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Iranian support in LA included supporters of past and present regimes, and opponents of both, but a match that captivated all could not dissolve troublesSoccer unites. This is what we are told. It swoops in, majestic in the players’ grace, and gives a people – any people – a thing to rally around in good times and bad. And it’s true, that does happen on occasion. But other times, as in Monday’s 2-2 draw between Iran and New Zealand here in southern California, the magic of this ridiculously simple game lies in its power to make one, or several, or several thousand, forget.Before the game, Iranian people worldwide had been divided by decades of political and cultural difficulty and the Iran team were hamstrung by interrupted preparations for what should be the pinnacle of any players’ career.After the final whistle, those same divisions and problems still existed. Perhaps, in some cases, they had become worse. But then there were those glorious intervening minutes, featuring four goals and numerous big chances, crunching tackles and passionate play in front of a heaving, heavily partisan crowd in the city with the largest Iranian expat population in the United States. You got the sense that most within the stadium’s confines, to say nothing of the millions watching elsewhere, were given a welcome dose of temporary amnesia.Several hours before that point, though, those deep and bitter divisions running through the country’s diaspora were obvious around the perimeter of the stadium. In their shirts and accessories, fans heading inside declared which Iran they were there to support.Did they don the lion and sun flag, closely associated with the shah, or the modern version, with a stylized “Allah” written in script in the middle? Or did they do neither, obscuring the central element one way or another, writing over it, or simply choosing a clothing item that omitted the flag in favour of more neutral imagery? All could be seen in numbers.A protester with a megaphone outside a western entrance spent hours telling passersby that the Iranian team was an instrument of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, that they represented terrorists. On the east side, a larger group, reportedly numbering about 200 or so, shouted similar slogans at those entering. Behind them flew lion-and-sun Iran flags from pre-revolution times, with one adorned with “MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN”. Others nearby flew a combined US/Israel flag. There were arguments between people and some small scuffles were captured on phones.That geopolitical conflict made buildup to the match more fraught than perhaps any other in World Cup history. Iran had planned to train for the tournament in Tucson, Arizona before group games in Los Angeles and Seattle. The outbreak of hostilities threw the country’s very participation in the tournament into doubt. Iran changed their training plan’s viability once it was determined they would play on.After a hasty switch to set-up camp in Tijuana, Mexico, 15 members of Iran’s delegation were then denied visas to enter the United States. That number was reduced to 11 before their opening game, but still included their entire media relations staff, some analysts, and federation president, Mehdi Taj. US officials said the visas were denied to ensure the Iranian team did not “sneak terrorists into the United States”.“This kind of tension undermines that joy [of a World Cup],” said the striker and captain Mehdi Taremi. “This World Cup could have provided a better atmosphere than it has.”But then the stadium filled and soon provided among the best atmospheres of the tournament. While boos and jeers during Iran’s national anthem were loud enough to obscure the audio track as players sang along, there was no such conflict when Ramin Rezaiean scored Iran’s opening goal. It elicited a single cacophonous roar, trailing for several minutes after the strike and raising the intensity level considerably.It was the first of two huge moments in a man-of-the-match performance for Rezaiean, who can now be considered something of a World Cup hero for the country, having scored the game-sealing goal in 2022’s group-stage win against Wales.Afterwards, the questions were about what came before – the anthem, the booing and how Rezaiean felt. “Everyone in the world now knows about my people,” he said. “If there is any problem between us? This is our business, is none of your business. I respect you, but this is something between us, and we’re going to settle it.”With just hours to go before the match, a local court upheld Fifa’s ban on displaying Iran’s pre-revolutionary flag at the game. Videos on social media showed a few instances of stadium security confiscating lion-and-sun insignias, but they remained numerous and obvious. In pockets of the crowd, some were waved after each of New Zealand’s two well-taken goals.But the vast majority, including some of those same pockets, waved them in the air exuberantly after goals; Mohammad Mohebi’s well-placed header off a pinpoint Rezaiean cross to equalize for the second time in the 64th minute set off wild celebrations on the field.“We are enjoying [celebrating goals], just like since we were six years old, seven years old, 10 years old,” Taremi said. “We just follow the football, and we’re always looking for the football, which is so important for us, more than everything. When you score, when your team scores, you celebrate, and it’s a lot of joy, and we want to bring this joy for our supporters too.”Despite a game that had provided joy for large portions, Taremi’s thoughts were elsewhere. There in the locker room was the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, telling them they had performed well, and reminding them that their circumstances had been difficult.Then another reality check: the team was told that instead of staying in Los Angeles that night, as they expected, they would be heading back to Tijuana in a matter of hours. “They are making the situation more and more difficult, more hurdles, but we’re not going to let that stop us from doing our best,” the head coach, Amir Ghalenoei said. “Everything is like disaster for us,” said Taremi.Iran has continued to thrive despite periods of political and cultural unrest at home and sanctions damaging the economy from abroad. They have qualified for four consecutive World Cups, usually with some comfort. But on the big stage, often, they have wilted, or fallen so agonizingly short of a first appearance in the knockout round.Monday’s game offered the best chance they have had to put that run behind them. Three points would have given them a solid foothold for a spot as one of the eight best third-place teams.On Monday, Iran indulged in that hope and allowed others to forget anything else.

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Senior football correspondentPublished6 minutes ago9 CommentsNewcastle United defender Tino Livramento is a doubt for England's World Cup campaign after suffering a muscular injury. The full-back is understood to have been injured during training on Sunday and is being assessed by medical staff.England begin their World Cup bid against Croatia on Wednesday.The 23-year-old's involvement in the tournament had already been in doubt after he missed the final five weeks of the season with a thigh injury.Chelsea defender Trevoh Chalobah, who is on England's stand-by list, is a possible replacement for Livramento should the Newcastle defender be ruled out.Everything you need to know about the World Cup

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While Scotland's journey at the World Cup dominates discussion, Hearts head coach Derek McInnes' seemingly impending move to Rangers rumbles on.If completed, it would be another massive story in Scottish football, which has had a year like no other for jaw-dropping moments.Just a month after taking Hearts to within minutes of a first title for 66 years McInnes could be on his way to the side he finished above last season.But with Danny Rohl set to head to RB Salzburg, it paves the way for McInnes to return to Ibrox, where he played between 1995 and 2000.His former assistant Tony Docherty, believes McInnes would be a "perfect fit" for Rangers and will help solve the club's underperformance issues."It's a brilliant opportunity - if it presents itself," Docherty told the Scottish Football Podcast."Nothing surprises me in football. If it goes the way it looks as though it's going to go, I think it's the perfect fit for Rangers to be totally honest."Listen on SoundsIs Derek McInnes about to become Rangers manager - and what would he bring to Ibrox? Host Jonathan Sutherland is joined by Rory Loy and Tony Docherty to discussNot many people know McInnes better than Docherty, who worked with him at St Johnstone and Aberdeen for well over a decade.The former Dundee boss believes it McInnes' competitive edge would will help Rangers take the fight to Celtic - in particular - right to the end of the season.When the split came around last season, Rangers were in second place, one point behind Hearts and in front of Celtic. Rohl said his side had "five cup finals" to play, and they ended up losing four of them to finish a distant third.Questions about Rangers' mentality have come up year after year, and Docherty thinks McInnes' edge could help resolve them."Derek is a hugely competitive person," he added. "You saw that last year, when people thought his team were going to disappear."Purely through him and the recruitment he did they were competitive right the way through."I've got no doubt having that edge and having played at Rangers and having that affinity with the club, it will be a fantastic appointment."It is that mentality, you saw it in abundance last year. You've seen it all through his career, the amount of second-place finishes to Brendan Rodgers' Celtic with an Aberdeen team."And last year, every time Hearts were written off they would come up trumps."Former Rangers and Dundee striker Rory Loy believes Rohl moving on and McInnes coming in is the "perfect scenario" at Ibrox."To think three or four weeks ago, some Rangers fans - given the decline after the split - were looking to move him [Rohl] on," he told the Scottish Football Podcast."To get money for him and to use that money to recruit Derek McInnes, I don't think it could have fallen more favourably for Rangers."The one thing Derek McInnes will bring above all else is the one thing that's been levelled at Rangers for the last decade - that's what is between the ears, that's mentality."Gerrard? McInnes? What next for Rangers if Rohl leaves?As a manager McInnes has only won the League Cup, with Aberdeen in 2014, and steered Kilmarnock to the Championship title.However, his career at Aberdeen, Kilmarnock, and Hearts has been characterised by getting the most from his squad while going up against better-resourced opponents.At Pittodrie he lost cup finals and the league to Rodgers' dominant Celtic, while Kilmarnock took Old Firm scalps on their way to European football in McInnes' second season.Then he delivered Hearts' best-ever points tally as they lost out in the dying minutes to O'Neill's Celtic last season."His one issue may be is he's coming up against a powerhouse when it comes to these things in Martin O'Neill," Loy said. "He has a proven track record. To win seven on the bounce last year to win the title was unbelievable."I genuinely believe that if Derek McInnes was the Rangers manager going into the split, they don't collapse. They might not have won it - but I don't think they collapse. They take it to the last day at the very least."And with Martin O'Neill in charge, he has a proven track record, I think it has all the ingredients for nip-and-tuck, last game of the season stuff."Docherty agrees if McInnes does end up at Rangers, next season will be fascinating."If it does happen and Martin O'Neill is in place at Celtic and Derek McInnes is in place at Rangers it's going to be one hell of a title race this year," he added."Derek's strength is his longevity. He's been a manager for 18 years. For 15 years I was assistant to him. It's incredible to have that longevity and that amount of success."Contact formContact formRelated topicsFootballScottish FootballScottish PremiershipRangersMore on this storyVisit our Rangers page for all the latest news, analysis and fan views

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You can only imagine the Andy Considine stag-do group chat each time the Yes Sir, I Can Boogie resurrection reaches a new height.It is already bizarre enough that a Scotland anthem has been born from a video of the former Aberdeen defender dressed in drag dancing to the 1970s Baccara hit.But the sight of Fenway Park, one of sport's most iconic arenas, bouncing to the song 3,000 miles away from home was another pinch-me moment.So just how has a makeshift music video, arranged by a gang of boozed-up mates on a stag weekend over a decade ago, become the soundtrack of a summer in Boston?The night the Tartan Army took over iconic Fenway ParkKnown as 'wetting the baby's head' in the UK, his cousins Victor and Liam spent the entire day out in Aberdeen randomly belting out Baccara's Yes Sir, I Can Boogie in every karaoke bar they set foot in.It was not until further down the line that Considine would realise the significance of the song, when the same group reunited for his stag do in London.Considine was given a drag outfit to wear on the Saturday of that weekend. A drinking game that had him "blootered" by late morning followed, before he was notified by his best man that they would be shooting a music video.A taxi was booked to Shoreditch, where a huge studio and make-up rooms awaited the former centre-back and his entourage to record their own version of the disco hit, which spent a week at the top of the UK charts in 1977."I got dolled up... my dad and uncles did too," he revealed on Open Goal, external in 2021. "As the hours went by, it just got more ridiculous."It took five of those "ridiculous" hours to finish the video, which was then revealed during a best man speech at Considine's wedding."It didn't go down well..." he said.Five years on, the nation was gripped by post-match footage of the Scotland team bouncing to the beat of Baccara in Serbia after sealing qualification for Euro 2020.Considine was an unused substitute on that famous night in Belgrade but was seen celebrating wildly with dressing-room DJ Kieran Tierney and the rest of the squad in a legendary video, external posted on Scotland's social media platforms.The Tartan Army were unable to travel for the behind-closed-doors play-off amid strict Covid lockdown measures, but the anthem was fresh in the memory when a limited number of supporters were able to attend Euros matches that summer.The victory and the scenes that followed provided a much-needed lift to the nation and the disco duo, who were blown away by the shock revival."With this pandemic, I have been sitting at home and this has uplifted me in a way you cannot imagine," Maria Mendiola, who died five years ago, told BBC Scotland."I will always thank the Scottish team and especially Andy Considine for making me so happy after 43 years."I saw all the articles and everyone was calling me. I was delighted. I thanked the Scotland team and spoke with Andy over Instagram. He had such nice words."The anthem's legacy continues, becoming a staple of the Hampden playlist and following the team to Euro 2024 in Germany and to the United States this summer.The sight of tens of thousands of Scots throwing themselves about to the tune after a first World Cup win in 36 years would have been a surreal one for Considine and the group that dragged him to that Shoreditch studio.Days later, footage of Boston Red Sox fans joining in during a Tartan Army takeover at Fenway Park took things to a silly new level - and there is time yet to go beyond that.Everything you need to know about the World Cup

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The nation with the most representatives in Paris Saint-Germain’s starting line-up for the 2026 Champions League final were Portugal, just as they had been when Luis Enrique’s team won in 2025. These are World Cup dark horses no more.It is not just Vitinha, Joao Neves and Nuno Mendes. Roberto Martinez can call upon Bruno Fernandes, the Premier League player of the year, as well as the great Bernardo Silva. Up front Portugal will once again be captained by Cristiano Ronaldo.As such, it isn't quite appropriate to call this a golden generation. It is a squad that spans generations - Joao Neves and Ronaldo are born two decades apart, for example. Martinez's task is pull it all together. Do it right and Portugal can win this World Cup."In theory, we have one of the best opportunities," Carlos Carvalhal tells Sky Sports. "I am not so optimistic to say that we are favourites. There are other teams of very high quality. I am not saying we are better than these teams but we are not worse either."The former Premier League manager, who was most recently in charge at Braga, is working as an analyst on Portuguese television at this World Cup and likes the blend of the squad. "You can see the humility of Vitinha, of Joao Neves. I like the environment."Portugal won Euro 2016 under the long-serving coach Fernando Santos, but there was always a nagging sense that his teams were a little too limited, that they might be capable of more. Martinez has shown that a more progressive approach is possible."The coach has developed this kind of game and we have players who understand the game very well too. Look at the three players in the centre of the pitch. I believe that they will play Vitinha, Joao Neves and Bruno Fernandes there. They all understand football."Look at Bernardo, for example, who I believe will play more on the right, on the inside. We are talking about four players that we can put on the pitch with such a level of understanding of the game that they are like teachers at university, this kind of level."We have fantastic players and a very good coach which means we can change positions, move, create exciting football and dominate games. I believe that we will do that. I would put my expectations not high but, yes, medium to high," says Carvalhal.Although it is a star-studded squad, one that includes a fourth PSG player in Goncalo Ramos, one man still looms over the rest. Now 41, the Ronaldo question will continue to dominate even if Martinez has been steadfast in his support of the legendary forward.It was at the last World Cup that Ramos appeared to have ousted Ronaldo, scoring a hat-trick against Switzerland after coming into the team in the knockout stages. But the youngster then blanked as they were eliminated by Morocco and the coach was sacked.Ronaldo, meanwhile, goes on and on. He has scored 25 goals in his last 30 appearances for Portugal to justify Martinez's faith but there are signs of greater pragmatism. Hints that there is an awareness some accommodation must be made.At Euro 2024, Ronaldo played the full 120 minutes in back-to-back knockout games. In last year's Nations League Finals, he was at least substituted after scoring as Portugal found a way past hosts Germany and reigning European champions Spain to triumph.An understanding, perhaps, that Ronaldo need not play every minute? "I believe it will not change too much," says Carvalhal. "He is still an important player to Portugal. I am absolutely sure that he will play from the beginning of all the World Cup games."He explains: "The coach knows that Cristiano really wants to do something extraordinary and he wants a lot to be a world champion. The coach knows the influence that he has on other players, how he can push them with his mentality."But can Ronaldo play every minute of five knockout games in little over a fortnight? "The physical situation, if you ask me, the coach can manage better Cristiano. Do not play him every minute. Understand that he will be important for the next game."Carvalhal adds: "Maybe he can play just 60 or 70 minutes. This is the theory. But it is important that Ronaldo understands this. In practice, if Ronaldo feels in good condition to play 90 minutes in every game, then he will want to help the team be champions."If there is another concern, it is a possible lack of pace in the centre of defence. "We must be careful in the transition," concedes Carvalhal. "We will have a lot of the ball in most of the games so that moment when we lose the ball is going to be important."There are teams at the World Cup with fast players who can damage us if the team is not balanced all the time. On the defensive transition, we must be better than we have been in the past in those situations because offensively we are a very good team now."If Portugal are to win the World Cup for the first time, it would be particularly poignant given the loss of Diogo Jota. That Nations League triumph was the last match that he played before he died and the team have been careful to honour him since his passing.When the World Cup squad was announced, they did so with a plus one. Jota will be there in spirit as Portugal attempt to make history. They have won other tournaments but the third-place finish with Eusebio in 1966 remains there best World Cup outing yet.In a group that pits them against Congo, Uzbekistan and Colombia, the temptation already is to look at Portugal going deep into this tournament. "I prefer to keep my feet on the ground," says Carvalhal. But that is difficult when the squad is as strong as this.

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Senior football correspondent in KansasPublished38 minutes ago99 CommentsEngland head coach Thomas Tuchel's two-year contract extension is subject to a performance clause, Football Association chief executive Mark Bullingham has revealed.With his original deal having been due to expire at the end of the World Cup, the FA and Tuchel agreed a new two-year contract earlier this year that takes the German to the end of Euro 2028.Former Chelsea and Bayern Munich boss Tuchel was given the remit to win the World Cup when he was appointed by England in 2024.Bullingham was asked whether the FA is protected should England's performance at this World Cup mean it does not want Tuchel to lead the team at Euro 2028."There's performance clauses in every single contract at the FA, but I'm not going into any detail of what they are," said Bullingham.Asked whether there was a break clause in the deal that Tuchel can activate, Bullingham said: "We can hold him to the contract."Tuchel's England launch their World Cup campaign on Wednesday when they face Croatia in Arlington, Texas (21:00 BST).I'll keep gambling with fitness for England - SakaThe FA has faced criticism for rewarding Tuchel with fresh terms without knowing the final outcome of his initial mission, given the 52-year-old's target upon his appointment was to win England's second World Cup.But Bullingham said: "The reality is he's a top-level manager who would be in demand and we knew we had someone who was doing a really good job and we can't just expect someone to wait around and just leave it and see how you go."That's not the reality of life in any profession. We have someone doing a really good job, we thought we could sign him up for two more years - it's a home tournament (Euro 2028) where the pressure is even bigger and we have a manager who has been there and done it."Bullingham also made clear that the FA was keen to avoid the scenario of uncertainty over its manager's future overshadowing the World Cup.He said: "You never really want that hanging over you when you get into a tournament."Bullingham pointed out that anyone on a fixed-term contract would need to consider their future as such a deal neared its end."It was more about looking to 2028," he added. "It's a very important home tournament for us and we wanted the best chance to do the best we can and we felt we had a very good manager, so why not extend?"They are two different projects. So the 2028 project, we want the best manager in place - we have signed him up. We are still looking at this World Cup to give ourselves the best possible chance and we said at the time we felt he gave us the best possible chance. We still feel that."If you look back at any tournament and you work back from it, you look at who is the best manager you want, when can he be available, when can you sign him up. I would argue it's a bigger risk the other way."Meanwhile, Bullingham believes the drinks breaks that are a feature of the matches in the United States will not become the norm.Because of the hot and humid conditions that teams are playing in during the World Cup, world football's governing body Fifa has permitted hydration breaks in each half.During the breaks in play, the coaches are allowed to brief their players."Our view is that one of the biggest factors, particularly for European teams, is the heat," said Bullingham."It's challenging, so having a guaranteed drinks break is very important. I think they will be critical for every European team. From a player welfare point of view they are really important."Asked whether the breaks could be implemented at Euro 2028, Bullingham said: "I don't think so - I wouldn't have thought that at all."World Cup hydration breaks - who are the winners and losers?

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Luciana Alvarengue likes to think she had the smallest of influences on two of her old pupils as they take aim at another World CupFor all Argentinians, sitting down to watch the 2022 World Cup final was special – but for Luciana Alvarengue there was additional emotion. In the Argentina side were not one but two players to whom she had taught maths at school: Enzo Fernández and Julián Álvarez.“They are still my students, even if they are no longer in the classroom,” she says. “To see it with my son telling me: ‘Mamá, there are your students’ … that’s really nice.”Alvarengue was 26 when, in 2012, she took a job at the school run by River Plate. The school was housed at Estadio Monumental, which meant lessons would be cancelled if River had a midweek game. Now, though, they have moved to a purpose-built facility a few minutes’ walk from the stadium. The school hall is dominated by six photographs – lvarez, Fernández, Gonzalo Montiel, Exequiel Palacios, Germán Pezzella and Guido Rodríguez: the players who attended the school who were in the 2022 World Cup squad.The school is not just for footballers, or even for sportspeople (River also run teams in a wide variety of other sports, from hockey to chess), but Alvarengue soon realised the role was quite different from anything she had done before. Many of the pupils live in club accommodation, away from their families, and that meant they tended to form closer bonds with their teachers. “The boys would come and give you a kiss when they came to greet you,” she says. “‘Good morning, teacher, good afternoon.’”That was particularly true of Álvarez, who is from Calchín, in the province of Córdoba, seven hours’ drive north-west of Buenos Aires. Away from his family, he needed more emotional support and would regularly give Alvarengue a hug. Álvarez was 12 when she started teaching him, Fernández 11; she taught both up to the age of 14. They were in different school years and very different personalities.“You either love maths or you hate it,” Alvarengue says. “There are no grey areas. Julián was very good at maths. He had a very good way of working in the classroom in general. Enzo was a little more difficult to deal with. There are days when you would say he was more focused on a game, on whether he was going to be selected or not.“When he came into the classroom, Enzo liked to make sounds, banging his pencil case on the table. I remember entering the classroom, and on the left side was Enzo’s place, and he was with his back against the wall, his feet on the other bench, and there were days when he was like: ‘Today I’m going to stay like this.’ Julián was calmer, much more respectful.“In Enzo’s case, he was always thinking about football, what he wanted to do, who they were playing. And about what game was coming next, how he saw it, if they needed to make any changes, if they had to travel – it was 100% football all the time.“I couldn’t start any class without asking him how the weekend went. Julián in the school environment was more focused on saying: ‘I’m at school, I’m going to study.’ But the two were always very positive leaders in the classroom. It was very nice to talk to them because it seemed that you were talking to adults, not children.”That maturity, Alvarengue says, is characteristic of the best players. “It’s their teammates who notice there’s something special about them,” she says. “It’s not that they’re leaders of the group and always end up being captain, but they would tell others that they don’t know how to play. You can see a different discipline in football players. I always say that goalkeepers are extremely disciplined.”That means sacrifice. Alvarengue remembers Álvarez once being upset because he could not go on a camping trip because of his footballing commitments. Athletes were banned from PE lessons at school, but teachers would find themselves constantly having to intervene as impromptu games broke out using a scrunched-up ball of paper or a can as a ball. “We were terrified they would get injured,” Alvarengue says.Fitting education around pupils’ sporting commitments was never easy, which is one of the reasons the school was set up. It is common for pupils to be away for a fortnight or more on tours or for tournaments, but teachers are used to preparing work for them to take with them, and coaches then to supporting them in completing the prescribed exercises. The key is persuading students that education is part of their development as an athlete.“Their head really says: ‘I want to do this, I want to succeed in sport,’” Alvarengue says. “And they don’t understand that education is part of being able to react quickly to a stimulus, to understand a word, to improve their speed to obtain certain things. So we always try to orient the academic part to something that they can see reflected in their training,.In mathematics, for example, we often work on statistics. So: ‘What were your stats? How many games did you play? How many goals did you score?’ They need to see that what we are teaching them really is useful for their sports career.”Fernández in effect quit school at 14 but, acknowledging the importance of education, completed his studies remotely in his late teens while playing for River’s first team.What would the pair have done if they had not made it as footballers? Alvarengue is reluctant to answer, saying she cannot conceive of them doing anything else, but eventually agrees that Álvarez could have done something that required a university education, and been a lawyer or an accountant. And Fernández? “He really liked hitting things,” she says uncertainly. “So, a drummer?”Players are never formed by a single club or one coach, but by a range of influences. As she watched Argentina beat France in the final in Lusail, Alvarengue could reflect that she had played some small part in their triumph. “I can always think that they passed through our classrooms. I hope they took something away.”

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From Zagreb to Wembley and Moscow, the Croatia great has derailed the Three Lions on many occasions. Now he’s ready for one last dance in DallasWhen Luka Modric first played against England, Tony Blair was still in office. Arsenal had just moved from Highbury to the Emirates Stadium, Italy were newly crowned world champions and Pep Guardiola retired as a player after a six-month spell in Mexico with Dorados. Twitter was less than three months old and Facebook had been made fully public earlier that year. Amy Winehouse’s album Back to Black was about to be released, while the much-hyped film Borat was coming to cinemas.At the very moment that Gary Neville sent a backpass to Paul Robinson, Borat’s image appeared on Maksimir Stadium’s advertising boards; the ball bounced awkwardly on the edge of the six-yard box, the England keeper missed it and it went into the net with Sacha Baron Cohen’s grin and moustache in the background, adding to England’s misery.For Modric, who played the whole match that Croatia won 2-0, that was already his 11th cap; his first came that year in a friendly in which Lionel Messi scored his debut goal for Argentina.And so beckoned the Modric era for Croatia, without anyone being aware of it. The young midfielder did not quite have a key role in the team just yet – he would assume it years later – but, in retrospect, the win marked the beginning of a long process that would transform the national team of a tiny country into one of the most successful in the world.It really is an era, because there is no Modric generation; the players have come and gone, with only himself remaining as a constant, like a traveller who intervenes in the past and in the future, defying the linear nature of time.At some point – and no one can tell when it was exactly any more as it seems to keep changing – he made the team his own, not only through his leadership but also in terms of his indestructible never-say-die mentality. At the past two World Cups combined, Croatia won no less than seven knockout round games without beating or even outplaying anyone in 90 minutes before succumbing to the eventual winners on both occasions.England played an important role in building the team over the course of that era. Since that first match in October 2006, they played eight more times; there were wins, losses and draws, with Modric missing only one, due to a broken fibula – the 5-1 defeat at the hands of Fabio Capello’s team in 2009 – but two of those were key.A year after the surreal Borat incident, there was the infamous “wally with a brolly” game at Wembley. Croatia had already qualified for the Euros and had nothing to play for, while England needed only a draw to do the same. But the visitors, led by Slaven Bilic, proceeded to beat them only because they could and that win soon became legendary as it psychologically shaped the team, giving them a massive confidence boost.Croatia performed well at the tournament, but it still lacked the Modric mentality. Maybe Modric, who agreed to a transfer from Dinamo Zagreb to Tottenham before the Euros, lacked it himself back then. Croatia stormed through the group with three wins but they were eliminated in the quarter-finals by Turkey in the most shocking of ways, taking the lead after 119 minutes only to concede a last-moment equaliser and lose on penalties, with Modric missing.The other important game was the 2018 World Cup semi-final, when Croatia overturned an early England lead to beat them in extra-time at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow to reach the final against France. Modric didn’t seem to have a key role in that match either but, by that time, he was already a decorated leader who had carried the team through years of ill-advised coaching appointments and bitter underachievement. In Russia, Croatia were managed by Zlatko Dalic, who was the first national team coach to really connect with Modric.Now, almost 20 years after they first met, the 40-year-old playmaker is ready to face England again. It will be his 199th appearance for his country.On the surface, he’s not what he once was and neither are Croatia. If the World Cup warm-up defeat by Belgium was any indication – and they were specifically chosen as preparation for Thomas Tuchel’s team – Croatia will play a back three and sacrifice their own attacking capacity for defensive stability. But they look likely to struggle with England’s speed and energy.Modric will be 41 in September. He won’t say it, but he is likely to retire after the World Cup. Can he inspire his team to provide one more knockout blow to England in Dallas? With his history against the Three Lions – and his pedigree – no one will bet against him.

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Tottenham want to sign Newcastle midfielder Sandro Tonali this summer.The Italy international is a top target for Spurs boss Roberto De Zerbi as he looks to rebuild his squad after helping the club avoid relegation from the Premier League.One of Spurs' top priorities this summer is improving the technical ability of the squad and bringing in a midfielder who can dictate play.Tonali has been identified by De Zerbi as an ideal candidate for that role.The Italian will have a big say on transfers this summer and a move for Tonali would underline Spurs' commitment to backing De Zerbi and their promise to spend significantly on improving the squad.Newcastle would only consider selling Tonali, who has a contract until 2029, for a huge fee. They do not want to lose him.