Key events
I mentioned it earlier, so here’s our live blog for USA v Germany. Bryan Armen Graham is on the ones and twos:
Suzanne Wrack
Lionesses have no reason to panic despite the humiliation in Spain
It was a tough night for Sarina Wiegman and her charges at the Estadi Mallorca Son Moix. England’s biggest loss since a 6-2 defeat by Germany in the Euro 2009 final and their first loss in a qualifier since 2002 shattered their ambition of securing top spot in their 2027 World Cup group and automatic qualification for the finals in Brazil.
The 4-0 scoreline was bruising, but the performance against Spain even more so and there was no sugar-coating by Wiegman. Her England side “didn’t play good enough”, “couldn’t get into another gear” and “hardly got into the 18 yard box”.
There is a sliver of hope for the Lionesses. The world champions travel to Reykjavik to play Iceland in conditions that suit the home team, as England found to their cost in April. Unlikely as it seems, but any dropped points by Spain and a win at home against Ukraine would flip the script.
Read Suzanne Wrack’s full debrief here:
Iraq striker held and questioned upon arrival at Chicago airport
Iraq striker, Aymen Hussein, was held and questioned for nearly seven hours at Chicago’s O’Hare airport after arriving with the squad early on Saturday, an Iraqi sporting official said.
Hussein was finally allowed in, but the team’s photographer was barred from entering the United States, said the official who works for the Iraqi Olympic Committee, but has close contacts with the team.
There was no immediate comment from the Iraqi Football Association, or from Hussein, a talismanic figure who scored the goal that secured the team’s qualification for the finals.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Homeland Security Department did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment on the reported questioning that was also covered by Iraqi media.
Fans came out in the early hours of the morning to greet the Iraq squad at the airport, holding flags and asking players to pose for pictures less than a week before the start of the tournament, video on social media showed.
Hussein’s phone was inspected after he arrived, the Iraqi official said.
“National team photographer Talal Salah was held for more than 10 hours, underwent similar phone checks, and was ultimately denied entry into the United States,” the official added.
Reporting courtesy of Reuters
Thanks Alex, looking at the slate of friendlies this evening apart from the ABSOLUTELY MASSIVE game between England and New Zealand at Lord’s in Florida, USA v Germany catches the eye. As noted, no Lennart Karl for Germany and we get to see how Mauricio Pochettino’s side is shaping up. I also feel like Jamaica v South Africa should be playing their friendly for the World Vibes Championship. In case you needed reminding…
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From one Thomas to another: I’ll hand you back to Tom Bassam to guide you through to the finish.
Thomas Tuchel has been talking Arsenal before England’s friendly starts. Specifically, he does not believe the Gunners’ quartet in his squad need a lift, despite the recent heartbreak of a Champions League final defeat by penalties.
According to PA, Tuchel was asked if he needs to lift the Arsenal contingent after joining up with the group: “I don’t think so. They’ve absolutely had a great season.
“I’m always happy to do it if I have to but they should know that a final just comes down to one or two shots in a penalty shootout, which means it cannot be closer. At some point a winner has to be found.
“I have lost some finals in a penalty shootout and it’s the closest way to lose and it hurts of course, it hurts a lot to lose big finals but a penalty means you did everything right, it couldn’t be closer.
“But it also means you were absolutely on the same level with maybe the best team in the world at the moment.”
Christoph Baumgartner can add to his name to the deeply unfortunate club.
Peter Oh emails to say: “Austria’s Christoph Baumgartner will miss the World Cup due to a muscle injury he suffered in the warm-up for the friendly against Tunisia a few days ago.
“His feisty, creative, attacking qualities are going to very hard to replace. Here he is going on a solo slalom run to score 6.3 seconds from the kick-off.”
… great intel there from David Hytner on the ground, quite literally, in Tampa. Hopefully all the England and New Zealand players come through the friendly fine.
Kick-off will be at 9pm BST – or just over three hours from now.
David Hytner
I know there is a fair bit of angst about the state of the pitch at the Raymond James Stadium, which is the home of the NFL team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
I had a walk around it on Thursday morning and it is certainly harder than a typical Premier League surface. It has been recently re-laid and it did not look to have completely knitted together. Most of the worry seems to stem from how Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain injured his knee in England’s friendly before the 2014 World Cup against Ecuador in Miami. But that problem looked to be more because of a collision with an opposing player.
New Zealand trained on the pitch on Friday and they seemed relaxed about it. “It seemed all right,” said the captain, Chris Wood. “We know it is freshly laid. It will be different at game speed. I’m sure it will hold up.”
On the subject of devastating pre-World Cup injuries, Stephen Gosling has emailed with a great example.
“Brazil’s original captain of the 2002 squad, Emerson (defensive midfielder), dislocated his shoulder playing in goal during training and missed the entire tournament.”
Playing in goal! Ouch. Emerson must’ve experienced the most mixed of emotions as he watched his teammates go on to win the tournament.
David Hytner
An interesting off-cut from Thomas Tuchel’s pre-New Zealand game press conference.
It concerned summer transfers, which may affect some of his England players – most obviously John Stones, Elliot Anderson and Marcus Rashford. The former is a free agent, the latter is in limbo after the end of his loan at Barcelona from Manchester United while Anderson is a target for Manchester City and others after an outstanding season at Nottingham Forest.
Tuchel said he had essentially banned transfer talk on the days before matches and on match days themselves but he is otherwise relaxed and realistic about them going on in the background. The message was to create an environment to help any player involved in a move rather than bottle things up.
News from the Guardian’s chief football correspondent, David Hytner, who’s on the ground in Florida and has this to share from the England camp before the friendly against New Zealand …
Two emails on one topic: no teenage wonder-kid Lennart Karl this summer. Gah!
“Germany suffered a major setback today, as young rising star Lennart Karl of Bayern Munich suffer a serious muscle injury in training and is ruled out of the World Cup,” says Oliver Lind.
“This was the German player I was looking forward to the most. Feel really sorry for the young man. A pity. Not a good omen for Germany’s chances reaching the semis.”
H Furbach concurs, emailing to say: “Regarding injury news, I’m surprised you haven’t mentioned Lennart Karl yet.
“It’s the big topic in Germany today. We were all very exited to see the young Bayern talent make his mark on the World Cup. He was expected to start alongside Wirtz and Musiala in our midfield, after all.
“Sadly he’s got himself a muscle fibre bundle tear in yesterday’s training session and has been ruled out for the tournament. As his replacement, Julian Nagelsmann has nominated not another winger, but RB Leipzigs upstart Assan Ouédraogo, who is more of a box-to-box-midfielder and who has, due to his dynamic style, already been compared to prime Paul Pogba by some. He’s had a breakout first Bundesliga season at Leipzig despite being out for several months with a knee injury. Many would have expected Said El Mala (of Köln) or Dortmund’s Karim Adeyemi as more of a like-for-like replacement for Karl.
“Unhappy greetings from Munich …”
It wasn’t quite a late, late injury – but the great Romário, star of the 1994 World Cup, missed France 1998 as he couldn’t quite get fit in time to make the Brazil squad.
It was particularly devastating as it robbed us of Ronaldo and Romário – the so-called “Ro-Ro” attack – at a World Cup. They were absolutely deadly together in the years leading up to that World Cup.
Anyway, you can read today’s interview with Romário below. He gives himself an 11/10 rating as a player. I concur.
Your heart goes out to any player who picks up an injury on the eve of a World Cup, of course. They only come along once every four years (World Cups, that is, not injuries) – even assuming your country qualifies.
Scotland have already lost poor Billy Gilmour to knee knack during the friendly win against Curaçao and you hope that’s the worst of their luck done with.
I was trying to think earlier who the highest-profile player to miss a World Cup with a late, late injury is – and clearly my brain is shot, because I must be missing some obvious examples.
Rio Ferdinand in 2010 stands out – he was the England captain in 2010 and did his knee in the first training session in South Africa, forcing him out of the squad. Similarly, Roberto Ayala was Argentina’s skipper in 2002 when he injured his thigh. He made the squad – but could not play a minute as his side went out in the group stage.
Who am I missing?
Elsewhere co-hosts Canada drew 1-1 with the Republic of Ireland in their last friendly before they face Bosnia and Herzegovina in the World Cup on Friday of next week.
A Jake O’Brien own goal gave the hosts the lead in Montreal but Ireland’s Chiedozie Ogbene was quickest to react after Troy Parrott’s penalty was saved to equalise in the second half.
I see Alphonso Davies didn’t feature at all, as it’s touch and go whether he’ll be fit in time for that Bosnia game. What a blow to Canada if their star player, and one of the world’s best full-backs, isn’t ready in time for the tournament.
Thanks Tom, hello all – hope you’re all gearing up for some red-hot, pre-tournament friendly action!
Speaking of which: I notice Scotland’s opening opponents in Group C, Haiti, lost 2-1 to Peru in their final warm-up before the World Cup. Sunderland’s Wilson Isidor gave Haiti the lead but Peru struck twice late on.
Possibly a result to calm Scottish nerves after Haiti’s 4-0 thumping of New Zealand. But it’s hard to tell with these friendlies, isn’t it? How hard are the players trying on “the wanting to impress the manager”/“really mustn’t get injured” scale of effort?
It’s time for me catch a break, to steer you through the next hour is Alex Reid.
Here is your afternoon reminder to get on Bracketology, where you can plot a path to victory for England (or anyone else for that matter). It’s good, clean fun and we promise we won’t tell anyone that you failed to predict [insert shock group stage elimination here].
Have a go:
Romelu Lukaku continued his comeback for Belgium with 25 minutes off the bench as they enjoyed a 5-0 victory over 10-man Tunisia earlier today.
In Belgium’s final warmup fixture before they head to the United States for the World Cup, Leandro Trossard, Charles De Ketelaere, Kevin De Bruyne, Dodi Lukebakio and Nicolas Raskin scored the goals as Lukaku grabbed an assist.
Lukaku did not make a single start for Napoli in Serie A this season, but is in a race to get fit for the World Cup and netted against Croatia on his return on Tuesday.
More injury news, I’m afraid. This time it is former Brighton man Julio Enciso who has been left waiting nervously on his fitness for Paraguay’s World Cup campaign. The Strasbourg forward was taken off on a stretcher in tears in his national team’s 4-0 warmup victory over Nicaragua in Asuncion.
Paraguay head coach Gustavo Alfaro confirmed Enciso will undergo tests and said he remained “hopeful” that the injury was not muscular.
“Julio suffered two simultaneous injuries; a tight hamstring from impact and then on his waist, which affected his quadriceps area,” Alfaro said. “He was concerned and that’s why he came off.
“When he took the first hit, he signaled to me and I told him to come off. He replied that it was loosening up, but then he took another blow to the waist and that’s when he felt the injury,.
“We hope Julio is all right and he can be ready to return for the opener against the US.”
Paraguay, who’ll play their group matches in California, face the hosts in their Group D opener next Friday in Inglewood before taking on Turkey on 19 June. Australia are the South American nation’s final group stage opponents, when they face off on 25 June at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.
Unfortunate injury news coming out of the Argentina camp, the AFA has confirmed that Marseille defender Leonardo Balerdi will miss the World Cup after suffering a calf injury on his right leg during training.
In a post on X, the AFA said Balerdi has sustained a muscle injury in his right leg that has ruled him out of the tournament. There is no word yet who will replace the 27 year old.
The World Cup guides are coming thick and fast. France is the latest.
That’s all from me today. Tom Bassam is back now for the final stretch of this live blog.
Mexico is planning to increase the police and security presence around Zocalo plaza in Mexico City to ensure the World Cup Fan Fest can go ahead amid growing social unrest and public protests.
Much of the city’s historic centre, including the Catedral Metropolitana and Aztec ruin Templo Mayor, is locked down, but the president Claudia Sheinbaum’s government is adamant that Zocalo will remain open throughout the tournament.
Local reports have claimed that a crowd of up to 100,000 is expected at the official Fifa Fan Fest when Mexico kicks off the World Cup against South Africa at the Azteca Stadium next Thursday, raising security concerns in a city that is in the grip of a wide range of protests.
Be sure to check out The Guardian’s World Cup player guide. Every star set to appear at the tournament this summer has been covered – that is 1,248 in total!
Thomas Tuchel has indicated that Ollie Watkins will be Harry Kane’s understudy during the World Cup, with Ivan Toney seen as more of a wildcard to use in specific situations. All three players could feature at some point when England face New Zealand this evening.
Tuchel said: “I think Ollie is more the guy we need to start for Harry, if we think Harry should not start a match. He can keep the intensity up, to keep the press going.
“Ivan is kind of a finisher for us. Maybe it’s a special task to take the attention off Harry. Then we have a second striker who’s very, very good in the box. He’s a good penalty taker. He trains on a high level. I’m very happy with him. He just showed that it was right to take him. He has a brilliant attitude. We have some options but Harry is, of course, the main guy in front.”
Thiago Rabelo spoke to Brazil legend Romário this week – and the former striker made quite the statement about his playing career…
Some huge names will miss out on the World Cup this summer. Yara El-Shaboury has assembled a starting XI of those absent, including the likes of Gianluigi Donnarumma, Victor Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
Fifa has cancelled World Cup tickets issued to about 60 fans who mistakenly got them for free because of a website error, and soccer’s governing body is now asking for them to be paid in full.
The tickets were “allocated at no charge [0 USD] due to a prior payment issue during the checkout process,” Fifa said in a statement Thursday.
“Fifa regrets the error and any inconvenience caused,” it said. “The tickets requested by these fans remain reserved, and the affected fans have been invited to complete payment of the correct amount.”
It is the latest glitch in an often controversial World Cup ticketing program that the attorneys general of New York and New Jersey are investigating for possible violations of consumer protection laws.
The mispriced tickets were sold through the official World Cup site on 21 May, Fifa said in an email message to buyers. That date was more than three months after Fifa president Gianni Infantino said all 104 World Cup games had sold out.
Have you got your World Cup wall chart yet? Well, if you haven’t, feel free to print this one out in time for kick-off next week!
There are plenty of international friendlies taking place today. Here are some of them…
Portugal v Chile
United States v Germany
Switzerland v Australia
Brazil v Egypt
Bolivia v Scotland
England v New Zealand
Steve Clarke believes Haiti’s routing of New Zealand could be useful as a means of dispelling Scottish arrogance towards their first World Cup opponents. The 4-0 win for Haiti in Florida turned heads in Scotland, when a victory for Clarke’s team over the 82nd-ranked team in the world seen as essential for progression from a Group C that also includes Morocco and Brazil. Scotland take on Haiti in Boston next Saturday.
