Kyle Walker established as one of England’s most important players in recent years. After becoming a star at Manchester City, he was part of the national team squad that played in the 2018 and 2022 editions. Despite being 36 years old, he remains a starter in the Premier League, maintaining a high level of consistency. Nevertheless, head coach Thomas Tuchel has decided not to include the right-back in his squad for the 2026 World Cup.

Walker has been left out of England’s roster for the 2026 World Cup, as he decided to retire from international duty on March 10, 2026. Nonetheless, he remains a starter for Burnley in the Premier League, demonstrating both defensive and offensive solidity. At 36 years old, he has decided to focus solely on his club, looking to maintain his physical condition during the final years of his playing career.

“Although I only worked with him for a short period of time, I was always aware that he was one of England’s greats who fully embraced the highest honour of representing his country. An international career spanning 14 years and five major tournament is testament to Kyle’s dedication. He can look back on his time with the Three Lions with great pride,” Tuchel said, via England website.

Despite the emergence of Reece James and Trent Alexander-Arnold, Kyle remained a starter for several years. Not only did he shine offensively as one of the best in the world, but he also excelled defensively, providing a great deal of consistency. Therefore, Thomas Tuchel has decided to look for more defensive profiles for the 2026 World Cup, as this was one of the most decisive aspects of Walker’s game.

Who has taken Walker spot in England’s 2026 World Cup roster?

Looking to be protagonists at the 2026 World Cup, Thomas Tuchel has decided to rely on a highly balanced England squad. As a result, Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Trent Alexander-Arnold, and other stars were left out of the final roster. In addition, Kyle Walker’s place has not been taken by fully offensive full-backs; instead, Reece James was chosen as the starting right-back.

Despite the numerous injuries he has suffered, Reece James has managed to become one of the most balanced full-backs in the world. In addition to his defensive strength, he provides a key contribution to the midfield, playing an important role in build-up play. Tuchel has decided not to call up a backup, leaving Jarell Quansah and John Stones as the options in case he experiences physical problems during the tournament.

The England national team arrives in North America with the weight of massive expectations on its shoulders.

After falling short in recent major finals, the Three Lions are desperate to capture their first major trophy since 1966. The roster is packed with elite attacking talent, making them one of the most formidable international soccer teams 2026 has to offer.

Head coach Thomas Tuchel has introduced a more aggressive style of play, shifting away from the cautious approach of previous years.

This World Cup 2026 team preview explores how the squad is shaping up for the summer. We will break down the tactical shifts, evaluate the depth chart, and highlight the key players who will determine whether this group can finally deliver on the global stage.

Team profile

How England play

Under their new leadership, the team has adopted a high-intensity, direct approach that mirrors the speed of the Premier League.

The primary England formation shifts fluidly between a 4-2-3-1 and a 4-4-1-1, depending on the opposition. The system relies heavily on aggressive pressing and rapid transitions to unsettle opponents.

Wingers are given the freedom to isolate defenders in one-on-one matchups, maximizing the impact of dynamic attackers like Bukayo Saka and Anthony Gordon.

In the midfield, a double pivot featuring Declan Rice provides both defensive stability and physical dominance. However, the squad’s defensive depth remains a notable vulnerability.

While they dominated possession and averaged an impressive 2.75 goals per game during their qualifying run, counter-attacks have exposed their backline in recent friendly matches.

This England tactical analysis suggests that balancing their aggressive attacking instincts with defensive discipline will ultimately dictate their success in the 2026 tournament.

Thomas Tuchel: The coach behind England

Appointed on January 1, 2025, Thomas Tuchel is only the third non-British permanent manager to lead the Three Lions.

The 52-year-old German arrived with an elite club resume, having won the Champions League with Chelsea and league titles with Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain. His coaching philosophy emphasizes tactical flexibility, intense pressing, and quick attacking transitions.

While some fans initially questioned the hiring of a foreign manager, his flawless qualification record quickly quieted many critics. Despite his massive success in club soccer, the England coach has never managed in a major international tournament before. How his demanding leadership style translates to the high-pressure environment of a summer tournament could define the team’s entire campaign.

Key player: Harry Kane

While the roster is filled with young stars, Harry Kane remains the undisputed focal point of the attack.

The 32-year-old Bayern Munich striker is the nation’s all-time leading scorer, boasting 79 goals in 114 appearances since his debut. Kane offers much more than elite finishing inside the penalty area.

His exceptional passing range allows him to drop deep and link play, creating space for fast wingers to exploit. He also enters 2026 World Cup in spectacular form, having recently surpassed 500 career goals.

As the captain and tactical anchor, his presence is irreplaceable among England key players. If he suffers an injury, the team loses both its primary scoring threat and its central playmaker, which would severely damage their chances of making a deep run.

England’s road to the 2026 World Cup

The Three Lions delivered one of the most dominant qualification campaigns in European history to secure their spot in the 2026 World Cup.

They won all eight of their matches, finishing comfortably at the top of Group K. Remarkably, the defense did not allow a single goal throughout the entire cycle, posting a +22 goal differential.

The standout performance came on September 9, 2025, when they dismantled Serbia in a commanding 5-0 road victory. Harry Kane led the scoring charts with eight goals, while Eberechi Eze chipped in with three.

This flawless run demonstrated their ability to control games, establishing them as serious contenders among the FIFA World Cup 2026 teams.

England’s 2026 World Cup group stage outlook

England was handed a competitive challenge in Group L of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, where they were drawn alongside Croatia, Ghana, and Panama.

The Three Lions opened their campaign against Croatia in a rematch of several memorable encounters between the two European nations, including the 2018 World Cup semifinal.

Beyond Croatia, England must also navigate matches against Ghana and Panama. Ghana brings athleticism, pace, and a history of upsetting highly ranked teams on the world stage, while Panama will look to replicate the resilience that earned them qualification to another World Cup.

Readers looking to follow every match involving the Three Lions can also check our complete England TV schedule for the latest broadcast and streaming information.

England squad for 2026 World Cup

Final word on England

The England 2026 World Cup squad arrives in North America with the talent necessary to win the entire tournament.

Their overwhelming depth in attacking midfield positions gives them a distinct advantage over most opponents late in games. However, their lack of elite depth in central defense remains a critical question mark against top-tier opposition.

If Thomas Tuchel can manage the immense pressure and maintain defensive solidity, reaching the final is a highly realistic expectation for this incredibly gifted roster.

The 2026 World Cup is packed with fascinating stories, from veteran stars chasing one final moment of glory to young talents making their debut on soccer’s biggest stage. Among the many intriguing figures heading to the tournament is Cesar Yanis, a player whose profile stands out for reasons that go far beyond goals and assists.

As national teams from around the world prepare to compete for the sport’s most coveted trophy, the tournament will once again showcase the incredible diversity of soccer. Players of vastly different ages, playing styles, and physical attributes will share the same stage, proving that success comes in many forms.

While towering defenders and goalkeepers often attract attention because of their physical presence, Yanis represents the opposite end of the spectrum. The Panamanian winger has earned recognition as the shortest player expected to feature at the 2026 World Cup, highlighting one of the most unusual statistical stories of the competition.

Soccer has always provided opportunities for players of every size. Speed, intelligence, technique, and balance frequently outweigh pure physical stature, and Yanis has built his career around those qualities. His agility and low center of gravity allow him to maneuver through tight spaces and challenge opponents in situations where taller players might struggle.

Cesar Yanis and his journey to the world stage

Yanis currently represents Panama and plays his club soccer for Cobresal. Over the years, he has established himself as an important attacking option for Panama, earning more than 50 international appearances while participating in competitions such as the CONCACAF Gold Cup, Copa America and CONCACAF Nations League.

The winger has also gained experience across several leagues in the Americas and even spent part of his career in Spain. His versatility allows him to operate on either flank, where his pace and technical ability can create problems for defenders.

The height that makes history

Cesar Yanis stands at 1.60 metres (5 feet 3 inches), making him the shortest player at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. That measurement places him below every other participant expected to appear at the tournament. The next shortest players include figures such as Jeremy Antonisse and Marcelo Flores, but Yanis remains alone at the top of this particular list.

Rather than viewing his height as a disadvantage, Yanis has used it to his benefit throughout his career. His quick changes of direction and ability to shield the ball make him a difficult opponent to contain.

England and Croatia face each other in their 2026 World Cup debut, aiming for the first win of Group L. As both national teams are highly dominant, the match is expected to be very competitive, with the midfield likely to be the main focus. Against this backdrop, head coach Thomas Tuchel could place all his hopes on Harry Kane’s goal-scoring power. For this reason, fans are closely watching the status of the 32-year-old striker.

Harry Kane is expected to start in England’s opening match vs Croatia. Being in peak physical condition, head coach Thomas Tuchel would look to take advantage of his strong form, as he comes from excelling at Bayern Munich. Beyond his goal-scoring power, the 32-year-old striker is key to the collective structure, as he is capable of creating chances for his teammates and enhancing their overall performance.

Alongside Kane, Tuchel could opt for Bukayo Saka and Anthony Gordon on the wings, looking to exploit Croatia’s defensive line. In addition, Jude Bellingham is expected to start as the attacking midfielder, playing a key role in covering the attacking phase when Harry drops into midfield. Moreover, the duo of Declan Rice and Elliot Anderson is set to help cut off the opposition’s progression, with Nico O’Reilly potentially contributing from the left-back position.

Led by Luka Modrić, Croatia will make their 2026 World Cup debut. Head coach Zlatko Dalić has managed to rebuild the squad, betting on players such as Martin Baturina and Petar Sučić. In addition, the wing-backs will look to take advantage of England’s high press, giving prominence to Josip Stanišić. Against the opponent’s offensive power, Joško Gvardiol and Luka Vušković are expected to be key, with their physical strength and solidity.

England predicted lineup vs Croatia

After finishing unbeaten in the UEFA qualifiers, England arrive as clear favorites to beat Croatia. Head coach Thomas Tuchel could rely on Harry Kane to boost the attacking output. In addition, the midfield will look to generate numerical superiority, with Declan Rice and Elliot Anderson. However, Gordon and Saka on the wings would be key to breaking through the opposition’s defense and scoring goals.

With this in mind, England could lineup as follows: Jordan Pickford; Reece James, John Stones, Ezri Konsa, Nico O’Reilly; Declan Rice, Elliot Anderson; Bukayo Saka, Jude Bellingham, Anthony Gordon; Harry Kane.

Croatia predicted lineup vs England

Croatia have managed to remain a highly competitive national team. Head coach Zlatko Dalić could keep Luka Modrić as a starter, in a more advanced role as a free attacking midfielder. Supporting the midfield, Mateo Kovačić, Petar Sučić and Martin Baturina could emerge as key players. In addition, Joško Gvardiol and Luka Vušković would be the leaders of the defense, looking to stop Harry Kane’s scoring threat and England’s attacking power.

Considering this, Croatia could play as follows: Dominik Livakovic; Josip Šutalo, Luka Vušković, Josko Gvardiol; Josip Stanišić, Petar Sucic, Mateo Kovacic, Ivan Perisic; Luka Modric, Martin Baturina, Petar Musa.

Croatia enters the 2026 World Cup as a proven international contender with a track record of deep knockout-stage runs. Despite a population of just under 4 million, the national team consistently challenges the sport’s traditional powerhouses.

As one of the most resilient FIFA World Cup 2026 teams, they blend seasoned veterans with a highly athletic new generation. Fans can expect a disciplined group anchored by an elite midfield and a structured tactical approach.

This World Cup 2026 team preview covers the squad’s tactical setup, the enduring influence of their legendary captain, and the depth of the current roster. Expectations remain high as the European side navigates a challenging group stage in North America, aiming to cement their status among the elite international soccer teams 2026 has to offer.

Team profile

How Croatia play

This Croatia tactical analysis highlights a pragmatic 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 system. The setup prioritizes ball retention and structural organization, utilizing a world-class midfield to dictate the tempo. The team relies on press resistance and precise passing to transition smoothly from defense to attack.

Defensively, the squad remains exceptionally compact. During their recent qualification cycle, the backline conceded just four goals while maintaining five clean sheets. This disciplined defensive shape allows them to absorb pressure against top-tier opponents and exploit spaces on the counter.

With talents like Joško Gvardiol anchoring the defense and Ante Budimir operating up top, the Croatia formation relies on defensive solidity to unlock opportunities for their creative playmakers. This calculated, possession-heavy approach makes them incredibly difficult to break down, significantly boosting their chances of navigating the knockout rounds.

Zlatko Dalić: The coach behind Croatia

Zlatko Dalić is the longest-serving and most successful manager in the history of the national team. Appointed in late 2017, the Croatia coach transformed a struggling program into a consistent global contender. His leadership has already secured silver and bronze medals at consecutive international tournaments.

Unlike many high-profile managers, Dalić relies on a calming, humble philosophy. This approach fosters a relaxed environment, allowing high-profile stars to thrive without internal friction. His ability to manage big personalities and navigate high-pressure knockout fixtures is a defining trait of his tenure.

Dalić’s steady presence and proven tournament management will be crucial in guiding this transitional squad through difficult matchups in North America.

Key player: Luka Modrić

Modrić remains the indispensable heartbeat of the squad. Now operating in Serie A with AC Milan, the veteran midfielder continues to deliver top-tier performances, logging nearly 3,000 minutes last season. By the time the North American tournament begins, he will have surpassed two decades of service for the national team.

Operating as a deep-lying playmaker, Modrić drops alongside the central defenders to collect possession and progress the ball upfield. His elite spatial awareness and signature outside-of-the-foot passes serve as the ultimate pressure-release valve for the entire roster.

Other Croatia key players rely heavily on his composure to control the game’s rhythm. If Modrić suffers an injury, the team risks losing the foundational tactical identity that drives their success.

Croatia’s road to the 2026 World Cup

The national team secured their spot in North America with clinical efficiency, topping UEFA Group L with 22 points. They recorded seven wins and a single draw, transforming a potentially tricky group into a straightforward qualification run.

The squad scored 26 goals while conceding only four. Ivan Perišić stood out as a primary creative force, leading all European qualifiers with 10 big chances created. The defining moment arrived during a 5-1 thrashing of the Czech Republic, a statement result that effectively ended the race for first place.

This commanding qualification campaign proves the team retains the quality needed to make a deep run this summer.

Croatia’s 2026 World Cup group stage outlook

Dalić’s squad faces a demanding path through Group L, drawn alongside England, Ghana, and Panama. This balanced group presents a mix of tactical styles and physical challenges that will test the European side immediately.

The most challenging matchup comes against England in the group opener. This high-profile clash will likely determine which nation claims the top spot and secures a more favorable path in the knockout rounds. Conversely, the fixture against Panama represents the most favorable opportunity to secure crucial points and build positive momentum.

Success in the group stage will hinge on breaking down athletic, transitional teams like Ghana while maintaining defensive solidity against English attackers. A top-two finish is the realistic expectation for this experienced squad.

Readers looking to follow every match involving the team can also check our complete Croatia TV schedule for the latest broadcast and streaming information.

Croatia 2026 World Cup squad

Final word on Croatia

The national team enters the global tournament with a proven blueprint for international success. Their biggest strength remains an elite, press-resistant midfield that can dictate the tempo against any opponent.

However, the advancing age of key attackers presents a genuine challenge, raising questions about their ability to sustain high energy levels over a month-long competition. While another run to the final may be a tall order, reaching the knockout rounds remains a realistic expectation for this resilient squad.

Match Overview

England enters the 2026 tournament with immense pressure and high expectations. Under manager Thomas Tuchel, the Three Lions were flawless in their qualification campaign, winning all eight matches without conceding a single goal. This defensive solidity has become their trademark, but now they must prove they can translate that dominance onto the biggest stage against elite competition, starting with a formidable Croatian side.

For Croatia, this opening match is a chance to make a powerful statement. As runners-up in 2018 and third-place finishers in 2022, they have consistently defied expectations at major tournaments. Led by the timeless Luka Modrić, Zlatko Dalić‘s squad possesses the experience and tactical discipline to challenge any opponent. This clash is widely seen as the decider for the top spot in Group L, adding a layer of urgency from the very first whistle.

Tactical Analysis & Match Context

This fixture presents a fascinating contrast in styles. England‘s journey under Tuchel has been one of controlled efficiency. While their defensive record is perfect, some critics have pointed to a lack of attacking ruthlessness, particularly in narrow wins over lower-ranked teams. They are built to dominate possession and methodically break down opponents, relying on a well-drilled system to nullify threats.

Croatia, on the other hand, is a more adaptable and battle-hardened unit. They demonstrated their offensive firepower during qualifiers by scoring an average of 3.25 goals per game, yet they can also dig in defensively, as shown in their 0-0 draw with Czechia. The tactical battle will likely be won in midfield, where England‘s disciplined structure will attempt to contain the creative genius of Modrić and the tireless work rate of Mateo Kovačić.

The motivation for both squads is crystal clear: winning this match provides a clear path to topping the group and securing a more favorable knockout-stage draw. For England, it’s about starting their campaign with a convincing victory to silence any doubters. For Croatia, it’s an opportunity to leverage their underdog status and tournament pedigree to seize control of the group from the outset.

Head-to-Head Record & Historic Trends

Historically, England has held the upper hand in this fixture. Across 11 meetings, the Three Lions have secured six wins to Croatia‘s three, with two matches ending in a draw. This record gives England a slight psychological edge heading into the encounter.

However, recent history tells a more nuanced story. While England won the last meeting 1-0 at the European Championship in 2021, the most memorable recent clash was the 2018 World Cup semi-final. In that match, Croatia triumphed 2-1 after extra time, a result that still looms large. Over the last five encounters, England has won three, but Croatia‘s ability to perform in high-stakes moments cannot be ignored.

Data from their recent major tournament meetings suggests a tight, low-scoring affair is likely. The 1-0 result in 2021 and the 1-1 scoreline after 90 minutes in 2018 both point toward a cagey match. Furthermore, Croatia was limited to just eight shots in their 2021 defeat, highlighting England‘s capacity to control the game and restrict opportunities.

Squad News & Projected Lineups

England arrives in North America with a fully fit squad, while Croatia is sweating on the fitness of a key defender.

Manager Thomas Tuchel has his full complement of players available, having made some bold selections by leaving established names at home. This has paved the way for in-form players like Nico O’Reilly and Elliot Anderson to stake their claim in the starting lineup. The team is well-rested and has a clean bill of health, giving the manager no selection headaches ahead of this crucial opener.

Croatia, however, faces a potential setback as starting center-back Duje Caleta-Car is a major doubt due to a back injury that kept him out of the warm-up friendlies. His absence would be a significant blow, forcing coach Zlatko Dalić to reshuffle his defensive line against England’s potent attack.

England Projected XI (4-2-3-1): Pickford; O’Reilly, Konsa, Guéhi, James; Rice, Anderson; Rashford, Bellingham, Rogers; Kane.
This lineup reflects Tuchel’s emphasis on a strong defensive foundation, with Declan Rice and Elliot Anderson shielding the back four. The attacking dynamism comes from Jude Bellingham in the number 10 role, flanked by the pace of Marcus Rashford and the skill of Morgan Rogers, all in support of captain Harry Kane.

Croatia Projected XI (4-2-3-1): Livaković; Gvardiol, Pongračić, Vušković, Stanišić; Modrić, Kovačić; Perišić, Kramarić, Pašalić; Budimir.
This formation hinges on the legendary midfield partnership of Luka Modrić and Mateo Kovačić controlling the tempo. With Caleta-Car likely out, the young defensive pairing of Marin Pongračić and Luka Vušković will face a massive test. Up front, Ivan Perišić remains a constant threat from the wing, with Andrej Kramarić providing creativity.

More details on how to watch

You can watch the England vs Croatia match and every other game from the tournament on Fubo. The service is available on a wide range of devices, including Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, and mobile devices with iOS and Android.

In addition to the 2026 finals, a subscription to Fubo gives you access to a host of other top-tier soccer competitions. You can watch leagues like La Liga, Serie A, and the Bundesliga, ensuring you have year-round soccer action at your fingertips.

A monthly subscription costs just $14.99/month, offering incredible value for the breadth of live sports and on-demand content available. You can also opt for an annual plan to save even more.

SEE MORE: Schedule of World Cup games on US TV.

How to watch anywhere with VPN

If you’re abroad, you may need to use a virtual private network (VPN) in order to watch games using your usual streaming service. A VPN, such as Nord VPN, allows you to establish a secure connection online when streaming.

A Milli Kadın Voleybol Takımı oyuncularından Zehra Güneş'in "bel ağrısı şikayeti nedeniyle tedavi ve rehabilitasyon sürecinin devam ettiği" bildirildi.

Türkiye Voleybol Federasyonunun açıklamasında, Voleybol Milletler Ligi (VNL) Ankara Etabı öncesinde milli takımın İstanbul kampında Zehra Güneş'in bel ağrısı şikayetleri üzerine gerçekleştirilen değerlendirmelerde "lomber diskopati" tespit edildiği bilgisi verildi.

Milli oyuncunun tedavi ve rehabilitasyon sürecinin sağlık ekibi tarafından başlatıldığı ve Zehra Güneş'in uygulanan tedaviye olumlu yanıt verdiği kaydedilen açıklamada şöyle denildi:

"Ağrılarında belirgin rahatlama sağlanan oyuncumuzun, takım antrenmanları ve maç temposuna adaptasyon süreci devam etmektedir. Oyuncumuzun mevcut durumu sağlık ekibimiz tarafından günlük olarak takip edilmekte ve değerlendirilmektedir. Maç kadrosuna dahil edilip edilmeyeceği, oyuncumuzun fiziksel durumunun müsabaka gerekliliklerini karşılayacak seviyeye ulaşması halinde, sağlık ekibimiz ve teknik heyetimizin ortak değerlendirmesi doğrultusunda belirlenecektir."

Beşiktaş Kulübü, UEFA Uzlaşma Anlaşması kapsamındaki yükümlülüklerin başarıyla yerine getirdiğini duyurdu.

Siyah-beyazlı kulübün açıklamasında, "Kulübümüz ile UEFA Kulüp Finansal Kontrol Organı arasında, 31 Ağustos 2022 tarihinde; 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24, 2024/25 ve 2025/26 sezonlarını kapsayan uyum anlaşması imzalanmıştı. Kulübümüzün belirlenen süre zarfında temel yükümlülüklerini yerine getirdiği ve süreci başarıyla tamamladığı UEFA Kulüp Finansal Kontrol Organı tarafından tarafımıza tebliğ edilmiştir." ifadeleri kullanıldı.

Yeni sezon itibarıyla tüm operasyonel, finansal ve sportif kısıtlamaların sona erdiğinin vurgulandığı açıklamada "Şirketimiz ile UEFA arasında 31 Ağustos 2022 tarihinde imzalanan Uzlaşma Anlaşması (Settlement Agreement) kapsamında üstlendiği temel yükümlülükleri 2025/2026 sezonu itibariyle yerine getirmiş olması neticesinde; UEFA Kulüp Finansal Kontrol Organı'nın (CFCB) Birinci Dairesi tarafından konuya ilişkin 17 Haziran 2026 (bugün) tarihinde ilgili karar tarafımıza tebliğ edilmiştir. Bu karar, Şirketimizin finansal disiplin ve sürdürülebilirlik alanında yürüttüğü çalışmaların UEFA nezdinde olumlu karşılık bulduğunu göstermekte olup, Beşiktaş'ın kurumsal yapısının güçlenmesi adına önemli bir dönüm noktasıdır." denildi.

Portekiz, 2026 Dünya Kupası K Grubu'ndaki ilk maçında Demokratik Kongo karşı karşıya geliyor. Mücadele saat 20.00'de başladı.

Dünya Kupası tüm heyecanıyla devam ediyor.. 2026 FIFA Dünya Kupası K Grubu ilk maçında Portekiz ile Demokratik Kongo Cumhuriyeti karşı karşıya geliyor.

PORTEKİZ - DEMOKRATİK KONGO MAÇI SAAT KAÇTA, HANGİ KANALDA?

Portekiz - Demokratik Kongo maçı bu akşam saat 20.00'de başladı. Houston'da, NRG Stadyumu'nda oynananmaçı TRT 1'den canlı olarak izleyebilirsiniz.

PORTEKİZ - DEMOKRATİK KONGO MAÇIİLK 11'LER

Portekiz: Costa, Cancelo, Araujo, Veiga, Mendes, Vitinha, Neves, Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo, Neto, Ronaldo.

Demokratik Kongo Cumhuriyeti: Mpasi, Wan-Bissaka, Kapuadi, Tuanzebe, Mbemba, Masuaku, Mukau, Moutoussamy, Kayembe, Bakambu, Wissa.

MKE Ankaragücü Kulübü Başkanı İlhami Alparslan, Nesine 2. Lig'de bu sezon şampiyon olmayı "en geç" 3 yıl içinde de Süper Lig'e çıkmayı hedeflediklerini söyledi.

Alparslan, MKE Ankaragücü Beştepe Tesisleri'ndeki basın toplantısında, sarı-lacivertli kulübün mali ve sportif durumuna ilişkin değerlendirmelerde bulundu.

Bu sezonu şampiyon tamamlayacaklarını dile getiren Alparslan, "Biz kendimize hedef koyduk. En fazla üçüncü sezonda MKE Ankaragücü Süper Lig'de. Bu sezon çıkarız, 1. Lig'de belki bir sene dururuz, belki mali planlamalarımız başka türlü gelişir aynı sene çıkarız ama daha sonraki sene kesin çıkarız. Üç yıl içerisinde Ankaragücü Süper Lig'de." ifadelerini kullandı.

Kulübün mali durumuna ilişkin de bilgi veren Alparslan, göreve geldiklerinde yaklaşık 2 milyar liralık borç yüküyle karşılaştıklarını anlattı.

Geçmiş dönemlerden kalan vergi ve SGK yükümlülükleri, futbolcu alacakları, FIFA nezdindeki dosyalar ve hacizlerle mücadele ettiklerini aktaran Alparslan, futbolculara geçmiş dönem maaş ve peşinat alacakları kapsamında 66 milyon 554 bin 23 lira, personel ve teknik ekibe 25 milyon 370 bin lira, futbol takımına 15 milyon 835 bin 925 lira prim ödemesi yaptıklarını kaydetti.

Alparslan, 176 milyon 777 bin 777 liralık kaynak oluşturduklarını sözlerine ekledi.

Trabzonspor Kulübü, UEFA Kulüp Finansal Kontrol Kurulu ile imzaladığı yapılandırma anlaşmasının tüm yükümlülüklerini yerine getirdiğini ve yaptırım risklerinin ortadan kalktığını duyurdu.

Bordo-mavili kulübün açıklamasında, UEFA Kulüp Finansal Kontrol Kurulu (CFCB) ile Temmuz 2023'te imzalanan yapılandırma anlaşması kapsamındaki tüm yükümlülüklerin eksiksiz yerine getirildiği belirtilerek "UEFA tarafından bugün kulübümüze iletilen resmi bildirimle birlikte söz konusu süreç başarıyla tamamlanmıştır. Böylece kulübümüz anlaşma kapsamında yer alan tüm operasyonel, mali ve sportif kriterleri karşılamış, 2026/2027 sezonu itibarıyla uygulanması muhtemel tüm yaptırım risklerini ortadan kaldırmıştır." ifadelerine yer verildi.

2026 Dünya Kupası'ndaki kritik Türkiye maçı öncesi Paraguay'da hareketli saatler! Teknik direktör Gustavo Alfaro, ilk maçtaki ABD yenilgisinin ardından ilk 11'de iki radikal değişikliğe gidiyor.

2026 Dünya Kupası D Grubu'ndaki kritik viraj öncesi Paraguay cephesinde hareketlilik sürüyor. İlk maçta ABD'ye mağlup olan ve puan kaybına tahammülü olmayan Paraguay'da teknik direktör Gustavo Alfaro, önümüzdeki Cumartesi günü oynanacak Türkiye maçı için ilk 11'de iki önemli değişikliğe gitmeye hazırlanıyor.

San Jose’deki antrenmanlarda takımı şekillendiren Arjantinli teknik adamın planları netleşti.

Form grafiği yükselen Isidro Pitta, Antonio Sanabria'nın yerine ileri uçta görev alacak. Alfaro, Pitta ile hücum hattına daha fazla agresiflik katmayı hedefliyor.

Damián Bobadilla'nın yerine orta sahaya monte edilecek olan Matías Galarza ile merkezdeki dengenin ve akışkanlığın artırılması amaçlanıyor. Her iki takımın da gruptan çıkma umutlarını koruyabilmesi için bu maçtan mutlak galibiyetle ayrılması gerekiyor. Olası bir mağlubiyet, turnuvaya erken veda anlamına gelebilir.

Fransalı hücumçu Kilian Mbappe açıqlama verib.

Futbolpress.az xəbər verir ki, “RMC Sport”a danışan forvard tez-tez tənqid olunmasına toxunub:

“Tənqidlər? Hər kəsi susdurmağa çalışsam, 80 yaşıma kimi oynamalı olaram. Futbolda belə hallar qaçılmazdır. İnsanların səni həm tərifləmək, həm də tənqid etmək haqqı var. Buna görə diqqətimi öz üzərimdə cəmləmişəm. Fransa millisinin dünya çempionu olmasına kömək etmək istəyirəm”.

Mbappe Seneqalla ilk matçda dubl edib (3:1).

Çinin Quyyan şəhərində boks üzrə Dünya kubokunda 1/8 finala yekun vurulub.

Futbolpress.az xəbər verir ki, reytinq xarakterli yarışda Azərbaycan millisinin daha 3 idmançısı 1/4 final mərhələsinə yüksəlib.

55 kq-da Amin Məmmədzadə ikinci görüşündə Samandar Olimovla (Özbəkistan) üz-üzə gəlib. Görüş boksçumuzun qələbəsi ilə başa çatıb. O, rəqibini 4:1 (29:28, 29:28, 28:29, 29:28, 30:27) hesabı ilə məğlub edib. Məmmədzadə 1/4 finalda Nikil Nikillə (Hindistan) döyüşəcək.

Nəbi İsgəndərov (70 kq) Velvan Tana (Sinqapur) qalib gəlib – 5:0 (30:27, 30:27, 30:27, 30:27, 30:27). Təmsilçimiz 1/4 finalda Deepak Deepakla münasibətinə aydınlıq gətirəcək.

Murad Allahverdiyev (80 kq) isə Vitali Valterə (Almaniya) gücünü göstərib. O, rəqibini 5:0 (30:27, 30:27, 30:27, 30:27, 30:26) hesabı ilə məğlub edib. Allahverdiyev 1/4 finalda Marlon Sevehonla (Avstraliya) qarşılaşacaq.

Qeyd edək ki, iyunun 19-da keçiriləcək 1/4 final mərhələsində 5 boksçumuz mübarizə aparacaq. Millimizin bir idmançısı isə yarımfinala vəsiqə qazanıb.

“Qarabağ” klubunun akademiyasının meneceri Nail Kərimovun “Futbolpress.az“a müsahibəsi:

– Akademiyada mövcud durumu şərh edərdiniz. Başa çatan mövsümdə komandalar hansı nəticələrlə yadda qaldı?
– U-19 komandamız ölkə çempionu oldu, U-13 və U-14 finalda penaltilərdə uduzdu, U-16 və U-17 “üçlük”də yer aldı. U-15 komandamız isə liqanı dördüncü bitirdi. Gərgin, çətin mövsüm keçdi. Maraqlı oyunlar oldu. Liqaların formatında dəyişiklik edilmişdi və rəqabətli matçların sayının artması bunun müsbət nəticələrini göstərdi. Rəqabət artdıqca inkişafın da yolu açılır.

– Akademiyanın əsas funksiyası oyunçu yetişdirməkdir. Bu məsələdə hansı irəliləyişə nail ola bilmisiniz?
– Nəticələri danışırıq, düzdür, amma mümkün qədər çox oyunçu yetişdirmək vacibdir. Bu, bizim üçün prioritetdir. Düşünürəm ki, yaxşı yol qət edirik. Ötən mövsümlə müqayisədə bu il xeyli futbolçuda inkişafı müşahidə etdik. U-17 komandamızın bəzi futbolçuları milli komandalara dəvət aldı, bəziləri isə yuxarı yaş qruplarına cəlb  olundu. U-17-dəki oyunçular əsas komandaya qoşulmasaydılar, böyük ehtimalla bu yaş qrupunda da çempion olardıq. Lakin bizim üçün əsas prioritet onların inkişafı, əsas komandaya uyğunlaşmasıdır.

– Ötən il akademiyaya afrikalı legionerlər cəlb olundu. Bu zərurət nədən yarandı?
– Bu mövsüm U-19 komandamızın heyətində bir neçə legioner çıxış etdi. İki futbolçu Nigeriyadan transfer olunmuşdu. Heyətdə Türkiyə vətəndaşı olan oyunçular da var idi. Bunun isə bir neçə səbəbi var.

Əvvəlcə, məqsəd rəqabəti artırmaqdır. Legionerlərin məşqlərə yanaşması, çalışqanlığı özünü müsbət tərəfdən göstərir. Yerli oyunçularımız da peşəkar olmaq üçün hansı çətinliklərdən keçməyin vacibliyini görürlər. İkincisi, bu futbolçular gələcəkdə əsas komandaya namizəd hesab oluna bilərlər. Yaxşı oyunçular gənc yaşlardan əsas komandaya cəlb olunur. Hazır futbolçunun transferi daha böyük maliyyə tələb edir, ama bu yolla daha aşağı büdcə ilə əsas komandaya oyunçu qazandırmaq mümkündür. Bu məqamları nəzərə alsaq, bu mövsüm legionerlərin cəlbinə üstünlük verdik və düşünürəm ki, bunun nəticəsi də müsbət oldu. Həmin oyunçular özlərini yaxşı tərəfdən göstərdilər. İndi Əvəzedicilər Liqasının reqlamentini gözləyirik. Əgər U-19-da çıxış edən legionerlər tələblərə uyğun gəlsələr, onlara burada da şans verməyi planlaşdırırıq.

– Akademiyada əsas problem mərkəzləşmənin olmamasıdır. Baza məsələsində hansı yenilik var?
– Əvəzedici komandamız Binədə, digərləri Sərhədçi İdman Kompleksində mərkəzləşib. Təmərküzləşmiş formada fəaliyyət göstərməyimizin bir ili oldu. Bunun faydalarını gördük. Hamı bir-birindən məlumatlı oldu, komandalararasıəlaqə yarandı, nəzarət mexanizmi gücləndi. Onu da qeyd edim ki, yeni akademiyanın hazırlanması istiqamətində rəhbərlik tərəfindən işlər görülür. İndiki məqamda ətraflı nəsə demək olmur. Ümid edirik ki, tezliklə xoş xəbərlər olacaq.

– “Qarabağ” bu il beynəlxalq turnirlərə ən çox komanda göndərən klubdur. Turnirlərdən hansı faydaları götürürsünüz və gələcəkdə yenə bu addımlar atılacaq?
– U-13 komandamız hazırda Bolqarıstanda turnirdədir. Yeganə məqsədimiz uşaqların daha çox rəqabətli oyunlar oynamasıdır. Zəif cəhətlərini üzə çıxarsınlar, onların güclərini görək. Belə deyim, turnir seçəndə çalışırıq ki, daha keyfiyyətli komandalarla oynamaq imkanımız olsun və maksimum fayda götürək. Ona görə güclü klubların olduğu turnirlərə üstünlük veririk. Komandalarımız bu il 10 beynəlxalq turnirdə iştirak edib. U-19 da Çempionlar Liqasında üç oyun keçirdi. Bu, kifayət qədər yaxşı təcrübədir.

Klub rəhbərliyi bu məsələdə daim yanımızdadır və lazım olan büdcə ayrılır. Seçdiyimiz istiqamətlər rahat qət olunası yerlər deyil, məsələn, U-17 Fransada, U-16 Niderlandda, U-15-lər Qazaxıstanda, U-13-lər indi Bolqarıstandadır, U-12 Qazaxıstan və Türkiyə, U-11 isə qarşıda Polşada keçiriləcək turnirə hazırlaşır. Bu turnirlərin təşkilatçıları şengen tələb edən zona ölkələridir. Bunlar kifayət qədər xərcdir. Regionda akademiyalar belə turnirlərə çox meyl etmir, amma klub rəhbərliyimiz məsələyə həssas yanaşır və biz də bunu dəyərləndiririk. Turnirlərimiz növbəti mövsümlərdə də davam edəcək. Danışıqlar gedir. Gənc futbolçularımızın zəngin təcrübələrdən istifadə etməsini istəyirik.

Şahin Cəfərov

Yazı Azərbaycan Respublikasının Medianın İnkişafı Agentliyinin maliyyə dəstəyi ilə hazırlanıb.

Sahə: Uşaq və gənclərin fiziki və mənəvi inkişafında idmanın rolu.

“Qarabağ” heyətini yeni futbolçu ilə gücləndirib.

Futbolpress.az xəbər verir ki, “atlılar” “Almeriya”dan Bruno Lanqanı transfer edib. Bu barədə klubun mətbuat xidməti məlumat yayıb. Cinah müdafiəçisi ilə anlaşmanın detalları açıqlanmayıb.

Lanqa ötən mövsümü icarə əsasında “Eştrela”da (Portuqaliya) keçirib.

Source

Ruben Amorim has recently been appointed as the new head coach of Milan, and reports in Italy claim that he wants to bring two trusted players he knows well from his time at Sporting CP with him to San Siro. 

Report: Amorim wants Hjulmand and Trincao at Milan

Milan officially announced the appointment of Amorim as head coach on Tuesday evening, following the departure of Massimiliano Allegri the day after the 2025-26 season came to an end. Reports indicate that the Portuguese has signed an initial two-year contract with an option to extend by a further 12 months. 

Though Milan are still on the hunt for a new technical director and a new sporting director having learned that Markus Krösche will not be joining from Eintracht Frankfurt, reports in Italy claim that Amorim has already identified two signings he wants the club to make this summer. 

According to Gianluca Di Marzio and Sky Sport Italia, the first is Sporting CP midfielder Morten Hjulmand, who spent two-and-a-half seasons in Italy playing for Lecce across Serie A and Serie B. 

The Denmark international left Lecce to join Sporting in a deal potentially worth up to €21m including add-ons at the end of his first, impressive season in the Italian top flight. 

Amorim worked with Hjulmand in Portugal before leaving to take over as head coach of Manchester United, and Di Marzio adds that the coach would have wanted to take the Dane with him to Old Trafford as well. 

While Sporting CP were not open to selling Hjulmand last summer, Di Marzio claims that there is much more room to negotiate in the summer of 2026.

The same report claims that Amorim is also hoping to bring Portugal international Francisco Trincao with him to San Siro. 

The 26-year-old has spent the last four seasons with Sporting after struggling to cement himself at Barcelona and has gone on to provide 47 goals and 38 assists from 208 appearances across all competitions. 

He was also coached by Amorim prior to his Manchester United move, and the coach is said to appreciate the fact that his compatriot can comfortably cover in any of the three attacking roles behind a centre-forward. 

Serie A stars Rafael Leao and Francisco Conceicao have to settle for spots among the substitutes as Portugal open their 2026 World Cup campaign against DR Congo on Wednesday evening. 

Both of the Serie A representatives in the Portugal vs. DR Congo match in Group K will start among the substitutes in Houston on Wednesday. 

Roberto Martinez has opted to field departing Manchester City star Bernardo Silva on the right of his attack and Chelsea’s Pedro Neto on the left, instead of Juventus’s Conceicao and Milan’s Leao, who are best suited on the right and left respectively.

The Portugal attack will be completed by Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes and the legendary Cristiano Ronaldo at centre-forward. PSG pair Vitinha and Joao Neves start in midfield. 

DR Congo appear to have gone with a back-five in Houston, featuring West Ham’s Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Burnley’s Axel Tuanzebe and captain Chancel Mbemba.  The attack will be led by Newcastle United forward Yoane Wissa.

Gedeon Kalulu, brother of Juventus defender Pierre, is named among the DR Congo substitutes. 

Kick-off is due at 18.00 BST.

Portugal vs. DR Congo: Confirmed line-ups 

Portugal (4-2-3-1): D.Costa; Cancelo, T.Araujo, R.Veiga, N.Mendes; J.Neves, Vitinha; B.Silva, B.Fernandes, Neto; Ronaldo. 

Subs: Sa, R.Silva, N.Semedo, R.Dias, Dalot, Inacio, S.Costa, M.Nunes, R.Neves, G.Ramos, J.Felix, Trincao, Leao, Guedes, Conceicao.

DR Congo (5-3-2): Mpasi; Wan-Bissaka, Kapuadi, Tuanzebe, Mbemba, Masuaku; Mukau, Moutoussamy, E.Kayembe; Bakambu, Wissa.

Subs: Fayulu, Epolo, Batubinska, Bakeyme, J.Kayembe, Kalulu, Mbuku, Bongonda, Sadiki, Tshibola, Pickel, Cipenga, Kakuta, Elia, Mayele, Banza.

Reports in Italy claim that Barcelona are willing to include centre-back Ronald Araujo as part of a player exchange deal involving Juventus’s Andrea Cambiaso, but the Bianconeri remain unconvinced by this proposal despite their previous interest in the Uruguayan. 

Report: Barcelona willing to offer Araujo to Juventus as part of Cambiaso deal

Cambiaso has been heavily linked with a move away from Juventus over the last few days. The Bianconeri are left needing to sell players to make up for the expected drop in revenues with no Champions League football in 2026-27 and the Italy international has emerged as an expendable, yet profitable asset for the Bianconeri. 

Juventus reportedly value Cambiaso in the region of €40m, which would go a long way to covering the expected drop in revenues without access to the Champions League, which could amount to around €60m. 

Reports earlier this week claimed that both Barcelona and Chelsea are interested in a potential deal for Cambiaso this summer. And, according to updates from La Gazzetta dello Sport, Barcelona are willing to include centre-back Araujo as part of a player exchange deal. 

Araujo had previously been linked with a move to Juventus during the winter transfer window in 2025, before the club landed on Englishman Lloyd Kelly. 

Despite their previous interest in Araujo, La Gazzetta dello Sport claims that Juve are not particularly interested in listening to player-plus-cash proposals for Cambiaso, as they would prefer a cash-only offer to reinvest across multiple different areas of the squad. 

For this reason, Chelsea, who have just sold left-back Marc Cucurella to Real Madrid in a €60m package, are more likely to be able to stump up the cash that Juventus are seeking. 

Julian Alvarez could be staying at Atletico after all, now that approaches from some of Europe’s top clubs have been rebuffed.

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Earlier this summer there was a moment where Julian Alvarez looked very likely to be moving away from Atletico Madrid.

He had Real Madrid, PSG and Barcelona all interested in him. When that trio are on your case, a move always feels likely. However the way that Real’s offer was dismissed out of hand, and a lack of serious follow up from the other teams, has rather convinced us that Alvarez could stay put after all.

Atletico prepare to stand firm over Alvarez after superclub interest

Atletico Madrid president Enrique Cerezo has certainly laid down the law. In an interview with El Desmarque he told anyone interested to “look at the contract.” There they will find a €500m release clause.

“It seems like this is the story of the summer; you all know exactly how things stand. Julian is an Atletico Madrid player, and I believe he will remain an Atletico Madrid player,” Cerezo concluded.

Things can still change if Alvarez starts putting pressure on from his end – but for now we expect these teams to start looking elsewhere for attacking talent.

In other news…

Senny Mayulu is in demand this summer – but according to most French sources he’s more likely to sign a new contract than depart PSG this summer.

Man U have already wrapped up one midfielder deal this summer, and are looking to compete another before a bidding war begins, according to Fabrizio Romano.

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By most reputable accounts, and as best as I can uncover, the sweepstakes for Giannis Antetokounmpo are boiling down to two teams, barring a dark-horse candidate entering the fray, and it's maybe not a coincidence they're both chief rivals of the champion New York Knicks.

"Miami is in the lead," one league source said of the Heat, who, according to multiplereports, are dangling a package that includes Tyler Herro, Kel'el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., the No. 13 overall pick in this year's draft and future draft capital for the two-time MVP.

And if that is what the Heat are offering, without a blue-chip talent in the deal, why wouldn't the Boston Celtics join the conversation? They could offer as the centerpiece of a trade Jaylen Brown, who is the best player the Milwaukee Bucks could possibly land in return for Giannis, and who might be able to fetch an even heftier haul from a third team.

"Boston is trying to make trades," a league source said.

What exactly the Celtics are offering is difficult to determine. According to The Ringer's Bill Simmons, Boston has indeed made an offer for Antetokounmpo. According to insider Jake Fischer, "Boston had not yet seriously engaged Milwaukee." And according to The Athletic's Sam Amick, Milwaukee was "seeking clarity" from Boston, among other teams.

If the Bucks don't know exactly what the Celtics are offering, what hope does anyone else have of knowing? A package would almost certainly have to include either Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, and let's be honest, even after his Achilles injury, the Celtics aren't trading Jayson Tatum.

There's the rub. In order to acquire Antetokounmpo, Boston would have to include Brown, and there is no indication that the Celtics have offered the Second Team All-NBA wing. And for good reason. If they offer him and fail to get Antetokounmpo, they risk alienating Brown, whose partnership with Tatum is under constant public scrutiny, especially since the 29-year-old called this season — one largely without his co-star — his career highlight.

More likely, the Celtics are seeking clarity from the Bucks about whether a deal could be completed if they include Brown, before they actually put him on the table, and that may require a third team. For example, the Portland Trail Blazers, who hold the rights to Milwaukee's first-round picks from 2027-30, have been floated as a potential facilitator.

Of course, Portland is also considered a suitor for Antetokounmpo, along with the Orlando Magic and Minnesota Timberwolves, according to Amick. Yet, Boston and Miami are leading this arms race against the Knicks in the Eastern Conference, where Giannis would reportedly prefer to remain, avoiding the more difficult title path in the West.

There is some surprise that a deal has not come to fruition yet, since many around the league expected a trade to piece together quickly in the aftermath of the NBA Finals. If the Bucks were satisfied with the Heat's offer, a trade would almost surely be finalized by now, since Miami is reportedly among Antetokounmpo's list of preferred destinations.

But both the Bucks and Antetokounmpo may be experiencing a bit of seller's remorse. In Milwaukee's case, it is hard to pinpoint one asset Miami is offering — including Herro, a 26-year-old one-time All-Star and Wisconsin native — that can meaningfully alter its fortunes. For Antetokounmpo, it is difficult to identify what talent he would play with on the Heat beyond Bam Adebayo, and that is an impediment toward his stated goal of another championship, even if Miami becomes a destination for title-chasing free agents.

Of course, Boston is also on Antetokounmpo's list, according to multiple reports. It makes sense. If all the Celtics were really going to give up was Brown, they could still field Tatum, Derrick White and a rotation that won 56 games this past season with Brown, sans Tatum, as the centerpiece on both sides of the ball. Upgrade from Brown to Antetokounmpo, and Boston should increase its odds of winning the championship, or so the theory goes.

As Celtics executive Brad Stevens said following his team's tough first-round playoff loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, "One of the things that we've got to figure out is how to have more of an impact at the rim, and I think we do need to add to our team to do that." And who better than Antetokounmpo — the league's most fearsome rim attacker — for the job.

Still, while the decision to offer Herro is not difficult for the Heat, who have dangled the former Sixth Man of the Year for more established stars before, it is harder for the Celtics to part with Brown. He won Finals MVP on Boston's 2024 NBA championship run, when his tandem with Tatum, with the right pieces around them, became a proven commodity.

Surely, the Celtics believe they can win again with Tatum and Brown, so long as they surround them with superior talent, and sentimentally that is the better story — climbing the mountaintop once again with a pair of homegrown stars, rather than a hired hand.

But it is not Stevens' job to get sentimental. He is looking at this through the lens of whether or not Giannis gives the Celtics a better chance to win the championship, and there is some question about that, too. He is two years older than Brown, carrying a more robust injury history. Antetokounmpo, 31, has missed 25% of the Bucks' regular-season games and 29% of their playoff games since leading them to the championship in 2021.

Then, there is the matter of fit between Tatum and Antetokounmpo. Though they share a skills coach, Drew Hanlen, and their abilities should complement each other well, Tatum has never played with a talent quite like Giannis, and vice versa. And that will take some time to figure out, time the Celtics may have if they convince Giannis to sign an extension.

There you have it, then. The Bucks have a standing offer from Miami and are reluctant to accept it, believing better offers, including one from Boston, should become available. Only we're not sure the Celtics' best offer is on the table, and they may be unsure about it, too, considering how it could impact Brown's psyche if the trade fails to materialize.

So, the sweepstakes persist, as the rumor mill continues to churn.

The Detroit Lions have placed rookie wide receiver Kendrick Law on injured reserve after he suffered a torn ACL during practice.

Law, a fifth-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, was expected to compete for a role in Detroit’s receiving corps and contribute on special teams during his rookie season. The former Alabama and Kentucky standout impressed coaches with his athleticism and versatility throughout the offseason program before the injury cut his first NFL campaign short.

The 6-foot receiver was selected by the Lions as part of Brad Holmes’ 2026 draft class after a collegiate career that included stops with both the Alabama Crimson Tide and Kentucky Wildcats.

While Law was facing an uphill battle for playing time in a receiver room led by Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams, he was viewed as an intriguing developmental prospect with significant upside.

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith is a fan of both Venus Williams and Serena Williams. However, his tennis fandom does not extend to the discipline of doubles tennis as he is less than excited about the sisters playing doubles at the 2026 Wimbledon Championships.

Smith reacted on-air to the news of the Williams sisters playing Wimbledon together with a profanity-laced commentary on doubles tennis. Saying he does not “give a d#$n about doubles,” Smith wants Serena to come back to play singles. Despite being the undisputed GOAT of women’s tennis, he wants her return to be focused on winning Grand Slam singles titles with the possibility of passing Margaret Court’s record of 24. Serena has 23 Grand Slam singles titles.

MORE: Emma Raducanu steps out with new boyfriend who has tennis ties

Is Stephen A. Smith’s opinion typical

Doubles tennis has gotten a bad rap over the years. However, tennis purists love to watch doubles. It is quick, strategic, and complex. These fans also know that at their peak, Venus Williams and Serena Williams were practically unbeatable in doubles. They never lost a Grand Slam final they played in together, amassing a mind-boggling 14-0 record.

In addition, the Williams sisters won three Olympic gold medals in doubles in 2000, 2008, and 2012.

MORE: Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula will reunite to play doubles in loaded WTA Berlin draw

Serena’s return, in any form, is great for women’s tennis

Smith seemingly fails to understand how difficult and competitive doubles tennis is. He also presumably believes it is easy for a 44 year old mother of two to come back and compete in singles against women nearly half her age.

No matter how or what Serena does in her return to tennis, the overall winner is the sport. She brings an enthusiastic fanbase who loved her in her prime. Her immense talent is also being introduced to a new generation of fans privileged to watch her play live in 2026.

After 54 years of coaching, including 22 seasons and 10 national championships in Aggieland, a legendary Texas A&M head coach has announced his retirement.

Track and field coach Pat Henry is calling it a career, following one of the most historic tenures of any leader who has donned the Maroon and White. Henry compiled 37 total national titles during his 38-year coaching career. He has been at the helm of Texas A&M's track and field program since 2004, capturing 10 of his championships while in Bryan-College Station.

With the seven-time NCAA Coach of the Year's retirement announcement on Wednesday morning, the Aggies are handed the task of replacing one of the greatest collegiate coaches of all time.

Legendary Texas A&M track and field coach Pat Henry has announced his retirement following 54 years of coaching, including 22 seasons and 10 national titles with the Aggies.

Statements from Henry and A&M AD Trev Alberts: pic.twitter.com/hZk7Filxgo

— Carter Karels (@CarterKarels) June 17, 2026

For now, it is about celebrating Henry's incredible career accomplishments and the success he brought to Texas A&M. He is already a member of the Texas Sports Hall of Fame and the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, among other honors and awards. He is a lock to be in the Texas A&M Hall of Fame after becoming the first coach in any NCAA sport to win 10 or more national titles at two different universities.

Since being named the head coach of the Aggies 22 years ago, Henry has sent a player to every Olympiad, 30 of which have combined to capture eight medals. Not only did he lead his squads to the most successful ventures in Texas A&M's history, but he also advocated for massive projects to upgrade the track and field facilities in College Station.

He is considered one of the pioneers of the sport and a legend that will never be forgotten at Texas A&M. Henry left his imprint on the program in various ways, off and on the track. While his successor remains uncertain at this time, there's no doubting that Henry has cemented himself as one of the greatest coaches to ever step foot on campus.

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes and opinions. Follow Dylan on X: @dylanmflippo.

This article originally appeared on Aggies Wire: Texas A&M legend Pat Henry retires after claiming 10 NCAA titles

Ivory Coast forward Elye Wahi was arrested in May for engaging in alleged spot-fixing offenses, according to The Athletic.

Wahi was arrested by French police on May 29 after suspicious betting patterns emerged when Wahi’s Ligue 1 team, Nice, took on Metz on May 17. An investigation into Wahi’s actions began after the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) noticed several bets were placed on Wahi receiving a yellow card during the match. That practice, in which a player allegedly manipulates a specific outcome in a game, is known as spot-fixing. The LFP is “the governing body that runs the domestic game in France,” per The Athletic.

Wahi did receive a yellow card during the contest, which ended in a 0-0 draw. His yellow card came in the 35th minute after a tackle on Metz defender Sadibou Sane. Wahi was also involved in another questionable challenge prior to that foul, though did not receive a yellow card for that interaction.

Days before that match, it was announced that Wahi made Ivory Coast’s World Cup roster. He played in the team’s first match Sunday, a 1-0 win over Ecuador. Wahi played 56 minutes in the game, registering two shots on goal.

Though he was arrested, Wahi has yet to be charged with a crime. Because of that, he was allowed to travel to the United States to take part in the World Cup.

It’s unclear whether FIFA was aware of Wahi’s arrests, or the allegations against him, prior to the start of the 2026 World Cup. The Athletic reached out to Wahi, Ivory Coat and FIFA about the situation.

Following their 1-0 win over Ecuador, Ivory Coast’s next match is set to come against Germany on Saturday. Wahi’s status for that contest could be up in the air depending on how FIFA decides to handle the allegations against the forward.

Ivory Coast star Elye Wahi was reportedly arrested less than two weeks before the World Cup on suspicion of match-fixing offences.

A report in The Athletic details that 23-year-old Wahi is the subject of an “active investigation” to establish whether the forward deliberately earned a yellow card while playing for Nice against Metz in Ligue 1 on 17 May.

The report adds that Wahi, who started Ivory Coast’s 1-0 win against Ecuador on Sunday night, was subsequently arrested by French police on 29 May and was released after an interview.

A spokesperson for Marseille public prosecutor’s office said: “We can confirm that a 23-year-old football player, competing in France’s Ligue 1, was arrested on May 29 as part of an investigation opened by the Marseille public prosecutor’s office into allegations of organized fraud, organized sports corruption, handling of proceeds of crime and money laundering.

“He was released after he was interviewed in police custody. The investigations remain ongoing. The football player is not a member of the French selection taking part in the World Cup.”

The Independent has approached Fifa, the Ivorian Football Association and Wahi’s representatives for comment.

An investigation was opened after the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP), who run French domestic football, received notifications of suspicious betting patterns involving Wahi receiving a yellow card during Nice’s game against Metz, which ended 0-0.

Wahi received a yellow card in the 35th minute for a tackle on Metz’s Sadibou Sane. He also committed a foul two minutes earlier after a slide tackle on Bouna Sarr.

Wahi’s yellow card was his fifth of the season, which ruled him out of Nice’s relegation play-off first leg against Saint-Etienne. That ended goalless before Wahi returned to score twice in a 4-1 win in the second leg on 29 May. Later that day, he was arrested by anti-corruption officers in the French police.

As things stand, Wahi has not been charged with any crime and travelled to the United States for Ivory Coast’s World Cup campaign.

The striker only switched allegiance to the African country from France, whom he represented at youth level, in March.

Wahi played 55 minutes in the win against Ecuador, hitting the bar just before being substituted. Ivory Coast’s next game is against Germany on Saturday night before their final Group E clash against Curacao next Thursday.

Jude Bellingham is set to start in England's coveted number 10 role for their World Cup opener against Croatia.

There has been conjecture over who will play in the central attacking berth for England after the emergence of Aston Villa's Morgan Rogers as a viable option in the position.

But it is understood England manager Thomas Tuchel is likely to select Bellingham, 22, for Wednesday's Group L encounter in Dallas (21:00 BST).

The Real Madrid star is expected to have Arsenal's Declan Rice and Elliot Anderson of Nottingham Forest alongside him in midfield.

• Can Bellingham become England's superstar once more at the World Cup?

• World Cup fixtures and group standings
• How to watch the World Cup on the BBC
• Everything you need to know about the World Cup

It might seem odd but I actually find it liberating to write a column centered around mistakes. I attempt to maintain a transparent nature to my work, and I also think identifying errors can help us make better decisions in the future. And of course, if we don't examine history, we're fated to repeat it.

So let's dial up some Sheryl Crow and look at some missteps from my March baseball ranks and beliefs. A baseball lineup has nine players and a baseball game has nine innings, so we'll give you nine mistakes today.

I understand I have a few more mistakes, waiting in the bullpen. We all do.

1 — I underestimated what Shohei Ohtani might do as a pitcher. Obviously, no one could reasonably expect a 1.06 ERA and 0.842 WHIP through 11 starts, but I was cautious with workload projections, given that the Dodgers often baby their rotation. Ohtani is just a magician at this point, introducing a new trick every season, or so it seems. Never say never with him.

2 — I didn't fully appreciate the downside risk with Will Smith. There was going to be some regression after his career year in 2025, and he's always blocked from extra DH time because Ohtani covers that spot. Perhaps I also could have anticipated Dalton Rushing being one of the better backup catchers in the league, cutting somewhat into Smith's role.

To be fair, even if I got to some of these conclusions, I wouldn't have projected Smith to have the worst OPS+ of his career. But I certainly ranked him too high.

3 — I was too optimistic about the Red Sox offense. While no one expected Boston to tumble from seventh in runs last year to 29th this year, the main problem has been the lost season from Roman Anthony. Perhaps the mistake was over-projecting Anthony to instantly step into stardom in his age-22 season, with just 71 games of MLB play under his belt. No one could have projected Anthony's curious finger injury, but there was a helium to his March ADP — the type of thing I often eschew — and I needed to be more careful.

4 — I let my Andrew Vaughn optimism cloud me from Jake Bauers. They both ostensibly play the same position, though Bauers can also cover the outfield. Bauers was a plus bat last year and had a good spring, and although the Milwaukee roster glut made him hard to draft in March, I should have been more proactive in adding Bauers in-season, especially after Vaughn got hurt.

5 — I misunderstood the proper floor for Luis Castillo. Although Castillo has been slightly above league average for the last two years, I figured he could still be fantasy worthy in his age-33 season because of Seattle's big park and winning backdrop. I didn't appreciate that the Mariners also have a mediocre defense, and I should have been more judicious with Castillo's career arc.

6 — I should have drafted Jordan Walker, anywhere. I'm always on the lookout for a post-hype sleeper, and Walker had all the signs flashing entering 2026. He also had a snappy spring. You don't have to be right on this type of player that often to make it worthwhile, and as we sit in the middle of June, Walker's the most common hitter on the best Yahoo public teams. Said another way, he's been the No. 1 right answer on offense this year.

7 — I should have scouted the Tampa Bay Rays staff more carefully. This isn't even that hard to do — normally, you send a few emails to Jason Collette (who knows the team inside and outside) and you're good to go. The Rays gave us a number of right answers on the mound, including Nick Martinez (2.60 ERA), Drew Rasmussen (2.59 ERA), Shane McClanahan (3.23 ERA) and closer Bryan Baker (18 saves, 1.91 ERA).

Play Golf Pick 'Em now to make your predictions for the U.S. Open!

I said all spring that Milwaukee had become the new Rays, the lower-market team that's smarter than everyone else, and I stand behind that. But that doesn't mean I still couldn't benefit from following the original OGs in Tampa.

8 — I should have drafted Munetaka Murakami, anywhere. I had the White Sox properly pegged as a surprise team, and that's led to a lot of fantasy value. Miguel Vargas has been a savior for fantasy managers. But Murakami had a global ADP around 200 all March, a low-risk price. I should have added a share or two, just in case.

9 — I should have been more open-minded with Byron Buxton. It was reasonable to consider 2025 a career year with both production and health, and prudent not to chase that again. But what if Buxton regressed to 2024's production, or 2022's? Those would still validate his spring ADP.

Okay, no one expected Buxton would be completely healthy all year, and build on what he did last season. But you didn't have to predict the upside here — you had to be more creative on what his floor probably was.

When the Cleveland Cavaliers signed Sam Merrill to a contract extension and let Ty Jerome walk, it raised a lot of eyebrows. It created unnecessary discourse around who they should have let walk in free agency when they could have retained both at the expense of going further over the second apron. Merrill’s 2025-26 season showed why the Cavaliers invested in one of the league’s purest three-point shooters.

All grades are based on our usual expectations for each player.

Regular Season Stats

• 12.8 points
• 2.6 rebounds
• 2.4 assists
• 46.1% FG
• 42.1% 3PT FG
• 85.5% FT

Merrill is arguably one of, if not the most straightforward, grades on this Cavaliers roster. The question boils down to “how well did Merrill shoot the ball in 2025—2026?” The answer to that question is very well.

It was not only that Merrill had his highest three-point percentage since his rookie season, but also that he accomplished this feat while shooting the highest number of attempts from the perimeter in his career.

If one word could describe Merrill’s past season, it is confidence. It takes a certain mindset to blindly fire from the perimeter as Merrill did. There is a sureness with his approach, combined with the ability makes him a one-man wrecking crew to opposing defenses. I’m not saying Merrill was the Cavaliers’ version of Steph Curry, however, the way that his presence can bend a defense is a difference maker alone.

Merrill is an active shooter; he does not sit idle in the corner and wait for the primary ball-handler to generate his looks for him. When Merrill is on the floor, he is arguably the most active player, constantly forcing opposing defenses to keep their eyes on him as much as any star the Cavs have in lineups with him.

What separated Merrill’s 2025-26 season from others is that it felt like the Cavs optimized Merrill as a player. They featured him in a way that previous versions of the team didn’t. This was best shown once the Cavaliers acquired James Harden at the trade deadline.

Harden passed the ball most to Merrill of anyone on the Cavs, averaging nearly 10 passes a game. James Harden and Merrill are an intriguing example of how Merrill’s game is far from just a floor spacer. Their partnership evolved into these convoluted pick-and-roll or pop actions where their basketball IQ would stand out almost instantly.

When players like Harden immediately take note of how dynamic a player Merrill can be, it validates the investment made into Merrill at the beginning of the season. The Cavaliers made the correct choice of extending Merrill and keeping his elite skills in house. As the Cavaliers look forward, it’s safe to say that Merrill will continue to play an integral part of the offense and motion of it.

Grade: A

Midfielder Conor Thomas has signed a new one-year contract with Crewe Alexandra.

The 32-year-old has been considering the League Two side's offer of a new deal since the end of last season and has now committed his immediate future to the Railwaymen until next summer.

Thomas has been with the Alex since the start of the 2022-23 season after joining on a free transfer from Cheltenham Town.

He has made 128 appearances since and scored five goals.

"I'm very pleased. This will be my fifth year here, and over that time you get to know what it means to the place and the fans," he told the club's website.

"I think footballers play their best football when they are happy, on and off the pitch, and a lot goes into that. I feel I've become part of the community and that is important."

Crewe boss Lee Bell said he was "really pleased" Thomas was staying adding he was a player who "I lean on a lot".

Thomas is the second player this week to sign a new contract after striker Josh March agreed a 12-month extension to his deal.

Tennessee picked up a commitment from Wyatt Hanoian on Tuesday, a transferring second baseman from Air Force. Hanoian made his commitment public on Tuesday night.

Hanoian hit .357 for Air Force this season as a true freshman, which put him on the Mountain West All-Freshman team. The switch-hitting second baseman hit six home runs, walked 32 times, hit 14 doubles and four triples this year.

The most impressive stat for Hanoian? A staggering on-base percentage of .498. For reference, Garrett Wright, who was seemingly always on base for Tennessee this season, held a .439 mark.

Hanoian made 33 starts at second base for the Falcons, along with eight in right field, a handful at third base, along with a few as the team’s designated hitter. The class of 2025 prospect was the No. 222 player out of the state of California in the recruiting cycle.

He joins former two-way Mercer star Braydon Kersey and Northwestern State pitcher Brody Trosclair in Tennessee’s current transfer portal class.

Vozinha, the 40-year-old Cape Verde goalkeeper whose man-of-the-match performance denied Spain in one of the biggest World Cup shocks of all time, will be reunited with his mother at the tournament after the cost of her visa to the US was waived.

Vozinha made seven saves as minnows Cape Verde held Spain, one of the World Cup favourites, to a 0-0 draw in Atlanta. His heroic performance in his World Cup debut resulted in his Instagram following exploding from just over 50,000 to over 12 million.

The goalkeeper was in tears at full-time, however, as he mourned the fact that neither his late grandparents or his mother were at the stadium to witness his performance. Vozinha said his mother was unable to secure a visa to travel to the US because she couldn’t afford to pay a returnable bond of $15,000 (£11,200).

But in a fresh twist, Hakeem Jeffries, the democratic leader of the House of Representatives says he has secured Vozinha’s mother a visa to travel to her son’s next game in Miami on Sunday and attend the match. Jeffries said he had spoken with Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, to secure her visa.

“No mother should miss the chance to see her child make history,” Jeffries posted on X. “Upon learning of this development, I spoke with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and asked the State Department to do everything in their power to ensure that his mother can attend Cabo Verde's next match.

“It is a privilege to announce that Vozinha's mom will be able to secure a visa in time to attend their game this Sunday against Uruguay. All fees have been waived consistent with official policy. Travel arrangements are now being made for mother and son to reunite in Miami.

“I thank Secretary Rubio, U.S. State Department officials, the government of Cabo Verde and FIFA for working together to make this possible. Nos ki dan.”

Speaking after Cape Verde’s 0-0 draw with Spain, Vozinha had said: “I cried because I grew up with my grandparents and unfortunately they were not here; they died a few years ago. They were everything for me, for my life. I also cried because my mum didn’t manage to be here because of the visa. Because of the money we had to pay for the visa, we didn’t manage to [get it done] on time. I would like her to be here, but I’m also very happy.”

Former FC Barcelona star Joaqium Boumtje-Boumtje had a sit-down interview with basketball analyst Krysten Peek at the Team USA U17 trials. In the interview, Boumtje-Boumtje revealed the decision-making process that led him to Duke.

With two years remaining until he'd be eligible for the NBA Draft, Boumtje-Boumtje admitted to looking at high schools before finding out his grades were strong enough to begin college right away.

"We pitched the idea (playing college basketball) to Duke and a few other schools, and they were happy to take me," he said. "So I had to find the great pick, and I think the development from Jon Scheyer and Duke was the best option for me."

Originally in Spain at the time, Boumtje-Boumtje surprised Scheyer with his commitment news, making a Duke hat at home after being unable to find one abroad. In the months following his commitment, Boumtje-Boumtje has skyrocketed to the top of prospect rankings, as many are now excited to see him develop for Team USA in the upcoming U17 FIBA World Cup.

This article originally appeared on Duke Wire: Joaqium Boumtje-Boumtje reveals why he committed to Duke

The Philadelphia 76ers recently hired Mike Gansey to become the new president of basketball operations after he spent the last four years as general manager of the Cleveland Cavaliers. And it didn’t take long for Gansey to frustrate some superstitious Philadelphia sports fans.

Gansey and Sixers head coach Nick Nurse joined NBC Sports Philadelphia play-by-play announcer Tom McCarthy and color commentator John Kruk behind home plate for a Philadelphia Phillies game against the Miami Marlins on Tuesday night at Citizens Bank Park.

McCarthy welcomed Gansey to Philadelphia, and Nurse noted that it’s Gansey’s first time at a Phillies game.

“Glad we’re out to an 8-0 start,” Gansey explained in the top of the fifth inning. “No-hitter. No-hitter is still intact.”

“Oh boy,” Kruk responded. The former three-time All-Star representative for the Phillies was seemingly aware of what was about to happen after Gansey’s comments.

Philadelphia left-hander Jesús Luzardo had thrown four hitless innings to that point against his former team.

But just seconds after Gansey’s mention of a no-hitter, Luzardo gave up a single on the next pitch to the Marlins’ Javier Sanoja.

Sixers new president of basketball operations Mike Gansey just jinxed Jesus Luzardo’s no hit bid on the Phillies broadcastpic.twitter.com/bMnsPFBg2K

— Drew Peltzman (@dapeltz13) June 16, 2026

“Uh oh,” McCarthy said as Sanoja’s single went into left field. “Mike! Mike!”

“Alright, Nick, what’s the equivalent of that when it comes to basketball?” McCarthy asked.

“I don’t know,” Nurse said. “You know you say, ‘Don’t shoot!’ And it goes in.”

That’s an elite guest broadcaster jinx from Gansey.

Luzardo went on to allow a total of five hits (including a home run) and two earned runs for the Phillies in an 8-2 Philadelphia win. Some Phillies fans will tell you that Luzardo would have completed a no-hitter if not for Gansey’s mention of it.

The post Sixers president jinxes no-hit bid on Phillies broadcast appeared first on Awful Announcing.

Until yesterday we hadn't heard from Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. since he tore his ACL in Week 11 last season against the Carolina Panthers. For Penix it's the third time in his career that he's suffered a torn ACL.

While Penix's injury history is obviously a major concern going forward, one positive side effect is that Penix is a seasoned pro when it comes to recovery. On that subject Penix told reporters on Tuesday that "I feel like you have a better understanding of your body... You have a better understanding of where you're at in your rehab process and stuff like that but nothing about it is easy."

Penix said that he expects to be 100% by the time training camp begins next month - the first open practice is scheduled for July 31st. He also talked about what comes next in his recovery process:

"For me, the next milestone is taking contact because right now everything is non-contact... And, you know, that's tough obviously with quarterbacks, we don't get touched in practice so my first contact. We can do simulation drills and stuff like that but obviously for all of the quarterbacks across the league, the first time you get hit is the first game of the season. So that would be the next step. Just making sure I'm confident in my knee and confident to being able to take contact and keep playing."

With no 11-on-11 work until training camp for Penix, it doesn't give him much time to prove that he's a better option to start over Tua Tagovailoa.

At least at the outset of the regular season, all signs point to Tagovailoa being the starter Week 1.

This article originally appeared on Falcons Wire: Falcons QB Michael Penix Jr. talks about what comes next rehabbing ACL

Exeter wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Northampton scrum-half Alex Mitchell are set to make surprise returns to their club sides for Saturday's Prem final at Twickenham's Allianz Stadium.

Feyi-Waboso is recovering from surgery for a facial fracture sustained in Chiefs' win over Leicester at the end of May, while Mitchell strained his hamstring while taking part in an England training camp the previous week.

Both were thought unlikely to recover in time to play any further part in the domestic season, but England head coach Steve Borthwick says they are on course to make Saturday's showdown.

"They are at their clubs trying to be fit for the game this weekend," Borthwick told BBC Sport.

"For Manny [Feyi-Waboso], with full consultation with the medical specialists who worked with him at his club, the plan is that he goes through a period of preparation this week and, if it all goes well, he will hopefully be available for selection this weekend.

"Phil Morrow [England head of performance] was up in Northampton watching Alex train just a few days ago. With these things, they pass through different markers, pass through what's required to be ready to play. If that continues through the week, then he'd be available for selection for Northampton Saints, all being well."

As part of enhanced elite player squad (EPS) contracts introduced in 2024, England have the final say on the treatment, conditioning and match availability of their top stars.

In the past, that has led to conflict. England and Exeter's medical staffs publicly disagreed over treatment Feyi-Waboso received for a previous shoulder injury, with one advocating rehabilitation and the other favouring immediate surgery.

Phil Dowson, Northampton's director of rugby, has spoken of his "frustration" over Mitchell's injury, which occurred on an alignment camp, three months after a similar injury playing against Ireland in the Six Nations.

However, Borthwick says the process is more collaborative than portrayed and that, even with a demanding summer schedule comprising matches against South Africa, Fiji and Argentina in view, he is keen on his England players being in the highest-profile club games.

"I want players to play in big games; games where there are trophies on the line, games where there are consequences, games where they're going to perform with the incredible effect of pressure upon them," he said.

"That's the best preparation for Test match rugby. I've always believed that."

Both Feyi-Waboso and Mitchell's returns are timely for their teams.

Exeter wing Campbell Ridl came off with an apparent injury in their semi-final win over Bath, which Feyi-Waboso watched among a group of away fans at The Rec.

Twenty-one year-old Archie McParland has deputised excellently during Mitchell's absence, but the experience of England's first-choice scrum-half, potentially off the bench, would be welcome as back-up for such a big match.

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Is Cristiano Ronaldo the oldest player to ever appear at the World Cup?

Many football fans across the planet are asking exactly that after Roberto Martinez selected the former Manchester United and Real Madrid talisman to start against DR Congo at the age of 41 – as Portugal begin their World Cup campaign in Group K.

Incidentally, there are actually three players older than Ronaldo to have appeared at the World Cup.

Cristiano Ronaldo becomes the fourth-oldest World Cup player

The record for oldest player to appear at a World Cup belongs to Essam El Hadary.

The Egyptian actually set the record fairly recently at the 2018 World Cup, starting against Saudi Arabia at the age of 45 years and 161 days.

El Hadary is followed by Faryd Mondragon and Roger Milla – who lined up for Colombia and Cameroon at the ages of 43 years and three days, and 42 years and 39 days respectively.

Ronaldo – who Lionel Messi has outscored at the last two World Cups – has now leapfrogged Northern Ireland legend Pat Jennings to secure fourth spot on this list, having been selected to start for Portugal against DR Congo at the age of 41 years and 132 days old.

Enzo Fernandez was one of the stars for Argentina as they secured a brilliant win over Algeria in the opening match of their 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign, with Lionel Messi scoring a hat-trick.

Fernandez’s performance comes on the back of reports linking him with a move to Real Madrid, with the Chelsea superstar emerging as Jose Mourinho’s top pick in midfield.

Real Madrid, who have recently announced the signing of Bernardo Silva on a free transfer, do not want to wait either.

Real Madrid plan to accelerate Enzo Fernandez pursuit

Enzo Fernandez in action against Algeria. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)

According to MARCA, Real Madrid have identified Enzo Fernandez as their number one target to strengthen the midfield, with the Argentine sitting at the very top of the list of names Mourinho has put forward.

Fernandez made his desire to one day move to the Spanish capital abundantly clear back in March, in comments that caused a stir at Stamford Bridge and temporarily saw him removed from the team dynamic.

“I would like to live in Spain. I really like Madrid, it reminds me of Buenos Aires. I would live in Madrid. A player lives wherever he wants. I get by with English, but with Spanish I would be better off,” he said at the time.

Enzo is the priority, and his early World Cup heroics have only strengthened Real Madrid’s resolve to get a deal done as quickly as possible, similar to the Cucurella deal.

A complicated but possible deal

The operation is unlikely to be as straightforward as the Cucurella deal, primarily due to the price.

Chelsea have not ruled out Enzo’s sale. (Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images)

His agent, former footballer Javier Pastore, is aware of both Real Madrid’s interest and his client’s desire to make the move.

Chelsea are not ruling out a sale, particularly as Xabi Alonso does not want to retain any player who is not fully committed to the project.

However, the London outfit will not make life easy and have always valued Fernandez at no less than €120 million, the fee they paid Benfica for him in January 2023.

The alternatives on Mourinho’s list

Should the Enzo deal fall through, Mourinho has alternatives ready. Mateus Fernandes of West Ham remains one of the Portuguese coach’s favoured options, a 21-year-old who fits the profile of a creative, dynamic midfielder capable of breaking down low defensive blocks.

The name of Ayyoub Bouaddi, one of the breakout stars of the World Cup, has also emerged strongly in recent hours.

Everton Weigh Up Lois Openda Move as David Moyes Seeks Goals

Everton’s search for greater attacking firepower appears to have led them towards Juventus striker Lois Openda, with Football Insider reporting that the Merseyside club are exploring a potential loan to buy deal for the Belgian international.

For David Moyes, the need is obvious. Everton showed resilience and organisation throughout much of last season, but a lack of consistent goals often prevented them from turning solid performances into victories. Addressing that issue has become a priority heading into the new campaign.

According to the report, Juventus are actively looking to move Openda on after he fell out of their long term plans. The Italian giants are keen to find a solution, creating an opportunity Everton may feel is worth investigating.

Photo: IMAGO

Openda Opportunity Appeals to Everton

Football Insider previously revealed that Juventus had effectively “offered” Everton the chance to sign Openda this summer.

The structure of a loan to buy arrangement makes sense from Everton’s perspective. It reduces immediate financial risk while allowing the club to assess whether Openda can rediscover the form that once made him one of Europe’s most productive forwards.

“The addition of a new striker is a top priority for Moyes this summer, as he is desperate to find a more regular goalscorer at the top of the pitch.”

That statement captures Everton’s situation perfectly.

Previous Record Suggests Untapped Potential

While Openda struggled to establish himself at Juventus, his earlier career paints a far more encouraging picture.

The Belgian previously recorded three consecutive seasons of more than 20 goals while playing for Vitesse Arnhem, Lens and RB Leipzig. That consistency cannot be ignored.

“The player’s camp are looking to find a destination that would allow him to play regular first-team football.”

Regular minutes often transform careers. Everton may believe that a clear role and renewed confidence could help unlock the qualities that made Openda one of Europe’s most sought after forwards only a few years ago.

Premier League Chance Could Prove Decisive

Football Insider also reported that Openda is “open” to a move to the Premier League.

For Everton, that willingness matters. Recruitment becomes significantly easier when a player actively wants the challenge.

The move carries risk, but it also carries genuine upside. If Moyes can help Openda rediscover his best form, Everton may secure a proven goalscorer at a considerably reduced cost compared to many alternatives currently available.

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As football supporters, there should be a degree of cautious excitement around this potential move. Lois Openda feels like exactly the type of transfer that can divide opinion, but there is enough evidence from his career to suggest Everton could be getting far more than his recent Juventus statistics indicate.

The key question is whether supporters focus on the player who struggled in Italy or the striker who consistently scored goals in the Netherlands, France and Germany. Three consecutive campaigns above the 20 goal mark do not happen by accident.

There is obvious risk attached. Any player arriving after a disappointing spell elsewhere brings uncertainty. Everton supporters have seen similar stories before and will understandably want proof before getting carried away.

Yet this feels like a calculated gamble rather than a reckless one. A loan to buy structure would protect Everton financially while giving Moyes an opportunity to work closely with a player who clearly needs confidence and regular football.

Supporters should also appreciate that Openda reportedly wants Premier League football. Motivation matters. Hungry players often perform better than established stars looking for one final contract.

If Everton can provide the right environment and Openda can rediscover even a significant portion of his previous form, this could prove one of the smarter pieces of business completed during the summer window.

With Brendan Sorsby a potential target in this summer’s supplemental draft, now’s the perfect time to look back at the one and only time the Packers have made a pick in the bidding war that is the NFL’s second draft. Let’s turn back the clock to 1998 for the story of Mike Wahle.

Like Sorsby, Wahle ended up in the supplemental draft due to complicated circumstances at his college program. 

A rising senior at the Naval Academy heading into the 1998 season, Wahle had been named a team captain at a Navy event in February 1998, but by April he had been dismissed from the program for what were initially described as “administrative reasons,” later described as an issue of team discipline, and finally explained as being the result of a positive steroid test.

Wahle’s agent confirmed the positive test in a conversation with the Baltimore Sun in July 1998, shortly before the supplemental draft, while noting that Wahle actually passed a “more sophisticated” drug test administered by Navy. The school had appealed Wahle’s dismissal, but the NCAA upheld its own ban — this being long before the days of finding a friendly judge to issue an injunction against the increasingly powerless administrators of college athletics.

Humorously, the same report in which Wahle’s agent admitted the positive test also notes that Wahle, who had been listed at just 261 pounds in Navy’s fall 1997 media guide, was now up to 302 pounds. He’d also run a 4.9-second 40-yard dash and put up 35 reps on the bench in pre-draft workouts for teams. Perhaps the positive test was not a huge surprise.

Wahle generated plenty of interest prior to the draft, which also featured future Pro Bowl defensive lineman Jamaal Williams. He had confirmed visits with the Chicago Bears, Arizona Cardinals, and Miami Dolphins, and the Washington Redskins and Tennessee Oilers also publicly expressed interest. 

But ultimately, it was the Packers that nabbed Wahle, bidding a second round pick (24th overall) to land his services. Williams, for his part, went second to the Chargers.

Ron Wolf, then the Packers’ general manager, was excited to get Wahle, but cautioned that he had a lot of ground to make up in comments to reporters.

“He’s athletic, tough,” Wolf said, as reported by the Wisconsin State Journal. “But he’s got a lot to learn. An awful lot. He’ll start at a terrible disadvantage not having one ounce of training in our system.”

He didn’t get much of an opportunity to make up ground as a rookie, either. Negotiations over his rookie dragged out over nearly a month, and he didn’t ink a deal until August 8, 1998, well into training camp, ultimately signing a three-year pact that included a $574,000 signing bonus, according to the Green Bay Press-Gazette. 

Wahle actually came out handsomely in the deal. Most second round picks were signing four year agreements, but Wahle’s shorter deal ensured he’d hit free agency sooner, or force the Packers to pony up for his second contract. What’s more, while Wahle’s suspension and subsequent dismissal from Navy put him on the hook to pay back the cost of his education, he also avoided the mandatory two-year service period that would have followed his college career there.

For their part, the Packers were willing to wait. Wahle was just 21 years old, and though he had never played guard before (he was a tackle at Navy), the Packers set to work getting him acclimated as an interior offensive lineman. And it would pay off. Wahle appeared in just one game as a rookie, but from 1999 through 2004, he never missed a game, appearing in 96 straight regular season games for the Packers, starting 83.

He’d ultimately depart for Carolina after the 2004 season, signing a huge contract and earning a Pro Bowl bid in his first season there. But he gave the Packers a lot of quality play before that point, paying off what may have seemed like a risky bet at the time.

(Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)

Jack Grealish has returned to the training pitch for the first time since suffering a foot injury in January.

The 30-year-old's campaign was curtailed after he sustained a stress fracture in his foot during the 1-0 win over former club Aston Villa on January 18th. The on-loan Manchester City winger underwent an operation and has since completed a period of rehabilitation.

After returning to the pitch at Finch Farm for the first time on Wednesday, Grealish took to social media to express his delight.

"Ahhh man can't even explain how good this felt! 5 months since I last put my boots on..," Grealish wrote on Instagram.

"Back on the grass today! Best feeling ever man. Time to get ready!!"

Everton are understood to be negotiating with Manchester City over Grealish's return next season. The Toffees held a £50 million option to sign him permanently, but are unwilling to meet that fee.

Everton remain interested in extending Grealish's time with the club, however, if another loan or lower-cost deal can be agreed. In April, Grealish thanked the club for their support during his time on the sidelines.

"I can't thank [Everton] enough for the way they've been with me since I've been injured - they've been brilliant. From the staff, to the players, to the manager," he said.

Formula 1 is a complex series where hundreds of factors can influence the race start, the on-track action and the final result. As such, there are hundreds of things that can also go wrong in a grand prix.

The wild reason behind Nico Hulkenberg's Barcelona GP retirement

Case in point, a freak accident this weekend saw a humble chunk of gravel ruin Nico Hulkenberg’s race at the Barcelona Grand Prix. The German was racing in the points – on track to score his first of the season – when gravel kicked up by Liam Lawson ahead managed to strike the kill switch on his car.

This immediately shut off the engine and left the German to coast into the pits and retire from the race. Whether you believe it was perfect aim from Lawson or bad luck on Hulkenberg’s part, the incident is just the latest in a long line of shocking, surprising and strange DNFs in F1 history.

1953 Argentina Grand Prix: Crowd control

Race winner Giuseppe Farina

Ahead of the first world championship race in Argentina, president Juan Peron's decided to allow free access to the Autodromo Galvez in Buenos Aires. The result, unsurprisingly, was an excessive number of spectators crowding the track when the lights went out.

On lap 31 of the race, one of those spectators made their way onto the track, forcing Giuseppe Farina to swerve out of the way of the onlooker. Unfortunately, in doing so, Farina lost control of his Ferrari and crashed into the crowd, killing 13 spectators.

1970 Mexico Grand Prix: Four-legged friend

Jackie Stewart, Tyrrell 001 Ford

These days, Formula 1 drivers only really have to worry about wildlife when the circus rolls into Montreal, where groundhogs are a common problem on the track. In the past, however, deer have been spotted on track in Austria, monitor lizards in Singapore and wild dogs in Mexico.

In 1970, one of those stray dogs found its way onto the track at the Mexican Grand Prix, which had already faced crowd control concerns before the event even began. The animal breached the Mexico City track and was hit by the Tyrrell-Ford of Jackie Stewart, who had qualified in second for the race. The crash caused suspension damage to Stewart’s car and ended his race, while the dog died as a result of the collision.

1977 German Grand Prix: Did not qualify, did not finish

Hans Heyer, Penske PC4 Ford

At the 1977 German Grand Prix, Penske Ford racer Hans Heyer had a rather unceremonious retirement from his debut F1 race after just nine laps. His exit from the race was blamed on gearbox issues, which isn’t all too surprising or shocking.

However, on his retirement from the grand prix, race organisers discovered that he had taken part in the event illegally and subsequently disqualified him from the race. His illegal participation came as Heyer had failed to qualify for the event, but still started the Hockenheimring race from the pitlane. After the discovery of his illegal participation, Heyer became the only racer to not qualify, not finish and be disqualified from a single race.

1998 Italian Grand Prix: Spanner in the works

Johnny Herbert, Sauber C17

The 1998 Italian Grand Prix might be remembered as a Ferrari 1-2 led by Michael Schumacher, but it was also the scene of a bizarre retirement for Sauber driver Johnny Herbert.

The Briton qualified 15th for the Monza race, seven places and almost a second off the pace of his team-mate Jean Alesi. In the race, Herbert had a pretty uneventful start, but disaster struck on lap 12. A spanner from one of his engineers had been left in the cockpit, and worked its way under the pedals of the Sauber C17. The rogue tool left Herbert without much control of his car, and he ended up in the gravel and out of the race.

1999 Japanese Grand Prix: What’s the point?

Damon Hill, Jordan

Three years after claiming the Formula 1 crown, Damon Hill was struggling with midfield machinery and having a tough time at Jordon. This reached a head at the 1999 Japanese Grand prix, his 115th and final race in F1.

After an unexpected trip across the grass in Suzuka, Hill pulled into the pits for new tyres, fuel and a new nose before heading back out onto the track. Five laps later, he returned to the pits and climbed out of his car. After exiting the race, he said there was “was too little to gain and too much to lose in carrying on”. After this, he walked away from the championship for good.

2018 Australian Grand Prix: Litter bug

Sergey Sirotkin, Williams FW41

Formula 1 cars are highly-strung machines that require optimum conditions to perform at their best, meaning they can be unstuck by everything from gravel to sandwich bags. Yes, that’s right, a plastic sandwich bag was the downfall of Williams in 2018.

At the season-opener in Australia, Russian racer Sergey Sirotkin qualified 19th for his F1 debut. However, his race was cut short as a sandwich bag got stuck in his brake duct after just a handful of laps. The sandwich wrapper caused his brakes to overheat and fail, which forced the Russian out of the race after four laps.

2021 Monaco Grand Prix: Oh nuts

Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes W12, makes a pit stop

By the 2020s, Formula 1 cars had got incredibly reliable and mechanical retirements were becoming few and far between. As such, it wasn’t a car failure that led Valtteri Bottas to retire from the Monaco Grand Prix, and rather a catastrophic collapse of a wheel nut.

When the Finn peeled into the pits from second place, he was expecting a beautifully-choreographed stop from his team. However, the wheel gun stripped the thread from the nut holding on his front right rim, and the team had no way of removing it. Try as they might, the wheel didn’t come off – and it wasn’t removed until the car was shipped back to the factory in Brackley long after Bottas was forced to retire from the race.

2022 Australian Grand Prix: Budget parts

Fernando Alonso, Alpine

Carbon fibre, titanium, gold leaf. These are the kinds of exotic, expensive materials that we’re familiar with in Formula 1. However, sometimes it’s the simplest, most humble components that can bring down a multi-million-dollar race car.

Case in point, when Fernando Alonso retired from the 2022 Australian Grand Prix, he blamed the exit on a failed seal, which would have cost pennies to replace. At the time, team boss Otmar Szafnauer confirmed that a failed o-ring seal led to an oil leak, which caused a drop in oil pressure and an engine failure.

2025 Italian Grand Prix: This rocks

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing

Hulkenberg isn’t the only driver to be forced out of a race due to rogue chunks of gravel flying through the air, as Alonso was another driver to fall foul of a rock strike.

In the 2025 Italian Grand Prix, when driving for Aston Martin, Alonso’s AMR25 was struck by rocks kicked up by an incident on the first lap of the Monza race. The Spaniard initially carried on, but the impact weakened the front suspension of his race car. Eventually, on lap 24, he was forced out of the race as the damage from the rocks was found to be terminal.

2026 Barcelona Grand Prix: Lights, Camera, Action

Alexander Albon, Williams

Another freak accident at the 2026 Barcelona Grand Prix hit Williams racer Alex Albon. The Thai driver had a rough weekend, struggling through practice and failing to make it out of Q1 in qualifying. His race was then hampered when the on-board camera mounted to the top of his FW48 worked loose during the race and he was forced into the pits.

When asked about the incident by F1TV, Albon responded: “I think it was one of your cameras. We boxed. Honestly, we used that opportunity to test. We were out of the race anyway, so lucky for you it didn’t change too much.” 

The only 'fair' - or not really - way to fix F1's Monaco GP mess

F1 reports 35% CO2 reduction ahead of 2030 net-zero target

Top 10 F1 drivers of the 1980s

To read more Motorsport.com articles visit our website.

Yeovil Town have signed centre-back Jack Kingdon on a one-year deal following his departure from Cardiff City this summer.

The 20-year-old, who was formerly part of Manchester United's academy, made three appearances for the Bluebirds during last season's EFL Trophy and has also had a spell on loan at Rochdale.

The Jacksonville Jaguars announced that they have signed long-snapper Ross Matiscik to a contract extension. So let's hand out a grade for this deal.

Matiscik has been with the Jaguars since 2020, when he signed as a UDFA out of Baylor. Since 2023, he has made the Pro Bowl all three seasons and was named a first-team All-Pro in 2023 and 2025, along with being a second-team All-Pro in 2024.

Matiscik's new contract adds two years to his current contract, which was set to expire after the 2026 season. However, he is now under contract through 2028.

According to reports, Matiscik will earn $3.8 million in new money, making him the highest-paid long-snapper in the NFL.

Grading Ross Matiscik contract extension with Jaguars

This decision by GM James Gladstone was likely an easy one to make. To go along with his accolades, Matiscik finished last season third in special teams tackles, according to the Jaguars' team site, and he also sets the table for punter Logan Cooke and kicker Cam Little, and the success those two have had.

"Matiscik has snapped for P Logan Cooke to achieve a 43.0-yard net punting average in 2025, the fourth best mark in the AFC, and for K Cam Little's franchise-record 140 points scored, fifth most in the NFL this season," said the Jaguars in a statement.

And while Matiscik is the highest-paid long-snapper in football, in the grand scheme of the NFL salary cap, he still accounts for a relatively small amount of what the Jaguars have to spend, but provides an immense amount of stability.

This move also keeps the Jaguars' stellar special teams trio together for the next few seasons.

Grade: A

This article originally appeared on Jaguars Wire: Jaguars sign Ross Matiscik to contract extension: Grading the deal

Fans who were hoping for a Shinnecock Hills on the edge are going to be disappointed in the U.S. Golf Association's announcement Wednesday during its pre-tournament press conference ahead of the U.S. Open.

Chief Championships Officer John Bodenhamer said the USGA is planning to syringe greens between waves Thursday and Friday. Syringing greens means putting a light layer of water down, allowing it to hydrate the grass leaf blade and prevent wilt, preserve turf health and reduce stress on the poa annua putting surfaces.

The goal is to offer a more consistent presentation for players in both waves and preserve the health of the greens going into the weekend at Shinnecock.

In addition, due to forecasted winds, the USGA plans to have the greens rolling in the mid 10s on the stimpmeter, down from the 11½ to 12 that was originally planned.

Bodenhamer said they're allowing for more time between the morning and afternoon wave for crews to go to each green and syringe them with water. He said it will not impact playability of the greens and compared it to the misters lightly spraying lettuce in a grocery store.

The USGA has come under fire in each of the past two U.S. Opens at Shinnecock for "losing" the golf course, aka, unfair playing conditions due to the greens being too quick, and some players claiming it was not playable.

Throughout practice rounds, crews have been syringing greens and watering the course way more than in year's past.

For fans who want a stern and tough U.S. Open test, that can be expected still this week. But the USGA is doing everything it can to ensure the golf course stays playable, and if you hear the term "syringing the greens" this week, now you know what it means.

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: USGA plans to syringe greens during US Open 2026 at Shinnecock

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NCAA. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Nebraska fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

So with one of the wildest springs in Huskers sports history behind us, volleyball and football are returning to the forefront of fans’ attention as both are starting to hit some recruiting commitment jackpots.

And Husker volleyball’s 2023 class have suddenly become seniors.

They’ve accomplished quite a bit while becoming fan favorites, but the goal they covet most has eluded them. Harper’s three straight didn’t come to pass, but they have one more shot at a national title this fall.

Will this special senior class take home Nebraska’s first since 2017? – Andy Ketterson

Aaron Judge is hurt again. The slugger has a broken rib that has sidelined him for about another month. 

While fans are waiting for the New York Yankees superstar to return to the lineup, many collectors are wondering if his latest injury will affect the value of his cards. 

The good news is there is already a blueprint in place on how injuries affect the card values of a generational talent.

Look at Shohei Ohtani.

Ohtani has done amazing things on the field, hitting home runs with ease and stealing bases to become the first 50/50 player, all the while pitching in between.

But he’s been hurt — seriously — at times in his career. 

Ohtani has had Tommy John surgery twice. And yet, the four-time MVP is still one of the most collectible and valuable baseball players in the card market.

Ohtani’s cards did see slight dips in 2018 and 2023, when he had his surgeries. According to Card Ladder, his index dropped from around 1,000 and stayed low (for him) until about 2021.

In 2021, he led the league at the All-Star break in home runs, was a contender for the Cy Young and earned his first All-Star selection. Ohtani finished with 46 home runs and won his first of four MVP awards.

But after his second Tommy John surgery, Ohtani’s card index did drop slightly again — going from almost 5,000 to a low of 4,091.

It’s only skyrocketed since, with Ohtani’s current Card Ladder Index sitting at 37,597.

That brings us to Judge, a three-time MVP and the American League home run record holder. He has also led the league in WAR in three of the last four seasons. 

And he's had just as many injuries as Ohtani, but hasn’t had to miss as much time. 

If you’re worried about Judge’s card values, you don’t have to. Ohtani’s card values have shown the path Judge’s will likely take. 

Judge cards may take a dip while he’s on the IL, but once he’s back, collectors should expect his cards to see another bump.

And if Judge could ever get a ring? 

There’s no telling how high his card values will get. 

Phillies receive bleak trade odds for Cubs' .814 OPS outfielder originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Philadelphia Phillies are already exploring the outfield trade market, and there are a few names consistently popping up as possible options.

Following the Adolis Garcia injury, the Phillies' links to these outfielders, specifically right-handed hitters, have grown. Jo Adell and Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels, Byron Buxton of the Minnesota Twins, and others have been mentioned as trade targets.

Recently, the Chicago Cubs $85 million outfielder Seiya Suzuki was tabbed as a potential Phillies trade target. But, ESPN's Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel gave the Phillies some bleak odds to trade for Suzuki at this year's deadline.

Phillies receive bleak Seiya Suzuki trade odds

"Seiya Suzuki, OF, Chicago Cubs. Chance of being traded: 15%," Passan and McDaniel write. "Best fits: Rays, Mariners, Marlins, Padres, Phillies, Yankees, Diamondbacks, Cardinals."

With the Phillies desperately needing right-handed hitting outfield help at this year's trade deadline, Suzuki would be one of the best options they could have if he's available.

The only issue is that the Cubs are looking for starting pitching, which the Phillies don't have in abundance right now. But the Cubs might also not trade Suzuki this summer.

MORE: Phillies extending Cristopher Sanchez to his $107 million deal was genius

There's only a 15% chance that Suzuki is traded, according to ESPN, which isn't a high figure at all. It's a bleak outlook for the Phillies, especially with an outfielder who would be a nice replacement for the injured Garcia.

This season, Suzuki has a .775 OPS, a .256 batting average, and a 122 OPS+. Those are all a little below his career averages (.814 OPS, .267 average, 128 OPS+), but they would be a significant upgrade for the Phillies' outfield.

Philadelphia is likely going to have to explore other outfield options this summer, as the odds of Suzuki being dealt by the August 3 trade deadline are small.

More MLB news:

• 5 reasons to believe in Jordan Walker's breakout for Cardinals
• Ex-MLB GM projects White Sox to sell at trade deadline despite 2026 success
• Tarik Skubal being traded by Tigers would help him in free agency
• Cubs’ cost to trade for Tarik Skubal from Tigers revealed by ex-MLB GM
• Yankees’ Ryan McMahon problem has a $25 million release solution

Arthur Fery has ascended to such unexpected heights at Queen’s Club that he literally suffered a nosebleed on court.

The 23-year-old British wildcard, making his debut at the HSBC Championships, overcame French veteran Adrian Mannarino in straight sets to secure a place in the quarter-finals.

Having just clinched the opening set after a tense tie-break, Fery was forced to call for a trainer as his nose began to bleed.

However, the British number five quickly shrugged off the issue, returning to win 7-6 (7) 6-4 and march into the last eight of the prestigious tournament. Following his victory, Fery playfully referenced the World Cup by scrawling “It’s Coming Home” on a camera lens.

"It’s so special to be playing tennis back home in London where I grew up, it’s unbelievable," Fery said, reflecting on his achievement.

"It’s the best result of my career. My first quarter-final in an ATP tournament. It’s not easy. There are lots of ups and downs so I’m happy to get through. I can’t put too much pressure on myself."

His progress ensures British representation in the quarter-finals, a prospect that seemed unlikely after Jack Draper’s withdrawal and Cameron Norrie’s first-round exit.

Earlier in the day, top seed Alex De Minaur cruised through his match against an increasingly disillusioned Denis Shapovalov. His 6-4 6-1 victory took a mere 63 minutes, with the Canadian seemingly having mentally checked out long before the end, sealing his fate with a meek double-fault on match point.

De Minaur, often dubbed an ‘honorary Brit’ during the latter stages of Wimbledon due to his engagement to British number two Katie Boulter, drew motivation from her recent success.

Boulter’s run to the semi-finals at the WTA event on the same court last week has clearly spurred him on.

"It’s amazing, it brings out the best in each other, we both have that competitive edge and it’s healthy competition," he commented. "I have to do my best to at least match her performance or otherwise I’ll never hear the end of it. That’s my drive and my motivation."

A deep run here and at Wimbledon could elevate De Minaur into the world’s top five, a feat no Australian man has achieved since Lleyton Hewitt two decades ago.

"I’m in a good spot right now, but I still have a lot of hunger and determination," he added. "Hopefully by the end of this grass-court swing I can touch a new career high."

De Minaur is set to face American world number 32 Brandon Nakashima in the quarter-finals.

The Minnesota Vikings could be starting their fourth different quarterback in week one in the last four seasons, as newly acquired Kyler Murray appears to be the leader in the clubhouse for the starting job. J.J. McCarthy struggled with performance and staying on the field in 2025, and with a roster ready to compete, Minnesota brought in competition and a likely upgrade.

However, according to Jordan Reid of ESPN, the Minnesota Vikings are a sleeper team to watch in the 2027 NFL Draft in terms of who could draft a quarterback early. While many believe Murray could be facing a career resurgence in this new offense, the opposite may be true.

Sam Darnold found success, but it doesn't guarantee Murray will.

Should Murray struggle in 2026, even if McCarthy is still on the roster or played decently in starts, Minnesota would be smart to at least take a look at a quarterback. For all accounts, there could be up to seven quarterbacks taken in round one in 2027, and Minnesota could be one of those seven teams taking a shot on a new, franchise quarterback.

This article originally appeared on Vikings Wire: ESPN's Jordan Reid includes the Vikings on QB needy list for 2027

Summer is here, and it is everyone’s favorite time of the year, scouting time. Every year, we do Summer Scouting to preview college football for Bucs fans and give them names to follow and watch in the fall as needs pop up for Tampa Bay.

Are we going to write about quarterbacks? Offensive tackles? Edge rushers? You know it, but why? Because other NFL teams will draft them, just as they will draft every other position. It all matters whether these players end up on the Bucs, the Bears, or the Steelers. We write these to keep Bucs fans as informed as possible.

So if you are still with us, enjoy our latest Summer Scouting report on Liona Lefau, Linebacker, Colorado as we prepare you for the Fall.

Background Information

• Senior
• Linebacker
• Colorado Buffaloes
• Kahuku, Hawaii native
• Kahuku High School alumnus
• Transfer from Texas
• 6-foot-1, 230 pounds
• Former four-star recruit
• No. 7 ranked linebacker in the transfer portal according to 247Sports (January 2026)
• Appeared in 42 career games with 22 starts at Texas
• Two-time Hawaii state champion in high school
• 2022 Hawaii Defensive Player of the Year
• 2022 Marcus Mariota Award winner

Notable Career Stats Heading Into 2026

• 139 career tackles
• 68 solo tackles
• 8 tackles for loss
• 3 sacks
• 6 pass breakups
• 1 interception
• 1 forced fumble
• 1 fumble recovery
• 42 career games played
• 22 career starts
• 69 tackles during the 2025 season
• Returned a fumble 52 yards for a touchdown against Arkansas in 2025

Notable Numbers From PFF Heading Into 2026

• 12.5% missed tackle rate in 2025
• 11.0% missed tackle rate in 2024
• Allowed a 77.8% catch rate in coverage during 2025
• Allowed 14.2 yards per reception in coverage during 2025
• Allowed a 137.3 NFL passer rating when targeted in 2025
• Generated a 14.7% pressure rate on pass-rush opportunities in 2025
• Improved his run-defense grade from 64.9 in 2024 to 76.4 in 2025

Strengths

• Extensive college experience
• Productive SEC linebacker
• Effective strike-and-shed technique
• Uses swim moves well to disengage from blockers
• Consistently works free from second-level blockers
• Good hand usage at the point of attack
• Sound pre-snap linebacker stance
• Disciplined run fits
• Reliable pursuit effort
• Generally puts himself in position to make plays
• Experienced communicator before the snap
• Comfortable working through traffic
• Solid run-defense foundation
• Consistently around the football

Weaknesses

• Coverage production remains a major concern
• Clunky change-of-direction ability
• Can appear indecisive after diagnosing plays
• Average reaction speed to RPO concepts
• Pops upright after the snap
• Loses leverage when rising out of his stance
• Limited finishing ability at the point of attack
• Rotational usage throughout portions of his Texas career
• Lacks a standout NFL trait
• Does not consistently create splash plays
• Projects more comfortably against the run than in coverage

Player Summary

Liona Lefau enters the 2026 season at an interesting crossroads in his football career. After spending three seasons at Texas and appearing in 42 games, he transferred to Colorado in search of a larger opportunity and a chance to elevate his NFL Draft stock. The move comes after playing alongside future NFL talent in Austin, including Anthony Hill Jr., where Lefau often shared responsibilities within a deep linebacker room.

The film reveals a linebacker whose best traits show up against the run. Lefau consistently displayed good hand usage when working through second-level blockers, utilizing swim moves and disengagement techniques to keep himself clean. He generally plays with sound run-fit discipline and routinely places himself in a position to contribute to stops near the football.

His evaluation becomes more complicated in coverage. While Lefau possesses adequate lateral movement skills, his transitions can appear clunky when changing direction. He also showed a tendency to rise out of his stance after the snap, which can impact both his leverage and ability to redirect quickly. Combined with modest coverage metrics, those traits raise questions about his long-term three-down value at the next level.

Colorado presents an opportunity for Lefau to change the narrative. Increased responsibility and a larger role could allow him to showcase leadership qualities and improve his overall production. Entering the season, however, he projects as a run-first linebacker whose NFL future likely depends on proving he can become more decisive, more impactful, and more reliable in coverage.

This article originally appeared on Bucs Wire: 2027 NFL Draft Summer Scouting Report on Colorado's Liona Lefau

Austin Reaves will decline his $14.9 million player option for the 2026-27 season and enter unrestricted free agency as one of the top players on the market this summer. Declining his player option was always going to be a formality since Reaves has put himself in a position to earn a projected salary of over $40 million per season. Reaves can sign for up to a five-year, projected $239 million deal with the Lakers or a four-year, $177 million deal with another team.

HoopsHype

This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: Austin Reaves to decline player option, is projected to earn $40 million annually in free agency

Atlanta hopes to retain CJ McCollum, league sources told HoopsHype. Meanwhile, the Hawks are figuring out what to do with their $24.3 million team option decision on Jonathan Kuminga and whether to retain him or gauge the trade market on him. More on that later in this story. For now, the chances of the Hawks being considered a real player in the sweepstakes for Reaves are considered low.

HoopsHype

This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: Hawks hope to re-sign CJ McCollum

Detroit executive Trajan Langdon publicly expressed his desire to retain forward Tobias Harris, who was the team’s second-leading scorer in the playoffs. The Pistons will also work with Jalen Duren on a new deal amid his restricted free agency. In addition, a Reaves pursuit would require more acrobatics than Simone Biles in the Olympics. Detroit would have to pick up the $4 million team option on Daniss Jenkins, renounce cap holds on Harris, Kevin Huerter, and Malik Beasley, waive Duncan Robinson, likely trade Caris LeVert and one of Paul Reed or Marcus Sasser, and decline Tolu Smith’s $2.4 million team option to be able to offer Reaves a max contract, as outlined by salary cap expert Yossi Gozlan.

HoopsHype

This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: Pistons want to bring back Tobias Harris

Today, U.S. Soccer announced that they will host a free beach soccer doubleheader featuring the U.S. Men’s and Women’s Beach Soccer National Teams against Trinidad & Tobago on Venice Beach sands.

“Playing on home sand in Venice Beach is a special opportunity for our players and will be historic for this team,” said U.S. Beach WNT head coach Morgan Church. “We’re excited to bring together a talented roster that represents the growth and competitiveness of Beach Soccer in the United States. We are thrilled to be tied into all the U.S. Soccer fan activity in Los Angeles around the World Cup before showcasing our discipline of the sport with an entertaining match for Beach Soccer fans on Sunday.”

“We are all very excited about the chance to play at home in front of our fans in a U.S. Soccer event,” said U.S. Beach MNT head coach Marcelo Mendes. “Opportunities like this are fantastic exposure for our game and we’re grateful to Volkswagen and the U.S. Soccer Federation for giving us this spotlight. We look forward to a strong few days of training as we continuing building towards World Cup qualification next year.”

On Sunday, June 21, the doubleheader will take place with stars participating including: two-time Beach Soccer Player of the Year Hannah Adler, captain and caps leader Jeané Sunseri-Warp, all-time caps leader Alessandro Canale, and 2024 Beach Soccer Player of the Year Antonio Chavez.

U.S. WOMEN’S BEACH SOCCER NATIONAL TEAM ROSTER (Club; Hometown; Caps/Goals):

3-Hannah Adler (Cali BSC; Santa Barbara, Calif.; 24/25)
17-Grace Bailey (Cruzn BSC; Santa Cruz, Calif.; 2/0)

1-Gabriella Batmani (Cali BSC; San Jose, Calif.; 24/1) – GK

10-Ali Hall (NMD Beach; Chicago, Ill.; 27/14)

7-Lauren Leslie (Cali BSC; San Clemente, Calif.; 22/16)

9-Kilee Quigley (Cali BSC; Salt Lake City, Utah; 28/18)

8-Tori Phillips (Cruzn BSC; San Clemente, Calif.; 9/5)

6–Jeané Sunseri-Warp (Cali BSC; San Jose, Calif.; 39/12)

4-Vanessa Valentine (Cali BSC; San Diego, Calif.; 24/9)

11-Marissa Vasquez (NMD Beach; Diamond Bar, Calif.; 12/4)

U.S. MEN’S BEACH SOCCER NATIONAL TEAM ROSTER (Club; Hometown; Caps/Goals):

2-Tanner Akol (Cruzn BSC; Santa Cruz, Calif.; 41/23)

9-Alessandro Canale (Unattached; Venice Beach, Calif.; 107/76)

4-Ricardo Carvalho (Milwaukee Wave/MASL; Milwaukee, Wisc.; 21/9)

3-Antonio Chavez (SoCal BSC; Oceanside, Calif.; 55/15)

1-Austin Collier (BSVB; Chesapeake, Va.; 25/1) – GK

8-Sasha Karlov (BSVB; Suffolk, Va.; 6/1)

5-Nico Perea (Club Futbol Playa Miami; Hollywood, Fla.; 46/23)

7-Nick Perera (San Diego Sockers/MASL; Carlsbad, Calif.; 94/114)

12-Brian Shushkovsky (Hollywood FL BSC; Morganville, N.J.; 9/1) – GK

10-Gabe Silveira (Ocean BSC; San Francisco, Calif.; 65/49)

Dru Star: “I know the Bucks don't love the Miami deal. But it appears to be the best deal. Boston I'm hearing would love to sneak in & get him. That might mean moving Jaylen to another place. I know Jaylen wouldn't want to play for Milwaukee.” @MarcJSpears

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This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: Jaylen Brown doesn't want to play for Milwaukee?

Dru Star: “Yeah, I don't think the Celtics are all in. I think they've kicked the tires on this deal to see what it would take to get Giannis. But the Celtics are not dangling Jaylen Brown...I think Miami is going to be the team. They've just got to figure out a package.” - @GwashburnGlobe

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This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: “Yeah, I don't think the Celtics are all in. I think …

Art Cummings: The Utah Jazz are looking at Cam Boozer hard per Tim MacMahon via the Hoop Collective Podcast. He mentioned that Cam Boozer and Jaren Jackson Jr are a potential great complimentary duo in the future. Cam’s elite rebounding helps JJJ and JJJ’s elite rim protection helps Cam.

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This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: Jazz looking hard at Cameron Boozer with No. 2 pick, like his fit with Jaren Jackson Jr.

MSI is fully supporting HUDIMM technology on its Intel DDR5 motherboards MSI has confirmed that it has completed a “comprehensive rollout” of BIOS updates to enable DDR5 HUDIMM module support across its Intel 600, 700, and 800 series motherboards. This has enabled HUDIMM support with Alder Lake, Raptor Lake, and Arrow Lake series CPUs. DDR5 […]

The post MSI adds HUDIMM DDR5 memory support to its Intel 600-800 series motherboards appeared first on OC3D.

There's been a lot of talk recently about RAM prices going through the roof because of AI data centers gobbling up the entire supply, yet OnePlus doesn't seem to have gotten the memo. The company has just started offering the 15R with more memory than before, in India only for now. [#InlinePriceWidget,14358,1#] The phone launched last year with 12GB of RAM, and you can still get it with that amount of memory with either 256GB or 512GB of storage. But now there's a third option too, which pairs 16GB of RAM with 512GB of storage for INR 61,999 (approximately $657 at the current exchange...

AI referrals to U.S. travel sites nearly tripled in May. AI visitors spent more time on site and bounced less than visitors from traditional sources, according to Adobe.

By the numbers. Traffic from AI sources to U.S. travel sites grew 194% year over year in May 2026, Adobe said. It was up 2,215% since October 2024, when Adobe began tracking AI traffic.

• AI-assisted travel planning has expanded beyond early research. Travelers use large language models to compare destinations, evaluate hotel amenities, build itineraries, find promotions, and book trips.

AI visitors showed stronger engagement. AI-referred travel visitors still converted 28% less than non-AI traffic. That gap has actually narrowed nearly 70% since October 2024, Adobe said.

• Engagement metrics were stronger. AI-referred travelers were 21% more engaged than non-AI visitors, spent 70% longer per visit, and had bounce rates 41% lower.
• Adobe said those engagement patterns suggest more purposeful, high-intent behavior, though AI-referred travel visitors still converted at lower rates.

Travel pages and AI readability. Adobe also measured how readable travel websites are to large language models. Its AI Content Visibility Checker scores how much page content AI systems can read.

• Hotels and car rentals led the travel sector. Hotel homepages scored 63% readability, while car rental homepages scored 59%. Product pages scored higher: 73% for hotels and 71% for car rentals.
• Even so, more than one-third of content on some leading travel pages remained unreadable to AI systems, Adobe said.

Where travel sites scored best. Hotels led across several page types, including destination guides, activities, search results, customer service, and promotions pages.

• Car rentals led FAQ pages. Cruises led blog and news content. Airlines trailed the leading travel sectors across every page type Adobe measured.
• The pattern favored pages with rich, structured information. Property details, amenities, vehicle descriptions, and core offerings gave AI systems more content to parse.

Retail’s conversion advantage. AI referrals to U.S. retail sites also hit a record high in May, rising 138% year over year and 1,324% since October 2024.

• Retail AI traffic has progressed further on conversion. Adobe said AI-referred retail visitors converted 54% better than non-AI traffic, reversing last year’s pattern, when AI conversion rates were nearly half as high.
• Cosmetics and electronics led retail readability, aided by ingredient lists, tutorials, product specifications, how-to guides, and customer service content. Grocery and furniture lagged.

Why we care. Adobe’s data suggests AI referrals are becoming more commercially valuable, especially in retail, while its visibility scores indicate many sites still leave significant content inaccessible to AI systems. If key content is blocked, buried, or poorly structured, you may lose visibility before a traveler or shopper reaches your site.

About the data. Adobe’s findings were based on more than 8 million visits to U.S. travel sites, more than 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail sites, and more than 100 million SKUs. The company also surveyed more than 5,000 U.S. consumers in March about how they use AI for shopping and travel planning.

AI search is changing at a pace none of us has experienced before in marketing.

The presentations I saw at Zero Click NY highlighted both how much AI search has changed over the past six months and the characteristics that may become lasting features of the landscape.

Of all the points covered, these seven stood out as the most important.

From the rise of the marketing engineer, to the differences between Claude and ChatGPT results, to Claude’s meteoric rise among businesses over the past 12 months, here are the most impactful takeaways I left with.

1. Every AI relies on different content

ChatGPT and Claude share only about 8% of their citations, per Profound data. Put differently, 92% of what ChatGPT cites wouldn’t be cited by Claude for the same query. A brand can own visibility in one engine and be virtually invisible in the other. 

On top of that, they don’t just cite different websites. They prefer different kinds of content. 

• ChatGPT indexes heavily on community content: Reddit, Quora, and forums make up roughly 16% of its citations. 
• Claude sits at less than 1%. Claude, by contrast, loves listicles (36% of citations vs. ChatGPT’s ~20%) and opinion content (13.2% vs. 7.2%).

The relationship to traditional search splits the same way. About 64% of the websites Claude cites also appear in Google’s top 50 for the same query. For ChatGPT, it’s only 37%.

In other words, “just do the SEO work you’ve been doing” might work for Claude visibility, but likely won’t for ChatGPT.

Takeaway: It’s critical to communicate to stakeholders that “AI visibility” will inevitably vary by LLM, and you’ll have to prioritize them depending on whom you’re trying to reach (more on that later).

Track visibility by engine because the work that wins in one might do almost nothing in another. UGC and community seeding move ChatGPT, while listicles and traditional rankings move the needle on Claude.

2. Claude is quietly winning B2B — so sequence your optimization by audience

If you’ve seen the generative AI traffic-share charts, Claude looks like a rounding error.

But web traffic is the wrong chart. Roughly 85% of Anthropic’s revenue comes from enterprise and API usage that never shows up in consumer traffic data.

The right chart comes from Ramp’s AI Index, which tracks corporate card spend across tens of thousands of businesses.

A year ago, single digits of those businesses were paying for Anthropic. Today, it’s 34.4% — ahead of OpenAI at 32.3%. For the first time, more businesses pay Anthropic than OpenAI.

I came away from this presentation asking myself: If business users are increasingly living in Claude while consumers live in ChatGPT, shouldn’t your optimization priorities focus on where your audience is?

Should B2B brands prioritize Claude visibility first? Should B2C brands prioritize ChatGPT first?

Almost nobody is doing this because people aren’t really thinking about who uses ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude. That will likely change.

3. ChatGPT ads are here, and this is what we’re seeing

The moment is here: Your competitors are buying visibility through ChatGPT ads. ChatGPT ads are live and self-serve, sitting directly inside the chat product.

The same two weeks brought GPT 5.5, citation chips turning into clickable hyperlinks (referral traffic jumped roughly 60% overnight, with homepage referral share leaping from roughly 3.5% to 24%), and Google moving AI Mode into its main search box.

None of that was an accident. The hyperlinks are the click-tracking rails an ads business needs. The analysis of more than 100,000 ad placements surfaced three things everyone should internalize.

ChatGPT Ads match on topic

Ads match on topic similarity, not intent. Only 14% of real user prompts carry commercial intent, but 20% of prompts trigger ads — a math problem can serve an ad.

The embedding analysis found that ad titles and descriptions are the single biggest drivers of which conversations you show up in. Your title and description are now targeting parameters, not just creative.

Paying for ads

“Pay-to-play” is here. About one in five ad placements appears against a mention of a direct competitor, and the brand mentioned organically shows up as the advertiser only about 8% of the time.

Someone else is twice as likely to be the advertiser on your organic mention as you are.

Startup CRM Adia is already placing ads against prompts where Salesforce appears, and Salesforce is playing defense, showing paid placements 40% of the time, even when it’s already mentioned organically.

Ad inventory is scarce and expensive

ChatGPT shows roughly one ad per conversation, the median conversation is three turns, only 30% of eligible users see ads at all, and CPMs/CPCs are running around four times Meta’s.

Expect that to change in predictable ways: more ad slots per answer, ads deeper into conversations, and follow-up suggestions engineered to create more turns, which means more inventory.

The lesson: Organic AEO and paid defense are now the same job. If you’re tracking your brand’s organic citations but not who’s advertising against them, you’re seeing half the board.

4. Claude is the most directly optimizable AI right now

When Claude searches the web, it pulls from Brave. Not “influenced by” Brave. According to the talk I saw, it pulls directly from it.

In Profound’s latest testing, 79.2% of Claude’s citations came directly from Brave’s top 10 results for the equivalent search.

There’s no meaningful reshuffling or reranking. No other model trusts its search provider to anything like this.

That makes Claude the most directly optimizable model in AI search: a visible index, a checkable ranking, and (as we’ll see next) predictable retrieval behavior.

If takeaway 2 convinced you that Claude matters for B2B, this is the playbook: Figure out where you rank on Brave for your key prompts and treat that as your Claude visibility roadmap.

A window this transparent doesn’t stay open. Optimize for it while it exists.

Dig deeper. Claude visibility may depend heavily on Brave Search rankings, new data suggests

5. Claude only performs web searches a third of the time

There’s a catch, and it’s a big one. ChatGPT triggers web search on roughly 95% of prompts. Claude searches only about a third of the time — likely because every search costs money (Brave’s public API pricing runs around $5 per thousand searches), so Claude has a real financial incentive to answer from its weights.

You can only optimize Claude when it actually retrieves.

The good news is that its search behavior is predictable. Recency-framed prompts (“best X in 2026”) trigger search about 81% of the time.

Ranking-oriented prompts (“top 10…”) trigger it 67% of the time, location-dependent prompts 55%, and comparisons 51%.

Definitional and procedural prompts — “what is a CRM?” and “how do I…” — mostly don’t trigger search at all, which makes them nearly worthless optimization targets for Claude.

The lesson: Before you invest in Claude visibility for a prompt category, test whether Claude actually searches for it.

Recency, rankings, locations, and comparisons are the surface areas where Brave rankings translate into Claude citations.

Everything else is answered from memory you can’t touch.

6. Query fan-out: A raffle on one stage, near-deterministic on another

Two speakers described the same mechanism in almost opposite terms, and the tension between them is instructive.

Query fan-out is the set of synthetic queries an AI engine runs in the background to gather content before generating an answer.

Mike King of iPullRank framed it as a raffle: You can’t see or control the fan-out, so the job is to maximize your raffle tickets — more surface area across owned, earned, and shared properties, and, crucially, the right content formats.

Even if you rank for a fanned-out query, the wrong format makes you ineligible.

His research points to new measures of what wins retrieval — content-to-query cosine similarity and information gain both correlate strongly with AI search performance.

Josh Blyskal of Profound’s data tells a different story for Claude specifically: Its fan-outs are near-deterministic.

The same prompt produces the same fan-out string about 65% of the time, and 94% of Claude’s fan-outs are stamped with the current year (ChatGPT does this only 17% of the time).

ChatGPT’s fan-outs churn constantly. Claude barely moves. Both views may be right — for different engines.

Where fan-outs are stable, as in Claude, you can read them and build content targeted directly at them. The year-stamping behavior alone argues for putting the current year in your titles.

Where fan-outs are volatile, as in ChatGPT, King’s raffle logic applies: Buy more tickets through formats and surface area.

One mechanism, two strategies, chosen per engine. Which, again, may require you to prioritize one over the other.

7. The marketing engineer is here, and agents are the new workforce

It would be easy to dismiss “marketing engineer” as a vendor-manufactured job title. The hiring market says otherwise.

Google has hired its first marketing engineer. Figma posted the role at a $295,000 base salary. RBC and Autodesk have made hires.

It became a breakout search term on Google, and Google’s own AI marketing lead called marketing engineers “the hire for 2026.”

Who is the ideal candidate to become a marketing engineer? Is this a role where you start with an engineer and teach them marketing, or vice versa?

The emerging consensus profile is a marketer first — someone with channel experience and taste — who builds and maintains AI systems, reports to the head of marketing, and unblocks the rest of the team. A marketer who ships systems end to end.

The underlying logic is that most marketing work decomposes into pipelines: extract data, transform it, and load it somewhere useful. Agents can now run those pipelines on a loop.

• Monitoring competitor pricing and auto-generating sales battle cards.
• Watching landing pages and AEO presence on a schedule and staging A/B tests.
• Pulling objection themes out of 800 sales calls and drafting content to address each one.

Tasks that used to be “we’ll get to it someday” projects become an afternoon of agent building. The constraint stops being headcount and becomes creativity.

If your team doesn’t have someone in this role yet, there’s a good chance it will eventually.

The job now: Figuring out how this all works

There still is no clear playbook for AI search. When that playbook does emerge, however, the first step may be to prioritize one LLM over another based on who you want to find you.

And in many cases, that “who” is going to be an agent. At the same time, we’ll have agents assisting us in the work we’re doing, and the demand for people who can engineer these systems will continue to grow.

Google is removing a layer of advertiser control over Customer Match audience classification, automatically assigning customer types to conversion-based lists starting in August 2026.

Advertisers will no longer be able to leave eligible lists unclassified.

What’s changing. Beginning in August 2026, Google Ads will automatically assign conversion-based customer lists to one of several customer types, including:

• Existing customers
• New customers
• Other customer segments

Google is encouraging advertisers to review and update their audience classifications in Audience Manager before the change takes effect.

Why Google is making the change. The move appears aimed at improving audience consistency across Google’s growing suite of customer acquisition and retention tools.

By standardizing customer lifecycle classifications, Google can more accurately distinguish between prospecting and retention audiences, helping automated bidding and targeting systems make better optimization decisions.

Why we care. For advertisers using customer acquisition goals, new customer bidding, or retention-focused strategies, the accuracy of customer classifications could have a direct impact on campaign performance.

Misclassified audiences could affect how Google’s systems evaluate and optimize users throughout the customer lifecycle.

What advertisers should do. Advertisers using Customer Match lists derived from conversion data should use audience manager to audit their audiences before August.

Key questions include:

• Are customer lists currently categorized correctly?
• Which lists represent existing customers versus acquisition audiences?
• Will automatic classification align with internal customer definitions?

Reviewing audience settings now may help avoid unexpected changes once Google’s classifications become mandatory.

The bottom line. Google is taking a more active role in audience management, automatically assigning customer lifecycle labels to conversion-based customer lists and further standardizing the signals that power its automated advertising systems.

First spotted. This update was spotted by Google Ads expert Bia Camargo, who shared seeing the alert on LinkedIn.

A year ago, 82% of consumers said AI-powered search was more helpful than traditional search. By 2026, that number had dropped to 54%, a 28-point decline in sentiment over 12 months.

Consumers aren’t giving up on AI search, though. Seventy percent say they’re using AI tools for search more than they did last year.

How should search marketers adapt their GEO strategies? Where are we going wrong as we bring AI deeper into our workflows?

To find out, Fractl partnered with Search Engine Land to expand our 2025 research, surveying 1,008 U.S. consumers and 150 marketers to compare how consumer trust, marketer adoption, and brand strategy are evolving in the age of AI. (Disclosure: I’m the co-founder of Fractl.)

Here’s what the data means for your 2026 search strategy.

Consumers are using AI more and trusting it less

1. Usage is saturated. The growth story is over.

Seventy percent of consumers report increased use of AI tools for search over the past year. Just 3% say it’s decreased.

Surprisingly, baby boomers now find AI more helpful than Gen Z, 63% to 47%. That challenges the assumption that younger users automatically love AI and older generations are lagging behind. In reality, early adopters are signaling that while usage may be rising, trust still has to be earned.

That matters because the remaining competitive battle isn’t about adoption. It’s about trust, quality, and which brands consumers find credible when AI surfaces answers.

2. The trust erosion is faster than anyone projected.

In 2025, the AI skeptic camp (consumers who found AI less helpful than traditional search) represented just 3% of respondents. In 2026, that segment grew to 17%, nearly six times larger than the year before.

The 54% who still find AI helpful are mostly hedging: 37% say it’s “somewhat more helpful,” compared with 17% who say it’s “much more helpful.” Enthusiasm has declined rapidly as hallucinations have become a more widely recognized challenge.

3. AI content volume is now a brand trust liability

In 2025, 20% of consumers said heavy AI use would reduce their trust in a brand. In 2026, that number rose to 39%.

For search marketers, the implication is significant. Scaling content output with AI is no longer a neutral operational decision.

Consumers are paying attention, and a substantial portion of your audience has an opinion about it. Publishing without disclosure, or publishing at scale without clear quality signals, is now a reputational variable.

4. Gen Z sets the strictest standards

Fifty-four percent of Gen Z consumers say heavy AI use in a brand’s marketing would decrease their trust, compared with 32% of baby boomers and 33% of Gen X. Women are also more likely than men to penalize brands for heavy AI use (44% vs. 34%).

The audience most likely to engage deeply with your brand online, share your content, and drive long-term organic visibility is also the audience with the lowest tolerance for AI-generated filler. Quality isn’t optional if Gen Z matters to your brand.

5. Disclosure is no longer a nice-to-have. It’s a near-universal consumer expectation.

Across every content format, more than 80% of consumers want AI-generated content labeled. Video leads at 91%, followed by images at 90%, audio at 87%, and written content at 84%. The percentage of respondents who strongly agree exceeds 50% in every category.

This isn’t a soft preference. It’s close to a mandate, and as we’ll cover in Part 2, most brands are nowhere near meeting it.

6. Consumers believe AI will dominate search. They just don’t love what it currently delivers.

Sixty-four percent of consumers agree AI will replace traditional search engines within five years, essentially unchanged from 66% in 2025. The belief that AI will eventually dominate search remains intact, even as satisfaction scores decline.

What this tells search marketers is that the channel isn’t going away. But being present in AI results and being trusted in AI results are increasingly separate challenges. Optimize for both.

Google still leads on trust, but the map is getting more complex

7. For purchase-intent queries, Google leads AI roughly 3-to-1

When consumers are making purchase decisions, 39% turn to Google first. Reddit comes in second at 15%, just ahead of AI tools at 14%. Review sites and friends and family each come in at 11%.

The trust consumers have built in Google hasn’t automatically extended to AI. 

8. Platform preference varies by query type. Optimize accordingly.

Google dominates five of six major search categories. For local businesses (74%), product research (58%), travel planning (57%), and health questions (55%), it’s the default first stop. However, YouTube overtakes Google for how-to content at 50%.

ChatGPT has become the second-most-used destination for health questions at 26%. It also ranks second or third for product research (19%), travel planning (18%), and how-to content (17%).

There’s no single AI search platform to optimize for. Each query category has its own preferred platform. Map your content strategy to where your audience actually goes for each topic.

9. Consumers use 2.4 platforms before making a purchase decision 

Before making a purchase decision, the average consumer checks 2.4 platforms, and that behavior is consistent across generations: Gen Z checks 2.5, millennials 2.4, Gen X 2.3, and baby boomers 2.2.

Google remains the default authority for product recommendations, while Reddit and AI tools reinforce confidence.

In 2026, search optimization is no longer limited to page rankings. It’s built around cohesive content strategies that strengthen your entity authority while helping people learn, engage, and convert across multiple platforms.

A brand that appears in Google results but nowhere else loses to a brand that appears in Google, shows up in Reddit discussions, gets cited by ChatGPT, and has review content on third-party sites.

How AI is changing marketing operations (and where the gaps are)

10. AI integration in marketing teams has crossed the majority threshold

AI now touches 53% of marketing work on average, up from 38% in 2025. The equivalent of one full workday per week has shifted to AI-assisted workflows in 12 months. Fifty-nine percent of marketers say AI is involved in at least half their work, while 27% say it’s involved in three-quarters or more.

For SEO and content teams, this means your competitors are producing at a higher velocity. Volume advantages are increasingly commoditized. Accuracy, original insight, and brand credibility aren’t.

11. SEO and analytics teams are under the highest AI adoption pressure

We’re in an operational pressure cooker: 55% of marketing roles report a 7:10 level of pressure to adopt AI. SEO and analytics roles feel the greatest pressure, but PR sits at 5.8. As AI commoditizes generic content, the advantage shifts to what AI can’t automate: human judgment, relationships, and trust.

12. We’re buying production speed at the cost of quality

Only 26% say AI made their work faster and better. Nearly half admit it made their work faster, but more generic. Seven percent report an outright decline in quality.

This is where your competitive advantage lives. If your peers are scaling AI slop while your team invests in original data, expert quotes, and earned brand mentions, you’re building assets that make your brand more visible, credible, and retrievable across search engines, social platforms, and LLMs.

How you apply AI to your workflows will separate the brands that scale entity authority and brand visibility from those that scale slop and fade into a sea of sameness.

13. Nearly half of AI-generated content doesn’t go through governance processes

About three in four organizations conduct human editorial review before publishing AI-generated content. Sixty-two percent check for brand voice, 54% check facts, and 42% conduct a legal or compliance review. Only 27% evaluate content for bias.

Nearly half of AI-generated content is entering the market without fact-checking, legal review, or plagiarism checks. Instead, most marketers are focusing on subjective, surface-level editorial review: Does it sound right? Is the tone appropriate? Are there typos?

In a year when consumers are already primed to distrust AI slop, your brand’s AI governance process is one of the cheapest gaps to close and one of the most expensive to ignore.

Heavy, generic AI use is now a brand-trust liability. Yet only 20% of organizations always disclose AI use to their audiences. Compare that with the 84% average consumer demand for labeling, and the compliance gap is significant.

For search marketers producing content at scale with AI, this is an emerging trust and brand risk, not just an ethical concern. The takeaway isn’t to abandon AI. It’s to stop treating governance as optional. Every AI workflow needs clear checks for accuracy, transparency, and human review before content reaches your audience.

14. AI hallucinations about your brand are already a PR problem, and most teams don’t have a process to catch them

A year ago, only about 22% of marketers tracked LLM visibility. In 2026, that figure barely moved, reaching 24%.

Meanwhile, 27% of brands have already been misrepresented in AI-generated responses, and 14% say an AI inaccuracy has affected a customer relationship, sale, or PR situation.

More brands have been misrepresented by AI than have a formal monitoring process.

That should concern people. If AI is summarizing your category, comparing your product, or explaining your brand incorrectly, that’s not just an SEO issue. It’s a reputation risk, a revenue risk, and a PR issue waiting to become a headline.

When AI misrepresents your brand, fixing the source matters more than disputing the output. Reach out to the publisher for an update, update owned profiles, and publish a correction page tied to your brand.

Where visibility is being won and lost

15. Organic traffic is under pressure, not in freefall

So yes, 50% of the marketers we surveyed reported organic traffic declines since the launch of AI Overviews, and 61% blame AI.

This is a prime example of traffic diversification. The real shift isn’t from Google to ChatGPT. It’s from search as a destination to search as a behavior. People are asking, comparing, validating, and deciding across multiple platforms and communities.

The same marketers reporting organic losses are often finding new ground elsewhere:

• 57% report visibility growth from social platforms (TikTok, Reddit, and YouTube).
• 40% see growth from AI assistants (ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity), early evidence that GEO investment is generating returns.
• 31% see growth in direct or branded traffic.
• Only 10% report no visibility growth anywhere.

Your 2026 brand visibility strategy now depends on how effectively you build brand mentions and entity authority across platforms, not just on individual page rankings in Google.

16. Most teams are doubling down on the easiest tactics

Which strategies are marketers prioritizing to hedge against AI’s impact?

The good news is that teams are moving toward the right categories: community building, earned authority, owned audiences, expert content, and traffic diversification.

The most prioritized strategies for maintaining visibility in the AI era include building brand presence on social platforms (59%), GEO/AEO optimization (54%), and creating authoritative expert content (44%).

The least prioritized strategy is investing in original research and data, at 15%.

That’s a strategic inversion. Original, proprietary research is one of the hardest content assets for AI to replicate, synthesize, or commoditize. It generates citations, earns links, and builds topical authority in ways that FAQ pages and generic thought leadership can’t.

Teams investing here are building durable moats. Others are investing in areas where AI makes competition easier.

17. In GEO, the popular tactic is also the least defensible

When we drilled into the specific GEO tactics marketers were using, most were content-led and easily replicated by AI systems. Long-tail FAQs matter for AI Overviews, but they’re easy to replicate. Schema helps, but it doesn’t build credibility.

Entity authority creates the strongest moat: proprietary data, expert perspectives, topical authority, and third-party validation. These brands create the source material that journalists, communities, search engines, and AI systems rely on.

18. GEO measurement is lagging execution by a wide margin

It’s no surprise that only a little more than half of marketers are confident in their GEO strategy, and only 12% have measurable results.

While that’s normal for a new channel, GEO is becoming a serious function. Visibility tracking, citation monitoring, and branded search lift need more attention. Building measurement infrastructure for AI search visibility is a competitive advantage. Teams that can prove GEO ROI can defend and grow investment.

19. The main obstacle to AI adoption isn’t budget or buy-in. It’s skills.

The top barrier to deeper AI integration in marketing is team training and skill gaps (26%). Tool fragmentation comes second at 20%, followed by budget constraints (19%), unclear ROI (12%), and legal and compliance concerns (12%).

Leadership buy-in stands at just 2%, indicating that executive support is largely in place. The gap is execution capability. For search marketing teams specifically, investing in AI literacy, prompt strategy, content quality control, and GEO measurement skills is more valuable right now than adding new tools.

What this means for your 2026 search strategy

The data across both consumers and marketers tells a coherent story. Users are adopting AI search faster than they’re developing trust in it. Marketers are deploying AI faster than they’re governing it. For search professionals, both gaps create specific, actionable opportunities.

Audit your brand’s AI footprint before someone else does

Brands have already been misrepresented in AI responses. Query your brand name across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews. Document what’s accurate, what’s missing, and what’s wrong. Build a monitoring cadence before you’re in damage-control mode.

Invest in entity authority and original research

AI can’t generate proprietary survey data, original research, named expert perspectives, or verified brand facts. Marketers prioritizing original research are building assets that will become even more valuable as AI systems get better at rewarding genuine authority over generic content.

Distribute your visibility across multiple platforms

Consumers are checking 2.4 platforms before buying, and they’re doing it consistently across every generation. Google organic is necessary, but it isn’t sufficient. 

Your brand needs a coherent, consistent presence in Reddit discussions, YouTube content, AI assistant responses, review platforms, and earned media. If a consumer asks ChatGPT about your category and you’re not mentioned, or you’re mentioned inaccurately, you’ve lost that decision before they ever reach a search results page.

Build AI content governance, not just AI content workflows

Consumer demand for AI disclosure ranges from 84% to 91% across formats. Only 20% of brands always disclose. This disconnect is a reputational liability and, increasingly, a legal and regulatory one. Establish disclosure policies, fact-checking checkpoints, bias reviews, and hallucination escalation processes as operating standards.

Close the GEO measurement gap 

If you can build attribution frameworks that connect AI-assisted search mentions to traffic, lead quality, and revenue, you’ll be able to prove ROI at a time when most teams can’t. That’s a budget and strategy advantage that compounds.

Double down on what AI can’t replicate

Proprietary data. Named experts. Human-verified claims. Transparent sourcing. Consistent brand voice at high quality. The brands that treat quality as a strategic differentiator in 2026 are the ones whose names will come up when consumers and AI systems go looking for answers.

Methodology

Fractl and Search Engine Land surveyed 1,008 U.S. consumers and 150 marketers in Q2 2026.

• The consumer sample was nationally representative across age, gender, and region.
• The marketer sample included companies ranging from fewer than 10 employees to more than 5,000 and spanned roles in SEO, content, social, analytics, paid media, PR, and marketing leadership.

Where noted, findings are compared year over year against the same questions asked in Fractl’s 2025 consumer study conducted with Search Engine Land.

“Ultimate guides” were the undisputed heavyweight champions of SEO. They were built specifically to align with how Google’s algorithm measured content value.

The “skyscraper technique” helped cement a doctrine: length = depth. 

But the web moved on. Search intent shifted toward fast answers, AI saturation destroyed length as a credibility signal, and Google’s systems began penalizing the one thing ultimate guides were engineered to produce: zero information gain. 

So, what now?

The new content constraint is extractability, and it changes every structural decision downstream, from brief to publication.

Your content has a word limit: the grounding budget

AI engines like Gemini allocate approximately 380 words per webpage for query grounding, regardless of the article’s total length. It’s a retrieval constraint you have to adapt to.

The extraction data is precise:

• Pages under 5,000 characters: 66% AI extraction rate.
• Pages over 20,000 characters: 12% AI extraction rate.

Generative systems now answer many queries without requiring a click. The traffic those pages once captured no longer exists to be captured. The 4,000-word ultimate guide content marketing approach actively destroys generative search visibility.

What replaces the informational library is something structurally different and considerably more demanding to produce. Every sentence must earn its place by naming an entity, stating a relationship, preserving a condition, or making a citable claim.

Dig deeper: How to write for AI search: A playbook for machine-readable content

From keywords to positions: The padlock principle

Traditional keyword targeting asked one question: “What are people searching for?” 

Problem-first positioning asks a harder one: “What situation has produced this search, and what does a genuinely useful answer look like inside that situation?”

That’s where the padlock principle becomes useful. Your business is a lock that opens for multiple combinations, each representing a distinct problem for a distinct person. 

For example, a car insurance provider targeting “car insurance” is a category. The same provider building separate pages for “an 18-year-old new driver declined by standard insurers” and “a courier using a vehicle for commercial work” is a solution.

The distinction sounds philosophical until you realize it affects every downstream structural decision. Andrew Holland is right: AI killed low-grade informational SEO. Here’s some tactical advice to shift your content approach.

3 tactical rewrites for problem-first positioning

Replace categorical identity with problem identity 

• Before: “We are an insurance provider.” 
• After: “We solve the underwriting problem for first-time drivers under 25 who are declined by standard insurers.”

Rewrite titles as outcomes, not labels

• Before: “Car Insurance | BrandName” 
• After: “Car insurance for new drivers under 25 declined by most providers”

Lean into constraints rather than suppressing them 

Acknowledging that your solution works for teams of 100 or more but not for solo operators signals to a retrieval system that your content can be cited with confidence. Generic advice is the content AI already generates for free.

Constraint-aware, condition-specific guidance is what AI cannot replicate and therefore must source.

This logic collapses one of the most entrenched distinctions in digital marketing. The traditional separation between informational content and commercial landing pages was always somewhat artificial, but AI retrieval has made it structurally unsustainable.

What replaces the previous distinction is a fundamentally different content architecture: Every page is a document that knows exactly who it is for, states the problem it solves in the first sentence, and earns its keep by delivering a resolution specific enough to be cited but human enough to convert.

Marketers should start injecting problem-positioned, AI-readable answers directly into commercial pages rather than blogs. Low-grade information recaps like the “best tools for X” roundup and the “how-to” guide that adds nothing to existing knowledge have been absorbed by generative systems that now answer those queries without a click.

Dig deeper: How to keep your content fresh in the age of AI

Write for zero context

Every sentence must be self-contained and able to survive alone. AI retrieval systems do not read your article the way a human does: sequentially, with accumulating context.

Instead, an LLM will lift sentences in a “send this to someone without context” type of way by extracting passages and evaluating sentences as independent semantic units.

If a sentence requires its neighbors to make sense, it cannot be extracted and evaluated as an independent semantic unit (i.e., it’s neither easily understood nor useful for a machine).

The three failure patterns and their fixes:

If you want to write LLM-friendly content, no matter what content format you are creating, here’s my advice: look into semantic triples. 

Because AI systems evaluate content using identical retrieval infrastructure regardless of page type, the semantic triples (subject, predicate, object, conditions preserved) apply equally to blog articles, product descriptions, and pricing pages.

Here’s a concrete application of semantic triples: Make your heading more explicit. Explicit headings placed directly above their corresponding paragraphs add mathematical relevance (i.e., they improve cosine similarity scores), which means that an AI is 17.54% more likely to select that passage if it has a good headline.

The citation bait formula

How do you keep content fresh in the age of AI?

First, accept that you’re optimizing paragraphs, not pages.

The citation-bait formula defines how to structure the paragraph blocks that sentences belong to.

Step 1: Direct declarative opening (40 to 60 words)

No preamble. No “in this section we will explore.” The answer first, always. This block is what generative systems extract.

Step 2: Context (one to two sentences maximum)

Expand without burying. Every additional sentence beyond two reduces the density of what came before.

Step 3: Structured evidence

A table, a numbered list, or a comparison. Something extractable in its own right, independent of the surrounding prose.

Step 4: Self-contained heading 

The H2 or H3 that follows must name the topic, intent, and scope of what just appeared. Not “Key takeaways.” Not “Overview.” 

The heading must make complete sense when read entirely out of context, because in generative retrieval, it frequently will be.

The playbook for machine-readable content contains even more citation bait advice. 

Adam Tanguay explains it very well: The authority layer compounds over time. This is why the citation bait formula works in both the short and long term. 

Machine structure with human specificity

Managing the tension between AI-readable structure and human persuasion is difficult. Like Shrek’s onion analogy, LLM-friendly content has more layers than most people realize. You don’t have to choose between the two. You have to layer them.

The AI inverted pyramid places machine-readable answer blocks at the opening of each section. Human storytelling — the anecdote, the constraint, the actual number/stat/finding — belongs immediately after, connected by a natural transition that moves the reader from optimized structure and into earned narrative.

Jessica Foster identified Dove’s “Real Beauty Stories” as a great example of this type of copywriting. Dove opens with structured how-tos that satisfy intent-driven retrieval, then anchors those tutorials to the lived experiences of real customers. 

The machine gets a citable answer at the top of the block. The human gets a reason to believe it in the body. Neither layer compromises the other because they occupy different positions in the document.

Casey Nifong has a great audit workflow for existing content:

• Identify the main question each section answers.
• Find the clearest direct answer buried in the paragraphs and move it to the top.
• Strip conversational lead-ins that delay the core answer.
• Run both the isolation test and the disambiguation test on every mid-page sentence.
• Leave stories, examples, and brand voice intact below the answer block, connected by natural transitions.

The missing angle: Your workflow doesn’t exist yet

You now know good content no longer looks like a 4,000-word-long ultimate guide. Now it’s time to figure out what workflow produces said new good content.

Most articles on Search Engine Land describe the destination, not the road. That’s because you’re responsible for the journey. You need to build your editorial checklist, prompt structure (if you’re using LLMs to restructure existing content), and grounding budget calculation.

Go beyond theory and build an editorial system that consistently produces LLM-friendly content without sacrificing the human specificity no model can replicate.

The common advice is to build authority off your own site through digital PR, mentions, and high-authority links. Grow your third-party mentions, grow your AI visibility, right?

Right instinct. But the source-set that an AI relies upon differs for every topic, so your off-property authority building efforts must also be topic-driven. 

This week:

• Why AI trusts a different set of sources for every topic, and what that changes about where you build it.
• Why scattered off-property authority wastes budget, and how to aim it.
• How to find the exact sources AI cites for your topic and earn your way in.

View embedded content

AI builds a different trusted-source set for every topic

AI search engines rebuild which sources to trust around the subject of the question. Ask about invoicing, and it leans on one set. Ask about starting a business, and it leans on a mostly different one.

This data is a sample set from an anonymous pool of clients, but it illustrates the gap is large. AI citations follow a source-type pattern specific to the topic.

In invoicing questions, competitor domains hold 33.5% of what AI cites. In starting-a-business questions, that same source type holds 7%. Same model, two topics, and the kind of source it reaches for nearly flips.

This small sample analysis confirms something I wrote about in “Operationalizing your topic-first SEO strategy”:

• “You should be employing a topic-based backlink strategy, too. You don’t just want backlinks. You want links that have authority in your target topics and/or with your audience.”

Meanwhile, video and social surfaces run on separate mechanics and deserve their own separate play in your visibility mix, cited at ~6.5% across this sample set. 

YouTube remains an exception across LLMs, and UGC platforms like Reddit behave differently again. But this memo sets aside the video/social/UGC slice deliberately and covers the publisher, research, and expert sources that behave like earned media.

So where you build authority depends on the topic you want to win. Lift a PR plan from a neighboring topic or vertical, and you’re likely to aim at the wrong sources.

AI trusts entities it already recognizes

AI does not form a fresh opinion about your brand on every query. It reuses the trust already attached to the sources it pulls from, and it favors documents and entities it already associates with authority on that topic. (Which is why, yes, building topical authority still matters.)

Your owned blog/site is one input. It’s a crucial input, but it’s likely one of the weakest. The publications, analysts, experts, competitors, and communities that mention you carry significant weight. 

That gap is why two brands with identical on-page optimization can get cited at different rates: off-property reputation the model already trusts.

Add to that, a named author with a byline appears to beat the same content published under a brand. We don’t have a clean dataset on this across platforms yet and it’s based on one-off qualitative findings via clients and industry chatter, so treat this as a working belief, not a measured finding. 

LinkedIn’s own analysis of AI visibility factors reported that authorship and timestamps tracked with better performance: fresh, expert-authored, clearly time-stamped content earned the fastest visibility and citation gains in their testing.

“Our early testing showed meaningful lift in visibility and citations across the topics we focused on, with owned content delivering the fastest and most scalable gains so far…. Publishing authoritative, fresh content improves visibility. LLMs favor content that signals credibility and relevance, authored by real experts, clearly time-stamped, and written in a conversational, insight-driven style on platforms like LinkedIn.” 

— “How LinkedIn Is Adapting to AI-Led Discovery”

The mechanism is reasonable: A human author with a track record (someone who has written on the topic across other sites, has an active social presence, holds a license, or sits on your executive team) gives the model an entity to attach authority to. A faceless brand post gives it less to anchor on. 

Authority pays out in steps, so depth in your topic beats spread

More quality mentions should mean more citations. Authority does not pay evenly, though. It pays in steps.

Our analysis of 1,000 domains with Semrush showed this for backlinks: Authority Score is the strongest backlink predictor of AI mentions in the study at 0.65 Pearson, ahead of raw link count, and the curve bends rather than climbing straight.

Why it matters: A “little more” third-party authority in a crowded middle tier probably won’t change how often AI cites you. The thing that changes citation is getting into the top tier of authoritative sources for your topic.

Read alongside the topic finding, the move is clear. Depth in your topic’s top-tier sources beats spread. Three placements in a top-decile source move you more than a dozen scattered across low-authority sites. That’s where you invest.

One question stays open: whether citation rises smoothly with mentions or trips past a tipping point, a volume of in-topic mentions after which a brand gets cited consistently instead of occasionally. We don’t know yet. More data and time will tell.

Whatever the tipping-point answer turns out to be, building authority through authoritative third-party sources in your topic is not an open-ended ask to your executives. It’s a target you can budget for and measure against.

How to build authority in the sources AI cites for your topic

Not every third-party signal carries equal weight. A research publication picked up across high-authority industry blogs likely moves citation more than a few executive podcasts a year, while YouTube remains an exception across LLMs. (UGC will be tackled in a later post as part of this building authority series.)

Test these moves, in order.

1. Pick 2 to 3 willing SMEs

They don’t need an existing audience, and they don’t need to be a founder or on the executive team. They need:

• Credibility in your topic.
• Deep understanding of your brand and product. 
• Willingness to publish. 

Give them a process (and permission) to develop sharp, branded content with a strong point of view, tailored to specific personas.

How-to guides and roundups together account for 62.3% of cited source rows (see chart below), so build your SME’s work in those shapes.

2. Map the set AI already cites, then target the entity, not the logo

Run your highest-intent prompts through an audience research tool like SparkToro and record which domains, social accounts, YouTube channels, and named authors show up. Do the same across AI search engines, and note overlap or inconsistencies in who gets cited and when.

Then chase the people, not only the publications. Get your SME quoted by the same journalist, booked on the same webinar series, or co-authoring with the author the model and your audience already trust. Co-occurrence with a trusted entity pulls you into the candidate set faster than a standalone post.

3. Concentrate on the authority tier

Depth beats spread: 3 placements in a top-decile source move you more than a dozen scattered across low-authority sites. Rank your target set by authority and spend there first. Use tools like Qwoted and HARO to discover opportunities.

4. Mine nofollow on purpose

Don’t skip these. The Semrush link study found nofollow pulls almost the same weight as follow for AI mentions (0.509 Spearman vs 0.504). They are easier to earn, and the models still count them. Build a list of the nofollow-heavy sources your category links to and pitch them deliberately.

5. Ship embeddable data under your expert’s name

Publish original charts and infographics bylined to your SME and let other sites embed them with attribution. One chart can earn citations across dozens of pages you never pitched. The format matters: AI leans hard on answer-ready pages.

6. Use LinkedIn as one fast lane

According to their own testing, named-author posts get indexed and surfaced quickly, and first-hand reports in our space describe brands entering AI answers within weeks of consistent publishing under a person rather than a page (sometimes days, depending on a built-in LinkedIn audience). Possible play: Partner with LinkedIn experts and influencers in your area of authority.

This post first appeared on the author’s website and is republished here with permission.

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The spotlight will once again fall on Cristiano Ronaldo as Portugal begins its 2026 World Cup journey against DR Congo in Houston. With expectations rising around one of the tournament favorites, supporters are eagerly awaiting confirmation of the lineup for a match that could set the tone for the entire campaign.

Portugal enters the competition carrying significant momentum, while the DR Congo arrives determined to make history in its first World Cup appearance under its current name. The encounter represents the first-ever meeting between the two national team programs, adding another layer of intrigue to an already fascinating Group K clash.

The Selecao has been widely tipped as one of the strongest contenders for the trophy thanks to the depth available throughout the squad. Under the guidance of Roberto Martinez, the national team has developed into a versatile side capable of switching formations and adapting to different opponents.

The squad boasts quality in every area of the pitch, particularly in midfield. Bruno Fernandes, Vitinha, Joao Neves, and Bernardo Silva provide a blend of creativity, technical ability, and experience that many observers consider among the strongest midfield groups at the tournament.

Portugal’s recent form has also been encouraging. The national team scored 15 goals across its previous five matches, averaging three goals per game, while also producing several solid defensive displays ahead of the World Cup.

DR Congo returns to the world stage

For DR Congo, this tournament marks a historic return to soccer’s biggest stage. The national team qualified after a dramatic journey through the playoffs and will participate in its first World Cup since 1974, when the country competed as Zaire.

Head coach Sebastien Desabre has built an organized and disciplined squad featuring several recognizable names from European soccer. Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Axel Tuanzebe, Chancel Mbemba, Noah Sadiki, and Yoane Wissa are expected to play key roles.

While many forecasts place DR Congo among the underdogs in Group K, the African representative has already shown resilience by overcoming difficult opponents on its route to qualification.

Will Cristiano Ronaldo play?

Lots of people are wondering who will start for Portugal amid lineup uncertainty, but Cristiano Ronaldo is confirmed to start against DR Congo.

If selected, the legendary forward will make yet another piece of soccer history. The match would see him appear at a record sixth men’s World Cup, extending a remarkable international career that has already produced all-time records for appearances and goals in men’s international soccer.

At 41 years old, Ronaldo remains a central figure within the squad. Although Portugal possesses numerous attacking options, his leadership, experience, and finishing ability continue to make him one of the most important players available to Martinez.

Behind him, Portugal is expected to rely heavily on Bruno Fernandes’ creativity and the dynamic midfield partnership of Vitinha and Joao Neves to control possession and create opportunities.

Portugal vs DR Congo: Confirmed lineups

Portugal confirmed XI (4-4-2): Costa; Mendes, Veiga, Araujo, Cancelo; Vitinha, Neves, Fernandes, B. Silva; Ronaldo; Neto.

DR Congo confirmed XI (5-3-2): Mpasi; Wan-Bissaka, Kapuadi, Tuanzebe, Mbemba, Masuaku; Moutoussamy, Kayembe, Mukau; Wissa, Bakambu.

The FIFA World Cup has always been a stage where records are created, and legends are remembered for generations. While many of the tournament’s greatest moments belong to rising stars, some of the most remarkable achievements have come from veterans who refused to let age define their careers.

Over the decades, soccer fans have witnessed unforgettable performances from experienced players representing their national team on the biggest stage. From iconic goals to historic appearances, several players have shown that experience can still make a difference when the pressure is at its highest.

Modern soccer is often associated with youth, pace, and physical intensity. Most players reach their peak during their twenties, making it increasingly difficult to remain competitive deep into their thirties, let alone beyond that.

Yet a select group of players has managed to extend their careers well beyond conventional expectations. Their longevity has allowed them to leave unique marks on World Cup history, creating records that have proven incredibly difficult to break.

Several notable names feature among the oldest goalscorers in tournament history. Players such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi all found the net at ages when many players had already retired from international soccer.

The man at the top of the list

The answer to the question is Roger Milla, the legendary Cameroonian forward who remains the oldest player ever to score at a men’s World Cup.

Milla was 42 years and 39 days old when he scored against Russia during the 1994 World Cup in the United States. That goal remains one of the most enduring records in soccer history and has stood untouched for more than three decades.

The veteran striker scored Cameroon’s only goal during a 6-1 defeat to Russia in the group stage. Although the result was disappointing for the African national team, Milla’s goal ensured that his name would forever be written into World Cup folklore.

What makes the achievement even more remarkable is that Milla had already held the record before 1994. During the 1990 World Cup in Italy, he scored memorable goals at the age of 38, helping Cameroon become the first African national team to reach the quarter-finals of the competition.

The goal that broke his own record

By the time the 1994 World Cup arrived, Milla was already considered a soccer elder statesman. Many expected his role to be limited, but he once again delivered a historic moment. After entering the match against Russia, he scored shortly after coming onto the pitch, extending his own record and proving that his instincts had not disappeared.

The achievement was partially overshadowed by Russian striker Oleg Salenko, who scored five goals in the same match. Nevertheless, Milla’s strike became one of the tournament’s most memorable moments because of the extraordinary age at which it was scored. To this day, he remains the only player over the age of 40 to score a goal at a men’s World Cup.

The closest challengers

Several famous players have come close to breaking Milla’s record, but none have managed to surpass it. Pepe ranks second on the all-time list after scoring for Portugal against Switzerland at the 2022 World Cup at the age of 39 years and 283 days. The veteran defender’s powerful header helped Portugal secure a convincing victory in the knockout stage.

Shortly behind him comes Lionel Messi, who moved into third place after scoring during Argentina’s 2026 World Cup opener against Algeria at 38 years and 357 days old.

Cristiano Ronaldo also occupies a place near the top of the rankings. His penalty against Ghana at the 2022 World Cup came when he was 37 years and 292 days old, making him one of the oldest goalscorers in tournament history.

The wait is over as Portugal begins its 2026 World Cup journey against DR Congo in Houston, and all eyes will be on Cristiano Ronaldo, who is set to make his historic sixth World Cup appearance. Portugal enters the tournament as one of the favorites to progress from Group K, while DR Congo returns to soccer’s biggest stage for the first time in 52 years, hoping to make a memorable statement in its opening match.

Portugal is still searching for its first-ever World Cup title, and Roberto Martinez’s side arrives in strong form after a series of encouraging results in the build-up to the tournament. A victory would immediately place Portugal in a strong position in a group that also includes Colombia and Uzbekistan.

While Portugal enters as the clear favorite, DR Congo has shown resilience throughout its qualification journey and should not be underestimated. The Leopards will look to stay compact defensively and threaten on the counterattack as they aim to pull off one of the tournament’s early surprises.

Portugal is expected to field a star-studded lineup led by Ronaldo, who will be looking to add to his remarkable international goal tally, while Fernandes and Vitinha are set to provide creativity from midfield. DR Congo, meanwhile, will rely heavily on the pace of Wissa and the goalscoring instincts of Bakambu.

Portugal arrive at the 2026 World Cup as one of the strongest national teams in the world, after their triumph at the 2025 UEFA Nations League. As such, they enter the tournament as top contenders. In their opening match, they face DR Congo in the first game of Group K. Despite their status as favorites, they will be without Rúben Dias in central defense, a significant setback that weakens their back line considerably.

Rúben Dias will not be available for Portugal’s debut against DR Congo, as he is still dealing with physical discomfort following the friendly against Nigeria. “Rúben is not at 100 per cent; there is no point in taking risks. He is recovering and will be available later,” head coach Roberto Martínez reported in the press conference. With this in mind, he could return to the starting lineup in the next match against Uzbekistan.

Instead of Rúben, Roberto Martínez could opt for Tomás Araújo as the ideal partner for Gonçalo Inácio. Both players are highly promising, and Portugal may not face major issues in covering for Dias as both have huge footing skills. In addition, Renato Veiga and Rúben Neves could also play a role from bench if needed. In the absence of leadership in defense, the presence of João Cancelo will be key in helping organize the team.

As a top contender, Portugal may not face major defensive issues against DR Congo, as their opponents are not typically strong in attack. For this reason, João Neves and Vitinha will once again be key to controlling the tempo of the game, helping to prevent counterattacks from their rivals. In addition, the dribbling ability of Pedro Neto and Francisco Conceição could be crucial in breaking through the opposition defensive line.

Portugal’s defense key to unlocking offense vs DR Congo

Since his arrival, Portugal‘s Roberto Martínez has implemented a fairly attacking style based on high pressing and collective play. Against DR Congo in their 2026 World Cup opener, they could struggle to break down their opponent’s defensive structure. For this reason, the defensive line could be key in enabling their attacking play and securing a victory to take control of Group K.

By applying a high press, they would aim to pin DR Congo back in their own half. In this context, the defensive line becomes a key factor, as they would take on an important role in ball progression and build-up play. In addition, they would be responsible for breaking up the opposition’s progression and delivering line-breaking passes to allow Cristiano Ronaldo and his teammates to see more of the ball.

Unlike other national teams, Portugal make their defenders a central axis in the construction of play. Pushing into advanced areas and distributing possession, they are able to find gaps in the opposition’s defensive structure. Moreover, they become key partners for João Neves and Vitinha, enabling a solid collective structure that consistently looks for through balls or passes into space, allowing Cristiano Ronaldo to finish first time.