World Cup 2026 LIVE: England snub Alexander-Arnold for emergency call-up after late injury blow

“It was an expected win for us but the way it happened was very dominant,” Kimmich ⁠said at a press conference. “But we have seen that ​to ⁠win by such a score is not expected (in this tournament).

“Both teams (Ivory Coast and Ecuador) are physically very strong and they can deal well with the conditions.

“We played the first game against an opponent who is certainly not world class. Now come some challenges where we can see where we stand.

“We have great qualities to hurt opponents. We need to work on stability, reduce the goals we concede, even against a small opponent.”

Gustaf Lagerbielke, a 26-year-old defender who played the entire match in Sweden’s 5-1 defeat of Tunisia on Sunday, is a baron from a noble family in Sweden. His father and grandfather are counts.

“I mean, it’s rare,” he said.

Lagerbielke grew up in Djursholm, a wealthy suburb in the Swedish capital, Stockholm. When he played football as a kid, he says he had the family’s coat of arms on his shin pads.

“When I was kid, I wanted to become a professional footballer,” Lagerbielke said. “They have taught me goals. They are very happy for me and very proud.”

Lagerbielke’s heritage has been a talking point throughout a career that has taken him from Sweden (AIK, Sollentuna, Västerås, Elfsborg and Degerfors) to Scotland (Celtic) and now Portugal.

Sections of the British media reported he was 254th in line to the Swedish throne, though Lagerbielke said “I don’t know if it’s true. But I think for it to happen,” he added, “a lot of people need to go away. And I don’t want that to happen.” AP.

Bruno Fernandes and his Portugal team-mates will embark upon their latest World Cup adventure intent on ending the nation’s wait for glory on the biggest stage of all.

The Euro 2016 champions and 2025 Nations League winners have established themselves as a major force, and will head into their Group K opener against the Democratic Republic of Congo in Houston on Wednesday ranked fifth by FIFA with only Argentina, France, Spain and England ahead of them.

Semi-finalists in 1966 and again 40 years later, they have high hopes of finally ending their wait.

Manchester United midfielder Fernandes told FIFA’s official website: “The dream is to be world champions.

“The key is to focus on what we can do to change the fact that Portugal have never won it and become the first side to bring the coveted World Cup back home.”

“I think, as a coach, you’re proud of the group, you’re proud of the staff, you’re proud that you made so many people happy in the stands. You don’t really reflect too much on what it does for you, but I think that’s normal for a coach, because you’re already thinking, is there anyone that’s injured?” Popovic said.

“We need to recover well, and we need to get the boys focused quickly on the next challenge. So personally, of course, I’m proud, but maybe one day in the future I can look back on this and reflect and remember, and it’ll probably be a very special moment for me, my family.”

Thomas Tuchel’s extended England contract includes a performance clause but Football Association chief executive Mark Bullingham is confident the manager will remain in charge beyond the World Cup.

Asked if Tuchel being linked to other jobs was a factor in the decision, the FA chief said: “We’d actually started speaking to him a little bit before that managerial merry-go-round started, so, no, it wasn’t.

“I think the reality is he is a top-level manager who would be in demand, right? And we knew we had someone we felt was doing a really good job and they would be in demand and you can’t expect someone to wait around and say, ‘Well, I’ll just leave it a long time and see how we go’.

“That’s not the reality of life, I don’t think, in any profession, so our decision was, we’ve got someone doing a really good job.

“We think we can sign them up for another two years. It’s a home tournament; it’s really, really important.

“Home tournaments as well, the pressure is even bigger than a normal tournament and you want someone who’s been there and done it.”

Gary Neville has warned England’s defence cannot afford to get off to a “nervous start” in their World Cup opener against Croatia.

Thomas Tuchel’s side begin their Group L campaign against the 2018 World Cup finalists in Dallas on Wednesday.

Former Manchester United and England full-back Neville, who played in the 1998 and 2006 World Cups, stressed that a solid defensive performance is key to building tournament momentum.

Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, Neville said: “I think it’s so important that that back four starts with a good performance, and I’ve said before about Elliott Anderson and Declan Rice protecting that back four, making sure they don’t expose them. There’s just something about how we start.”

Ghana officials on Tuesday appealed Canada’s decision to refuse midfielder Thomas Partey entry into the country for the team’s first World Cup match while he awaits trial on rape charges.

A Canadian federal court heard the appeal Tuesday, just one day before Ghana faces Panama in Toronto.

Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had criticized the visa denial for Partey, who awaits trial in Britain, as a “high-handed and extremely unfair decision.”

Partey faces allegations from several women dating to his time playing for English club Arsenal from 2020-25. Partey, who played in Spain for Villarreal this past season, has pleaded not guilty.

The United States is brimming with World Cup momentum after their opening 4-1 demolition of Paraguay, gaining one of the most important commodities required for a run deep into the tournament, former international Brian McBride told Reuters.

The ex-Fulham and Everton striker, who featured in three World Cups, said he saw the team gelling in their tune-up against Germany. The four-time champions had trouble dealing with penetrating runs from full-backs Sergino Dest and Antonee Robinson.

The US opened their tournament campaign last Friday with a rampaging win that for some was unexpected, but marked a dream start for the co-hosts, whose four goals were their most ever in a World Cup match.

In times past, when we wanted to know which team would win the World Cup, we had to turn to seers with crystal balls, use divination via tea leaves, or hope for Paul the Octopus to tell us what would happen.

But modern data science can provide a better alternative. As part of a team of statisticians, one of our reporters helped train a machine learning algorithm to predict the most likely course of the tournament…

The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in Indianapolis ahve siezed more than 1,500 pieces of counterfeit World Cup merchandise.

According to a statement from the CBP, they seized 18 shipments of fake goods, including 1,578 items that, if real, would have generated a retail price of around $134,594.

Officials said that the seized shipments included:

• 530 World Cup 2026 jerseys
• 380 beanies
• 349 Puma, Adidas and Nike shirts associated with the tournament
• 319 other World Cup-related items

The release stated that most shipments originated from Hong Kong and were “destined for locations both within and outside the United States.”