Carlos Queiroz’s squad hope to repeat the form that almost made Ghana the first African team to reach the semi-finalsAntoine Semenyo was only 10 years old when Ghana came within a Luis Suárez handball of becoming the first African team ever to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup. The Manchester City forward can still vividly recall the emotions that night as he watched with his family in Bexleyheath, south-east London.“I remember being at my uncle’s house, and we were screaming after the handball, thinking we were going through,” he said in an interview last month. “Watching Ghana play in the World Cup was so special. Mum, Dad, uncles, aunties, cousins all turn up to one house, and we would watch all the games together, celebrating and screaming. Ghana came in [for me] when I was 19 or 20, so I was never going to turn it down.” Continue reading...

Carlos Queiroz has plenty to deal with as the Black Stars enter the fray against Panama looking to banish a long record of underachievementThat it took Ghana until 2006 to qualify for the World Cup, despite being African football’s dominant team of the 1960s, 70s and the early 80s, winning the Africa Cup of Nations four times during this period, reflects the topsy-turvy nature of their football odyssey.“The journey of the Black Stars over the last four decades has been marked by long periods of disappointment,” says Gary Al-Smith, one of the country’s most respected football journalists. “We had a surge between 2006 and 2017, when we qualified for eight straight semi-finals at Afcon but never won anything. Yes, we had a quarter-final appearance at the 2010 World Cup, but our record overall has been pockmarked with great highlights but never a trophy. There has been nothing to celebrate.” Continue reading...

An improvised base in Mexico has become Team Melli’s unlikely World Cup home as security fears, visa disputes and political divisions shape their tournamentOpen-top trucks patrolled the surrounding roads outside the Estadio Caliente today, mounted by men in helmets and masks and wielding machine guns. They pass by the main entrance every few hours, guarding the massive city block, otherwise chocked with cars and smog, that the Iran national team has made its temporary, and largely improvised, home for this World Cup.This has become business as usual here in northwest Mexico, at an arena that most teams in the domestic league hate to visit thanks to its distance from the country’s other footballing hubs and its brutal artificial turf playing surface. Continue reading...

All eyes will be on Team Melli amid the ongoing conflict with the US and Israel, making their campaign one of the most unusual and unpredictable of recent timesThis article is part of the Guardian’s 2026 World Cup Experts’ Network, a cooperation between some of the best media organisations from the 48 countries who qualified. theguardian.com is running previews from three countries each day in the run-up to the tournament kicking off on 11 June. Continue reading...

Ghana thought they would fly to Washington on Wednesday with a victory finally under their belts, England soon in their sights. After five straight friendly defeats since qualifying for the World Cup last October, they had to settle for a draw in Carlos Queiroz’s first game in charge after Lewis Koumas’s stoppage-time equaliser.Presumably Thomas Tuchel, five hours behind Cardiff in time-zone, hunkered down somewhere in West Palm Beach to watch England’s second Group L opponents this summer. If Tuchel had the sound on, he wouldn’t have needed to listen too hard to hear the Ghana supporters present delight in Caleb Yirenkyi’s second-half opener, but they were denied victory. Continue reading...

Uncertainty has clouded the All Whites and Team Melli’s group stage opener to be held in Los Angeles on 15 JuneNew Zealand will play their first World Cup game in 16 years with much of the planet watching what is surely the biggest event of the group stage. But little attention will be on whether New Zealand can record their first World Cup win with Iran their opposition on 15 June. As well as all the headlines and anticipation, the global spotlight adds an extra layer to the challenge for New Zealand coach Darren Bazeley and his team.Ever since the US and Israel attacked Iran on 28 February, there has been uncertainty surrounding this World Cup fixture in Los Angeles. Continue reading...

Former Iranian women’s team players ‘overwhelmed’ by supportRamezanisadeh and Pasandideh have trained with Brisbane RoarThe two members of the Iran football team who remained in Australia after the Women’s Asian Cup are beginning their new lives away from the spotlight, even if their dream is to return to elite football.Fatemeh Pasandideh and Atefeh Ramezanisadeh issued a statement on Friday saying they “respectfully ask” for “privacy and space”. Continue reading...

Former Manchester United assistant manager Carlos Queiroz is appointed as Ghana's head coach for the upcoming World Cup.

Iran's participation in the World Cup seems to be slipping further away on Thursday, with US President Donald Trump saying that Team Melli players would not be “safe” if they came to the United States.

There are urgent calls for Australia to take action before the team return to Iran but with no word from the players themselves the situation is fraught and uncertainTheir forward was once suspended when her head scarf slipped off during a goal celebration. Their youngest player is just 18. Another once worked as a personal trainer overseas. These are the women of the Iran football team, who are at the centre of an international diplomatic incident, even as the US and Israel rain missiles down on their family back home.The team remains in a hotel on the Gold Coast, where they played their third and final match of the Women’s Asian Cup on Sunday. Their departure from Australia is imminent, even if it’s not clear whether they want to go. Continue reading...

Oman coach Carlos Queiroz among those who are questioning the AFC’s decision for the upcoming games Over the next eight days six Asian nations will battle for two 2026 World Cup places and it feels as if Saudi Arabia and Qatar are already a little closer to North America. The two countries have been handed home advantage for the games in the two mini-groups by the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) with the winners of each qualifying. The decision, announced in June without revealing any selection criteria, left their opponents understandably upset. Indonesia, Iraq, Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) expressed interest in hosting themselves or requested neutral venues and also called for transparency and fairness in the decision-making process but to no avail. Continue reading...

Team Melli make their fourth straight World Cup Country likely to face restrictions in a Trump travel ban Iran have become the sixth team to qualify for the 2026 World Cup thanks to their 2-2 draw with Uzbekistan at the Azadi Stadium in Tehran on Tuesday. Iran join Japan and New Zealand as the first countries to have punched their ticket via the usual qualification process, while co-hosts United States, Mexico and Canada qualified automatically. Internazionale striker Mehdi Taremi was largely to thank for Team Melli’s accomplishment on Tuesday, scoring both goals in an otherwise sloppy performance from Iran. The Iranian defense let in two soft goals from Uzbekistan, who can guarantee their place at the World Cup with a victory in either of their two remaining qualifiers. Continue reading...

Ferguson’s legacy at Old Trafford is assured but revelations over his earnings for ambassadorial duties leave a sour taste Wayne Rooney had stolen the show in a 2-0 Manchester United win. The visit of the Premier League champions to Aberdeen in the summer of 2008 provided the kind of carnival occasion always guaranteed after Alex Ferguson’s defining move from Pittodrie to Old Trafford. This particular friendly was to mark the 25th anniversary of Ferguson leading Aberdeen to Cup Winners’ Cup glory. Friendly it was … until post‑match media duties. Frank Gilfeather, a household name in the north east, asked Ferguson about the potential impact of Carlos Queiroz’s recently announced exit from United to take over as the Portugal head coach. Ferguson, hitherto unaware Gilfeather was in the room, shot a glance so vengeful it made the four horsemen of the apocalypse look like cartoon characters. After a pause of three seconds – which felt like three months – Ferguson answered the question in perfectly articulate terms. As the press conference concluded a group of us dived towards Gilfeather, desperate to know the basis for Ferguson’s extraordinary reaction. Gilfeather had reported throughout Ferguson’s spell in Aberdeen and, it was always assumed, had a decent relationship with the managerial icon. Continue reading...

The former Manchester United coach on working with Sir Bobby Charlton, Erik ten Hag’s problems and his job with Australia An accusation often thrown at those associated with Manchester United these days is that they view football with red-tinted spectacles. If you hark back 10 years or more you’re a nostalgia merchant, you’re History FC; most of us have become familiar with the social media sneers. Making such a jibe to René Meulensteen, however, would be to overlook the vital part he played in helping Sir Alex Ferguson forge the third, final and arguably most complete version of the United juggernaut. Meulensteen was part of the furniture at Old Trafford for 12 years from 2001: working in the club’s famed academy before succeeding Carlos Queiroz as Ferguson’s closest confidant alongside Mike Phelan from 2007 to 2013, during which time United, as their fans still sing, won the lot. Continue reading...