UK News
Bolivia v Scotland: World Cup 2026 warm-up – live | Friendlies
Key events
50 min: Gannon-Doak gets away, and Adams, on a hat-trick, waits in expectation for the ball to arrive. It results in a corner that Scotland recycle before McGinn shoots and another corner results.
47 min: Two players of standing replacing two players of standing; there’s real quality in the Scotland ranks, if not across the board but at full-back, and in midfield, Clarke is spoiled for choice.
46 min: Back we come, and there’s sight of John McGinn coming on. Bolivia have made a couple of changes, too. Kieran Tierney is another arrival. So that’s Robertson off, and Christie, too.
Simon McMahon gets in touch: “Yeah, ok Scotland, this is good, but maybe calm it a bit and save one or two for Haiti? Four against Curaçao, three in half an hour v Bolivia, I mean, wtf? I’m starting to believe. Make Scotland Great Again.”
Half-time: Bolivia 0-4 Scotland
Scotland have been brilliant, Bolivia bloody awful but it’s been full of fine play from Robertson, Shankland and Gannon-Doak in particular. Four fine goals rattled in.
45+1 min: Anyone else worried that Scotland have used up all their goals here? Three minutes added on of a half that could not have gone any better for Steve Clarke.
Goal! Bolivia 0-4 Scotland (Adams, 45)
Gannon-Doak’s run cuts deep, and then Adams gets two bites, the second a beauty of a finish, drilled home.
44 min: Bolivia try a clever free-kick but Scotland read their minds. The Bolivian league is still being played but the South Americans are less than sharp.
43 min: Villamil gets a shot on goal that goes wide but play is called back for an earlier foul. Hickey left some on Fernandez, the Bolivia full-back.
41 min: Lewis Ferguson’s corner is great, and Andy Robertson really should make it four. Scotland, the rampant lions.
40 min: Gannon-Doak bobs and weaves and forces a good save from Viscarra, and yet again it’s neat play by Lawrence Shankland that sets up the chance.
39 min: Bolivia’s Villamil is down, and that offers a break to the players. Lots of those red Scotland shirts in the stands.
38 min: Gannon-Doak, who missed a lot of the season for Bournemouth, has been decent and may well be fresh. His position there was taken by Rayan, who was a tough player to shift, in any case.
36 min: Paul McCann gets in touch: “The next town over from Harrison is Kearney, which was settled by Paisley carpet makers. In the 1980s it still had fish and chip shops and places that sold Irn Bru. It also had an Ulster Club (Rangers) and an Irish Club (Celtic) and a Scottish Club, presumably for St Mirren fans. I had a memorable Hogmany in the latter in 1989 with nine Scottish nurses.”
Excellent stuff.
Matt Dony joins us in Gaelic: “Tha e a’ tighinn dhachaigh!”
34 min: Weirdly, and this can’t have helped, Scotland prepared for their last World Cup, in 1999, by playing friendlies in New Jersey and Washington. They went out in the group stage.
33 min: Christie, coming off the opposite, right-hand flank cuts in and has time to shoot, and probably could have done better. The Bolivians are not doing much in the way of defending.
31 min: This couldn’t be going any better for Scotland. The excitement levels must be increasing. Reminder: before 1990, they beat Malta 2-1, and lost to Costa Rica.
Goal! Bolivia 0-3 Scotland (Adams, 30)
Gannon-Doal breaks free, and tees up Adams to tap home. Scotland in dreamland, bring on Haiti.
29 min: First save for Gunn, from Bolivia’s Matheus. Gunn played just 45 minutes of football for Nottingham Forest all season, against Crystal Palace in February.
28 min: We are reminded that Bolivia beat Brazil last year, and got as far as the playoffs for the finals. This is a performance to lend plenty of confidence to the Scots.
26 min: Back underway, everyone refreshed and towelled down.
24 min: The goalie was not much cop for that goal, but champagne stuff played there by Scotland. At the moment, water is being taken on. This essentially breaks games down to quarters, right?
Goal! Bolivia 0-2 Scotland (McTominay, 23)
Lovely goal, more great link-up play from Shankland, who lays it to McTominay to smash home.
22 min: More galloping down the flank from Robertson. Don’t tire yourself too soon, to invoke Del Amitri.
20 min: Shankland and Adams are linking well, the former laying up Adams to blam a shot just wide. Good chance, well created. Perhaps Adams’ finish might have been better.
19 min: The pitch looks OK, better than that England are currently playing on in Tampa. Shankland is playing very well, and almost directed a flick to Christie.
17 min: Scotland’s initial brio has died off a little. Let’s hope it’s not the climate already.
15 min: Tony Barr gets in touch: “Wash your mouth (well, keyboard) out John!
No less an organ than the Guardian itself anointed the Scotland away kit as one of the best at the tournament. Speaking personally, I preferred the bright pink Earl of Roseberry number that got so many culture-war idiots’ knickers in a twist. This one’ll do until the Euros come around.”
James Humphries is back in touch: “I realise of course that this is a bit, but if you could avoid deliberately angering the football gods/ghost of Ally Mcleod’s dog that’d be great, aye?”
14 min: More careful passing from the Bolivians, for whom both full-backs play in Russia, Akron Tolyatti, a club formed in 2018.
12 min: Bolivia get a corner as a bagpipe wails in the background. The corner is poor, looks like they need a Nicolas Jover to sort this. Austin MacPhee, a Scot, will be helping out Portugal on set pieces at this World Cup.
10 min: Aaron Hickey is caught out and Gannon-Doak fouls Terceros. The resulting free-kick is a shambles, and cleared easily.
9 min: Gannon-Doak on the outside, and he pings in a cross, that evades everyone. Andy Robertson is playing very well. Are Liverpool quite sure about this?
7 min: Scotland look full of fizz, is it time to do an Ally MacLeod and suggest they are going to win the World Cup?
6 min: It’s a great start for Scotland, Christie and Robertson in tandem, and then Adams gets a shot in, that Viscarra can only parry away.
Goal! Bolivia 0-1 Scotland (Shankland, 5)
Gannon-Doak seems to have licence to go forward while Ryan Christie is tucking in, with Scotland playing an old-style 4-4-2. And you know what, it’s working, as Robertson overlaps and loops a ball from Christie to the back post and Shankland heads in.
3 min: Andy Robertson, the skipper, runs to a flick from Shankland but then fouls the opposing defender. It looks hot, and Bolivia look comfortable in passing the ball around.
Away we go in Harrison
1 min: It’s not a packed stadium, and Scotland being in red feels unfamiliar. The kit resembles that of Chile, or a lower-ranked La Liga team. It’s Bolivia who set off at a rate, Villamíl to the fore. Gtant Hanley has to head clear.
Flower of Scotland rings out, the bagpipes made it through customs at JFK.
Tony Hughes gets in touch: “As a teenager a million years ago at Kirkcaldy High School, the euphoria of Mexico ‘86 was such that 8 of us in our Physics class held a sweepstakes, whereby each of us paid in two pounds and got 3 randomly assigned Scotland players, and whomever came out collectively with the most goals, for Scotland, got to keep all 16 pounds. And 22 doesn’t go into 8, so unfortunately we had to add Alex Ferguson and Craig Brown (along with the goalkeepers). Some of us were really unlucky. I got Graeme Sharp, Arthur Albiston and Maurice Malpas, none of whom scored, and obviously the kid that had Gordon Strachan won the lot.”
I completed Mexico 86, it was the last one I completed.
This stadium in Harrison, New Jersey is home to New York Red Bulls; I’ve been, back in 2010, it was a short train ride from the World Trade Center, and from memory, not a great deal around it. Looking up famous people from Harrison and the best I came up with is Tab Ramos. I saw Juan Pablo Angel playing for the Red Bulls, so there’s that.
Ben Gannon-Doak spoke to the BBC in New Jersey: ““I don’t really know until the game gets started, but I think me and the rest of the lads have had a good week to prepare in my opinion in harsher conditions down in Florida, so I think we’re more than equipped to go out and play the football that we want to play. [We want] a good result to go into this World Cup with confidence, to go and play well as a team, play some nice football and aye, just to go out there and enjoy myself. No one would have thought we would have been here.”
Last time out for Scotland, the win over Curacao, which proved costly for Billy Gilmour and an opportunity for Tyler Fletcher.
Of those Bolivian players, the striker, Paniagua, plays for Wydad Casablanca, and Terceros plays for Santos in Brazil. It’s a real mix of home-based players and emigres.
This is the first time Bolivia have met Scotland.
The Bolivia team: Viscarra, Rocha, Haquín, Morales, Fernández, Matheus, Vaca, Villamíl, Terceros, Ribera, Paniagua. Subs: Arroyo, Centella, Govea, Lampe, López, Macazaga, Melgar, Nacif, Tórrez, Viviani, Zabala
James Humphries gets in touch: “Not that I wish mini-Fletch any ill – his dad was, I think, one of the most underrated players of his generation – but whose chips has Lennon Miller pished on such that Tyler gets called up ahead of him?
“Played 25 games for udinese this season, several years of bossing games at senior level for a pretty ropey Well side, and he plays (or played) a fairly similar role to Gilmour, too. But, no, let’s call up the guy who’s had about half an hour of senior football. And folk say Steve Clarke doesn’t like taking risks, eh?”
Get your profiles here.
For Scotland, Angus Gunn is in goal, Lawrence Shankland, Andy Robertson, Aaron Hickey, Ben Gannon-Doak and Ryan Christie remain from last weekend’s game against Curacao. Though expect plenty of changes. Gunn, Grant Hanley, Jack Hendry, Lewis Ferguson, and Che Adams are the players coming in.
The Scotland team
Scotland: Gunn, Hickey, Robertson, McTominay, Hanley, Adams, Christie, Hendry, Gannon-Doak, Ferguson, Shankland. Subs: Kelly, Gordon, Tierney, McGinn, Fletcher, Dykes, Stewart, Souttar, Hyam, Hirst, Patterson, McLean, Ralston, Curtis, McKenna
Ewan also wrote our Scotland preview.
Clarke is pragmatic in approach but it will be a shock if he does not start with two strikers for game one against Haiti. Victory there and Scotland have a genuine chance of progression from the first round for the first time. There is also a lingering reason for Clarke to at least appear bold; he was castigated by supporters for negative tactics in a must-win match against Hungary at the last Euros.
A more defensive style is likely and understandable against Morocco and Brazil, who simply put are better teams than Scotland. Clarke’s team can be useful in such a situation; they are excellently drilled and carry a counterattacking threat.
Ewan Murray is following Scotland at the World Cup, and he will be reporting on this game from New Jersey. All eyes are on Haiti.
Clarke insists he cannot alter plans on account of potential fitness setbacks.
“Do you want to wrap them in cotton wool and [they] don’t train?” Clarke asked. “You need to work. Injuries are part and parcel of football. When it happens, especially when it happens in the circumstances it happened to Billy, it is really disappointing. Everybody has got to take a deep breath and move forward again. That is what we will do.”
Preamble
Harrison, New Jersey hosts this warm-up for Steve Clarke’s Scotland. Expect to see plenty of substitutions, and hope for no more injuries after Billy Gilmour was ruled out last week. This is the final match before Haiti, a week from now, a chance to acclimatise, and get used to the conditions. Bolivia are not one of the 48 finalists, having lost to Iraq in the intercontinental playoffs; they were last at a final in 1994, and it’s been a long time since Erwin “Platini” Sanchez and Marco Etcheverry, the latter a legend of MLS lore. Scotland are back at the World Cup for the first time since 1998, and this is the last step before Haiti.
Kick-off is 9pm Scotland time/4pm Eastern time
The family of Shaun Burton, say they are “devastated” by the loss.
Source link
Key events
In the opening half an hour against Cape Verde, Mikel Oyarzabal, the centre-forward, did not get a single touch.
Kyle Green gets in touch: “Your highlighting of Lalas and his absurdity is something that has prevented me from wanting to watch the coverage on Fox. While every channel has its pros and cons I just can’t.
“I’m 45 and probably the youngest of anyone who remembers him as a player instead of an opinionated insert insult here. As for the match this could be more competitive than it looks on paper Spain need a win the pressure is on them. Saudi Arabia could hold out for a draw and see what happens in their last match. “
News from the England camp, and it seems to be good news on Declan Rice.
“I’m ready and fit, raring to go. I was feeling a little bit of neural pain in my hamstring, which I was managing from after Christmas with Arsenal for a very long time. Obviously, not a lot of people would have known that. It was all behind-the-scenes stuff but it was a smart decision.
“In the end, that last 20 minutes is probably where you pick up the most, and it’s where you play a 70-minute match. But that last 20 is where you really feel your body going for it. And I think it was a smart decision because the last few days I felt really, really good.”
Alex Reid has penned today’s weekend special Football Daily.
Portugal v Uzbekistan on Tuesday enticingly pits the incredibly nice, incredibly 41-year-old-superstar-tolerant Roberto Martínez against Fabio Cannavaro, who’s won a Ballon d’Or as a player and the Chinese Super League as a coach. While the fixture following that game really does see the dream of Thomas Tuchel – in his first international job with England – taking on Queiroz, who is in charge of his ninth national side with Ghana.
The expected formations are 4-2-3-1 for Spain, and 5-3-2 for the Saudi Arabians.
The Saudi team features two Donis changes: Ali Lajami, a defender, and Nasser Al Dawsari, a midfielder, are preferred to Mohammed Abu Al Shamat and Mohamed Kanno. You may recall Salem Al Dawsari, the Saudi captain, as the man who scored the winner against Argentina.
An entertaining read, even for those of us who have just seen the clips.
In a conversation where his co-panelist is casually reminiscing about his days playing alongside Messi or exchanging shirts with Ronaldo Nazário at the World Cup, what exactly is Lalas going to talk about – coming on as a second-half substitute for Earnie Stewart in a friendly against Scotland in 1998? Helping the Kansas City Wizards finish last in the 1999 MLS Western Conference? Did Lalas enjoy an elite playing career? No. But does he do the background reading that could compensate for his relative lack of standing in a conversation with titans like Henry and Zlatan? Also no. But is he charming or funny or charismatic or otherwise magnetic on screen? Eh, no.
For the record, I once interviewed Alexi Lalas on the challenge of playing against Romario in the 1994 World Cup. He had this to say:
“He could kill you in so many different ways. If you remember from that World Cup, he scored so many types of goals. That ranged from solo adventures to an outside-of-the-right-foot half-volley off a corner kick. Romario was both the most difficult to play against and the best that I have faced.
“Roberto Baggio was doing his thing, but in terms of consistency and living up to the hype, he [Romario] was the best. As with all stars, there was a moment when the fans sit up in their seats, and that was a feeling I got with Romario. When it got close to him and the potential for his involvement in a play was there, everybody sat up in their seat. They knew that something spectacular would be happening.”
Saturday’s match reports here.
The Saudi Arabia coach, and Blackburn legend, Georgios Donis, spoke about the challenges facing his team: “Spain is not the same team when Yamal or Williams are on the bench.
“While they still have plenty of possession, they lack the individual one-on-one penetration when these two are missing. I’m not saying it’s a problem for Spain, but when those players are missing, they play in a different way. We saw this very clearly against Cape Verde.
“We are playing against one of the best teams in the world, and it’s very important that when you play against these kinds of teams, you should enjoy the experience and respect the opponent, but not too much.
“It is very hard for any team playing against Spain to have any time in possession. So what we must do is to be more in control of our movement and compact, and when the ball goes through the lines, be able to defend dynamically.
“It’s nice to see miracles in football, and we’ve seen favourites losing against underdogs. Of course, it’s great for Saudi football to have a great memory of the result against Argentina, but we aren’t drawing anything from that.
“I think we’ll feel more pressure in that [Cape Verde] game than we will against Spain.”
The Spain coach, Luis De La Fuente had this to say in his Saturday press conference: “This generation of footballers is highly competitive and really fired up… It’s going to be a completely different story,” he said at his pre-match press conference on Saturday. There is no drama or crisis. The bottom line is simply that we need to win tomorrow.”
Four changes for Spain: Lamine Yamal, Pedro Porro, Dani Olmo and Alex Baena also come into the side with Marcos Llorente, Fabian Ruiz, Ferran Torres and Gavi dropping out.
The teams – Lamine Yamal starts
Spain: Simon, Porro, Cubarsi, Laporte, Cucurella, Gonzalez, Rodri, Yamal, Olmo, Baena, Oyarzabal. Subs: Raya, Joan Garcia, Pubill, Grimaldo, Eric Garcia, Llorente, Merino, Torres, Fabian, Gavi, Pino, Williams, Zubimendi, Munoz, Iglesias.
Saudi Arabia: Al Owais, Abdulhamid, Tambakti, Lajami, Al Amri, Al Harbi, Nasser Al Dawsari, Al Khaibari, Al Juwayr, Al Buraikan, Salem Al Dawsari. Subs: Al Aqidi, Al Kassar, Majrashi, Yahya, Al Shehri, Al Boushal, Kadesh, Al Johani, Al Ghannam, Al Hajji, Al Hamdan, Mandash, Kanno, Thakri, Abu Al Shamat.
Referee: Raphael Claus (Brazil)
Perhaps one of the Saudi -players can write themselves into this high-grade selection?
Perhaps it can be their goalkeeper.
Madrid screening of Spain v Saudi Arabia cancelled due to heat
The public screening of Spain’s World Cup match against Saudi Arabia in Madrid on Sunday has been cancelled because of extreme heat forecast for the Spanish capital, officials said.
The match, due to kick off at 6pm local time on Sunday, had been scheduled to be shown on a giant screen installed by the Spanish football federation (RFEF) at a fan zone in Plaza de Colón in central Madrid.
Madrid city council and the federation decided to cancel the screening after national weather agency AEMET issued an orange heat warning – the second-highest level – for the Madrid region, with temperatures forecast to reach 40C.
“The decision has been taken with the aim of protecting the health of attendees, event staff and support services involved in the event,” Madrid city hall said in a statement, apologising for any inconvenience.
Officials urged supporters to watch the match indoors in air-conditioned spaces and avoid prolonged exposure to the heat.
Large parts of Spain are experiencing unusually high temperatures for June as a mass of hot air from North Africa moves across the Iberian Peninsula.
A total of 13 of Spain’s 17 regions are on orange alert for heat on Sunday, while the northern Basque Country bordering France is on red alert, the highest level.
Authorities advised residents and visitors to take precautions during the heatwave, including drinking water regularly, staying in cool environments, limiting outdoor physical activity during the hottest hours of the day and taking extra care of vulnerable people. AFP
Can Saudi Arabia repeat the magic of 2022?
Argentina arrived in Qatar on a 36-game unbeaten run. When Lionel Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot after 10 minutes, a comfortable afternoon seemed in the offing. Saleh al-Shehri and Salem al-Dawsari had other ideas, Argentina had three goals disallowed for offside in the space of 13 minutes and the greatest comeback in Saudi Arabia football history was made. Argentina went on to lift the trophy, while defeats to Poland and Mexico meant the Saudis did not reach the knock-out stage.
Unai Simon over David Raya is a controversial choice for De la Fuentes. The Arsenal keeper could lay claim to being Europe’s best this season.
“Those at the Champions League final had a few more days, so I got there on the Wednesday night,” Raya says. “I arrived a bit before Fabián [Ruiz]. I was saying hello to some of the others in reception when he arrived. I went to say congratulations; that was almost the first thing I did. I couldn’t really talk [to him] after the final; I just didn’t have it in me. The next day we talked about the game properly. Just two mates chatting … I was happy for him that he could lift the trophy for a second time.”
A high pressure game for the European champions, as Sid Lowe reports.
“If we had scored one, the game would have changed,” Martín Zubimendi said. Immediately after the game, De la Fuente had offered a simple analysis: when the ball doesn’t want to go in it doesn’t want to go in, he insisted. Spain had racked up 27 shots, after all. Ferran Torres had hit the bar and seen another clear opportunity saved. Vozinha, the 40-year-old goalkeeper who stopped that, saved six more and was named the man of the match. “There’s nothing to reproach the team for,” Rodri said. “We generated chances but couldn’t put it away; the good thing is they created almost nothing.”
We wait to see what role Lamine Yamal will play today. His coach would surely like to be able to use him.
The worst mistake we could make would be to compare him to anyone. He is the midst of a process. He has exceptional footballing maturity and lives it all with total naturalness. He has great serenity and strength. We have to let him follow his path but those players who have something different are ready for that. They’re geniuses, like Dalí [who] can paint a picture, or Michelangelo. They’re different. What is exceptional to us, isn’t to them. In those extremes, they feel comfortable. Why? Because they are different. What we think is exceptional, they consider normal.
Preamble
Spain’s campaign did not get off to a flying start, and Luis de la Fuentes may wake up in the night to visions of Cape Verde’s Vozinha. He will have Georgia on his mind ever since Monday. Saudi Arabia are no pushovers and gave Uruguay a scare in their opening match. Memories of downing Argentina four years ago still abound, and so Spain might beware. They can ill afford to go into the final game with Uruguay at a disadvantage. All eyes on Lamine Yamal, whose fitness situation remains opaque, though Spain need their other forwards to come to the party.
Kick-off 5pm UK, 1pm ET, 2am AEST. Join me.
A topless man can be seen driving erratically in Edinburgh before abandoning his car and attacking a black man and a delivery rider.
Source link
-
Business & Technology3 weeks agoHSBC UK & Visa test AI shopping with live payments
-
Business & Technology4 weeks agoMouser warns against viral hacks to cool overheating phones
-
Business & Technology3 weeks agoValarian lands USD $50 million backing for sovereign AI
-
Business & Technology4 weeks agoSNP & Palantir launch AI tools for SAP transformations
-
Oxford News4 weeks agoDWP now checking bank accounts for Universal Credit and Pension Credit
-
Oxford Events4 weeks agoHenley Festival 2026 highlights: Five nights of unforgettable performances and festival moments
-
Business & Technology4 weeks agoOde launches free AI voice service for poem recommendations
-
Oxford united FC4 weeks agoAaron Ramsey’s Oxford United hit with transfer ban until January