International Football
A second chance: How Messi’s Argentina reached the World Cup final again
Pre-tournament favourites Argentina stumbled at the first World Cup hurdle before getting their act together to storm into another final, led by their inspirational skipper Lionel Messi who has moved to the top of the tournament’s scoring charts.
Eight years ago, Messi dragged Argentina to the World Cup final only to lose to Germany but this time he has a supporting cast and a tactically astute coach in Lionel Scaloni who has guided them to the showpiece match in Qatar.
The following is Argentina’s path to the final:
GROUP STAGE MATCH 1: ARGENTINA 1-2 SAUDI ARABIA
Argentina came into the tournament on the back of a 36-match unbeaten run and the last thing Scaloni’s side expected was to suffer what was statistically the biggest shock in World Cup history when Saudi Arabia beat them 2-1.
Messi scored a 10th minute penalty in the first half where Argentina had three goals disallowed for offside before the Saudis struck twice in the second half to stun the South American champions.
If Argentina could take any solace from the result, it was that when they lost their group opener to Cameroon in 1990 they still reached the final.
Scaloni was calm, however, while Messi rallied his troops with the message: “We have to return to the foundation of who we are.”
GROUP STAGE MATCH 2: ARGENTINA 2-0 MEXICO
With a World Cup trophy missing in his cabinet, Messi has never really been considered as equal with Diego Maradona but against Mexico he matched the late Argentina great’s record of 21 matches and eight goals at the finals.
With the match deadlocked at 0-0 after more than an hour, Messi picked his moment and then picked his spot, firing home from 20 metres to beat goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa by the narrowest of margins.
Substitute Enzo Fernandez scored with another sublime strike to seal the points and set Argentina on their way amid an electric atmosphere at Lusail Stadium, the biggest arena in Qatar.
“Today starts another World Cup for Argentina,” Messi had said after admitting they were poor in the first half. “We started to play the ball better (in the second half) and until the goal we went back to being what we are.”
GROUP STAGE MATCH 3: POLAND 0-2 ARGENTINA
In a match between Barcelona’s past and present, it was the club’s record scorer Messi who saw his side triumph while Robert Lewandowski, Barca’s top scorer this season, finished the game without a shot on goal.
Messi was fortunate to win a controversial penalty after a VAR check but missed from the spot as goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny kept his cool and denied the Argentine skipper.
But, despite the miss, Messi was at the heart of Argentina’s attacks and ran the show in his free role up front while Alexis Mac Allister and Julian Alvarez scored to ensure their side topped the group.
“We tried to stay positive, to stay calm (after Messi missed his penalty),” Mac Allister said. “We did not feel down, we tried to be optimistic. Fortunately we managed to win and go through.”
LAST 16: ARGENTINA 2-1 AUSTRALIA
The stars seemed to align for Messi in a physical last-16 clash with Australia as he scored in his 1,000th match to move past Maradona’s World Cup tally.
The goal was vintage Messi, almost as if time stood still for everyone else except the 35-year-old, who reacted quickly to a short layoff in little space to curl the ball home even as four Australia defenders tried to close the gap.
Alvarez made it 2-0 but an own goal from Fernandez set up a tense finish in which Argentina clung on for victory.
“Now we have a really tough clash with Holland, who play very well. They have great players and a great coach, it’s going to be hard-fought,” Messi had said.
His words proved to be prophetic.
QUARTER-FINAL: NETHERLANDS 2-2 ARGENTINA(3-4 ON PENALTIES)
Four goals, an equaliser at the death, brawls with team benches emptying out, a tense penalty shootout, accusations of unsportsmanlike conduct, 16 yellow cards and one red card – the Netherlands-Argentina game had it all.
In a battle between the youngest and oldest coaches at the World Cup, Scaloni (44) came out on top against Louis van Gaal (71), who discarded football purity for pragmatism by bringing on 6-foot, 6-inch striker Wout Weghorst to torment the defence.
Messi was front and centre again, finding Nahuel Molina with a pass from an impossible angle to set up the opener and then converted a penalty, but Weghorst headed home before taking the match to extra time after a clever free kick routine.
A shell-shocked Argentina recovered from the last-gasp equaliser and in the shootout goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez made two saves before Lautaro Martinez finished things off to eliminate the Dutch in an ill-tempered game.
The bad blood spilt over into the tunnel too with plenty of words exchanged. But after things had calmed down, Messi said: “Diego (Maradona) is watching us from heaven. He is pushing us and I really hope this stays the same until the end.”
SEMI-FINAL: ARGENTINA 3-0 CROATIA
A match against Croatia, a team who had not won a knockout game in normal time since 1998, was set to test Argentina but they passed with flying colours as Messi almost single-handedly dispatched the 2018 runners-up.
Alvarez earned the penalty that Messi converted with aplomb and also scored twice, his first goal a fantastic solo run from the halfway line to beat three defenders.
But once again it was Messi running things, setting Alvarez through on goal with the crucial touch before his own run from the halfway line and dribble past defender Josko Gvardiol set up his young strike partner for the easy finish.
Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic hailed Messi as the “best player in the world”, saying he made the difference, while Argentina’s skipper urged his team to turn up one last time on Sunday.
“We have played five finals (since the Saudi defeat) and we were lucky to win five finals. I hope it will be like this for the final game,” said Messi, who joined France’s Kylian Mbappe atop the scoring charts with five goals at the tournament.
Argentina will play holders France in the final on Sunday.
-Reuters
International Football
Players’ union, FIFPRO, wants 20-minute halftimes, more cooling breaks amid extreme heat
Global players’ union FIFPRO is exploring whether extending halftime to 20 minutes and introducing more frequent cooling breaks could better protect players from extreme heat.
Nine of the 16 host cities for the 2026 World Cup face conditions considered “extreme risk” for heat-related illness.
Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Guadalajara, Houston, Kansas City, Miami, Monterrey and Philadelphia are expected to face dangerous levels of heat and humidity, posing player safety concerns and fuelling calls for mandatory cooling aids or schedule changes.
FIFPRO’s heat risk assessments are based on wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT), a measure combining temperature, humidity, solar radiation and wind speed to estimate how environmental conditions affect the body’s ability to cool itself.
Under FIFPRO guidelines, a WBGT reading above 28 degrees Celsius indicates conditions in which matches should be postponed or rescheduled to protect players’ health.
By comparison, world soccer governing body FIFA’s own guidelines set the extreme risk threshold higher, at 32 degrees Celsius WBGT – but even by that standard, six of the nine cities are still projected to exceed safe limits.
Major League Soccer in the U.S. has a threshold of 29 degrees Celsius WBGT.
“Cooling breaks at the 30th minute and 75th minutes are quite traditional, but from a physiological point of view it does not make sense,” said Vincent Gouttebarge, FIFPRO’s Medical Director.
“Even if you ingest more than 200 millilitres of fluid, you already cannot take it all. So I would definitely like to see some project where we look at the efficacy of perhaps more frequent but shorter cooling breaks – every 15 minutes, rather than only one during each half.”
LONGER HALFTIMES
Gouttebarge also questioned whether the traditional 15-minute halftime interval is sufficient when matches are played in extreme heat.
“You can imagine that halftime of 15 minutes might not be enough in order to decrease the core temperature,” he said.
“It could be a halftime of 20 minutes which would be significant. That has been shown in the laboratory and FIFPRO, together with the national union in Portugal in August, we are going to test this kind of mitigation strategy.”
The urgency of stronger heat protocols became clear at this month’s Club World Cup where two matches — Benfica-Bayern Munich in Charlotte and Chelsea-Esperance in Philadelphia exceeded the WBGT threshold FIFPRO considers unsafe.
“According to our position, those games should have been postponed later that day or rescheduled,” Gouttebarge said.
FIFPRO officials acknowledged that FIFA has responded constructively during the tournament by lowering thresholds for mandatory cooling breaks and improving pitch-side hydration, but stressed that proactive planning is critical.
“FIFA have been quite responsive once the tournament was under way,” said Alex Phillips, FIFPRO General Secretary.
“They have actually modified how they’ve been dealing with heat during the matches based on FIFPRO’s input, which is credit to the work of the team. Obviously, it would have been better if that happened in advance, but it’s better that they have adapted.”
FIFPRO warned that the risks highlighted at the Club World Cup are a preview of what players could face at the expanded 2026 World Cup.
“This is not just affecting the Club World Cup, but also future tournaments either in the U.S. or elsewhere in the world,” said Alexander Bielefeld, FIFPRO Director of Policy & Strategic Relations.
“We need a better balance between commercial interests and the health and safety of players,” he added, referring to earlier kick-off times to accommodate European television audiences.
-Reuters
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Former Manchester United and England midfielder Paul Ince has been charged with drink-driving, police said on Monday.
Ince, who earned 53 caps for England and won two Premier League titles during his six years at United, has been released on bail and will appear in court on July 18.
“The incident involved a black Range Rover which had collided with the central reservation barrier. Officers attended the scene and arrested a 57-year-old man,” the Cheshire police said in a statement.
“Paul Ince, of Quarry Road, Neston, has since been charged with drink-driving.”
Reuters has contacted Ince’s representative for comment.
After retiring as a player, Ince led Milton Keynes Dons to a League Two title in 2007-08. He most recently managed Reading during 2022-23.
-Reuters
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International Football
From garbage collector to Starman of Ancelotti’s Brazil team: the story of Ribeiro
“I was without a team for a year and a half, doing trials… and no club in Brazil wanted me.!” Alex Ribeiro
Alexsandro Victor de Souza Ribeiro (Rio de Janeiro, 1999) was, until a few days ago, a semi-unknown to the general public in Brazil.
However, Carlo Ancelotti, impressed by his strong performance against Real Madrid in the Champions League, insisted on calling up the Lille centre-back… and giving him his debut.
Not only that. He started alongside Marquinhos against Ecuador (0-0) and Paraguay (1-0) and helped the Seleçao keep two consecutive clean sheets for the first time in the qualifying rounds.
Alex, as he likes to be called, impressed with his 1.92 meters (6′ 1″) frame and confidence. According to ‘R10Score’, he was the Brazilian player who completed the most actions with the ball (186) and the second with the most cuts (11).
He completed 154 of the 166 passes he made (92% accuracy) and won 12 of the 16 duels he was involved in: 5 of 7 at ground level and 7 of 9 in the air. “A gentleman defender,” boasted the official Ligue 1 Portuguese account.
His path to the elite wasn’t easy. “I don’t think you know this, but this is my first game as a professional in Brazil. Strange, isn’t it? There’s nothing better. To debut in Brazil like this, with a win and qualification,” he boasted after defeating Paraguay.
These first few days with Ancelotti have been unique; I’ll remember them for the rest of my life. I’ve responded well not only to myself, but also to the coach and the Brazilian people. I was able to demonstrate my ability to those who had doubts. Few people give me the opportunity that the manager has given me,” he insists
The Lille centre-back took his first steps in Flamengo’s youth system, where he even met Vinicius.
“When we played against Real Madrid, Vini came up to me and hugged me. He said, ‘I’m glad to see you here, brother.’ That inspired and motivated me even more,” he told ‘Globo Esporte’.
‘Fla’ cut him off. He had to make a living as a street vendor. He also collected trash, especially cans. “I was without a team for a year and a half, doing trials… and no club in Brazil wanted me, so I went to Europe to play in Portugal’s Third Division.”
Praiense (2018-20), Amora (2020-21), and Chaves (2021-22)—the latter already in the Second Division—were his springboard to Lille. The Bulldogs signed him in 2022-23 for €2 million. He has become a more than worthy successor to his compatriot Gabriel Magalhaes.
“Little by little, my name is spreading. My football is reaching everywhere. This includes Brazil,” he said before making his debut with the Seleçao. Now that he’s made it, he has another challenge: “I want to continue it.”
-Marca
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