Cristiano Ronaldo’s first goal from open play for five years at a major tournament took the unmistakable shape of a bicep flex. Uzbekistan were not the only victims muscled to the ground.
Even Roy Keane, ordinarily an industry leader at pissing on the parade, was lost in the euphoric mist: “He’s back? He has never been away. Come on. He’s Ronaldo for goodness’ sake.”
You’d think Ronaldo had prised open France, Spain or Brazil to lift the World Cup, not sploshed a lightweight in sparring. Sit down Lionel Messi. Calm yourself Kylian Mbappe. And as for you, Erling Haaland, stick to rowing imaginary boats.
In the hyperbolic embrace of main character energy, are we not guilty of attaching too much significance to the early contributions of the tournament’s big-ticket items. The reaction to Ronaldo’s double suggests context is for miserable bastards.
This World Cup will produce contests of real meaning and magic but hardly in this confected group stage, which is more about advancing Fifa’s coffers than the interests of the global game.
I’m all for inclusion, and accept that the arrival of Curacao, Cape Verde et al, adds novelty and colour to the plot and gratification to the participants, but positive discrimination should not be taken as a hallmark of quality.
Portugal cracked five past Uzbekistan pulling up. That Ronaldo wanted his goals to mean more speaks of a low bar not high achievement. Were there time during the ad break, sorry, hydration stop, an open-top bus ride around the Houston stadium to collect tributes from all those who called for his sacking would have met the sense of validation coursing through his marble veins.
All those GOAT notices pouring out of the game’s legendary figures in praise of the great Messi, the World Cup’s record scorer, added to the pummelling Ronaldo’s legend received against DR Congo and ultimately framed the Netflix response to his contribution against Uzbekistan.
The world’s most cinematic footballer staring straight down the cameras screaming “I’m back” was Insta gold as well as a nod to the absurd. That said, if we are to sound the trumpets for Messi’s spearing of Tunisia or Austria, Mbappe and Haaland feasting on Iraq, then we have only ourselves to blame.
Frankly, the group stages of this bloated festival should carry an asterisk in the goal columns of the game’s elite. Of course, teams like Uzbekistan, Curacao and Cape Verde have augmented the experience with their enthusiasm and honesty.
Cape Verde’s 40-year-old ‘keeper made us smile with his one-man cancellation of Spain and that’s okay. Let’s just maintain a sense of perspective.
Uzbekistan appeared so in thrall to Ronaldo for the free-kick they failed to spot Nuno Mendes sneakily eyeing the bottom corner, which, as Ronaldo readied himself to pull the trigger, he duly found.
The pace of the match settled into a training environment for Portugal. Ronaldo duly wrapped his foot around Joao Cancelo’s cross for the first and slotted Bruno Fernandes’s slick pass without breaking stride to claim a corner of the pantheon as the first sapien to score at six World Cups.
Only Cameroon’s Roger Milla (42) has scored at a more advanced age than the 41 years on Ronaldo’s clock. According to Belgium boss Roberto Martinez, and Ronaldo’s former Manchester United teammate, Gary Neville, that record could fall four years hence when Portugal share hosting rights with Morocco and Spain.
A case of siiiuuu there, as it were. When will it end?
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Oh hello there, I was wondering if you could help me? It’s just that I bought this England fun-ometer from you recently and I think it might have broken down already. It was working fine last week, but now it only seems to be blowing out hot air.
Just a little jape, don’t know if you spotted it. Something to lift the mood a touch , or perhaps simply spark you into life after watching another turgid England group stage performance. Nice to hear your own fans booing you, as Wayne Rooney once said. At least that meant they were awake, Wayne.
After all, this is what England do. Forget 2010, Tuesday evening was the fourth major tournament in a row that they have drawn their second group game and it has hardly stopped them progressing to their later stages. It’ll be OK. Or it won’t.
It’s also what Thomas Tuchel’s England have done on repeated occasions. It’s not fair to call this a Gareth Southgate hangover. England played 180 minutes against Andorra in qualifying and scored three goals, remember. Or try to forget, whichever works best for you.
Ghana merit great praise. I want to start there because it will get lost. Carlos Queiroz inherited a side in dreadful form and he has created a team. If an XI is at its best when playing in the image of their manager, stop the count. Ghana defended deep, countered, deserved a penalty to win the game and have almost certainly qualified for the knockouts. Congratulations to them.,
Bellingham can still stay high up the pitch, but only if England make other chanegs (Photo: AFP)
Nor was it all bad from England. The substitute wingers made a difference, as against Croatia. They created more in the last five minutes plus added time than in the rest of the game because somebody had finally told them to inject some urgency. Harry Kane missed the type of chance that he always scores and gave us all flashbacks to that second France penalty in 2022.
But Tuchel has a problem here. His plan in this tournament is to get Jude Bellingham as close to Harry Kane as possible, which makes some sense because it gets Bellingham running beyond Kane when he drops deep and gives Kane support when he stays high. Bellingham was named as the official Man of the Match against Ghana, although possibly more on the basis that they had to pick someone.
So this isn’t on Bellingham, but what moving him does in the current circumstances. You see it only works if the wingers are able to provide service and be the creative influence. Against Croatia that wasn’t an issue because England’s opponents played a high defensive line that left space in behind.
Noni Madueke and Anthony Gordon are both far better wingers when they are afforded space, although Gordon has been poor in both matches.
On the Road USA
Join Daniel Storey on his 7,200-mile odyssey across the US to tell the stories of a World Cup like no other.
Against Ghana, with their low block and full-backs defending at all times, they were rotten. Instead, what happens is this: winger gets the ball, fails to beat (or even take on) his man and so instead turns back and passes the ball into midfield, where the ball is passed around for a bit and then ends at the feet of one of the two wingers. Rinse and repeat that same process. Let’s call it the passing crescent of doom.
It’s not just an attacking problem: with England unable to break down teams they inevitably push players further forward and leave themselves open to counter attacks. They were fortunate against Ghana. Senegal and Japan, the two defeats of Tuchel’s tenure to date, broke England in the same way.
Bukayo Saka coming back into the team will help, not least because he can actually beat a full-back for speed and skill. But while he is unfit to start – and even with him in the team – England must find another solution against deeper-lying defences.
How to fix turgid England
My idea would be to drop one of the wingers – Gordon if Saka is fit to start – but not for a like-for-like replacement. Instead I’d like to see Morgan Rogers in the hybrid No 10-winger role that he has for Aston Villa.
You ask the left full-back to overlap and provide attacking width (with Rice covering that position) and have Rogers drifting infield to find pockets of space. He can dovetail with Bellingham to offer variation that creates uncertainty for opponents.
There is no need for – or point in – mass panic. England will still top the group. The World Cup will not be defined by the second group game, just as previous tournaments haven’t been. The fun-ometer can be fixed because it’s still under warranty.
But on this evidence, England’s forthcoming opponents have their blueprint: defend deep, tell the full-backs to stay close to the inverted wingers and allow them to turn onto their stronger foot and back towards central midfield. It is on Tuchel to change that record. He has the first headache of his England World Cup experience.
Thomas Tuchel has talked about creating history this summer but this drab goalless draw felt more like a worrying tournament retread for anaemic England.
First game good, second game soporific. It is a trend that has followed England through the last two Euros and the previous World Cup in Qatar but rarely has the contrast been as stark as it was in the mizzling Massachusetts rain. After the rock and roll football of Dallas, this was more prog rock album filler from Tuchel and co.
In their opener England had a willing dance partner in Croatia. Here they had Carlos Quieroz-marshalled Ghana, whose monochrome tactics were a stark contrast to their loud support.
That’s their prerogative, though. It’s England’s to do something about it and despite all the attacking talent on show here – and their much-vaunted “finishers” – there was to be no way through.
England are now under more pressure against Panama (Photo: Getty)
It means England have work to do in Group L. Picking through Panama is no longer a luxury – running up the score in New Jersey on Saturday is essential to progress in first place. It all feels that little bit more complicated.
It was a game as damp as the Boston weather, England confronted with a yellow wall which they couldn’t knock down.
Tuchel says he wants England to play like a Premier League team and here they did – but it was more like one of those attritional mid-season Arsenal displays when it looked like they would bottle the title.
Having rolled out one of the most thrilling performances of the first round of games, England were culpable in a contest that was probably the worst of the tournament so far. Not that Quieroz would have cared. To put it bluntly his Machiavellian strategy of sitting in and denying England space and time worked. It almost earned them an unlikely victory with a couple of late counters.
Apart from a Declan Rice deadball pot-shot, England created little in the first half. Set pieces, alarmingly, were flat and only in injury time did they step on the gas when Harry Kane found space to unleash a drive that Jonas Adjetey blocked.
At home they held their breath for more Anthony Barry opprobrium. The England assistant boss had dismantled their first half performance against Croatia for TV viewers but even he was unusually low-key, urging patience and caution in case Ghana caught them on the break.
He wasn’t wrong but England could do little about it and for a frustrated Tuchel, it poses selection questions. Can he really go with Anthony Gordon again?
Gordon had laboured on the left, barely making an impact, before being replaced by Bukayo Saka with Noni Madueke switching flanks. Given his limited impact in the US so far, Gordon’s position has to be under threat for Panama on Saturday.
The contrast with Antoine Semenyo, who grew in influence as the game wore on, was marked. His pace and directness was a problem and England struggled to put a lid on him.
The worry was that one of Ghana’s counters would connect and sure enough, they sprung England’s back four twice to leave Jordan Pickford exposed.
The first time the Everton goalkeeper hared off his line and got lucky as Prince Adu lifted his studs. The second required an intervention from Ezri Konsa on Adu that looked like it might have been a penalty.
Was there time for a late rally? Substitute Saka stretched Benjamin Asare with a fine drive before Nico O’Reilly clattered the bar with a close range header. Somehow Kane, following up, blasted over the bar. It summed up a frustrating day.
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After their thrilling 4-2 victory over Croatia, England are back in action this evening as they take on Ghana in Boston.
They are on the hunt for a spot in the knockouts and victory tonight would virtually confirm their progression.
Ghana boast a number of threats, including Manchester City’s Antoine Semenyo, but are ranked 73rd in the world – 58 places below Croatia.
There have been lingering injury concerns for Bukayo Saka (Achilles), Marcus Rashford (hamstring) and Declan Rice (hamstring), but all three featured in training before the game.
Could the Three Lions be set for a perfect group stage? They play their final group match against Panama on Saturday.
Follow The i Paper’s live blog for the latest updates below.
Less than four years ago, Djed Spence’s confidence was “shattered” when then Tottenham manager Antonio Conte intimated he didn’t want to sign him and said he was an “investment by the club”.
A loan to Genoa followed and it looked as if there was no way back.
Had you predicted then that he would be starting at the World Cup for England, most people would have laughed.
He got his spot in this squad through his versatility – he has played largely on the left for Spurs of late despite being a right-back by trade – but Thomas Tuchel rates him for his forward-thinking too. In what could be a real problem position for England he has a chance to impress.
Team news – Guehi and Spence start ahead of Stones and O’Reilly
My hamstrings are pinging at the thought of Declan Rice galloping about Boston for game No 64 of the season while nursing a threadbare bicep femoris. Especially with a fast start promised. Cristiano Ronaldo has set the tone for the evening with two goals for Portugal against Uzbeikstan. Can England’s alpha tap into the superstar vibe?
Winless in six games, including a 1-1 friendly draw with Wales earlier this month, Ghana were out of form heading into the World Cup – sparking a managerial change.
Enter Carlos Queiroz, Sir Alex Ferguson’s former Manchester United assistant, who has travelled the world and then some, managing (deep breath) Portugal, Iran, Colombia, Egypt, Iran again, Qatar and then Oman since 2008.
Queiroz will lean heavily on Manchester City’s Antoine Semenyo, the winger who has emerged as one of the Premier League’s best players, although they are without winger Mohammed Kudus due to injury, likewise Mohammed Salisu and Alexander Djiku, meaning they arrived in North America under strength.
Nevertheless, they were able to win their opening group game 1-0 against Panama on Wednesday night thanks to 20-year-old Caleb Yirenkyi’s injury-time winner. Semenyo and captain Jordan Ayew were largely underwhelming, but the Black Stars’ defence impressed, keeping a clean sheet despite Panama recording more shots on target and enjoying more possession.
As for Thomas Partey, despite the former Arsenal midfielder being denied entry into Canada for the match with Panama – the 32-year-old faces a trial next year after pleading not guilty to seven charges of rape and one count of sexual assault – he is set to face England in Boston.
The awkward truth about England fans at the World Cup
On the whole, England fans are being generally well-behaved in the US (Photo: Getty)
It was some sight as the controversial “Ten German Bombers” song rang through the concourses at the AT&T Stadium.
A big group of England fans were bouncing along while singing but an even bigger crowd – mostly of bemused but fascinated locals – had gathered to film it.
Peeling away from the crowd a smiling Becky Williams, from nearby Arlington, told me she hadn’t realised the song was controversial but she didn’t regret getting it on camera.
“I can’t believe how crazy you all are. The last time I was here was for Beyonce and it was a very different crowd. I’ve never seen anything like it – and I love it.”
At a World Cup like no other, the booze-fuelled invasion of up to 15,000 England fans prepared to max out their credit cards appears to be capturing the imagination of the locals.
From watching rodeo to queuing round the block for the famous Terry Black’s barbecue, hospitable Texans seem to enjoy hosting the English.
Guehi and Spence set to start ahead of Stones and O’Reilly
So the word on the ground here in Boston is that there are two changes for England – Marc Guehi and Djed Spence are coming in for Nico O’Reilly and John Stones.
Hearing here that the thinking is they will add more mobility against a team that counter attacks very well.
Thomas Tuchel is not a big one for focusing on the strength of the opposition but it does feel like he’s pivoted here to cope with the Ghana threat.
Declan Rice’s injury is a blessing in disguise for England
Declan Rice is carrying a hamstring injury at this World Cup (Photo: Getty)
So the indefatigable Declan Rice is not, it turns out, indefatigable at all. How could anyone be after 63 games and counting in the past 11 months?
Rice has only one speed, full gas. The revelation that he has been managing a delicate hamstring since Christmas, which accounted for his 72nd-minute substitution against Croatia, introduces an unwanted variable for Thomas Tuchel.
Though Rice insists he is ready to go against Ghana in England’s second match, Tuchel will want to protect against the pernicious threat of a fully blown hamstring, which is clearly a risk and would be terminal at this tournament.
The idea of resting Rice, whilst anathema to most, might actually represent an opportunity for Tuchel, a chance to accelerate the development of England into a team that controls as well as ransacks the opposition.
Anthony Barry was critical of England’s first-half display against Croatia (Photo: Getty)
Football managers need more media duties like a hole in the head. There are now so many pre-match and post-match interviews to contend with that coaches at the highest level barely have time to think.
So when Fifa requested that someone be put up for interview during the half-time interval of World Cup matches, England manager Thomas Tuchel rightly insisted he be kept clear of them.
Nations have been using an unused substitute or a member of the backroom staff to fulfil the requirement.
BOSTON — Football managers need more media duties like a hole in the head. There are now so many pre-match and post-match interviews to contend with that coaches at the highest level barely have time to think.
So when Fifa requested that someone be put up for interview during the half-time interval of World Cup matches, England manager Thomas Tuchel rightly insisted he be kept clear of them.
Nations have been using an unused substitute or a member of the backroom staff to fulfil the requirement.
An arduous formality, Barry was expected to just get through them, throw in some space-filling cliches, and move on.
Barry has worked with Thomas Tuchel as his assistant for a number of years (Photo: Getty)
His damning assessment of England’s first-half against Croatia instead has won him an army of admirers back across the pond and within the camp.
“Anthony’s very honest, straight to the point and I think that’s the best way to be,” full-back Nico O’Reilly said.
“You need it. I mean, if you’re not doing something right, or you’re not doing so well, someone there to tell you, I think it’s the right thing to do.”
Tuchel, Barry and the coaching team have taken care to pick the right group, for a variety of reasons.
Eyebrows were raised en masse as stellar names such as Trent Alexander-Arnold, Cole Palmer, Phil Foden and Harry Maguire were left at home.
The England assistant coach is understood to get on well with the players (Photo: Getty)
Part of Tuchel’s thinking, however, was getting players with the right personality to succeed, as a group, at a major tournament.
One essential trait was that of O’Reilly – who had never even played left-back a few years ago and is now England’s first pick in that role – an ability to be able to take criticism constructively.
Maguire’s reaction to his omission, immediately releasing a statement to condemn the decision before doing an interview on Gary Lineker’s Rest of Football to go even further, perhaps suggests he did not meet that criteria.
Barry is to Tuchel what Steve Holland was to Gareth Southgate. But unlike the nice-guy culture fostered by Tuchel’s predecessor, Barry is taking no prisoners this summer.
From Wigan to England
There are few coaches in world football with more experience and unfathomable dedication to the cause.
After a mediocre playing career, Barry – who was born in Liverpool – has gone from Wigan Athletic assistant to Chelsea, where he first worked with Tuchel.
He then undertook roles with the Republic of Ireland, Belgium and Portugal national teams, Bayern Munich and now England.
He has famously watched 16,000 throw-ins to help England gain an additional edge on set pieces – where the Premier League was essentially won and lost this season.
In a bid to improve his communication skills when starting his role at the FA, Barry went to speak at prisons, schools and even comedy clubs in a bid to become the orator he is today.
The decision for Barry to be thrust in front of the camera is therefore one that not was taken lightly.
The players know what is coming. If they don’t pull their weight, they will be called out. But that is OK.
“I’m so happy if he does that at half-time – and then I don’t have to do it,” Tuchel added.
“I’m so happy if he speaks. And you see the quality. The guy is a top coach. He is an inspiration, he pushes me, helps me and supports me. It’s just top level.
“I hear a lot of people speaking, so he gets a lot of banter for it. I can imagine it makes sense what he said, and he spoke hopefully from his heart and from his knowledge because he’s just a top coach.”
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After being denied a visa to enter Canada for Ghana’s World Cup opener last week, Thomas Partey is set to face England in Boston on Tuesday.
The former Arsenal midfielder was named in Ghana’s 26-man squad despite being charged with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault in July last year. He was charged with two new counts of rape in February. The 33-year-old has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.
Since leaving Arsenal at the end of the 2024-25 season, Partey has been playing in Spain with Villarreal. The midfielder is set to become a free agent, however, after the La Liga side opted against renewing his contract.
What has England’s reaction to Partey presence been?
England’s communications department have understandably kept Partey discussion to a minimum, given its sensitive nature.
When a reporter attempted to ask Dan Burn whether England’s players will shake Partey’s hand ahead of the match, Burn was not allowed to answer the question, the FA’s communications lead, Andy Walker, interjected.
It is understood that the issue has not been directly raised with the players, and the FA will leave it up to the players themselves to decide whether they will shake Partey’s hand.
Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice are former team-mates of Partey but both could miss out in Boston through injury.
What can the media report about Partey now?
In UK law, media outlets can be found in contempt of court if they publish or broadcast any material that creates a substantial risk of seriously influencing or prejudicing active legal proceedings.
If publications are found to have committed contempt of court, they can be penalised, including with large fines. In 2002, the Sunday Mirror was hit with one of the biggest contempt of court fines in media history for coverage that led to the collapse of footballers Lee Bowyer and Jonathan Woodgate’s trial for grievous bodily harm and affray. The newspaper had to pay £75,000 as a fine and £54,000 in costs.
Even if a case is widely discussed on social media, that does not give newspapers or broadcasters permission to publish details of the case such as the name of the accused. That is why you will sometimes read stories about an “unnamed footballer” accused of criminal activity. It might be an open secret within the game – but it doesn’t mean newspapers can name them.
As for alleged victims of sexual crimes, they get lifetime anonymity in the UK. They cannot be identified at any stage – even if the person accused is ultimately found not guilty.
People who are arrested and accused of sexual crimes are not granted anonymity. However, in February 2022, the UK Supreme Court ruled definitively that a person who is under criminal investigation has a reasonable expectation of privacy prior to a charge.
That led to a huge change in how the media reported high-profile individuals who were being investigated by the police, for fear that newspapers or broadcasters might be sued for breaching that individual’s privacy.
Once he was charged, the media was allowed to identify Partey and report what he has been accused of. The identity of the footballer in this case, Partey, was known to many within the media industry but they would not have been legally able to publish his name.
What happens next?
In Canada’s official ruling, it was stated that “the applicant failed to disclose that he is the subject of multiple criminal charges for sexual violence in the UK”.
In its rejection of his application, Canada also said immigration decisions are made on a case-by-case basis and that hosting the World Cup does not change the country’s immigration laws.
The Ghanaian government labelled the decision “high-handed and extremely unfair”. It also asked the courts to instruct Canadian immigration authorities to allow Partey to submit a new visa application, which was denied.
Partey can play in the US as long as Ghana continue to fulfil their matches there. They play their final group game against Croatia in Philadelphia. Should they finish second in Group L, however, Ghana will return to Canada – without Partey – for their last-32 clash.
Partey will stand trial for the seven counts of rape and one of sexual assault at Southwark Crown Court in London. The trial was originally scheduled for November, but may now be delayed until early 2027.
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OZONA, TEXAS – I’ve been through six US states so far, driving 3,000 miles. Not everybody cares about the World Cup, but there is a shared fascination with a sporting culture different to their own that I have found incredibly endearing.
Americans largely endure a difficult reputation when it comes to their embrace of anything outside their own sphere. You will have heard the statistic, uttered as a spiteful joke, about the percentage of them that don’t own a passport. The intended slur is: ha, thickos, you don’t even want to leave your own country.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but that joke has it all wrong; Americans don’t need passports. I’ve only travelled through six states so far and I’ve seen ski resorts, beaches, deserts, woods, lakes and mountains. I’ve stayed in a vast sprawl of 13 million people and stayed in a place with a population of 2,000 that calls itself a city.
The National Park Service alone covers 430 separate areas in this country. You can drive a massive motorhome on empty freeways and drag along a jeep just for fun. Of course other countries are fabulous and fascinating, but wanting to visit all of the USA is an ineffective stick to beat anyone with. How could you ever hope to see it all?
The accusation of insularity absolutely held some weight before this World Cup. I suspect most Americans didn’t know much about European football culture; perhaps that is a mark of ignorance. Although ask 10 colleagues at your work in the UK about tailgate parties and seven innings stretches and see which face they pull.
Clearly not everybody cares. In Seattle, when picking up my hire car, the friendly gentleman behind the counter did not know which sport the tournament involved. In Washington, Oregon, New Mexico and Texas so far, hotel staff have treated this bumbling Englishman with bemusement and openly laugh when I mention “football”, “Maine” and “driving”. But then…fair enough – it is a nonsensical thing to do.
The US has World Cup fever (Photo: Getty)
Three distinct layers of heavy interest have developed over the first eight days of this World Cup and all have helped to generate a mood that has shocked me with its intensity, even in smalltown USA.
The first is the manner in which support for the US national team has grown outside of its core support. We understand that as a concept: people sit down to see England play in a major tournament who would laugh in your face if you asked them if they were watching a qualifier.
In the US that effect is multiplied because equivalent people are adopting the sport as well as the team. But it is a real thing. Multiple times over the last week I’ve spoken to – and overhead – people in hotels, restaurants and coffee shops who are tentatively realising why soccer transfixes us and why a home national team at a major tournament hosted at home is the perfect vehicle for its growth.
Second is the embrace of foreign football fan culture in every form in the big cities. In Dallas they delighted in Japanese fans cleaning the stands at the end of the match and the orange wave of Dutch supporters marching to the stadium. Bostonians adored the Tartan Army and their good-natured booziness and loved the Norwegians and their Viking-style rowing chant. You’ve got Thomas Tuchel throwing the first pitch at a Kansas City Royals game. This is brilliant and non-normal.
But the final layer is the most fascinating to an outsider: the immigrant experience. Already in this tournament I have watched Mexico with Mexicans in a taqueria in California, watched Panama with Panamanians in a wing house in Texas, watched Canada with Canadians in a sports bar in Oregon and sat in a hotel bar with Mexican guests who actively cheered against Spain.
The immigrant experience, particularly in California and Texas, is what makes America such a brilliant place to travel around but now it’s also creating a World Cup buzz amongst Americans via osmosis. Over the last few days, I’ve seen more green or white Mexican shirts than I’ve ever seen of a single nation in one place. That sweeps you up.
In the US, that combines with an individual warmth that surpasses any other large country I’ve visited. It’s important to note that I am in a position of privilege – white, male, straight – but the general friendliness in the US to strangers catches you off guard. Friendliness plus tournament buzz creates the perfect atmosphere.
I’ve been to the US a number of times and worried that this time I might find a country more divided in two than ever before with anger at its core. Nothing could be further from the truth. Despite “factors” within the nation’s leadership that I dislike intensely, the America – and Americans – I’ve seen has been open, welcoming and increasingly pumped about the World Cup. I now feel silly for my doubt and nervousness on both topics.
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So the indefatigable Declan Rice is not, it turns out, indefatigable at all. How could anyone be after 63 games and counting in the past 11 months?
Rice has only one speed, full gas. The revelation that he has been managing a delicate hamstring since Christmas, which accounted for his 72nd-minute substitution against Croatia, introduces an unwanted variable for Thomas Tuchel.
Though Rice insists he is ready to go against Ghana in England’s second match, Tuchel will want to protect against the pernicious threat of a fully blown hamstring, which is clearly a risk and would be terminal at this tournament.
The idea of resting Rice, whilst anathema to most, might actually represent an opportunity for Tuchel, a chance to accelerate the development of England into a team that controls as well as ransacks the opposition.
Whilst England’s second-half eruption settled the matter against Croatia, the first half was a reminder of how retrograde the national team can be, a passive ensemble emphatically removed from Premier League trends.
Caption: England’s Jordan Henderson and Kobbie Mainoo (left) could start on Tuesday (Photo: PA)
The refreshing half-time assessment of Tuchel’s assistant, Anthony Barry, alluded to the ingrained caution that continues to hold England back. The deployment of Rice and Elliot Anderson in a double pivot is essentially a defensive mechanism that requires one of them to take up a more advanced position when in possession.
Their failure to break formation was the principal factor in England’s tepid first-half display, duplicating each other in the deep, leaving too big a gap in midfield to Jude Bellingham, which meant limited connection and minimal control.
Tuchel reminded them of that at half-time with an attitude shift that sent them on their way. Resting Rice against Ghana would be an opportunity to rethink the midfield.
The safe play would be to select head boy Jordan Henderson alongside Anderson. The more progressive option would be to start with Kobbie Mainoo, a shape-shifting No 8 comfortable on the half turn and a font of sharp, vertical passes.
Croatia found it too easy to move the ball through the middle in that dispiriting opening half, and out of possession too straight forward to press England into errors. The ball would pass from Jordan Pickford to the centre-backs to the full-backs and back again on a loop, triggering the inevitable punt up field. Then, hey presto, turnover ball.
Mainoo’s attacking instincts and flair for rapid, directional changes take England closer to the continental model, providing central defenders an out ball through the middle as well as full back.
This opens the pitch in a different way, creating new angles to release the wingers. It also makes it harder for opponents to read the play and therefore harder to defend against. This in turn leads to the greater control that Tuchel and his assistants would like to see.
Gary Neville aired his doubts about England’s ability to control the tempo against elite teams before the tournament began. It was remarkably prescient in setting out the lame first half in Dallas.
Against the midfield sophistication of the ronda-loving Spanish, the French, Argentina, Brazil, etc., Neville argued that England are essentially a counter attacking team, relying on pace out wide and grunt through the middle to force a way to goal. But that is always reactive, and relies on moments of individual brilliance from a Harry Kane, a Bellingham or a Bukayo Saka to gain a foothold.
Tuchel was appointed to change all that, to de-Southgate England into a more rounded, expressive unit capable of caprice and rotation as well as the lightning ambush from the flanks.
If the second half against Croatia is to have lasting significance then Tuchel has to follow through against Ghana with a selection meeting his expansive vision. And if Rice is to be rested, choosing Mainoo over Henderson would be the quickest route to nirvana.
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When Gianni Infantino was elected as president of Fifa after years of bribery and corruption scandals shaming the organisation, his victory speech was full of promises. Football’s global governing body would be rebuilt with “good governance and transparency”, the Swiss administrator pledged. “Everyone in the world will applaud us.”
That was in 2016. A decade into Infantino’s reign, however, damaging allegations continue to hit the association – from allegations of secret payments to claims of ticketing extortion – even while the World Cup is under way.
Nobody feels more outraged and let down than Australian whistleblower, Bonita Mersiades.
She suffered greatly after raising concerns about malfeasance in Fifa’s World Cup bidding process. First she was sacked from her senior role at Football Australia in 2010, then she was hit by threats, cyber attacks and personal abuse in 2014 when it was revealed she’d assisted an official investigation.
Mersiades is troubled that risks she took to expose wrongdoing didn’t lead to genuine reform.
“The pattern of behaviour hasn’t changed,” she tells The i Paper from her home in Sydney, where she now runs a publisher of sport books. “If you don’t change the culture, nothing’s going to change… It’s very disappointing.”
Bonita Mersiades, seen here with former Fifa president Sepp Blatter, raised concerns about corruption in the process for selecting hosts for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups (Photos: Bonita Mersiades)
Mersiades is backing the Reboot Fifa campaign run by a sports ethics group, Fair Square, which is lodging a formal complaint against Infantino for “repeated and serious breaches” of his organisation’s own rules.
Fifa claims to have undergone “deep-rooted governance and management reforms over the last decade with a clear focus on transparency” under Infantino’s leadership.
Yet his rule has provoked criticism over the deaths of workers building World Cup stadia in Qatar, over Saudi Arabia being awarded the 2034 tournament despite its human rights record, and over the creation of the Fifa Peace Prize awarded to Donald Trump. Infantino has also called for Russia to be allowed to compete in international football again – arguing the ban since Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine “has only created more frustration and hatred“.
The controversies keep coming, too.
Last month, one of Fifa’s vice presidents was alleged to have personally received millions of dollars as a secret bonus – from funds which ironically had been recovered through an anti-corruption investigation. Sources told The New York Times that Alejandro Dominguez, who leads South America’s football body Conmebol, has been the subject of an ethics complaint to Fifa for over a year following whistleblower claims about this money. Neither Fifa nor Conmebol have responded to the allegation.
Gianni Infantino presents Donald Trump with a giant ticket to the World Cup (Photo: Annabelle Gordon/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty)
Then came more bad news: two US states are investigating whether supporters were misled into thinking few World Cup tickets were available, encouraging them to pay huge sums without even knowing where they’d sit. New Jersey’s attorney general, Jennifer Davenport, said Fifa had “turned buying a ticket to the World Cup into a gauntlet of confusion, fake scarcity, and impossibly high prices”. Her New York counterpart, Letitia James, suspects fans may have been “manipulated” in violation of consumer protection laws.
It’s this issue that angers Mersiades the most, because it’s ordinary supporters who appear to have been exploited.
“It’s typical of what Fifa has become,” she says. “They are not pitching this as a football tournament for the people but as a premium event experience. We’re all in a so-called cost of living crisis but some people are spending $25,000 (£18,900) to be there for the group games.”
Infantino says he is “very relaxed” about the investigation, arguing that if Fifa made tickets cheaper, people would sell them on for a profit, meaning money would go into “black market activities and not to football”.
Many England fans paid thousands of pounds to watch their team play Croatia in their opening World Cup match last week (Photo: Steph Chambers/FIFA via Getty)
Why Mersiades became a whistleblower – and how she suffered
Mersiades grew up as a genuine fan, playing the game as an amateur, taking her children to matches and supporting Liverpool thanks to their double-winning Aussie midfielder Craig Johnston.
She became the Socceroos’ operations manager and was later made Football Australia’s head of corporate and public affairs. In this role, she also worked on the country’s bid to host either the World Cup in 2018 or 2022.
During that process, she grew alarmed at millions of taxpayers’ dollars being spent on “dark and shady” consultants, whom she claims were effectively tasked with arranging bribes to back the Australian bid.
Mersiades recalls how in 2009, Australia donated a reported $5m (£3.8m)to the Asian Football Confederation. “To this day, only about $2.5m (£1.9m) of that has been accounted for.” Oceania’s confederation also “asked for $4m (£3m) worth of goodies,” she says. “That was what we had to pay to get their vote… The ‘Fifa way’ allowed that to happen.”
It even emerged that $500,000 (£378,000) supposed to fund a development centre in Trinidad and Tobago instead ended up in the personal bank account of Fifa’s then vice president Jack Warner. He was indicted by the US over $5m (£3.8m) of alleged bribes but has always denied any wrongdoing and avoided extradition last year after a 10-year legal battle.
Infantino with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Vladimir Putin at the 2018 World Cup opening ceremony in Moscow. The Fifa chief has called for Russia’s return to international games (Photo: Getty)
Mersiades was sacked by Football Australia in 2010 after objecting to what was going on. “I had been raising concerns internally and it just got too uncomfortable for them,” she explains. The Sydney-based governing body did not respond to a request for comment but has previously said it “ran a clean bid”.
When Fifa voted that December, Russia and Qatar won the tournaments – while Australia received just one vote.
As disquiet grew around the world, she wrote an article criticising the process, but this angered former colleagues. “I was threatened by a senior executive of Football Australia and told that my life would be ruined,” she says.
Officials at Fifa’s Zurich headquarters eventually commissioned an inquiry by US lawyer Michael Garcia, and Mersiades agreed to help as long as she remained anonymous. A summary of Garcia’s report, published in 2014, did not name her – but left experts in little doubt that she was a key source.
Soon afterwards, cyber attacks were launched on websites she ran. “They were traced to Russia and to Zurich,” Mersiades claims, believing they were punishment for whistleblowing. She also faced “very hurtful” misogynistic abuse.
She felt vindicated when a US investigation into Fifa corruption in 2015 led to more than 20 convictions and many more indictments – prompting Sepp Blatter’s resignation as president – but has found its conduct galling since then.
Mersiades with the journalists Jens Weinreich, left, and the late Andrew Jennings who investigated Fifa corruption (Photo: Bonita Mersiades)
Infantino’s hold on power
Infantino, who earned $6m (£4.5m) last year as president of Fifa, intends to stand for re-election next year and is widely expected to win despite the organisation’s issues. So how does he retain control?
Mersiades believes Infantino’s changes to Fifa’s structure helps him secure power. One of the organisation’s key reforms after the 2015 corruption scandal involved cutting the number of its standing committees from 26 to just nine. But in 2024, these were vastly expanded again to 35, creating more highly paid roles to fill.
She argues: “This allows him to appoint people to positions where they get superannuation, a very handsome stipend, first-class travel, five-star hotels, guaranteed tickets to tournaments like this one. What does that do? It makes people grateful to the Fifa president and shores up his re-election. They get treated as VVIPs, they lose all sense of what’s right and what’s wrong.”
Many middle managers join Fifa because they love football and it offers them “glamorous” travel opportunities, she says. “They think: ‘This is my dream job, I’m not going to do anything to stuff it up’.” This makes it “very difficult” for them to risk their livelihoods by speaking up if they encounter misconduct, she argues.
Mersiades alleges officials are dealt with harshly if they raise concerns, claiming to know of two employees who “helped authorities but Fifa found out and they are no longer working there”.
Gianni Infantino has been Fifa’s president for a decade and expects to win re-election next year (Photo: Julian Finney/Getty)
A Fifa spokesperson insists the organisation is now “more efficient, well-governed and fit for purpose”. They say this “fundamental change” has been “acknowledged by a number of international institutions”, including the Association of Summer Olympic Federations.
Delivering on its “mandate to develop football all around the world”, it has “distributed more than $5bn (£3.8bn) to grow the game globally”, they add.
“The organisation has been transformed and is now considered a trusted partner for international agencies, NGOs, and leading global brands. Fifa is a role model when it comes to governance and transparency in the sports industry.”
Mersiades thinks statements like this are just “PR gloss”. But if it’s true that Fifa has failed to truly reform, even after its huge scandal in 2015, what hope is there for the Reboot Fifa campaign now?
“I don’t expect change to happen this year, next year, or maybe even in my lifetime,” she admits. That’s a depressing thought; she is only aged in her fifties.
Nevertheless, campaigners must keep on fighting, she says. “Things will never change if people don’t chip away.”
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