Sports - Wednesday, June 17, 2026

As these first-place teams battle this week, we look at what makes them perennial overachievers.

⚽️ World Cup kick-off: 7pm local/12am BST/9am AEST ⚽️ Player guide | Bracketology | Golden Boot | Mail Beau 1 min Panama pass pointlessly, possession purloined. It’s raining a bit in Toronto as we get started. Current temperature is 20 degrees. That’s Celsius. Canada isn’t that cold. Continue reading...

Liverpool are set to sign winger Victor Munoz from Osasuna after triggering his release clause.

What's the latest less than a month before the 2026 MLB draft begins? We've got you covered with intel and analysis.

BBC World Cup pundits Joe Hart and Wayne Rooney analyse Harry Kane's change in techniques and the amount of work he puts in when it comes to taking penalties.

Even as forwards shine, Dallas performance exposes shaky defence that may cost Thomas Tuchel and England dear come the tournament’s sharp end When Thomas Tuchel won the Champions League with Chelsea in 2021 the success was built on unflinching defensive rigour and midfield discipline. Five years on, though, Tuchel’s England displayed neither of those qualities during a dreadful first half in Dallas. They kept losing the ball in dangerous areas, struggled to maintain their shape without the ball and were rocking when Croatia stung them with a second equaliser just before half-time. The vibe could hardly have been less convincing. Anthony Barry, Tuchel’s No 2, let rip in an interview with ITV, accusing England of doing all the wrong things, of playing with “a nervous energy”, of making everything “confused and complicated” against opponents well versed in making their craft and experience in midfield count. Continue reading...

With PSG having an interest in Yan Diomande, Liverpool are accelerating their chase for the RB Leipzig winger. Transfer Talk has the latest.

England players were on the receiving end of a half-time reproach from manager Thomas Tuchel as their World Cup campaign got off to a victorious start against Croatia.

Goal against Croatia in his side’s World Cup opener was an angry one with a rising sense of inevitability And breathe again. For the opening 45 minutes under the giant Victorian train station roof at the Dallas Stadium, England produced a performance that was a bit like watching one of those YouTube videos where an awkward and frightening Chinese robot has learned how to dance like Michael Jackson. Dogged and occasionally convincing, but the kind of spectacle that does generally end with the robot falling off the stage. England didn’t just play like machines in that first half. They played like faulty machines, scared machines, contributing almost zero free-form football to a 2-2 half-time score that included two Harry Kane set-piece goals; the first a set piece from a set piece, a penalty after a corner, set piece squared. Continue reading...

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