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Belgium fans will hope their veteran stars can lift themselves for one last tournament. Photograph: Crystal Pix/MB Media/Getty ImagesNot much of the fabled golden generation remains, but the Red Devils have a winnable group and possess genuine quality in De Bruyne and DokuThis article is part of the Guardian’s 2026 World Cup Experts’ Network, a cooperation between some of the best media organisations from the 48 countries who qualified. theguardian.com is running previews from three countries each day in the run-up to the tournament kicking off on 11 June.The head coach, Rudi Garcia, is well aware that the Red Devils’ strength lies in attack. Kevin De Bruyne, Jérémy Doku and Romelu Lukaku can each make a difference in their own way. The defence is, except for goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, the weak point after the golden generation of Toby Alderweireld, Vincent Kompany, Thomas Vermaelen and Jan Vertonghen gradually retired. “That is why I will always choose four defenders and not five,” Garcia explains. “With five defenders I have to sacrifice an attacking player and that would be a shame.”Garcia usually opts for a medium block to support the attack and not put too much pressure on the defenders. His reasoning could be described as flawed because there is a problem with Lukaku. He played only 64 minutes for Napoli this season and none for the national team because of injuries until coming off the bench in Tuesday night’s 2-0 win against Croatia, scoring the second goal in added time. He was also deeply affected by the death of his father. Belgium’s all time top scorer – 90 goals – will therefore start the World Cup without any kind of match rhythm.Qualifying went smoothly against Wales, North Macedonia, Kazakhstan and Liechtenstein. Despite going undefeated, the level of play was not high and there were three draws, two against North Macedonia and one in Kazakhstan. With 29 goals in eight games, Belgium underlined where their strengths lay. It’s clear there will be plenty of attention on Doku in attack and Courtois to prevent goals at the other end.Garcia has been in charge since January 2025 and said at his unveiling: “I am ready to take on the challenge. It will take time to learn, even though we don’t have much of it. It’s not about trying, it’s about doing, that’s my motto.” Hard work is key, according to the Frenchman. “We must focus on the mindset. We must wear the jersey with pride, and give everything for the national team.”Rudi Garcia is a national coach for the first time in his career and so will be making his World Cup debut in North America. The 62-year-old succeeded Domenico Tedesco in January 2025 and has plenty of experience, having been in charge at Lille, Roma, Marseille, Lyon, Al Nassr and Napoli among others. The Frenchman is old school, rejecting data-led analysis, and has restored a positive atmosphere to the national squad. “What matters to me is that there is a team on the field,” he says. “My experience shows that you get the furthest that way.”Jérémy Doku is the most popular player in the squad. The 24-year-old Manchester City attacker is still making giant steps in his development. Having relied solely on his impressive speed, he has developed his crossing ability of late and scored some important goals in the closing stages of the Premier League season. “I know my qualities and know that I have to work on my statistics,” he said. “But I’m not there yet.”Matias Fernandez-Pardo was not in Garcia’s plans until early May. The 21-year-old Lille striker, who holds Spanish and Belgian passports, had declared he would choose Spain. When the Belgian FA sounded him out again due to the doubts surrounding Lukaku and the decline of Loïs Openda at Juventus, he changed his mind. His speed, dribbling skills and opportunism have earned him a slot in the World Cup squad. Fernandez-Pardo left Gent in August 2024 as a winger, but the Lille coach Bruno Génésio has deployed him as a striker, leading to eight goals and five assists in 29 league games in 2025-26.Maxim De Cuyper the 25-year-old Brighton left-back, is of great value to the Red Devils with his attacking contributions and, in the absence of Lukaku, has developed into a regular goalscorer for the national team. Under Garcia, he has started every match when fit. He will likely retain that status during the World Cup despite his status as a substitute all too often at Brighton.Belgian fans love having fun and a few beers before entering the stadium. However, there are not many chants because Dutch, French and a little German are spoken in Belgium, the linguistic mix making it difficult to coordinate the songs. As a compromise, they simply sing in English, if there is any singing at all.Just as in most other EU countries, there is scepticism about Donald Trump, and certainly about his manner of expression. He once called Molenbeek, a suburb of Brussels, a “hellhole,” and that did not go down well. The Belgian FA is unlikely to say anything publicly and while fans have complained about high prices there has not been any talk of a boycott.Written by Ludo Vandewalle for Het Nieuwsblad

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Manchester City reporterPublished43 minutes ago109 CommentsManchester City have had an opening bid for midfielder Elliot Anderson rejected by Nottingham Forest.BBC Sport reported last week the 23-year-old England international is leaning towards a move to Etihad Stadium over Manchester United.There is a growing expectation Anderson will leave the City Ground this summer and City have now formalised interest with their first bid rebuffed, as reported by The Athletic.Anderson enjoyed a stellar season with Forest and has been selected in Thomas Tuchel's England squad for the World Cup.A potential fee for Anderson could be a record for a British player and eclipse the £105m Arsenal paid West Ham for Declan Rice in 2023.Man City ahead of Man Utd in race for AndersonCaptain Bernardo Silva's exit means City are looking to bolster their midfield and Anderson tops the list of potential targets.Newcastle midfielder Sandro Tonali is another player understood to be highly rated by City, with reports, external suggesting the Italy international has been monitored as a long-term target.Nico Gonzalez, who missed out on a place in the Spain squad for the World Cup and also fell out of favour under Pep Guardiola last season, may depart if the right offer comes in.Sources indicate City are also looking to sign a right-back to supplement Matheus Nunes, 28, who excelled in the position this season after being converted from midfield.City are eyeing the profile of a young full-back and one who is a natural in that position that can grow into the role in the future.

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The top stories and transfer rumours from Thursday's newspapers...Ederson is set to be the first of five signings at Manchester United as Michael Carrick looks to bolster his squad with three centre midfielders, a left-back and a striker - The TimesManchester United have paused contract talks with captain Bruno Fernandes but remain relaxed about his future - The Mirror

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Rival Enrique Riquelme promises Rodri and HaalandMadrid without major silverware in last two seasonsJosé Mourinho will return to manage Real Madrid if Florentino Pérez wins the club’s presidential election on Sunday, the sitting president confirmed on Wednesday as he campaigns for another term at the helm.Pérez, facing the renewable energy entrepreneur Enrique Riquelme in the club’s first contested election for 20 years, delivered the campaign announcement through his social media channels with a short video featuring Mourinho saying simply: “Yes!”The clip followed the slogan “So MOUch history to be made”, a not-so-subtle nod to the Portuguese coach who guided Madrid to a record La Liga points tally in 2012 but last lifted a league title with Chelsea in 2015.The move for Mourinho follows a disappointing domestic campaign in which Barcelona secured back-to-back league titles. Madrid, 15-time Champions League winners, have also exited Europe’s top club competition at the quarter-final stage in the last two seasons, with the absence of major silverware prompting Pérez to call elections.Pérez’s announcement landed while Riquelme was appearing on the Spanish television programme El Hormiguero, where he said Rodri, the Manchester City midfielder and Spain captain, would be his first signing if elected. He said he would also target the Manchester City striker Erling Haaland and that the former forward and club great Raúl would be his sports director.Since leaving Chelsea, Mourinho’s trophy haul has been more modest. He won the League Cup and Europa League with Manchester United, and later led Roma to the Conference League title.His later career has also taken him to Tottenham, Fenerbahce and Benfica, where he was under contract until June 2027 and had previously said the Portuguese club had proposed a renewal.While pundits argue the game has moved beyond Mourinho’s pragmatic style, Pérez appears to see him as the manager to restore discipline and edge to a squad featuring Kylian Mbappé, Vinícius Júnior and Jude Bellingham.

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England have three strikers at this World Cup, and Harry Kane's replacements have never had such an important role.In this hottest of World Cups, the question on everyone's mind has been how many minutes England's captain will be able to play.Ever since Russia eight years ago, the traditional tournament talk has always surrounded who Kane's best understudy is.But the conversation around the camp is different this time, with Ivan Toney and Ollie Watkins expected to get much more game time than they might have had in previous tournaments.Why? Because Kane is 32, the heat and humidity is going to be crippling at times, and, quite frankly, England can only win the World Cup if Kane is fit and firing in the latter stages of this competition.Furthermore, Kane has played more football this season than in any of the past three years.In his final season at Tottenham, he played a total of 3,934 minutes.Tuchel: Full belief England are capable of winning World CupEngland's fixtures and routes to 2026 World Cup finalWorld Cup 2026 fixture schedule and UK kick-off timesIn helping Bayern Munich to the Bundesliga title this time out, he's had 4,423 - almost a thousand more than he played in his first season in Germany.Watkins told me he's confident that all three forwards will get their moment to shine in the North American sun."Everyone has got a part to play in this competition," said the newly-crowned Europa League champion. "Whether it's in the early stages, later stages - you just have to be ready at the end of the day."We are all working together as a team to achieve something special."By the end of Euro 2024, Kane was utterly exhausted. Even though he was adamant it was not the case, the truth is he'd limped through the tournament, nurturing a back problem, and sitting in the stands in the quarter and semi-finals, I was struck by just how much Kane was walking around the pitch.While the match cameras were focused on the play, off the ball, Kane was really suffering. Tuchel is determined that this cannot happen again to his talisman and chief goal-getter.Remember, this is a newly-expanded tournament too, with 48 nations and an extra knock-out round en route to the final.And the FA is expecting any game that kicks off before 5pm local time to see temperatures of 30C and above. Two of England's group games begin at 4pm, the other is at 5pm.All of that combined means Tuchel plans to wrap Kane in cotton wool - or rather, iced towels - as much as possible.The England boss has already referred to some of his players in the past as "finishers" - options to come off the bench and offer something different up front, like Noni Madueke and Eberechi Eze, or be used as a substitute late on to put a stranglehold on a game England are winning.Watkins thinks England's attacking options are nicely varied."Me and Ivan are different players and you need that. You need to have versatility," he continued."Ivan is a proven goalscorer, he's shown it throughout his career and even during the last Euros there were times where he came on when the team needed him, and then I had my moment in the semi-final as well [winner against the Netherlands]."And so it will fall to Toney and Watkins to do many of the hard yards for their country in this World Cup.Will Kane need to be risked at all against Panama in the final Group L game, for example, if England have already sealed a place in the knockout stages?Does he need to be flogging himself in the heat if England are 3-0 up against Ghana in matchday two? All ifs and buts, of course, but they are plausible scenarios that Tuchel and his support staff have been preparing for.Even though Kane is desperate to play every minute of every game for his country, it is not going to happen. Expect to see the captain staying cool and warming the bench, much more than he has done before.

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Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate has opened up on how the deaths of team-mate Diogo Jota and his father left him battling depression during his final season at the club. Portugal forward Jota and his brother Andre Silva, tragically died in a car crash last July, while Konate's dad Hamady passed away in January after a long illness.The France international's form was visibly affected in his final campaign at Anfield and the 27-year-old has now outlined the personal turmoil he was going through."There are low points, there's depression. You can suffer from depression in football too; there's no need to be ashamed to say so," he told France Inter radio., external"It's true that I've often heard players say they were suffering from depression and that fans or people on the outside didn't understand because they were earning a lot of money. But no, that's rubbish and you shouldn't say that."Depression is personal; it's deep inside you. When you're depressed, it starts in the heart, goes up to the brain and takes over your whole body. For me, that's what's hard, and we need to talk about it."Konate, who is closing in on a move to Real Madrid after confirming he will leave Anfield this summer, said the tragic death of Jota, who was one of his neighbours during his time on Merseyside, had a shattering impact."It devastated me. I didn't have any interest in anything else at that point," he added."You go back to football because you have no choice. We're employees at a club that pays us every month, so we have duties."We had no choice but to go back on the field and play for him and his family – as well as ourselves. There's no way of getting over it, but you learn to live with it."During this difficult period Konate was also carrying the burden of knowing his father was seriously ill."I didn't know what to do. I didn't know whether I should go home and stop playing, because the team needed me too," he added."I didn't know who to talk to about it, so I kept it all to myself. And this is the advice I'd give to everyone: when you're feeling down or something's going on, you need to talk to those around you."It can help you and do you good. I didn't talk about it and kept it to myself."The doctors then told us he didn't have long to live, but we didn't know it would happen so quickly."Konate returned early from compassionate leave to help Liverpool avert an injury crisis at the end of January but the centre-back conceded that things were never quite right.He made 51 appearances across the 2025-26 campaign, 49 as a starter, but was unable to consistently produce the best form he had displayed across his previous four seasons on Merseyside as Liverpool finished fifth in the Premier League.Konate, who has been capped 27 times by France, is part of Didier Deschamps' 26-man squad for the World Cup, with Les Bleus among the favourites."There was never a moment when I felt like I was on the mend," he added."All of these tragic events happened so quickly and as soon as I felt like I was getting my head above water, something else happened."I had the support of all these fans, who are exceptional at Liverpool, my team-mates and especially my family but I also had to learn how to get back on my feet on my own because the team needed me more than ever and I know that my father would have wanted me to get back."If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story, information and support can be found at the BBC's Action Line.Latest Liverpool news, analysis and fan viewsAsk about Liverpool - what do you want to know?

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AC Milan rival Premier League sides for West Ham's Crysencio Summerville, Real Madrid to sign Inter's Denzel Dumfries and Newcastle target Nigerian teenager Zadok Yohanna.AC Milan have emerged as serious contenders to sign Crysencio Summerville, 24, from West Ham, with the Dutch winger also attracting interest from Tottenham and Aston Villa. (Teamtalk), externalReal Madrid are expected to trigger the £17.3m release clause to sign Inter Milan and Netherlands right-back Denzel Dumfries, 30. (Sky Sports), externalNewcastle have submitted a 24m euros (£20.7m) bid to sign AIK Stockholm's 18-year-old Nigerian winger Zadok Yohanna. (Expressen - in Swedish), externalAtletico Madrid are keen on Manchester City and Netherlands midfielder Tijjani Reijnders, 27. (Fichajes - in Spanish), externalKieran McKenna and Thomas Frank are the leading contenders to replace outgoing Fulham boss Marco Silva, who is set to replace Jose Mourinho at Benfica. (Talksport), externalManchester United have shelved contract talks with Bruno Fernandes, 31, after being assured the Portugal midfielder and club captain wants to stay at Old Trafford for the long term. (Mirror), externalAtletico Madrid could use the big-money sale of Argentina striker Julian Alvarez, 26, to fund the purchase of Marseille and England forward Mason Greenwood, 24. (Fichajes - in Spanish), externalRoma are also interested in Greenwood, with his former club Manchester United set to benefit from a sell-on clause in the deal that took him to France. (Teamtalk), externalEverton are chasing Arsenal's Brazil forward Gabriel Jesus, 29, but want the Premier League champions to reduce their £20m asking price. (Football Insider, external)Sunderland hope to beat Marseille to the signing of Charleroi and Algeria midfielder Yassine Titraoui, 22. (FootSur7 - in French, external)Paris St-Germain want 30m euros (£25.9m) from Juventus for 27-year-old France forward Randal Kolo Muani. (La Gazzetta dello Sport - in Italian), externalListen to the latest Football Daily podcast

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Andoni Iraola is expected to arrive on Merseyside on Thursday to sign his contract and become Liverpool's new head coach.The Reds reached a verbal agreement with Iraola on Tuesday and it is understood he wants Pablo de la Torre, Tommy Elphick, Shaun Cooper and Tom Webber to join him on the coaching staff at Anfield.A formal announcement from Liverpool could happen in the coming days.The process was led by sporting director Richard Hughes, who appointed Iraola at Bournemouth in 2023 before moving to Anfield the following year.After Liverpool sacked Slot on Saturday, Sky Sports News revealed Iraola was the front-runner and formal talks were expected to start this week.Liverpool's main objective has been to identify and recruit the individual who best suits their preferred playing style.Liverpool have not yet made an approach to any individuals with a view to them joining the coaching staff. Such decisions would only be made when the advanced stage of discussions is reached with Iraola.Stream the Premier League with no contractIraola was headhunted by Hughes during his time at Bournemouth and went on to have great success at the Vitality Stadium.The Cherries completed an 18-game unbeaten run during the second half of the 2025/26 Premier League season, leading to them securing a sixth-place finish and Europa League football. They also finished just three points behind Liverpool in the table."He's done a brilliant job in the Premier League, what Bournemouth have done is absolutely fantastic, but there are still huge question marks."The way he plays is definitely the way Liverpool want to go back to: high-intensity football. We know he's fantastic at that, but it's not just all about that when you're the Liverpool manager."Off the ball was a big problem for Arne Slot, that was the thing that really worried me, and I said all season that Liverpool off the ball were so poor."That's a big part of Liverpool's DNA, not just under Jurgen Klopp. The reason we talk about the Anfield factor, a lot of it is off the ball, not just on it, so he's fantastic at that."My worry is, can you play at that intensity when you're playing every three days, and that was only getting played once a week with Bournemouth. That is completely different."Whenever you're bringing a manager in for a top club in England, you're thinking: 'Can he win me the league?' That's a big question mark around him, or any manager coming in, but Liverpool had a manager who's won the league, so that's why I was always torn."

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Guardian sources say Ernst Tanner has not rejoined the club after he was found to have violated league policiesDespite being eligible for reinstatement, former Philadelphia Union sporting director Ernst Tanner has not resumed duties with the club, multiple sources with knowledge of the situation said this week, in part because he has yet to complete his league-ordered restorative practices training.Tanner was suspended through 1 June by Major League Soccer after a league-ordered investigation found he had violated “policies and standards of professional conduct required of League and Club leadership”. That investigation, which concluded in March, was the league’s second inquiry into alleged misconduct by Tanner; he had previously been investigated after an MLS Players Association complaint alleged multiple instances of racist, sexist and homophobic behavior.MLS initially closed its initial investigation when it was unable to substantiate those complaints. The Guardian’s own investigation late last year substantiated many of those complaints and raised additional concerns, prompting the league to reopen its investigation and, eventually, suspend Tanner without pay. Neither the league or Union offered any clarity into which specific allegations the investigation substantiated. Tanner has denied the allegations against him.MLS declined to comment on Tanner’s status. The Philadelphia Union did not respond to repeated requests for comment.The Union named former academy director Jon Scheer as sporting director last week, while also firing head coach Bradley Carnell after a franchise-worst start to the season. At the time, Union owner Jay Sugarman addressed Tanner’s status.“Ernst right now is still in the restorative process,” Sugarman said at a press conference. “We’re going to wait to see how that plays out. The reports we’ve gotten so far is that he’s taken it incredibly seriously. I think he was always planning to step back and go back to Germany at the end of his contract year so we’re running out of time as it is, but we’re going to have conversations with him once we get all the information from the league and the specialists who are working with him.”When asked whether Tanner could be assigned a different role at the club, Sugarman said it was “premature” to discuss a return before he sees the results of Tanner’s league-ordered training.During his time at the Union, Tanner built the club into a powerhouse and a model for MLS franchises looking to compete on a tight budget. The Union’s academy system, which Tanner helped construct and oversee, is among the league’s finest, having produced multiple members of the US roster at this summer’s World Cup.The Union sit in last place in the Eastern Conference and are in the midst of one of the worst seasons in MLS history. They return to play on 22 July, against the New York Red Bulls.