Read 3 minutesUpdated: June 19, 2026 07:30 PM IST Morocco captain Achraf Hakimi will stand trial for rape after a woman accused him of raping the Paris Saint-Germain footballer in 2023, French prosecutors said. Hakimi, who made his appearance against Scotland on Friday, has denied the allegations. “The justice system looked me in the eye and said, ‘If you weren’t famous, this case would never have happened,'” Hakimi wrote on social media on Friday. “I chose to remain silent for years. I believe that maintaining my dignity, staying calm and trusting the justice system will lead to the right decisions.

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Read for 2 minutesUpdated: June 18, 2026 12:16 PM IST On Monday night in Atlanta, Vozinha made seven saves to hold Spain to a goalless draw in Cape Verde’s first World Cup match. He cried the whole time. His mother was not there. Ana Candida Evora could not travel from São Vicente because she could not afford the bond payment. The Trump administration requires Cape Verdean citizens to pay up to $15,000 – under rules implemented in January – before considering a US visa. Washington dropped the bond requirement for World Cup ticket holders last month, but by then, Wozinha

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Tori Penso blows the whistle with her assistants Brooke Mayo and Catherine Nesbitt before the Group A match between the Czech Republic and South Africa at Atlanta Stadium, the second time a female referee has officiated at a men’s FIFA World Cup match and the second time an all-female trio has done so. At the 2022 Qatar World Cup, French referee Stéphane Frapart became the first female referee to officiate a men’s FIFA World Cup match when she took charge of a group stage match between Germany and Costa Rica. Penso, 39, is one of two female referees appointed by

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Read 4 minutes19 Jun 2026 02:03 PM IST Canada’s first win in 40 years since its World Cup debut should have sent cheers throughout the host nation. Instead, concern and worry prevailed following the injury to Ismail Kone in the second half. Qatar midfielder Asim Madibo’s reckless and late tackle sealed Les Rouges’ 6-0 win in Vancouver on Friday. Madibo was sent off and later apologized to Kone, but the damage was done: the 24-year-old had to be taken off a stretcher and rushed to a local hospital, where he was being prepared for surgery. Meanwhile the Canadian players were

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Read for 5 minutesJun 19, 2026 07:33 AM IST The commentators were still figuring out the options and their possible positions when one of them, in fact both of them, came together to create a thunderous strike. With the score deadlocked, Switzerland’s frustration was mounting, Ruben Vargas raced down the left and slotted the ball into the box. Not a piercing delivery. Bosnia partially cleared it. Then the theatrics began. Blur, 20, pirouetted nearly ninety degrees to put the ball into the net. The speed gun reads 79 miles per hour. Roll tape, play again. But all eyes were on

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Read for 5 minutes19 Jun 2026 09:43 AM IST The chorus of boos that followed the half-time whistle at Guadalajara Stadium on Friday confirmed what the statistics showed. The first 45 and a few minutes of football between Mexico and South Korea, which will determine which team will be the first to book a place in the knockouts at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, was a cagey snoozefest. Just one save to show and an xG of 0.11 for both sides, which translates into almost negligible chances of seeing a goal. The Mexican players looked somewhat confused by the fans’

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Read for 5 minutesUpdated: June 19, 2026 08:24 AM IST If you want to understand the modern spirit of American and Australian sports, look no further than the football pitch. Take a look at a swimming pool in Sydney 26 years ago. It was the 2000 Olympics, and the American men’s 4x100m freestyle relay team had been boasting for weeks, smashing the Australians “like a guitar”. Instead, the electric, home-crowd-fueled Aussie quartet touched the wall first, breaking the world record and standing on blocks of furious air guitar playing mockery at their shell-shocked rivals. For decades, this has been the

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Read 3 minutesUpdated: June 17, 2026 05:49 PM IST Somewhere in Qom, south of Tehran, there is a poster of Alireza Faghani standing with Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino, all three giving the thumbs-up after last year’s Club World Cup final. Faghani is wearing the medal in the original photograph. The poster replaces the medal with a picture of a potato. The caption read: “Congratulations on your medal, Traitor.” Faghani — the site of that Club World Cup final — at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Tuesday Took charge of Senegal against France. After consulting the pitchside monitor, he

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Today’s Match Highlights from FIFA World Cup 2026: Two braces from Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and strikes from Marcus Rashford helped England beat Croatia 4-2 in their 2026 FIFA World Cup opener at the Dallas Stadium. The teams were level at 2-2 at half-time with England captain Kane scoring twice, but first-half goals from Petar Musa and Martin Baturina gave Croatia a double. But just two minutes into the second half, Jude Bellingham restored England’s lead with a brilliant strike. And then, in the final minutes of the game, Rashford put the final touch to the game with an own

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The worst feeling for Cristiano Ronaldo wasn’t that he didn’t score against the team that last played in the World Cup before he was born; Or his two efforts were feeble and wayward; or he appeared a burden to the team; Or he disrupted the system or contributed to defensive rigidity. It was just that the ball had fallen in love with him. Like an exasperated lover, he turned away from him, averted his eyes, turned irresistibly back. Of course, Ronaldo can still win back his love — the competition is long and hard, it could just be a one-night

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