The Guardian

While England shrank away in Atlanta, Argentina’s No 10 was not finished making his mark on the biggest stage To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. Well, not to this lot anyway. On a day of ceaseless rolling noise under Atlanta’s vast refrigerated dome, England reached the end of the road, the end of their own capacities at this World Cup, the end of the gears within this team. Mainly th…

England head coach made changes that would have led to Southgate and Eriksson being hammered Lionel Messi has seen buses reverse into position before. England did not confront the greatest player of all time with anything new when they dropped back with a place in the World Cup final within reach. The negativity was lamentable and it was no surprise when punishment arrived in the form of a clinic…

Lionel Messi was at his effervescent best while Harry Kane struggled to make an impact Jordan Pickford Had little chance with either goal. Pulled off a sensational save from González but that will be forgotten now. 7 Continue reading...

Who is winning the battle to be top scorer at the World Cup? Live and updated throughout the tournament All-time World Cup goalscorers The Golden Boot is awarded to the World Cup’s top goalscorer, with assists used as a tie-breaker if two or more players finish level. The 2026 tournament has three former Golden Boot winners taking part: Kylian Mbappé of France (eight goals in 2022), England’s Har…

England hearts broken after turnaround in Atlanta In pictures: our pick of the best big-match images England’s destiny is tournament heartbreak. The only question concerns when it comes and how the fates will contrive to make it as painful as possible. This was an implausibly brutal new low. Thomas Tuchel’s team had fought fire with fire on an occasion that was overloaded with shredded nerves. Th…

Banner refers to Falkland Islands conflict in 1982 Players celebrate on the pitch with the message The Argentina players celebrated their World Cup win over England with a banner saying “ Las Malvinas son Argentinas ”, making reference to the 1982 Falklands war . Argentina were 1-0 down with five minutes to go of the semi-final in Atlanta but rallied and scored twice in quick succession to reach …

Slovenian’s dominance has drawn admiration and criticism, with some fearing the race is losing its competitive edge Riding the Tour de France in 40C heat is hard enough without having to race against Tadej Pogacar and UAE Team Emirates XRG every day. As the peloton takes a breather, lounges in the shade and rehydrates on the Tour’s first rest day, most team managers are pondering what genuine opp…

If Steve Borthwick is to emulate Thomas Tuchel he must fully embrace the attacking talent which tore Fiji apart Next year Steve Borthwick would love to be where Thomas Tuchel is now. A World Cup semi‑final in prospect, an entire nation transfixed and a team with another gear in it. Swap Atlanta for Sydney and Jude Bellingham for Henry Pollock and the same essentials will be required: big-match pl…

After being ensconced at SW19 since the start of the tournament, our photographer Tom Jenkins has picked out some of his favourite images from the thousands he has taken during this year’s Wimbledon Championships The tournament concluded with Linda Noskova fending off a fightback by Karolina Muchova to win her first grand slam title and Jannik Sinner defeating Alexander Zverev to retain his Wimbl…

France’s captain has played with a sense of unfinished business but he will be 31 when the next World Cup begins It was only last month that Kylian Mbappé suggested all roads may lead to Florida. He was in sufficiently mischievous mood to reveal David Beckham had been chewing his ear off about a move to Major League Soccer, dangling the prospect of a reunion with Lionel Messi at Inter Miami. “We …

Luis de la Fuente’s final-bound team have been fuelled by togetherness and a commitment to each other that goes back a long way On the way out of the dressing room in Arlington, Luis de la Fuente gathered his “family” and delivered one last message before the World Cup semi-final against France . He had long known what he was going to say, if not exactly how – it’s what he has been saying for 50 …

Broadcasters expect to have time to analyse the game Channels planning for break to last 25 to 30 minutes ITV and BBC are planning to screen Fifa’s controversial half-time show in full from Sunday’s final at the New York New Jersey Stadium, but remain in the dark over how long it will last. The Guardian revealed last month that there were concerns among broadcasters at the length of the half-time…

Fee for forward could be as high as £850,000 The 26-year-old has one year remaining on contract Chelsea are closing in on a deal to sign the France forward Melvine Malard from Manchester United for a fee that would be a club-record sale. It is understood the transfer fee could be as high as approximately £850,000, although some sources have suggested the deal will be closer to £750,000. The discu…

England World Cup winner died in 2020 but his death was never reported by authorities to the coroner’s office England World Cup winner Nobby Stiles died with a brain condition caused by repeatedly heading a football, a coroner has ruled. Stiles, a tenacious, tough-tackling midfielder described by Geoff Hurst as the “heart and soul” of the 1966 World Cup-winning team , died in 2020 but his death w…

Alaphilippe gets in breakaway before being reeled in Pidcock’s rollercoaster ride continues on return to Tour The records keep tumbling in the Tour de France. After race leader Tadej Pogacar shattered the record for the fastest climb of the Col du Tourmalet, Norwegian sprinter Søren Wærenskjold won the fastest-ever road stage, in a frenzied sprint into Nevers. The Uno-X Mobility rider took the 11…