Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now!England, an apology. Football Daily and the wider English media may have previously depicted Thomas Tuchel’s lads as world champions in waiting after taking apart a Croatian team led by Luka Modric, 78, in a second-half Texan surge, but we were all so very wrong. Still, as the nation awoke following the goalless draw with Ghana, we had our England back. Tradition matters. Tea cups on the lawn, curled-up cucumber sandwiches, overpriced service stations, complaining about the weather, prime ministers departing office; familiarity is important to this nation’s psyche. England serving up the dullest game yet of the Geopolitics World Cup brought that self-same wash of familiarity. A corner of a foreign field that is forever England playing like a drain, a nation’s hopes sagging. England, our ruddy bloody England, welcome home, we’ve been expecting you.One of the reasons that the Egyptian team beat New Zealand was that, for some reason, my countrymen were apparently so short of numbers they were forced to play Joe Bell in two different positions on the pitch at the same time. Physicists apparently call this phenomenon ‘quantum superposition’. I call it: ‘Why didn’t you ring me? I was at home doing nothing’” – Rod de Lisle. Continue reading...

For years the United States sought a single soccer identity. Instead, its best team emerged from a patchwork of backgrounds, cultures and development pathsIn 1993, the United States Soccer Federation handed a contract to Rinus Michels. But the Dutch godfather of Total Football, operationalized through his on-field avatar Johan Cruyff, was not hired to coach the national team, or to coach anybody, really.By this time, Michels, who managed the Los Angeles Aztecs of the North American Soccer League in 1979 and 1980, had already turned down the chance to manage the US men’s national team twice. Once, in 1983, when it would be entered, disastrously, into the NASL as Team America. And once more in 1991, when Bora Milutinović was appointed instead. Continue reading...

Plus: is Dick Advocaat unique among coaches, long waits between World Cups and Dave Beasant revisionismMail us with your all of your questions and answers“Sweden’s Yasin Ayari has a Tunisian father and chose not to celebrate his first goal against Tunisia (he couldn’t resist celebrating when he scored later, though). Declan Rice did something similar after scoring against the Republic of Ireland in 2024, but what is the earliest example of a player not celebrating a goal at international level because of a connection to the opposition?” asks Michael Pilcher.“I remember Breel Embolo, the Swiss international born in Cameroon, not celebrating after scoring against Cameroon at the 2022 World Cup,” replies Filippo Varanini. Continue reading...

Club América star did not appear in first two US gamesDual-national was surprise pick to Pochettino’s squadDead-rubber Turkey match could be time for debutAs his US teammates finished off group-clinching wins over Paraguay and Australia, all Alex Zendejas could do to help was watch.It isn’t the role Zendejas aspired to have at this World Cup. The 28-year-old was a coveted dual-national who chose to represent the nation he grew up in over Mexico, where he was born and has played most of his professional career. At the USMNT’s open training before the Paraguay match, Club América jerseys were the best represented of the club shirts held by fans for signing. Continue reading...

The pressure of wearing the Brazil shirt can be heavy but also creates a positive kind of responsibilityPlaying in a World Cup is a huge experience; when you’re with the national team, your entire focus is on the squad’s schedule – the hotel, the training centre, the stadium – basically, everything revolves around the matches.I lived that routine daily at the 2022 World Cup and realised the immense dedication the tournament demands. In this 2026 edition, as fate would have it and as I am still recovering from my injury, I’m discovering a different side of the World Cup: a World Cup of reunions, with countless events happening simultaneously across the cities and countries, creating opportunities for conversations and extraordinary experiences. Continue reading...

The Group D clash between the United States and Socceroos has been hyped as next step in a heated rivalry but the nations are on similar football journeysListen to the hyperbole spewed by the loudest voices, and the World Cup clash between co-hosts the United States and Australia in Seattle is the latest contest in a heated sporting rivalry streaked with disrespect and even downright hate.Indeed, the sometimes spiteful clash between the teams in a friendly last year serves as a preview for what is now one of the marquee matches in the pool stage, and set to determine the winner of Group D. Continue reading...

The hype around Johan Manzambi will only heighten after his star turn from the substitutes’ bench helped Switzerland out of a hole and get their tournament truly up and running. The 20-year-old managed to excel for Freiburg in their comprehensive Europa League final defeat against Aston Villa last month and, with 73 minutes played here and three minutes after coming on as part of a triple substitution, his superb volley put an end to a sterile contest, hooking a right-foot shot into the Bosnia and Herzegovina net.At that point Switzerland had had eight shots, three on target, but things unravelled in the final third. It was, of course, a similar story in their opener against Qatar, when they finished with 26 shots but had to settle for a draw. Manzambi scored twice here, his second finish understated but sumptuous, before Ermin Mahmic thumped in an unstoppable volley in stoppage time, the ball clocked at 71mph according to the wraparound LED screen. Switzerland’s captain, Granit Xhaka, capped the scoring from the penalty spot after Amar Memic tripped Djibril Sow. Continue reading...

They can put the matches away, at least for a little while. Before this game the South Africa head coach, Hugo Broos, had responded to fierce criticism for how his side had started the World Cup by revealing that eight months ago, having qualified for the competition, a friend told him they would erect of a statue of him and that he had said: “Make it out of wood; that way it will burn more easily when I lose.” Defeated 2-0 by Mexico, they were seven minutes away from following that up with a 1-0 loss to Czechia, left with no points, no goals and not much hope either. But then, almost from nowhere, a penalty allowed them to live to fight another day, the bonfire avoided for now.Teboho Mokoena was the man that scored it and what it meant could be seen not just in the way that he celebrated but in the tears that had rolled down his face during the national anthem. A draw is not a great result and it was not a great game but there was a smile at the end, and hope too. South Africa can still go through: victory over South Korea would virtually guarantee it; a win for the Czechs would see them through too. Whether they are capable of securing one is a different matter. Continue reading...

Manager said second-half performance was ‘rewarding’England’s next group game is against Ghana on 23 JuneThomas Tuchel said he wanted his England team to entertain the nation and that he pictured the scenes in the pubs as his players took the handbrake off to power past ­Croatia 4-2 in their World Cup opener on Wednesday.England were passive in the first half, too deep, the connections lacking. They entered the interval at 2-2, Harry Kane’s goals cancelled out by a pair of soft concessions that were in keeping with the team’s openness. Continue reading...

England head coach Thomas Tuchel has won a battle with Fifa to get photographers moved away from the bench during the national anthems.

Wales boss Craig Bellamy is one of football's "most exciting young coaches" says former international team-mate and the nation's U19s head coach Chris Gunter.

Didier Deschamps has an awkward question to answer: should he drop the Ballon d’Or holder?By Get French Football News“If I start playing just to prove all of my critics wrong and to shut them up, I think I’d have to keep playing until I was 80,” said Kylian Mbappé as he wrote his name in the history books, surpassing Olivier Giroud as France’s all-time top scorer. He insists that his 57th and 58th goals for the national team – which secured a 3-1 win over Senegal in their World Cup opener – were not about “revenge”. But they were at least a response.Mbappé is not someone who does all his talking on the pitch. Speaking before Euro 2024, he referred to himself in the third person as he announced his opposition to far-right politicians. “Kylian Mbappé is against extreme views and against ideas that divide people,” he said two years ago. I want to be proud to represent France. I don’t want to represent a country that doesn’t correspond to my values, or our values.” Continue reading...

Those in attendance at Argentina’s opening match against Algeria could be forgiven, for a moment, for thinking they were at one of the great Argentinian cathedrals of football – La Bombonera, or maybe the national stadium, El Monumental. Kansas City Stadium, awash in the colors of the Albiceleste roared with the sound of nearly 70,000 Argentine supporters serenading their team, and their hero, in rapturous song on Tuesday night.They had plenty to sing about. Continue reading...

As Saudi Arabia earn creditable point against Uruguay, is the money flooding into the Saudi Pro League helping the national team?