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Chelsea complete Palestra signing
Chelsea have signed defender Marco Palestra from Atalanta in a deal worth £43m. The Italy international has signed a seven-year deal at Stamford Bridge.
“I’m very excited to get started,” Palestra said. “I’ve felt the energy since the first day Chelsea wanted me. I can’t wait to start, see all the fans, my team-mates and the manager.
“We have so many talented players here, a very strong squad and manager in Xabi [Alonso]. He has spoken to me about how he wants us to play, which is exciting, and we can’t wait to compete in the Premier League.”
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The England fans are arriving at the stadium. Fewer than three hours to kick off.
Spain full-back Marcos Llorente said a connection is slowly building between him and Lamine Yamal ahead of his team’s World Cup last-32 meeting with Austria on Thursday.
The pair are rivals domestically in LaLiga, with Llorente’s Atletico Madrid having finished fourth, 25 points behind a Yamal-inspired Barca last season, as Hansi Flick’s side retained the title.
Their partnership with the national team has been keenly analysed, with the 31-year-old Atletico man seen as a key provider for his teenage team-mate on Spain’s right.
It is felt back home the connection is yet to fully bear fruit, but Llorente stressed they come from different playing styles at their respective clubs and insisted the 18-year-old was capable of operating without his assistance.
“Atletico Madrid is nothing like the national team,” he said. “They’re two different playing styles. At Atletico, I don’t have Lamine ahead of me and, with the national team, I don’t have Giuliano (Simeone). It’s different and little by little Lamine and I are getting to know each other.
“He doesn’t need much help either. In fact, it’s almost better to give it to him and stay back, because if you move closer, you’re bringing another player who can defend him. We’re searching for what’s best for him, because he’s the player who makes the difference.” PA Media
Tom Garry
The great Tom Garry has been speaking to your friend and mine Ellen White.
Kane’s technical ability, of being able to come a little bit deeper, and his passing range, just his quality and calmness in finishing, and playing that high level for so long and still be able to perform, well, he’s an unbelievable finisher.
Thank you Martin. Hello one and all!
As I briefly mentioned the other day, my daughter’s school is hosting a meeting with my daughter’s new teacher at 5pm BST today. I am not sure it will get 100% attendance. Sorry Mrs Chorlton, if you’re reading.
That is your lot from me today, I will leave you with this cute view of the Atlanta stadium that will be hosting England v DR Congo in a couple of hours time. Will Unwin will be your host now. Bye-eeee!
Transfer news klaxon: Arsenal defender Jakub Kiwior has completed a £14.6m move to Porto, PA reports. The 26-year-old spent last season on loan with Porto and played 36 times across all competitions as the Portuguese side secured a domestic title. He had joined Arsenal in January 2023, and made 63 appearances for the London side.
In his latest column for us Leander Schaerlaeckens reminds us that one of the aspects of Mauricio Pochettino’s job is not just to coach the US men’s team to victory, but to keep the American public interested in what they are doing at all …
Sid Lowe is in Los Angeles for the Guardian, and has spoken to Fabián Ruiz, who tells him:
It has been hard to get my pace and rhythm back but I am 100% now. I feel in good form. There were long-term injuries and it is true that to start with it is hard to get up to pace and adapt when you come back: I struggled with that. But by the time I got here, I had played various games in a row for PSG at the highest level without having to stop; the injury has been forgotten.
You can read more here:
DR Congo’s previous World Cup appearance was in 1974, when they were named Zaire, and faced Scotland, Yugoslavia and Brazil.
In 2018 Paul Doyle wrote an article about their 1974 campaign, and it is one that has always stayed with me. In it he traced what had happened to some of the squad members, who were living in destitution, and explored the backstory of that tournament.
Western commentary at the time painted Zaire as naive and lacking knowledge about the game, but in truth they had twice been Afcon winners in the previous six years, but were beset with political issues being caused by threatening behaviour from Zaire’s president Mobutu Sese Seko.
Perhaps the most famous incident during their World Cup campaign was Mwepu Ilunga rushing out from the wall to lash away a Brazilian free-kick before it had been taken. It later emerged that the team were under a threat of being exiled if they lost more than 3-0 to Brazil, and Ilunga was deliberately playing for time.
I found another interesting article about that Zaire campaign and free kick this morning when I was digging around on the web. This crucially also includes an embedded video of Mwepu Ilunga appearing on Fantasy Football League with David Baddiel and Frank Skinner. In it he takes part in a Phoenix from the Flames recreation of that moment, which he seems to take with extremely good grace, even while delivering scripted jibes at Jimmy Hill and Gerald Sinstadt, who you suspect were unfamiliar names. It was also the subject of one of our Lego recreations – remember them?
Norway fans rather enjoyed their victory over Côte d’Ivoire and staged a mass celebratory Viking “row” near the royal palace in Oslo. Tens of thousands of fans took to the streets after their first ever knock-out round victory – they lost to Italy in the round of 16 in 1938, and then contrived to lose to the same opposition 60 years later in Marseille in their only previous forays into World Cup knock-out football.
It didn’t all go smoothly, with reports that fans uprooted plants and tore down fence posts near the palace, and transit authorities had to take metro carriages out of service for repairs after fans tore down advertisements and dented carriage ceilings.
“I daren’t think what will happen if we make it all the way to the final,” royal gardener Ole Johan Hildre told Norwegian broadcaster NRK, while Gina Scholz, communications manager for transit operator Sporveien, told local media “It has been a fantastic evening. It is unfortunate that people get so carried away that it affects our equipment.”
Keir Starmer’s words of encouragement for the England team ahead of the World Cup were criticised in some quarters for being rather lukewarm, but you can’t say the same about DR Congo’s president Félix Tshisekedi. He addressed his nation yesterday with a speech marking the 66th anniversary of the country’s independence. Media site 7sur7 reports in it he spoke directly to the Congolese squad, saying:
To our Leopards, who are preparing to face England in the Round of 32, I want to send a simple message: step onto the pitch with the serenity of those who have already honoured the nation, but also with the audacity of those who know that history has not yet had its final say.
Play with discipline, courage, intelligence, and above all, without regrets. You have already made the hearts of Congolese men and women beat faster, you have already made an entire people proud, and we continue to believe in you and in your ability to go further, to surprise again, to push back the limits of what is possible, and to write, under our colours, a new chapter in our national greatness.
Whatever the adversity, the Democratic Republic of Congo will accompany you with its fervour, its prayers, and its unwavering support. Step onto the pitch with the strength of an entire people united behind you.
The DR Congo president attended the sides group match against Portugal, sitting with Fifa’s president Gianni Infantino in Houston.
Adam Gabbatt
Adam Gabbatt is in New York for the Guardian, and has been hanging out in bars and restaurants with some of the diaspora there whose countries are taking part in the World Cup. It sounds like an awful gig.
New York City is home to more than 3 million people who were born outside the US, from more than 150 countries. It’s a mix that makes for rich culture and an array of food and experiences and, during the World Cup, patriotic hubs forming around bars, restaurants and cafes, as New Yorkers seek a taste of home.
Death toll rises to three in Mexico City fan street celebrations
Martin Belam
Reuters has some more detail on that dreadful news from Mexico about fans being killed during celebrations after the victory over Ecuador, with the official death toll rising to three.
The agency reports the deaths occurred near the Angel of Independence landmark. Emergency teams tended to three unconscious people at different locations around Paseo de la Reforma, authorities said.
“After receiving advanced resuscitation efforts, the deaths of a 44-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman from suffocation have been confirmed,” the health authority initially said on social media.
The third fatality was a 48-year-old woman who was treated on a nearby street after suffering asphyxiation and died after being taken to hospital, the secretariat added in a later post.
Mayor Clara Brugada expressed her condolences to the families of the victims on social media and urged everyone to “always celebrate with responsibility, care, and empathy”.
With that, I shall hand over to Martin Belam.
Andy Hunter
Here’s Andy Hunter on the expected signing of Jeremy Jacquet.
Jacquet suffered a serious shoulder injury within days of Liverpool’s agreement being announced in January. He has successfully completed a rehabilitation programme and is currently doing individual fitness work with a view to being fit for the start of Andoni Iraola’s first pre-season as Liverpool head coach.
A France Under-21s international, Jacquet will be among the starting options at centre-back for Andoni Iraola, the new coach, alongside Virgil van Dijk, Giovanni Leoni and Joe Gomez. Leoni’s first season at Anfield was ruined by an anterior cruciate ligament injury sustained on his debut but he is also expected to be fit for the start of pre-season.
Watch the latest World Cup daily.
Marseille have a new coach in Bruno Genesio, who has replaced Habib Beye as coach of the Ligue 1 club. Beye left after four months in charge on the Mediterranean coast. Genesio, 59, left Lille at the end of last season having guided the northern outfit to the Champions League. Marseille have been hit with sanctions by UEFA for failing to meet the European football governing body’s break-even targets.
Some interesting commentary on Tuesday night from the BBC’s expert summariser Danny Murphy, as Norway played Cote D’Ivoire, alongside Steve Bower.
Bower: “Here’s Bobb’s first involvement”
Murphy: “I used to have a cat called Bob.”
Bower: “The game’s not that bad.”
Murphy: “He jumped in the back of a Royal Mail van and lost him … sad really... anyway.”
Bower: “anyway …”
Ivory Coast scored a minute later, a beauty through Amad Diallo. Let’s hope Bob lived a happy life.
Julian Nagelsmann is yet to to depart his Germany role but there’s gathering speculation he will be replaced by Jurgen Klopp.
Here’s what he’s said on the record, while working as a pundit for Magenta:
“I haven’t thought about that yet. I’ve often been in that situation myself as a coach, where a big dream has been shattered.
“I understand that when people talk about the national coach, my name is mentioned. But it’s not the right moment to talk about it, especially not with me. I have a job that I really enjoy [as Red Bull’s head of global soccer]. And as far as I know, it’s not a part-time job. The fact is, Germany was eliminated today, and this is not the moment for me to think about Jurgen Klopp’s future.”
He’s been sensational, has Gilberto Mora. There was a big flurry of hype over him in the prelims, and he’s lived up to it.
Every World Cup there's a small selection of players most of us have seen or heard little about, who are then bought for a lot more than they were worth pre-tournament and who, sadly, fail to live up to the potential they showed. It's interesting to see who's turning heads at this World Cup. From what I've seen, Gilberto Mora is far more than just a six week wonder though. He looks like an absolute superstar in the making and I can't imagine what his price tag will be eventually.
Report on those fatalities in Mexico.
Some highlights from Marcelo Bielsa’s resignation from being coach of Uruguay.
His press conference lasted an hour and 40 minutes.
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“What I have absolute certainty of is that nobody cares what I know.”
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“I know when someone cares what I know. Nothing I tried to transmit was important, at any level. That was never important from my point of view. I don’t see anything bad in it — other people aren’t interested in learning what I know. Case closed.”
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“Nobody was interested in what I transmitted, I don’t have the smallest doubt of that.”
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“I’ve experienced it in the same way that an engineer who lived in Australia and wanted to be a manager in Montevideo came over. I said ‘OK, come over’, I told him what I know and he accepted it and is now working in Uruguayan football. He’s the only one who I remember being interested.”
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For his television pictures shown before matches, Bielsa opted to look downwards during the shots and also spoke about his reaction during a post-match television interview in the aftermath of their defeat to Spain. “I wanted to make reference to something – an apology, in inverted commas. When they took my photo for Fifa, I’m no good at posing for photos.”
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“And the second thing I wanted to refer to was after the game against Spain, when there’s obligations with the companies who buy the rights to give a certain quantity of interviews. They manage times of anguish as if they were times of happiness.
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“I reacted against the delay in the questions which I was obliged to answer and I reacted because they waited, waited and I was overcome with pain. That’s why I perhaps wasn’t as polite as I should have been.”
Transfer news: Rangers have announced the signing of midfielder Dan Neil on a three-year deal. The 24-year-old made more than 200 appearances for Sunderland before being released this summer, having spent last season on loan at Ipswich. Neil featured 16 times in the Championship last term as he helped guide the Tractor Boys to a return to the Premier League. He becomes Rangers’ fifth signing of the summer following the arrivals of Lawrence Shankland, Ross McCrorie, Ben Godfrey and goalkeeper Ivor Pandur. (PA Media)
Club news: Barcelona have extended Danish defender Andreas Christensen’s contract until June 2028. The defender has accepted a significant pay cut to stay at the club. The 30-year-old centre-back, whose previous deal expired at the end of June, has been frequently sidelined by injuries during his time at Camp Nou.
More news on the two people who died from suffocation as thousands of fans crowded Mexico City streets during World Cup celebrations. (Reuters).
The incident occurred on Hamburgo and Lancaster Streets, near the Angel of Independence landmark, where thousands of soccer fans had gathered to celebrate Mexico’s 2-0 victory over Ecuador in the round of 32.
“After receiving advanced resuscitation efforts, the deaths of a 44-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman from suffocation have been confirmed,” the health authority said on social media.
Good morning, football. It was a night of big footballers doing big stuff, and we hope for same from England, though cannot rule out DR Congo, Belgium, Senegal or even the late-shift (in the UK) crew of the USA and Bosnia & Herzegovina. Is this now a tournament rather than a showpiece?
Anyway, that’s my morning stint done, and I’ll now leave you in the knowledgeable hands of John Brewin for the next couple of hours. Laters.
Liverpool complete Jacquet signing
Some club news now, and Liverpool have completed the signing of Jérémy Jacquet from Rennes. The central defender arrives at Anfield “on a long-term contract” for around £60m.
Amid all the (justified) gushing over France’s big names, last night also saw further flowering of one of this World Cup’s potential breakout stars, Mexico’s Gilberto Mora, who looks one hell of a player.
Trinder19 BTL sings some praises:
Every World Cup there’s a small selection of players most of us have seen or heard little about, who are then bought for a lot more than they were worth pre-tournament and who, sadly, fail to live up to the potential they showed. It’s interesting to see who’s turning heads at this World Cup. From what I’ve seen, Gilberto Mora is far more than just a six week wonder though. He looks like an absolute superstar in the making and I can’t imagine what his price tag will be eventually.
It’s not all about the price tags though – wherever he ends up (and it’d be good if he spends at least some more time gracing Liga MX), it’s his footballing worth that promises to thrill us.
A view from Mexico: a delve into the back end of yesterday’s mailbag digs up this missive from Mexico City from Pablo Silva Abarra
There’s one annoying aspect that I haven’t seen mentioned in any of your MBMs or articles concerning life for common citizens in Mexico City. It has to do with the incompetent response of our local authorities to the challenge of organizing WC matches with all that it entails.
For the fourth time in a row since June 11 that we had the opening match, there has been an executive order from the government mandating that every school in Mexico City (which I may remind you is one of the biggest and most chaotic places on plante Earth) must remain closed for match days in the Azteca Stadium. The same standard doesn’t apply to workplaces which remain open, because the orders only suggested that people adopted home office for those days. Even daycare falls under the scope of what the government understands as “schooling system”. In my particular case and I’m sure many people’s, it’s been grueling having to manage working at home with taking care of a 4yo boy and a 5mo daughter, who demand 95% of their parent’s attention.
The absurdity of this all is compounded by the fact that the matches, other than the Mexico - South Africa, take place at 7pm, and schools in the public education system (which my children will have the fortune to avoid, but that’s the subject of a proper discussion on its own) finish classes at 1pm. Also, these executive orders have been issued by the government with only one business day in advance, impeding us from making any reasonable arrangements to cope with it all, and for people (like me) who do not have a supporting family network, makes it an impossible task.
I hope this email finds some echo, I can’t imagine any parent having sympathy for this absurd and improvised decisions of my government. I could go on for hours being the precise day when I have full house, but I’ll try to think ahead on what promises to be an outstanding day of football, as well as the fact that today’s and this Sunday’s matches will be the last ones ever to be played in Mexico. I’ll also try to get some work done before the baby wakes up and screams for food.
Get yer ears round this lot – today’s World Cup Daily podcast.
The view from England now, and Jacob Steinberg’s preview of today’s game:
The part where Tuchel earns his corn starts now. England’s target at the World Cup is to put a second star on the shirt but it would be pushing it to say they sailed through the group stage. The surge against Croatia in Dallas is yet to be repeated. Jude Bellingham and Kane are performing in attack, but there are problems to fix in almost every part of the team and there is a banana skin in football form to deal with when England face the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the last 32 on Wednesday afternoon.
Slip up in Atlanta and it could be curtains for Tuchel. The pressure is on England. They have never lost against an African side at the World Cup and are not going to be feted if they secure a last-16 tie in Mexico City by beating the DRC.
While Andrew Beasley has the tactical lowdown on the DRC:
By keeping opposing teams a long way from their goal, the DRC are able to keep the quality of the chance they face low. Where the average non-penalty shot in the group stage was worth 0.10 expected goals, teams facing the DRC averaged just 0.06. Only Spain’s defence was better by this measure and they dominated possession to a far greater extent.
German investigators search DFB HQ over Euro 2024 ticketing
This just in from Reuters:
German investigators launched nationwide searches including at the offices of the DFB soccer association, the sport’s national governing body, over suspected ticket allocation violations, the Bild newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The raid was prompted by investigations into a German national and a French national among others, Bild said. A statement by police and prosecutors said searches were being conducted in several locations in Germany, without mentioning the DFB.
On this day in World Cup history: 1990 and England faced an African side in the knockouts …
Didier Deschamps’ reign as France manager has sometimes, and sometimes unfairly, been described as over-cautious and unspectacular, despite its successes. If France go all the way this year though, there’s no chance his final squad will be similarly regarded. Didi’s letting his stars run the show, as Leander Schaerlaeckens writes:
Deschamps, who lost his mother last week, will step down after this World Cup, but he seems determined to do things differently this time around. In this last gasp of his time in charge, he has suddenly subscribed to a kind of Great Man Theory, but for football. He has turned over control to Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé and, crucially, to Michael Olise, his attacking triumvirate laying waste to everyone they have so far faced.
Those three are working out a system for their entire side on the fly. It turns out Olise is more effective underneath Mbappé, who has finally embraced the lone striker role he long resisted. They have found by trial and error that Jules Koundé is best utilized through underlapping runs from right back. Such has been the French superiority over their opponents at this tournament that the skill and experience gap has more than sufficed to work on some things along the way.
Two dead in World Cup celebrations in Mexico City – authorities say
At least two people died on Wednesday during massive celebrations in Mexico City as the national team advanced to the round of 16 at the World Cup, according to the local government.
A 19-year-old woman and a 44-year-old man died of asphyxiation, according to the city’s health secretary.
Authorities have not yet confirmed the death of a third person, reported by local media. AFP
To the Democratic Republic of the Congo then, and Ed Aarons has had a chinwag with their former defender and captain Gabriel Zakuani – who I used to enjoy watching as a classy centre-back for Leyton Orient two decades ago – about the country’s chances against England. And Zakuani, who still works as a consultant for the country’s federation, is upbeat.
“There are holes in England. I think it’s been glaring,” he says. “When you sit back against England, they struggle to open you up. I don’t think they selected players who are capable of doing that on a regular basis. That’s what we’ll exploit. If you stop Jude Bellingham, I think you stop a lot of England. We’re very athletic and we’re very good defensively. And I think we’ve got a bit more than Ghana going forward.
“So I would say if we can hold them for as long as possible, we will get chances. And we just have to be clinical when we do get those chances. That’s the way I see us beating England.”
The Knowledge has dropped, to answer the question of high-scoring non-Golden Boot winners.
And here are the 2026 standings:
Another manager leaving his job is Ecuador’s dashing Sebastian Beccacece, whose contract was up anyway, per Reuters. “I don’t think we were able to achieve the feat we promised: to make this the best World Cup ever. Today it’s my by Mexico.
“That’s why I have to leave. I would have liked to continue because what I received from the players and the management warranted the possibility of continuing. But I understand how this works and it hurts, but I think the decision was clear.
“We were outplayed in the first half. We fought back, but we couldn’t find the goal that would have given us a boost.
“I have no complaints, only gratitude to the people and the players,” he said. “I received so much gratitude and affection from the bottom of my heart. The boys gave me two beautiful hours after the match and that’s what we’re left with.”
Koeman quits. The other big news from late-on yesterday was the resignation of Ronald Koeman as the Netherlands manager. Having initially struck a defiant tone in the aftermath of his side’s elimination by Morocco on Monday, the 68-year-old announced his departure late on Tuesday.
“Last night I took the decision to end my stint as head coach of the Dutch national team,” Koeman said in a statement on Instagram. “We all shared the dream of making history at this World Cup, but we fell short. No one is more disappointed by that than I am. As head coach, the responsibility ultimately rests with me”.
Depressingly, the Dutch exit was also followed by racist abuse aimed at the players who missed spot-kicks during the shootout in Monterrey. Justin Kluivert, Quinten Timber and Crysencio Summerville were subjected to discriminatory, racist and hateful comments on social media. “We find this appalling, and we will file a case with Meld Online Discriminatie [Report Online Discrimination],” read a KNVB statement. “Once a report is filed, their legal staff assess whether the statement constitutes a punishable offence. This can lead to a formal complaint being lodged with the public prosecution service, which may then initiate a criminal investigation.”
Preamble
Hello everyone, and welcome to day 21, after a day that reminded you why you fell in love with the World Cup (for all the malevolent forces that attach themselves to it) as a young kid. Many of us were young kids when France last dazzled on the global stage the way they are currently doing, back in their Platini-Tigana-Giresse pomp four decades ago. To that level of flair this current France are adding a ruthlessness and efficiency that has everyone proclaiming them as favourites, and all of it was in evidence in New York as Sweden were swatted aside, Kylian Mbappé scoring two more and Michael Olise, player of the tournament so far for my money, conducting everything artfully just behind him.
And then Mexico overwhelmed Ecuador at a stormy Azteca on an occasion that can best be described as proper, on and off the pitch. A raucous, engaged partisan crowd of the type we’ve not seen enough of cheering on the co-hosts, who showed no sign of their customary knockout round jitters to set up a meeting with the Democratic Republic of Congo or England.
Ah England. There’s an air of angst around them too after unconvincing performances against Ghana and Panama, and a sprightly DRC will pose new challenges. We’ll have all the buildup to the last 32 tie in Atlanta, the first of today’s matches at 5pm BST/12noon local.
Anyway, mail us your thoughts and in the meantime here’s yesterday’s match reports:
