The Guardian

The tournament’s mascot came to herald the ubiquitous, commercial aims of a growing international spectacle Deep within a dark warehouse in Hillsborough, North Carolina, there sits a severed head. Encased in plastic, perfectly preserved and seemingly begging to be reanimated, it belongs to an American soccer legend. For a seismic summer 32 years ago, Striker the dog was more ubiquitous than any o…

After 102 games we know that 2026 World Cup final will be between Spain and Argentina in New Jersey on Sunday. Our football correspondent Nick Ames has been in the US and Mexico all tournament and is now live answering your questions – post yours now Sign in or create your Guardian account to join the discussion BrightonPeer asks : Did Tuchel know how injured Saka and (especially) Rice were when …

Guardian analysis finds 19% of games reached heat levels warranting delays, as Fifa defends its player safeguards The climate crisis has come for football. During this year’s World Cup , nearly one in five of the tournament’s 100-plus matches took place in levels of heat and humidity that a football players’ union has previously said should trigger delays or postponements, a Guardian analysis has…

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now! They say never go that far back. In the last half an hour of their end-of-days Geopolitics World Cup semi-final with Argentina, England committed to the bit in the Deep South. No wonder there were gaps. Thomas Tuchel stood and watched national trauma unfold in front of his eyes as towering aerial threats such as Alexis Mac Allister and Lautaro M…

Hat-trick against Fiji insufficient to promote No 8 Borthwick expects ‘fantastic atmosphere’ for game England have opted not to start the in-form Henry Pollock against Argentina on Saturday and have instead retained an unchanged starting lineup. The only alterations from last week’s 73-8 win over Fiji are among the replacements where Ben Spencer and the uncapped Northampton loosehead Emmanuel Iyo…

Midfielder was team’s best performer last season He said then there had been no progress in talks Dominik Szoboszlai is poised to give Liverpool and their head coach, Andoni Iraola , a significant boost by signing a new long-term contract. The Liverpool midfielder, the team’s best performer during a difficult final season under Arne Slot, has two years on his deal and mentioned several times last…

McLaren’s changes of power unit exceeds regulations World champion is fifth in the F1 standings Lando Norris will have to take a 10-place grid penalty at this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix. McLaren announced on Thursday that the car of the reigning world champion will be fitted with a fourth power electronics unit of the season, one more than allowed under Formula One regulations. Norris’s first t…

Michael Carrick’s first signing is a surprise, but the Brazil midfielder will help the team deal with Casemiro’s exit By Opta Analyst Andrey Santos moving from Chelsea to Manchester United was not on our summer transfer window bingo card, but the Brazilian has become Michael Carrick’s first signing . United desperately needed reinforcements in midfield, especially after Casemiro’s departure and M…

Updates from the second ODI at Sophia Gardens Read The Spin | Follow us on TikTok | Mail Tim Afternoon everyone, or is it still the morning after the night before? There’s only one way to cope with sporting heartbreak and that is to get back on the horse. You may wonder whether a bilateral ODI, quite likely to be forgotten by next week, can heal the wounds of a World Cup semi-final in which Engla…

Nearly 40% of 2026 races at showpiece meeting affected Track layout and bugging devices for stewards on menu The British Horseracing Authority said on Thursday that it aims to introduce a series of measures ahead of next year’s Cheltenham festival to tackle a significant rise in the number of false starts at National Hunt’s showpiece meeting in recent seasons. The percentage of festival races tha…

The Queens Classic – Kerr’s return, Lavelle’s stunner, wildfire smoke and all in between – shows how far the league has come and also where it can still improve Ten years ago, a National Women’s Soccer League game at a baseball stadium was a sign of just how far the league had to go. A match during the 2016 season was played at a minor-league ballpark on a woefully small pitch , dubbed “shocking …

Updates from the 179.1km stage to Chalon-sur-Saône Wærenskjold wins fastest ever Tour stage | Email Tom Here’s a quick look at today’s stage: A farewell to the fast men. It’s stage 12 and there is every chance some of the sprinters knock it on the head after flogging themselves for a final time in Chalon-sur-Saône. From tomorrow it’s all about the climbers and the rouleurs, which means this is th…

The 154th Open starts at Royal Birkdale on Thursday with a host of compelling storylines to follow Scottie Scheffler won the 2025 Open by four strokes, but the world No 1 arrives at Royal Birkdale having missed the cut at the Scottish Open last week. The out‑of‑form American has claimed his fewest wins in a season since 2021, having secured only one victory all year: the American Express tourname…

Tommy Fleetwood, Matt Fitzpatrick and others seek first home win in England since Tony Jacklin in 1969 The last time an English golfer won the Open Championship in England, Harold Wilson was the prime minister, the Beatles and Elvis Presley were around the top of the charts and Neil Armstrong was still eight days away from becoming the first man to walk on the moon. Incredibly you have to go all …

Watching England lose is one thing. Watching them lose surrounded by millions celebrating Argentina’s march to another World Cup final, is completely different Look, most people were awfully good about it. Our waiter at a restaurant near Plaza de Mayo shook our hands warmly and said nice things about Jude Bellingham. On the metro ride back from the fan zone there was no massive gloating either, j…