World Cup 2026 live: Somali referee breaks silence after being refused entry at US border

Who will win the World Cup? Who will be the breakout star? And how far will England and Scotland?

Here, Indy Sport’s writers have compiled our predictions for the 2026 World Cup…

Somali referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan says he has had his World Cup dreams dashed after he was refused entry at the US border.

“I am very, very disappointed,” Artan told the New York Times in a telephone interview from Istanbul, where he was flown to after being turned away. “I’m just simply a referee who’s trying to live his dream, the biggest dream of my life, to come to the World Cup.

“I had the right papers and everything. I had the right visa.”

He added that he had also showed documentation from Fifa as well as photographs of his career of over a decade as a professional referee.

The 6.1-magnitude quake – the strongest in the region for 150 years – originated off the west coast of Cuba, but it was felt across Florida’s Flagler County, with tremors experienced in Orlando and Miami.

Several buildings across these cities were evacuated as they began shaking due to the dramatic natural event.

In a letter to Robertson published by Fifa, Rute Cardoso, the mother of Jota’s three children, said: “I am writing to you with a heart full of longing, gratitude and, above all, pride.

“Diogo often spoke of you. Of the friendship you built, the battles you fought together, the challenges, the laughter, the conversations about football… and about dreams.

“The World Cup was one of those dreams, a dream that the two of you nurtured, side by side, with the same passion with which you took to the pitch.

“When I heard your words and learnt what you felt on that day when Scotland qualified for the World Cup, after so many years of waiting, I realised that Diogo never truly left the pitch.

“By achieving that moment and securing your place at the World Cup, you won’t be going alone. You’ll be taking his dream with you too. And when you step on to the pitch, I know it won’t just be you walking out, Diogo will be with you in your thoughts, in your steps, in your heart.

“So today, I want to thank you. Thank you for not forgetting him. Thank you for taking him with you. Thank you for turning the pain of loss into strength and into something so beautiful.

“That’s how we do it here at home too. Every day. He would be, and is, incredibly proud of you. Cherish that dream, Andy. Live it for yourself and for him.”

Ian Wright has lambasted the “World Cup of chaos” after a Somali referee was denied entry to the United States in the last few days.

“I’ve just read that the Somalian referee has been denied entry. Every few hours it’s another story, another story about fans denied, players denied, officials denied, journalists denied, now refs,” said Wright, who will be working on the World Cup for ITV this summer.

“You know something: I’m laughing but it’s not funny, it’s actually not funny and something has to be said.

“The expensive tickets, the most expensive tickets ever, expensive accommodation, transport through the roof. It has to be said.

“Is this how the hosts behave really for the greatest game, the greatest tournament in the world, is this how the hosts behave?

“Are we not hearing more? Are we seeing how Qatar got dragged, are we not hearing more? Is this the spirit of football, really?

“You know who I feel for? I feel for the American fans who are desperate for this, American soccer fans who are desperate for this, how embarrassed they must be. How embarrassing for them this must be.

“This is the World Cup, this is a World Cup of chaos. Whoever wins this World Cup is going to have to go through some serious chaos to get this done.

“I hope we can do it, but something has to be said now. This is the World Cup.”

It seemed the perfect goodbye. Lionel Messi had scored two goals in a World Cup final, a third in the shootout. He had emulated Diego Maradona by lifting the World Cup as Argentina captain. He had been named player of the tournament and man of the match in the final. He had completed football.

It looked a decidedly imperfect goodbye. The supposed GOAT was reduced to the status of Portugal’s 12th man; or 13th, given that a substitute came on at the same time as Joao Cancelo. Cristiano Ronaldo was dropped for the knockout stages, seeing his replacement Goncalo Ramos score a hat-trick in the 6-1 thrashing by Switzerland and being unable to rescue Portugal as they went out 1-0 to Morocco. He had become the first man ever to score in five World Cups, but none of those goals were in the knockout stages. Messi’s eventual triumph seemed to end an argument about which of them was the greatest; only Ronaldo fanboys could disagree now.

And yet, four years later, they are back, each set for a sixth World Cup. The Argentinian will turn 39 during the tournament. The Portuguese is already 41. But the United States has been a gerontocracy of late, its two oldest presidents being the two most recent. Now the aged will not just be found in the corridors of power, but on the footballing fields.

Former Uefa president Platini, one of the most gifted footballers of the 1970s and 1980s, had been favourite to succeed Sepp Blatter as Fifa chief in 2016 until the launch of an ethics probe into a payment he received from Blatter in 2011.

Platini was banned for eight years by Fifa’s ethics committee in 2015 – a sanction which was later reduced to four years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Platini and Blatter also faced criminal proceedings regarding the payment, but both were acquitted by the Swiss federal criminal court in 2022 and then by the appeals court in 2025.

Now Platini has launched criminal and civil proceedings in the French courts over the matter, with Infantino one of the individuals named.

The criminal complaint, as confirmed by his lawyer Olivier Baratelli, alleges that Infantino and others “worked to exclude (Platini) from the race for the presidency of Fifa”.

Ian Wright

Gary Neville

Patrick Vieira

Karen Carney

Ange Postecoglou

Emma Hayes

Duncan Ferguson

Jobi McAnuff

Bradley Wright-Phillips

Christina Unkel

Presenters

Mark Pougatch

Laura Woods

Semra Hunter

Daniyal Khan

Alan Shearer

Wayne Rooney

Micah Richards

Paul Robinson

Steph Houghton

Ellen White

Danny Murphy

Scott Brown

Rachel Corsie

James McFadden

Olivier Giroud

Gael Clichy

Cesar Azpilicueta

Benni McCarthy

Ashley Williams

Thomas Frank

Darren Cann

Presenters

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The World Cup gets under way next week, using 16 stadiums across the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Here, we look at the venues that will stage the 104 matches this summer: