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Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak has given an update on the club's search for a new manager following Pep Guardiola's exit.It promises to be a summer of change at City after Guardiola stepped down from his head coach role after 10 years.City are working on bringing in Enzo Maresca as Guardiola's replacement and are in talks with the Italian's former club Chelsea over compensation.Speaking about the appointment of a new manager, Al Mubarak said: "I think what I can say at the moment is we've gone through a very thoughtful and structured process and the team is convinced - and I am convinced, rest assured - that we will bring in the right manager for this club."Just be patient with us. Very soon we'll announce it and you will be very comfortable that we have selected and brought in the best manager possible for this club."Al Mubarak also gave an update on City's transfer window which will also see the club navigate a period of great change.John Stones and Bernardo Silva are among the senior players who are set to leave the club on a free transfer - and City have seen a first bid for Nottingham Forest midfielder Elliot Anderson rejected. Talks remain ongoing and City are considering their next offer.Anderson is currently with the England national team at their World Cup camp and City's chairman says the summer tournament will not add complications to the club's summer window."No, I don't think it makes it more or less complicated," Al Mubarak said. "I think it's part of the game, it's part of the business. We know how to deal with it, Hugo (Viana, director of football) knows how to deal with it."We know what we want, we know what we need and we know how to go about it."Don't forget that in January we made two very important signings, very important signings. Big credit to Hugo in being able to identify the needs and then move on two top talents, Marc Guéhi and Antoine Semenyo - really top, top. So we're very happy with them joining in January."These two would have been two typical summer moves, given the size of the transfer fees and the importance of the players."And as we've always shown, and I think this is important always to know this club, we are organised, we are thoughtful and sometimes when we need to be decisive and pre-emptive, we will do that and that's exactly what we did in these two cases."I think in the summer, we know exactly what we want to do, we know exactly who we are targeting and I promise you, as always, we'll go about our business and be as efficient, as swift as possible."Al Mubarak admitted that Guardiola nearly quit as City head coach "100 times over these 10 years", times when the chairman had to "convince him to come back" to the project.He also said Guardiola never envisaged being at City for more than four or five years."Over these years we have become close friends," said Al Mubarak . "And I will say, and I don't know if he will admit it, but I consider myself his psychiatrist."Okay, so I had to help him over the years. Not in the good times - the good times is easy - it's always the challenging part. And inevitably over these last 10 years we've had a lot of ups and some downs."And in the downs, he must have quit 100 times over these 10 years, just so you know, just for the record. There's the story as you all know, the boy that cries wolf."In the case of Pep, when he says I quit, it doesn't mean he's quitting. You don't take it that seriously - you have to manage him."He never thought he would stay more than four years, then more than five years. So, in his mind, even year four and five it was always 'okay, how much more time?'"And, you know, it always had to be done in the correct way. And I would say I always had a very clear understanding with Pep, because of that analogy of the boy that cried wolf."Whenever he quits or whenever he thinks it's time, I will always convince him to come back, until the time where I know it's actually the real time - where it's actually the real moment Pep decides actually it's time."There's the moments that are not real and he actually needs someone to bring him back. And there was always going to be one moment where it was going to be real."And we reached that. And I knew it and that's why I didn't fight it. Throughout these years, I've always fought it and always brought him back because I knew that was always the answer."But in this particular one, I think he knew - and I knew that he knew - and that's why it was the right thing for him and it was the natural thing. And I will tell you I did not fight this at all because I knew this was the time he actually meant it."Guardiola will go down as one of the game's great managers but City's chairman says the club's project has not "peaked" after their head coach's exit."We are far from peaked," he said. "Eighteen years... I look at where the club was in 2008, and then I look at every part of these last 18 years."Roberto Mancini brought that first Premier League title to this club, we will never forget those moments, it was a great period then, a first FA Cup win in many, many years."And then Manuel [Pellegrini] came in, same thing, another Premier League title and more success. And then Pep came in, and it was getting that mindset, that DNA of a winning club."And now, this club is the way we all know it right now. We are used to, because it's in our DNA - winning. This is a club that is designed, built to win."What Pep has given us has taken us to the next level, and I think we're so thankful for what he's helped build here."

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Chair compares Guardiola with The Boy Who Cried Wolf‘He never thought he would stay more than four years’Khaldoon al-Mubarak has revealed Pep Guardiola “quit 100 times” as Manchester City manager, with the chair comparing the Catalan’s empty threats to The Boy Who Cried Wolf, one of Aesop’s Fables.Guardiola left City last month after 10 successful years during which he led the club to 17 major honours. He initially signed a three-year deal and while he agreed four extensions – in 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2024 – he was hesitant each time. Mubarak, who described himself as Guardiola’s “psychiatrist”, was instrumental in keeping his manager at City.“Over these years we have become close friends. I don’t know if he will admit it, but I consider myself his psychiatrist,” Mubarak said. “So I had to help him over the years. There’s the story as you all know, The Boy that [sic] Cried Wolf. In the case of Pep, when he says ‘I quit’, it doesn’t mean he’s quitting.“You don’t take it that seriously, you have to manage him. He never thought he would stay more than four years, then more than five years. So, in his mind, even year four and five it was always: ‘OK, how much more time? How much more time?’“I would say I always had a very clear understanding with Pep, because of that analogy of the Boy that Cried Wolf. Whenever he quits or whenever he thinks it’s time, I will always convince him to come back, until the time where I know it’s actually the real time, the real moment Pep decides actually it’s time.“There’s the moments that are not real and he actually needs someone to bring him back. And there was always going to be one moment where it was going to be real.”The Boy Who Cried Wolf is the story of a shepherd boy who falsely raises the alarm that a wolf is attacking sheep. When the wolf actually does so, no one believes him.Mubarak understood when Guardiola did genuinely wish to leave. “He knew – and I knew that he knew – and that’s why it was the right thing for him and it was the natural thing,” the chairman said. “I did not fight this at all because I knew this was the time he actually meant it.”With Enzo Maresca lined up as Guardiola’s replacement, Mubarak is confident City will continue to win titles.“We are far from peaked. I look at where the club was in 2008 [when Sheikh Mansour bought he club], and then I look at every part of the last 18 years. Roberto Mancini brought that first Premier League title [in 2012], we will never forget those moments. It was a great period then – a first FA Cup win [the year before]. And then Manuel [Pellegrini] came in, same thing, another Premier League title and more success. Then Pep, and it was getting that mindset, that DNA of a winning club.“This is a club that is designed, built to win. What Pep has given us has taken us to the next level, and we’re so thankful for what he’s helped build here.”Mubarak was speaking before Enrique Riquelme, the Real Madrid presidential candidate, held up a Madrid shirt with Erling Haaland’s name on the back during a TV appearance on Tuesday and claimed a clause in the striker’s contract would allow him to sign Haaland if elected.While City have threatened legal action, Mubarak spoke of Haaland’s value. “He was always a leader from the first day he stepped into this club [summer 2022]. He comes in with such character and charisma and of course, when you are a superstar, when you are a goalscoring machine like he is, inevitably you’re a leader and he’s got that personality.”

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Leeds chairman Paraag Marathe says he wants manager Daniel Farke to remain at Elland Road "much beyond this year".Farke has been in charge of the club since July 2023 and oversaw a 14th-place finish on Leeds' return to the Premier League in 2025/26.The 49-year-old is under contract until the summer of 2027.But in May, he said he has finished the job he set out to do at Leeds United after keeping them in the Premier League and that he is "not the right choice" to stay on if the ownership's plans do not match his ambition.Speaking in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports, Marathe said: "Daniel and I talk all the time and have extensive conversations about the squad, about the club, about the direction, about our dynamic."One thing I'm proud of is, what we set up three years ago when he first joined us in terms of how we wanted to set this up and how we wanted to go forward, we've lived that, exactly what we said we were going to do."At the same time, Daniel doesn't need to pitch me on what the three-year ambition is, and I don't need to pitch him on what that three-year plan and ambition is because we're both ambitious."The truth is, Leeds United is bigger than any of us. Leeds United is bigger than me, it's bigger than him."Neither one of us is jumping off that train; I hope Daniel is here this year and beyond and we just need to keep this going. My hope and expectation is that he's here much beyond this year."Asked whether he would like Farke to stay, Marathe said: "Yes."Pressed on whether contract extension talks had started, he added: "I will keep those confidential, but absolutely I want him here this year and beyond. I think everyone at the club does."

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Chief football news reporterPublished14 minutes agoPaul Scholes was as stony faced walking through the mixed zone at Wembley as he had been sitting close to former Manchester United team-mate David Beckham in the Royal Box as Salford City's 3-0 play-off final defeat by Notts County unfolded.Scholes had just been into the losing dressing room to offer what condolences he could after such a shattering loss.'Time for a word, Paul?' Scholes was asked as he walked past reporters on his way out. The former England midfielder turned, scoffed and continued on his way."We were beaten in every area of the pitch," said manager Karl Robinson when he stood in roughly the same place a few minutes later."I apologise to the supporters that we couldn't give them what they wanted."Salford's defeat triggered the expected sarcasm on social media around co-owner Gary Neville offering blunt opinions on Sky Sports about how other clubs should be run, while failing at his own.Former joint manager Anthony Johnson was among those to offer his view.Johnson - together with Bernard Morley - led Salford to promotion three times. They starred in the popular Out of their League series on the BBC, which charted the early years of the new ownership, before being released following promotion to the National League in 2018."We left Salford City eight years ago after winning three promotions," he wrote on X. "Since then they've won one promotion, and that was the season after we'd left with the majority of the squad we put together. I do sometimes wonder…"Nine days later, Robinson was sacked. In an eight-line statement, Salford said the decision had "not been easy" but had been reached "unanimously".Contrary to widespread opinion, Robinson's sacking was not instigated by Neville. Scholes - as chief football adviser - and chief executive Gavin Fleig offer guidance on football decisions of this magnitude. Those opinions are put to the executive team and signed off by the wider ownership, of which Neville is just one part.Fourth place in the fourth tier may well be Salford's highest ever finish, but it was below pre-season expectations. Robinson knew promotion was the aim.Senior Salford officials felt with a new ownership structure, renewed determination and - crucially - big spenders such as Wrexham and Stockport gone, one of the biggest wage bills in the league should be enough to deliver that.It didn't happen. Despite competing at the top end all season, Salford were undone by a run of four successive defeats in February to sides who finished in the bottom third, a last-day draw at lowly Crawley, and finally the Wembley debacle.If any of those games had been won, Salford would have been promoted. Instead, they are preparing for an eighth successive season in League Two.Salford were not the only aspirational club to miss out on promotion through the play-offs this season. Stockport and Bradford both lost in the League One version while Wrexham didn't even make the Championship play-offs - edged out by eventual winners Hull on the final day.Salford, though, remain where they have been since 2019. In addition to Wrexham and Stockport, Notts County and Bromley complete a set of four clubs who have gone past them despite being in the National League as recently as 2022.To understand why this matters, you must piece a few things together.The long-term aim from the moment in 2014 that Salford City were bought by the 'Class of 92' - Scholes, Neville and his brother Phil, Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt and, eventually, Beckham, with substantial financial backing from Singapore businessman Peter Lim - was the Championship.At the time, it seemed fanciful. Salford were in the second level of the Northern Premier League - the eighth tier of the English game - and sometimes playing to crowds of under 100.But perceptions changed with four promotions in five seasons and massive investment that helped transform Moor Lane - now known as the Peninsula Stadium - to the point barely a single element of the stadium site remains as it was.Neville subsequently admitted it was a mistake to sack Graham Alexander in October 2020, with the club fifth in the table after an unbeaten start. As with Robinson, style of play was a reason put forward.Richie Wellens and Gary Bowyer followed Alexander before - after an ill-fated half-season under Neil Wood - Robinson was appointed in January 2024.With the exception of the season Wood was in charge, Salford finished between seventh and 11th in their first six League Two campaigns.Steady, but not the progress anticipated.In a joint interview with the Athletic, external in September 2025, Beckham and Gary Neville admitted the club would have been in "serious trouble" had the ownership structure not changed and the funds found to go with it.Losses over the previous seven years were estimated at £22.5m and Lim ended his involvement in 2024. The outlook was "scary".Beckham, who has ownership experience at Inter Miami in Major League Soccer, and Neville linked up with businessmen Declan Kelly and Lord Mervyn Davies to build a new consortium, which included significant partners including AIG and Coca-Cola.In December, AIG became the club's largest shareholder.Salford's restated aim was to reach the Championship in five years. They feel funding is available to achieve it, but their business model requires significant owner investment, as it always has.In their most recent accounts - to June 2025 - the club confirmed it owed £20.47m to its parent company, though "repayment will not be sought until cash flow permits".Salford's average attendance this season was 3,050 - their highest ever. It marks enormous growth since the point the Class of 92 got involved, but only four clubs in League Two had a lower figure. By comparison, Notts County's average attendance was 10,715.The first of the five years has gone. Salford remain in the same league as they were in 2019."Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face," Kelly told the Athletic in September. "We know we're going to get punched in the face along the way."But we're not here for a day, a week, a month. We're here for years and we're very committed. It's going to be a hell of a journey."Defeat at Wembley was one of those punches. Robinson was the man knocked out.There has been no word on who will take over, nor on the futures of Robinson's coaching team.Whatever comes next, one thing is certain - Salford's ambitious ownership demands much better.Listen to the latest Football Daily podcastSoundsGet football news sent straight to your phone

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Opinions, the game loves them, and after Arsenal’s hugely divisive final, here’s my truth – feel free to yell backWhat the world needs now is one last hot take on Arsenal and the Champions League final before we are all brought together in beautiful symbiotic harmony by the World Cup.Key questions such as: was it a good game? Was this the perfect way to take on the best midfield and attack in world football or the ultimate illustration of footballing cowardice? Why didn’t all the people in the UK want Arsenal to win? Why did some Arsenal fans find that annoying? Could it possibly be that people are different and want different things from football matches they consume in very different ways?The big question is about Arsenal’s approach to the final. I am not totally comfortable saying the words “game state” out loud, but it is clear Mikel Arteta had a decision to make once Arsenal went 1-0 up after six minutes. A decision, we presume, he had made a long time before Kai Havertz roofed it over Matvey Safonov and into the Paris Saint-Germain goal.Does he keep attacking or does he take the best defence in the world, who have won the Premier League by being defensively brilliant, and see whether PSG can break them down? It seems the most sensible decision he could make at that time.It is not without risks. Not having the ball is physically and mentally exhausting. PSG, despite not creating a clear chance in the first half, were so close with quite a few final balls. That is the hard bit of breaking down a low block: choosing when to try the difficult pass, choosing who makes it, choosing who receives it. That was this game in microcosm: move the defence around until a tiny gap appears.Parking the bus is often used as a criticism. But parking a bus is presumably incredibly difficult – as is maintaining your shape, keeping your discipline and deciding when you have to go to ground to block or make a last-ditch tackle. So maybe Arsenal did park the bus and maybe we’ve got that phrase wrong all along.But aren’t Arsenal the best team in the best league in the world? Surely they can offer more than that? It’s an understandable question. This Arsenal team were not going to go all-out attack, especially once they had a lead. So what’s the choice? Defend as they did or attack 5% or 10% more? What does that look like? And do you by definition leave yourself 5% or 10% more open, making those PSG final balls 5%-10% easier? Arsenal had the only other clear chance in the first half. It was almost perfect.It is fair to criticise Arteta’s substitutions and their inability to change things after the equaliser, but that is perhaps as much down to the fact that despite building a brilliant squad, with two excellent players in each position, they are a galático or two, or three, behind PSG.And it didn’t work. Eventually a through ball pierced the backline and Cristhian Mosquera fouled Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. PSG are better at football. That’s quite a key part in all of this.It feels as if this was Arteta’s best plan for winning the Champions League and to be clear I did not want Arsenal to win this game (although I’m not entirely sure I wanted PSG and their project to win it either).Was it a good game? Once Arsenal scored, I was completely invested in watching the best attack try to break down the best defence. Yet there is a high chance I’ve watched very similar games with teams in different shirts in different competitions and found them insipidly boring. There is a high chance I’ll watch England struggle to break down a low block in a few weeks’ time and start moaning about handbrakes (Handbremse, if you want to yell at Thomas Tuchel in his native tongue). I have four decades of match-worn scars watching the Three Lions do that.We don’t approach every game in the same way. Had this been Monday Night Football, after watching nine Premier League matches and a Cambridge game I’d have been checking my algorithm or hanging up the washing by the second half. But I gave it my full attention and found it compelling.Enjoying this game doesn’t mean you want every match to be like that. You don’t need to compare it with the PSG-Bayern Munich first leg. You probably don’t eat the same food at every meal. You can enjoy eggs and enjoy Haribo, ideally separately.There is always a danger I just want to take a different view on this game to appear more intelligent than I am, to be the thinking man’s observer of football. Do I want a thousand likes? Or just a WhatsApp from Rory Smith agreeing with me? Hopefully, this is my truth.Then to the endless wider reaction. Enter the bantersphere. You may live an Instagram-free life and just be left to develop your own opinions or you may find yourself doomscrolling on the toilet. What does that ubiquitous Manchester City fan with his bottle think? Oh, it’s my colleagues Jason Cundy and Gabby Agbonlahor dancing around the TalkSport office in PSG shirts.What does Chris Sutton think about what Martin Keown thinks about what Jack Whitehall thinks about what Jeff Stelling thinks about Arsenal? Perhaps you’re agreeing with Ollie Holt that it’s sad that not every English person wanted Arsenal to win. You could be drowning in your own myopic club podcasts or listening to and shouting at mine.Whatever your view of the final, you don’t have to go out of your way to find an opinion you will find annoying. Perhaps this article is the very thing. Then you have a choice: to quietly disagree and put your phone away or yell back. Perhaps football has always been this way.Even if you just didn’t get a dopamine hit when you yelled it to yourself in your living room, you were still a content creator. Now it’s just created for all of us, by all of us, all the time, and not even Arteta can park a big enough bus to keep it out.

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Former Scotland striker Alan Brazil says he is "very, very lucky to be here" after undergoing a liver transplant recently.The 66-year-old, who now works as a broadcaster, revealed that his heart stopped beating during the procedure."I'd had ongoing trials and seen so many specialists and they decided I needed a transplant," Brazil told Talksport."I finished [work] at quarter to 10 and at 10 I had to phone Addenbrooke's Hospital. They said 'get in right now'."At two thirty that afternoon I was on the slab and they opened me up. I was under for something like eight hours."They transplanted my liver. My heart did stop for a bit and it came back on its own."I'll be frank, I'm very, very lucky to be here."Brazil had spells with Ipswich Town, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur among others during his playing career and is hopeful he can return to broadcasting in the coming weeks."I copped it, but thank God, luckily, the guys at Addenbrooke's Hospital have saved my life," he said."I am on the mend. Still not there, but I am getting there."Listen to the latest Football Daily podcastSoundsGet football news sent straight to your phone

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Tottenham are in talks with Brighton over the signing of centre-back Jan Paul van Hecke.Reports elsewhere claim an opening bid from Spurs has been rejected.The Dutch international has one year left on his contract at Brighton and worked at the south coast club under current Spurs boss Roberto De Zerbi.Brighton signed Van Hecke from NAC Breda for an initial fee of £1.8m in 2020.Last week, Sky Sports News revealed Spurs are edging closer to the free signing of Bournemouth defender Marcos Senesi, while they are hopeful on completing a deal for January target Andy Robertson, who has left Liverpool.Tottenham are also considering making an offer for Manchester City's Savinho. Spurs have been very interested in signing the winger since last summer.No direct approach to City has yet been made but Sky Sports News understands one could come in the next few days.Tottenham also want a central midfielder who can pass from deep, and are among the clubs who like Hayden Hackney of Middlesbrough.You don't need to be a rocket scientist to work out what Tottenham are trying to do in this transfer window: Roberto De Zerbi is looking for centre-backs who are better on the ball.In making a bid for Van Hecke - while also edging closer to a free transfer for Bournemouth's Marcos Senesi - Spurs are looking for excellent ball progressors in the first phase of play.In Senesi and Van Hecke, De Zerbi is targeting two of the Premier League's best in this specific area. These were the top two players in the league last season for bypassing defenders by passing the ball.Quite simply, they are able to soak up pressure at the back and take opposition players out the game by putting the ball through the lines.Under Andoni Iraola at Bournemouth, Senesi was used to a very direct, vertical style of play where he would punch the ball through the thirds quickly.Van Hecke, meanwhile, is accustomed to De Zerbi's intense style of play having played 50 matches under the Italian during their time together at Brighton.That work has been built on by Fabian Hurzeler, who told Sky Sports in 2024: "It helps that the coach I had here before was De Zerbi because he integrated this style of play," when asked about his defenders playing out from the back in dangerous areas.Spurs getting two ball-playing defenders is a sign that this is something they feel they lack. The numbers back that up. Senesi and Van Hecke are a level above Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven in terms of passing ability.If Spurs end up getting both players, what will it mean for Spurs' current centre-halves?

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England could face knockout ties against DR Congo, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina before facing Spain in the finalWho will England have to beat to win the World Cup for the first time since 1966? We can’t predict the future but, with the help of the Opta supercomputer, we can give a probabilistic estimate of what could happen. Let’s establish the “what if” scenarios and map out England’s potential route to the final.England are the top seeds in Group L alongside Croatia, Ghana and Panama. On the face of it, it is a kind draw, and the Opta supercomputer’s numbers reflect that. Across its 10,000 tournament simulations, England made it through to the knockout stage 96% of the time and won the group in 67.9% of simulations. They are the third-likeliest side to win their group behind only Spain (75.3%) and Argentina (73.0%).The supercomputer is less certain about who will qualify alongside England, but Croatia are deemed the next-most likely (77.8%) above Ghana (49.7%) and Panama (39.4%).With eight teams able to qualify for the last 32 having finished third in their group, there is a strong chance only one team from Group L will be sent packing. In fact, just 12 of the 48 teams at the World Cup will be knocked out in the group stage.If England top their group, they will face one of the eight third-placed teams in the next round. The winners of Group L will face a third-place finisher from Group E, H, I, J or K.The teams most likely to finish third in these groups are Côte d’Ivoire (Group E), Saudi Arabia (H), Senegal (I), Algeria (J) and DR Congo (K). Predicting who England will face in the last 32 is hard considering the 495 possible combinations, but the winners of Group L end up playing the third-placed team from Group K in 330 of them (66.7%). England are most likely to come up against DR Congo on 1 July in Atlanta.DR Congo have only appeared in one previous World Cup, in 1974 as Zaire, when they lost all three games, failed to score and conceded 14 times. A lot has changed since then but the omens for them would not be great. England have played eight matches against African sides at World Cups and have never lost (five wins and three draws), including a 3-0 win over Senegal at the last tournament in 2022. If England were to beat DR Congo, they would face co-hosts Mexico in Mexico City on 5 July.What a test this would be for England. Mexico are the likeliest side to top Group A (47.8%) and will expect to defeat a third-place qualifier in the round of 32. That would mean England taking on Mexico in front of a partisan crowd at the Azteca in the capital.England’s only previous World Cup meeting with Mexico came in similar circumstances, just with roles reversed. England were hosts when the teams met in the group stage in 1966, a match England won 2-0.England have faced three World Cup hosts. They lost 2-1 to Italy in the 1990 third-place playoff but kept a clean sheet in group matches against Spain (0-0) in 1982 and Switzerland (2-0) in 1954.Facing Mexico is far from a given, though. Group A does not contain any of the world’s top 20 teams so could be very open and unpredictable. Mexico are the favourites to win that group, but South Africa, South Korea or Czechia could come up against England instead.According to our projections, England would most likely face Brazil in the quarter-finals on 11 July in New Jersey. Brazil have won the tournament five times – a record no other country can match – but they have not won it in 24 years. That wait is not as long as England’s 60 years, though it’s significant.If England progress to the semi-finals, there is a strong chance they will have to beat Brazil at an international tournament for the first time. England’s previous four meetings with Brazil have seen them draw once, in the 1958 group stage, and lose in 1962, 1970 and 2002. Two of those – 1962 and 2002 – were in quarter-finals, with the last featuring Ronaldinho’s infamous lob over David Seaman from long range in Japan. A victory in the quarter-finals would take England into the semi-finals for just the fourth time.A win over Brazil could set up a semi-final with Argentina on 15 July in Miami. The Opta supercomputer projects that both Argentina and England will be two of the four teams in the World Cup semi-finals 9.2% of the time. For that to happen, both would have to win their group and then progress through three knockout rounds.England’s previous World Cup clashes with Argentina have been packed with incident and controversy. This would be England’s first tournament match against Argentina since David Beckham scored a match-winning penalty in their 2002 group-stage clash in the Sapporo Dome. It was redemption for Beckham, who was sent off for kicking Diego Simeone in a last-16 tie in 1998 that Argentina eventually won on penalties.In 1986, Diego Maradona’s famous “Hand of God” goal was followed by his superb solo “Goal of the Century” to knock England out at the quarter-final stage. Twenty years earlier, England beat Argentina in the quarter-finals at Wembley, where the Argentina captain, Antonio Rattín, was sent off but refused to leave the pitch.To continue their journey in this tournament, England may have to do something that no other team has managed in World Cup history: beat Argentina in a semi-final. They have played five semi-finals – in 1930, 1986, 1990, 2014 and 2022 – and have won them all.England have been eliminated in their last two World Cup semi-finals, losing to Croatia in 2018 and being defeated on penalties by West Germany in 1990. They have only played in one World Cup final and they won it.So, could England end their 60 years of hurt and lift the trophy for a second time? Thomas Tuchel’s side reached the final in nearly a fifth of the Opta supercomputer’s pre-tournament simulations (19.0%), going on to win it 11.2% of the time. The only two teams to win the World Cup more often across the simulations were Spain (16.1%) and France (13.0%).England faced Spain in the final in 4.8% of the 10,000 pre-tournament simulations. It would be a repeat of the Euro 2024 final, which Spain won 2-1 thanks to Mikel Oyarzabal’s 86th-minute winner. England have won just one of their last five meetings with Spain – a Nations League match in October 2018, when England raced into a 3-0 lead before holding off a Spain comeback to win 3-2. Will England avenge their Euro 2024 final defeat and repeat the success of 1966? We’ll soon find out.

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BBC Sport women’s football news reporterPublished13 minutes agoCommentsElla Toone says she learned a "massive lesson" from her recent injury setback and now she is ready to perform again for England.The Manchester United midfielder missed four months of the season with a hip injury, but returned for the final three games of the Women's Super League season.She took part in the Women's World Sevens tournament last week as United finished runners-up to Chelsea.Toone missed Women's World Cup qualifying matches in March and April, but is available for England's game against Spain on Friday in Mallorca (20:00 BST)."It's been a long time. I've driven my family up the wall with not being able to play," the 26-year-old said."When you're a footballer and you have that taken away from you, it's really difficult. I sat out two [England] camps with big games so it was tough."I knew I had to keep working hard and get myself in the best place possible to be ready for this camp. I'm buzzing to be back."I think I've learned I'm not 18 any more and my body has been through a lot. There was a massive lesson in this injury and it was to make sure I look after myself."Toone says her injury was a "complicated" hip stress fracture that came from "overuse" and left her unable to train for a long time.She kept physically fit by swimming and used this month's qualifying matches against Spain and Ukraine as motivation for her recovery.Toone missed United's matches in the knockout stages of the Women's Champions League and was unable to help them finish inside the WSL's top three, meaning they have missed out on European football next season.Reflecting on the recovery journey, Toone said: "There were loads of games this season with Manchester United. I don't think we've ever played that many games."I've definitely learned this time around that I have to look after my body much better than I have been doing in previous years."I know recovery is massive now. I've got to make sure I use my time wisely and maybe have more rest days. I want to prolong my career as much as I can."Aston Villa midfielder Lucia Kendall impressed in England's 1-0 victory over Spain, while Manchester City's Laura Blindkilde Brown started against Iceland.United team-mate Jess Park has also played in the number 10 position, while Chelsea's Lauren James is an option if she is not used as a winger.While Toone says she has enjoyed watching her team-mates thrive, she is eager to prove herself to manager Sarina Wiegman again this week."You are never guaranteed to be selected, no matter what your journey has been like in an England shirt," said Toone."Every time the squad comes out, you're still worried you might not make it. Missing the last few camps, I knew I had to make myself available for this selection."I came to the last camp to see Alessia [Russo] and the girls and I reminded Sarina that I'm a number 10 and I'll be ready for the next camp."Despite her eagerness to impress Wiegman, Toone says she has to remember "not to put too much pressure" on herself and to enjoy her return to action."I do play my best football when there is no pressure. That is what I've tried to do. I know I've been out for a long time," she added."I made sure I used the time wisely and I feel like I'm in a really good place."Arsenal striker Alessia Russo, Toone's best friend, says it is nice to have her "comfort blanket" back in the England squad for this month's matches."I obviously did miss her when she wasn't here. Everyone kept asking me if I was OK. I was like: 'I'm fine!'"She's worked so hard to get back. Injuries are rubbish but she's really matured over the last year or two and within her body. I'm really happy to have her back."