Keyword – Music
Trefwoorden – Music, Pop and rock, Indie, Culture
Title – Bongeziwe Mabandla faced addiction, illness and ‘backstabbers’. How has the South African singer stayed so upbeat? | Music | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/lior-phillips
Link – Bongeziwe Mabandla faced addiction, illness and ‘backstabbers’. How has the South African singer stayed so upbeat? | Music | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-18T08:30:00.000Z
Category – Culture
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/jun/18/bongeziwe-mabandla-south-african-singer

A s the camera pulls back from Bongeziwe Mabandla in the video for his recent single Yalwa , the true stars of the show reveal themselves: two women, dressed in a mix of crisp white and black traditional isiXhosa umbhaco garments and chic designer wear. Sure, Mabandla himself strikes a compelling figure in the centre of the frame in his own traditional apparel; the herd of cattle grazing around them are resplendent; and the forested ridges of South Africa’s Eastern Cape remain rapturous. But those stoic, confident, badass women! “Yeah, that’s my mom and aunt,” Mabandla says with a chuckle. The song, he says, is “all about heritage, going back and celebrating women in my lineage and in my family”.

Keeping that connection alive has become especially important to Mabandla now that the singer-songwriter – an indie icon in Johannesburg – has been living far away from them for the first time. After years of finding particular acclaim in France (including a nomination for the prestigious Radio France Internationale award early in his career), Mabandla has been settled in Paris for six months amid bouts of touring and travelling through Europe. “I’m everywhere these days, living between two countries,” he says, laughing again. “I wanted to see what doors would open for me living in a different culture, especially in a big place like Paris. It’s been life-changing, but I’ve been very careful I don’t abandon my South African side.”

There should be little risk of that: Mabandla’s roots run deep in his home country. Moulding elements of his region’s traditional music with his own modern indie electropop, his songs are largely delivered in isiXhosa – a magnetic language with distinctive click sounds native to South Africa – though his emotive delivery brings the storytelling into the heart, even for those unfamiliar with the language. There’s something soothing in the way he writes, the Xhosa storytelling elongated and lithe, but full of clicked pops of excitement. Now with five albums under his belt, Mabandla is starting to feel that passage of time even if his vibrant music refuses to show it. He demurs when I ask his age. “I’m old enough,” he grins. “Frame me as an uncle.”

The title of Mabandla’s new album Ndingubani translates to “who am I,” which he points out comes without a question mark – the phrase functioning both as an existential question and a statement of selfhood, depending on which angle you’re looking from. Mabandla has been sharing his inner self through song for a decade and a half – and is now documenting his struggles with addiction and depression – though he has been performing for anyone who would listen since childhood.

He grew up in Tsolo, a rural town about two hours drive inland from the southeast coast of South Africa. The youngest of his siblings (and the only one at home as he grew older), Mabandla had a deep connection with his mother and his home, and recounts seeing the white house and its red roof appearing in the distance as he walked home from school. “Every time I draw a house, I can’t help but draw that house,” he says. On the cover of Ndingubani, Mabandla walks through a scrub field, carrying a painting he’d done of that same house. “It had a big stoop and a dramatic arch, great for performing and imagining I was in a concert,” he says serenely. “I’d sing for friends, for family. I would perform for the trees sometimes.” He’d obsessively listen to and memorise songs by everyone from Tracy Chapman to Whitney Houston to South African pop legend Brenda Fassie. While he never imagined growing that obsession into a career, he attended a boarding school for the arts and started exploring the opportunity, eventually releasing his debut album Umlilo in 2012.

Follow-ups such as iiMini and amaXesha were poignant, diaristic accumulations of love stories and memories; for Ndingubani, “the circumstances wrote the album for me,” Mabandla says. In 2023 he cancelled touring in North America due to a cancer scare: luckily, the tumour turned out to be benign, but it greatly shifted his perspective. “On my first album I had a song called Isizathu, where I asked myself, ‘Where is the reason?’” he says. “Back then I was looking for a purpose to live, a purpose for my career. I wanted to make music. But now I’ve found my people, my audience, my dream.”

Written after receiving good medical news, the radiant Kude comes complete with swaggering rhythm section, shimmering keyboard and a saxophone solo – the sound of Mabandla celebrating life and its fullest potential. The propulsive Libambe Lingatshoni is meanwhile based on a Xhosa phrase that Mabandla loves: “It means you need to hold the sun before it falls down, so it doesn’t disappear,” he says. To hold on, therefore, to life before it ends.

But for every moment where his voice is regal and soaring there’s another where it’s whisper-close and pained. On the icy Mpendulo, Mabandla recalls a difficult incident where he was betrayed by a friend. “I put my trust in some wrong people. There was backstabbing, lying,” he says. But other friends remain a centering, cherished force in his life: “I’m the clown in the group chat,” he laughs – and the glowing Mngan’wam (or My Friend) was written for those who stood by him in difficult times.

“I’ve lived a lot in a way that was new and dark, and that really scared me,” he says. The choral and haunting AML takes on his struggles with alcohol and addiction, and searching for a way out – sung in English, as if even escaping his language can help escape unhealthy attachments. “In the darkest of my days, I found myself inside the pain,” he sighs on the track. The Auto-Tune-drenched Ndikhulule takes on depression even more directly, its titular call to be set free ringing through twitchy percussion and acoustic plucking. He seems reluctant to dwell too heavily on this darkness in our conversation, but acknowledges: “I’ve always been a person who has dark moments, but I love that I didn’t really run away from it [in music]. I wanted to explain all sides of myself.”

Much of Ndingubani was recorded at home, a first for Mabandla, but the album balances that intimacy with an aurora borealis of synth tone and layered vocals – like a little red-roofed house under a giant sky. When his life “was almost taken away, it made me want to go back and recommit, determined to do more,” Mabandla says. “That’s what I wanted the album to be about. There are these struggles, but also there’s resilience in the human spirit and in myself. I wanted to inspire a sense of strength, a revived hope.”

Keyword – World news
Trefwoorden – World news, Belarus, Europe, Ukraine, Russia, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Drones (military)
Title – Ukraine bolsters its northern defences amid fears Belarus is being dragged into war | World news | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/peterbeaumont
Link – Ukraine bolsters its northern defences amid fears Belarus is being dragged into war | World news | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-18T05:00:03.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/18/ukraine-bolsters-its-northern-defences-amid-fears-belarus-is-being-dragged-into-war

R ussian spy drones flying into Ukraine from Belarusian airspace have sharply increased since the beginning of the year, as senior officials in Kyiv express mounting concern over Belarus’s involvement in the war.

Ukraine has stepped up by reinforcing fortifications on its northern border, including anti-tank ditches, concrete “dragons’ teeth” obstacles to block armoured vehicles and new areas of barbed wire. Troops operating along the border say they have noted a jump of about 20% in Russian intelligence drones since January.

The increase in drone sightings comes in parallel with reports that Russia has constructed five new drone bases near its shared border with Belarus as part of its efforts to use Minsk’s airspace to attack Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials, including the president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy , have spoken of “unusual activity” on the Belarus border, amid concern that Moscow is seeking to draw its ally further into the conflict, and warnings that have been given to Minsk.

The claims came as Russia and Belarus on Wednesday accused Ukraine of conducting a deadly drone strike on a bus carrying Belarusian schoolchildren while visiting the Russian region of Bryansk, an allegation that ​Ukraine’s military said was “false”.

According to reports in May, Belarus has also been expanding infrastructure that could support Russian operations, including logistics routes and training grounds, as well as communications and surveillance infrastructure in support of Russian drone strikes into Ukraine, which use the Belarusian border areas as an air corridor for attack.

Officials say there is no evidence that Russian forces – or the Belarusian military – are gathering in large formations in border areas for a repeat of the use of Belarusian territory to invade Ukraine, as happened during the full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Instead, what concerns Ukrainian and European officials is that Moscow is attempting to integrate Minsk ever more closely into its war efforts, including through joint nuclear exercises earlier this year.

Among those who have flagged up concern over Belarus’s intentions is the former Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba, who also served on the national defence and security council of Ukraine.

In a recent television interview, Kuleba said that the Belarusian president, Aleksandr Lukashenko’s “actions today are different from 2022”, when he allowed his territory to be used by Russia for the invasion.

“I’m not saying that an offensive will begin tomorrow,” Kuleba said. “I’m saying I can see something different. A series of events unfolding that gives reason to believe Lukashenko is preparing for war.”

Other experts have noted an increase in pro-Russian messaging in Belarus, even as Moscow’s war against Ukraine increasingly has faltered. “Russia is in a strategic stalemate,” Maksym Pleshko, a Ukrainian politician and political scientist, told a recent expert roundtable on the Belarusian threat.

“Russia faces serious problems on the frontlines because we are beginning to win this war, and Lukashenko’s use of his narratives and propaganda is precisely an attempt to somehow justify and resolve this situation,” said Pleshko.

“And Putin is pressuring Lukashenko for greater cooperation, for greater involvement of his military system in the war against Ukraine, so Lukashenko is trying to justify this to his domestic audience.”

Others, however, including Yevhen Mahda, the director of Kyiv’s Institute of World Policy, are highly sceptical that Lukashenko would risk using Belarusian troops to support Moscow.

That was reinforced by warnings last month from Ukraine’s unmanned forces commander, Robert Brovdi, that Kyiv has already identified approximately 500 targets it would hit in the event of Minsk’s involvement becoming more direct.

“If we are talking about him [Lukashenko] involved in a potential action against Ukraine, politically it would be the end of him, not least after all that has been said about 500 targets in Belarus that Ukraine is ready to hit,” said Brovdi.

If there is broad agreement among experts in Ukraine and elsewhere, however, it is that Moscow – faced with a deepening impasse on the existing fronts in its war – may seek to use Belarus to threaten to widen the geographical scope of conflict against Ukraine, but also potentially in a wider European context.

It was precisely this point that was made by Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, in May. “Moscow is increasingly dragging Belarus into its war against Ukraine, turning it into a platform for aggression, not only against our country, but against Europe as a whole.”

And on Ukraine’s northern border with Belarus, Kyiv is not taking any risks regarding Minsk’s increasing participation in Moscow’s war.

North of the city of Chernihiv, occupied for a few brief months by Russian forces in 2022, sparsely populated villages are set amid forests of pine, silver birch and black alder. Here, along a narrow road leading to the border, a shirtless work crew fixes loops of razor wire while an excavator digs new anti-tank barriers.

Sitting in the parking area of a disused hotel and cafe 2km (1.2 miles) from Belarus, a major in Ukraine’s border force , who referred to himself by his military call sign, Nissan, is involved in improving the defences.

“There’s no secret that Belarus was a platform to invade in 2022, so there’s no trust of Belarus,” said Nissan. “We’ve seen a lot of statements from Lukashenko. We see joint training, including nuclear forces. We have to be ready for any scenario. So every day we are building our fortifications.

“With the landscape and what we have done, it’s my opinion it would be almost impossible for tanks and vehicles and infantry to move through here. Everything would be destroyed.”

While Nissan sees nothing to suggest any troop buildup, the evidence instead points to the Kremlin seeking to further exploit its key cross-border air corridor for strikes on Ukraine, including the creation of a large new base at Tsymbulovo in the Oryol region, which Russian sources suggest would be one of the world’s biggest.

And while Ukrainian forces have shot down more than 500 drones in the Chernihiv region alone since the beginning of the year, Russia is also intensifying its efforts to counter anti-drone and missile measures in this region.

“What we have seen,” said Nissan, “is an increase in the numbers of intelligence drones flying from Bryansk region [in Russia and into Belarus and then Ukraine] to collect data on our troops.” The trends have not gone unnoticed by local residents. In a shop in the village of Novi Yarylovychi, 5km from the border and home to about 300 people, Natalia Lanna, 55, and Svitlana Sotvykova, 57, see Russian drones daily.

“We had 16 go over yesterday evening in pairs,” said Natalia. “Sometimes they fly so low over the village, at 20-metres height, that it feels like I could catch them in my hands.

“We can tell the difference between the armed drones and the intelligence ones. We’re experts,” added Svitlana. “The day before yesterday, it was a Gebera surveillance drone. It’s a different sound. A different colour. They circle round.”

For some analysts, what residents and troops are seeing on the border represents the real meaning of the risk: not a sudden move by Moscow to open a new front, but an incremental widening of the scope of Russia’s activities involving Belarus.

“For European policymakers,” wrote Hanna Liubakova, a journalist from Belarus, in a recent paper for the Atlantic Council, “recent developments in Belarus create a different kind of challenge.

“This locks Belarus into a hybrid role that stops short of co-belligerent status, while deepening the country’s indirect participation in Russian aggression. For the Kremlin, this approach makes good sense. After all, Belarus is more useful to Moscow in the role of stable support base than as an unstable ally on the battlefield.

“The risk is not of sudden escalation, but rather of gradual normalisation. As Belarus becomes more embedded in Russia’s war effort, incidents linked to its territory, whether drone activity, airspace violations or other forms of pressure, are likely to become more frequent and harder to interpret.”

Keyword – Sport
Trefwoorden – Jack Draper, Andy Murray, Tennis, Sport
Title – Andy Murray backs Jack Draper for Wimbledon return: ‘He’s bloody good’ | Jack Draper | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/seaningle
Link – Andy Murray backs Jack Draper for Wimbledon return: ‘He’s bloody good’ | Jack Draper | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-17T17:03:50.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/jun/17/andy-murray-backs-jack-draper-wimbledon-tennis

Sir Andy Murray has issued a bullish bulletin on the fitness and ability of Jack Draper before Wimbledon, revealing that he has been practising on court most days and hailing his tennis as “bloody good”.

Draper has plummeted to No 113 in the world due to a series of injuries, having been ranked fourth last year, and has not played since the Barcelona Open in April. But Murray, who has been working with the British player for the last month at the LTA’s National Tennis Centre as an adviser and temporary coach, believes that his body is now on the mend.

“Jack is supposed to be playing in Eastbourne next week,” Murray said at Queen’s Club. “He’s been training and getting ready for that. He’s been on the court most days for the last few weeks.

“His tennis is bloody good. He’s really good. Obviously he’s had lots of issues the last year with various injuries. I feel like he’s starting to come out the other side of that now. The next step is getting on the match court and getting a consistent run of tournaments and weeks under him and building trust again in his body.”

Draper has had knee and elbow problems, while his latest setback has been caused by an issue with his serving shoulder. However, Murray says he has been surprised by the quality of Draper’s play in the sessions they have done together.

“I get to spend a decent amount of time with Jack,” said Murray. “I also believe a lot in his tennis. In the sessions I’ve done with him, I’ve been more impressed probably than what I expected. And I thought he was bloody good before I started helping him.

“He’s a quick learner. He’s got very few holes in his game. He’s a more complete player than probably what I expected as well.”

Murray confirmed that while his partnership with Draper could continue for the build up to the US Open, his priority is being at home for his family. “I really like Jack, and I wanted to help him when he asked if I could,” said Murray, who retired after the Paris Olympics in 2024 and then coached Novak Djokovic for four months at the start of 2025. “But I was quite clear about what I could and couldn’t do.”

“I still want to be able to pick my kids up from school, drop them off at home,” he added. “If that wasn’t something that worked for him, then that was also absolutely fine. But I said I’d still love to help you if you would like that.

“He’s asked for me to help him over this next period. I’ve enjoyed being on court with him. We’ll see how the next few weeks pan out.”

Murray is yet to coach Draper from courtside in a match but insisted that he had no problems being in that role when working with Djokovic. “I didn’t find it weird when I was watching matches with Novak,” he said.

“The buildup to the matches and stuff I found quite hard. Because you need to get your communication with the player right. Making sure you’ve got the right courts booked, practice partners, balls, rackets, strategy. All of those sorts of things. You want that to go smoothly. And then once the player is out on the court, I found it quite easy.”

At Queen’s Club, Britain’s Arthur Fery shrugged off a bloody nose that delayed play for six minutes to overcome Adrian Mannarino and reach his first ATP quarter-final. Fery, a wild card who is ranked 140 in the world, had to be given medication by a physiotherapist after his left nostril started to bleed heavily at 1-1 in the second set.

But after the 23-year-old was treated with an anticoagulant and had a tissue stuck up his nose, he returned to court to wrap up the match 7-6 (7), 6-4 against the 44th-ranked Frenchman.

“It happens to me quite often,” admitted Fery. “I’m used to it. It was maybe nerves, tiredness or the heat. I don’t know why, but it happens here and there. The physio gave me an anticoagulant, a tissue, and then a bit of Vaseline in the nose, and it stopped the bleeding.”

Afterwards Fery, who was born in Sèvres, near Paris, to French parents but grew up in London, pronounced his win as the best of his career. After writing ‘It’s Coming Home’ on the TV cameras, Fery added: “It’s so special to be playing tennis back home in London where I grew up, it’s unbelievable. It’s the best result of my career. My first quarter-final in an ATP tournament.

“It’s not easy. There are lots of ups and downs so I’m happy to get through. I can’t put too much pressure on myself.”

Fery is the only British player left in the draw but the favourite remains the No 1 seed Alex de Minaur from Australia, who brushed aside Canadian Dennis Shapovalov 6-4, 6-1. “I’m very happy with the win,” said De Minaur. “I thought it was very close to a faultless performance. I felt sharp from the very first point till the last.”

Keyword – Football
Trefwoorden – World Cup 2026, World Cup, Football, Sport
Title – World Cup 2026: Bellingham playing with ‘chip on shoulder’, Côte d’Ivoire’s Wahi barred over alleged fixing – live | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/billy-munday,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/luke-mclaughlin,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/martin-belam,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/graham-ruthven,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/emmabrockes,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/will-unwin,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/jeff-rueter,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/jonathan-liew,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/jacob-steinberg
Link – World Cup 2026: Bellingham playing with ‘chip on shoulder’, Côte d’Ivoire’s Wahi barred over alleged fixing – live | World Cup 2026 | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-18T14:30:38.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2026/jun/18/world-cup-2026-england-croatia-fans-czechia-south-africa-switzerland-bosnia-and-herzegovina-canada-qatar-mexico-south-korea-live

This, for me , is the clear winner in BTL comment of the day.

Hot off the press (OK, comments section) from Smolgrad.

So far I’m liking this Tuchel fella. He’s honest, direct, but also empathetic. Of course if England draw once I’ll completely turn against him and a couple of the players.

Meanwhile , Peter sends a message entitled “In defence of Southgate”

“Quite a few people are contrasting last night’s performance with the Southgate era, which they seem to remember as eight years of utter tedium. But England played some great attacking football under Southgate at the last World Cup: 6-2 v Iran, 3-0 v Wales, 3-0 v Senegal, and toe-to-toe with an excellent France. Southgate’s first World Cup in 2018 was obviously fun too – the football wasn’t particularly sophisticated, but it felt good. The last Euros was mostly dreadful, of course, but there was much more to the Southgate era than that. Let’s not let lazy narratives or hazy memories rewrite history and traduce a man who did so much for England!”

I couldn’t agree more. Southgate transformed the team on the pitch, and its ethos off it, both in wholly positive terms. That was no mean feat.

“ My 19-year-old old student son was determined to watch every match, perhaps realising that the end of his first year at university is probably the sweet spot for such an insane undertaking,” emails Richey.

“He even hung in the for the Australia v Turkey game with a 7am finish here in Blighty. Sadly he was undone when he realised that Austria v Jordan kicking off at 3am on Wednesday would likely impinge on his ability to be awake and ready for the first ball of the second Test a handful of hours later. Even sports fans have to make compromises sometimes!”

I firmly support prioritising cricket over football in the summer. Thanks for the email!

Are you ready for Czechia v South Africa , the first of four matches on the menu on day eight?

Ready or not, this match is happening at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, at 12pm local/2am AEST/5pm BST/12pm EDT.

Daniel Harris is currently warming up the dance floor here:

On the subject of trying to watch all 1,453 matches at this tournament, krishnamoorthy writes:

“It will be insane even if you are a retired person who can just flip day and night (assuming one is in Europe) and watch all the games. It is impossible when you have a job and other obligations like shopping, gardening etc.

“Speaking for myself I will TRY to catch all the games from quarter-finals onwards.”

Spooky, because shopping and gardening are two things that will assuredly interfere with my World Cup watching. Especially watering, what with this looming heatwave. Thanks for your email.

“ Jacob Steinberg in today’s edition is absolutely correct,” emails Jeff Sax. “If the defence does not improve, England will struggle to progress.

“However, I enjoyed their second half play – finally they showed their attacking potential.”

Here’s Jacob’s piece about the frailties that were perhaps masked by England’s second-half recovery against Croatia.

Now that the first round of fixtures of the 2026 World Cup is in the books, it’s time to go around the houses again, starting with Group A and B, which include co-hosts Canada and Mexico.

After their opening draw with Bosnia and Herzegovina , Canada face Qatar in Vancouver. Three points would significantly boost the co-hosts’ chances of making it out of a men’s World Cup group for the first time in their history.

Meanwhile, Mexico are already well on their way to the last 32 after their 2-0 win over South Africa. A victory against South Korea would allow Javier Aguirre and his players to focus on the next round.

Here is your complete guide on how to watch today’s World Cup games, including kick-off times, broadcast networks, and online streaming options.

A little earlier, Sky Sports News were talking to the sleep expert James Wilson, regarding the challenges for fans in staying up all night/most of the night to watch World Cup games from across the pond.

“If you try and watch every game … you have to be a bit careful,” Wilson said. “Because sleep deprivation can be detrimental to health and safety.”

Thankfully, speaking for myself, I am absolutely not going to try and watch every game.

Is anyone? If you are going to try and watch every game … email us with your story.

There was a moment on Sunday morning when, scrolling through pages of content celebrating the New York Knicks’ spectacular NBA championship win in the city – videos in which it seemed people of every age, race, background and zip code put aside their differences to hug and scream – I wondered how far the principle of sport-as-the-ultimate-leveller might stretch.

Good performance by England last night. Especially in the second half the sharp and accurate passing, the work rate across the midfield and attack but most impressive was the energy in the press snuffing out Croatia’s ability to settle and create. As someone else said, I’d doubt they could sustain that level of energy in the oppressive heat conditions but last night was an excellent start to the competition… btw, a special mention for MOTM Harry Kane, a truly magnificent performance. The man seems to be going from strength to strength since his move to Bayern.

England and pressing is an interesting issue … in his press conference [pardon the pun] before the New Zealand friendly, Tuchel said he wanted his players to try and win the ball back high up the pitch at this tournament – but also that not chasing too much would be important.

It seemed a contradiction in terms, unless of course, he is planning to ask his players to switch between an intense pressing game and a more “economic” style. For sure, on the hotter days and deeper into the tournament, a relentless pressing game will very difficult, and in fact, almost certainly impossible.

Thanks Martin , hi everyone.

That is me done for the day. I might as well embarrass myself again, I am expecting wins for Czechia and Mexico , and I am expected Group B to be all draws again. I’ll see you tomorrow when we can discuss how terrible my hunches are. In the meantime, over to Luke McLaughlin .

Incoming celebrity cameo alert – Spain ’s King Felipe VI will be at his country’s next match, which is in Guadalajara against Uruguay . It is quite a significant diplomatic move, as relations between Mexico and Spain have been strained in recent years over their shared colonial legacy. The king will visit Mexico’s president during the trip, where no doubt cameras will cut to a close-up of him at the match and someone on co-comms will be baffled as to who he is.

In non-World Cup news, Celtic have been having a moan up about the opening fixture of their title defence this year. AP reports that the unlikely combination of Calvin Harris concerts and Commonwealth Games events is pushing Celtic’s first home match to a Monday night.

Instead of being played on the Saturday or Sunday, Celtic’s home meeting with Dundee will be on Monday 3 August.

“We have been told that there is no choice owing to Police Scotland being unable to support the fixture on a weekend which coincides with other events,” Celtic said. Referring to a tradition of raising a flag in the middle of the pitch at the start of a title defence, Celtic said “Clearly, our priority will always be our supporters and, against any measure, staging the Champions Flag Day on a Monday evening is disappointing.”

I don’t want to write exclusively about England all day, but there are some quotes from Gary Lineker about Harry Kane I thought I would share. Kane moved level with Lineker on 10 World Cup goals for his country with last night’s efforts.

I’m absolutely delighted that Kane equalled my record. Welcome to the double-figures club. It’s great. I mean, it may have taken him a World Cup more. In all seriousness, Harry Kane is, I think, the greatest English striker we’ve ever had. I genuinely think that now. His all-round game is, for me, what separates him from all the others.

The day so far …

Fifa has played down reports that ticketless England supporters were able to gain entry for the World Cup opener against Croatia after evading security checks at the Dallas Stadium.

England head coach Thomas Tuchel has complained he could not see his players singing the national anthem because of a scrum of photographers blocking his view – and has urged Fifa to intervene.

Mexican military forces intercepted and brought down a drone that flew near the South Korea team’s training camp ahead of its World Cup match against Mexico, a federal official told the Associated Press.

The Côte d’Ivoire striker Elye Wahi has not been authorised to travel to Canada for his team’s next World Cup match against Germany. He is currently being investigated for alleged match-fixing.

England’s women will need to overcome Greece and either Slovakia or Ukraine to qualify for the 2027 World Cup. Wales have drawn Albania, Scotland face Czechia, and Northern Ireland have Portugal in the first round of the play-offs.

Osasuna winger Víctor Muñoz will become the first signing of Andoni Iraola’s reign at Liverpool after the club triggered a £34.5m release clause, beating Newcastle to his signature.

Real Madrid have signed Ibrahima Konaté. The France defender leaves Liverpool when his contract expires on 30 June and has agreed a four-year deal at the Bernabéu.

Todays matches at the World Cup are in Group A and Group B, featuring Czechia v South Africa (Noon ET, 5pm BST), Switzerland v Bosnia and Herzegovina (3pm ET, 8pm BST), Canada v Qatar (6pm ET, 11pm BST) and Mexico v South Korea (9pm ET, 2am Friday BST).

Four matches today, and you might even be able to start pencilling things into your wall chart for the knockout stages. If one of Mexico or South Korea wins that game, they will have guaranteed themselves progress. Defeat for Czechia or South Africa could be costly though, as depending on the Mexico v South Korea result, one of those nations might find themselves locked into bottom place in Group A, regardless of what they do in their final game.

Everything is up for grabs in Group B, where thanks to two 1-1 draws in the opening games, the teams are currently being separated in the table on fair play points.

British nations discover play-off opponents for 2027 women’s World Cup qualification

In Nyon, Uefa have been shuffling some balls again to do the play-off draw for the 2027 Fifa Women’s World Cup qualification, which you need a degree in astrophysics to understand.

In Path 1, England face Greece . In Path 2, Wales have drawn Albania , Scotland face Czechia , and Northern Ireland have Portugal . Those two-legged matches happen in October.

There is then a second round of two-legged matches in November and December, with the draw for that being:

Slovakia / Ukraine v Greece / ENGLAND Finland / Serbia v Belarus / Italy NORTHERN IRELAND / Portugal v Croatia / Iceland Albania / WALES v Romania / Norway Israel /Switzerland v Kosovo / Austria Czechia / SCOTLAND v Lithuania / Sweden Belgium / Poland v Kazakhstan / Ireland Turkey / Slovenia v Hungary / Netherlands

And then finally you have qualified – except for the lowest ranked team to win their play-off tie, who have to go to the intercontinental play-offs. It is all quite the head-scratcher to be honest.

Good morning/evening/afternoon etc, the last thing I said to you in the comments yesterday was I expected a laboured Portugal victory and a low-intensity 0-0 between Croatia and England so feel free to ignore my opinions for the rest of the tournament I guess?

That’s all from me. Martin Belam is here for the next couple of hours.

Côte d’Ivoire striker Wahi barred from World Cup match in Canada amid fixing probe

The Côte d’Ivoire striker Elye Wahi, who is being investigated for alleged match-fixing, has not been authorised to travel to Canada for his team’s next World Cup match against Germany, the Ivorian football federation have said. Côte d’Ivoire face Germany on Saturday in Toronto.

The federation said Wahi will not be able to travel with the squad because “the necessary administrative authorisations for his entry into Canadian territory could not be obtained at this stage.”

Wahi started in attack when Côte d’Ivoire beat Ecuador 1-0 in its opening game in Philadelphia on Monday. He will remain in the United States pending the team’s return, the federation said.

The French football league said on Wednesday that an “unusual amount of bets” were placed internationally on Wahi receiving a yellow card during a Ligue 1 game with Nice in May.

The French league was alerted by partners monitoring betting markets about suspicious betting activity at international level concerning Nice’s home game against Metz on 17 May, which ended 0-0, and in which Wahi was shown a yellow card.

The French league said it passed this information to relevant police and gambling authorities, as well as the French football federation.

Asked whether Wahi was questioned by police, the Marseille prosecutor’s office told the Associated Press that “a 23-year-old professional football player, competing in France’s Ligue 1 championship, was arrested on May 29, 2026, as part of their investigation.”

The office added “the investigation concerns alleged offences of organised fraud, organised sports corruption, receiving stolen goods, and money laundering.” The player was questioned while in police custody and was released without being detained. The office added the investigation was ongoing.

Wahi’s representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Ivorian football federation (FIF) said it has not been officially notified “of any judicial or administrative proceedings” concerning Wahi.

“During this particularly delicate period, the FIF offers its full support to the player and reaffirms its confidence in him,” it said. “Elye Wahi remains an important member of the Ivory Coast national team.” Associated Press

Group K: The final match of the first round of fixtures returned to the scene of the opener as Colombia ran out 3-1 winners against Uzbekistan in Mexico City. The competition debutants levelled things in the second half after Daniel Muñoz’s opener before Luis Díaz and Jaminton Campaz sealed three points for Los Cafeteros .

As you can imagine, the Azteca was very well populated by yellow Colombia shirts.

“It is a beautiful ​energy, but emotionally it weighed on some ‌of the players,” admitted Colombia’s manager, Néstor Lorenzo . “I think it had to do with the emotional burden of the first game and ‌also with the responsibility of being favourites.”

Uzbekistan are led by Fabio Cannavaro and can take pride in going to toe to toe with Colombia for the majority of the game, equalising through Abbosbek Fayzullayev after an hour.

“When a small team like ours works the way ​it did today, it’s clear that losing 3-1 is too much,” said Cannavaro.

“We have to grow. I always tell them to stay in ⁠the match. It’s not easy to play against a team like ​Colombia or Portugal … Today the ​team understood when we had to ​suffer, when we had to control the ball, when we had to ​switch from one side ‌to the other. ​I think the ​second half was very good. But at this level, when you make mistakes, you pay heavily.”

A first World Cup game at the Azteca is pretty special, though. “Playing here is something wonderful. It’s something you will remember your whole life. It’s the ‌first time my players have played in this stadium, and they will remember it for ever,” Cannavaro said.

Ibrahima Konaté to join Real Madrid

Real Madrid have wrapped up another big-name free transfer with Ibrahima Konaté joining Bernardo Silva through the door. The France defender leaves Liverpool when his contract expires on 30 June and has agreed a four-year deal at the Bernabéu.

Konaté, 27, won the Premier League, FA Cup and two League Cups during his five years at Anfield and started the 2022 Champions League final defeat to his new club. He revealed a couple of weeks ago how the deaths of Diogo Jota and his father in the last year have led to him living with depression.

Battle of the confederations after round 1:

Europe P16 W7 D6 L3 (This includes Eng v Cro)

South America P6 W2 D2 L2

Africa P10 W2 D4 L4

Asia P9 W2 D4 L3

Concacaf P6 W2 D1 L3

Oceania (NZ) P1 D1

Straight match-ups (W-D-L):

Europe 0-0-0 South America Europe 2-3-0 Africa Europe 2-2-2 Asia Europe 0-0-0 Concacaf South America 1-1-1 Africa South America 1-1-0 Asia South America 0-0-1 Concacaf Africa 0-0-0 Asia Africa 1-0-1 Concacaf Asia 0-0-0 Concacaf Asia 0-1-0 Oceania

(This was compiled using ol’ pen and paper, so sorry if there are any mistakes)

Muchímas gracias for this, Rogorn – I’m not sure what conclusions to draw from it other than that Oceania are the only unbeaten confederation after round one. New Zealand just don’t lose World Cup games …

The Asian teams had been doing very well until Iraq, Jordan and Uzbekistan were overpowered in the last couple of days.

Thanks Luke. Let’s take a look at the other game in Group L yesterday as a pretty uninspiring Ghana snuck past Panama 1-0 thanks to Caleb Yirenkyi’s late, late winner. There were more boos when the game was stopped for the drinks break in the first half – it was tipping it down in Toronto.

“I am tired,” said Ghana’s manager, Carlos Queiroz – and with good reason. The 73-year-old sprinted towards the Ghana fans at full time, fists punching the air.

“This was a really intensive game,” he said. “The wins in this World Cup are very expensive. Our players have shown they are ready to pay high prices for the win.

“With the football we played today we ‌can count on Ghana to do something.”

With games against Croatia and England to come, it’s looking bleak for Panama in their first World Cup since 2018. “The result is painful, ‌but that is because we deserved better,” said their manager, Thomas Christiansen . “We controlled the first half, but in the second half, we played their game a bit more. That’s not how we wanted to play, but now is not the time for regrets.”

It’s instructive to look back to the early days of Tuchel’s reign, last year, when he told his players (having mapped out the schedule before this World Cup) that England had 24 days to pull everything together.

Based on last night’s performance the signs are that Tuchel hasn’t wasted that time: and England are going to enjoy a decent tournament. But let’s not forget there is a looooooooooong way to go.

That’s all from me for now, Billy Munday is taking you through the next hour.

The question of whether or not Thomas Tuchel would sing England’s national anthem was pondered in the early days of his tenure.

When it came to his first major tournament game with England, though, it turned out the German manager had the experience “ruined” by the massive scrum of photographers blocking his view of his players singing.

“I am begging Fifa to change the position of the photographers in the national anthem because I could not see my team in the national anthem,” Tuchel said.

“I was waiting for this moment. It was a very, very special moment today and I was standing in front of a wall of 50 photographers, half a metre away, and I could not see one single player. It ruined a little bit my experience.”

According to a headline on Sky Sports News earlier, England’s 4-2 win against Croatia constituted a “STATEMENT VICTORY”. The hype train has long since left the station.

Some may say it was even a statement of intent : an intent to win football matches, and lots of them.

It’s never too late to have a bash at Bracketology, our game-by-game World Cup predictor. At my first attempt I came up with the Netherlands as winners, which some may find surprising.

Australia take on the USA in Seattle tomorrow .

Alexander Abnos and Jack Snape preview a blockbuster Group D showdown in the north-eastern United States.

“ Never seen Kane so fit, ” (below) is quite a telling remark.

You know I’m not one to cling on to resentments – but he quite clearly wasn’t fit in 2024, and I wonder if he was even economical with the truth about the extent of whatever injury he was carrying then.

It’s great to see him fit and playing well, needless to say.

Back for some more BTL comments :

I’m delighted with the win and I loved the way England tried to play – runners from midfield, the courage to play through the middle, a pleasing intensity and pace, subs (some of them) having an impact . Tuchel has settled on a good side and a style that looks really promising for the challenges ahead. There’s loads to praise the side for.

But…

I don’t think it’s negative to talk about some obvious shortcomings last night. Nothing of major concern yet, and all things that ought to improve through the tournament. Losing the ball in midfield. Poor marking at the back. Lack of protection for the back four. The whole back line lacking familiarity – Stones and James looked rusty, O’Reilly not sure about coming into midfield, Konsa uncertain. Missing another tournament penalty Pickford punching when he should be catching Too little danger off the left

As I say, not so fair to focus on the negatives but these problems, especially the midfield protection and the shaky back five, need to and surely will get ironed out as the World Cup progresses. Almost all successful sides grow into the tournament.

Overall – good start, long way to go.

Surprised at so many nonplussed comments here last night. This was not the normal lifeless straightjacket performance from England, getting results through competence but no real guts or class. Some real verve and incisive purposeful attack interplay was on show last night. And regardless of age Croatia are a big scalp with a wily proven squad over the years. Never seen Kane so fit or as deadly serious. Feels different this England

Well done on England winning against a top 15 ranked team at the World Cup for the first time since 2002. It seems a more united bunch of players and less of the inter team rivalry that dogged teams of the past. More of a Ryder Cup team feel. Maybe that was the secret sauce.

A Ryder Cup feel? That, surely, is the last thing we need.

Folarin Balogun (USA) , Kai Havertz (Germany), Yasin Ayari (Sweden), Eli Just (New Zealand), Harry Kane (England), Erling Haaland (Norway) and Kylian Mbappé (France) all have two goals in this World Cup .

But who has three?

YOU CAN FIND OUT HERE:

Liverpool trigger release clause for Osasuna’s Muñoz

The Osasuna winger Víctor Muñoz will become the first signing of Andoni Iraola’s reign at Liverpool after the club triggered a £34.5m release clause, beating Newcastle to his signature. Muñoz will sign a six-year contract after having a medical on Wednesday in Atlanta, where he is part of the Spain squad at the World Cup.

Liverpool have been following Muñoz’s progress for an extensive period and sped up the deal after Iraola’s appointment because the head coach was eager to add his compatriot. Iraola spent most of his playing career at Athletic Bilbao, continues to closely monitor La Liga, and Muñoz has impressed him.

We interrupt our regular World Cup programming to bring you some hot Premier League transfer news …

Mauricio Pochettino now has the privilege of giving the new World Cup format a practical test.

The Argentinian wisely played it safe at half-time of the United States’ 4-1 thrashing of Paraguay, pulling Christian Pulisic before his calf could be kicked any more. The attacking midfielder said after the match that he had taken similar punishment before, and he was optimistic he would be fit for the next match. As of Wednesday, he was still training away from his teammates and wearing a sleeve on his left calf.

And so, Pochettino must weigh a question many have wondered since Fifa announced this would be the first World Cup with 48 teams. How much will teams gamble with players’ fitness after securing the three points many expect should be enough to ensure safe passage to the round of 32?

Next up a piece on the USA, the USMNT, the US – call them what you like. From Jeff Rueter again.

Who is the most prolific goal-scorer in the history of the World Cup ?

You can see the details here – with a mention of course for the World Cup legend Just Fontaine of France – who is currently sixth on the list.

Asked how he’s handling the scrutiny of coaching a World Cup co-host – where even apparently insignificant comments can end up in the headlines – Jesse Marsch was quick to flash a grin.

“Maybe we’ll get through this one without creating news cycles,” Marsch quipped a day before his Canada team welcome Qatar to Vancouver for a pivotal Group B clash. The teams are level on one point each after the first round of games, leaving the group wide open.

“ I don’t know anything about club football,” emails Mariana “… But I do enjoy watching the international competitions because of all the reasons you and your colleagues have written about in the last few days … I can’t listen to the German commentators at all, which is why I have been LOVING The Guardian’s MBM on the games for quite some years now, so thank you!

“I do have to nag about something: I – like many non-club-level-watchers – enjoy watching the underdogs play ( loved Cup Verde against Spain! ), mainly because of the fun, and spirit, and sometimes even humility they bring. Which is why it’s really difficult for me to watch the superstars go down at every touch, as the English players did yesterday. (I’m looking at you, Bellingham.)

“I just don’t enjoy it. What’s that all about? It completely disrupts the flow of the game, and is embarrassing to watch … I would even argue that the Croatian players seem to be able to get off their bottoms without making a fuss every time. And I’m not just saying that because they have been my team since 2006, I swear (watching Japan v Croatia at 16, in my home country, simply was a blast).

“Anyway, congratulations on your team’s success yesterday. Even though Kane had fumbled the penalty, and the incomparable pink kraken Livakovic should have been player of the match, and Bellingham went down every chance he got.”

Thanks for the email, Mariana. All sounds reasonable.

What sort of thing is happening later?

There are three matches – and all the following times are UK:

Czechia v South Africa (17.00) Switzerland v Bosnia & Herzegovina (20.00) Canada v Qatar (23.00)

Tuchel urges Fifa to intervene after photographers ‘ruin’ anthems

And in yet more Tuchel news …

England head coach Thomas Tuchel has complained he could not see his players singing the national anthem because of a scrum of photographers blocking his view – and has urged Fifa to intervene.

Tuchel led England to a 4-2 win over Croatia in their opening World Cup game at the AT+T Stadium in Arlington on Wednesday, with Harry Kane scoring twice and Jude Bellingham and Marcus Rashford scoring the third and fourth goals respectively.

He was unhappy that for his first tournament finals match in charge of England, he could not see his players during the rendition of God Save The King.

“I have to tell you something, I am begging Fifa to change the position of the photographers in the national anthem because I could not see my team in the national anthem,” he said.

“I was waiting for this moment. It was a very, very special moment today and I was standing in front of a wall of 50 photographers, half a metre away, and I could not see one single player. It ruined a little bit my experience.

“It is very emotional. When I was young and when I started coaching, this was too big to dream of this kind of occasion.”

“ They swarmed all over Croatia and gave a glimpse not so much of patterns of play, but of a willingness to actually do this, of the muscle, speed and ruthlessness that are undeniably there in this team.”

Barney Ronay is here to explain what happened in Dallas. It’s a piece about Jude Bellingham – but also about Thomas Tuchel.

“Tuchel was present here in all black, with that familiar look of some founding American settler, a goggle-eyed Dutch farmer in a straw hat out there tilling the lands. He must take credit if not for the start, then for the way England altered the energy here.”

Shall we dip into the BTL comments … Well, why not? The first and third of these are about England: apologies in advance.

The defence is getting a lot of stick for those two goals, but in truth it was the failure of the midfield to get control that led to them. There were too many occasions when there were wide open spaces, loose passes, possession lost in dangerous areas. But the worst aspect was the passivity, the lack of serious pressing. England haven’t got great central defenders so midfield protection is vital.

One of the positive things about the first round of matches has been the refereeing, they’ve clearly decided to officiate with a light touch and it’s so much better for the game when they don’t blow up for every little bit of contact. Players have already realised they’re not getting free kicks by exaggerating every touch and they’re getting short shrift if they’re rolling about on the floor for no reason. Add in the fact that VAR isn’t trying to re-referee every game and I think they’ve got it pretty much spot on so far with their approach. Let’s hope it continues.

For a first game I thought England were fine. The fact we had some gears we could go through and some real power to bring off the bench bodes well. And it’s nice to see a bit of oomph after the years of Southgate tedium. Not sure Stones as first choice centrehalf is sustainable though – he’s not played all season and for all his silkiness I think will just be phased out for the more mobile Guehi.

Good too to see England’s two best players (Kane and Bellingham) actually looking fit and sharp. They were both shadows of themselves in the last tournament and if we’re going to do anything here we’ll need both with energy at the sharp end of the knock-outs.

There was more than a touch of “jibbing in” for England’s opener, if eyewitness reports of lax security and ticket checks are to be believed. And why shouldn’t they be?

Fifa has played down reports that ticketless England supporters were able to gain entry for the World Cup opener against Croatia after evading security checks at the Dallas Stadium.

An unspecified number of fans without tickets are said to have made their way into the ground despite a huge security operation being put in place at the home of the Dallas Cowboys in Arlington. Officials said that snipers were in place inside the stadium, with the Arlington police department deploying “highly trained personnel and specialised resources” at the venue.

But despite those measures and some fans having paid thousands of pounds for tickets, there were widespread reports of supporters without tickets gaining access.

Bellingham playing with ‘a chip on my shoulder’

The England midfielder Jude Bellingham believes playing with a “chip on my shoulder” will bring the best out of him at the World Cup .

Bellingham scored the vital third goal as Thomas Tuchel’s side opened their campaign with a 4-2 win over Croatia in the Group L clash in Dallas.

There were uncertainty surrounding Bellingham’s inclusion in Tuchel’s squad for the tournament in North America after missing the September and October camps through injury.

That followed last summer’s international window which ended in Tuchel saying his mother found Bellingham’s behaviour “repulsive” , while his ability (or perceived lack thereof) to buy into Tuchel’s “brotherhood” has also come under scrutiny.

Bellingham was chosen ahead of his friend Morgan Rogers in the No 10 position, before switching to a deeper role, and made an early mark in the tournament.

“For me personally, it was nice to put some of the noise aside and just show my country and my teammates how committed I am to help us try to win football matches,” he told BBC Sport.

“It was a great team performance. Second half, we got things right, first half we got the intensity right, but not quite with the ball and second half we put it all together nicely.

“To contribute, to help my team and help my country is one of the biggest honours and regardless of the noise outside, that honour doesn’t change for me at all.

“It has been a tough season for me but I am feeling fresh and sharp and stronger.

“I have got a little bit of a chip on my shoulder. That helps me a lot to find that focus early in the game and to find that intensity.

“I know that it’s part of being a footballer and I don’t hold a grudge against anyone who says bad things about me because sometimes I do deserve it.

“Today, it was nice to try to show people and remind people what I’m about.” PA Media

A fresh England line hot off the wires coming right up …

If by some bizarre chance you missed it, here’s a gallery of some of the best images from England 4-2 Croatia:

And here is reaction from Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and Tommy Tuchel:

I fell asleep at some point during the Netherlands v Japan game. It had been a hot and drowsy day by the shores of Lake Annecy, a square and heavy heat, where the sun and the driving and the food and the boxed wine gently squeeze all the life from your body, like air being pressed out of a juice carton.

I remember Virgil van Dijk angling a header into the far corner, and when I came to it was 2-1, and everyone was heading to bed, drunk on tiredness, drunk on life, drunk on drink.

Not all of my friends care for football in any case, and so the World Cup had become a kind of mood music, something to fill the silences in conversation. Through the long and meandering chat about home renovations and Andy Burnham, an indistinct French voice occasionally cut through from a different universe. Maeda. Gravenberch. The Low Countries tempted to attain the final for the first time since 2010. My French isn’t great. Someone prised open a bottle of Heineken. Bodies draped themselves over the couch, fingers scrolled through phones, the immaculate decadence of boredom.

When Thomas Tuchel won the Champions League with Chelsea in 2021 the success was built on unflinching defensive rigour and midfield discipline. Five years on, though, Tuchel’s England displayed neither of those qualities during a dreadful first half in Dallas. They kept losing the ball in dangerous areas, struggled to maintain their shape without the ball and were rocking when Croatia stung them with a second equaliser just before half-time.

The vibe could hardly have been less convincing. Anthony Barry, Tuchel’s No 2, let rip in an interview with ITV, accusing England of doing all the wrong things, of playing with “a nervous energy”, of making everything “confused and complicated” against opponents well versed in making their craft and experience in midfield count.

Of course, England got away with it in the end, the response in the second half astonishing, Barry’s words no doubt delivered in even stronger terms by Tuchel in the dressing room. Yet while they won their opening game in Group L thanks to a moment of breathtaking power from Jude Bellingham and a late breakaway goal from Marcus Rashford, the overall display was far from good enough.

If you think everything in England’s garden is rosy after banging in four goals against Croatia, Jacob Steinberg has some news for you …

There really is quite a lot of football occurring .

Ghana celebrated a 1-0 win against Panama in Toronto, joining England atop Group L:

And in Group K, Jonathan Wilson witnessed Colombia beating Uzbekistan 3-1, down in Mexico City:

“ Let’s have it off ,” one excited England fan told Sky Sports News outside the stadium after England’s victory.

Doesn’t he mean “Let’s have it”?

I wish I could say I will be speaking from a position of authority on England’s win against Croatia, but I was on a plane, coming home from Spain.

Therefore, your emails, in which you tell me what happened, and offer your first-class analysis, are going to be particularly important this morning . Get involved.

Mexican military forces intercepted and brought down a drone that flew near the South Korea team’s training camp ahead of its World Cup match against Mexico, a federal official told the Associated Press.

Military forces used specialised equipment to detect an “unregistered drone” near the South Korean camp, prompting them to “neutralise” it, the Mexican federal agent said.

Preamble

England are quite good, it would seem, after their opening Group L 4-2 win against Croatia:

While the rest of the world waits for England to be bad – or at least suffer a heartbreaking penalty shootout defeat against Argentina, or someone – their fans are certainly going to enjoy the next few weeks …

Let’s all talk about the World Cup!

Keyword – Sport
Trefwoorden – Royal Ascot, Horse racing, Sport
Title – Ombudsman dishes out decisive beating to classy Royal Ascot field | Royal Ascot | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/gregwood
Link – Ombudsman dishes out decisive beating to classy Royal Ascot field | Royal Ascot | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-17T17:34:47.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/jun/17/ombudsman-hands-out-decisive-beating-to-classy-royal-ascot-field-horse-racing-tips

There was no room for doubt after the Prince of Wales’s Stakes here on Wednesday, and no need either for any debate about team tactics or riding instructions. Ombudsman’s sweeping charge down the outside to beat Minnie Hauk and Daryz, the winners of the Oaks and Arc respectively last season, was as decisive a winning move as favourite backers could ever hope to see, and William Buick was using only hands-and-heels through the final furlong as the 11-10 chance opened up a four-length lead at the line.

For a brief moment at the top of the straight, it seemed that the pacemakers might be a source of post-race discussion for the second day running. Mississippi River and Devil’s Advocate, one frontrunner apiece for Aidan O’Brien’s Minnie Hauk and the John and Thady Gosden-trained Ombudsman, tore into a long lead by halfway, and while Mississippi River was a spent force turning in, Devil’s Advocate still had a healthy lead at the two-furlong pole.

A furlong later, the race was effectively over, with Ombudsman in front and going clear on the way to a repeat of his win in this race 12 months ago, as Minnie Hauk and Daryz tried and failed to match his finishing speed.

“Devil’s Advocate, a furlong and a half to go I thought they have to get to him,” John Gosden said. “But this horse has got a phenomenal turn of foot, great acceleration for a mile-and-a-quarter horse and he just showed that class.

“It’s quite something to come away from the field like that. The filly [Minnie Hauk] ran great, the Arc winner [Daryz] ran great. Probably [Almaqam] might not have run his race but, overall, it was one of the great performances of his career.”

The Eclipse Stakes at Sandown in early July is the next 10-furlong Group One in the calendar, but Ombudsman may wait instead for the International Stakes at York in mid-August.

“We’ll watch him for the next week or 10 days and the horse will tell you,” Gosden said. “You just watch, you know their habits, when they’re 100% and when they’re a little quiet. The Juddmonte International would be the major target of course. He likes York.”

O’Brien was pleased to see Minnie Hauk bounce back from a lacklustre showing at the Curragh in May, and she seems sure to return to a mile and a half for her next outing.

“We thought what happened the last day was that she’s really a mile-and-a-half filly,” O’Brien said, “and over a mile and a quarter [on Wednesday] she wanted an end-to-end gallop. Obviously, that was going to suit the winner as well.

“Ryan [Moore] said she kept travelling from the three to the two, while the winner had a little bit more speed than her over a mile and a quarter. The lads [in the Coolmore Stud syndicate] will decide what they want to do, but I’d say something like the King George [at Ascot in late July], one more run and then the Arc [at Longchamp in early October].”

Daryz, meanwhile, has now been beaten on both of his starts outside France. “They had these two pacemakers that went forward quite clear and my horse was not covered,” Francis-Henri Graffard, Daryz’s trainer, said. “He never really relaxed and had a chance to take a breath. I don’t think he relaxed through the race; he was out of his rhythm all the time, and that’s why he shortened up his action at the end. We didn’t see the Daryz of Longchamp, when he was nice and relaxed and quickened really strongly.”

Gosden’s afternoon had started with a trundle down the course in the royal procession. O’Brien, meanwhile, opened the card with his 99th winner at the Royal meeting, as Victorious powered to an easy success in the five-furlong Queen Mary Stakes.

It was the trainer’s second successive Queen Mary winner, 12 months after True Love – this season’s 1,000 Guineas winner – finally broke O’Brien’s duck, and Victorious was initially cut to 16-1 (from 33-1) for next year’s Newmarket Classic by Paddy Power, and then cut again to 12-1 a few minutes later.

Victorious’s success was also a significant tip towards the chance of the trainer’s Sun Goddess in the Albany Stakes here on Friday, as the winner’s first two starts had been at six furlong before her drop back to five on Wednesday yesterday.

“Victorious is very classy,” O’Brien said. “She only has sight in one eye, so we were a little worried about where she was drawn [on the far side], but Ryan [Moore] was brilliant on her. He reassured her and let her find her way through. He got a little group to follow and then took her to the outside.

“We had her and the filly that’s in the Albany and we tried to split them. Everyone thought this filly might be OK over five furlongs, but she is ideally suited by six and even further.”

Point Of Law, the second runner of the week in the king and queen’s colours, fared better than Reaching High, who was last across the line in the Ascot Stakes on Tuesday, but could finish no better than fourth behind Limestone in the Queen’s ase.

The next outing for the scarlet and purple silks will be aboard Golden Orbit, one of the outsiders for the Group Two Ribblesdale Stakes on Thursday.

Carmers can strike gold at big odds

Trawlerman, last year’s Gold Cup winner, will defend his crown against a strong squad of progressive four-year-old stayers at Royal Ascot on Thursday, and Carmers (4.15) , a winner at the meeting last year, is an interesting each-way contender to spring an upset at odds of around 20-1.

There is no doubting Trawlerman’s talent or commitment, at Ascot above all as he is a dual Group One winner at the track, but the mighty Yeats is the only eight-year-old winner in the last 125 years and he also missed his intended prep at Sandown last month.

The market sees Scandinavia, last year’s St Leger winner, as his sternest opponent, but Rahiebb, who was a neck away in second, and Carmers, three lengths behind in fifth, are also in Thursday’s field.

Carmers beat both Rahiebb and Scandinavia in the Queen’s Vase last June, was a comfortable winner on his first start at two miles last month and has as much, if not more, scope for improvement than either of those rivals at the Gold Cup’s marathon trip.

Royal Ascot 2.30 Sea Venture was a decisive winner on debut at Haydock last month despite meeting all manner of traffic problems and has a pedigree that all but guarantees improvement for this step up in trip.

Royal Ascot 3.05 Owen Burrows’s Heyzoom may have been seriously underestimated by the handicapper on an opening mark of 85, as his strongly-run maiden at Newbury has already produced four next-time winners.

Royal Ascot 3.40 Thirteen days is a very short turnaround for Legacy Link after her second-place finish in the Oaks and Earth Shot, runner-up to the subsequent third in the French Oaks at Goodwood last time, is an attractive alternative at around 5-1.

Royal Ascot 4.50 A typical Britannia Handicap in that scarcely a runner can be ruled out with confidence, but David Marnane’s Jamestown, from stall 25, is perhaps the pick of the prices to follow up a dominant success last time out.

Royal Ascot 5.35 Generic was making only his third start when seven lengths adrift of the subsequent French Derby winner, Constitution River, in the Dee Stakes at Chester and the form is backed up by a strong timefigure.

Royal Ascot 6.10 Another impossibly tight handicap on the straight course, but Blue Brother is an intriguing contender at around 10-1. Hamad al Jehani’s gelding was fancied for last year’s Hunt Cup but had no luck at all in running, and while he has not seen a track since, his trainer is more than capable of getting one ready first time up.

Keyword – Info
Trefwoorden – Information, Football, Newsletter sign-up
Title – Sign up for the Football Daily newsletter: our free football email | Information | The Guardian
Author – Guardian Staff
Link – Sign up for the Football Daily newsletter: our free football email | Information | The Guardian
Publish date – 2022-11-14T09:05:50.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/info/2022/nov/14/football-daily-email-sign-up

Keyword – Environment
Trefwoorden – Trees and forests, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England, UK news, Environment
Title – ‘Most famous tree in the world’: Sherwood Forest’s 1,000-year-old Major oak dies | Trees and forests | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/patrickbarkham
Link – ‘Most famous tree in the world’: Sherwood Forest’s 1,000-year-old Major oak dies | Trees and forests | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-17T23:01:46.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/18/most-famous-tree-world-sherwood-forest-ancient-major-oak-dies

The Major oak, one of Europe’s oldest, largest and most celebrated ancient trees, has died.

The huge tree, which has grown in Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire , England, for at least 1,000 years, failed to produce any leaves this year, after becoming stressed by a series of hot, dry summers.

Thousands of visitors admire the oak each year, with its great age, enormous 11-metre girth and 28-metre canopy inspiring a forest of folklore. Although the oak would not have been hollow in Robin Hood’s day, it was said to have provided a sanctuary for the outlaw and his gang when fleeing the tyrannical Sheriff of Nottingham .

In the winter of 2010, when snow fell on the tree, it traced an eerily precise image of Friar Tuck on the trunk. In other winters, when snow fell all around, none appeared on the tree’s limbs.

But it was recent summers – and human admiration – that probably hastened the natural end of the tree’s long life.

Like other ancient oaks, the tree has been repeatedly stressed by the heat and drought of global heating, particularly the heatwave of July 2022 when Britain baked under record 40C temperatures.

Robin Hood arrived in an electric van for an impromptu, informal funeral beside the tree after the RSPB, which manages the Sherwood Forest site of special scientific interest (SSSI), announced the tree’s passing.

Robert Brackley, an outdoor educator who has shown thousands of schoolchildren the wonders of the Major oak while dressed in authentic outlaw furs with functioning bow and arrow, said: “The stories it has given us is the legacy. It’s the most famous tree in the world. The legend always lives on. I feel sad but it’s a fleeting moment in time. We must remember how it was and be in awe of it today.”

Visitors from Spain, Sheffield, the US, South Korea and Australia paused beside the tree to pay their respects. “It’s ginormous!” said Carter Jackson, eight, from Sheffield. “It’s a really beautiful tree and it’s sad it’s died.”

Ryan Jackson, his father, added: “It’s a piece of history that’s dying but it was 1,000 years old, you can’t live for ever.”

“Poor tree,” said Kirsty Champion from Adelaide. “I always watched Robin Hood on the TV and read the books. It’s so sad that we tried to help it and conserve it but it probably made it worse.”

England has a unique wealth of very large and ancient oaks : 114 living ancient oaks with a girth of more than nine metres, described by conservationists as “the white rhinos of the UK”, with only 98 found across the rest of Europe, including Scotland and Wales.

Ever since the oak was named in honour of Maj Hayman Rooke, a local historian who described the tree in 1790, it has attracted admirers – these days, 350,000 each year. Although a protective barrier was placed around the tree in the 1970s, the oak was weakened by poor soil health and soil compaction from visitors as well as Sherwood’s wartime role as a military camp.

Well-intentioned historical interventions have not helped its longevity. In 1904, props and metal chains were installed to support its branches. In the 1960s, hollow parts of the tree were filled with concrete to support it, while limbs were clad with lead, then fibre-glass and even treated with fire-retardant paint.

Experts believe that the props that continued to support the tree’s mighty limbs also placed it under strain. Left alone, ancient oaks shed their limbs and “grow down”, retreating into their trunk and thereby requiring less water and nutrients as they age.

Since the RSPB took over management of the site in 2018 and undertook studies and emergency action to address the tree’s failing health, it was discovered that the oak’s mighty trunk was becoming depleted of water as it was pumped to the outer branches, which were artificially supported by props.

The props “probably impacted its ability to sustain itself,” said Chloe Ryder, RSPB Sherwood Forest estates operations manager, but they could not be removed because the tree would have collapsed. She said she was “devastated” by the death of a tree she used to visit as a child.

“It’s heartbreaking. I’m genuinely gutted it’s happened in my lifetime, let alone in my tenure. I’ve almost dreaded coming to see it and have that confirmation, and see no leaves on it. I still think it’s one of the most beautiful trees. We call it a living museum because it’s got so much to teach us, both good and bad.”

Underground tests revealed “a strangled and starved root system in total disconnect to its surrounding environment,” according to Ryder, in nutrient-poor soil that was starved of microbial life. Over the past three winters, the RSPB gently excavated around the tree’s roots to aerate, feed and restore their health and vitality. Although tests showed life returning to the soil, the Major oak sprouted hardly any leaves last year and has no buds or leaves this year.

Reg Harris , an arborist who has monitored the tree’s health for the past nine years for the RSPB, said it was impossible to isolate a single cause for its decline. “The range of factors affecting it over such a long period of time is very wide and varied, including 200 years of tourist footfall and vehicular compaction, changes to the water table from coal mining beneath it and significant changes to the climate, particularly in the last 10% of its life.

“Sadly, it seems probable the lack of summer rainfall over the last five years, coupled with the unprecedented high temperatures, have had a significant hand in it.”

Although the tree is leafless and lifeless, it will be allowed to continue standing, particularly because its “deadwood” is almost as valuable to other wildlife as a living tree.

“It still has this totally irreplaceable habitat value. It’s still one of the largest trees in Europe and it’s still doing a lot for the ecosystem,” said Ed Pyne, senior conservation adviser at the Woodland Trust. A quarter of all forest species are dependent on deadwood at some point in their lifecycle.

While everything was done to save the Major oak, Pye said other ancient trees were dying or being destroyed without anyone realising, and called for the government to introduce special protection . “We lose a tree like this every year. They have no designated legal protection and we are losing them because they are not being valued appropriately.”

Keyword – UK news
Trefwoorden – Stonehenge, UK news, Archaeology, Science
Title – Solstice-aligned 5,000-year-old monument ‘once in a lifetime find’, say archaeologists | Stonehenge | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/estheraddley
Link – Solstice-aligned 5,000-year-old monument ‘once in a lifetime find’, say archaeologists | Stonehenge | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-17T23:00:47.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/18/solstice-aligned-monument-archaeology-wiltshire-stonehenge-prototype

A 5,000-year-old monument that was aligned with the summer and winter solstices and may have served as a prototype for the later solar alignment at Stonehenge has been discovered close to the famous neolithic site, in what archaeologists have described as a “once in a lifetime” find.

The structure at Bulford, 5km (3 miles) from the world heritage site in Wiltshire, has been carbon dated to around 3000BC, the same time as the earliest phase of construction at Stonehenge and 500 years before its huge trilithon stones were carefully placed to line up with the midsummer and midwinter sun.

It is the earliest solstice-aligned structure in the Wiltshire landscape and one of the very first in Britain, according to experts. The archaeologist Phil Harding, who led the dig on behalf of Wessex Archaeology before the construction of new Ministry of Defence housing, said the discovery was “one of the greatest finds of my career”.

Harding nearly didn’t spot it at all, however. Unlike Stonehenge, whose immense solstice-aligned sarsen boulders are still standing 4,500 years later, the Bulford monument consisted of two wooden poles 120 metres apart, which had left only two large post pits in the ground surrounded by a jumble of smaller rubbish pits.

Harding, a former presenter on Channel 4’s Time Team, said at first, he and his colleagues had not recognised their discovery. It was only in later analysis of the site plan, when he drew a line with pencil and ruler between the anomalous pair of larger postholes, that he recognised the solstice alignment. “The thing that struck me as soon as I saw that was that [the line was] about 50 degrees off the direct north, which was pretty much the line of the midsummer sunrise. And so I got really, really excited about that.”

Further work by Fabio Silva, a “skyscape archaeologist” and expert in ancient astronomical mapping, confirmed that the two wooden poles very accurately lined up with the midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset in 2950BC, the date of the structure according to extensive radiocarbon analysis.

Based on the 1-metre depth of the post pits, the team believe the wooden poles stood 3-4 metres high and would have aligned in a “gunsight” with the solstice sunrise and sunset. A smaller pit, also aligned with the poles, contained a rare disc-shaped flint knife, which the archaeologists say may have been shaped to represent the sun.

“What we’re seeing here is the religion of the stone age made manifest in the ground,” said Matt Leivers, the senior research manager at Wessex Archaeology. “Obviously we have no understanding of precisely what any of it meant, but the fact that time and again, over thousands of years, people are coming back to [the Stonehenge landscape] to build and rebuild and mark and remark this set of substantial events – it gives us an indication that this is religion. This is how they are understanding their place in the cosmos, how the universe works, what their deities are.

“We don’t know what the sun meant to them. We don’t know whether they personified it as a deity. But the amount of effort that’s directed toward marking it and its movements leaves us in no doubt at all that this is a major religious event that’s inscribed over the whole landscape over millennia.”

Leivers said it was “inconceiveable” that those commemorating the solstices at Bulford would have been unaware of those doing the same at Stonehenge – and may in fact have been the same people. He said: “If you had a time machine and went back, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if what we have found is one of the campsites of the builders of the first phase of Stonehenge. I think that’s entirely plausible.”

“Sites like this come along once in a lifetime, sometimes they don’t come along at all,” said Harding. “It doesn’t matter whether you are a resident of Wiltshire or a resident of the Earth – everybody knows about Stonehenge. And to be able to contribute something to expanding our knowledge of Stonehenge is an incredible privilege.”

Keyword – Games
Trefwoorden – Games, Culture, The Simpsons, Animation on TV, Television
Title – Mr Monopoly vs Mr Burns: The Simpsons take over Monopoly Go | Games | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/bex-april-may
Link – Mr Monopoly vs Mr Burns: The Simpsons take over Monopoly Go | Games | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-06-15T11:00:23.000Z
Category – Culture
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/games/2026/jun/15/mr-monopoly-vs-mr-burns-the-simpsons-take-over-monopoly-go

E very generation gets its own Simpsons game. Them’s the rule-diddly-ules. For some, it was the arcade cabinets that swallowed pocket money throughout the 1990s. For others, it was The Simpsons: Cartoon Studio. For millennials like myself, it was The Simpsons: Hit & Run. Joe Zanetti, vice-president of operations at Monopoly Go! developer Scopely, traces his Simpsons gaming nostalgia back to Konami’s 1991 brawler, The Simpsons Arcade Game. “That’s the one that made such an impression on me,” he says.

It certainly did, because Springfield has just crash-landed in Monopoly Go! itself through a collaboration involving Simpsons writers, animators and voice talent alongside a new animated short starring Dan Castellaneta, Nancy Cartwright, Harry Shearer and Will Ferrell. While most licensed TV games have faded into obscurity, The Simpsons keeps finding new digital lives .

“It was a true Simpsons little episode,” says Loni Steele Sosthand, a co-executive producer who is in her sixth season writing for The Simpsons. She’s speaking to us from the Fox lot in Los Angeles, where she is currently working on the show’s 2027 Treehouse of Horror episodes – just to give an idea of how long these projects are in the works.

The Simpsons has always felt unusually suited to games. Unlike many sitcoms, Springfield isn’t just a setting but an entire densely populated world with hundreds of characters, dozens of recognisable locations and decades of running jokes waiting to be explored, from the Stonecutters to Mr Sparkle.

That flexibility has allowed the franchise to move effortlessly between genres, from arcade beat-’em-ups to open-world adventures. Monopoly Go! is simply the latest stop on the gaming monorail.

Sosthand thinks the reason is simple. “At heart it’s a family show,” she says.

It’s also a show that has always thrived on mischief, which gives the creators permission to be naughty themselves. “It’s not: ‘This is our box,’” says Zanetti. “It’s more: ‘How can we break the box?’”

The most unusual thing about the new Monopoly Go! collaboration – a two-month Springfield takeover featuring original storylines, animated shorts, themed mini-games and dozens of Simpsons characters – is the level of creative involvement behind the scenes. Rather than licensing characters and applying a yellow coat of paint, Scopely worked directly with Simpsons writers, artists and animators for months. It was less about borrowing Simpsons characters and more about borrowing Simpsons writers.

“We weren’t just providing a homage,” says Zanetti.

The team obsessed over details. Characters such as Rich Texan and Homer’s pet pig Plopper made their way into the game alongside familiar faces. One of Sosthand’s favourite inclusions is Cowboy Carl, a nod to her Writers Guild award-winning episode Carl Carlson Rides Again, which explored the character’s Black cowboy heritage.

“We were trying to come up with a joke for every mechanic,” Zanetti says. “That one really felt very writers’ roomy.”

Veteran animator Eric Keyes, who has worked on the show since the beginning, acted as an unofficial quality controller. “He can just glance at something and see if there’s not the right number of eyelashes,” says Sosthand.

Decades ago, a Simpsons video game typically meant a TV show adapted into interactive form. Today, the relationship runs both ways. “I’ve been impressed with the richness of this world we’re creating,” says Sosthand. “I have a newfound respect for games.”

Live-service games such as Monopoly Go! are places where audiences spend years rather than hours. For a franchise as established as The Simpsons, they can offer something television increasingly struggles to provide: an endlessly expandable world.

Over nearly four decades, the series has survived every major shift in entertainment: broadcast television, DVDs, streaming, social media. Most franchises eventually become trapped by nostalgia; The Simpsons seems to dump it straight back into the Springfield nuclear power plant and convert it into fresh fuel.

Perhaps that’s why the showdown between Mr Burns and Mr Monopoly in the game feels oddly natural. As Zanetti puts it, both occupy “a really important place in the zeitgeist”.

More than three decades after Homer first walked into Moe’s Tavern, Springfield remains woven into the fabric of popular culture. And if the journey from arcade cabinets to Monopoly Go! proves anything, it’s that The Simpsons’ greatest trick was never predicting the future . It was finding new ways to belong in it.

The Simpsons season of Monopoly Go! is running until 29 July as a free download on iOS and Android.