It's trade deadline season, and though this has been a tame deadline period so far, the continuous swirl of rumors and (eventually) actual transactions will be the focus of much of the baseball world in the coming days. Yesterday, we discussed which players the Yankees were most likely to move, and today, we ask: what weakness do the Yankees most need to address, and which one are they most likely to address?
The answer to this question has been fluid throughout the year. Early on, it seemed obvious to most that the Yankees would need to make big additions to their bullpen, yet here we are at the end of July, and the Yankee relief corps has the second-best ERA in the majors. Paul Blackburn has proven to be the second coming of Luke Weaver, Brent Headrick almost never allows runs, David Bednar has been the top-tier closer the team envisioned, and Matt Blake's latest reclamation project, Angel Chivilli, has looked dynamite since his most recent call-up. Add in the fact that players like Will Warren and Ryan Weathers (and perhaps Carlos Lagrange?) could get shifted to the bullpen if they're not traded, and the unit looks like an area of strength, not weakness.
At other times, the matter of the infield appeared to be most pressing. Ryan McMahon and Jazz Chisholm Jr. each got off to nightmarish starts, and the shortstop duo of Anthony Volpe and José Caballero has had its ups and downs. But even on the dirt, things don't look nearly as shaky as they did two or three months ago. Since seeing his OPS bottom out at .498 on April 22nd, Chisholm has played exactly as expected, with a .239/.309/.463 slash line and 16 homers plus 21 steals. McMahon has run a roughly .750 OPS over the last two months while bringing his usual quality defense at third base. And despite his penchant for high-profile miscues, Volpe's combination of high-OBP and good range at short has made him a valuable contributor.
Then, there's the most obvious need now, at catcher, with Yankee backstops having combined to "hit" .181/.261/.284. But even adding a catcher comes with major complications, as most teams are loath to make significant changes to their caching room midseason. For as awful as Austin Wells and Co. have been with the bat this year, a catcher's primary job is to catch, to field his position, to manage his pitching staff. The Yankee backstops have done that portion of their job with aplomb this year (it's probably not a coincidence that the Yankees prioritize defense at catcher and have the best team ERA in baseball), and it's not trivial to just add a plus bat to that room without shaking things up on the run-prevention front.
Add it all up, and it leaves the Yankee roster in a weird spot heading into a crucial deadline. The roster has been slammed by injuries and has some seemingly clear places to upgrade, but actually making those upgrades is less straightforward than it might appear. What do you think? Where are the Yankees most likely to make moves in the next four

Argentina's President, Javier Milei, has slammed outside forces for spreading an 'anti-Argentina' campaign during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The 2026 World Cup has had its fair share of controversies, both on and off the field.
But the story of Lionel Messi's potentially final World Cup has been clouded by outside political factors, with the country's President slamming the anti-Argentina movements that sparked on social media over the course of the World Cup.
In an interview with local Radio Mitre, Milei slammed the 'anti-Argentina' campaign at the 2026 World Cup, alleging that 25% of it had been funded by the Brazilian government, with U.S. Democrats and Mexico also playing a role.
"Who put the most money into this anti-Argentina campaign? The Brazilian government. Twenty-five percent of the funding came from the Brazilian government. And then they lecture me about interference."

#campaign #slammed

The vice-president of the German FA (DFB) on Wednesday slammed FIFA's controversial plans to sell stakes in its competitions, including the World Cup, as "an outright attack on football".
FIFA announced Tuesday it was set to create a semi-private subsidiary which would sell part of its business operations in the World Cup and other competitions, hoping to raise $4.2 billion.
The plan would still have to be approved by the 38-member FIFA council and the majority of its 211 member **** ociations. FIFA said it intends to present the plans to the council soon.
Hans-Joachim Watzke, the DFB vice-president who is also president of Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund and a vice-president of UEFA's executive committee, joined the chorus critical of the proposal.
"Many in European football see FIFA's plans as an outright attack on football. I share this view. A line has been crossed here," Watzke told Germany's Kicker.

#plans #Football #watzke #sell

'Crush his confidence': Kris Srikkanth slams Gautam Gambhir's treatment of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi originally appeared on Cricket News. Add Cricket News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Krishnamachari Srikkanth slammed Gautam Gambhir for dropping Vaibhav Sooryavanshi after three low scores.
Teen hits record 18-ball fifty on return, becomes youngest T20I half-century scorer.
Ex-selector praises Sooryavanshi's fearless approach despite the failures.
Former India captain Krishnamachari Srikkanth has lashed out against head coach Gautam Gambhir for axing Vaibhav Sooryavanshi from the playing eleven after just three underwhelming innings during the England series.

#crush

Hull City tried their luck. It failed. Nicolas Raskin has flatly turned down an approach from the newly-promoted Premier League outfit, despite the Yorkshire side putting a hefty sum on the table. According to reports from the Daily Record, Hull were ready to meet Rangers' valuation in principle, but the player's camp slammed the brakes on the whole thing. He simply has no interest in moving to the MKM Stadium.
It leaves the Tigers stranded. TEAMtalk and the Yorkshire Post suggest Hull put forward somewhere between £12m and £14m. Rangers, however, are clinging to a valuation north of £20m. That is a massive gap in Scottish football terms. Hull might have the cash from their promotion, but they face a steep mountain if they think a second attempt will change Raskin's mind. Money is only half the battle here. The player wants elite European football, and his representatives are working overtime to land a move to a far bigger stage.
To understand the Belgian's ambition, you only have to look at his last 12 months. It was a standout year. Across 33 Scottish Premiership outings during the 2025/26 campaign, he notched six goals and seven ***** ists. He clocked nearly 2,800 minutes in domestic action, finishing as the top-rated player in the entire Rangers squad with an average rating of 7.54. Throw in eight appearances in the Europa League, and it becomes clear why he was the engine driving Ibrox.
Then came the World Cup. Raskin took that domestic form straight to North America, starting every group match for Belgium. His display in the 4-1 thrashing of the USA on 4 July turned plenty of heads across the continent. Now, the suitors are lining up. Real Betis, Atalanta, Bologna, and Tottenham Hotspur are all monitoring the situation. Teams across La Liga and Serie A have sniffed around, along with several established Premier League sides.
GLASGOW, SCOTLAND – NOVEMBER 06: Nico Raskin of Rangers is seen during the UEFA Europa League 2025/26 League Phase MD4 match between Rangers FC and AS Roma at Ibrox Stadium on November 06, 2025 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

#rangers

CINCINNATI (AP) — Pavel Bucha scored two goals Wednesday night to help FC Cincinnati beat the Vancouver Whitecaps 4-3.
Evander Da Silva Ferreira — known simply as “Evander” — added a goal and an **** ist for Cincinnati and Kevin Denkey also scored a goal. Roman Celentano had three saves for Cincinnati (6-5-5).
Evander scored on the counter-attack to give Cincinnati a 3-2 lead in the 36th minute. As the defense raced back to set up, Evander paused just outside the top of the penalty box and blasted a shot off the left post for his 10th goal this season.
The Whitecaps (10-3-2) played for the first time since before the World Cup break after their game at Chicago, which had originally been scheduled for Thursday, was postponed until Oct. 6 due to poor air quality in the area.
Bucha opened the scoring in the ninth minute and scored again in the 56th. Evander, from near the penalty spot, lofted a ball to the right post where a charging Bucha slammed home a first-touch finish to give Cincinnati a 4-2 lead in the 56th minute.

#evander #goal

MIAMI (AP) — Preston Plambeck scored his first career goal in MLS in the 87th minute, Luis Suárez scored two goals, and Inter Miami beat Chicago 3-2 on Wednesday night to spoil Robert Lewandowski's debut for the Fire.
Miami (10-2-4) has won five straight.
Suárez scored three goals, his first hat trick in MLS since 2024, in Miami's last game before the World Cup break, a 6-4 win over Philadelphia.
Suárez had his shot from the center of the area parried by goalkeeper Chris Brady but Plambeck slammed home the rebound.
The Fire took a 1-0 lead on an own goal by goalkeeper Rocco Ríos Novo in the 18th minute. Miami defender Ian Fray played slow, rolling ball to Ríos Novo, but the ball slipped through the goalkeeper's legs as he whiffed on an attempted first-touch pass.

#scored #plambeck #goal #goals

Rosie O'Donnell is reflecting on her longstanding feud with President Donald Trump more than a year and a half after she left the U.S. for Ireland.
In a new interview with People on Wednesday, the TV personality said that Trump hasn't "shut up about her for 20 years."
Politics: Spain World Cup Hero Ignites Political Furor With MAGA-Style Hat
"It used to be when our president would say things about me, it would be like, whoa," she said. "First of all, if you had written this as a movie, a stand-up comic makes fun of a reality show host who is a bloviating idiot and he ends up being the president, and then he doesn't shut up about her for 20 years, it would be unbelievable — and the fact that it's my life is very trippy."
Trump has gone on offensive tirades about O'Donnell since 2006, including during the first Republican primary debate in 2015, where he called her a "fat pig" and a "slob" on national television. She had slammed Trump on a 2006 episode of "The View" over his decision to let Tara Conner keep her Miss USA ***** le following scandals involving drug use and underage drinking.

#Trump #shut #ireland

Olivia Wilde recently appeared on "The Louis Theroux Podcast" and slammed Elon Musk while also speaking out against misogynistic incel culture at large. "The Invite" director and star revealed she once toured Musk's **** eX headquarters and met the business tycoon long "before he turned into a creature."
"I really resent him now. I really deeply resent him," Wilde said. "I met him many, many years ago. I think **** eX had just built their headquarters in L.A. and I got to go on a tour because I wanted to see the rocket ships. He was interested in donating money to an organization that I was a part of in Haiti that was building hospitals and schools. I believe he did donate a little bit of money, and that's appreciated. I was confused by him. I would never have predicted he would go down the path he has gone down. He did seem really smart."
More from Variety
Elon Musk Says Grok Will Make an AI 'Odyssey' Film That Is 'Historically Accurate' by the End of the Year
Christopher Nolan Says 'Odyssey' Backlash Over Casting and More Is 'Irrelevant' and He's Learned Not to Worry: 'Remember, I Spent 10 Years Dealing With Batman'

#really #wilde #years

Wimbledon got an unexpected blast from the past when Sacha Baron Cohen showed up at the men's singles final as Ali G — gold chain swinging and yellow shades on. The comedian's most outrageous accessory, however, was a white track jacket with "Official Wimbledon Ganja Dealer" splashed across the back. The high-profile stunt arrives as Cohen is reportedly filming a secret new Ali G movie.
According to Page Six, the 54-year-old actor worked the crowd from section 215, snapping selfies with fans while wearing gold shoes, a tennis-ball pendant and a "Da Championshipz Wimbledon" patch decorated with a cannabis leaf. Cohen then announced the character's comeback on Instagram with zero subtlety. "I iz BACK!" he wrote, adding that anyone at the "borin wimbledore final" looking to "get grand slammed" should send him a direct message.
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Ali G also delivered his own review of Britain's most prestigious tennis tournament. "It's like the World Cup of something called tennis, which is like a ******* version of ping pong," he wrote. "Them say that tennis is better played on grass, which is why I intend to sell as much of it while iz here."
Cohen's representative declined to comment on his appearance — or the growing reports that Ali G is headed back to the big screen.

Nationals' James Wood leading off with record-breaking power originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The MLB's All-Star break could end up inconveniencing James Wood. The streaking Washington Nationals' right fielder may be in line to experience Philadelphia's pomp and circumstance Monday and Tuesday, but it likely was tough halting the regular-season grind.
After establishing a franchise record with his 10th leadoff home run Sunday at Nationals Park, Wood continues to discover his power niche. All 28 of his franchise-best first-half homers have come while batting leadoff.
His homer off New York Yankees starter Will Warren snapped a franchise tie with Alfonso Soriano, who slammed 27 homers before the 2006 midseason break. Wood also broke the leadoff homer record that Soriano and Brad Wilkerson (2004) shared. Wood accomplished the feat after 97 starts.
Wood's 10 leadoff homers also matched the pre-All-Star Game mark established by Bobby Bonds (1973) and Mookie Betts (2023).

FedEx Freight Holding Company, Inc. (NYSE:FDXF) was among the stocks Jim Cramer discussed during Mad Money, as he called the growing wave of stock offerings and debt issuance a threat to the bull markett. Cramer gave his long-term thesis on the business, as he said:
Now, let's talk about FedEx Freight, which, you know, really had the more dramatic pullback… Just like with FedEx, though, I'm not worried. FedEx Freight's been getting slammed because this is what happens right after this kind of corporate breakup. FedEx gave all the shareholders a chunk of FedEx Freight, right? So you're a FedEx shareholder. Suddenly you get this FedEx Freight, and you don't know what it is. You just say, "Oh, I don't need this little thing," and you throw it away. It causes a temporary beat down… FedEx Freight's now experiencing, I'd say what I think is a level where it reminds me very much of reverse and bottom. Doesn't help that when the company reported on June 25th, though, the numbers were quirky… and the stock fell nearly 3% the next day.
Quirky because I don't want to be too, I want to be a little more subjective about this. See, FedEx Freight offered limited numbers in its first report as a public company. There was no earnings per share figure, but what we did was get at least pretty solid, I thought… Making things worse, FedEx Freight also gave odd guidance. Like their old parent company, they moved from a fiscal year ending in May to a standard calendar year. Now, they're in a transition period, the seven months from June through December, because their fiscal 2026 is over but the new calendar doesn't… [start] until 2027 in January…
My thesis is much more simple and much longer term. FedEx Freight is instantly the largest player in the less-than-truckload market, which is an attractive one as the freight business comes out of a multi-year bear market with much less capacity, kind of what happened to the airlines. I think FedEx Freight also benefits from being an independent company with dedicated management that can think solely about how to improve service and grow the business rather than being buried within a larger entity where its profitability was not a priority. That's why I want to own this one for the long haul.
Photo by Yiorgos Ntrahas on Unsplash

Crystin Liboma's childhood dream was to own a home. At 26 years old, she moved out of her parents' house into her first home purchase in Delaware. Then, she was slammed with major home repairs that left her struggling to pay her mortgage and several thousand dollars in credit card debt.
Three years after buying her first home in 2017, Liboma found relief in the form of a mortgage refinance. By refinancing from a mid-4%, 30-year mortgage to a 3.38%, 20-year mortgage, Liboma set herself on stronger financial footing.
Now 35 years old, the healthcare consultant has learned a few lessons about dealing with unexpected costs, along with one thing you can control but might not realize — your mortgage rate.
There are many uncontrollable costs when it comes to homeownership, including maintenance, rising property taxes and high utility bills. Naomi Peden, a housing counselor at Money Management International, helps people who are struggling to pay their mortgage. But financial stability begins before move-in day.
"One of the benefits of being a homeowner is the fact that you're stabilizing a portion of your housing cost," she tells clients during pre-purchase counseling. "That portion is the principal and interest payment."

DETROIT — Athletics outfielder Zack Gelof left in the third inning of a 4-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers after injuring his right knee when he slammed it into the left field fence in foul territory while making a sliding catch.
Manager Mark Kotsay said after the game Gelof has a deep cut underneath his right kneecap and will have tests.
"Fortunately, it just missed the tendon," Kotsay told reporters. "He'll be reevaluated tomorrow to verify that with an MRI."
Leading off the third in a scoreless game, Zach McKinstry lofted a pitch from Jack Perkins down the left field line. Gelof made a long run into foul territory before he slid and made a terrific catch for the out, but his right knee slammed into the fencing that juts out.
Gelof immediately grabbed his knee in obvious pain, a tear in his uniform pants showing where his leg made contact with the fence. The outfielder got back to his feet after a few moments and limped back to his spot in left field as Kotsay and head athletic trainer Jeff Collins jogged out to check on him.

DETROIT (AP) — Athletics outfielder Zack Gelof left in the third inning against the Detroit Tigers on Thursday night after appearing to injure his right knee when he slammed it into the left field fence in foul territory while making a sliding catch.
Leading off the third in a scoreless game, Zach McKinstry lofted a pitch from Jack Perkins down the left field line. Gelof made a long run into foul territory before he slid and made a terrific catch for the out, but his right knee slammed into the fencing that juts out.
Gelof immediately grabbed his knee in obvious pain, a tear in his uniform pants showing where his leg made contact with the fence. The outfielder got back to his feet after a few moments and limped back to his spot in left field as manager Mark Kotsay and head athletic trainer Jeff Collins jogged out to check on him.
Gelof quickly went down to the ground again and was replaced by Colby Thomas, who opened the game in right field. Lawrence Butler took over in right.
Gelof grounded out in his only at-bat in the second. He's hitting .273 with 11 home runs and 29 RBIs in what has been a bounce-back season after starting out at Triple-A Las Vegas. The 26-year-old outfielder/infielder had a 24-game hitting streak stopped on June 23 after he was forced to leave against San Francisco when Matt Chapman inadvertently stepped on Gelof’s right hand as the second baseman was applying the tag with his glove hand.

Let me tell you a story about the last time Conor McGregor fought in the UFC. I was there, and it was weird, and there were many things about it I'll never forget.
It was the summer of 2021, which is easy to remember because it was the first summer after the world had begun shrugging off the suffocating pressure of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The summer of 2020 had been the summer of social distancing and hand sanitizer and sweating into face masks. The summer of 2021 was the first one after the vaccines had come out, when a lot of us felt newly bulletproof and very ready to stop worrying that we'd be the one to kill someone's grandmother by bringing coronavirus from the dive bar to a birthday party.
The mood in Las Vegas reflected this ecstatic relief, which is a nice way of saying that it felt like half of America had gone there to freak out in the sun. Vegas in the summer is always slammed, but this was something else. Anywhere you went on the Vegas strip that week, you were adrift in a sea of drunk, sunburned humanity letting loose with wild abandon.
It was hard to tell how much of that was driven by the fact that it was a Conor McGregor fight week. He was big back then. Maybe not as big as he'd been in 2017, when he boxed Floyd Mayweather. But still big enough that anyone within earshot of the zeitgeist had heard his name and seen someone do a version of his swaggering walk.

War trades follow a script. A supply shock hits, prices go vertical, and money that never cared about the underlying market suddenly cares about nothing else.
The entry is the easy part. The hard part is knowing when the story that made you money stops being true.
For three months, one industrial metal owned that script. Missile strikes knocked out two of the Persian Gulf's largest smelters in late March. The Strait of Hormuz slammed shut, cutting off both finished metal and the raw materials the region's plants run on.
A market most of Wall Street had written off as oversupplied flipped into deficit almost overnight. Prices ripped to a four-year high by early June, and shares of producers around the world rallied with them.
Then came the peace deal. The strait reopened, the panic premium bled away, and prices slid to their lowest level in more than four months. The question hanging over the market was whether the war left a lasting dent in supply or a temporary one.

Will Warren gave up three home runs and the Yankees bats struck out 17 times in their 6-4 loss to the Rays on Tuesday night.
The Yankees have struck out 34 times in the first two games of the series, a franchise record for a two-game span. The loss undoes Monday's series-opening win as New York (50-41) is back to being 4.0 games behind Tampa Bay for first place in the AL East.
-After an easy first, Warren pitched into trouble in the second. After allowing a one-out homer to Victor Mesa Jr., which wrapped around the right field foul pole, Warren allowed a single, walk, and a single with two outs, allowing the Rays to take a 2-0 lead.
The Rays would get to Warren again in the fourth. Richie Palacios hit an RBI double before No. 9 hitter Hunter Feduccia slammed a two-run shot to give Tampa a 5-3 lead. Yandy Diaz followed up with a solo shot.
Warren went 4.0 IP (75 pitches/48 strikes), allowing six runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out three. He allowed three home runs.

After winning the first moto of the RedBud National in Buchanan, Michigan, Jett Lawrence slammed his helmet to the ground, and on a hot microphone, said that is was difficult to ride with only one foot.
Jett took the lead from Jorge Prado on Lap 4 and led the next 10 laps before being overtaken by his brother, Hunter Lawrence, with three remaining. Hunter built a lead of more than five seconds, but on the final lap his bike stalled after collecting a rock, handing the moto victory back to Jett.
Jett Lawrence snaps two-moto losing streak at RedBud in first 450 race
Hunter Lawrence had a six-second lead before stalling his bike on the last lap.
Dan Beaver

It started like any other Sunday in a quiet South Florida neighborhood. Early risers were making coffee, neighbors waved as they picked up the paper, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. But then, the calm was shattered. What sounded like fireworks erupted in the pre-dawn hours — quickly followed by the unmistakable roar (and then crash) of a high-end SUV slamming into a house just up the street.
The scene that greeted police and residents was nothing short of shocking. A Lamborghini, battered and smoking, sat wedged against the front of someone's home. Neighbors emerged in robes, clutching cell phones, their faces lit by flashing patrol lights and the blue glow of police tape being strung across the street. But it was more than just an expensive wreck. The police say the SUV's occupants had been caught in a hail of gunfire before the vehicle ever left the road. The morning's peace was gone, replaced by questions and chaos.
According to the Miramar Police Department and local reporting from WSVN 7News, three people inside the luxury SUV had been shot before the vehicle slammed into a home along Southwest 27th Street. One of the victims, 21-year-old Brianna Johnson, later died from her injuries.
Investigators now believe the shooting happened moments before the crash, and they're working to identify the people responsible.
Investigators say the violence began around 5:30 a.m. Sunday along Sunshine Boulevard.

The World Cup was plunged into uproar on Sunday after FIFA suspended a red card given to United States star Folarin Balogun ahead of the host nation's clash with Belgium, in a bombshell move welcomed by President Donald Trump but slammed as "astonishing" by Belgian officials.
The extraordinary FIFA ruling means that Balogun is now free to play for the World Cup co-hosts on Monday when they face Belgium in Seattle with a place in the quarter-finals at stake.
The forward, who has scored three goals at this World Cup, had been set to miss the match after being sent off for inadvertently treading on Bosnia defender Tarik Muharemovic in the USA's 2-0 victory in the last 32 on Wednesday.
Under FIFA rules, a straight red card automatically triggers a one-game ban, which cannot be appealed by the player's team.
United States Soccer Federation officials had not attempted to challenge the sanction, and Balogun himself had accepted the punishment.

Barcelona star Marc Casadó is giving increasing consideration to a potential summer move to the Middle East. This comes amid serious interest in the Spanish international on the part of Saudi outfit Al-Hilal.
Casadó is of course widely expected to be on the move before the summer is out.
After tumbling down the engine room pecking order in Hansi Flick’s squad this past season, the 22-year-old has accepted the fact that his future now lies away from the Spotify Camp Nou.
Initially, Casadó slammed the door on a potential move to Saudi Arabia, in the face of interest from several SPL clubs.
As alluded to above, however, if the latest word stemming from the media this weekend is anything to go by, then the midfielder could yet be swayed by the riches on offer in Asia…

Former Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel slammed local Cleveland sports radio host Tony Rizzo for coming after his time with the Browns recently.
Johnny Manziel’s time with the Cleveland Browns turned out to be an abject failure. ‘Johnny Football’ as he was known then was expected to help get the Browns out of their years-long stretch of mediocrity.
Instead, the quarterback had two disappointing seasons with the Browns, where he played just 15 games and won only two. No one looks back at his time with Browns fondly, least of all Manziel himself
In an appearance on the Nightcap show late last year with Chad Johnson and Shannon Sharpe, Johnny Manziel was asked about how well his former team, the Cleveland Browns, would do in the 2025 season.
Manziel didn’t mince his words at all, telling Sharpe and Johnson, “I’m rooting for 0-16 seasons, every season.”

An Iranian political scientist once accused by the feds of working as an unregistered influence agent for Tehran has filed a $1 billion lawsuit against FIFA, ******* ociation president Gianni Infantino, and an unknown number of anonymous FIFA officials after the nation's World Cup team was eliminated from competition by a controversial on-field call.
Lotfolah Kaveh Afrasiabi, who, among other things, served as an official adviser to Iran's nuclear negotiation team when talks were underway with former president Barack Obama, is petitioning for class-action status on behalf of up to 91 million "Iranian nationals and/or Iranian-Americans who supported the Iran football national team and who were emotionally scarred by the flagrant discrimination against their beloved team," according to a civil complaint filed June 30 in federal court.
In it, the 68-year-old Afrasiabi takes issue with FIFA's "double standard, hypocrisy and outright discrimination" against the Iranian squad, which was stripped of a game-winning goal last weekend against Egypt following a video review that determined the scoring player had been offside. As a result of the 1-1 tie, Egypt advanced to the tournament's knock-out stage for the first time ever, while Iran was sent home.
Afrasiabi's complaint contends there exists "[c]lear and incontrovertible" proof that FIFA's "VAR" system, or, Video ******* istant Referee, made an "erroneous" decision "deliberately designed to deprive Iran of victory" in the June 26 match. The move to invalidate the goal by centre-back Shoja Khalilzadeh was immediately "slammed by the Fox Sports commentator [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic as a 'theft' requiring FIFA's apology to Iran, in light of the clear evidence that an Egyptian defender was well behind the Iranian players," according to the complaint.
"In effect, Defendants' actions complained of herein convinced the Plaintiffs and others similarly situated that Iran was 'robbed' of victory and the chance for advancing to the knock-off stage of the World Cup, thus creating a traumatic experience of victimization on their part," the complaint states.

BEIRUT, June 29 (Reuters) - Lebanon's Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a key ally of Hezbollah, on Monday slammed a U.S.-brokered agreement between Lebanon and Israel, warning it could lead to attempts to divide Lebanese and said it would not be implemented.
Israeli officials suggested the agreement would move forward in the ‌coming days, but there were no immediate reports of any aspects of the deal being implemented on the ground. Israeli artillery shelled an area near the ‌border in southern Lebanon on Monday, according to the Lebanese state news agency, and the sound of a drone buzzed over Beirut, Reuters reporters said.
In comments to Lebanon's al-Akhbar newspaper, Berri described Iran-U.S. talks as the only realistic opportunity to secure Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon and that any attempt to separate Lebanon from the U.S.-Iran track would prolong Israeli occupation.
Israel has occupied a swathe of southern Lebanon in a war with Hezbollah that began on March 2, when the group opened fire at Israel after Iran came under U.S.-Israeli attack.
The Lebanon war has been a central part of diplomacy towards ending the wider U.S.-Iran conflict. Tehran has insisted on a Lebanon ceasefire as part of its interim deal with Washington, while the U.S. has sponsored separate talks between the Lebanese ‌and Israeli governments, which Beirut has attended despite Hezbollah's objections.

No more math. No more goal differential calculations or need for an advanced physics degree to figure out which third place finishers in groups will play in the knockout rounds, who they’ll play, where they’ll play. For 10 consecutive days, starting Sunday, global soccer fans will be treated to a steady diet of win-or-go-home World Cup games, unspooling in stadiums across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Right through the Rounds of 32 and 16; on July 8th, there’s one day off before the quarters.
On the first day of knockoutpalooza, one of the World Cup co-hosts, Canada, took center stage. Canada was in an unusual, and potentially difficult, spot for its Round of 32 contest against South Africa: it became the first World Cup host country to play a game outside its borders. Canada just needed a draw with Switzerland in its final group stage game, on June 24th in Vancouver, to remain in British Columbia through the Round of 16, should Canada get that far. Instead, Switzerland won 2-1, shuttling the Canadians, who’ve never reached a World Cup elimination round in their two prior appearances, in 1986 and 2022, to Los Angeles.
At least the trip was a straight jaunt down the coast. And all game long, Canada outclassed South Africa, who at times appeared content to hold the ball and take the game to a penalty shootout (earning jeers from the Canada-heavy crowd). Canada doubled South Africa’s shot output, 12-6. Off a late first-half corner kick, a Moïse Bombito header was kicked off the line by South African defender Aubrey Modiba. The rebound pinballed onto the foot of Canada’s Tajon Buchanan, who slammed it towards the post: South African keeper Ronwen Williams body-saved the shot. Moments later, Canada appeared to earn a penalty shot via a violent tackle on Richie Laryea. But the ref swallowed his whistle. As the half came to a close, fiery Canada coach Jesse Marsch had to be restrained by Bombito, lest he say too much to the officials.
In the 75th minute, Canada’s Alphonso Davies, a Bayern Munich standout, came onto the pitch to spark the team: the defender hadn’t played since early May, when he injured a hamstring in a Champions League semifinal. But Canada still couldn’t break through: the game looked headed for this World Cup’s first 30-minute extra time session. But Canada, it turns out, had more dramatic ideas in mind.
In second-half stoppage time, the 92nd minute of the match, a South African player headed a Canada cross out of the box—to the chest of Stephen Eustáquio, one of Canada’s leaders. He touched the ball down and fired from the top of the penalty area, right inside the far post. Williams had no shot at saving it.

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - JUNE 26: Egypt players react as referee Szymon Marciniak calls an offside violation and overturns the goal by Shoja Khalilzadeh #4 of IR Iran during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Group G match between Egypt and IR Iran at Seattle Stadium on June 26, 2026 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)
You can blame the travel restrictions and other adversity that the U.S. government placed on Iran during a World Cup that coincided with armed conflict between the two nations.
You can blame Austria and Algeria for taking an extremely unexpected route to an expected draw that sent both teams through to the last 32 at Iran’s expense.
But the biggest single culprit in Iran’s failure to advance to the knockout phase is a weird idiosyncracy to the offside law that has long outlived its usefulness.
In case you missed it, Iran briefly believed they had won their Group G finale and sealed their last 32 spot with a second-place finish when Shoja Khalilzadeh slammed a loose ball into the back of the Egyptian net during a goal mouth scramble.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Ivory Coast coach Emerse Faé slammed what he considered were racist comments made about his team by former Germany player Bastian Schweinsteiger.
Schweinsteiger made the comments on German broadcaster ARD before Germany played Ivory Coast last weekend, when he spoke about what the German players could expect from their opponents.
"A bit African football, a bit unorthodox, a bit wild, a bit perhaps also not so conditioned by tactics. We have to be prepared for it to be unpredictable," Schweinsteiger said.
Faé led Ivory Coast into the World Cup knockout round for the first time in national team history with a 2-0 win over Curaçao on Thursday.
Faé said after the win he hoped Schweinsteiger had made a "clumsy statement that's not necessarily reflective of what's in his life."

SpaceX (SPCX) isn't the only Big Tech stock getting slammed at the moment. The cover-your-eyes year for Salesforce (CRM) investors just keeps getting worse.
The news: Shares of Salesforce are now hovering at three-and-a-half-year lows. The stock is down about 10% over the past five trading sessions.
Year to date, Salesforce is by far the worst performer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) with a 43% decline. Only Nike (NKE) is close, with a 33% plunge.
The ******* ysis: Salesforce co-founder and CEO Marc Benioff has attempted to fight back against the "SaaS apocalypse" narrative that AI models would render software companies obsolete, which has hammered software stocks in recent months, and his in particular.

For Texas Rangers fans who showed up at Globe Life Park on Sunday afternoon, watching Wyatt Langford hit majestic home runs (again) and Nathan Eovaldi look good on the mound must have made them feel good.
Langford stepped into the batter's box and slammed his fifth home run since coming off the Injured List. Eovaldi went six strong innings as the Rangers beat the San Diego Padres 4-3 on Sunday. With the victory, Texas picked up a series win.
Watching Langford do his thing yet again put a big smile on Rangers manager Skip Schumaker after Sunday's game.
“He’s back,” Schumaker said, according to MLB.com. “He's hitting them far, too. Those are not just wall-scrapers. He is a difference-maker in the lineup to what we envisioned coming into this season. And when Corey [Seager] gets back … I mean, those two guys are some of the best in the league.”
While we're talking about Langford and Eovaldi, the Rangers' faithful also saw Josh Jung connect for what would be the game-winning hit. Jung had himself quite a series against the Padres, going 6-for-12 with four runs scored.