UK News
Bosnia and Herzegovina v Italy: World Cup playoff goes to penalties – live | World Cup 2026 qualifiers
Key events
PENALTIES: Bosnia and Herzegovina 4-1 Italy. Bajraktarević aims for the bottom right … and though Donnarumma guesses correctly, and gets a hand to it, the ball squirts in! Bosnia and Herzegovina are going to the 2026 World Cup!
PENALTIES: Bosnia and Herzegovina 3-1 Italy. Now it’s Cristante for Italy. Another must-score. But he clatters a rising shot down the middle off the underside of the bar, and back out! Italy on the brink! Yet again!
PENALTIES: Bosnia and Herzegovina 3-1 Italy. Alajbegović, 18, steps up. Bottom left. Donnarumma the wrong way. Cool as. He’s 18!
PENALTIES: Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-1 Italy. Tonali whistles a fine spot kick into the bottom left. How Italy needed that.
PENALTIES: Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0 Italy. Tabaković, whose equaliser took us all here, is up next for the hosts. One step, two steps, and a sweep into the top right. Donnarumma went the right way, but had no chance!
PENALTIES: Bosnia and Herzegovina 1-0 Italy. Esposito first for the Azzurri. He does the tippy-toes … then skies it. Advantage Bosnia and Herzegovina!
PENALTIES: Bosnia and Herzegovina 1-0 Italy. Tahirović up first. He whips a perfect penalty into the bottom left, having sent Donnarumma the wrong way.
Sergej Barbarez and Gennaro Gattuso embrace. That’s nice to see, ahead of certain heartbreak for one of them. Fireworks explode in the background, a constant rhythm as both teams prepare to meet their fate. Bosnia and Herzegovina to go first.
Bosnia and Herzegovina aren’t happy about the referee whistling before one last free kick could be launched into the Italian box. But there were only about two seconds remaining anyway. However, that’s the least of their concerns, because Dzeko landed awkwardly after that Frattesi challenge, and he’s really hurt his shoulder. He stays down for some time, before finally getting back up. But he’s holding it gingerly. An ice pack on it now. An unwelcome extra twist for the hosts.
FULL TIME, EXTRA TIME: Bosnia and Herzegovina 1-1 Italy
Nope! The whistle goes before the free kick can be taken. Penalties it is!
ET 30 min +1: A long ball into the Italian half. Donnarumma comes miles out of his box to kick clear. Dzeko dribbles back into Italian territory. Frattesi unceremoniously takes him out. Yellow card. Time for one last free kick, launched into the Italian mixer?
ET 30 min: Sixty seconds between Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, and penalties.
ET 29 min: … the ball’s worked back to Tahirović, on the edge of the D. He threads a shot inches wide of the right-hand post. Not sure Donnarumma was getting to that! That’s Bosnia and Herzegovina’s 30th attempt on goal. Italy have taken nine.
ET 28 min: Esposito clears the corner. But the hosts come straight back at Italy, Burnić released into acres down the left. His low cross is hooked out by Mancini. That had to happen, because Dzeko was waiting in the middle, six yards out. Then from the corner …
ET 27 min: Burnić crosses poorly from the left. Cristante’s clearance is no good, and Burnić gets another go. His low cross this time forces Mancini into the concession of a corner.
ET 25 min: Demirović is replaced by Hadžiahmetović, a defensive move by the hosts. Nobody wants to fall at the final hurdle now.
ET 24 min: Tonali zips down the left flank and is crudely flipped into the air by Katic’s sliding challenge. That’s cynical, late, and worthy of the booking Katic receives.
ET 23 min: Frattesi eventually gets back up. Then there’s some nonsense before the corner. Then after it’s finally taken, and half-cleared, Alajbegović dribbles a poor shot straight at Donnarumma, and the pressure on Italy is released. For a moment.
ET 21 min: Alajbegović batters a shot into Frattesi’s back. Then Burnic deflects the ball off the same white shirt. It goes out for a corner. Before it can be taken, Frattesi goes down to catch a breath.
ET 19 min: Bajraktarević whips a vicious cross in from the right. Dzeko, under surveillance from Mancini, can’t get to the ball at the far stick. Goal kick. The tension is almost unbearable. Goodness knows what it feels like if you support one of these sides.
ET 17 min: Dedic crosses from the right. Bajraktarević attempts a scissor kick that goes wide. Italy counter, and Esposito spins into space on the edge of the box. His low shot is deflected wide right by Muharemović. Nothing comes of the corner.
ET 16 min: Alajbegović sends a couple of Italians off to the shops for a copy of La Gazzetta dello Sport with a cheeky drop of a shoulder. The cross isn’t all that, though.
Bosnia and Herzegovina get the second half of extra time going. Penalties loom in the middle distance.
“The really, really gutting thing is; Wales could absolutely have beaten this Italy,” sighs Matt Dony. “Ah well. Always next time. Again.”
HALF TIME, EXTRA TIME: Bosnia and Herzegovina 1-1 Italy
Italy still fuming over the lack of a red card for Muharemović. Donnarumma spoiling for an argument, and maybe even a fight, with someone in the Bosnia and Herzegovina camp. He’s dragged away before he can make things worse for Italy.
ET 15 min +2: … and nothing comes of the resulting corner. That’s as dangerous as Italy have looked all night.
ET 15 min +1: … sends a low drive witlessly into the wall. But Italy recover the rebound. Palestra skedaddles down the right and crosses long. Esposito rises at the far stick and heads goalwards from a tight angle. But Vasilj parries at point-blank range! What a save!
ET 15 min: The free kick, then, to the right of the D. Tonali stands over it. And …
ET 14 min: Not that the Italian bench is letting it lie quite yet. Performative discussions continue.
ET 13 min: Nope. Muharemović is spared. Just a yellow, due to Burnic being right next to the incident. Italy aren’t happy, as you can imagine. But that decision is going to stand.
ET 12 min: Tonali goes long. A sweet pass down the middle. Palestra gets in between, and ahead of, both Muharemović and Burnic. Muharemović extends a leg and clips his man. A free kick … and a sending off?
A 44-year-old man is in custody over the incident where a woman appeared to be shoved into the path of a bus.
Source link
UK News
World Cup 2026: Fifa urged to remove official over hand gesture; teams hit back at Ceferin; Iran arrive in US – live | World Cup 2026
Key events
More now on the hand gesture story mentioned earlier. Fifa’s discrimination monitor at the World Cup has called for a video assistant referee to be removed for appearing to make a hand gesture resembling a white supremacist sign.
“Advice from our experts is that the gesture used clearly resembles an upside down ‘OK’ hand symbol used as a ‘white power’ symbol in global far-right circles,” the Fare network, a longtime partner of Fifa and Uefa, the European football governing body, to monitor racist and discriminatory chants, flags and symbols at international games, said in a statement. “Clearly this official should have no further role to play in this World Cup,” Fare said in a statement, describing the gesture as “neo-Nazi.”
Kick-off times are more friendly for the UK viewer today. Spain v Cape Verdi at 5pm and Belgium v Egypt at 8pm. But we need to think globally so that’s 3pm for Cape Verdi viewers cheering on their team while in Egypt it’ll be 10pm for those tuning in to see if Mo Salah can inspire his team to victory over the Belgians.
The biggest test for the UK viewer today is Iran v New Zealand at 2am BST. In Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch that’ll be 1pm while in Tehran, Mashhad and Karaj it’s a less palatable 4.30am.
Thanks Sarah. As for World Cup songs, this one from the German 1990 squad always sticks in my mind. While England took the genre to a new level with New Order and John Barnes’ rap, the Germans very much went down the traditional route. A singer that looks like a cross between Chris de Burgh and Thomas Muller, Karl-Heinz Riedle on maracas, one or two playing air saxophone. Pleasingly dreadful.
I am off to grab some food and so I leave you in the hands of Dave Tindall who will take you through the next few hours of news. I’ll be back later on.
From requests of your favourite football songs to another on if you live in a World Cup host city. We want to hear from you if you have football teams in town from the atmosphere to how it is affecting business. Use the form on this page to get in touch:
We have another shout for the best/worst football song and I can’t decide which side of the forward slash this one belongs on. Graeme Neill said:
Timely given yesterday evening’s match. Japan’s Cornelius and his utterly bonkers Ball in Kick Off is worth a listen:
France will kick-off their tournament against Senegal on Tuesday and to say they have attacking quality is an understatement. The team boasts players like the captain, Kylian Mbappé, Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé, Michael Olise and Cherki but they all have a role to play, according to Adrien Rabiot. Read more:
Jacob Steinberg
The cat is well truly out of the bag. Nobody expected the conversation to be quite so revealing when Jude Bellingham and Morgan Rogers sat on the Lions’ Den sofa last week. Content controlled by the Football Association was an unlikely place for Bellingham to drop a few truth bombs, but the England midfielder was not minded to hold back when it was time to discuss his experience at Euro 2024.
“It didn’t feel like there was any kind of hierarchy,” the 22-year-old said. “I think at the Euros we got some things a little bit wrong off the pitch. I don’t feel like the group connected as well as it could have – for a number of reasons.”
Read more:
Fifa urged to remove official over hand gesture
Fifa have been urged to remove a video review official who appeared to make a white supremacy hand gesture during Germany’s 7-1 win over Curaçao.
The governing body’s discrimination monitor at the World Cup called for Shaun Evans from Australia to be removed from the tournament.
The gesture was also spotted by several fans who posted about it on social media.
“Advice from our experts is that the gesture used clearly resembles an upside down ‘OK’ hand symbol used as a ‘white power’ symbol in global far-right circles,” the Fare network said.
Fifa are yet to comment on the situation.
There have been some sights at the World Cup but Scotland fans taking over Fenway Park is one that has been one of the most surreal. The Boston Red Sox lost 6-4 to the Texas Rangers but Scotland fans stayed long after the game was over singing “super John McGinn” and during the match there was a rendition of “yes sir, I can boogie”.
Anil Patel has emailed:
This absolute banger wasn’t attached to any particular team but is one of the best themes out there.
This is a great shout and a fun fact for you about it, it was initially written to be a baseball anthem. Some baseball news coming your way soon…
If anyone is unsure of the song I referenced, here it is:
Football songs can be iconic or occasionally cringey, that one with Dizzee Rascal and James Cordon comes to mind for the latter for me. What are your best/worst anthems for a major tournament? Get in touch and let me know.
England may have banished some penalty shootout demons in the last few major tournaments but the question of who would step up to take one is one that will always be asked. One such player who said he would take on is Eberechi Eze, despite missing one in the Champions League final. Have a read of what he said:
There will be many questions raised at this World Cup. Who will win the trophy? Who will claim the Golden Boot? What will the next standout moment be? But there is another question that has been answered in the following piece: Where have the WAGs gone?
Matt Hughes
Fox will not face any punishment from Fifa for breaking the governing body’s advertising rules during the opening game of the World Cup between Mexico and South Africa last week.
The US broadcaster broke Fifa’s strict guidelines for showing commercials during hydration breaks on the first occasion they were in operation by returning to the live action 10 seconds after play had resumed during the second half at Mexico City Stadium.
Fifa’s tournament regulations, which were given to all rights holders two months ago, state that while broadcasters can show ads during hydration breaks they must return to the match 30 seconds before play resumes.
Read more:
Sometimes a team needs a player to have some standout performances to jump start a tournament and Jordan Henderson believes that player for England will be Jude Bellingham. Henderson said:
I’m sure he will have a big impact for us in this tournament. I can remember five years ago I gave him his first cap, it was away at Middlesbrough. How much he’s grown, as a player and as a person since then, is incredible really. I had a good idea when I first saw him playing and training, and the way he was.
I think everybody forgets how young he is. We do rondos and it’s the youngest in, and there’s people that I think should be going in before him, but he’s always one of the first in the middle to go in. It just reminds us how young he is. I honestly couldn’t speak highly enough of him.
Read more:
The travel at this tournament has grabbed more than a few headlines so far and there is another one pertaining to Australia. The Socceroos beat Turkey 2-0 in their opening game with their second against one of the co-hosts, the US, on Friday. Their focus will be on that game but recovery is also high on their list. Read more here:
There have already been so many historic moments at this tournament, including Scotland’s first World Cup win in 36 years. Mo Salah is hoping to replicate the moment and end Egypt’s long wait of 92 years for a victory at the tournament. The team have their first game against Belgium today to try and make history:
Spain, who start their campaign today against Cabo Verde, are among the favourites to win the World Cup after their European Championship success in 2024. Here’s a piece on how the team are embracing the tag and how they are using one trophy-winning tournament to potentially lift another:
Uruguay will take on Saudia Arabia later today but their travel was delayed amid challenges across the tournament.
The team’s initial flight from Mexico was cancelled with their replacment delayed. The Uruguay captain, José María Giménez, described the situation as “difficult”.
Read more:
There are more games to be played today with another four in store. The details for those kick-off times and match-ups are below but do get in touch to let me know what your World Cup routine is. Are you having to get up early to watch the games? Or are you in a time zone where you can get home from work and watch back-to-back football until it’s time for bed? Email me and let me know, here are today’s fixtures:
-
Spain v Cabo Verde (5pm BST, 12pm ET, 9am PT)
-
Belgium v Egypt (8pm BST, 3pm ET, 12pm PT)
-
Saudi Arabia v Uruguay (11pm BST, 6pm ET, 3pm PT)
-
Iran v New Zealand (2am BST, 9pm ET, 6pm PT)
So what happened in the matches yesterday? Four took place with the biggest win coming in Germany’s 7-1 dismantling of Curaçao. The island nation will be disappointed with the result but they also made history as they scored their first-ever World Cup goal. That came from Livano Comenencia, who plays his club football for Zürich. Have a read of that report and others for all the latest action on pitch:
Čeferin criticised for ‘uninteresting’ comment
UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin was criticised by multiple nations from Asia, Africa and the Caribbean after reportedly saying the expanded World Cup creates “uninteresting” matches.
According to Zurnal 24, the boss said at a conference last Monday: “We have a huge number of matches that are completely uninteresting.”
The associations of Cape Verde, Congo, Curaçao, Haiti, Jordan and Uzbekistan released a joint statement, which was in solidarity with the federations of Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia.
It said: “Football does not belong to a select group of nations. Its strength comes from its universality,” the statement said. “For many countries, participation in the FIFA World Cup is not only a sporting achievement. It is a moment that inspires a generation, accelerates football development and creates memories that last a lifetime.”
Ben Fisher
The Iran striker Mehdi Taremi has said the controversy and disruption surrounding their involvement at the World Cup undermines Fifa’s message of peace and conceded he felt the tension before arriving in Los Angeles on the eve of their opener, hours before a peace deal was announced. For the first time since the competition’s inception, a host nation has received a country with which it is at war.
On Sunday Iran flew to LA from Tijuana, Mexico, where they were relocated amid an ongoing row over visas, but are expected to face opposition from Iranians, many of whom believe the national team do not represent the country. Iran has been beset by problems in the buildup to the tournament, with several officials denied entry to the US.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to today’s World Cup news blog where we bring you the latest updates from the global event being hosted across the US, Canada and Mexico.
Any breaking news, team updates or reflections on what has happened so far will be all here for you to feast on, no matter what you are doing with your Monday.
Please do get in touch too, we always like to hear from readers. Potentially on the best underdog story at the World Cup or any quirky predictions you may have for the tournament.
Amongst several stories surrounding the competition today is Iran’s arrival in the US. The team landed on Sunday before they take on New Zealand.
More details on that story will be with you shortly, as well as the reports from the games that took place yesterday to catch up on all the latest action.
The man said his home has been targeted three times in the last five months.
Source link
-
Crime & Safety4 weeks agoWhat happens to Halifax customers if Lloyds makes changes?
-
Crime & Safety4 weeks agoFlock of clay birds set to take flight in special exhibition
-
Oxford News4 weeks agoActor steps down from major role in new Harry Potter series
-
Crime & Safety4 weeks agoOxfordshire bridge closure comes as management ‘weaknesses’ found
-
Crime & Safety4 weeks agoFriends of the Ridgeway appoint Matthew Barber as president
-
Oxford News4 weeks agoNHS fracture service helps support extra 1,000 patients
-
Oxford News4 weeks agoHenley pub once owned by Russell Brand reopens after 6 years
-
UK News4 weeks agoThe race to replace Starmer is on – but he still faces a momentous choice