The Athletic | Football 🤖

Offside by the smallest of margins brings chaos and heartbreak for Iran. Egypt and Iran have drawn 1-1 after Shojae Khalilzadeh had a go-ahead goal in second-half stoppage time disallowed by VAR.

Davinson Sanchez was 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚 to scoring a World Cup winner for Colombia against Portugal — he was denied by the offside flag 🤏 If only he had a smaller shoe-size, Colombia would have won all three group stage games. It would have been nothing more than they deserved too. https://bit.ly/4oNF5QE

Hundreds of Ghana fans, some of whom had travelled more than 5,000 miles from Accra for the World Cup, were stuck watching Saturday’s match against Croatia from the sidewalk outside Lincoln Financial Field. No one seemed to know exactly who was supposed to have tickets for the large group of Ghana fans; some thought a member of the fan association was supposed to arrive with them. One person told The Athletic she thought tickets promised to the waiting fans had been sold on the resale market instead. Police presence at the gate doubled and then tripled, with officers saying they had been sent there for “security” and as a “precaution”. There were a few tense moments between a small number of fans arguing with officers, while most people wandered around outside the gate on their phones or in conversation with others about potential tickets. None materialised, and about 30 minutes after the start of the game, police cleared the area and sent all the disappointed supporters away from the gate and back towards the parking lots. 🔗 https://nyti.ms/3R2BMbY

Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland took centre stage in the World Cup round of 32 yesterday. Here, we give the lowdown on today's matches and make our picks. 🇺🇸 Will Mauricio Pochettino’s USMNT take their big moment? 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 No slip-ups for England... surely? 🇧🇪🇸🇳 Would a Belgium loss to Senegal be a shock? Join us - and make your decisions ⤵️ 🔗 https://nyti.ms/4xX7RCD

Mexico beat Ecuador to win their first men's World Cup knockout stage match since 1986. Goals from Julian Quinones and Raul Jimenez — the two scorers in Mexico's 2-0 victory in their World Cup opener against South Africa — earned their country a place in the last 16, where they will face either England or DR Congo in Mexico City on July 5. From the high of their win over Germany, Ecuador, who finished the game with 10 men following Piero Hincapie's red card for covering his mouth in a situation of confrontation, come back down to earth at a raucous Estadio Azteca.

At Euro 2024, Lamine Yamal turned up with a backpack full of schoolwork. In May 2026, when joining up with his Spain team-mates in late May, he arrived in a Chanel outfit that was picked out by his private fashion stylist. From the handles of his matching handbag hung an exclusive set of pink Beats headphones that are not yet available to purchase. Under an Instagram post shared with his 43.3million followers, Spanish pop star Rosalia (28 million followers) was among those appreciating his look, writing: “Estilazo (incredible style).” This is the new Yamal. He is the best at Barcelona, the best with Spain. For many, he is the most exciting player at this entire World Cup - and in his first start against Saudi Arabia, he will hope to show why. ✍️ @polballus@twitter.com 🔗 https://nyti.ms/4vs6kmy

The unsettling, unintentional story of the biggest soccer tournament in history and its expansion has been serious allegations of sexual assault around the globe — and football's aversion to saying anything about it. When Ghana head coach Carlos Queiroz criticised FIFA’s expansion of the World Cup to 48 teams as “ordinary” and “vulgar”, he probably didn’t realise how ironically and depressingly apt his choice of words were. https://nyti.ms/4f7G4H9

The Folarin Balogun affair, claims of favouritism for Argentina… the last few days have seen lurid allegations made about this World Cup. But the competition has always been a breeding ground for conspiracy theories. CIA poisoning plots, rigged draws, Ronaldo and Nike… all are colourful tales which help make the tournament what it is. 📝 @TimSpiers@sportsbots.xyz 🔗 https://nyti.ms/4y5tXTL

Mikel Merino comes up trumps for Spain late on again. Pau Cubarsi's long-range effort was spilled by Senne Lammens — Merino was first to the loose ball to put his country in front. The Arsenal midfielder makes the difference just two minutes after coming off the bench — he only needed six minutes against Portugal on Monday.

Djed Spence starts for England in their World Cup semi-final against Argentina. The full-back has come a long way since having to wait 881 days for his first Tottenham start in December 2024 after moving to north London in the summer of 2022 and going out on loan to Rennes, Leeds United and Genoa. He has been outstanding from the bench during the 2026 World Cup — now he has a chance to shine in one of the biggest matches in English football history. 📝 @EliasBurke@twitter.com https://bit.ly/3RaqimX

▪️ The financial and reputational impact on the World Cup ▪️ Might European nations pull out of hosting FIFA tournaments? ▪️ Will England's Women's World Cup play-off in October go ahead? ▪️ Could this backfire on UEFA and/or threaten Infantino's power? After European nations agreed to boycott FIFA tournaments, including the World Cup, we answer the key questions and consider what could happen next. 📝 @mjshrimper@twitter.com, @TBurrows16@twitter.com, @CWeatherspoon_@twitter.com, @megan_feringa@twitter.com & @Conor0Neill_@twitter.com 🔗 https://nyti.ms/4wI3Q3O

For those who wondered if FIFA president Gianni Infantino could be shamed into a rapid resignation, we now have the obvious answer. Infantino is fighting on and on late Wednesday evening, he appeared to score a victory for the first time since his clandestine plot to sell off stakes in FIFA’s business came to light. Infantino summoned FIFA’s management board to Morocco and those in attendance signed off an extraordinary show of faith. Then there were some choreographed thumbs-up photographs. Nothing to see here. From Infantino's perspective, it was abundantly clear — the show must go on. So, what happens now? 📝 @AdamCrafton_@twitter.com Free to read ⬇️ https://bit.ly/4wbeCP4