Jul 20, 2026
Spain look built to last, and that should worry the rest of the world
Spain backed up Euro 2024 with the World Cup, and with Lamine Yamal only nineteen and Rodri collecting the game’s top prize, the dynasty question is a...
Football Opinions
Latest opinions articles covering football.
Jul 18, 2026
Whatever happens against Spain, this feels like Messi’s long goodbye
At 39, and openly admitting he is exhausted, Lionel Messi has dragged Argentina to a third World Cup final. Sunday against Spain may well be the last...
Jul 18, 2026
England’s 60-year wait goes on after another semi-final collapse
England led their World Cup semi-final and lost it late to a Messi-inspired Argentina, and sixty years on from 1966 the wait drags on. Thomas Tuchel w...
Jul 15, 2026
France’s run of World Cup finals ends as Deschamps bows out a game short
France’s decade of reaching finals ended in Dallas, and with it the Deschamps era. A 2-0 semi-final defeat to Spain leaves the most successful France...
Jul 12, 2026
Four teams, two ties, and a France-Spain semi-final that feels like the final
The World Cup is down to four, with France v Spain and England v Argentina to come. Two heavyweight semi-finals, one wide-open trophy race, and a pick...
Jul 9, 2026
France are the team to beat at the World Cup, but the hard part starts now
France have won all five games and look the tournament’s most complete side. Their history says the knockout rounds are where even the best teams come...
Jul 8, 2026
Ronaldo’s World Cup story ends with the one prize he never got
Spain’s late winner in Dallas sent Cristiano Ronaldo out of his sixth and final World Cup, the one prize that eluded him across two decades at the top...
Jul 6, 2026
Brazil’s earliest World Cup exit since 1990 asks harder questions than Ancelotti will admit
Carlo Ancelotti is calling a last-16 defeat to Norway the start of a new cycle. The harder truth is that Brazil’s problems ran through this whole camp...
Jul 2, 2026
Why France already look like the team to beat at World Cup 2026
Germany are already home and Brazil needed a scare to survive. France, meanwhile, have strolled into the last 16 with Mbappe level with Messi’s tourna...
Jun 30, 2026
Germany’s exit to Paraguay is the same old story, just with better players
A four-time world champion ranked 10th went out to the 41st-ranked side on penalties. The talent has come back to this Germany team. The tournament re...
Jun 30, 2026
The 48-team World Cup was supposed to be soft. The last 32 says otherwise
Germany and the Netherlands are gone, both on penalties, and the expanded format that was meant to cushion the big sides has done nothing of the sort...
Jun 27, 2026
The 48-team World Cup gave us Cape Verde, but it also gave the big sides a safety net
Cape Verde’s debut run and Uruguay’s exit are everything FIFA hoped the bigger World Cup would produce. The trouble is that letting 32 of 48 teams thr...
Jun 26, 2026
France top the betting, but Spain look the team to beat at this World Cup
France may lead the market, but Spain’s demolition of Saudi Arabia and the depth behind Lamine Yamal make them the side nobody should want to meet in...
Jun 25, 2026
Tuchel’s England are winning without convincing at the World Cup
England sit top of Group L and are unbeaten, but a flat goalless draw with Ghana dragged up the old questions Thomas Tuchel still has to answer before...
Jun 25, 2026
The Golden Boot race is wide open, and the World Cup’s format will decide it
Lionel Messi leads the World Cup Golden Boot race on five goals, but with Mbappe, Haaland and Vinicius all on four and a 48-team knockout draw to navi...
Jun 18, 2026
Messi and Diaz aside, South America’s World Cup openers raised more questions than answers
One round of group games in, only Argentina and Colombia have truly delivered for South America. Brazil and Uruguay were held, Ecuador and Paraguay be...
Jun 17, 2026
Mbappe and Haaland delivered, but the World Cup’s day of stars belonged to Messi
Three superstars scored on the same June afternoon, and the two cast as the future both delivered. At 38, Messi still walked off with the headline.
Jun 16, 2026
Everyone wants Ayyoub Bouaddi, but the World Cup is inflating his price
Arsenal, PSG and a string of giants are circling the Lille teenager, and Lille reportedly want 75 million euros. Here is why I would think twice befor...
Jun 15, 2026
The 48-team World Cup’s opening round belonged to the sides nobody expected
Germany’s 7-1 rout of Curacao was the nightmare the expansion’s critics predicted. The rest of the opening round told a more encouraging story.
Jun 13, 2026
The USA look the part, but their two co-hosts have work to do
Mexico, the United States and Canada have all opened their home World Cup. One of the three hosts looked a class above the other two.
Jun 12, 2026
Ivory Coast have the squad for a deep World Cup run, but their AFCON exit is a warning
One of the most gifted squads in Africa, a coach who has already won a major trophy, and a kind draw. So why does a deep run for the Elephants still f...
Jun 12, 2026
The summer window opens on Monday, and the World Cup will not slow it down
The Premier League transfer window opens on Monday in the middle of a World Cup, and from Salah’s exit to the scramble for English midfielders, the su...
Jun 11, 2026
Norway are the World Cup dark horse nobody will want to draw
After 28 years away, Norway have arrived at the World Cup with Haaland, Odegaard and a perfect qualifying run behind them. They are the dark horse the...
Jun 9, 2026
Can Argentina become the first side to retain the World Cup since 1962?
No team has retained the World Cup since Brazil in 1962, and three of the last four holders went out in the group stage. Lionel Messi’s Argentina arri...