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Books Q&A live: we answer your questions about our 100 top novels lists | Books
Key events
Too much Austen not enough Conrad?
PurpleCanary asks: This will make me sound like an angry man but four or was it five Jane Austen books? A talented but limited writer who didn’t venture beyond a certain familiar milieu. By contrast only one Conrad – no Nostromo, for example – and not one Patrick White? The Tree of Man, for starters.
Liese: As someone who put Jane Austen’s Emma as their no.1 book I’d have to disagree with you about Austen, and celebrate the genius of her “two inches of ivory”. The top 100 reflects the choices of our voters but also inevitably the fashions now – so no Patrick White but no William Golding or Iris Murdoch either …
Terry Pratchett was missing. How about a list of top authors?
Alex42 asks: Would you ever do a favourite authors list, as opposed to favourite books? Terry Pratchett was noticeable by his absence from both lists, but this could be because he doesn’t have a book that’s agreed by general consensus to be his best. Therefore the vote was probably split. This would apply to many other authors too, so it would be interesting to see how the list would work out.
Liese: I agree that if it had been favourite authors it would probably have produced a different list (which might have included Stephen King, Douglas Adams and Martin Amis as well as Terry Pratchett). Though we did have multiple entries for Virginia Woolf, Jane Austen and Charles Dickens. I’m not sure we’d do a separate list, but do check out our Where to Start With … and Ranked! columns for more focused takes on the works of individual authors.
Jotierney asks: Anything that gets people talking about and discovering new books is great but I felt a standard best 100 list misses out on how the world of literature is evolving. I would love to see you do a companion list which would help people discover less well known but equally influential and important authors, and highlight the contributions of more female writers and those from beyond the global north. While I love many of the books on the list and see them all as important, it felt stale, predictable and does not represent the current state of literature. Would you consider an alternative 100 list?
Liese: I think a list of the greatest novels of all time is probably always going to be canon-heavy. Having said that there were some in our top 100 such as Pedro Paramo and The Known World that I didn’t know and am really looking forward to discovering. Others such as Ragtime and The Left Hand of Darkness I was reminded to put to the top of my reading pile … And watch this space for some alternative lists.
Would ‘favourite’ or ‘greatest’ have created a different top 100?
Escoppycoppy asks: What was the actual question you asked the contributors? Did you ask for “best” novels, “greatest”, “favourite”? The wording would influence the choices eg “greatest” primes people to think of big, ambitious books, ‘best’ less so. “Favourite” would be very different- more personal choices, possibly children’s books. I think “favourite” would have produced a very different final list. Might even be a good follow-up?
David: The wording said we were looking for the “best novels of all time published in English”, asking for contributors for the “top 10”. It was interesting to see how different people responded to that and I’m not sure if anyone set their own favourites entirely to one side – a completely dispassionate assessment is probably impossible and not really the point. A lot of the comments we received, which are really interesting and you can explore by clicking on the individual voters on the novel list, suggest that it was a combination of critical merit and personal significance.
Benjamin Myers, for example, said “I have chosen 10 titles that I feel have advanced what it is the novel can – and should – do, while also taking into consideration the influence each has had on my own reading enjoyment and writing career”.
Tom Crewe’s guiding rule “was to choose the books that have left the strongest impression in my memory”. I agree, if we’d gone simply for “favourites” that would probably have produced a different kind of list – with each top 10 almost being like a fingerprint or mini-biography of the contributor
Do books read in our youth hit hardest?
BuddSchulberg asks: I wonder whether the greatest books one has read are those that are read when at an impressionable age? For indeed Alice in Wonderland, Dune, The Day of the Triffids etc are typically books one reads (and rereads over and over again) at a young age. Precisely because they are so immensely readable. On the other hand, does this also mean that we should include the likes of Alistair MacClean and Desmond Bagley – which I devoured in my youth? Or should we draw the line somewhere?
Liese: I think many voters – including this one! – chose many books that they read at an impressionable age, because those are the ones that hit the hardest (also possibly the ones that you study at school ending up staying with you). When you’re reading as a young adult novels can really be life-changing. I was struck by a comment from a reader who voted for George Orwell’s Animal Farm on our Readers’ top 100: “Reading this as a teen was my entry-level book to socialism. It opened my eyes to injustice, oppression and abuse of power. My parents always blamed my ‘communist’ English teachers for introducing me to Orwell!”
What are the future classics?
Dworth asks: Surprised The Count of Monte Cristo didn’t make the list – was it mentioned by anyone? Also thought David Copperfield would have been higher. It’s a phenomenal book. Any thoughts on why not?
In 200 years’ time would such a list look similar or would it be full of modern books future generations consider classics and the books we consider classics are just too old to be relatable or will it always been the same old classics with a few modern books for a small bit of balance?
Liese: I’d hope that in 200 years’ time there would be some exciting new classics on such a list (I put Normal People by Sally Rooney on to my list to inject a bit of modernity although it didn’t make the final cut.) Who knows which novels will ultimately stand the test of time? It was interesting on our top 100 novels to see which modern classics had already fallen out of fashion – no American Pastoral by Philip Roth, no Money by Martin Amis, no To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee which I’d argue would have been unthinkable even 20 years ago!
Are audiobooks cheating?
ZodKneelsFirst asks: Does “listened to an unabridged audiobook” count as “read”? I would say it does – but there are probably a few books where it doesn’t. I’m thinking of ones written in a heightened style, where the language itself is meticulously constructed and demands careful parsing.
David: Ha! This is a good question. As a keen audiobook listener, I would have to agree with you. But you’re right that not every book lends itself to the audio treatment. I’m not sure about the meticulously constructed aspect – I think things can fall apart a bit when there’s a lot of formal experimentation in the novel. I once tried Lincoln in the Bardo on audiobook and the multiple voices made it very confusing – even though they were performed by a cast of actors. I find traditional novels much easier to follow as they tend to proceed in a fairly conventional manner, with the scenes carefully set, dialogue easy to follow etc. So I find it’s a good way to consume classics.
Why so much Virginia Woolf while Catch-22 so low?
Namdam asks: Four Virginia Woolf novels in the top hundred of all time defies some belief. There are 98 novels better than Catch-22? I dispute that. I personally don’t think there are any. It caught me as a teenager and supplied a lifetime of pleasure from reading. I am surely not alone. I guess the greatest story ever told doesn’t qualify as a novel. Fair enough. So no Iliad. Or Odyssey.
Speaking of adventures that take forever (although not quite 10 years): War and Peace, Anna Karenina, À la recherchu and Ulysses all in the top seven? I guess there is no requirement to be choate … but I feel therefore that this is signifying the achievement rather than enjoyment.
Liese: You’re in good company loving Catch-22 which was voted one of the top 100 novels of all time by our fiction editor Justine Jordan. Interestingly it was catapulted up the list by readers who put it at (joint) number 8 on their top 100 … and yes the Iliad and the Odyssey didn’t qualify as they’re epic poems.
I voted for Mrs Dalloway but was also surprised by Woolf’s strong showing – but that’s how the votes fell! There are definitely some challenging reads in the top 10 but I think many of the critics and authors who voted for them would argue that as well as reflecting some dazzling literary achievements they are also books that reward the (quite significant) work of reading … Something readers seem to agree with as Ulysses and Anna Karenina also placed pretty highly in the readers’ top 100, just outside the top 10. At our Guardian Live event novelist Guy Gunaratne said that having struggled to take it on solo he really enjoyed reading Ulysses as part of an online group. I think there are a few places that do read-alongs around Boomsday, but he recommends the Friends of Shakespeare and co. podcast.
Photograph: HA/THA/Shutterstock
What first reads led you to a lifelong love of literature?
Sevensisters asks: What were your first books as a very, very young reader that drew you to a lifelong love of reading? I have to say here it was Enid Blyton.
David: So many to choose from! Green Smoke by Rosemary Manning was an early one, with its magic spells and the idea of the enchanted version of reality that only the child protagonist has access to. A little later on Alan Garner’s The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and Ursula K Le Guin’s Earthsea trilogy introduced me to the darker elements of storytelling. I also remember being a bit obsessed by Leon Garfield’s historical fiction for children, including The Pleasure Garden and The Sound of Coaches. But probably the strongest very early influences were the Moomin books, particularly Comet in Moominland which my mum read to me at bedtime. That was probably the first time I remember being desperate to know what happened next – a very basic lesson in the power of narrative.
Should we take re-readability into account?
MomDoc asks: I would like to see a division of the best 100 novels that you would read and read again. Versus the best 100 novels that you would read and know immediately that you would never want to read again because it was a little bit traumatising to read them?
David: It’s interesting to think about what makes a book re-readable – and what kind of book you feel glad to have read but aren’t drawn back to again and again. You mention being traumatised, and it could certainly be that, but some books are more admirable than they are magnetic. I don’t think I’d re-read Madame Bovary, for example. Anyway, there are lots of reasons, and in our Books of my life Q&A each week, authors share the books they return to, as well as the book they’d never read again. Virginia Evans, who just won the Women’s prize for fiction for her novel The Correspondent, recently told us she couldn’t go back to the Millennium series by Stieg Larsson because it was so disturbing!
Where are all the children’s books?
Matthewrosedon asks: While it was not quite the usual suspects, when is children’s and genre fiction going to be taken seriously? Where were the Alice books, Wind in the Willows? Aren’t these great works of fiction? Where’s The War of the Worlds or The Time Machine? No Dune or Day of the Triffids. No Chandler or Hammett. No Asimov or Arthur C Clarke. If one of the purposes of such a list is to encourage reading then it helps if more of the books are actually readable.
Liese: I think there are many children’s books that are great works of fiction and some of our voters did select them in their top 10s. Novelist Katherine Rundell, for example, put Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland at number six on her list while regretting that she did not have space for Northern Lights by Philip Pullman, The Wizard of Earthsea and Pippi Longstocking. But when the votes were tallied up they did not get enough to make the final top 100.
As for genre, it was interesting to see a few more in our readers’ top 100 with Dune making the cut along with Stephen King’s The Stand. Ultimately it’s subjective as to what makes a novel one of the “greatest of all time”. I put Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban on my list which is a brilliant SF novel – partly because I loved his book The Mouse and His Child as a kid – but that too failed to make the final list!
Photograph: National Media Museum/SSPL/Getty
Why isn’t my favourite book on the list?
Greencorn asks: Why is Céline’s Journey to the End of the Night not on there?
Liese: Not enough votes!
Welcome to the Conversation
Hello and welcome to the latest Guardian Conversation, a new series of Q&As with our journalists. At 12pm BST we will be joined by Liese Spencer and David Shariatmadari who are ready to take your questions about all things bookish, including our huge recent project to rank the 100 greatest novels of all time – and last weekend’s corresponding list of readers’ favourites.
The books team have also been working hard to prepare their annual list of top reads for the (northern hemisphere) summer which is published tomorrow. (David is also the inventor of the Guardian’s Wordiply game should you wish to ask him about that).
Comments are open now (please sign up for a Guardian account below to join in) and, in the meantime, here’s some of the best of the 100 novels project.
Key events
68th over: England 241-9 (Fisher 5, Baker 0) Sonny Baker is England’s last man. I haven’t seen too much of him with the bat but I don’t think New Zealand’s 150 odd lead is in too much jeopardy. Fisher clubs a couple off Jamieson and then takes a single to give Baker his first taste of Test match batting. Baker fences at two balls in a row and is beaten.
67th over: England 238-9 (Fisher 2, Baker 0) “Latham is captaining the Kiwis really well” writes Colum Fordham. “Clever field placings (short mid wicket to get Cox out) ably supported by his fielders and bowlers. England fielded poorly and batted recklessly yesterday. At this rate, New Zealand are going to get a more than decent lead. I hope Stokes gains redemption and comes back for what promises to be the decider at Trent Bridge.”
That would be good, wouldn’t it?
WICKET! Josh Tongue c Smith b Henry 1 (England 238-9)
Matt Henry has five! Tongue plinks a drive to mid on where Nathan Smith juggles a catch trotting backwards, it pops out and he snaffles it at the second grab!
66th over: England 237-8 (Fisher 1, Tongue 1) Jamieson slams down another maiden. You’d hate to face it. You especially.
Tanya Aldred is on Ben Stokes watch at Chester-le-Street:
65th over: England 237-8 (Fisher 1, Tongue 1) Josh Tongue joins Fisher and gets off the mark first ball with a neat clip off his toes. England still trail by 154 runs, which could well be terminal.
WICKET! Jofra Archer c Blundell b Henry 8 (England 236-8)
Archer is caught behind from a loose poke outside off and England are nearly all done for here. Matt Henry wheels away in celebration of his fourth wicket, sharp catch by Tom Blundell behind the sticks.
64th over: England 236-7 (Archer 8, Fisher 1) An unmistakeable waft of Ambre Solaire hits my nostrils. Delightful. Matthew Fisher has something else up and around his nose, a series of short balls from Kyle Jamieson. He does well to duck and sway, one ball thuds into his right flank as he doesn’t get out of the way quick enough but he survives the over, a maiden.
63rd over: England 236-7 (Archer 8, Fisher 1) Matthew Fisher is the new batter, England still trail by 155 runs. Close! Fisher pokes at his first ball and the edge falls this short of first slip. He’s off the mark next ball with a drop into the off side. Eeeeesht! Archer is very nearly pinned LBW by Henry but an inside edge saves him. Henry has his dander up and looks dangerous every ball.
WICKET! Jordan Cox c Latham b Henry 27 (England 235-7)
Gah! Cox is livid with himself after he whips a straight ball in the air and gifts his wicket away! Latham takes a sharp but simple catch at short midwicket and Cox has to depart. He spits his gum and middles it with his blade as he stomps from the middle. He middled the shot he got out to too… but straight to the man.
62nd over: England 235-6 (Cox 27, Archer 8) Jamieson was a bit off the boil yesterday and his fortunes don’t look too much brighter in the early stages of day three. Archer drives solidly and holds the pose as the ball beats the fielder and goes for four and then follows up with a castanet crack of a cut shot for four more. Short and wide from Jamieson, nicht gut.
61st over: England 227-6 (Cox 27, Archer 0) Shot! Cox flicks his wrists on a half volley from Matt Henry and the ball traces away for four across the baking square. Lovely timing on that.
60th over: England 223-6 (Cox 23, Archer 0) It will be intriguing to see how Cox plays this morning, I have a feeling we might see some dashing strokeplay if he can hang around for a few overs and get settled. Jamieson is back of a length, Cox lets one pass by and then defends with a straight bat to mid off. The Oval is thrumming with excitement and plenty of folk can be spied applying a thick layer of sun cream, there isn’t a lot of shade here at the moment. A cheer greets Cox and England’s first run of the day, a guide to point for single off the final delivery.
Righto, here come the players, Kyle Jamieson is going to start with the ball. Jordan Cox on strike. The game on the line. Let’s play.
Just read this beautiful piece from my pal Jon Hotten who watched Rew and Cox make their way for the first time in Test cricket from a lofty perch (lah-di-dah) here at the Oval:
Yesterday at the Oval, James Rew walked out to bat as England’s number six. The score was 170-4, and, disconcertingly, he had to pass Joe Root, who was stomping off having reviewed a marginal leg before decision and not much enjoyed the result. Has there ever, in the history of the game, been such a disparity between outgoing batter and the incoming one? Root had just fallen to the 24,327th delivery he received in Test cricket. Rew, as if he needed reminding, was yet to face a single ball. What would he give, at that moment, for just one of Root’s 13,998 runs?
Tom Blundell remained up to the stumps. Matt Henry switched to around the wicket. It must have been an out-of-body experience for James Rew, that first delivery. No matter how you prepare, how long you have visualised the moment, it can’t have been like this, not 170-4 on a muggy afternoon at the Oval, the captain out, the early serenity of the afternoon’s play broken open, this lifetime’s dream now a visceral reality.”
Today is A Day for Thorpey at the Oval. You can find out all about it here.
What a player. Much missed.
Thorpe’s in” or “Thorpe’s still in” were words that always provided some solace in the back seats. Thorpe was a headbanded and hard-bitten nugget of hope. A zinc-lipped beacon. A “Kookaburra Bubble” stickered mast on which to cling as England found themselves taking on wave after wave of all-time great bowlers. Be it night or day, seam or spin, lost cause, dead rubber or soul stirring victory – Graham Thorpe was batting.
Against a rolling backdrop of Cornhill Insurance, npower girls, spindly gasometers, snow-capped mountains and Tetley Beer hoardings – Graham Thorpe was batting. Against Australia, West Indies, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park and the aliens of Independence Day – Graham Thorpe was batting. During Labour landslides, Knebworth singalongs, through BSE, foot and mouth and Millennium Bugs. Somehow, Graham Thorpe was batting the entirety of the decade.”
The players are on the outfield warming up here at the Oval, not that they really need to, it is ‘Scorchio!’
A couple of Kiwi squad members do some sprint training about 80 metres away from my seat in the outdoor press box. Good on them, I’m going to find some coffee.
Could the Ben Stokes saga be nearing a sensible conclusion?
Andy Bull wrote about Sonny Baker’s second day as a Test cricketer:
But the next morning was a lesson, if he needed it, that Test cricket turns on you pretty quick. Root had decided Baker should open the bowling. His first ball flew high and wide for four byes down the leg side, his second shot away off the outside edge of Glenn Phillips’s bat for four more.
His second over started with a ball that was thumped through point by Kyle Jamieson, who bats, nowadays, like Paul Bunyan setting about a forest of Redwoods. The next was another boundary, slashed over the top of the wicketkeeper. And then Baker got him to pull one high out towards deep midwicket.
Baker threw his hands up in celebration at the catch, then dropped them again as he watched Ben Duckett fumble it. Just to rub it in, Jamieson took the single while this was happening, and Phillips carted Baker’s next delivery away square. At this point he had conceded five boundaries in 10 deliveries. The game was running away from him as if it was on a flywheel.”
Catch up on the day two action with Ali Martin’s report:
Preamble
James Wallace
Hello and welcome to ‘moving day’ at the Oval. The sky is show off blue in South London and the sun is already beating down, if ever there was a day for batting, batting and batting some more then this is patently it.
England need runs. A flat and at times downright confused morning in the field yesterday saw Glenn Phillips score his maiden Test century and New Zealand post a decent first innings score of 391-6. Joe Root’s men will resume on 222-6 this morning with the whole kit and caboodle back in the sheds… apart from Jordan Cox on Test match debut.
Cox was nervy last night but managed to get through to the close and earn the opportunity to bat in heaven sent conditions this morning. His fellow debutant James Rew will be wishing he had done the same instead of instinctively hooking to an O’Rourke short ball and departing amongst the long shadows.
Cox has 22 to his name and Jofra Archer for company, England trail by 169 and need one of their debutants to dig them out of a hole.
Play begins at 11am, join us.
Police say the boy remains in a “critical but stable” condition in hospital.
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World Cup 2026: Koné injury mars Canada rout; Scotland’s ‘big challenge’; USA v Australia buildup – live | World Cup 2026
Key events
Mexican photographers do things differently.
A draw for Scotland later would almost certainly be enough to get them into the knockout stages but playing for a point is a dangerous game. If they do get out of the group, it will be the first time in their history that Scotland have made it that far at a World Cup.
“I don’t think any of the lads or the coaching staff and backroom staff have shied away from it,” Andy Robertson said. “We want to be the first team to be able to do that for our country. And it’s obviously a nice feeling to try and do that.
“We know how difficult it’s going to be. We’re now playing against one of the best teams in the world. But we also believe that if we perform to our maximum, then we can make it difficult for anyone. I think we’ve proven that over the years.”
How closely have you followed the sporting week? Test yourself with our quiz.
Tony Hughes emails to say: “Now that each team has played once, I can look at Scotland’s 1-0 win over Haiti and see it was a good result. Maybe even better than good. I’m from the era of ‘how many will we win by?’ when anticipating Scotland performances at major tournaments, however even I can see that many teams better than Scotland struggled against lower-ranked opposition, so the three points is the key and we – Scotland – move on.”
Rodrygo
My close colleague Rodrygo has written another column for us on the impact of social media on players.
Over the course of two afternoons in New York I ran into true legends, icons, and friends I’ve made through football. They were precious moments where I could listen, exchange ideas and receive support from stars such as Marcelo, Kaká, Paul Pogba and Zinedine Zidane. What started as a scheduled appearance for a shared sponsor turned into a casual, friendly chat from different generations united by the passion football ignites. We were right there, close to the fans. Five guys representing Brazil and France, greeted by hundreds of fans from all over the globe, all hoping for a brief moment of proximity, a photo, or a wave. And yes, I have idols too; I managed to get an autographed shirt from Zidane, my former coach and a giant in the history of the sport.
Jacob Steinberg
Declan Rice, as Jacob Steinberg points out, looked rather weary against Croatia. Thomas Tuchel needs to manage the Arsenal man carefully throughout this tournament but he has had a relentless past six years.
Get your podcast listening in your ears right now! Max and Baz are here with the latest World Cup daily, including Ben Fisher and Nicky Bandini.
Morocco’s Hakimi to stand trial for rape
French court confirms Moroccan footballer Hakimi will stand trial for rape
A French appeals court on Friday confirmed Moroccan football star Achraf Hakimi will stand trial charged with raping a young woman.
In February 2023, a woman then aged 24 told police in the Val-De-Marne region southeast of Paris that Hakimi had raped her.
The Paris Saint-Germain player and captain of the Moroccan national team, whose side are playing their second World Cup match on Friday against Scotland, has consistently denied the allegations. AFP
Frankly, anything other than Sweet Caroline would suit me.
Harry Kane hopes ‘Wonderwall’ can become the soundtrack of the summer as England plot their way to World Cup glory.
Thomas Tuchel’s side got off to a great start with an impressive 4-2 win over Croatia in their opening Group L game in Dallas on Wednesday, where Kane scored twice to equal Gary Lineker’s record of 10 World Cup goals.
England’s victorious players celebrated in front of their fans while Oasis hit ‘Wonderwall’ blared out around the AT+T Stadium.
Kane, who appeared emotional during the singalong, will savour the moment and wants fans to keep rolling with it as they aim to achieve their masterplan of winning the World Cup.
“That was one of my favourite ever moments in an England shirt and especially at a major tournament,” he said on the Lions Den. “I know it’s just the first game, and we’re not getting carried away, but just that emotional connection with the fans, we know how much it means to them. I think they see how much it means to us.
“We have that connection right now, but just that moment, singing ‘Wonderwall’ in the stadium, everyone knew the words, and that was a really special moment, I thought. As first games go, to have that kind of support from everyone, and we know back home is the same.
“We know there would be plenty of beer getting thrown around, with it being a night game, so we love that stuff. All the squad are fans, we’ve grown up watching England. We’ve grown up in those environments, and to be on the other side now doesn’t mean that we’re disconnected. It just means that we’re trying to give the fans now special moments, like Wednesday. So, hopefully, we can have a few more.” PA Media
A bit more from the England camp …
David Hytner on England’s super subs:
Thomas Tuchel’s pub chat.
The later games will see Brazil take on Haiti in Philadelphia at 1.30am BST/8.30pm local time.
And after that it is Turkey v Paraguay at 4am BST/8pm local time.
Then we move to Boston where Scotland fans have been having the time of their lives but that will be punctuated with a second match of the tournament. Morocco should provide more stern opposition that Haiti.
Steve Clarke knows it will be difficult, that’s for sure.
Ewan Murray on Scott McTominay’s importance to the side.
Kick off is at 11pm BST/6pm local time
Let’s begin our look at what will happen later today.
First up is USA v Australia in Seattle at 8pm BST/12pm local time.
Jack Snape on the rivalry between the two.
How the game will be won and lost.
The latest from the Socceroos camp.
A little bit of history.
Barney Ronay
It would be wrong to describe that second half as a shedding of the Gareth-shaped homunculus on this team’s back. But sometimes you do have to stop trusting the process, change the patterns, and just run forward with a great deal more aggression. England burned an effigy of everything they used to be in the second half in Dallas. Is it real? And where will it lead them across the next two games and five weeks beyond that?
Barney Ronay on England’s bright start and what they need to do going forward at this World Cup.
I wonder if Rodri will be the next Spain player to head to pastures new for a decent chunk of change. With plenty of changes happening at Manchester City and Real Madrid clearly willing to invest in new players, including his former teammate Bernardo Silva, it could be the right time.
The Spain squad are moving for some hefty price tags while away with the national team. Victor Muñoz’s £34.5m move to Liverpool was confirmed yesterday, while Marc Cucurella is now a Real Madrid player, costing the Spanish side £52m.
Cucurella said:
I got a phone call one morning. My people told me the two clubs had the terms mostly agreed and that I had to decide if I wanted to go there. I had no doubts. It is a big step for me, very important in my career. It all happened in roughly a day and a half. For me, that was the best thing, so it could be all done and I could keep my focus on the World Cup.”
Iran are further pointing out how dreadful this World Cup is politically. Will Fifa do anything about it …?
Thomas Tuchel swapped the dugout for the mound as the England boss threw the first pitch for the Kansas City Royals the night after opening the World Cup with an impressive win.
Just over 24 hours after watching his side open their campaign with a 4-2 victory over Croatia, Tuchel went to Kauffman Stadium to perform the ceremonial act.
Captain Harry Kane and defenders Dan Burn and Djed Spence were watching their boss throw the ball to Royals manager Matt Quatraro ahead of the MLB clash with the St Louis Cardinals. Kane is no stranger to finding the strike zone, taking his World Cup tally to 10 goals with a double against Croatia, and as a keen fan of American sports, he would like to do it with a bat in hand.
“Great recovery day with the boys at the baseball,” he said on social media. “Would love to give batting a go one day! Thanks for having us @Royals.”
Kane, who was pictured leaving the AT+T Stadium in Dallas with his left leg bandaged, had a low-key recovery day. “He got a strike, so fair play to him,” Kane, who has thrown out a first pitch at Yankees and Cubs games, told KansasCity.com “It’s not easy. It’s actually… that was the first time I’ve been up mound in 12 years, so you forget how far away it actually is.
“So, watching the professionals do it, and they’re launching that ball at 90, 100 miles per hour, it’s pretty impressive. So the boss has done pretty well. I’ll give him that. He was a little nervous before.”
He added: “We really appreciate it. I can say, for us to come here and get the treatment that we have already is obviously great. And I’m not sure where we’re sitting, but I’m sure the seats will be great, as well. So, yeah, all we can say is thank you to them.” PA Media
Because I am really cool, I was speaking to someone about Johan Manzambi before the match yesterday. Freiburg are open to selling him this summer but it would cost any buyer around €60m, maybe even more after last night’s goals.
Ben Fisher
Granit Xhaka pulled no punches after capping Switzerland’s 4-1 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina, confirming his pointed “blah-blah” celebration was in response to accusations that he stoked negativity within the Swiss camp.
Xhaka made a talking gesture with his right hand after scoring a stoppage-time penalty and afterwards said: “They know why I did it,” said the 33-year-old Sunderland captain. “I received thousands of messages. But I don’t read them anymore. I think I’m past that age. It doesn’t bother me at all. As mentioned, it’s something that can’t be influenced by me. That’s all I can say.”
Swiss media reported Xhaka’s critical comments of the team’s performance in their opening Group B draw with Qatar went down badly inside the squad.
“What I can influence is my performance on the pitch. And as mentioned before, if there is something to praise, then I am the first one who praises someone,” he said. “And if there is criticism, then I am also the first one who criticises someone.
“When I criticise, it doesn’t mean that I criticise others and not myself. And I start with myself first. And I think now, I’ve played almost 150 games for the national team now. And by now, you should know me too. If some can’t deal with criticism, then that’s a pity. And if someone has something to say, they should come to me about it.”
Johan Manzambi scored twice in the victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina but Xhaka said he had no intention of presenting the 20-year-old Freiburg midfielder with the chance to complete his hat-trick.
“It’s not about the individual thing. We have rules,” Xhaka said. “He’s young, he has a big future in front of him, so let’s take the experienced players first for penalty takers. His time will come.”
On paper, yesterday’s fixtures promised little but it was a fun day across the tournament in the end.
Admittedly, Czechia v South Africa did not offer a great amount of quality but Hugo Broos did very angry about a few things. Sid Lowe was in Atlanta to watch and listen.
Ben Fisher was pondering what to write about with 20 minutes to go in Switzerland v Bosnia and Herzegovina until the goals came flowing in.
Jeff Rueter was on hand to witness World Cup history as Canada won their first match at the tournament. Nine-man Qatar were hit for six but at the cost of a terrible leg break for Ismaël Koné.
Last but not least, Jonathan Wilson saw Mexico see off South Korea.
Preamble
Scotland are back in action, looking to back up their victory over Haiti against Morocco. They are in Boston, which is very convenient for the players and fans. If Steve Clarke’s can secure another maximum, it would put them into the knockout stages but the African champions will provide a much sterner test than Haiti.
We will have a thorough look back at yesterday’s results. Mexico became the first team to secure passage to the knockout stages by defeating South Korea. A new star was born in Switzerland as Johan Manzambi came off the bench to score twice against Bosnia and Herzegovina. Not forgetting that Czechia and South Africa drew.
All the latest from the England camp will be thrown your way, too.
Join us!
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