分类： sports

MADRID, Spain – Leading European football club Real Madrid has reached a transfer agreement with England’s Chelsea to acquire Spanish full-back Marc Cucurella in a deal valued at €55 million (equivalent to roughly $63 million), multiple football industry sources confirm. The transfer is slated to be finalized following the conclusion of the upcoming World Cup.

HOUSTON, Texas – Four-time World Cup champion Germany has secured its first opening-match victory at the global tournament since claiming the 2014 title, delivering a commanding 7-1 defeat to first-time qualifier Curacao in their Group E opener at Houston on Sunday. The lopsided result puts Hansi Flick’s (Julian Nagelsmann’s) side in a strong position to advance to the knockout round for the first time in a decade, though stiffer tests await against group opponents Ecuador and Ivory Coast in the coming matches.

The opening 10 minutes of the match saw Germany take an early lead, with 22-year-old Felix Nmecha curling a stunning strike past Curacao goalkeeper Eloy Room in the sixth minute after a crisp build-up play from Florian Wirtz. The opening goal prompted an animated celebration from head coach Julian Nagelsmann, who let out a loud roar of approval on the sidelines. Nmecha, who like teammate Jamal Musiala represented England at youth international level before committing to Germany, nearly doubled his tally just minutes later with a powerful long-range effort that sailed just wide of the post.

The Caribbean underdogs responded with a surprise equalizer in the 16th minute, when Livano Comenencia’s shot took a heavy deflection that wrong-footed 40-year-old German captain Manuel Neuer. Neuer, the oldest player to ever represent Germany at a World Cup and the first to compete in five editions of the tournament, could only shake his head as the ball found the back of the net, sending Curacao’s passionate fan group, the Blue Wave, into a frenzy in the stands. The moment also prompted a jubilant celebration from Curacao manager Dick Advocaat, 78, the oldest head coach in this year’s tournament, who leapt from his bench with arms raised.

A mid-first-half hydration break gave Germany the chance to reset and refocus. “The goal we conceded was unnecessary, but that’s part of the game,” said young defender Nathaniel Brown after the match. “I’m proud that we didn’t let our heads drop after the equalizer.”

Curacao’s desperate block-and-reboot defense held Germany off for nearly 20 minutes after the equalizer, with Room pulling off a brilliant save to tip Nico Schlotterbeck’s point-blank header over the crossbar. But the underdog defense finally cracked in the 38th minute, when Schlotterbeck found himself unmarked on a corner kick and headed home his first ever senior international goal to restore Germany’s lead.

Germany extended their advantage to 3-1 just before halftime, when Kai Havertz converted a penalty after Nmecha was brought down in the box by Riechedly Bazoer. The European side picked up exactly where they left off when the second half kicked off, with Musiala slotting home from a tight angle just 69 seconds after the restart, stretching the lead to 4-1.

Leroy Sane missed a clear chance to make it 5-1 just after the hour mark, firing wide with only Room to beat, but substitute fullback Nathaniel Brown made no such mistake minutes later, firing home his first ever international goal ahead of the second hydration break. Speaking after the match, Brown called the moment “indescribable”. “To score in my first ever World Cup match, with my whole family here in the stands, then to celebrate with the guys – it’s simply incredible,” the 22-year-old said.

Substitute Deniz Undav, who has enjoyed a red-hot run of form for Germany, made it 6-1, notching his seventh goal in his last seven international appearances. Havertz wrapped up the scoring with his second goal of the match and 24th for his country in the final minutes, capping off a 7-1 win that replicated the iconic scoreline Germany recorded against host Brazil in the 2014 World Cup semi-final.

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 13 (AFP) — A coalition of 13 national football associations gearing up for this year’s expanded 48-team FIFA World Cup has publicly pushed back against Aleksander Ceferin, president of the European football governing body UEFA, over controversial reported comments dismissing many matches in the expanded tournament as “completely uninteresting.”

In a unified joint statement released Sunday, the group of federations — which includes first-time World Cup qualifiers Cape Verde, Curacao and Uzbekistan, alongside 10 other African and Caribbean nations — said they “respectfully but firmly reject” Ceferin’s remarks first published by Slovenian national newspaper Delo.

The comments, reportedly made by Ceferin in pre-tournament remarks, centered on criticism of the decision to expand the 2026 World Cup field from the 32-team format used in 2022 to 48 teams. Ceferin was quoted as claiming expansion would dilute the overall competitive quality of the tournament, resulting in dozens of low-stakes, unengaging fixtures.

“For our countries, there is no such thing as an unimportant World Cup match,” the joint statement emphasized. The coalition argued that Ceferin’s framing of lower-ranked qualifiers’ matches as less valuable ignores the years of relentless effort, personal sacrifice, and collective national ambition invested by players, coaching staff, club organizations, football administrators, and millions of passionate fans across smaller and emerging football nations.

Notably, reporting from a second Slovenian outlet noted that Ceferin also offered a balancing perspective in the same conversation, acknowledging that “even small countries can participate and feel the pulse of the World Cup, which is a big thing.” That clarification did not soften the coalition’s pushback, however.

Alongside the three debutant nations, signatories to the statement include the football federations of Algeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia, all of which have secured spots in this year’s expanded 48-team tournament. The statement repeated that every participating nation has earned its place through competitive qualification, every fan is entitled to their national team’s World Cup dream, and every fixture carries profound meaning for millions of people worldwide.

“All nations participating at the World Cup deserve respect,” the statement read. “We therefore reject the UEFA President’s comments.”

When AFP reached out to UEFA for a response to the joint statement, a spokesperson for the governing body did not explicitly confirm or deny that Ceferin made the reported comments. Instead, the organization directed reporters to a separate interview Ceferin gave one week prior, in which the UEFA chief did not address World Cup expansion at all.

On a thrilling Saturday of thoroughbred racing at Caymanas Park, jockey Raddesh Roman delivered one of the weekend’s most memorable displays of tactical racing, steering Blue Vinyl to a dramatic last-gasp win in the $1.25-million Liu Chie Poo Trophy that denied a late charge from runner-up Supremasi.

Trained by veteran horseman Gary Subratie, Blue Vinyl adopted a patient, come-from-behind strategy from the opening bell. While Evertte Clunis’ mount Sheer Delight set a steady early pace up front, with Supremasi — ridden by Tajay Suckoo — hot on the leader’s heels, Blue Vinyl sat comfortably off the pace down the backstretch, conserving energy for the final stretch push. Roman expertly navigated the half-mile turn, hugging the inner rail to save valuable ground before threading Blue Vinyl through a narrow gap along the fence deep in the final stretch.

With just 50 meters left in the 1-mile (1,600-meter) Overnight Allowance contest, Supremasi looked poised to cross the finish line first. But Blue Vinyl’s late burst, paired with Roman’s perfectly timed ride, changed the outcome in the final strides. The five-year-old runner pulled ahead by a head at the line, stopping the clock at a final time of 1:37.3, with split times of 23.4 seconds for the opening quarter, 46.1 for the half, 1:11.2 for six furlongs, and 1:24.2 for seven furlongs. Intrestntimesahead rounded out the top three finishers.

The Liu Chie Poo Trophy win marked Roman’s second victory of the race day. Earlier in the card, he secured the $820,000 Valbert Marlowe Memorial Cup, a 9-furlong (1,800-meter) contest, aboard Diesel Train, a trainee of conditioner Peter-John Parsard.

The standout performance of the day, however, belonged to four-time defending champion trainer Jason DaCosta, who once again proved his dominance on the Jamaican racing circuit by notching four wins across the 10-race program. DaCosta’s winning streak on the day began with Novio, ridden by Tevin Foster, in the second contest. He followed that up with back-to-back wins: Formalist, with Robert Halledeen in the irons, took the sixth race, and Chocomo — also ridden by Halledeen — crossed first in the seventh. DaCosta closed out the day with a win in the 10th and final race, with Maverick and jockey Aaron Chatrie securing the victory.

Live thoroughbred racing will return to Caymanas Park next Saturday for another card of competitive racing.

At the 2026 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup hosted at Southampton’s Rose Bowl, a stunning upset unfolded on Saturday, as 33-year-old Shemaine Campbelle delivered a career-defining knock to lift the West Indies Women to a dramatic seven-wicket victory over defending world champions New Zealand. What makes this result all the more remarkable for the Caribbean side is that they pulled off the win without two of their star players: all-rounder Stafanie Taylor and the injured Chinelle Henry.

After winning the pre-match coin toss, the West Indies opted to take the field first, and they delivered a disciplined bowling performance to restrict the Kiwis to a 6-wicket total of 162. The New Zealand openers got off to a flying start, putting 49 runs on the board inside the first six overs to put the Caribbean side under immediate pressure, but medium pacer Aaliyah Alleyne turned the tide with a devastating spell of bowling. She broke the opening stand to claim her first wicket, then snared two more in the eighth over, leaving New Zealand reeling at 56 for three.

A steady 45-run stand between Sophie Devine and Brook Halliday stabilized the Kiwi innings, before West Indies captain Hayley Matthews removed Devine for 22. It was late contributions from Halliday, who top-scored with 40 runs off 32 deliveries, and an unbeaten 35 off 22 balls from Maddy Green that pushed New Zealand to their final competitive total. Alleyne finished the New Zealand innings with an impressive career haul of four wickets for just 27 runs, which was ultimately overshadowed by Campbelle’s iconic batting performance.

Chasing 163 runs for victory, the West Indies got off to a shaky start. A mid-wicket mix-up between Qiana Joseph and captain Matthews led to a run out in the second over, with the West Indies already at 12 runs. In the very next over, Matthews should have been dismissed for just nine runs, but Izzy Sharp put down a straightforward catch at deep backward square. That drop would prove costly for New Zealand, who had a day to forget in the field: the side dropped at least six catching chances, while wicketkeeper Isabella Gaze missed two stumping opportunities, including one that reprieved Campbelle when she had scored just 18.

Batting at number three, Campbelle also survived an early leg before wicket appeal via a successful review, and was dropped again when she reached 26. Instead of crumbling under pressure, the experienced campaigner made the defending champions pay for every missed chance. Through the powerplay, Campbelle and Matthews carried the score to 35 for one, well below the required run rate of 8.15 runs per over at the start of the chase. Matthews continued to ride her luck, surviving another dropped catch on 21 and again on 42, before she finally departed for a well-compiled 48 off 37 balls, caught at long on off Jess Kerr’s bowling. By that point, the pair had put on a vital 74-run second wicket partnership that kept the West Indies in the hunt.

Campbelle kept pressing forward, bringing up her maiden T20I half-century in her 155th T20I appearance in the 14th over, after hitting Amelia Kerr for two consecutive sixes. She then dominated a 40-run stand with Deandra Dottin, who contributed six runs before Jess Kerr took a sensational catch to dismiss Dottin, leaving the West Indies 126 for three after 16 overs. With 37 runs still required from 24 deliveries and World Cup debutant Jahzara Claxton at the crease alongside her, Campbelle accelerated sharply, smashing a four off Devine and a powerful six off Amelia Kerr, while carefully picking up critical singles and doubles to keep the score ticking.

With 14 runs needed from the final 12 balls, Campbelle and Claxton picked up 10 runs from the penultimate bowled by pace bowler Rosemary Mair, setting up a tense final over. Off the first delivery of the last over, Campbelle sliced a shot to backward point for two runs, added a single from the next, then scrambled home via a leg bye off the fifth ball of the over, securing victory with one full delivery remaining. This victory marks the second-highest successful run chase in the history of the Women’s T20 World Cup, cementing Campbelle’s knock as one of the most iconic performances in the tournament’s history.

In a heart-pounding Group F World Cup encounter held Sunday at Arlington, Texas’ AT&T Stadium, Japan pulled off a stunning late comeback to force a 2-2 draw against the Netherlands, with midfielder Daichi Kamada netting a dramatic 88th-minute equalizing header. The match, which kept fans on the edge of their seats from the first whistle to the final minutes, saw the Japanese side twice rally back from deficits to claim a hard-earned point in the group stage standings.

The deadlock held through the first half, with both sides trading defensive stops and limited attacking chances, until Netherlands captain Virgil van Dijk, the star defender of Liverpool, broke the open the scoring in the 51st minute. The towering centre-back put the Oranje ahead with a well-placed finish, giving his side the momentum heading into the final half-hour of play.

Japan responded quickly, however. Just six minutes after van Dijk’s opener, Japanese winger Keito Nakamura found the back of the net to level the score at 1-1, setting the stage for a tense back-and-forth finish. The Netherlands retook the lead in the 64th minute, when Crysencio Summerville’s clinical strike put the Oranje up 2-1, putting Japan on the brink of a group stage defeat.

But Kamada, who plies his club trade with Premier League side Crystal Palace, had other plans. In the closing minutes of regulation time, the Japanese playmaker rose above the Dutch defence to connect with a cross, sending a pinpoint header past the Netherlands’ goalkeeper and securing a precious equalizer that preserved a point for Hajime Moriyasu’s Blue Samurai. The dramatic result leaves both teams with one point from their opening group clash, setting up high-stakes final two group matches for both sides as they chase a spot in the knockout stage.