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Key events
“Neymar’s consolation penalty against Norway at the World Cup means his first international goal, scored on his first cap, was in the same stadium (MetLife) as his last international goal on his final cap,” writes Griffin Cant. “Are there any other players who have bookended their international career in a similar way?”
Find out the answer to this and more in this week’s Knowledge:
Time for a first delve BTL, and the various Argentina-Egypt talking points are unsurprisingly dominating.
Here’s MarkWatson1:
Well, you can bet your house on Argentina (Messi) winning the World Cup again. In the last few days we’ve seen it all collapse as a sporting spectacle. First the rescinded red card by Donald Trump and now the daylight robbery of Egypt. VAR was supposed to be used to ensure fairness but instead it’s just being used to tip the scales in favour of whoever is scheduled to go into the next round.
And nomiddlename:
The Egypt goal was rightly chalked off, I was looking at the hip/leg contact and thinking it was never a foul but replays showed the clear shirt pull. The trip on Salah immediately before the Argentina goal is slightly different, it looked like foul play and if the ref had given it VAR would almost certainly not have overturned it, but he didn’t and VAR didn’t try to re-ref the incident, was hoping for a penalty to be given there, and quite possibly it should have been given but once it’s accepted that not every contact is 100% foul play then maybe not, and it wasn’t to be
Great comeback byArgentina though
Whatever your view, it shows how Trump’s and Infantino’s conduct over the Balogun red card has intensified suspicion over everything else that happens at this tournament. And it also shows – for the millionth time – that VAR does not bring certainty or consistency. Fire it into the sun.
You may have missed … here’s a withering critique of Fifa’s handling of the Folarin Balogun red card case by Barney Ronay:
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 exiting its own World Cup tournament as soon as possible following the great and glorious Donald Trump Mr-Fix-It intervention.
This was the tone of the immediate global reaction to the USA’s invertebrate defeat in Seattle on Monday night, soundly beaten by a righteous and highly motivated Belgium: land of beer, waffles and sporting vigilante justice. Ghent 4 Bent 1. Antwerp 4 A twerp 1. Mayonnaise 4 May-have-interfered-in-due-process 1. I can go on. How long have you got?
So far much of the domestic US response has focused on an interesting but essentially irrelevant part of this, albeit one with a natural appeal to the polarised heart of the nation. Did the noise around Trump’s intervention, the admission, which is denied by Fifa, of prima facie attempted sporting corruption over Folarin Balogun’s ban (Trump’s exact words: “I was the one who got them to do it”) deplete the team’s chances?
Was this a case of Trump Exposed Reactor Core Phenomenon, a term I have just invented for the dynamic whereby Trump melts everything he touches while remaining indestructibly in place, still burping his dark energy into the skies?
Osasu Obayiuwana
The first quarter-final, Morocco v France, might be the most alluring and intriguing of the four ties, with Mohamed Ouahbi’s side – again the only African team to reach the last eight – chasing a second consecutive semi-final. Osasu Obayiuwana has more.
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 1986 and became the first team from the continent to make the last 16, then made that impressive semi-final run in Qatar four years ago.
Even if the Atlas Lions fail to match their 2022 performance, by losing to France on Thursday, they have made tournament history as the first African team to reach the quarter-finals at successive World Cups.
“The general feeling, amongst Moroccans, is pride and contentment in this team,” says Amine El Amri, a football journalist who, from his base in Casablanca, has been closely observing fans’ attitudes toward the team’s performance. “The main goal before the competition was to reach the quarter-finals, given the context, given the change of manager, with the departure of Walid Regragui and the coming of Mohamed Ouahbi. I think the victory over the Netherlands cemented the reputation of Ouahbi as a trustworthy coach. Many doubts about him were cleared up after that match.
“Beating Canada in the way we did, despite having a very difficult first half, has also added to that confidence. You have to be in Casablanca, in Marrakech, in every city and little town, to just measure how happy people are [with the team]. Our Saturday night was crazy – no one slept.”
Fulham confirm Arbeloa appointment
Fulham have named Alvaro Arbeloa as their new head coach on a three-year deal. He’ll hope for a less fractious dressing room than the one he had to grapple with at Real Madrid. Here’s the story.
Alvaro Arbeloa has been appointed as Fulham’s new head coach on a three-year contract.
The 43-year-old former Spain full-back, who finished last season in charge of his long-time club Real Madrid, succeeds Marco Silva after the Portuguese coach departed for Benfica at the end of his contract.
He said: “It is a real honour for me to be embarking on this new stage at Fulham FC, the oldest club in London.
“I feel a great sense of responsibility and I’m deeply grateful to Mr (Shahid) Khan and Tony Khan for the trust they have placed in me with Fulham in the Premier League.
“I am really looking forward to experiencing the atmosphere at Craven Cottage with Fulham fans.”
Fulham co-owner Shahid Khan said: “Alvaro was an original candidate who built an exceptional case through our meetings in June to become our next Head Coach, and it quickly became quite clear that he was – and is – the right choice.
“I am delighted that Alvaro has accepted the challenge to push Fulham forward, and I have no doubt that our squad, staff and fans will resonate with what his appointment means for the present and future of our club.”
He continued: “Alvaro is, by his own admission, very ambitious.
“He has spent quality time around the best players, clubs and methods in the game, experiences which will serve him well here at Fulham.” PA Media
Preamble
Greetings everyone. Welcome to the kind of day we’ve not had for four weeks – a day with no World Cup football! Time to finally tackle that pile of plates in the sink, that layer of dust on all work surfaces, that sock drawer. Or you could just stare blankly at the screen until the quarter-finals start on Thursday, or talk about it all here.
And we now know the identity of all those quarter-finalists after one of those days that all World Cups have – a thriller around which swirl rancour and accusations of bias towards big teams/players, followed by a frustrating, deadening 0-0 in which the side that missed the most presentable chances in 120 minutes inevitably lose the shootout. So commiserations Colombia and Egypt, and congratulations Switzerland – in their first quarter-final for 72 years – and Argentina.
Here’s that last eight schedule:
9 July France v Morocco (Boston, 4pm local/9pm BST/6am 10 July AEST)
10 July Spain v Belgium (Los Angeles, 12pm local/8pm BST/5am 11 July AEST)
11 July Norway v England (Miami, 5pm local time/10pm BST/7am 12 July AEST)
12 July Argentina v Switzerland (Kansas, 8pm local time/2am BST/11am AEST)
And here’s yesterday’s reports:
