €100m (£85m), Lille’s 18-year-old midfielder who impressed for Morocco at the World Cup. Bouaddi, who is French-born, is attracting a host of suitors following his performances for Morocco this summer, and while the proposed fee is high for a relati…

Live mountain stage updates from 12pm BST/1pm CEST Pogacar urges Tour overhaul amid heatwave | Mail Luke 1. Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 32hrs 17min 04sec 2. Jonas Vingegaard (Team Visma-Lease a Bike): +2min 42sec 3. Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG): +3min 27sec 4. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe): +3min 30sec 5. Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek): +3min 34sec 6. Paul Seixas (Decathlo…

Our cartoonist sets the scene before the semi-finals, with Thomas Tuchel’s team taking on old rivals Argentina Buy David’s cartoons | Some of his favourite works And his latest book, Chaos in the Box: get it now Continue reading...

As the Home Run Derby and All-Star Game take over Philadelphia, we take a spin around the majors with an awards watch, an Ohtani update and lots in between With more than half of the MLB season in the books, the baseball world has convened in Philadelphia for the annual All-Star festivities. What better time for owners and players to engage in Brotherly Love and figure out how to avoid the widely…

Squad perform one last ‘Viking row’ on palace steps Parade briefly halted by low-hanging overhead cables More than 100,000 fans flooded the streets of Oslo, Norway’s capital, to give their team a warm welcome, turning the heartbreak of their World Cup exit into ⁠a massive national celebration. A 2-1 ⁠extra-time defeat by England on ​Saturday brought Norway’s historic run to an end in the quarter-…

Over-by-over updates from 11am (BST) start at Edgbaston ‘Gutted’ McCullum sacked as Test coach | Email James Who likes fifty over cricket? C’mon, hands up, don’t be shy. What do you mean you don’t remember fifty over cricket? It’s the one in between the really long one and the really short one. It’s got elements of both, what’s not to like? Oh and there’s a World Cup in this exact format next yea…

Australia’s superstar striker returns to the US after a seven-year absence – and will find a vastly changed landscape When Sam Kerr last played for the National Women’s Soccer League’s Big Apple-adjacent club, it was called Sky Blue and the playing conditions were abysmal. The Australia striker spent three years (from 2015-17) accruing accolades for a team bereft of locker rooms or running water …

Filipino sensation has been embraced by her nation yet star power outweighs her career achievements … so far In the opening week at Wimbledon queues snaked around the grounds as fans lined up for the chance to catch one of the 32 second-round matches. Afterwards, they thronged the exit of Court 3 so densely that the eventual winner was preceded by two men in suits and panama hats struggling to cl…

⚽️ Latest news before first of the semi-finals in Dallas ⚽️ Player guide | Golden Boot | Football Daily | Email us In case you missed Jonathan Wilson’s encompassing yarn about the semi-finals, well, here it is: We’ve got our first email of the morning. Continue reading...

Zaïre-Emery confident Les Bleus will deliver in Dallas Deschamps to bring Tchouaméni into lineup if fit The France midfielder Warren Zaïre-Emery says his team want to exact revenge on Spain and banish painful memories of their exit in the Euro 2024 semi-final. France and Spain meet again on Tuesday in search of a place in the World Cup final, an even more glittering prize than the one Luis de la …

The Spain winger says three-year-old Keyne ‘means everything to me’ – and fans have taken him to their hearts He’s become a social media staple; captured on camera blowing kisses, joyfully cheering on his team and careening through the stands of stadiums. Standing at just a few feet tall, the tiny toddler has become the unexpected breakout star of Spain’s World Cup run. “This time around, the big…