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Tyson Fury v Arslanbek Makhmudov: heavyweight boxing – live | Tyson Fury
Key events
Round 9
A reminder this is scheduled for 12 rounds. Will it get that far? Fury has landed over 100 punches as this round begins and while the majority are jabs, he’s increasingly upping the number of power shots. Fury is now the one pushing Makhmudov to the ropes. Fury’s jabs are piercing Makhmudov’s high guard. Makhmudov is showing plenty of guts in there but he’s getting outworked and pretty much outclassed.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Fury 10-9 Makhmudov (Fury 89-82 Makhmudov)
Round 8
Fury’s jab is a range-finder, a ramrod, a distraction; whatever he needs it to be. But after setting the table with the jab, the idea is you ‘eat’ with the other punches – and on cue Fury lands an uppercut and a big left hand to the head! That stiffens Makhmudov’s legs and has him in survival mode. Fury is going through the gears here and Makhmudov is tiring.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Fury 10-9 Makhmudov (Fury 79-73 Makhmudov)
Round 7
Makhmudov finally has some success, landing two clean shots that – if they don’t at all shake up Fury – at least get his respect. But, as Andre Ward correctly assesses on commentary, he’s smothering his own work and is unable to capitalise on what pockets of success he has. Fury lands a terrific uppercut! He’s been looking for that and it lands. Makhmudov took it well. Fury goes back to controlling everything with his jab.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Fury 10-9 Makhmudov (Fury 69-64 Makhmudov)
Round 6
Fury fires in some straight punches to body and head. He easily evades Makhmudov’s cumbersome blows. Anthony Joshua is filming at all on his phone at ringside. Why not, eh? Though this is hardly a classic, AJ. Makhmudov rumbles forward. In truth, Fury is rarely catching him clean but every now and then, he lands a crisp blow. Fury briefly goes southpaw, then switches back again.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Fury 10-9 Makhmudov (Fury 59-55 Makhmudov)
Round 5
Makhmudov is landing the odd flush punch. But they are one-offs. Fury, unsurprisingly at 37, doesn’t look as light on his feet as he once did. But he’s still quicker with his fists and Makhmudov’s output has slowed. It’s an untidy fight but in the final minute, Fury goes to work, thumping in some body shots, then he lands a clubbing left hook up close. They touch gloves at the end of the round.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Fury 10-9 Makhmudov (Fury 49-46 Makhmudov)
Round 4
Makhmudov clips Fury with a solid left hand! No sense Fury was rocked but it was a clean punch, the Russian is enthused and ups his work rate, launching hooks. Admittedly, they look like they’re coming through porridge, but you wouldn’t want to get caught by one. Fury grapples, counters, briefly gets Makhmudov in a headlock. A one-two right down the pipe from Fury lands flush on Makhmudov with a minute to go. It’s a bit of a roughhouse fight but Fury is busier and doing better work.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Fury 10-9 Makhmudov (Fury 39-37 Makhmudov)
Round 3
“I hurt him there,” Fury tells trainer SugarHill Steward in the corner between rounds. On the round’s start, he looks to use his feet, circling Makhmudov and firing out a more authoritative jab. Fury is headhunting, although Makhmudov’s body is a large target. The pair clinch in the last minute but Fury does start banging to the body now. Several times. Makhmudov is realising that in a mauling scrap up close, Fury is as comfortable as he is at range.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Fury 10-9 Makhmudov (Fury 29-28 Makhmudov)
Round 2
Makhmudov comes forward with more clubbing shots. He’s got a pawing jab but it’s pretty slow. Fury’s flicking jab is faster. He’s in centre ring, feinting, looking to counter ‘The Lion’. Makhmudov keeps charging Fury to the ropes but the two just clinch and grapple when Fury gets there. At the end of the round, Fury spins Makhmudov into the corner and lands some shots.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Fury 10-9 Makhmudov (Fury 19-19 Makhmudov)
Round 1
Makhmudov, very similar dimensions to Fury, bulls forward. He lands one decent right hand. He has a host of first-round KOs – of his 19 KOs in 23 fights, the vast majority are early. Fury isn’t unsettled though, he flicks out some counters. He’s happy to back off, observe his opponent, start to get a read on his style. It is crude. In the final minute, Fury holds his feet a little more in centre ring and fires off some straight punches.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Fury 9-10 Makhmudov (Fury 9-10 Makhmudov)
A reminder that earlier, we were promised a huge announcement post-fight – and Anthony Joshua and Eddie Hearn are ringside at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. So, well, you do the maths. But first we have the small matter of Fury trying to earn a first win since 2023 first!
Michael Buffer is readying and rumbling.
If it was any normal boxer, you’d say crying during the ring entrance was a bad sign – shades of Oliver McCall. But of course Tyson Fury is not normal.
His mood switches like the wind and after shedding a tear for Hatton and having got rid of that emotion, he’s got a wide grin plastered over his face as he heads for the ring and the heavyweight contest up next!
Tyson Fury is in tears as he emerges, his ring entrance the promised tribute to Ricky Hatton. We get a blast of Blue Moon and Fury is in a sky blue and black robe to pay homage to his friend and the British boxing icon.
Arslanbek Makhmudov walks to the ring, looking focused. He has a strange quirk – almost Bill Goldberg-esque (dare I saw on the Guardian) – of twitching his muscular neck. It does not detract from his intimidating aura I must say.
Donald McRae
Conor Benn, at 29, is eight years younger than Regis Prograis. He is also the bigger and much fresher man so there was little surprise in his clear points victory. But the best welterweights in the world will hardly be quaking after watching Benn tonight. Instead, I reckon they will jump at the chance of making a shedload of money by signing up to fight him.. At least to my slightly jaded eyes, Benn is not much more than a decent operator who is in supreme condition and can fight at a fair old lick.
The muted hum of the crowd throughout the fight suggested that they were not exactly blown away either.
And now for the big men…
Benn beats Prograis by unanimous decision
Conor Benn gets the same score from all three judges: 98-92 for a unanimous decision victory over Regis Prograis, who applauded the victor at the announcement.
Benn is bleeding from one of his heead-clash caused cuts, the gutsy Prograis is marked up from Benn’s fists. It was a pretty clear decision as Benn swept the second half of the contest after Prograis had his moments in the first five rounds. Cue the Sweet Caroline!
We await the decision but I suspect it’s a formality. Regis Prograis has never been stopped and you can see why, great toughness from the two-weight world champion who had his moments.
The head clashes, often a problem for an aggressive orthodox fighter against a southpaw, caused Conor Benn some cuts and moments of uncertainty. But he found a gameplan that worked, going to body and head with success.
Round 10
The final round! Benn pushes Prograis to the canvas and gets a ticking off from the referee. Prograis’ legs are looking pretty unsteady but he fires off a few right jabs to show Benn he’s still in there. Benn rotates the target, fists cocked, he’s desperate for a stoppage of course – but the distance may be against him. Yet another head clash! And Benn is bleeding once more. He’ll be marked up tomorrow but the greater punishment honestly came from Prograis’ head rather than his fists. The final bell and the two embrace.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Benn 10-9 Prograis (Benn 98-92 Prograis)
Round 9
I have the same score as David Haye. Erm, is that ever a good sign? (We didn’t score the rounds the exact same way, for what it’s worth.) Anyway, the ninth round is more of the same: Benn with the combination punches, body and head. But he hasn’t found a shot to really shake up Prograis, despite his late-fight dominance. The American’s face is very marked up now but he’s incredibly game and bites down to survive the round. He’s looking weary.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Benn 10-9 Prograis (Benn 88-83 Prograis)
Round 8
An aggressive start from Benn, unloading as he wants a stoppage inside the 10-round distance. The corner have done on a fine job on the cuts, they’re not a problem. Benn is throwing punches in bunches and while he’s getting caught with the odd one-punch counter coming in, there’s not enough on Prograis’ blows to slow down the man stalking him. Benn is twisting from the waist, trying to find the angles, another clear round.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Benn 10-9 Prograis (Benn 78-74 Prograis)
Round 7
Prograis is sucking wind a bit as Benn bangs in the body shots. The head clashes, a problem against southpaws, have caused the cuts but to be fair to Benn he looks calm again now. The uppercut is working for Benn as he has found some variety at last. Prograis landed with the odd counter but the pace of this fight is against him. A big round for Benn.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Benn 10-9 Prograis (Benn 68-65 Prograis)
Round 6
Benn is wide open for a Prograis left hand. That’s happened a few times and a bigger puncher – or just a bigger fighter than the natural light-welterweight Prograis – would have Benn in some bother here. Benn lands an uppercut, but now he’s cut over the other eye! Benn’s face is looking a bit of a mess. Prograis says “no” when Benn lands a shot as the two exchange verbals as well as blows. I actually think Benn edged that round, landing some good body punches, but he’s not looking comfortable in there.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Benn 10-9 Prograis (Benn 58-56 Prograis)
Round 5
Benn looks to open up again. He’s outworking Prograis for spells but it’s a bit predictable and plenty of shots are hitting the American’s gloves. Prograis is catching Benn with some straight lefts. Now they’re swapping blows to the body! This fight is really catching fire and becoming a slugfest. I think Benn edged that on work rate but Prograis is putting in some eye-catching counters. Good entertainment.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Benn 10-9 Prograis (Benn 48-47 Prograis)
Round 4
Benn comes out fast but Prograis surprises him slightly by coming forward for the first time and landing a few solid punches. And Benn has a cut over his right eye! I’m not sure if it was a punch or a head clash but Prograis definitely landed a few clean shots there. Benn, bleeding, is more tenative. He’s still firing off shots – and connecting – but he doesn’t look particularly comfortable.
Additional: the replays show a clash of heads caused the cut.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Benn 9-10 Prograis (Benn 38-38 Prograis)
Round 3
Benn starts firing off his own jab, he’s boxing more now, rather than just looking to knock Prograis’ block off. Probably wise. He lands some jabs to the head. Prograis is looking a bit marked up as he dodges some blows but plenty more find their mark. Benn is setting a fast pace.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Benn 10-9 Prograis (Benn 29-28 Prograis)
Round 2
Prograis seems to have recovered fine at the start of the second. But he’s still standing in the pocket and trading with Benn, which may be risky. That said, Benn is missing a lot in this round. Prograis touches down as he throws a shot, but it was clearly a slip. A slightly untidy round from Benn, Prograis landed the better punches, but how long can he keep it up?
Guardian’s unofficial score: Benn 9-10 Prograis (Benn 19-19 Prograis)
Round 1
Conor Benn on the attack in the first minute, looking to utilise his weight as the bigger man. Benn is on the offensive early on and he seems to stiffen Prograis’ legs a touch with one clubbing shot. Prograis might be best to avoid a firefight and the southpaw backs off and fires off with his job for the second half of the round. And Prograis’ knees buckle at the bell from a straight right! He was rocked there, the bell came at the perfect time.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Benn 10-9 Prograis (Benn 10-9 Prograis)
Conor Benn gets a good ovation from his home crowd, despite being a divisive figure to many in boxing. We’re about to hear the first bell in this 150lb contest!
Donald McRae
It’s pretty cold out here in Tottenham tonight but at least the atmosphere is starting to heat up. The arena is around 80% full and a sign that the once magnetic power of Tyson Fury is just fading a little as, at various promotional events this week, they were reduced to plugging ticket availability. Clearly, the fact that Arslanbek Makhmudov is not a stellar name has contributed to Fury’s failure to sell out the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium tonight. But time is also ticking for Fury and his latest return follows two narrow defeats in a row to the mighty Oleksandr Usyk.
Conor Benn v Regis Prograis is about to start. I’ve been close to Prograis over the years and was in his locker room for one of the great world title nights of his career. But Prograis is 37 now and this could be a hard night…
Conor Benn emerges in a black and gold robe with his father, Nigel, who you may be familiar with, over his shoulder. We get a full orchestra at the top of the ramp! Nothing spells terror like a harmony of strings.
Michael Buffer is in the ring and the veteran MC announces Regis Prograis, who is walking to the ring in a wonderfully elaborate mask. His nickname, Rougarou, is a sort of Cajun werewolf, so that’s one of the cooler/more original boxing monikers.
His song of choice is Stand by Me by Ben E King. I’ve heard more intimidating entrance music if we’re honest.
We await Conor Benn v Regis Prograis – which looks simple to predict on paper. Benn is younger, bigger and coming off a career-best win after dominating an admittedly shopworn Chris Eubank Jr. Prograis is a former two-time world champion and, if he was still the fighter who gave Josh Taylor a hell of a scrap in this city in 2019, we’d be sizing up a very different contest.
But at 37, Prograis appears diminished. He’s endured knockdowns and wobbles in losing two of his last three fights, and was at his best at 140lb. There’s even talk that the American is carrying an injury going into tonight.
Then again, it’s not all plain sailing for Benn who looked a tad drawn coming in at 150lb having fought the two Eubank contests at middleweight. Plus there’s all the distractions of his conscious uncoupling with Eddie Hearn and embrace of new promoters Zuffa. A case of Prograis winding back the clock or Benn earning a statement win? Let’s find out!
Anthony Joshua is ringside in Tottenham and Turki al-Sheikh, boxing’s Saudi powerbroker, is speaking on Netflix. He hints at “a big surprise” tonight and says that “we will announce the biggest fight in the history of England”.
Right, you don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to work out what he means. So if all goes to plan tonight, we’ll be getting a Fury-Joshua post-fight face-off tonight. Unless Makhmudov can upset the odds.
Riakporhe wins KO5 against Tshikeva
Richard Riakporhe wins the British heavyweight title by stopping Jeamie ‘TKV’ Tshikeva. Riakporhe adds his name to the list of heavyweight danger men, the former cruiserweight displaying heavyweight pop as he dominated TKV.
Riakporhe dropped TKV with a powerful right hand in round five, then bludgeoned the defending British champ along the ropes, prompting the referee to leap in. A little early? Arguably, but that was one-way traffic and there was only one winner.
The new champion, looking younger than his 36 years (what’s your secret, Richard?) is now 3-0 (3 KOs) since moving up from cruiserweight.
Huni defeats Clarke by majority decision
We’ve had one heavyweight contest involving a Briton already: Frazer Clarke lost a majority decision to Australia’s Justis Huni. It’s a third defeat in his past four for the veteran Olympic bronze medallist Clarke – though he was in tough against Huni, who’s only loss came against Fabio Wardley in a bout he was winning handily before he was spectacularly stopped.
A close fight with one judge seeing it even probably isn’t the worst outcome for Clarke, who’s also suffered at the fists of the unbeaten Wardley. Huni confirms his standing as a decent heavyweight contender.
More elite-level pre-fight previewing: Donald McRae on the reasons behind Tyson Fury’s latest comeback. I encourage you to give it a read.
For me, it’s everything,” Fury said of boxing. “It’s everything that I love to do and it’s something that I’ll continue to do.” He then added, with aching simplicity: “It’s been a while and I’ve missed it.”
Arslanbek Makhmudov may look ferocious but Donald McRae found him to be very friendly when they sat down together. Unless, perhaps, you are a bear.
Although it does sound like he regrets that particularly contest. “It was very terrible to be honest,” Arslanbek told Don.
Preamble
Welcome to Tyson Fury’s return to the ring after a 16-month absence, officially ending retirement number 1,247 (OK, it’s number five, but close enough). His opponent? The fearsome-looking Russian Arslanbek Makhmudov, although you suspect the real prize for Fury is victory setting up a long-awaited megafight with Anthony Joshua.
Not that victory is guaranteed at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Fury turns 38 in August, hasn’t won a fight since October 2023 and – while there’s no shame in two competitive points losses to Oleksandr Usyk – he’s probably no longer at the peak of his considerable powers. There’s always a danger with his age, wear and tear, and a previously less-than-spartan lifestyle outside of the ring that Fury might just turn up and discover he no longer has it.
As for the 36-year-old Makhmudov: it’s obvious why he’s been chosen. A whopping 6ft 6in, 265lb with the look of a James Bond henchman/Rocky villain/WWE monster heel (delete as applicable). Yet for all his solid amateur pedigree and a decent 21-2 (19 KOs) record, he’s a pretty straightforward boxer – and one who’s been stopped in two of his last five fights.
In his last outing, Makhmudov beat a Briton in Doncaster’s Dave Allen. But Fury is no Allen and the best version of ‘The Gypsy King’ would absolutely toy with Makhmudov. How much of that Fury is left, however, is a real point of intrigue on a card that also includes Conor Benn v Regis Prograis in a 150lb catchweight bout as Benn moves on from Chris Eubank Jr and his former promoter, Eddie Hearn.
There’s some good heavyweight scraps on the undercard as well but we’re expecting Benn v Prograis to begin around 8.55pm (BST), while the first bell for Fury v Makhmudov will probably be approx 10pm. Please follow along with us!
A 44-year-old man is in custody over the incident where a woman appeared to be shoved into the path of a bus.
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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:
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Spain v Cabo Verde (5pm BST, 12pm ET, 9am PT)
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Belgium v Egypt (8pm BST, 3pm ET, 12pm PT)
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Saudi Arabia v Uruguay (11pm BST, 6pm ET, 3pm PT)
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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.
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