Nestory Irankunda and Connor Metcalfe scored and Australia spoiled Turkey’s return to the World Cup for the first time in 24 years with a 2-0 victory on Saturday night.
Goalkeeper Patrick Beach made eight saves for the Socceroos in their group opener as FIFA President Gianni Infantino looked on. Australia was playing in its sixth straight World Cup and seventh overall.
Turkey reached the semifinals of the 2002 World Cup but then missed five straight tournaments before qualifying this year by beating Kosovo in a playoff.
Irankunda broke through for the Socceroos in the 27th minute with a low shot while pursued by three defenders. It came less than a minute after the first-half hydration break.
Irankunda celebrated by punching the corner flag in a tribute to Australian soccer legend Tim Cahill. The 20-year-old who plays for Watford is the Socceroo’s youngest-ever goal scorer at a World Cup.
Minutes later Beach stopped Abdulkerim Bardakcı’s blast from distance. Beach started in goal for the Socceroos rather than experienced counterpart Matthew Ryan in a surprise decision from coach Tony Popovic.
Kenan Yildiz, a 21-year-old who plays for Juventus, was not in the starting lineup but subbed in for Turkey at half-time.
Turkey had a dangerous free kick in the 57th minute, but Arda Güler’s attempt was saved by Beach. Güler, a talented 21-year-old attacking midfielder who plays for Real Madrid, was not yet born the last time Turkey played in the World Cup.
Connor Metcalfe capitalized on Ismail Yüksek’s turnover in the 75th minute to double the Socceroos’ lead. The Socceroos fell to France in the opener in Qatar but then beat Tunisia and Denmark in their group before getting knocked out by eventual champion Argentina in the round of 16.
It is the third World Cup appearance for the Turks, who reached the tournament for the first time in 1954.
The teams are in Group D with the United States and Paraguay. The Americans downed Paraguay 4-1 in their group opener on Friday in Los Angeles. (JapanToday)
Former Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton won his first race as part of the legendary Ferrari team, capturing victory at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix in Spain on Sunday.
The triumph came in his 31st race with Ferrari in a year of resurgence for Hamilton. The 41-year-old is in second place in the driver standings, trailing teenager Kimi Antonelli, who was seeking his sixth consecutive victory for his Mercedes team.
Hamilton finished sixth in the standings in 2025, well behind season winner Lando Norris of McLaren. He had not stood atop the podium since he won the Belgian Grand Prix in July 2024 while driving for Mercedes.
“I started out with a dream last year, which seemed almost impossible during my time last year,” Hamilton said immediately after the race. “But we never gave up hope. The team just continued to lift me up. We made so many changes and so many improvements. On top of that, I’ve got the greatest fanbase a sportsman could ever ask for. Thank you. Thank you to everybody.”
Hamilton executed his team’s plan to perfection in Barcelona. They used a three-stop strategy, employed tyres they thought would be most efficient in the blazing heat and were aided by a free stop while under a Virtual Safety Car. The temperature on the track at the start of the race was above 50C (122F), F1 reported.
Russell held on to the early lead with Hamilton, Antonelli, Norris and four- time season champion Max Verstappen doing the chasing while maintaining their starting positions.
On Lap 12, the leaders all sought a tyre change as they began to impact performance. On Lap 23, Ferrari called in Hamilton for another tyre change, and he closed on the lead, thanks to his fresh set.
As the other drivers hit the pits again, Hamilton took a 16-second lead.
After the Virtual Safety Car came out, Hamilton was called in again by Ferrari with 24 laps to go. When he returned to the circuit, his lead was less than three seconds over Russell, but Hamilton had the advantage of fresh, hard tyres.
With five laps remaining, Antonelli passed Russell for second place, but a broken end plate forced him out of the race and ended his winning streak.
Hamilton finished 19.5 seconds ahead of Russell, with Norris finishing third. The trio made up the first all-British podium since 1968.
Russell said post-race that Ferrari is emerging as a threat to other teams, thanks to extensive improvements.
“Firstly, huge congrats to (Hamilton) because I know how hard he works. We spent a lot of years together at Mercedes, so I’m really pleased to see him back to the Lewis I remember when I was growing up watching Formula 1,” he said.
“But yeah, a tough day, it’s good to be back on the podium and have a bit of a clean race from my side. Ferrari were mighty impressive today and we need to keep on pushing.” (AlJazeera)
The New York Knicks, fuelled by a sensational 45 points from Jalen Brunson, rallied again to beat the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 and win their first NBA title in 53 years on Saturday.
The Knicks won the best-of-seven championship series 4-1, denying Victor Wembanyama and his young Spurs teammates on their home floor to lift the trophy for the first time since 1973.
The Knicks, who recovered from 29 points down in game four to produce the biggest comeback in Finals history, erased a double-digit deficit to win for the fourth time in the series.
The Knicks trailed by 16 in the second quarter and were down by 10 early in the fourth, but Brunson wouldn’t let them lose.
“I’ve got no words,” Brunson said after setting a Knicks record for points in a Finals game, surpassing Willis Reed’s 38 in game three of the team’s 1970 triumph over the Los Angeles Lakers.
“I don’t know what I’m feeling,” added Brunson, who was named Finals Most Valuable Player.
“I’m in awe. Whenever someone counts us out, we find a way to come back and do something about it.”
French star Wembanyama scored 19 points, pulled down 14 rebounds and blocked five shots, and rookie Dylan Harper scored 25 points off the bench for San Antonio.
But once again, the Spurs team that vanquished the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference finals were unable to hold off the crafty and determined Knicks.
The win marked the final chapter of a dramatic playoff run which had captivated New York, with tens of thousands of long-suffering fans packing neighbourhood watch-parties throughout the Big Apple as the team inched towards a first title in more than half a century.
Within moments of clinching victory on Saturday, the Empire State Building was lit up in the Knicks’ signature orange and blue colours, as raucous celebrations erupted outside the team’s Madison Square Garden home.
There was a boisterous blue and orange-clad contingent cheering them on at the Spurs’ Frost Bank Center as well, where the celebrities on the sidelines included not only longtime Knicks fans but also Britain’s Prince Harry, who sat with NBA commissioner Adam Silver.
Mikal Bridges scored 14 points and Josh Hart added 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Knicks. Karl-Anthony Towns scored just two points before fouling out in the fourth quarter, but pulled down 10 rebounds and came up with three steals and a blocked shot.
Fouled on a three-pointer, Brunson made all three free throws to put the Knicks up 86-85 with 3:40 left to play.
It was their first lead since the opening minutes, and they wouldn’t trail again.
Game four hero OG Anunoby drove for a dunk that made it 88-85, and after the Spurs knotted it at 88-88, Brunson put New York back in front with a driving basket and the Knicks held on. (AlJazeera)
Facing pressure to win its first World Cup title since 2002, five-time champion Brazil was outplayed early and needed Vinícius Júnior’s 32nd-minute goal to gain a 1-1 draw against Morocco on Saturday in a pulsating, high-profile group match.
“We started on a really bad note,” Vinícius said. “For certain, we got to hold on to the ball. We have to move better.”
A semifinalist four years ago, Morocco had 12 shots in the first 30 minutes and went ahead on Ismael Saibari’s 21st-minute goal, a chip over goalkeeper Alisson Becker.
“The team was a bit anxious at the beginning. Nerves were all over the place,” Brazil coach Carlo Ancelotti said through a translator. “A very imbalanced team.”
Brazil evened the score 11 minutes later. Vinícius exchanged passes with Bruno Guimarães on the left flank, took a few touches to cut around Neil El Aynaoui and rifled a right-footed shot past the outstretched arm of Yassine Bounou for his 10th international goal.
“We are satisfied with the draw,” Morocco coach Mohamed Ouahbi said. “We are not euphoric.”
Fans in Brazil’s canary yellow dominated the crowd of 80,663 at MetLife Stadium — only about five sections near the south goal had fans in Morocco’s red.
Seleção supporters expected the flowing, entertaining play of Pelé’s era and were subdued before Vinícius evened the score with his spectacular angled effort.
Brazil extended its unbeaten streak in World Cup openers to 21, including 17 wins, since a 1934 loss to Spain. No. 6 Brazil and seventh-ranked Morocco are the only top 10 teams to meet in the first round of the expanded 48-nation World Cup tournament.
“We cannot lose heart,” Ancelotti said. “You don’t win a World Cup based on your first match.”
Brazil plays Haiti on Friday in Philadelphia, then closes Group C against Scotland in Miami Gardens, Florida. Morocco faces Scotland in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on Friday, then meets Haiti in Atlanta.
Brazil star Neymar, recovering from a torn right calf, didn’t dress for the game.
One hour before the match, an Uber from Times Square to the stadium, site of next month’s final, was $126.95 — up from $83.95 for advance booking for the same time Sunday.
Ancelotti, the Italian who became Brazil’s first foreign World Cup coach, wore a three-piece suit with a necktie on a sunny afternoon with a 88-degree Fahrenheit (31-degree Celsius) temperature for the 6 p.m. start.
Morocco went ahead after Lucas Paquetá lost control of a short pass from Roger Ibañez and knocked it off Bilal El Khannouss. It bounced to Noussair Mazraoui, who sent the ball to Brahim Díaz in the center circle. (Japan Today)
Boualem Khoukhi scored an equalising goal on a header in the fourth minute of stoppage time, and Qatar spoiled a dominant day by Switzerland in a 1-1 draw in Group B of the World Cup.
Several of the Qatari players fell to the ground on Saturday in celebration of the late goal, as others ran to each other to embrace.
Breel Embolo scored for Switzerland from the penalty spot in the first half just over a week after being cleared to enter the US following a visa delay, but the Swiss failed to capitalise on multiple other scoring chances.
In the 13th minute, Embolo was fouled by Qatar goalkeeper Mahmoud Abunada, who received a yellow card on the play. Abunada lay face down and appeared motionless for a couple of minutes before he began to move his legs and was able to stand up again.
When Embolo calmly sent his penalty into the upper left corner in the 17th minute, it sent the red-clad Swiss fans into a dancing frenzy in the stands of San Francisco Bay Area Stadium.
The 29-year-old forward applied for an urgent visa at the United States embassy in Bern on June 3, one day after he was denied boarding the team’s flight to travel for his third World Cup because of a 2018 criminal conviction that was only finalised in April.
Switzerland dominated the possession game on an unseasonably warm June afternoon — with sprinklers running during a first-half break.
There were thousands of empty seats scattered throughout Levi’s Stadium, home of the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers. Brazil and Colombia drew 70,971 two years ago in a group match at the Copa America. The stadium in Santa Clara staged the Super Bowl only four months ago.
Switzerland goalkeeper Gregor Kobel made a save in the second minute after Edmilson Junior got through the defence for a one-on-one. Kobel corralled the ball again in the 90th on a close-range attempt by Ahmed Alaaeldin.
Switzerland is hoping to advance further than its round-of-16 showing four years ago before losing 6-1 to Portugal — when Goncalo Ramos delivered an improbable hat-trick playing in place of benched star Cristiano Ronaldo. The loss prompted Switzerland midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri to apologize the the fans.
The Swiss used consistency and experience to go unbeaten through qualifying against Sweden, Kosovo and Slovenia. Coach Murat Yakin’s team produced four wins and two draws to secure its sixth straight World Cup appearance and hasn’t missed one since 2002, but the team has never gotten beyond the quarterfinals.
Qatar, led by Spanish coach Julen Lopetegui, had to qualify through a playoff in November — beating the United Arab Emirates and Oman — after missing an opportunity from its group stage of Asian qualifying.
The Gulf state country became the first host nation to lose all of its group matches four years ago. It lost to Senegal, Ecuador and the Netherlands in the 2022 tournament, scoring its lone goal in a 3-1 loss to Senegal. (AlJazeera)
South Korea got their World Cup campaign off to a winning start by beating the Czech Republic 2-1 Thursday after finally converting some of the many chances they created.
Until the 80th-minute mark it seemed that the Czechs would punish the Koreans’ wastefulness, but substitute Oh Hyeon-gyu scored the decisive goal in a Guadalajara stadium that was far from full.
Son Heung-min’s Koreans had dominated the first half but were unable to find the net.
The former Tottenham star blasted one effort over the bar before making a driving run to his left and evading two Czech defenders only to shoot wide.
An entertaining second half began with the Czechs scoring against the run of play as Ladislav Krejci rose at the front post to power a header past Korean goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu.
Hwang In-beom finally made the Korean pressure pay with a clever equalizer as he faked a shot and then caressed the ball over Czech ‘keeper Matek Kovar on 67 minutes.
The Czechs had a goal disallowed before Hwang added to his goal with an assist, crossing from the right for Oh to slot home.
When the final whistle sounded after a frantic end to the game, Son sank to the turf in joy.
South Korea face co-hosts Mexico, who beat South Africa 2-0 in the tournament’s opening Group A game earlier Thursday, on June 18.
The Czechs play the South Africans in Atlanta on the same day. (Japan Today)
Julián Quiñones and Raúl Jiménez helped Mexico make an exuberant start to the World Cup on Thursday, scoring a goal each in a 2-0 win over South Africa in the opening match of the tournament.
With a capacity crowd of 80,824 watching at the iconic Azteca Stadium, co-host Mexico started the largest World Cup tournament in history by getting goals in each half while three red cards were shown — two for South Africa and one for Mexico.
Quiñones, who was the top scorer in the Saudi league this season, gave Mexico the lead in the ninth minute. Jiménez added the second goal on a header in 66th.
South Africa players Sphephelo Sithole and Themba Zwane were both given red cards, forcing the team to finish the match with only nine players. Mexico defender César Montes was then given a red card in injury time.
With his 46th international goal, and his first in three World Cups, Jiménez tied Jared Borgetti for second place for the Mexican national team. He is six goals shy of leader Javier “Chicharito” Hernández.
Quiñones, a 29-year-old forward who was born in Colombia, was one of six starting players who made their World Cup debut for El Tri.
Mexico, coming of a first-round exit at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, has three points in Group A and will next play South Korea next Thursday in Guadalajara.
South Africa will play the Czech Republic on the same day in Atlanta.
This year’s World Cup has 48 teams, the most in history. It is being held in Mexico, Canada and the United States. (Japan Today)
West Ham was relegated and Tottenham survived on an emotional final day of the Premier League season when Pep Guardiola and Mohamed Salah made tearful exits after record-breaking spells in English soccer.
West Ham beat Leeds 3-0 but that wasn’t enough to climb out of the relegation zone because fourth-to-last Tottenham also won, 1-0 at home to Everton, to stay two points clear of its London rival.
That meant West Ham’s 14-year stay in the Premier League was over and Tottenham, which won three of its last five games under recently hired coach Roberto De Zerbi, will be in the top division for a 49th straight season.
“We shouldn’t be in the position we’re in but we’ve found ourselves in it and we’ve not done enough to stay up,” West Ham captain Jarrod Bowen said. “Hurt is the only thing.”
Guardiola’s decade-long tenure at Manchester City — which has included six Premier League titles among 17 major trophies — ended with a 2-1 loss to Aston Villa that featured a mid-match guard of honor for first Bernardo Silva and then John Stones, two of Guardiola’s stalwarts.
Guardiola wept on the sideline as Silva left the field and was given his own guard of honor by players and staff after the match.
“We lived an incredible period,” Guardiola said. “If I had energy, I would stay here (but) a new person has to do this job.”
Salah started and was given a standing ovation — before he kissed the Anfield turf — during his second-half substitution in his 442nd and last game for Liverpool, in which he grabbed an assist in a 1-1 draw with Brentford. The Egypt winger finished his nine years with the Reds with 257 goals and received his own post-match guard of honor, which he walked through in tears.
Arsenal had already clinched the title in midweek and closed its first championship-winning campaign since 2004 with a 2-1 win at Crystal Palace. The players finally got their hands on the trophy about an hour after fulltime at Palace’s Selhurst Park stadium, with coach Mikel Arteta and the team wearing jerseys with “Champions 2026” on the back for the occasion.
In the final shake-up for European qualification, Bournemouth and Sunderland finished sixth and seventh, respectively, to get into the Europa League and Brighton was eighth to reach the Conference League.
Brighton lost 3-0 at home to Manchester United, for whom Bruno Fernandes scored and got a record-setting 21st assist of the season.
Sunderland, which beat Chelsea 2-1, will be in Europe for the first time in 53 years — a remarkable achievement for a team in its first season back in the top division and which was in the third tier as recently as 2022. The team’s players huddled around a cell phone to see their Europa League qualification confirmed and broke away in delight.
Chelsea, on the contrary, missed out on European competition entirely after finishing in 10th place — 10 months after winning the Club World Cup.
Add 2026 to 2003 and 2011 as years when West Ham lost its Premier League status.
The big difference this season is that the team is now playing its home matches in the vast Olympic Stadium, so that 68,000-capacity arena will be staging games in the second-tier Championship against the likes of Wrexham and the two clubs that had already been relegated from the Premier League before Sunday — Wolverhampton and Burnley.
“This club deserves to be in the Premier League,” said Bowen, who scored and set up a goal against Leeds. “Our aim now is to get this club back into the Premier League.”
A top-flight ever present since 1978, Tottenham was heading out of the Premier League before the club hired De Zerbi in what has proved to be an inspired appointment.
Three wins and two draws later — along with two losses — and Spurs have managed to avoid dropping into the bottom three in what would have been the most unlikely relegation since the Premier League was founded in 1992.
Joao Palhinha scored Tottenham’s winner against Everton in the 43rd minute, forcing in a rebound after initially heading against the post, and Spurs defended stoutly to stop Everton scoring the two goals that would have kept West Ham up.
“After a bad season like this one, we showed up as a collective and had amazing support from the fans,” Palhinha said.
“The club will grow up with this season and we know what we have to do in the future.”
Tottenham, one of the biggest clubs in Europe and the Europa League champion last season, has now finished one place outside the relegation spots in successive seasons. (JapanToday)
Jannik Sinner powered into the second round of the French Open on Tuesday as his fellow world number one Aryna Sabalenka also made a winning start at Roland Garros.
Sinner needed just over two hours to beat French wildcard Clement Tabur 6-1, 6-3, 6-4 to extend his winning streak to 30 matches.
After taking all three clay-court Masters 1000 events in the run-up to Roland Garros, the 24-year-old Italian appears to have cracked the code to victory on the red dirt.
Without double-reigning champion and world number two Carlos Alcaraz in the draw, top seed Sinner is considered the runaway favorite to lift the Coupe des Mousquetaires for the first time come the men’s final on June 7 and complete his career Grand Slam.
“Pressure is always going to be there,” Sinner told reporters. “It’s normal. So I try to take it in a very natural way. I know what kind of player I am. Then, you know, if you don’t feel the pressure, it means you don’t care. I do care a lot about what I’m trying to achieve on a tennis court.”
He showed why he is the man to beat in the French capital with a punishing display against the world number 171, hititng 40 winners to just 21 unforced errors.
Sinner will meet Argentinian Juan Manuel Cerundolo in the second round.
Belarusian Sabalenka hurried through a 6-4, 6-2 win against Spanish world number 50 Jessica Bouzas Maneiro first on centre court as temperatures continued to soar through the first week of the tournament.
The only real blip for Sabalenka as she returned to winning ways on clay after a surprise early exit from the Italian Open was her failure to serve out the match on Court Philippe Chatrier.
But the four-time major winner broke in the next game to book her spot in the second round against France’s Elsa Jacquemot.
“I’d say that for me always not easy, the first rounds,” Sabalenka said. “And then, as I get further in the tournament, as I get more comfortable, my level becomes better.”
Following a wet and cold Italian Open earlier in May and similar conditions during the practice week at Roland Garros, the big-hitting 28-year-old said the scorching conditions played somewhat in her favor.
“I’d say that it was a bit warm,” she joked. “Especially compared to the first days when I first got here, it was like 14C, like, freezing.
“Now it’s boiling hot and balls are flying, everything is much faster. But physically I feel strong, so I feel like it can benefit me.”
Women’s defending champion Coco Gauff made short work of fellow American Taylor Townsend, kicking off her tournament with a clinical 6-4, 6-0 performance.
The fourth seed joked the heat was “nothing” as she grew up in Florida, but added: “Honestly I felt more bad for the fans. Dang you’re watching in the heat and I hoped no one passed out. So I’m glad I finished quickly.”
Felix Auger-Aliassime claimed a fifth-set tie-break to move into the round of 64 as the Canadian narrowly avoided coming undone against Germany’s Daniel Altmaier.
Russian sixth seed Daniil Medvedev was not so fortunate, however, going down in five sets to Australian wildcard Adam Walton.
It was the seventh time in 10 French Open appearances that the former world number one has fallen in the first round. “I know that I am in good shape and I can play well in Roland Garros. I can,” Medvedev said.
American fifth seed Jessica Pegula also departed as she went down 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 to Australia’s Kimberly Birrell.
Alexander Bublik completed the list of big-name exitees for the day as the ninth-seeded Kazakh succumbed in four sets to German Jan-Lennard Struff.
Japanese four-time former major winner Naomi Osaka got off to a winning start, beating Laura Siegemund of Germany 6-3, 7-6 (7/3).
Last year’s breakout star at Roland Garros, Lois Boisson, was unable to recreate her stunning run to the last four as she went down 6-2, 6-2 to 22nd-seeded Russian Anna Kalinskaya.
Rising U.S. star Iva Jovic, 18, further confirmed her potential as she strolled past Alexandra Eala 6-4, 6-2 to book a clash with compatriot and former world number eight Emma Navarro, who defeated Indonesian Janice Tjen in straight sets.
Canadian teen Victoria Mboko was also victorious, needing just over an hour to beat Czech Nikola Bartunkova for the loss of only three games.
French 17-year-old Moise Kouame won his first match at his home major; an impressive 7-6 (7/4), 6-2, 6-1 victory over 2014 U.S. Open winner Marin Cilic of Croatia. (JapanToday)
Pep Guardiola announced on Friday that he will leave Manchester City at the end of the season after a trophy-laden decade that transformed English football.
Guardiola guided City to 20 trophies, including six Premier League titles and the club’s only Champions League, over the past 10 seasons.
Aston Villa’s visit to the Etihad on Sunday will be his final match in charge, although he is set to continue working for the City Football Group as a global ambassador.
“What a time we have had together!” Guardiola said in a club statement.
“Don’t ask me the reasons I’m leaving. There is no reason, but deep inside, I know it’s my time.
“Nothing is eternal, if it was, I would be here. Eternal will be the feeling, the people, the memories, the love I have for my Manchester City.”
News of the Catalan’s impending departure was first reported on Monday.
At that point, the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss was tight-lipped on his future as City missed out on the Premier League title to Arsenal 24 hours later.
Former Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca, who previously worked on Guardiola’s staff at City, has been widely reported as the man set to take over at the Etihad.
The 55-year-old’s trophy haul also included three FA Cups, five League Cups, the Club World Cup, the UEFA Super Cup and three Community Shields.
Guardiola arrived in England as already one of Europe’s most decorated coaches.
His four-year spell at boyhood club Barcelona between 2008 and 2012 captured admirers across the globe, winning two Champions Leagues and three La Liga titles.
He added three more league titles in three seasons at Bayern.
A similarly short spell was expected when City lured him to the Premier League.
But his influence has transformed the English game at all levels over the past 10 years.
Backed by the deep pockets of Abu Dhabi royalty, City have stepped out of the shadow of local rivals Manchester United to become the dominant force in the Premier League.
Guardiola’s brand of passing football has been copied from grassroots through to the elite level.
Even City’s competitors have turned to his disciples to catch up.
Arsenal’s 22-year wait to win the Premier League was ended by another of his former assistants Mikel Arteta.
Liverpool boss Arne Slot has said his coaching philosophy was shaped by watching the City boss’ Barcelona team, while new Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso moved to Bayern in the final years of his playing career to gain the experience of working under Guardiola.
The timing of Guardiola’s exit comes with the outcome of an investigation into more than 100 alleged breaches by City of financial regulations still to be released.
First charged by the Premier League in February 2023, an independent commission hearing concluded in December 2024 with the case hanging over City’s achievements on the pitch ever since. (JapanToday)
English