Key events
Thanks Tom. Happy with those power rankings? I have to say I’m in absolute agreement until the very end. Both sides lost by a three-goal margin but I think Canada performed better in their loss than the USA did.
Here you are for yer power rankings: now the dust has settled – well, kind of – on the last 16, Will Unwin assesses the state of the participants.
And with that, I’ll hand you over to David Tindall. Catch you’se later.
For all the welcome eclecticism of this World Cup, it feels crushingly unsurprising that six of the eight quarter-finallists are European, a tally only exceeded in 1934 (eight, when travel, and arguments over travel, were factors in the lack of South American representation), 1958 (seven) and the last time we were in the USA in 1994 (seven). As recently as 2010, there were only three European sides in the last eight, though two of them made the final.
Egypt lodge complaint with Fifa over referee
This one isn’t going away. This just in from AFP:
The Egyptian football federation said on Wednesday it had asked for the officiating team who handled the Pharoahs loss 3-2 last-16 to Argentina to be thrown out of the World Cup.
“Hany Aburida, President of the Egyptian Football Federation, filed a complaint with Fifa, demanding an investigation into the French referee Francois Letexier… after the serious refereeing mistakes committed by the team of referees and double standards, which caused the Egypt team to lose the match and leave the World Cup,” said a statement from the federation.
On Tuesday evening, Letexeier ruled out a Mostafa Ziko goal ruled out when they were leading 1-0 after VAR intervened to spot a foul on Lisandro Martinez much earlier in the move.
A few minutes later, Ziko did put Egypt 2-0 up and on the brink of a place in the last eight for the first time but there was further controversy in added time, after Cristian Romero and Lionel Messi had brought the champions level.
In the buildup to Argentina’s winner scored by Enzo Fernandez, Egypt believe they should have instead been awarded a penalty for a pull by Alexis Mac Allister on Hamdy Fathy.
“Aburida demanded the investigation of the entire team of referees, including the video technology referees, because of the blatant errors and insisting on not reviewing some of the footage that we believe are in favour of the Egyptian national team, and we see in it the Pharaohs’ right to a correct goal and a penalty,” said the Egyptian statement.
It added that the president had also “demanded the exclusion of the referee and the entire crew from the World Cup after investigating these mistakes and proving the crime of discrimination against the Egyptian national team”. AFP
Chris Foy
Foy backs World Cup referees: we’ve all had our say on the officials; here’s someone who’s actually been a Premier League ref on how the people in the middle have got on.
The intervention of Donald Trump and Tuchel’s comments mean there is heightened noise around refereeing. As a referee you have to ignore that, and in elite officiating sports psychologists are there to help. I was never the best at getting rid of a bad decision – it would stay in my system for three to four days – but that’s different from letting it affect your performance. You have to be boring, and focus on the here and now.
There have been 13 red cards at this World Cup, after four at each of the previous two, but I don’t think there can be too many complaints. Player safety is paramount and Quansah and Balogun are a good example of where to draw the line. VAR has been used correctly for red cards not given on the field.
Perhaps Lionel Messi could do with a look at this video – our own Nikhita Chulani sifts the data in search of the perfect penalty.
EU lawmakers call for investigation of Infantino over Trump call
Just in, from AP.
Dozens of European lawmakers are gathering support to launch an investigation in the European Parliament of Fifa boss Gianni Infantino over his involvement in the decision to permit USA striker Folarin Balogun to play despite an earlier red card.
Balogun was shown a red card during the U.S. victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina in the World Cup on July 1, which normally would make him ineligible to play in the team’s next game, but Fifa lifted his suspension for a match on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump intervened with Infantino on behalf of the 25-year-old striker.
European Parliament lawmakers Barry Andrews, Lara Wolters and Niels Fuglsang said in a joint statement that the decision by soccer’s world governing body to “change the rule on red card suspensions mid-tournament is a disgrace and a perversion of justice.”
“Once again, we’ve seen Infantino and Fifa surrender to the demands of the Trump administration,” the statement said.
The lawmakers are asking the national football associations of the EU countries to spur the Fifa Ethics Committee to investigate Infantino and whether pressure from the Trump administration was a factor in the lifting of the suspension, as well as “other potential breaches of political neutrality” like awarding Trump the FIFA Peace Prize.
FIFA has said the lifting of the suspension was the decision of a disciplinary committee.
The lawmakers said that 35 colleagues have so far signed the letter.
“The beauty of sport is that it is based on impartial and transparent rules. When Infantino allows political pressure to determine who gets to play, this sense of fairness goes out the window,” they said. AP
World Cup Daily has dropped. Get your ears around Max, Barney, Archie and Barry chewing the fat over yesterday’s action.
On this day in World Cup history, 1990. It’s a toss-up between this final and that of 2010 as to which was the most shithousey World Cup final of all, but the tournament got its deserved winners overall, West Germany beating a petulant Argentina with Andreas Brehme’s late penalty.
“Neymar’s consolation penalty against Norway at the World Cup means his first international goal, scored on his first cap, was in the same stadium (MetLife) as his last international goal on his final cap,” writes Griffin Cant. “Are there any other players who have bookended their international career in a similar way?”
Find out the answer to this and more in this week’s Knowledge:
Time for a first delve BTL, and the various Argentina-Egypt talking points are unsurprisingly dominating.
Here’s MarkWatson1:
Well, you can bet your house on Argentina (Messi) winning the World Cup again. In the last few days we’ve seen it all collapse as a sporting spectacle. First the rescinded red card by Donald Trump and now the daylight robbery of Egypt. VAR was supposed to be used to ensure fairness but instead it’s just being used to tip the scales in favour of whoever is scheduled to go into the next round.
And nomiddlename:
The Egypt goal was rightly chalked off, I was looking at the hip/leg contact and thinking it was never a foul but replays showed the clear shirt pull. The trip on Salah immediately before the Argentina goal is slightly different, it looked like foul play and if the ref had given it VAR would almost certainly not have overturned it, but he didn’t and VAR didn’t try to re-ref the incident, was hoping for a penalty to be given there, and quite possibly it should have been given but once it’s accepted that not every contact is 100% foul play then maybe not, and it wasn’t to be
Great comeback byArgentina though
Whatever your view, it shows how Trump’s and Infantino’s conduct over the Balogun red card has intensified suspicion over everything else that happens at this tournament. And it also shows – for the millionth time – that VAR does not bring certainty or consistency. Fire it into the sun.
You may have missed … here’s a withering critique of Fifa’s handling of the Folarin Balogun red card case by Barney Ronay:
Frites 4 Cheats 1. Tintin 4 Tonto 1. Some good news here, perhaps. It seems Gianni Infantino was right after all. Football has united the world. Mainly football has united the world in gleeful satisfaction at the USA exiting its own World Cup tournament as soon as possible following the great and glorious Donald Trump Mr-Fix-It intervention.
This was the tone of the immediate global reaction to the USA’s invertebrate defeat in Seattle on Monday night, soundly beaten by a righteous and highly motivated Belgium: land of beer, waffles and sporting vigilante justice. Ghent 4 Bent 1. Antwerp 4 A twerp 1. Mayonnaise 4 May-have-interfered-in-due-process 1. I can go on. How long have you got?
So far much of the domestic US response has focused on an interesting but essentially irrelevant part of this, albeit one with a natural appeal to the polarised heart of the nation. Did the noise around Trump’s intervention, the admission, which is denied by Fifa, of prima facie attempted sporting corruption over Folarin Balogun’s ban (Trump’s exact words: “I was the one who got them to do it”) deplete the team’s chances?
Was this a case of Trump Exposed Reactor Core Phenomenon, a term I have just invented for the dynamic whereby Trump melts everything he touches while remaining indestructibly in place, still burping his dark energy into the skies?
Osasu Obayiuwana
The first quarter-final, Morocco v France, might be the most alluring and intriguing of the four ties, with Mohamed Ouahbi’s side – again the only African team to reach the last eight – chasing a second consecutive semi-final. Osasu Obayiuwana has more.
Over the past six decades, Morocco have achieved several performance milestones for Africa at the World Cup. The first country to qualify directly, for the 1970 finals in Mexico, they returned in 1986 and became the first team from the continent to make the last 16, then made that impressive semi-final run in Qatar four years ago.
Even if the Atlas Lions fail to match their 2022 performance, by losing to France on Thursday, they have made tournament history as the first African team to reach the quarter-finals at successive World Cups.
“The general feeling, amongst Moroccans, is pride and contentment in this team,” says Amine El Amri, a football journalist who, from his base in Casablanca, has been closely observing fans’ attitudes toward the team’s performance. “The main goal before the competition was to reach the quarter-finals, given the context, given the change of manager, with the departure of Walid Regragui and the coming of Mohamed Ouahbi. I think the victory over the Netherlands cemented the reputation of Ouahbi as a trustworthy coach. Many doubts about him were cleared up after that match.
“Beating Canada in the way we did, despite having a very difficult first half, has also added to that confidence. You have to be in Casablanca, in Marrakech, in every city and little town, to just measure how happy people are [with the team]. Our Saturday night was crazy – no one slept.”
Fulham confirm Arbeloa appointment
Fulham have named Alvaro Arbeloa as their new head coach on a three-year deal. He’ll hope for a less fractious dressing room than the one he had to grapple with at Real Madrid. Here’s the story.
Alvaro Arbeloa has been appointed as Fulham’s new head coach on a three-year contract.
The 43-year-old former Spain full-back, who finished last season in charge of his long-time club Real Madrid, succeeds Marco Silva after the Portuguese coach departed for Benfica at the end of his contract.
He said: “It is a real honour for me to be embarking on this new stage at Fulham FC, the oldest club in London.
“I feel a great sense of responsibility and I’m deeply grateful to Mr (Shahid) Khan and Tony Khan for the trust they have placed in me with Fulham in the Premier League.
“I am really looking forward to experiencing the atmosphere at Craven Cottage with Fulham fans.”
Fulham co-owner Shahid Khan said: “Alvaro was an original candidate who built an exceptional case through our meetings in June to become our next Head Coach, and it quickly became quite clear that he was – and is – the right choice.
“I am delighted that Alvaro has accepted the challenge to push Fulham forward, and I have no doubt that our squad, staff and fans will resonate with what his appointment means for the present and future of our club.”
He continued: “Alvaro is, by his own admission, very ambitious.
“He has spent quality time around the best players, clubs and methods in the game, experiences which will serve him well here at Fulham.” PA Media
Preamble
Greetings everyone. Welcome to the kind of day we’ve not had for four weeks – a day with no World Cup football! Time to finally tackle that pile of plates in the sink, that layer of dust on all work surfaces, that sock drawer. Or you could just stare blankly at the screen until the quarter-finals start on Thursday, or talk about it all here.
And we now know the identity of all those quarter-finalists after one of those days that all World Cups have – a thriller around which swirl rancour and accusations of bias towards big teams/players, followed by a frustrating, deadening 0-0 in which the side that missed the most presentable chances in 120 minutes inevitably lose the shootout. So commiserations Colombia and Egypt, and congratulations Switzerland – in their first quarter-final for 72 years – and Argentina.
Here’s that last eight schedule:
9 July France v Morocco (Boston, 4pm local/9pm BST/6am 10 July AEST)
10 July Spain v Belgium (Los Angeles, 12pm local/8pm BST/5am 11 July AEST)
11 July Norway v England (Miami, 5pm local time/10pm BST/7am 12 July AEST)
12 July Argentina v Switzerland (Kansas, 8pm local time/2am BST/11am AEST)
And here’s yesterday’s reports:
