Tag Archives: world cup news

The biggest game in international football already has a controversial talking point. Favourites France are in action against a game Croatia side who have caused problems for Didier Deschamps men in the early going. The 18th minute saw French forward Antoine Greizmann seemingly brought down by Marcelo Brozovic around 30 yards away from the Croatian goal. But before Brozovic comes …

Teenage star Kylian Mbappe played down comparisons with Brazil legend Pele after stealing the show in a 4-3 victory for France that sent Argentina crashing out of the World Cup. Billed as Lionel Messi’s chance to reignite stuttering Argentina’s hopes, the thrilling last-16 clash in Kazan instead saw 19-year-old Paris Saint-Germain star Mbappe showcase his sublime skills as he became …

The second round of fixtures in the 2018 World Cup are in the books. This heralds the unfortunate end of games taking place at three different times (though productivity might rise again with the advent of free afternoons). We do have these gems from the first 11 days of play to cherish, however, so let’s take a look at the …

Serbian papers slammed what they labelled “shameful provocation” by two Switzerland players of Kosovo origin who used political gestures to celebrate their goals in the 2-1 World Cup victory. Xherdan Shaqiri’s last minute winner capped an impressive comeback for the Swiss in Kaliningrad on Friday after Granit Xhaka levelled following Aleksandar Mitrovic’s opener. Both Shaqiri and Xhaka come from ethnic …

The World Cup produced three tight games on Wednesday as Portugal, Spain and Uruguay won but once again the favourites failed to shine. It was three of the world’s top marksmen who did get on the scoresheet, though, as Cristiano Ronaldo and Diego Costa continued their fight for the Golden Boot, while Luis Suarez scored in his third World Cup. …

Iceland goalkeeper Hannes Halldorsson revealed Saturday how he worked on psyching out Argentine superstar Lionel Messi to make a penalty save that sealed a 1-1 draw with the footballing superpower. Halldorsson was the hero when he palmed away Messi’s spot kick in the 63rd minute, correctly gambling that the Barcelona talisman would shoot to his right. The man-of-the-match described the …

Friday saw Egypt face Uruguay in Group A of the World Cup, but all eyes were on a man who didn’t feature in the end. Mohamed Salah scored 44 goals in a tremendous season for Liverpool, earning a host of individual awards. But a shoulder injury sustained in the Champions League final last month after a challenge from Sergio Ramos threatened to …

Highly-fancied France just about edged their way past underdogs Australia in Kazan at the World Cup. The slim 2-1 win didn’t come without controversy, however. Antoine Griezmann scored the first VAR-assisted penalty awarded in World Cup history to give France a 58th minute lead, having been judged to have been brought down by Josh Risdon after a video review, with the …

Despite being in one of the most pressurised jobs in football, Jose Mourinho gets to relax for a month thanks to the World Cup. And like the rest of us, the Portuguese is taking a stab at how proceedings will go at the extravaganza in Russia. Mourinho teamed up with resident broadcasters Russia Today to give his prediction on who …

Some distressing scenes occurred at the Estadio Wanda Metropolitano during the Europa League semi-final between Atletico Madrid and Arsenal. Arsenal, who are trailing by an away goal after a 1-1 draw at the Emirates, were captained by their main man in defence, Laurent Koscielny. In the seventh minute, with no-one near him in midfield, the Frenchman went to ground and looked …

This montage is spine-tingling, to say the least.

Daniele De Rossi has revealed what he was thinking when asked to warm up during the second half of Italy's catastrophic 0-0 draw with Sweden last night.

By earning a draw at the San Siro tonight, not only did Sweden book their place at next summer’s World Cup finals in Russia, they consigned Italy to a historic defeat, retired Gianluigi Buffon and sent Gian Piero Ventura packing. Janne Anderson’s men couldn’t build on the 1-0 lead that they carried over from the first leg in Stockholm – …

Italy and Sweden played to a goalless draw in the second leg of their World Cup playoff at the San Siro in Milan tonight, a result which means that the Azzurri have failed to qualify for the tournament’s finals for the first time since 1958. Gian Piero Ventura’s men went into the game a goal down thanks to a strike …

The Republic of Ireland go into this weekend’s crucial 2018 World Cup qualifier versus Austria knowing that a victory would propel them towards Russia next summer. Currently joint top of group D with Serbia on eleven points, Martin O’Neill’s men have the chance to seriously dent Austria’s hopes of qualifying with a win whilst potentially simultaneously moving clear of both …

Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt, while picking up what is deemed a favourable group for the 2019 World Cup by most, is wary of the threat the host nation, Japan, pose in particular in Pool A. Ireland will also face Scotland in two years’ time at rugby’s showpiece event and, as Schmidt points out, likely Romania along with whoever the …

Now that Germany have left Euro 2016 attention will turn to the future of Bayern Munich’s Mario Gotze. The man who scored the winning goal in the 2014 World Cup final struggled to break into the Bayern Munich first eleven under previous manager Pep Guardiola and now also seems surplus to requirements under new boss Carlo Ancelotti. Bild report (via …

A commonly held belief involving the All Blacks at the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa appears to have been confirmed by a former bodyguard to President Nelson Mandela. A former South African police commander attached to the New Zealand Rugby squad security detail during the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa has spoken of his affirmation that …