Author: AFP

LONDON: FIFA World Cups are where rising stars of football quickly transform into global icons.

AFP Sport looks at five of the contenders to become the game’s next superstar this year’s FIFA World Cup 2026 in the United States, Mexico, and Canada:

Nico Paz (Argentina)

The son of former Argentine international Pablo Paz has opted to play for the world champions in FIFA World Cup 2026 despite being born and raised in Spain.

A rising star in the Real Madrid academy, Paz has flourished over the past two years working under Cesc Fabregas since moving to Como in Italy.

Madrid are reportedly set to exercise their buyback option on the 21-year-old.

His technical ability and eye for goal from range has alerted Europe’s other top clubs.

Paz could have the daunting task of filling in for Lionel Messi with Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni expected to manage the 38-year-old’s minutes during the champions’ title defense in the FIFA World Cup.

Desire Doue (France)

Doue has already lit up the biggest stage in club football, winning the man-of-the-match award and scoring twice in Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League final thrashing of Inter Milan last year.

But this will be the 20-year-old’s first taste of a major international tournament.

Doue has a battle just to ensure he starts for Les Bleus among a dazzling display of attacking talent that includes Kylian Mbappe, Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembele and Bayern Munich’s Michael Olise.

But Doue gave Didier Deschamps a timely reminder of his quality with his first two international goals in a 3-1 friendly win over Colombia in France’s last outing in March.

Nico O’Reilly (England)

O’Reilly, 21, has already earned the trust of Pep Guardiola to become a regular for Manchester City.

Scorer of two goals from left-back in City’s League Cup final win over Arsenal in March, O’Reilly began his career as a goalscoring midfielder.

Guardiola has harnessed his blend of height, speed and skill as an attacking weapon from deep and may have solved a problem position for England coach Thomas Tuchel in the process.

England reached the final of Euro 2024 without a natural left-back for the majority of the tournament due to Luke Shaw’s lack of fitness.

“What a player,” said Guardiola. “He has made an incredible step up and he has had a lot of minutes, but he deserves it.”

Endrick (Brazil)

A teenage prodigy who made his Palmeiras debut at 16 and was snapped up by Real Madrid before his18th birthday, Endrick’s hopes of shining at the World Cup have been rekindled by a successful loan move at French club Lyon.

Endrick burst onto the international scene by scoring the winner against England at Wembley two years ago and becoming Brazil’s youngest goalscorer since Ronaldo in the process.

Relegated behind international team-mate Vinicius Junior and Mbappe after his big move to Madrid two years ago, the 19-year-old has found his scoring touch since his switch to France in January.

Often compared to another Brazilian great Romario for his squat but powerful physique, Endrick will be hoping to recreate the former’s success in scoring five goals as Brazil won the World Cup on US soil in 1994.

Pedri (Spain)

Spain’s latest passing metronome, Pedri has proven to be a fitting heir to Xavi Hernandez for both club and country.

After first rising to prominence as an 18-year-old at Euro 2020, Pedri was key to Spain’s run to conquering Europe two years ago in Germany, but injury prevented him from featuring in the semi-finals and final.

For Barcelona, he has put his fitness troubles behind him under Hansi Flick, playing a starring role in back-to-back La Liga title triumphs over the past two seasons.

READ: Iran’s World Cup football team leaves for Turkey: media

Iran’s national football team was headed to Turkey on Monday to play a final friendly match and apply for visas to fly to the United States for the 2026 World Cup, Iranian media reported.

The team plan to participate in the tournament despite co-host Washington having launched a war against Iran with a massive wave of attacks alongside ally Israel on February 28.

The fighting has been on hold for weeks thanks to a ceasefire, but peace talks have failed to make a breakthrough and new drone attacks against Gulf countries at the weekend, combined with threats from US President Donald Trump, raised fears of a return to fighting.

The team “departed this morning for Antalya, Turkey to play its final friendly match before flying to the United States for the 2026 World Cup,” the Tasnim news agency reported.

It said the squad consisted of 22 domestic-based players alongside their coaching staff.

On Saturday, head coach Amir Ghalenoei said they would also be completing visa applications for the US while in Turkey.

Iran secured their spot at the World Cup in March 2025, but since then, the United States has twice launched attacks on the country.

US officials have insisted that Iran is welcome at the tournament, while organiser FIFA has said it will go ahead as planned and rejected Iranian suggestions that their games be moved to co-hosts Mexico or Canada.

“I think let ’em play,” Trump said in late April.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said any problem would not be with Iranian players but “some of the other people (they) would want to bring with them”, suggesting they may have ties to the Revolutionary Guards, which Washington has branded a terrorist organisation.

Last month, officials from Iran’s football federation abandoned a trip to the FIFA congress in Canada, saying they had been “insulted” by Canadian immigration officers.

One of their delegation, Mehdi Taj, is a former member of the Revolutionary Guards, which Canada has also designated a terror group.

The Iranian football team hope to play two friendlies in Antalya.

They have already confirmed one match, against The Gambia, on May 29, said Sam Mehdizadeh, an Iranian-Canadian who heads a company that sets up friendlies for the team.

“No visas have been issued yet,” Taj, the head of Iran’s football federation, told Iranian media on Thursday.

On Saturday, FIFA secretary general Mattias Grafstrom held a meeting in Turkey with the federation, describing it as constructive, as did Taj.

When the squad reaches the United States, Iran will set up their base camp in Tucson, Arizona.

The team, who are in Group G, are due to kick off their campaign against New Zealand in Los Angeles on 15 June, before facing Belgium in the same city and then Egypt in Seattle.

READ: Mushfiqur Rahim creates history with record-breaking century against Pakistan

Lionel Messi struck a goal and a dazzling assist to finally earn Inter Miami a first win at their new stadium Sunday, beating the Portland Timbers 2-0.

The 38-year-old Argentine icon confounded the Timbers’ defence all night long in a timely reminder of the danger he still poses at the World Cup, which kicks off in less than a month.

Messi struck first, starting and finishing a slick team goal for the defending Major League Soccer champions on the half-hour mark.

Messi laid off the ball to Luis Suarez, who found Telasco Segovia with a through ball. Segovia’s instinctive backheel landed back at the feet of Messi, who swept it into the far corner from close range.

Ten minutes later, fellow Argentine Rodrigo De Paul romped up the right flank, finding Messi, who played a one-two with Suarez.

The eight-time Ballon d’Or-winner then slalomed his way into the box, through four defenders, before using the outside of his left foot to tee up German Berterame for a tap-in.

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Messi missed chances to add to his tally in a slower and goalless second half, curling a left-foot strike from outside the box just inches wide of the post.

And he nearly added a stunning free kick deep into stoppage time, denied by a superb James Pantemis save, who dove at full stretch and barely tipped the ball away from the top corner.

It was the fifth home game at the gleaming, purpose-built Nu Stadium, which was opened to great fanfare last month.

Until now, the 27,000-capacity arena had witnessed three frustrating draws and a humiliating Miami collapse from 3-0 up to lose 4-3 to Orlando City.

Despite their recent struggles at home, the win sends Inter Miami to the top of the Eastern Conference, one point clear of Nashville SC, who have two games in hand.

The World Cup, being held in the United States, Mexico and Canada, kicks off June 11.

Along with Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi, who lifted the trophy with Argentina at the last edition, in Qatar, is set to become the first player to appear in six different World Cups.

READ: Lille qualify for Champions League despite loss to Auxerre

Lille clinched third place and a return to the Champions League for next season, despite ending the campaign with a 2-0 defeat at home to Auxerre on the final night of the French season.

Malian international Lassine Sinayoko scored twice for Auxerre, once in each half, as his team secured survival.

Lille finished third because Lyon were not able to take advantage of their defeat, OL were hammered 4-0 at home by Lens, and so had to settle for fourth place.

Wesley Said bagged a brace for Lens, and Florian Sotoca got their third in first-half stoppage time, with Florian Thauvin then getting the fourth after the break.

Lens were already certain to finish as runners-up and will be in next season’s Champions League, with the French Cup final to come against Nice next Friday.

Lyon will still enter the Champions League for the first time since 2020, but will start in the third qualifying round in early August and must come through two ties to reach the league phase.

Otherwise, they will drop into the Europa League, a competition which Marseille secured qualification for by beating Rennes 3-1 at the Velodrome.

Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Amine Gouiri scored early goals, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang got their third before Esteban Lepaul grabbed a consolation for Rennes, Ligue 1’s leading marksman finishing with 21 goals for the season.

That result allowed Marseille to leapfrog Rennes into fifth on goal difference, meaning the Brittany side end in sixth and must now wait to find out which European competition they go into.

If Lens win the French Cup, Rennes will be in the Europa League, but otherwise they will go into the Conference League. If it is the former outcome, seventh-placed Monaco will snatch the last European spot.

READ: PSG defeated by Paris FC in Ligue 1 stunner

Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) lifted the Ligue 1 trophy but then lost 2-1 away to their neighbours, Paris FC, on Sunday in their final game before the Champions League final against Arsenal.

PSG clinched a fifth straight French title, and a record extending 14th overall, with a 2-0 win over nearest challengers Lens on Wednesday, and they were handed the trophy in a low-key ceremony before kick-off at the Stade Jean-Bouin.

Coach Luis Enrique included many of his most important players in his line-up in PSG’s last outing before they face Arsenal in Budapest on May 30, when they will attempt to retain the European crown they won for the first time in the club’s history last season.

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But they were dealt a blow when Ousmane Dembele, last year’s Ballon d’Or winner and the newly-crowned Ligue 1 player of the season, came off before the half-hour mark in an apparent injury scare.

Bradley Barcola gave PSG the lead early in the second half, but substitute Alimami Gory equalised and then scored a stoppage-time winner for Paris FC, who finished 11th in their first season since promotion to the top flight.

READ: Raging Neymar forced off by refereeing error as Santos lose

Neymar was involved in a furious dispute with match officials after he was substituted by mistake as his Santos team lost 3-0 to visiting Cortiba on Sunday.

On the day before the announcement of the Brazilian squad for the World Cup, the oft-injured 34-year-old was receiving treatment in the 65th minute on the far side of the field from the team benches.

Neymar did not notice when the fourth official held up his number 10. By the time he was ready to return, play had restarted with Robinho Jr, the 18-year-old son of former Brazil star Robinho, on the pitch.

Neymar trotted back on and was told by the referee to leave.

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Furious, he demanded to see the handwritten substitution note that had been handed to the fourth official. It showed that Santos manager Cuca had wanted to take off number 31, Gonzalo Escobar, but apparently had not spotted the wrong number before the game resumed.

Santos were already three goals down. The defeat dropped them into the Brazilian Serie A relegation places.

It was a last chance for Neymar to impress Brazil manager Carlo Ancelotti, who has so far ignored Brazil’s all-time leading international scorer.

Neymar, who missed the start of the season after knee surgery, has played in only half of his club’s 16 league games this season, but he has scored four goals while collecting five yellow cards.

READ: Jannik Sinner wins Italian Open, extends Masters tournament streak

Jannik Sinner won the Italian Open on Sunday after beating Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-4 to claim a record-extending sixth consecutive Masters 1000 tournament victory.

World number one Sinner has now completed the ‘Golden Masters’ by winning all of the ATP’s top-ranked events after becoming the first Italian champion at the Foro Italico since Adriano Panatta 50 years ago.

Only Novak Djokovic had previously won all nine Masters 1000 events before Sunday, but there was little doubt about Sinner triumphing over the last 10 days.

Sinner heads into Roland Garros, which starts next weekend, on a 29-match winning streak after beating Ruud for a fifth time in as many meetings.

And his run of match wins is even longer, 34, in Masters 1000 tournaments, another record he has established in a season in which he has dominated the men’s tour.

Jannik Sinner can complete his collection of Grand Slams at Roland Garros, and with his great rival Carlos Alcaraz out of action, few would bet against him securing a first title on Paris clay.

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Ruud has won more matches and tournaments on clay than anyone else on the men’s tour since the start of 2020 — last winning a Masters 1000 event at Madrid last year, but he couldn’t beat Sinner for the first time.

Norwegian Ruud had never won a set against Sinner in any of their previous four meetings, but immediately improved on the fearful hammering he received here from the Italian last year by winning the first two games.

But Sinner broke straight back and took the lead in the match after an opening set in which world number 25 held his own against a player he’d previously said, “cannot lose”.

Sinner then broke Ruud again at the start of the second set, and from there it was just a matter of time before he won the championship, even though Ruud performed with credit in front of a packed centre court crowd.

It was a good day for Italian tennis as Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori also won the men’s doubles title, beating second seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos 7-6 (10/8), 6-7 (3/7), 10-3.

READ: Will Mohsin Naqvi attend IPL 2026 final in Ahmedabad?

Virat Kohli and Venkatesh Iyer struck half-centuries to help defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru become the first team to qualify for the IPL 2026 play-offs with a 23-run win over Punjab Kings on Sunday.

In-form Kohli struck 58 off 37 balls before Venkatesh hit an unbeaten 73 to steer the team to 222-4 after being invited to bat first in the Himalayan hill town of Dharamsala.

The bowlers, led by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, then restricted Punjab to 199-8 despite a late batting charge by Marcus Stoinis, who hit 37, and Shashank Singh, who made 56.

Bengaluru, who won their first IPL title in 18 attempts last year, consolidated top spot in the points table and secured their place in the play-offs.

Runners-up last year, Punjab, who started the season with six victories and one no-result, suffered their sixth successive defeat and are no longer in control of their fate.

The top four teams at the end of the league stage will make the playoffs in the 10-team tournament.

Virat Kohli, who blasted an unbeaten 105 in his team’s previous win, kept up his form as he hit four fours and three sixes to lay the foundation for Bengaluru’s total after losing his opening partner Jacob Bethell for 11.

He then put on 78 with the left-handed Devdutt Padikkal, who made 45, to rebuild the innings and hit back.

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Kohli raised his fourth fifty of the season and 67th in the IPL before he finally fell to leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal.

Venkatesh kept up the pace to reach his fifty as he clobbered the bowlers and put on an attacking fourth-wicket stand with Tim David, who made 28.

In reply, Punjab lost openers Priyansh Arya, for a duck, and Prabhsimran Singh, for two — both falling to Kumar’s seam bowling.

Punjab slipped further to 93-5 after skipper Shreyas Iyer (1), Cooper Connolly (37) and Suryansh Shedge (37) departed.

Impact substitute Stoinis and Shashank attempted to raise Punjab’s hopes in their partnership of 67 but disciplined bowling ensured a ninth win in 13 matches for Bengaluru.

Rasikh Salam took two wickets in the final over to return figures of 3-36.

READ: Babar Azam calls on batters to ‘play with pain’ after collapse

Bruno Fernandes equaled the Premier League record of 20 assists in a season as Manchester United secured third place with a 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest.

Fernandes, who was recently crowned the football writers’ player of the season, moved alongside Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne when his cross was turned in by Bryan Mbeumo for United’s third goal.

Mbeumo was also involved for the game’s most controversial moment when his handball in the build up to Matheus Cunha’s strike went unpunished despite a VAR review.

Both sides had secured their principal targets in recent weeks with United set to return to the Champions League, while Forest only guaranteed survival last weekend.

The low stakes made for a wide open contest that burst into life when Luke Shaw volleyed United in front after just five minutes.

Both sides wasted plenty of chances for more goals before the break, but Forest did level just seven minutes into the second period.

Elliot Anderson’s inviting delivery was headed in at the back post by defender Morato.

United raced down the other end and Cunha swept home after the ball rebounded off Mbuemo’s thigh onto his arm.

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In an extremely rare occurrence, Michael Salisbury stood by his original decision to award the goal despite being called by VAR to review the incident.

Morgan Gibbs-White almost immediately leveled once more for Forest but was denied by Senne Lammens racing off his line.

Fernandes’ record-equalling moment arrived 14 minutes from time when Mbeumo prodded in his drilled cross for his first goal since February.

Still Forest refused to go away as England internationals Anderson and Gibbs-White combined to reduce the arrears.

Gibbs-White, playing for the first time since suffering a horrendous facial injury in a clash with Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez earlier this month, steered into the bottom corner from Anderson’s driven cross.

Casemiro was given a standing ovation on his final Old Trafford appearance when the Brazilian was replaced by Mason Mount nine minutes from time.

Fernandes was inches away from a record-breaking 21st assist of the campaign when Diogo Dalot hit the post from his pass deep into stoppage time.

United, though, held on to add another victory to their impressive run since Michael Carrick took charge in January.

The former midfielder is expected to sign a two-year deal to remain in charge at Old Trafford in the coming days.

READ: Xabi Alonso named Chelsea new manager

Chelsea appointed Xabi Alonso as the club’s manager on Sunday on a four-year deal from next season with the Spaniard the latest coach tasked with turning around the club’s fortunes.

The Blues lost the FA Cup final to Manchester City on Saturday and lie ninth in the Premier League with two games of the campaign to go.

Alonso rose to prominence as one of Europe’s brightest coaches by guiding Bayer Leverkusen to an unbeaten German league and cup double in the 2023/24 season.

However, he lasted just seven months in the Real Madrid hotseat. Appointed last year, he departed the Spanish giants in January.

“Chelsea Football Club is delighted to announce the appointment of Xabi Alonso as manager of the men’s team,” Chelsea said in a statement.

“The Spaniard will begin his role on July 1, 2026, having agreed a four-year contract at Stamford Bridge.”

Alonso faces a huge task to get Chelsea back in the running for major honours.

Chelsea did win the Club World Cup and the UEFA Conference League last year but have little else to show for well over one billion pounds ($1.35 billion) of spending on players since US consortium BlueCo took over in 2022 following Roman Abramovich’s trophy-laden ownership of the club.

Defeat at Wembley on Saturday means they have now gone eight seasons without a domestic trophy.

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“Chelsea is one of the biggest clubs in world football and it fills me with immense pride to become manager of this great club,” said Alonso.

“From my conversations with the ownership group and sporting leadership, it is clear we share the same ambition. We want to build a team capable of competing consistently at the highest level and fighting for trophies.

“There is great talent in the squad and huge potential at this football club and it will be my great honour to lead it. Now the focus is on hard work, building the right culture and winning trophies.”

Fans have continuously protested against BlueCo, who have embarked on a scattergun approach to hoovering up young talent from across the globe.

That policy has secured some notable successes such as England international Cole Palmer.

But a lack of experience in both the playing squad and the coaching staff has been blamed for a lack of consistency.

Alonso becomes the sixth permanent manager to take charge at Stamford Bridge in the past four years after Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter, Mauricio Pochettino, Enzo Maresca and Liam Rosenior.

Rosenior was sacked after less than four months in charge in April after Chelsea lost five consecutive league games without scoring for the first time since 1912.

Interim boss Calum McFarlane guided them into the FA Cup final, but Chelsea are winless in seven league games and at risk of missing out on European football entirely next season.

Alonso has a point to prove after a turbulent short spell in Madrid, but his arrival is a coup for Chelsea’s much-criticised owners.

Many Liverpool fans were desperate for him to return to Anfield, where he starred for five years as a player between 2004 and 2009, to succeed the under-fire Arne Slot.

READ: Babar Azam extends lead in decade run charts with special milestone