The Guardian

⚽ All the latest as we look ahead to the quarter-finals ⚽ Player guide | Bracketology | Golden Boot | Email us Morocco are looking to create more history, which would take their greatest ever shock. 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 198…

With the World Cup down to eight teams, our writers assesses who’s left, identify the biggest remaining threats to France and make calls on who will lift the trophy Lionel Messi . As he proved in thrilling style against Egypt, Argentina’s No 10 still has magic in his boots even at the age of 39. While his penalty record of four from eight attempts is much worse than you’d expect, he is clinical w…

Tottenham’s strategies have changed over the years and this summer’s transfer splurge marks a sharp turn away from the Levy years A couple of weeks ago, Sotheby’s in London concluded one of its biggest art auctions. In all, the sale of 25 modern and contemporary works raised almost £300m. Seated Nude With Necklace, by Modigliani, went for £41.5m; La Belle Promenade, by Magritte, went for £13.5m. …

One of the Bayern and France playmaker’s early coaches tells the story of how a move to Reading kickstarted a career If Michael Olise wins the World Cup , there will be a corner of a Hayes housing estate that is for ever France. It is Olise’s corner, a scrap of parkland grass among the west London suburban homes where a seven-year-old practised his football with his brother, Richard. “Football in…

Using a digital flat-bed scanner, our picture editor Jonny Weeks adapts some of his favourite images from the tournament and explores the trend of alternative photography Although I’ve edited thousands of football photographs over the years, I’ve never attended a World Cup match. I envy those who get to be pitchside with their cameras for such big events. Yet, as I’ve discovered during this tourn…

Each of the eight teams has at least one key strength, from Swiss speed to Spanish defence The World Cup has reached the quarter-final stage and the favourites to reach the last four in descending order of likelihood, according to Opta, are France, Spain, Argentina and England. All eight remaining teams have positive data in their favour from the tournament, though. Continue reading...

Australian suffers muscle tear during training in Brisbane 18-year-old vows to return in 2027 ‘better and faster and stronger’ Australian sprint sensation Gout Gout has pulled out of the 2026 World Athletics U20 Championships and will be sidelined for the rest of the year after suffering a serious hamstring tear. The 18-year-old had set his sights on becoming a 200m under-20 world champion in the…

Australia call up flyhalf to face back-to-back Six Nations champions Jock Campbell replaced by Tom Wright in starting XV in Brisbane Declan Meredith will debut against France as the reconfigured Wallabies paper over the cracks created by more soft-tissue injury carnage in Brisbane. The ACT Brumbies flyhalf will wear the No 10 against the back-to-back Six Nations champions at Suncorp Stadium on Sa…

Damned by pre-match criticism, Blues halfback rises to the occasion and leads his team to series decider over Maroons In most major sports events – grand finals, heavyweight boxing contests, State of Origin deciders – there’s usually a moment, equal parts exhilarating and appalling, where one combatant is rising and the other is falling. Everyone on the field, in the stands and watching at home s…

Britain’s Paralympic dame is quitting after a stellar career that began in the swimming pool as a 14-year-old before five Games hoovering up cycling gold medals “This is the first time that I will speak about the next chapter,” Dame Sarah Storey says in a quiet corner of a busy cafe in Macclesfield as, after a remarkable career in which she won 74 world and Paralympic medals as the most successfu…

The suspension of the USA striker’s red card after Trump’s intervention has shown what Gianni Infantino’s organisation is trying to turn the sport into: scripted entertainment 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 exitin…

Fans were denied thrilling finale as Charles Leclerc won behind safety car but there are no easy solutions The British Grand Prix ending under the safety car and denying a potentially thrilling finale was a controversial, but also complicated incident. It raised issues from the sport’s past and questions over what it may yet address for the future. The Silverstone victor, Charles Leclerc, of cour…

Our cartoonist looks at the big stories from the World Cup as England reach the last eight but the US slump out Buy David’s cartoons | Some of his favourite works And his latest book, Chaos in the Box: get it now Continue reading...

Champions believed to be preparing £60m offer Fresh blow for Newcastle after loss of Gordon and Tonali Arsenal are ready to step up their interest in Bruno Guimarães after the Brazil midfielder informed Newcastle that he wants to join the Premier League champions. Guimarães, who missed a penalty in Brazil’s defeat to Norway in the last-16 of the World Cup on Sunday, is understood to have his hear…