Keyword – Football
Trefwoorden – World Cup 2026, Football, World Cup, Sport, Haiti football team
Title – ‘We can do much’: how feeling for family helped end Haiti’s long World Cup absence | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/bryan-armen-graham
Link – ‘We can do much’: how feeling for family helped end Haiti’s long World Cup absence | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-13T07:00:07.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/13/we-can-do-much-how-feeling-for-family-helped-end-haitis-long-world-cup-absence

Tamy Michel grew up watching her father run a football club through prison, political upheaval and the endless uncertainties of life in Haiti.

Solange Michel spent 18 years leading Baltimore SC, one of the country’s most storied clubs. In the 1990s, he was jailed amid the turmoil that engulfed Haitian politics but the club survived. Later, Tamy Michel’s aunt, Simone Devuleux, took over. The family have been stewards of Haitian football since 1974.

Today, Michel represents players at the highest levels of the global game, from Ricardo Adé, the defensive leader of the Ecuadorian powerhouse LDU Quito, to Jean-Ricner Bellegarde and Wilson Isidor, coming off Premier League seasons, and Haiti’s record goalscorer, Duckens Nazon.

For much of the world, Haiti’s return to football’s biggest stage after a 52-year absence, beginning at 2am on Sunday against Scotland at Boston Stadium, has been framed as an underdog story: a feelgood tale from a country more often associated with political turmoil, gang violence, natural disasters and humanitarian crises than elite sport. Michel sees something else entirely.

“People usually say we’re not ready,” she says. “A lot of people never expected Haiti to make it. When the odds were against them, they never stopped. People forget that football is played on the field. They look at statistics and rankings and assume Haiti can’t compete. But at the end of the day, it’s 11 against 11.” The surprise, she suggests, says as much about outsiders’ assumptions as it does about Haiti itself.

The team that have arrived at the 2026 World Cup, remarkably having booked their place despite playing every qualifier away from home, bear little resemblance to the one many casual observers might imagine. Only 10 of Haiti’s 26 players were born in the country. The squad includes Bellegarde, who plays for Wolves; Isidor, fresh from helping Sunderland to seventh in England’s top flight; Nazon, whose career has spanned France, England, Turkey and Iran; and Adé, who has established himself as one of South America’s most respected defenders.

Yet Michel rejects the suggestion that Haiti have become some kind of diaspora side. “I see a national team,” she says. That distinction matters because, for all the different paths that brought them together, many of Haiti’s players faced a similar decision. They could have built successful careers without pulling on a Haiti shirt.

Bellegarde’s story illustrates the point. Born and raised in France, he came through one of the world’s most productive football systems and won caps for France’s youth national teams before establishing himself in the Premier League. When Haiti approached him about representing the national team, Michel says he weighed the decision carefully, speaking with his parents and those around him. His heart, she says, was already with Haiti. “It’s home. It connects them to their parents and where their families come from.”

The same sentiment echoes throughout the squad. Haiti may not have been where many of these players learned the game, but it remained the place they chose to represent.

Haiti’s history contains a narrative entirely different from the prevailing international coverage. It became the world’s first independent nation founded by formerly enslaved people after a successful revolt, a legacy that shapes how many Haitians understand themselves and their place in the world.

That tension resurfaced this year when Fifa required the national team to alter a World Cup jersey that featured imagery from the Haitian revolution. Months earlier, Olympic officials had raised similar objections to the inclusion of the revolutionary leader Toussaint Louverture on Haiti’s Winter Games uniforms. The disputes served as a reminder that Haiti’s story is larger and more complicated than the stereotypes often attached to it.

Adé understands that burden better than most. Unlike many of his teammates, the 36-year-old defender grew up in Haiti before building a career across the Americas. As one of the team’s leaders, he has watched expectations settle on the squad’s shoulders. Asked what responsibility comes with representing Haiti on the world stage, he does not talk about tactics or results. Instead he talks about the people watching back home. “Whenever we win a game, people are always happy,” Adé tells the Guardian. “They will be in the street and everything.”

The World Cup offers a chance to present another image of Haiti. “People see too much bad news,” Adé says. “I’m not blaming them, but that’s what they see. Once you step foot in the country, you’re going to see other things.”

Millions of viewers who know little about Haiti will encounter the country through this team in the coming weeks. For many of them, these matches may be their most sustained exposure to Haiti in years. “Now soccer is the face of Haiti,” Adé says. “It’s the good thing about Haiti. Now people are talking about Haiti because of soccer and because of the World Cup.”

The responsibility extends beyond winning matches. “The thing we are doing is showing Haiti in a different way,” Adé says. “Showing that we can have less, but we can do much.”

Haiti have not played a home match since 2021, yet support has followed the national team wherever they have gone. Michel recalled last week’s friendly against Peru in Miami that drew about 27,000 spectators. By her estimate, more than 20,000 were Haitian. With travel from Haiti prohibitively expensive for many and US visa restrictions limiting access for others, the diaspora has become the public face of Haitian support during the tournament. Scottish officials expect a similar dynamic in Foxborough, where the famed Tartan Army may find itself outnumbered by supporters whose connection to Haiti spans generations and continents.

Next week Les Grenadiers face the five-time champions Brazil in Philadelphia on Juneteenth [19 June]. Fans are expected to descend on the city from New York, Boston, Montreal, south Florida and beyond, turning the match into something larger than sport: a gathering of a nation spread across the world.

“There was a time when teams looked at Haiti as an easy opponent,” Michel says. “But you could see how hungry the players became. They always wanted to elevate Haiti and were proud to represent the country.

“The biggest change is that it’s become more than football. It’s family. The structure has improved too: travel, organization, conditions for players. The sport has evolved a lot. And now we’re in the World Cup. That’s proof of how much has changed.”

Some fans will remember Haiti’s only previous World Cup appearance in 1974, when Emmanuel Sanon ended Dino Zoff’s record streak of minutes without conceding a goal and briefly brought Italy, one of football’s giants, to their knees . Others may know the country’s place in World Cup history through Joe Gaetjens, the Haiti-born dishwasher whose goal delivered the USA’s famous upset of England in 1950 . Many, however, have never seen Haiti play on the sport’s biggest stage. Some have never even set foot in the country they will spend the afternoon cheering for.

Yet for a few hours, geography will matter less than identity. Families that left Haiti decades ago, children raised thousands of miles from the island and recent arrivals who still call it home will find themselves united beneath the same flag, singing the same anthem and investing the same hopes in the same team. For decades, Haiti has often been introduced to the world by others. This month, its footballers will do the introducing themselves.

“I want them to know a little bit about our story,” Adé says. “We’ve been fighters for a long time.”

Keyword – Sport
Trefwoorden – Women’s T20 World Cup 2026, Australia women’s cricket team, Women’s T20 World Cup, Women’s cricket, Cricket, Australia sport, Sport
Title – From hunted to hunter: Australia enter T20 World Cup with renewed hunger | Women's T20 World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/martin-pegan
Link – From hunted to hunter: Australia enter T20 World Cup with renewed hunger | Women's T20 World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-12T15:00:49.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2026/jun/13/womens-t20-world-cup-australia-preview

A ustralia settled into a familiar role as the hunted across more than a decade of dominance that reaped six T20 world titles and a pair of 50-over trophies since 2010. But for the first time in more than seven years, the once all-conquering team enter a women’s global showpiece without carrying the weight of either the T20 or ODI world crowns.

Captain Sophie Molineux has been eager to suggest in the build up to this year’s T20 World Cup that the lack of recent silverware means the pressure is off, the shackles have been released, and the team can play with a newfound freedom. More likely Australia have arrived in England with renewed hunger and a point to prove that they remain the primary force in women’s cricket.

Australia stole a march on the rest of women’s cricket with the early success of the WBBL. The depth of local talent was unrivalled across the globe and, along with the relative riches on offer, helped attract some of the biggest names from foreign lands to the domestic competition. As the shifting sands of international cricket have reached the women’s game, players are now just as likely to be pulled towards the T20 leagues of India and England.

A shock defeat to South Africa in the semi-finals of the 2024 T20 World Cup was the first sign that the gap between Australia and the chasing pack was finally starting to close. The loss to eventual champions India at the same stage of last year’s Cricket World Cup underlined that the benefits that come with local players regularly competing at closer to international standard would now be spread much wider.

Yet it would be no surprise if Australia lay down a marker when they meet South Africa in their tournament opener on Saturday. More importantly the winner of the high-stakes clash will move into a position of strength in a group that includes an a resurgent India. Pakistan, Bangladesh and Women’s T20 World Cup debutants the Netherlands make up the rest of the group of death . The last group game between Australia and India on 28 June will probably decide which teams will progress to face the top two from the alternate group that includes the hosts England and reigning champions New Zealand, and which of the three heavyweights are bundled out before the semi-finals.

Australia have only played 12 T20s since the last global tournament – the fewest of the leading contenders – winning 10 times but paying a price for the two defeats with a series loss at home to India in February. A clean sweep of the West Indies in the Caribbean was a quick return to form and Australia have this month made a statement with commanding victories over South Africa, England and the West Indies in World Cup warm-up matches .

The six-time T20 world champions step out for a global tournament for the first time since the retirement of Alyssa Healy with all eyes fixed on the future. But the Molineux era has suffered from teething problems with the skipper hindered by a back issue and unable to even take the field at times in her new role let alone make an impact as an all-rounder.

The decision to hand the left-arm spinner the captaincy in all formats has also created a serious selection crunch . Australia have had to get used to managing the nicest of problems to have – genuine competition for places – but with Molineux leading the side and gamechanging all-rounder Ash Gardner another lock, leg-spinners Georgia Wareham and Alana King are left fighting for the same spot.

Wareham’s power hitting can be a weapon in the shortest format, though King has grasped her opportunities back in the T20 lineup and was player of the series against the West Indies in March. Where the quartet currently sits will be revealed when Australia’s women return to Old Trafford for the first time in 50 years for their tournament opener on a spin-friendly deck.

The batting lineup has hardly skipped a beat since Healy stepped away . Georgia Voll has overtaken opening partner Beth Mooney to be the No 1 ranked T20 batter in the world, while Phoebe Litchfield is a stalwart of the top order at the age of 23. Veteran Ellyse Perry and all-rounder Annabel Sutherland ensure the embarrassment of riches remains and leave the likes of Tahlia McGrath and Grace Harris battling for middle-order spots. The left-arm quick Lucy Hamilton is the surest sign that the next generation is on their way as an exciting addition to an attack expected to largely turn to spin. But Australia will otherwise rely on the familiar core that became the benchmark in women’s cricket as they seek to reclaim their place as not just the team to beat but one to be feared.

Keyword – Sport
Trefwoorden – Ben Stokes, England cricket team, ECB, Cricket, Sport
Title – Ben Stokes has been extraordinary for English cricket, it should cut him some slack | Ben Stokes | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/emmajohn
Link – Ben Stokes has been extraordinary for English cricket, it should cut him some slack | Ben Stokes | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-12T04:00:36.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/jun/12/ben-stokes-england-cricket-test-captain

There are times when it’s possible to keep sport in a sensible perspective, and then there are weeks it challenges your very sanity. This has felt like one of those.

Perhaps the US president erecting a cage‑fighting octagon in his back garden is – given the state of the world – not that crazy. After all, it’s probably less tacky than paving over the Rose Garden , or the proposed ballroom‑slash‑droneport ‑slash‑ triumphal‑arch . You say a World Cup referee has been denied entry to the US because he’s from Somalia? Well, really. Anyone who didn’t see that coming hasn’t been paying attention.

No, I submit that the truly mindboggling performance of the week goes to England cricket alone. The Test captain, Ben Stokes, stayed out too late and broke his own curfew after his team’s much-needed win against New Zealand. He might have got away with it if it weren’t for a pesky Saracens rugby player throwing a punch that landed on the England team’s security guard. Without that inciting incident, would we even have known he’d stayed an hour past his bedtime?

It’s impossible not to feel sympathy for the man. It was his birthday last week. He’d been teetotal for the best part of a year. The curfew was in place because of his teammates’ indiscretions, not his own. And when he was suspended pending investigation, the first person in line to replace him as leader was Harry Brook: the very person fined and given a final warning for clashing with a nightclub bouncer in New Zealand and then lying about it.

Even the ECB, which decided to face out an Ashes defeat without calling anyone to account, wasn’t prepared to do that. Instead, it falls to Joe Root to take the reins of the England team once more. Generous soul as he is, it’s unlikely he is thanking them for the opportunity. He has already had his fill of a gruelling role in which failure – an entirely unavoidable part of any sport – is treated like a crime against the people.

So, if you’ve found the Stokes story utterly wearying, you’re not alone. There’s a sense of familiarity and inevitability about it. England cricket has a long tradition of shooting itself in the foot; it’s also well versed in dropping leaders for the wrong things. Just ask Mike Gatting, who lost the captaincy in 1988 on the flimsiest of pretexts: a tabloid sting rumoured he had spent the night with a barmaid during a Test against West Indies and despite Gatting’s protestations of innocence the chairman of selectors used the excuse to give him the boot.

Perhaps it is cricket’s class-ridden origins that have made the game especially censorious about individual moral failings, often while allowing institutional ones to continue unchecked. Lord Harris once described it as “more free from anything sordid than any game in the world” and the Victorian attitude that the sport is somehow a virtue in itself still prevails in endless references to the numinous Spirit of Cricket . Being an England captain – or even just a top player – has always come with an intense scrutiny, as any of those who lined up at Lord’s for the ground’s 150th Test celebrations would tell you.

Stokes’s actions did require some sort of answer, at least from the moment the ECB admitted a curfew was in place. The board might have had the wit to retrospectively lift it, just for the victory celebrations, but presumably the lack of transparency in Brook’s case, from the player and the administration, made that a non-starter. Three investigations – one for Saracens and one for the ECB, plus a referral to the Cricket Regulator – feels like overkill and could, we’re told, take months to complete.

Meanwhile, Stokes and his partner-in-lawlessness, Gus Atkinson, miss out on England’s’s Test at the Oval next week, underlining the general feeling that everyone’s a loser here. Here is a once-national sport that has spent the past two decades in an existential crisis of its own making, lamenting its dwindling significance and support, fearing for its future. The best thing going for it has been its Test captain: a guy in whom passion and cool effortlessly combine and whose extraordinary talents are contained in a relatable and deeply human wrapper.

Now here he is, humbled for the most meaningless of infractions and kept off the stage for which he was made. How many times, during his various rehabs of the past few years, have we pined for his presence? How grateful have we been for the superhuman stubbornness and willingness to endure pain, just to keep throwing his broken body back in the fray?

The rush to judgment against him in some quarters has felt completely perverse. But then – and here comes the admission – I’m inclined to run in the opposite direction. The “Bristol incident”, as we now habitually call that time when Stokes stood trial for affray, may seem a world away; his acquittal and acts of on‑field heroism, his honesty about depression and emergence as an inspiring leader have reduced what was a major scandal to a rarely mentioned footnote.

But I haven’t forgotten how easy it was to assume the worst back then, or how quick some of us were to do so. If anything has taught me that things are not always what they seem, then it’s the CCTV video footage that circulated after Stokes’s initial arrest in 2017.

This week he might once again have been in the wrong place at the wrong time, but everything that has happened in the past decade suggests he has earned some grace and respect.

Keyword – Opinion
Trefwoorden – Elon Musk, Nasdaq, SpaceX, Stock markets, Technology, Science, Business
Title – The SpaceX IPO made Musk a trillionaire. The old rules of capitalism no longer apply | Robert Reich | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/robert-reich
Link – The SpaceX IPO made Musk a trillionaire. The old rules of capitalism no longer apply | Robert Reich | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-12T17:40:36.000Z
Category – Opinion
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/12/spacex-ipo-elon-musk-trillionaire

Elon Musk is now the world’s first trillionaire, after his SpaceX exploration and satellite company went public on the Nasdaq on Friday.

With shares priced at $135 each, Musk’s aerospace and satellite maker soared to an overall market valuation of approximately $1.77tn – which raised Musk’s net worth (which had already hovered at the astronomical $813bn) into the $1tn stratosphere.

What does this tell you about capitalism in this era? That it’s no longer based on economic principles as they’re taught in school – prices set by supply and demand. It’s now based on hype, connections and total, arbitrary control.

First, the hype.

Musk priced SpaceX stock at roughly 100 times the company’s total revenue in 2025. This is ballsy, to say the least, given SpaceX’s consistent negative profitability and its failure to meet prior goals.

Granted, it’s difficult to predict the value of activities that don’t yet exist, such as SpaceX’s stated mission to “extend the light of consciousness to the stars”. Interstellar space travel and interplanetary habitation are inherently speculative endeavors.

But SpaceX’s initial public offering is nothing more than a show of faith in Musk.

Much of SpaceX’s “value” comes out of a deal Musk negotiated between SpaceX and his artificial intelligence startup, xAI. Musk essentially made that deal with himself. A magic trick, out of thin air!

The closer you look at the SpaceX IPO, the more it looks like Musk’s ill-fated Doge. It also bears a striking resemblance to Trump’s takeover of the US government.

All of it is arbitrary – based on the hype and will of one man with a giant ego and an insatiable thirst for money and power. It’s built on self-dealing. There’s no accountability. No checks. No balances.

As to connections, look no further than Brendan Carr, the chair of the Federal Communications Commission. He’s been a Musk booster from the start. In fact, Musk recommended him to Trump as the perfect leader for the agency.

Since then, Carr has approved regulatory requests for Elon Musk’s SpaceX and its Starlink satellite internet – allowing Musk to gain control of two-thirds of all active satellites, more than 10,300, in low Earth orbit, and giving SpaceX dominance over global internet access and defense communications.

Even as Carr led the way to Musk’s near monopoly on low-Earth orbit satellites, Carr also commenced an investigation into a rival satellite company, EchoStar, after Musk’s company complained about it. Carr also threatened to revoke the broadcast licenses of NBC and ABC over their unfavorable coverage of Trump.

Finally, Musk will have total control over SpaceX . Shareholders won’t have any voice whatsoever. Each share held by Musk will have 10 times the voting power of a share offered to the public. SpaceX’s board of directors will engage in a pantomime. They’ll have no meaningful authority.

None of this would be of particular cause for concern if investors could decide for themselves whether the downside risks and potential upside gains from buying SpaceX stock were worth the price. That’s called a “market”. Caveat emptor.

But many of us, if not most of us, with any savings parked in major stock indices (yours truly included) won’t have any choice. We’ll invest in SpaceX whether we want to or not. That’s because the major indices have been rigged.

Normally, major stock indices have a waiting period before they plow their investors’ money into a newly formed company, in order to test whether that company is worth it. But SpaceX has lobbied index funds to change the rules.

On 1 May, for example, the Nasdaq 100 implemented a new “fast entry” rule that will include companies among the top 40 most highly valued companies – which will almost certainly include SpaceX just days from now.

Presto! A big chunk of Americans’ retirement savings and pensions (as well as university endowments) will automatically be tied to SpaceX’s market value. At the same time, all that automatic infusion of investment will artificially jack up the value of SpaceX, at least in the short term.

But here’s the real kicker. SpaceX insiders will be able to sell their shares sooner than is usually the case with an IPO, because that’s the way the SpaceX IPO has been organized.

This means they can enjoy the stocks’ upward tide as the major indices force millions of investors to buy it, and then they can exit SpaceX before the tide goes out.

Musk is now a trillionaire, but a lot of innocent people could be shafted by this IPO, perhaps without their even noticing. It could be a huge redistribution from most of us to Elon and his buddies.

I don’t want to sound cynical, but this is the sort of thing that brings out the cynicism in me. It’s the story of rot at the core of American capitalism in this Second Gilded Age.

Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Guardian US columnist and his newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com . His new book, Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America, is out now in the US and in the UK

Keyword – Life and style
Trefwoorden – Photography, Life and style, Art, Art and design, Culture
Title – ‘It reminds me of the love I felt for my faithful companion’: Tony Hertz’s best phone picture | Photography | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/grace-holliday
Link – ‘It reminds me of the love I felt for my faithful companion’: Tony Hertz’s best phone picture | Photography | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-13T10:00:12.000Z
Category – Lifestyle
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/jun/13/tony-hertz-best-phone-picture-man-dog

L olly – a chow-chow-cocker spaniel mix – was Tony Hertz ’s dog for 15 years. “She had long black hair with a little white on her mouth, ears, eyebrows and feet, and a partially marbled tongue. She was quite cute,” Hertz says.

Hertz and Lolly were living in Pismo Beach, California, when he took this shot. At the time he was working on a photography series and book based around shadows, and he had taken her along on one of his regular sunset walks. Over a career spanning three decades , Hertz has photographed queens, popes and a president, but this was an attempt at something more personal. The photo was taken on a grassy area next to a Walmart. As Hertz sat down on a bench for a breather, he noticed in their shadows that Lolly was looking directly at him. “I positioned my phone so it couldn’t be seen in the shadow, composed the shot and then looked toward Lolly so that our profiles would be turned to each other,” he says. Hertz often wears his brimmed hats when seeking out new elements for his series, “to make them consistent with a little noir look”.

Lolly died in November from chronic kidney failure. “There’s a void in my home now,” Hertz says. “Though she lived a good long life, I still miss her very much. The photo reminds me of the love I felt for my faithful companion. She often shadowed me.”

Keyword – Society
Trefwoorden – Children, Television & radio, AI (artificial intelligence), Computing, Culture, Society, Technology, University of the Arts London, Education, Research
Title – Pioneering UK Nerve Lab harnesses AI to map effect of children’s screen time | Children | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/linda-geddes
Link – Pioneering UK Nerve Lab harnesses AI to map effect of children’s screen time | Children | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-13T11:00:13.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jun/13/nerve-lab-uk-ai-brain-scanning-tech-childrens-screen-time

P arents are constantly being told to limit their children’s screen time. But when it comes to deciphering which films or TV shows are best suited to developing minds, the guidance remains largely one-size-fits-all. A relatively slow-paced programme such as Bluey offers a very different viewing experience to a fast-moving action series such as PAW Patrol, yet both are broadly considered suitable for young children.

This challenge is growing as the type of content children are exposed to evolves. “Today’s young viewers are increasingly engaging with short-form, fast-paced, highly captivating content, often created by splicing and rearranging existing episodic content into quickly digestible snippets or compilations,” said Prof Tim Smith, director of University of the Arts London’s Nerve Lab. “This evolution is not only changing how content is produced and distributed, but may also affect children’s attention, comprehension and emotional response.”

Young children process information differently from adults, yet there is still relatively little evidence about how specific features of children’s programmes influence their attention, comprehension and behaviour. “We have kids as young as two spending three or four hours a day on screens. It is really important to have a wider understanding of what it means for them to watch something that’s appropriate for their age,” said Alisa Musatova, a research assistant on the Animating Minds project.

Animating Minds is just one strand of research under way at Nerve Lab, which opened in London earlier this week. The first facility of its kind in the UK, it combines wearable brain imaging, motion capture and AI-powered analytics to study how people respond to media and artistic experiences in real time. Other projects are developing tools to help visually impaired people navigate video games or even shape live dance and music performances.

To better understand how different styles of children’s content affect young viewers, Musatova and her colleagues have assembled a database of about 1,000 episodes of popular animated TV shows and are using AI-based tools to analyse features such as pacing, colourfulness, loudness, shot frequency and narrative structure, while interviewing animators, producers and commissioners about the creative decisions that shape children’s content.

They are also currently recruiting UK families with children aged three to six years to participate in an online study exploring how animated programmes influence their short-term attention.

Their ultimate goal is to develop tools that could help animators, commissioners and regulators understand whether programmes are having the intended effect on their target audience, while laying the foundations for more nuanced classification systems.

“The question is, can we build a computational system where we can understand and predict the direct effect that children’s animated content is going to have on young children?” said Smith.

Prof Heather Kirkorian, a developmental psychologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies children’s media use, agreed that further research to address this gap was needed.

“The digital media landscape has changed a lot in recent years,” she said. “While there is a lot of speculation about potential impacts on development, there is very little research that uses the types of precise measurement proposed in this work.”

She added that AI-based tools could make it possible to analyse children’s programming at a scale that would previously have been impractical. “In the past, this kind of work required very time-intensive – and sometimes subjective or imprecise – manual coding. Now that streaming platforms have democratised content creation, young children are watching an ever-growing array of videos on different platforms. Time-intensive manual coding just can’t keep up.”

Polly Conway, senior editor at Common Sense Media, which provides reviews and age-based guidance on children’s media, said additional evidence about the impact of children’s programming on young brains could be valuable, particularly if researchers can quantify features that have previously been difficult to define.

“Just because a programme or YouTube channel is teaching the ABCs, numbers or shapes, they may not be doing it at the correct level for the intended audience,” she said.

Another Nerve Lab project is using brain imaging and behavioural data to investigate individual differences in children’s comprehension of maths and identify new ways to support them.

Take fractions. Two children might answer the same question incorrectly, but for different reasons: one may not understand fractions, while another may simply struggle to suppress an intuitive response based on whole numbers – assuming that 1/4 must be bigger than 1/2 because four is bigger than two, for example.

“With conventional testing, I can see whether an answer is correct and how many seconds a child took to solve it, but it doesn’t tell me why two children have made the same mistake,” said Dr Rakhi Leela Nair, who is leading the Mathstronauts project. “One child may need help learning the concept of fractions. The other may know the rules, but need help to stop, think and inhibit the wrong answer.”

The hope is that a non-invasive form of brain scanning, called functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), could help unpick what’s going on. Children are fitted with a neoprene cap studded with sensors that use near-infrared light to monitor activity in different regions of the brain as they play a maths game on a computer. This information, combined with their game scores, is then used in real time to adapt the game and provide more personalised support.

Children who appear to understand the mathematical concept but get the question wrong because they respond impulsively are directed towards tasks that encourage them to slow down and think more carefully before answering. Those who have not yet mastered the concept are instead given additional teaching and practice exercises designed to strengthen their understanding. The system is now being tested with seven- and eight-year-olds in a north London primary school.

Prof Roi Cohen Kadosh, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Surrey, described the approach as “a plausible and potentially useful direction for educational neuroscience” but cautioned that its value would depend on whether brain-imaging data could provide insights beyond those available from teachers and conventional assessments.

“The important test is whether the system performs better than existing approaches,” he said. “A teacher may already be able to distinguish between a child who lacks conceptual understanding and a child who is answering impulsively.”

He added that technologies such as fNIRS should be seen as tools to support, rather than replace, teachers. “The opportunity is to use neuroscience, psychology and AI to understand the learner more precisely and give teachers better tools.”

Keyword – US news
Trefwoorden – Donald Trump, US news, US politics, UFC, Sport, MMA, US sports, Trump administration, Washington DC
Title – Seven fights on the South Lawn: Trump prepares for UFC birthday spectacle at White House | Donald Trump | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/joseph-gedeon
Link – Seven fights on the South Lawn: Trump prepares for UFC birthday spectacle at White House | Donald Trump | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-13T09:00:10.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/13/trump-ufc-birthday-white-house

T here may be swarms of bugs, rain showers and thunderstorms, but this isn’t Exodus, or the apocalypse: the president of the United States will host the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) at the White House on Sunday, his 80th birthday.

The iconic South Lawn – typically used by presidents to board Marine One on their way to summits, funerals and wars – has been blanketed by an octagon , ringed by thousands of seats in a mini coliseum, and dominated by a 92ft, 600-ton steel structure organizers have nicknamed “the Claw”, not unlike the alien tripods from the 2005 film War of the Worlds .

A tennis court was built at the White House in 1902. There are not one, but two, bowling alleys. Barack Obama added a basketball court in 2009. But never before has a major professional sporting event been staged on the grounds of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

The extraordinary event was the idea of Trump himself, according to UFC president Dana White, reinforcing the president’s ties with a league which has amassed an enormous fanbase around a core demographic of young men. But critics have called it a blood sport.

The spectacle has been tightly controlled, with stands packed with US armed forces members required to meet strict weight-to-height and fitness specifications.

Trump is shrewd about what his fans – the Maga base which sent him back to the White House in November 2024 – wants to see, according to biographer Gwenda Blair. “They want to see this anti-elite, anti-upper-crust, anti-upper-class event,” she said. “It’s on the White House lawn? That is rubbing everybody’s face in it. It’s a version of bragging.”

As workers erected scaffolding and vendor tents on the lawn this week, the final countdown to “UFC Freedom 250” was somewhat overshadowed by ominous weather forecasts, and a legal bid to block the event from taking place altogether.

UFC has never before staged a fully outdoor event in its 33-year history. The one previous outdoor attempt, a 2010 show in Abu Dhabi, was held in a venue that was at least partially covered. This one has no roof at all.

The National Weather Service forecast for Sunday evening currently shows a “likely” chance of thunderstorms in Washington DC right around the time the main event begins. UFC has two meteorologists on site, drawing from two separate data sources, filing weather updates every hour.

All the while, a lawsuit filed last weekend by the watchdog group Public Integrity Project sought an emergency injunction. The suit argues the administration erroneously relied on a rule meant for federally organized commemorations of the nation’s 250th anniversary to justify an event that, by White’s own admission, was Trump’s idea. A judge ultimately denied the request on Friday.

The complaint had also pointed to Trump’s financial disclosures, which showed that the president bought up to $50,000 in stock in TKO Group Holdings, the UFC’s parent company, earlier this year.

The administration pressed on, undeterred – championing what it pitched as the UFC’s virtues, from drug testing to diplomacy.

At the White House media day on Wednesday, Sara Carter, a former Fox News contributor now serving as director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, presented Derrick “The Black Beast” Lewis – one of Trump’s favorite UFC fighters – with recognition for 75 consecutive clean drug tests, and declared him to be an example for children everywhere.

Lewis thanked her, before telling reporters that he didn’t have anything against drugs, generally, but marijuana every now and then helps him out. If anyone wanted to give him a medal for it, he said, he’d take it.

A day later, Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, signed a memorandum of understanding establishing a public-private partnership between the state department and the UFC. Rubio called the promotion the “United Nations of fighting”, arguing that a UFC crowd is one of the few places left where people from different backgrounds gather around something they share. The administration signed a similar memorandum with the NFL earlier this year.

The focus now turns to Sunday night’s proceedings: seven fights on the South Lawn. The main event pits undefeated lightweight champion Ilia Topuria, from Spain, against the interim champion Justin Gaethje, from the US, in a unification bout. The co-main event, between Alex Pereira and Ciryl Gane, will crown an interim heavyweight champion. Lewis will also feature.

About 4,300 people are expected in the stands, including about 1,200 seats set aside for active-duty military personnel. Those seats came with conditions. According to a Pentagon memo reviewed by Military Times , service members selected for tickets were required to meet a waist-to-height ratio of 0.55 or below, and pass their service-specific physical fitness standards. The memo also called for “genuine UFC fans”, and made clear troops would cover their own travel costs.

But not everyone got through the door. Sean Strickland, the only active American men’s UFC champion, says he was told the White House had not cleared him to attend, a decision he attributed to comments he made criticizing Trump, Israel and Jeffrey Epstein. (White denied that Strickland, who has a history of making racist, sexist and homophobic comments, was banned.)

The remaining tickets will go to the president, UFC leadership and a long list of donors, lobbyists and members of US Congress angling for seats near the cage.

Whether the weather cooperates remains to be seen. But barring a badly timed thunderstorm, under the lights, the White House will stage an event without precedent, at the behest of the president.

David Smith contributed reporting

Keyword – World news
Trefwoorden – Ecuador, US military, World news, US news, Americas
Title – US claims it is not responsible for strikes on Ecuadorian fishing boats – so who is? | Ecuador | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/joseph-gedeon,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/cate-brown
Link – US claims it is not responsible for strikes on Ecuadorian fishing boats – so who is? | Ecuador | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-13T11:00:13.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/13/ecuador-fishing-boats-us-strikes

C aptain Hernán Flores was fishing with his crew about 170 miles off the coast of Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands on 17 March when an explosion cut through the air and an unmanned drone crashed into the cabin of his boat, exploding into flames. Flores’s nephew was hit. The attack split his face and cracked his foot, exposing the bone.

“Some guys looked for an extinguisher, but the fire was already spreading,” Flores, who has commanded the Negra Francisca Duarte for about 20 years, said. “So some of our crew leapt into the water.”

An expansive US military campaign that has so far killed nearly 200 people across the Caribbean and eastern Pacific since September 2025 appears to have reached the fishing fleets of Ecuador and left eight men missing and presumed dead. But the Trump administration insists it had no part in these particular operations, like the one that set Flores’s boat aflame. Flores recounted his story to members of the Human Rights Commission (CDH) while in his home town in San Mateo, Ecuador.

When Flores’s ship was hit, the US Coast Guard cutter Bertholf was patrolling the eastern Pacific Ocean, a spokesperson said, when its crew reported hearing “MAYDAY, MAYDAY, vessel on fire” over the ship’s radio.

A Coast Guard spokesperson said that it assumed responsibility for coordinating a “search and rescue” and dispatched the Bertholf to respond.

Meanwhile, Flores and his crew continued to sail their damaged ship searching for help. As they manoeuvred east, Flores said that a small observation plane followed them. “We kept our eyes fixed on it for fear it would drop another bomb.”

After 40 minutes, Flores said they reached another ship that “seemed to be changing course to sail away”.

“As we approached with the wounded man, we saw several Americans pointing guns at us,” Flores said. “They were yelling ‘hands up’ in Spanish, using translators. I was the first to go up; they handcuffed me behind my back, put a hood over my head, and took me to the top of the boat. They sat us down one by one on the deck.

“Around three in the afternoon, they gave us a bottle of water, and the boat set sail,” Flores recalled.

The next morning, Flores said his crew were transferred on to a large Salvadorian coastguard vessel, where they were reported as a “shipwrecked crew”. He said they spent eight days sailing north to Puerto Unión, a coastal city in El Salvador, and were placed in temporary detention. The fishermen said they were never charged with any wrongdoing and were issued emergency travel permits to return to Ecuador by the end of the month.

Conflicting accounts

Human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and CDH have been looking into the alleged interactions between US vessels and fishing boats in the eastern Pacific.

So far, the Pentagon and the US Coast Guard have both publicly denied participating in operations involving Ecuadorian fishing vessels.

“We have no knowledge of, nor were Department of War forces involved in, the incidents described in those reports,” a spokesperson for United States Southern Command (Southcom) said in a statement to the Guardian. “US forces conduct operations under established legal authorities and hold its forces to the highest standards of professionalism, safety, and compliance with US and international law.”

The state department did not return a request for comment on whether it had any communication with Ecuador over these maritime incidents and whether it was aware crew members were being transferred to El Salvador. The Coast Guard also said that it had no knowledge of, nor were any Coast Guard forces involved in, the incident described in reports on attacks on Ecuadorian fishermen. A spokesperson added that the US Coast Guard does not operate armed drones.

Latin American experts have said that something about the various reports does not add up.

“There are strange aspects to the official ‘rescue’ story in the Negra Francisca’s case,” Will Freeman, a fellow for Latin America studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) said, which was “disputed by the crew, who publicly claim they were captured and taken to El Salvador – that none of the three governments has clarified.

“We do not have smoking gun evidence to say this was a US strike,” Will continued. “But who else might have taken these men – found so far from El Salvador – to that country?”

Embassy representatives from Ecuador and El Salvador did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A search for answers

In a letter obtained by the Guardian, the Democratic representatives Joaquin Castro of Texas and Bill Keating of Massachusetts in the House foreign affairs committee confront senior administration officials with survivor testimony, UN intervention, and a direct challenge to the Pentagon’s denials to demand whether the United States has been telling the truth.

“These incidents have resulted in eight persons still missing or unaccounted for, credible survivor accounts of arbitrary or unlawful detention, abuse, and extrajudicial use of force by US personnel, and the formal intervention of the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances,” the two lawmakers wrote to the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, homeland security secretary, Markwayne Mullin, and coast guard commandant, Adm Kevin Lunday. Their letter was delivered on Thursday.

The letter, which sets a response deadline of 10 July, focuses on three incidents in the eastern Pacific. The Fiorella, an Ecuadorian fishing vessel, disappeared on 20 January after its captain sent a final satellite message describing what [he] said was a US aircraft, a UAV, and a blue patrol ship that had been following the vessel for three days. Eight crew members have not been seen since.

The Negra Francisca Duarte II, captained by Flores, reported being struck by a drone on 17 March near the Galápagos, and its crew reported being hooded, handcuffed and held on a blue patrol vessel bearing the word “Spear” on its hull before being transferred into Salvadorian custody. Trump’s counternarcotics program spanning the Americas is nicknamed Operation Southern Spear.

Fishermen onboard a third Ecuadorian ship, the Don Maca, also described being stopped and arrested by an American patrol boat after catching swordfish, albacore and dogfish along one of their regular fishing routes. “As we boarded, they handcuffed and hooded us all,” crew member John Sebastián Palacios said in testimony to CDH . “After we were hooded, they fired two more shots at the boat. After half an hour, they sank it. We were so scared we didn’t even dare reach for our phones to record, thinking that if we made a wrong move they would shoot us again.”

Palacios said that the first vessel transferred his crew to a Salvadorian patrol.

The US has long denied involvement in the three incidents targeting the Ecuadorian boats. The House armed services committee chair, Mike Rogers, on 4 June, read a Pentagon statement into the record during an NDAA markup that said the US “did not board the Don Maca and conducted no kinetic strikes against it”, was “unaware of any strikes” against the Fiorella, and equally unaware of any strikes against the Negra Francisca Duarte II.

Castro and Keating now ask whether that denial covers every entity that could have been involved: specifically the DEA, the Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection and any intelligence agencies or contractors operating under US authority.

A fraught moment

The questions also land at a moment of rapidly deepening US military engagement with Ecuador. In November 2025, President Daniel Noboa hosted then-DHS secretary , Kristi Noem, at the Manta naval air station to discuss establishing a US military base. On 6 March, the US participated in strikes on an armed group inside Ecuador, which Hegseth celebrated on X , writing that the United States was now “bombing Narco Terrorists on land”.

Ecuadorians rejected the expansion of US military bases into their country in a November vote, stalling plans to advance US “anti-narcoterrorism” operations there. The small coastal nation is located between Peru and Colombia – the world’s top cocaine producers – and the US Coast Guard and Drug Enforcement Agency have long operated interagency patrols that monitor the eastern Pacific Ocean corridor for drugs that may be headed to the United States or Europe.

Then, in April, Ecuadorian navy vessels trained alongside the Nimitz carrier strike group in the Pacific.

At a Senate foreign relations committee hearing on 2 June, Senator Tim Kaine pressed Rubio on targeting criteria, revealing that striking a vessel does not require evidence of narcotics being onboard. Kaine had called that description “odd” , though Rubio defended the program, saying every strike involves a legal officer making a determination on legality.

Among the handful of questions, Castro and Keating are asking whether detained crews were ever searched for contraband, whether they were given access to lawyers or consular officials, and whether survivors were asked to sign non-disclosure agreements.

They also demand “all videos, photographs, and audio recordings taken by US personnel or US aircraft, UAVs, or other modes of surveillance” during those three incidents.

The three vessels remain the clearest evidence yet that Washington’s supposed war on drugs in the eastern Pacific has quietly expanded into a shooting war against the fishermen. “[I]f it was drug traffickers, pirates, or the crews themselves who set fire to their vessels,” Freeman said, “why has the Ecuadorian government been so unwilling to launch a serious investigation?”

Keyword – Football
Trefwoorden – World Cup 2026, Curaçao, World Cup, Football, Sport
Title – ‘Everyone is welcome with us’: Curaçao want you along for their first World Cup ride | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/arthur-renard
Link – ‘Everyone is welcome with us’: Curaçao want you along for their first World Cup ride | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-13T11:07:48.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/13/everyone-is-welcome-with-us-curacao-want-you-along-for-their-first-world-cup-ride

A ngelo Cijntje can look back now and smile. It was September 2023 and Curaçao’s trip from Trinidad to Martinique for a Concacaf Nations League game had been complicated on matchday by the lack of a charter flight. “A small propeller plane had to shuttle back and forth, flying players over in groups of six,” Cijntje, the performance coach, says. “The starting XI made it on time, but the subs came in while the game was under way. Their luggage didn’t make it, so they had nothing but their boots, shin pads and maybe a pair of socks.”

Wouter Jansen, Curaçao’s team coordinator, was also part of that trip. “It’s worthy of a film,” he says. “Those are the kind of adventures you never forget.”

Curaçao are about to embark on unforgettable adventures of a very different kind. Remarkably, less than three years after that propeller plane made its way across the Caribbean Sea for the team to lose 1-0 in front of 913 people, they face Germany in Houston on Sunday in their first World Cup match. It marks the end of a long and not always smooth journey.

It is one that began in earnest in about 2003 when Cijntje and Jansen, then playing in the Dutch second division, got a call from the president of the Netherlands Antilles football federation, which included Curaçao as a Dutch colony. Jean Francisca had been scouting players with Curaçaoan roots and spotted that Cijntje and Jansen were born in Willemstad, the capital. On the phone he outlined an ambition to qualify for a major tournament. Both signed up but what they found in Willemstad on their first call-up offers another indication of how far things have come.

“The hotel wasn’t properly arranged, the sessions weren’t structured and we didn’t have training kits,” Cijntje says. “I’d be training in red socks, the player next to me in blue, one in red shorts, another in something else – one wearing Beltona, another maybe Nike. It was a bit of everything. Those were the first steps.”

The project gathered pace when Curaçao left the Netherlands Antilles in 2010 to become an autonomous country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands . The following year Curaçao became a Fifa member and from 2015 several Dutch coaches were appointed, starting with Patrick Kluivert, whose mother is Curaçaoan. More Dutch-born players joined, including Netherlands youth internationals such as Eloy Room, who had a deep connection with Curaçao, his father’s country.

When Room was young, his mum gave him a book about Curaçao’s sporting history that featured Ergilio Hato, a goalkeeper who in 1952 was part of the first Netherlands Antilles team to play at the Olympics. “I would read that book every night,” says Room, an aspiring goalkeeper then and his country’s World Cup No 1 now. “I told my mother: ‘It would be great if I could become a legend for Curaçao too.’”

He has managed that. Hato inspired generations – the national stadium in Willemstad bears his name – and Room made Hato’s nickname, Pantera Negra (Black Panther), his first tattoo. “Every time I look at it, it gives me a boost,” he says.

Curaçao is the smallest nation, by population (about 156,000) and land area (171 square miles), to have qualified for a World Cup. Cijntje and Jansen joined the backroom staff in 2022, but their spell has not been without hiccups. That year the former Feyenoord and Ajax player Dean Gorré, whose son Kenji is part of the World Cup squad, became the technical director and he says a period of board instability created problems.

“Hotel rooms were sometimes not paid, with players occasionally even having to pay for their flight tickets upfront,” he says. “It was a low point, but it also made the squad more resilient and tighter as a group. Nothing could faze them any more.”

Dick Advocaat’s appointment as head coach in January 2024 marked another turning point. “More resources were invested in the national team,” Cijntje says, “with sponsors involved and better conditions as a result, which had positive knock-on effects, such as attracting more players like [PSV’s] Armando Obispo and Tahith Chong [of Sheffield United, the only player in the squad born in Curaçao].”

Curaçao were well prepared for World Cup qualifying and had an advantage with the co-hosts, the United States, Mexico and Canada, taking places automatically. “That became a real trigger for all of us, like: ‘If there’s a chance to reach the World Cup, it’s now,’” Room says.

Qualification was secured via a 0-0 draw in Jamaica , with Gorré in temporary charge while Advocaat was absent for family reasons. Players and staff celebrated with a few hundred supporters who had travelled to Jamaica and were welcomed back in Willemstad on an open-top bus that carried them through streets lined with tens of thousands of fans.

The squad is close-knit, embodied in how they honour Jairzinho Pieter, a goalkeeper who died of a heart attack while away on international duty in 2019. “He was the one who always brought the atmosphere,” Room says.

Room explains that Pieter led their daily prayer, something they do now with the captain, Leandro Bacuna, laying a necklace that belonged to Pieter in the huddle. “His passing was very heavy at the time and it is still very difficult,” Room says.

“That made the dream of reaching the World Cup come even more to life, because it was also truly his dream. It gave us even more motivation.

“I truly believe that in the deciding match against Jamaica, Pieter was with me, because the ball hit the crossbar and the post – it just wouldn’t go in. People in Curaçao also say that Pieter was there, alongside Ergilio Hato. We basically had three men in goal.”

The team’s spirit is rooted in humility. “We just take regular commercial flights and wait at the baggage carousel for our suitcases to arrive,” says Jansen. In hotels, the players like to mingle with other guests, so when Advocaat once suggested a specially prepared meal in a meeting room, they opted to join the all-inclusive buffet. “They don’t mind when people want to take photos with them either,” says Jansen. “That’s part of who we are.”

The openness became clear when Fifa asked Curaçao what requirements they had for their World Cup stay. “We don’t have any,” was Jansen’s reply. He was told a separate entrance could be arranged at the hotel and room keys prepared in advance. “I said: ‘All of that isn’t necessary,’” Jansen says. “We’re just used to walking in through the reception in the lobby and if we have to wait a bit, that’s no problem. We’re used to hotels where the rooms still need to be prepared. And nobody complains. That took them [Fifa] a bit by surprise.”

But what about security, Fifa then asked. “Security?” Jansen responded. “We really don’t need security; we’re more than happy to give out an autograph.”

Curaçao sprung another surprise when Fifa inquired about when open training sessions for media and fans should be planned. “Honestly, everyone is welcome with us,” Jansen replied. “And the public can even come on to the pitch after training.”

At Curaçao’s base in Boca Raton, Florida, family and friends are allowed to stay. “Because it will be such a unique moment, we wanted to allow everyone to bring their relatives,” Jansen says. “We go there with a smile and leave with a smile. We’ve already won the World Cup just by being there. Some people think our setup is unprofessional but I’m like: ‘No, within our own limitations, we are actually very professional.’ Because we truly do everything together. That’s what makes it great.”

In February Advocaat stepped down to be with his ill daughter and was replaced by Fred Rutten. But when her situation improved, a push gathered momentum to bring Advocaat back and he returned in May .

Reaching the World Cup will have a significant impact for Curaçao. Gorré, who is focused on developing high-performance structures, says it will lift football development and much beyond. “It has already had an impact on tourism and that will only increase,” Gorré says.

Cijntje also expects wider benefits, saying: “The realisation may start to sink in that the impossible is possible, if you go for it and work hard for it. I think it will be an inspiration for the next generation.”

Keyword – Football
Trefwoorden – World Cup 2026, World Cup, Football, Sport
Title – World Cup 2026: Scotland gear up for Haiti; Ghana hit out at ‘unfair’ Partey visa denial, and more – live | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/will-magee,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/robsmyth,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/will-unwin,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/alexander-abnos,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/ben-fisher,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/jacob-steinberg,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/severincarrell
Link – World Cup 2026: Scotland gear up for Haiti; Ghana hit out at ‘unfair’ Partey visa denial, and more – live | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-13T12:26:17.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2026/jun/13/world-cup-2026-usa-light-up-la-englands-boots-stolen-scotlands-big-return-live

On this day in 1998… Spain and Nigeria serve up a group stage classic .

Ghana’s government criticises Canada over Partey visa

Ghana’s government has described Canada’s decision to deny Thomas Partey a visa for his country’s World Cup game against Panama on Wednesday as “high-handed and extremely unfair”.

Ghana’s foreign ministry said it understood the decision to be based on pending criminal proceedings in Britain. The 32-year-old Partey, a former Arsenal midfielder who plays for Villarreal, faces allegations of rape and sexual assault in Britain. He has denied the charges.

On this day in 1986… Denmark continue to laugh in the face of the Group of Death , while Scotland are eliminated by an unsentimental Uruguay .

Haiti are making their second appearance at a men’s World Cup . The first was in West Germany in 1974; they lost all three games, including a 7-0 defeat to Poland, but they still left their mark.

A reminder of today’s/tomorrow morning’s games

Qatar v Switzerland (8pm BST/3pm EDT)

Brazil v Morocco (11pm BST/6pm EDT)

Haiti v Scotland (2am BST/9pm EDT)

Australia v Turkey (5am BST/midnight EDT)

Thanks Will, hello everyone. Let’s start by rewinding 36 years, shall we? On this day in 1990, in a mustn’t-lose game, Diego Maradona and Argentina did a number on the USSR .

I am going to handover to the great Rob Smyth for the next few hours. You are in for a treat.

The first game of the day is Qatar v Switzerland at 8pm BST/3pm ET.

Why not get in the mood by reading Sid Lowe’s interview with Julen Lopetegui?

Mauricio Pochettino was quick to praise the entire squad, rather than putting the focus on individuals after sweeping past Paraguay . A united squad will be important for the US, if they want to go the long way.

Folarin Balogun netted a double but there was plenty more to enjoy as the co-hosts entered the tournament with a bang. “It’s not only to talk about some names, it’s about the collective,” said Pochettino. “It’s not only Balo or different players that performed. I think the team was amazing. Not only the starting 11 but all the players around and on the bench.”

If Netherlands defender Jan Paul van Hecke is to keep up family tradition, he will need to go all the way to next month’s World Cup final.

His uncle Jan Poortvliet played in defence for the Dutch in the 1978 final, where they lost the deciding game against hosts Argentina in extra time. Van Hecke is expected to be in the line-up on Sunday in Dallas when they get their Group F campaign underway against Japan, partnering captain Virgil van Dijk in central defence. “An enormous feeling of pride,” he told reporters. “It’s fantastic to be here.”

Van Hecke gets his chance after Jurrien Timber was ruled out of the tournament by injury. “It’s my dream, but it was also his dream,” Van Hecke said. “It’s a real shame that his dream has fallen apart.“

Ironically, Van Hecke’s uncle also broke into the Dutch team in 1978 in similar circumstances, having debuted for the Netherlands a fortnight before the World Cup kicked off and being picked for the squad as something of an outsider.

But when first-choice left-back Hugo Hovenkamp got injured, Poortvliet got to play. “Hugo was in the form of his life, but that’s how things sometimes go,” Poortvliet told Dutch NOS television. He went on to play six matches in Argentina, showing his versatility at left-back, right-back and as a defensive midfielder.

Scotland midfielder Ryan Christie is staying with Premier League club Bournemouth. The 31-year-old Christie signed a three-year contract extension through the 2028-29 season, Bournemouth announced Saturday ahead of Scotland’s opening game in the World Cup .

“Ryan has made a hugely important contribution to the football club since arriving here and we’re delighted he has signed a new contract,” said Tiago Pinto, the club’s head of soccer operations. “He is a key part of the leadership group in the dressing room and has consistently shown his value to the team through his performances, experience and commitment.”

Christie has made 177 appearances across all competitions for Bournemouth, scoring 10 goals and setting up 17 more since joining from Celtic in August 2021.

Last season, Christie made 26 Premier League appearances, scoring against both Crystal Palace and Manchester United, to help Bournemouth finish sixth — its best-ever finish and enough for its first qualification for European competition.

“With the World Cup coming up, it felt like the perfect time to sign before heading away for that, and now I can fully focus on the future,” Christie said in the team’s announcement. PA Media

Tyler Fletcher was a very late callup for Scotland, replacing the injured Billy Gilmour. The Manchester United midfielder has the No 8 shirt and it will be interesting to see how many, if any, minutes he gets at the World Cup .

The smallest nation ever to compete in the tournament celebrates the long adventure that got them there, and remember those who cannot be there to enjoy it with them, writes Arthur Renard.

“The hotel wasn’t properly arranged, the sessions weren’t structured and we didn’t have training kits,” Cijntje says. “I’d be training in red socks, the player next to me in blue, one in red shorts, another in something else – one wearing Beltona, another maybe Nike. It was a bit of everything. Those were the first steps.”

No longer were the USA the same workmanlike outfit that had featured at previous World Cups, white-knuckling through on the strength of their grit and grind (though they showed some of that too, not letting a second-half Paraguay goal knock them off course).

Cyle Larin was the man of the moment for Canada on Friday, stepping off the bench to level against Bosnia and Herzegovina with his first touch and earn the country’s maiden World Cup point. Larin enjoyed an impressive end to the season at Southampton, whom he joined permanently from Mallorca this month, but was among the players left disappointed at the Spygate episode that saw Saints kicked out of the Championship playoffs. “It’s difficult to get over because you go on such a great run, with the fans behind us and the players making sacrifices to get to that point,” Larin said. The striker said he believes that Southampton can challenge again for promotion next season. The club’s owner, Dragan Solak, has vowed to stand by head coach Tonda Eckert, who is the subject of a Football Association investigation. Eckert admitted to authorising spying missions on three opponents last season. “It hurts for the players to [not have the chance to] go to the Premier League. It hurts. If we have the same players and the same culture, I think we can do it again.” At Toronto Stadium, Larin replaced Tani Oluwaseyi on 76 minutes and, two minutes later, he lashed in after a superb swivel in the box to register a timely first international goal in 18 months. “I was scoring at Southampton, in good form and I just knew any time I got the ball closer than that I was going to shoot,” the 31-year-old said. “It was a tricky one to get out of my body but I was shooting either way.”

Kretinsky to become West Ham’s biggest shareholder

Daniel Kretinsky, the Czech billionaire, is set to become the largest shareholder at West Ham after agreeing a deal to buy a portion of Vanessa Gold’s stake.

The deal comes in the wake of allegations of sexual misconduct against David Sullivan. The 77-year-old, who denies the allegations, owns 38.8% of the club. Kretinsky is set to increase his stake from 27% to 43%, signalling his desire to seize power following West Ham’s relegation from the Premier League.

Kretinsky and Gold said in a statement: “We were deeply concerned by the revelations made by The Times and Panorama this week and our thoughts go out to those women who have fought so hard to make their voices heard. Any abuse of power is abhorrent, and it takes great courage and determination to speak up against it..

“The full West Ham United Board was not notified about these allegations against David Sullivan until approximately a month ago, when he informed us that certain allegations against him may be published. However, the full details of the allegations, which Mr Sullivan denies, only became apparent when they were made public on Monday (8 June). In addition, as communicated by West Ham United, the Board representatives of Shareholders other than Mr Sulilvan were only made aware this week of the safeguarding measures that have been in place since 2023.

“As Shareholders and Directors of West Ham, our focus is now firmly on protecting the future of this Football Club. Our goal is to stabilise West Ham United, retain as many of our key players as possible and, under the management of Nuno Espírito Santo, secure an immediate return to the Premier League. We are also committed to engaging with our fans and all business partners to build a stronger future for our Club. We have already taken concrete steps toward this goal.

“As such, we have reached agreement on the key terms of a share purchase transaction between the Gold family and 1890 Holdings, which, subject to other Shareholders’ pre-emption rights and necessary approvals, would make 1890 Holdings (part of the broader group EP) the largest Shareholder in West Ham with an approximately 43% stake. As the largest Shareholder, group EP will be able to provide the additional financing the Club needs.

“We expect to finalise this transaction in the next couple of weeks. Once the agreement is complete, group EP and the Gold family have also agreed to vote jointly on key matters and to support the strategy targeting an immediate return to the Premier League.

“Alongside Daniel Křetínský and Vanessa Gold, the other Shareholders, namely Tripp Smith, Daniel Harris and Terry Brown, are fully aligned on this strategy and stabilising the Club.

“We are taking these steps because West Ham United needs to be truly united at this moment in its history. We believe that a strong coalition – of fans, players, management and the Board – is essential to securing the bright future this Club deserves. We are absolutely committed to playing our part.”

What has happened thus far today?

The USA gave Paraguay a right shooing

Tim Ream benefits from VAR mistaken identity check

England have had their boots nicked

A big read on Declan Rice’s journey from released by Chelsea to World Cup protagonist

Rodrygo becomes a Guardian writer . Can you do a few hours on the live blog, mate?

Tenkaykev emails: “ Reading about the theft of the boots brought back memories of the brouhaha leading up to Mexico 70 ( I was there)and the “ “theft” of a necklace by Bobby Moore. This sounds more opportunistic than mind games, but may well have quite an effect.”

I am pleased there was not a live blog back then.

It is early days but we do have a leader in the race for the Golden Boot.

I do enjoy the adverts during the World Cup that indicate football fans have not evolved over time. Supposedly, all people want at this time of year is a new TV, beer, crisps and pizzas.

I was chatting someone who works in advertising at at supermarket recently and they suggested diversifying the products they promote but they were quickly shot down. Can one not watch the match with a glass of wine and steak tartare?

“The South Africans do really well on poetic names that roll nicely off the tongue,” Iain Pearson suggests. “Mbekezeli Mbokazi does great alliteration; as does Kamogelo Sebelebele, who surely possesses one of the world’s great surnames.”

Some japes at the Boston fan park.

How, when and where to watch all the action later …

World Cup fever has arrived in Scotland, as Severin Carroll reports.

There are brash new tartans, an Edinburgh bar offering free Irn-Bru-infused “fiery ginger” beers for patrons with red hair, a collaboration between Scottish whisky firms and a Brazilian distiller, and all-night parties in nightclubs repurposed as fanzones.

Hyndsight2 writes in the comments: “It’s lovely to read and hear about how kids in Scotland are having sleepover parties in order to stay up for the 2am kick off. Takes me back to the excitement of my first WC in 1974. In terms of team selection, I hope Clarke is bold. 3-4-3 with Tierney at the left side of a 3 and Robertson pushed up. Gannon Doak on the right with Hickey backing him up. Gannon Doak could really make a mark in this world cup. But, my 62 yo self, broken by decades of disappointment, thinks it might be a draw.”

What’s the latest you’ve stayed up to watch a match? I was working for ITV in 2014 and there was a 2am KO. I think it was Ivory Coast v Japan, as documented here. I left the office in daylight.

Arguably the best name and CV at the World Cup . Duckens Nazon can boast spells at Kerala Blasters, Oldham and CSKA Sofia.

I am happy to accept challenges for a better name at the tournament.

Kansas City calls itself the “Soccer Capital of America” and there is a good chance the World Cup champions will have called the Midwest metropolis home this summer.

England, Argentina and the Netherlands are all based in and around the city, with minnows Algeria also in the area for the 48-team tournament which kicked off on Thursday.

Kansas City was only awarded host-city status when it stepped in following Chicago’s withdrawal but it is big on the football scene, having invested almost $700million (£522m) in infrastructure, with MLS side Sporting Kansas City and NWSL outfit KC Current having purpose-built stadiums.

The Hendon Hall hotel in north London hosted England when they won the World Cup in 1966 but the Inn at Meadowbrook will be their home if Thomas Tuchel’s side add a second star to the shirt, with training based at Swope Soccer Village – the home of Sporting Kansas City’s second team.

“We are delighted to welcome England,” the chief executive of KC2026, Pam Kramer, told the Press Association. “The arrival of one of the world’s most followed national teams is a significant moment for our city.

“England’s decision to base themselves in Kansas City reflects our passionate sports culture, our spirit of hospitality and the world-class facilities that define our region. We are also proud to be hosting the Netherlands, Argentina and Algeria during the tournament, meaning four nations have chosen Kansas City as their home away from home.

“It is a powerful endorsement of the investments in our region and proof that the global game has become part of the fabric of life here. Kansas City has proudly earned its reputation as the Soccer Capital of America. Soccer has deep roots here.” PA Media

Mbappé is the latest in a distinguished line of France players to have taken on the far right. Zinedine Zidane famously called on voters to reject Jean-Marie Le Pen in the second round of the 2002 presidential election, describing his party as one “which does not correspond to France’s values”. Lilian Thuram was even more vocal in his opposition to Le Pen, who repeatedly attacked the national team over the diverse origins of its players.

Think you can predict the future? Have some fun plotting how the tournament will go with our interactive Bracketology thingamajig.

“I absolutely agree with Wryape (earlier comment),” emails Bill . “The group stages have been reduced to almost meaningless exhibition games.

“There’s going to be, I boldly predict, little to no thrilling heroics as a team gets a stomp on with twenty minutes to go to to nick a win to qualify for the knockout rounds.

“Couple that with the game now being played in four quarters (with the drinks breaks for adverts), and a ridiculous forty five minutes half time in the final it’s like someone stole our ball and now we won’t ever get it back.

“Anyway, I’ll probably still watch some.”

David Beckham now has his own star in Hollywood. I really need to watch more of his movies.

“I’ve always been a dreamer, but I could never have imagined that an honor like this would come to a working-class English soccer player like me,” Sir David said.

“How fitting then that I am here today as we prepare to celebrate the opening here in the US of the 2026 World Cup . It’s a powerful moment to recognize how the sport I love so much has grown in this country over the past three decades.”

A good start for English strikers last night as Folarin Balogun scored two for USA. The forward was born in New York but brought up in London can came through the ranks at Arsenal and is now impressing in Ligue 1 for Monaco.

Always found the immediate dismissal for a hair pull odd. It is difficult to prove intent on some of them, often looking like an accident when challenging for a ball. I appreciate some are deliberate but it never felt like a dark art being mastered by angry defenders.

Hair pulling no longer an automatic red card

The English Premier League said on Friday that pulling an opponent’s hair will not necessarily warrant an automatic red card under changes to refereeing guidelines for next season.

The league said in a statement that a red card will apply where hair pulling is carried out with “excessive force and/or brutality“, while incidents deemed to be deliberate but without excessive force will be punished with a yellow.

The change comes after Manchester United’s Lisandro Martinez, Everton’s Michael Keane and Sunderland’s Dan Ballard were sent off for pulling an opponent’s hair last season.

The clarification was part of a wider set of principles outlining how referees will apply the laws of the game in the upcoming season. The Premier League said that holding will be more closely scrutinised, with referees encouraged to penalise non-footballing actions that have a material impact on opponents.

Referees will also place more emphasis on protecting goalkeepers, penalising players who initiate contact without a genuine attempt to play the ball if it impacts the keeper’s ability to challenge for it. Reuters

If you were worried this blog was too World Cup heavy, then I am here to change all that. I will start with the important matters that everyone is too afraid to discuss and we shall go from there …

Thanks Will. Luck is something I desperately need. In the meantime, I will pontificate on what Mr Magee has for breakfast. Is a muesli or a fry up man?

Right, it’s time for me to go and get some belated breakfast after my early start. Will Unwin is taking the reins, and good luck to him.

A conversation-starter here. Which player ruled out through injury will be the biggest loss to their side? Tangentially, Michael Butler has put together a World Cup Omitted XI .

Which team will miss whom the most? I would say Japan would miss Mitoma more than Brazil misses Rodrygo. Would be interesting to see an article on all missing players and their teams.

A dubious honour, but historic nonetheless: Tim Ream made history yesterday when he became the first player at a World Cup to benefit from the International Football Association Board’s “mistaken identity” rule change. It was an interesting interpretation of the new rule, too. Here’s the lowdown.

An email has landed from Lars Bøgegaard, who, in reaction to the news of England’s stolen footwear, has invoked the memory of an iconic bootless strike from times gone by. “They have to give the golden boot(s) to Kane immediately,” he writes. “Or else he has to do it like Preben Elkjær!” For those who aren’t familiar with the Denmark great’s famous goal for Verona against Juventus in 1984, here it is in all its grainy glory .

No doubt this is going to be a common complaint as the group stage wears on. And it really could wear on. How much World Cup is too much World Cup, ugly politics aside? We may well be about to find out.

With 3 points and a +3 goal difference the USA team are now almost guaranteed to get out of the group after 1 match played. What a farce this expanded world cup is – theres almost no jeopardy.

When Brazil take on Morocco later on , they will do so without Rodrygo. The Real Madrid winger sustained a knee injury in March which ruled him out of the World Cup , but will still be in the US to support the Seleção . Amid his recovery, he’s written about the “immense sadness” of missing the tournament and not hearing his name called by Carlo Ancelotti when the squad was announced, but also the support he has received, his pride in Brazil and his belief that the team can do something special.

Anecdotally, I think a lot of people are feeling this way. From the Iran conflict to the treatment of Omar Artan and everything in between, it’s a tournament of almost unbelievable political extremes. Then again, after Russia and Qatar, and with Saudi Arabia 2034 to come, it may be the case that this is now the rule, not the exception.

I’ve not watched any games yet. Just can’t seem to separate the politics from it. I’m sure I’ll watch a couple of games this weekend and I’m hoping that gets me into it. I love the World Cup but I think we and others should’ve boycotted it.

Looking for some extra reading? Jacob Steinberg and David Hytner have delved into the making of Declan Rice, England’s midfield powerhouse, whose performances could feasibly be the difference between success and failure at this tournament.

An optimistic prediction for Scotland here. While Haiti thrashing New Zealand 4-0 raised a few worried eyebrows, it should be noted that they lost 2-1 to Peru three days later. It’s always hard to judge a team by their warm-up matches given the wholesale changes, and Haiti do have some danger men like Duckens Nazon and Sunderland’s Wilson Isidor, but Steve Clarke’s side are still favourites.

I can’t realistically see Haiti doing much. I’m fairly confident Scotland will stroll to a 2 nil win.

The chat between Max, Barry and Seb and Pablo is also available in video form, by the way. Just in case you like to see all the fancy equipment, novelty mugs and so on.

It looks like it’s been good, silly fun at Scotland House in Boston. It’s the small hours over there at the moment, but no doubt there are a few parties still going.

If you prefer your football coverage in podcast form – don’t worry, I won’t be offended – you’re in luck, as the latest episode of Football Weekly has just dropped. Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Seb Hutchinson and Pablo Iglesias Maurer to discuss the USA’s strong start, Canada’s clawed-back point against Bosnia and Scotland’s chances against Haiti later.

Any Scotland fans out there in the ether? How do you reckon things will go against Haiti? Feeling cheerful? Optimistic? Anxious? Get in touch via the email above.

Scotland’s first World Cup match since 1998 is fast approaching and, judging by the photos coming out of Boston, the fans are determined to enjoy themselves one way or another. Paul MacInnes has been taking the temperature in the city’s bars, pubs and tap rooms – nice work if you can get it – while Ewan Murray brings the sober, serious analysis . Meanwhile Bryan Armen Graham has the inside track on Haiti , who have been waiting even longer than Scotland – 52 years, to be precise – to make their comeback at the tournament.

In what feels like an enjoyably bizarre subplot from a World Cup film directed by the Coen Brothers , some enterprising individuals have stolen England’s boots. As reported by Jacob Steinberg, the Football Association will have to liaise with local police in Kansas City as it attempts to retrieve the misappropriated items. If that fails, presumably Harry Kane and co will have to take on Croatia barefoot.

A man in a tracksuit appeared holding aloft a golden ball, like some ancient deity hoisting god’s gonad on his shoulders. At which point an enormous golden Fifa sign appeared, all four letters at least 50ft high, winched down out of the ether like a vision of divine grace – if not the most ludicrous sporting spectacle of all time, then surely the most ludicrous yet.

Barney Ronay was at Los Angeles Stadium last night and, well, it might not be quite right to say he enjoyed the surreal pomp, pageantry and flag waving, but he certainly witnessed it. Here’s his take on events.

Preamble

We’re four games in and this tournament has already had it all: bombastic visuals , belting goals , dramatic comebacks , wide-eyed referees handing out red cards like sweeties , and the sort of political grotesquerie that makes tuning out seem like the last sane option. It’s the Doomscroll World Cup: you know it’s bad for you, but it feels almost impossible to look away.

After the USA’s opening stroll against Paraguay last night, Qatar take on Switzerland next up at 8pm (all times BST) before Brazil go up against Morocco at 11pm. Then it’s time for Scotland’s high-stakes match against Haiti at 2am, while Australia and Turkey face off at 5am.

In the meantime, you can follow all the buildup, latest news, scandals, controversy and geopolitical maneuvering here. As Gianni Infantino might say to the backdrop of a world in flames, chill, relax, and enjoy the show.