PHILADELPHIA – I typically defend referees (and get some flak for it). It’s a very hard job with very little gratitude under very great pressure. All the while you have players trying to cheat and you have to be everywhere at once. When you get things right nobody notices. When you get things wrong everybody does. And, after all of those caveats, I need to say: France vs Paraguay was a disgrace.
Against Argentina, Cape Verde demonstrated one way an underdog can punch up: cavalier attacking, tactical courage and the liberty that comes with never thinking you would be in this position and never assuming you will be again.
Paraguay, for balance, had a different plan in mind. They completed 62 passes in the first 70 minutes. They defended so deep they risked creating a trench in their penalty area. They were physical to the point of farce. And that’s the point on which the game got stuck for an hour.
It worked because Paraguay were not stopped. There has clearly been a directive during this World Cup to keep the number of yellow cards to a minimum and avoid suspensions in the knockout rounds. Which on some level is to be applauded. We don’t want fussiness to the point of distraction.
But at some point laissez-faire ends and prison rules begin. In Philadelphia., Ilgiz Tantashev repeatedly allowed Paraguayan players to almost literally kick, claw and scratch their way into a contest. They lashed out. They went to ground too easily. They stayed down to get treatment.
Even after VAR had intervened to award France their penalty, the penalty spot was scuffed to such comical extent that Ousmane Dembele, ostensibly there to guard against it, needed three or four teammates to help. Gustavo Velazquez was the worst offender but this was a team sport.
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Then, in added time, Matias Galarza swiped his fist into the face of Jules Kounde and again nothing was done. How on earth VAR did not intervene I will never know.
The greatest punchline: France received the only three bookings of the match. All of the fouling and -let’s call it what it is – cheating led to no cards. It was as if one, slightly strict, referee was overseeing one team and one chilled out vibesman the other.
Some will say that this is simply harmless dark arts. It’s certainly true that it was Paraguay’s best chance of combating France’s strengths; their physicality placed a blanket over the front four. This is not a campaign to take physicality away from the game nor to give the most talented nations a free pass to play as they wish.
The refereeing has been popular in this tournament. I’d agree that the sight of an official waving for a player to get up from the floor, particularly when they are feigning injury and have to sheepishly rise to their feet, has been refreshing.
There is a strong list of World Cup “battles”: Bern, Bordeaux, Santiago, Nuremberg. Adding a match to that list that had only three yellow cards, no reds and one side received no cards at all may sound like a stretch. But Paraguay failing to get a yellow card in Philadelphia was one of the biggest disgraces I’ve ever seen live. It’s certainly the worst refereeing performance.
First the positives. John Terry was a good defender, for club and country. He won a lot for the former, and nothing for the latter.
Now the question. Does this make him worthy of an ambassadorial role at the World Cup? The former Chelsea centre-back has enjoyed a high-profile presence in the United States as a guest of Fifa, even sitting one row behind the global supremo Gianni Infantino for England’s drab draw with Ghana in Boston.
And over and above his free ticket for a posh seat, he was seen walking around the pitch interacting with current England players before the match. He was present again for England’s win against Panama and the knockout victory over DR Congo, giving post-match “verdicts” on social media along the lines of “the boys showed great fight tonight, the performance wasn’t ideal but let’s enjoy it”.
And even though the Football Association insists it has nothing to do with Terry’s presence there, the optics are not good, as he is in close proximity to the current England setup, if not officially connected. Indeed, he was sitting next to FA chief executive Mark Bullingham for the Ghana match.
There is no escaping Terry’s connection to England, of course. He did, after all, play 78 times for his country. But he is a terrible choice as an ambassador at the World Cup – and an awful option for a Three Lions cheerleader.
The former England captain is enjoying a high-profile presence in the United States (Photo: Getty)
It’s not just because he was fined £220,000 and banned for four matches for racially abusing Anton Ferdinand in 2011 – an offence which did not meet the burden of proof for a criminal conviction a year later.
And it is not only because he is in a country whose citizens he mocked when he and his Chelsea teammates went on a binge when their European game was cancelled after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre on 11 September 2001, taunting traumatised tourists staying at the same hotel as the Blues near Heathrow.
And it is not because he made a right plum of himself when he strutted onto the pitch in full Chelsea kit to lift the trophy when the Blues had won the Champions League in 2012, even though he was suspended following a red card in the semi-final.
We could go on. The weeing in a pint glass, the parking in a disabled bay.
All of these misdemeanours should be taken into account when weighing up whether Terry is ambassador material. As should the optics of Terry reposting anti-Muslim and xenophobic statements from hard-right MP Rupert Lowe when he advocated for a ban on the burqa just before the tournament be given scrutiny. Terry later deleted his repost.
But the main reason he is possibly the worst ambassadorial posting from the UK in the US since Peter Mandelson is because of the damage he did to the England teams he was involved in as a player and captain.
England didn’t even qualify for the first tournament he was captain for, Euro 2008. Then at the 2010 World Cup he was at the centre of a divisive campaign to undermine the then-manager Fabio Capello. He was one of the ringleaders of an England camp which has since gone down as one of the most clique-ridden, acrimonious squads in English history.
Players aligned themselves along club affiliations – chiefly Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool – and there was little of the togetherness that fans have seen under Gareth Southgate and continued with Thomas Tuchel. Players spoke of England duty as a chore, and of a tense, uncollaborative environment when they were in camp.
Then in 2012, he was named in the squad for the European Championship at the expense of Rio Ferdinand, leading to speculation the omission of the latter was because of the upcoming trial concerning the Anton Ferdinand incident. England bowed out in the quarter-finals, losing a penalty shootout against Italy.
It has taken years for England to rid themselves of the cliques and egos that were a hallmark of the late noughties and early 2010s. Southgate should take most of the credit, along with Tuchel, for making players feel at home, in a supportive environment.
Terry, meanwhile, exuded a bigger main-character vibe than Marlon Brando throughout his career. And having him as the highest-profile former England player other than David Beckham at the World Cup is a terrible look. It is the antithesis of Tuchel’s all-for-one philosophy.
The FA would do well to make sure Terry remains at arm’s length for the remainder of the World Cup. There are so many other games that Fifa could book him in for. Perhaps Mexico can refuse him a visa.
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NEW YORK — Despite the noise from across the border, Mexico have so far managed to pull off the most politicised World Cup in history without incident.
Unlike in the US, Mexico is primarily a football nation. They welcome England in the last-16 of the tournament knowing they have every chance of humbling them – not only because of the conditions, the altitude, or the heat.
The Three Lions have staggered to get here, saved by Harry Kane against DR Congo and uninspiring against Ghana and Panama. They head next to Estadio Azteca and a cauldron the like of which they will have never seen before.
“We have that in the blood,” tourism minister Michelle Fridman tells The i Paper. “Everyone in Mexico just loves football. I would say it’s an integrator of society. We’ll have fun – we’ll celebrate with lots of tequila and mariachi music.”
Given the geopolitical tensions in the build-up, Mexico were determined that this World Cup should be a chance to “show Mexico to the world”. They have invested $12bn on hosting matches in Guadalajara, Monterrey and Mexico City.
Claudia Sheinbaum, the country’s first female President, began the tournament by giving away her ticket to the opening ceremony to an indigenous woman. Every aspect of the World Cup is charged with symbolism – not least because of their unlikely co-hosts.
Mexico’s unlikely co-hosts
The US government has tried to paint a very different picture, one of a dark underbelly in Mexico’s cities which threatened to derail the entire World Cup project. Sheinbaum has repeatedly accused the US of political interference, suggesting American far-right groups are working alongside Mexican counterparts to undermine her administration.
In January, Donald Trump threatened to send troops over the border, purportedly to tackle the cartels. The killing of drug kingpin “El Mencho” in a military operation led to a spate of violence just as Mexico was finalising its preparations to welcome a million visitors.
But that is an unjust depiction, for several reasons. Tourism to Mexico is at an all-time high. The US, by contrast, is a global outlier – its own tourism industry experienced a sharp decline in 2025. In Guadalajara, homicide is down by 40 per cent and wider crime by more than 20 per cent.
Mexican fans celebrate their victory over South Africa in the World Cup opener (Photo: Getty)
“I’ve seen how unfair this image of Mexico has been to our country,” Fridman says.
“It’s not a surprise that the United States has been facing, let’s say, a challenging time – whether it’s migration politics that has affected the tourism industry overall, not only with Mexico, but with the rest of the world. There are less tourists arriving to the United States and less tourists leaving the United States.
“What we’ve been doing is to keep saying to the Americans that we’re open to receiving them, we want them. There are many Americans that are still visiting us.”
A party atmosphere has settled on the host cities. Guadalajara, Fridman describes as “traditionally modern”, keeping its “history, tradition, and traditional food” alive, while evolving into a city ready to welcome hundreds of thousands of visitors.
The raicilla – a 400-year-old tropical spirit, second only to tequila for popularity – is flowing. The elephants and capybaras at Jalisco zoo have been asked to predict results by selecting boxes of food bearing different flags. All seemed to believe Mexico will win.
Mexico arrived at this World Cup on an eight-game unbeaten run, and have an added advantage in temperatures set to soar beyond 32°C during matches. In Mexico City, players will have to run in high altitudes 7,2,20 feet above sea level.
Javier Aguirre, the head coach, is Mexico’s answer to Gareth Southgate, prioritising pragmatism over flair.
“The passion for the game is woven into everyday life here,” Citlalli Medina, a Mexican football expert at Mural, tells The i Paper.
Julian Quinones celebrates after scoring the first goal of this World Cup in Mexico City (Photo: PA)
“Aguirre’s greatest strengths as a manager are not necessarily tactical. Instead they lie in his vast experience, leadership and ability to motivate players. He is also uniquely placed to help the squad understand what it means to represent Mexico at a home World Cup, having done so himself during the 1986 tournament.
“There are certainly concerns about the side’s overall performances and style of play. El Tri do not appear to have a clearly established playing identity at the moment, which means they often rely heavily on moments of individual quality rather than a well-defined collective system.”
Mexico are still dependent on 35-year-old Wolves striker Raul Jimenez, who has more goals against Jordan Pickford than any other goalkeeper in Europe. There has been huge excitement over 17-year-old Gilberto Mora of Tijuana, the youngest player at the tournament.
Fifa insisted that during the World Cup, “three countries and an entire continent” would come together.
Along the Texan border, it has not always felt that way, the US military closing airspace over El Paso and investing in lasers to shoot down drones suspected of drug trafficking. Tensions between the US and Mexico are not new but have been inflamed since Trump’s second term began.
In Mexico, the mood is defiant. However many eyes are trained above the border, they are already delivering its share of the bargain.
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Thousands of England fans have been plunged into travel chaos with their World Cup last-16 tie against Mexico set to be moved earlier in the day.
Thunderstorms are expected in Mexico City on Sunday around the original kick-off time of 1am BST (6pm local time). There has been no official confirmation of the change yet but England have been told the game is likely to move forward by six hours – meaning a 7pm kick-off in the UK.
Many England fans travelling down from the 2-1 round of 32 win against DR Congo were booked onto flights arriving in Mexico in the afternoon. It is understood the FA only found out the possibility of the kick-off being moved from media reports in Mexico.
On Thursday, Sir Keir Starmer had intervened to extend licensing hours so that pubs could stay open into the early hours but those plans are likely to be shelved.
The Azteca Stadium during a hail storm in May 2024 (Photo: Getty)
Thomas Tuchel’s side have been preparing for unfavourable conditions with Estadio Azteca sitting 7,220 feet above sea level. The altitude is expected to have a major bearing on the game and the new time could also mean playing in hotter temperatures.
Mexico have only lost two of the 89 matches they have played at the stadium.
Fifa have already had to move one match at this World Cup due to weather conditions, with France’s group-stage win over Iraq delayed by two hours due to a storm in Philadelphia. World football’s governing body says it can “cancel, reschedule or relocate” matches.
Tournament safety rules state any lightning strikes detected within eight miles of the stadium result in an automatic 30-minute delay to play. Brazil’s match against Norway, currently scheduled for 9pm Sunday UK time, could also be moved.
Composure on the ball has been conspicuous by its absence in England’s last three matches. With a nation expectant on the grandest stage of all, errant passing can be forgiven on occasion. The issue is, even against supposed lesser nations, England have not been able to exert control over games, limping over the line thanks to late moments of individual brilliance.
There is only one midfielder who has not kicked a ball yet this tournament. Ironically, he is the one who could be the solution to jittery England’s ills.
England’s secret weapon
“Nothing overawes Kobbie,” Gary Riley, a former scout who discovered Kobbie Mainoo as a youngster and has stayed close to him and his family throughout his career, tells The i Paper.
“That’s what makes him so special. It is all well and good having lots of talent, plenty do, but it is his calm temperament, and how he approaches any game the same, whether a youth match or a World Cup final, that sets him apart.”
All his family are here, dad Felix, brother Jordan Mainoo-Hames, of “Free Kobbie Mainoo” T-shirt fame, and others, attending games with their family name emblazoned on the back of England shirts.
Mainoo could solve Tuchel’s midfield issue (Photo: Getty)
Like Mainoo, they are not fazed by his constant omissions. They are having too much fun to be disheartened. There is, however, bewilderment among senior figures at Manchester United over Mainoo’s lack of game time, with even Jordan Henderson coming on ahead of him against Panama.
Nonetheless, it is not too late for Mainoo, who enjoyed a remarkable finish to last season after Ruben Amorim’s departure, to have an impact for England in this tournament.
There were fears it was a step too far for one so young, throwing him into the heart of midfield at the home of your greatest rivals, but Mainoo put in a man of the match display that belied his fledgling years. He was so laid back as he sashayed around Anfield that he was almost horizontal.
The ability to move the ball with finesse and guile in the tightest of spaces became his calling card – exactly the trait Tuchel needs right now.
What Mainoo offers
Mainoo can carry the ball in any part of the pitch. He is equally adept at picking passes on the edge of his own box as he is threading intricate through balls into the striker. Rice and Anderson can similarly fulfil such roles, we just have not seen it for the past three matches from either.
Rice is struggling for fitness. He insists his issues are more “pain than an injury”, but he is clearly not firing on all cylinders. At altitude in the Azteca, with the entire nation of Mexico willing you to fail, the Arsenal metronome may not have enough gas in the tank to go toe-to-toe with the resurgent co-hosts.
Mainoo is out of match practice, but he always keeps himself in prime physical condition. After barely touching a ball for the first half of last season, he waltzed back into the United side following Michael Carrick’s arrival like a duck taking to water.
“He is so quiet and unassuming that he just doesn’t think about the occasion,” Riley adds. “Anything is in a day’s work. He would love to play in Mexico. Thomas Tuchel has a tough decision, but if he is needed, Kobbie would be ready.”
Tuchel is not afraid of making bold selections. This one might just save him his job and secure England one of their most famous victories. If you want composure in key areas, Kobbie Mainoo’s your man.
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Cristiano Ronaldo had 81 minutes on the pitch and had one touch of the ball in the penalty area. It was a penalty earned by somebody else and he scored it. Goncalo Ramos had nine minutes (plus added time) on the pitch without Ronaldo, had two touches of the ball in the box and scored an exquisite header to win the tie.
This may seem very churlish. In Toronto on Thursday night, Portugal and Croatia produced the best match of a World Cup that is quickly becoming an all-timer. There was almost too much to process: Luka Modric’s swansong, Croatia’s last hurrah, two fractional VAR offsides, a penalty, another late winner and a later equaliser ruled out via Snicko, taken straight from cricket. You can picture the referee telling them to “rock and roll” the replay.
GOAL DISALLOWED
Croatia thought they'd equalised against Portugal to take the match to extra time, but after VAR review, it was disallowed! pic.twitter.com/jlqNHpzp5s
But then that is what Ronaldo does. He has the gravitational pull of a small planet and into his orbit is pulled all narrative. And when he spends the vast majority of matches not doing anything close to goal and then his replacement scores a fabulous header, it does beg the question of who really is in charge here.
Ronaldo had two touches in the box in 90 minutes against Colombia, so you see the pattern. Against lower-ranking nations, just like in the lower-ranking league in which he thrives, no issue. Against capable defences, he is anonymous for long stretches.
He was awarded the official Man off the Match for this performance. Is this what we are reduced to: pretending that the superstar was the best on the pitch because he’s a superstar not the best on the pitch. Football is brilliant – we don’t need to resort to this subservient nonsense to individuals.
Instead it is Modric we are saying goodbye to (Photo: Reuters)
Perhaps this is just the classic latent threat, the coiled spring waiting for one moment. The only slight problem with that: a magnificent Portugal squad, as good as anyone in the world in depth and breadth of talent, might be out before the spring leaps.
The perfect quandary, then. The eternal fight to distinguish where the line between old guard ends and just old starts. The centre forward who is de facto player-manager for all the control he exerts. And what that says about the lack of courage of his manager.
When Ronaldo was finally substituted, he gave a rueful glance around the pitch. Probably just looking for someone to take the armband. But you wouldn’t rule out him asking somebody else to go instead. After 351 unbroken minutes of action, perhaps this is progress of sorts.
Earlier in the tournament, Roberto Martinez reasoned that Ronaldo serves a purpose by acting as a lightning rod for defenders who too are drawn into his orbit, thus creating space for others. Which…OK fine, if you squint a little.
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But that provokes two questions: 1) is this really how Ronaldo sees himself now: great facilitator, selfless conduit for other people to do good football, busying the bouncers while the diminutive midfielders creep past the queue and into the club? 2) that doesn’t really tally with Martinez’s other strategy, in which he says he leaves Ronaldo on because he is one of the great goalscorers.
The great frustration (and you feel it even as a neutral observer let alone a supporter of this team) is that Portugal have the potential to be exquisite. They have a solid defence and one supreme attacking full-back. They have a band of magic central midfielders who trick you into thinking that they are interchangeable until each of them produces their own specific party trick.
They have fine wingers. Rafael Leao was the game’s best player against Croatia. In Bruno Fernandes, they have the best player in the biggest league in the world and a creator who thrives on main character energy. And here he is stymied because someone has been playing Hamlet for 20 years and won’t let go.
Is everybody not sick of this? Have we not seen enough evidence now? At Euro 2024, Ronaldo didn’t score from open play and Portugal didn’t score a knockout goal. At the 2022 World Cup, Ronaldo failed to score from open play at the tournament, eventually got dropped and Ramos promptly scored a hat-trick. And still the dance continues and the out-of-tune music plays on.
Portugal play Spain in the last-16. They will need to be better. They will need to be a team. They cannot to allow their national team’s performance at a major tournament to become subservient to one man’s retirement lap. They need to work out what matters, not who. They need a manager, not a lapdog. Ronaldo will start, presumably. Because none of the above seems to matter. And we might as well work backwards from there.
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NEW YORK – “F***ing Fifa – I get so angry when it’s all corrupted. The World Cup is about meeting people but now the tickets go up and up – I feel sorry for those people who paid.”
In the shade of the Rockefeller Center, this Swedish fan decked head-to-toe in yellow and blue knows he is an exception to the rule. He is one of the few supporters who won a ballot for $50 tickets, with free travel thrown in. It is one of a number of schemes from the office of Zohran Mamdani, New York City’s ubiquitous mayor, to combat Fifa greed at this tournament.
Across the United States, the World Cup faces an uneasy moment. In other host cities, including in Boston just along the coast, there is a feeling the party is wrapping up already. Fan zones are closing early due to high running costs, even with matches still to be played nearby.
In New York and New Jersey the best is still to come – on 19 July MetLife Stadium will host the final. Mamdani has already announced plans for a free watch party in Central Park, alongside fan zones in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island, where all the tickets are free.
A French supporter I meet has just paid upwards of $800 for a seat in the lower bowl for the round of 32. “They should have it in Europe all the time,” he insists. “Everything is too much here – even you buy a sandwich, why is there six pieces of ham? It’s too much.”
Trump and Infantino in Washington DC (Photo: Getty)
Ticket-gouging is not unique to the US – it is Fifa who set the prices – but Donald Trump’s administration has done little to fight back. On the contrary, the President has a blossoming relationship with Fifa counterpart Gianni Infantino. They take snaps together in the Oval Office.
Long before being awarded the Fifa Peace Prize weeks before launching a bombing campaign on Venezuela, Trump was given 10 tickets, valued at $15,000 (£11,200), to the Club World Cup final.
So far, Trump has been conspicuous by his absence at this summer’s tournament. He did not attend the opening ceremony, opting for other events including a UFC show at the White House. He has not been seen at a single game.
In fact, upon arriving at JFK airport, the first face you are greeted with is Mamdani’s. In the back of New York’s famous yellow taxis, there is footage on a loop shown of him with a ball, performing a rainbow flick.
Even the mayor’s burgeoning power has its limits. He has been unable to stop train companies charging close to $100 (£75) to reach the MetLife Stadium from New York, which he said was partly a “reflection of the host city agreement with Fifa” to avoid running at a loss.
He was a vocal opponent of the decision to ban supporters from taking their own water into stadiums, a policy which was eventually reversed. Across the city, mini-football pitches have been built to offer “soccer clinics” for newcomers to the game.
Mamdani in Staten Island, New York (Photo: Getty)
The other man responsible for keeping the World Cup festival alive is USMNT head coach Mauricio Pochettino. Victory over Bosnia & Herzegovina means all three host nations – the US, Canada and Mexico – have reached the last-16, unlike in both South Africa and Qatar.
Mamdani has determined that the other point of difference from Qatar will be a drive to promote workers’ rights. Casual workers at this World Cup have been given “Know your Rights” booklets in multiple languages to prevent labour laws being flouted.
Mamdani has called it a “World Cup for everyone”, which is not strictly true – see the banned Somalian referee, the hostility to Iran players, the Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha whose mother missed the performance of his life because of a $15,000 bond imposed on citizens from the island nation. But in New York there is at least a concerted effort to make it so.
“Soccer would not exist without immigrants,” Mamdani said recently.
“Immigrants play and coach the game, work in in the stadiums, fill the stands, and make celebrations like the World Cup possible. Six of the players on the US Men’s National Team are immigrants… And as the world comes to our city, we will stand proudly with our immigrant neighbours.”
