Picklum gets golden chance as top surfers tumble
Australian surfers are off to a patchy start at the Rio Pro, however Molly Picklum has the chance to take over the rankings lead after some major upsets in the women's field.
World No.3 Picklum, who finished runner-up at the World Surf League's last tour stop in California, advanced directly through to the quarter-finals with an opening heat win at Brazil's Praia de Itauna break on Sunday.
Picklum had the highest scoring ride of the day in the women's field, picking up a 7.83 in her two-wave tally of 13.50 to down 2023 world champion Caroline Marks (9.60) and local hope Luana Silva (6.30).
But fellow Australians Tyler Wright and fifth-ranked Isabella Nichols went into sudden death with only two-time world champion Wright surviving after eliminating Hawaiian Bettylou Sakura Johnson, who won at Lower Trestles.
In a huge upset Peru's Arena Rodriguez, in her Championship Tour debut, ousted Hawaii's rankings leader Gabriela Bryan while Silva also took down American world No.2 Caitlin Simmers in the elimination round.
In the live rankings Picklum has moved up to second and is just 505 points behind Ryan.
The Australian is also the only woman of the five to not win an event so far this season but has a golden chance in Brazil, next taking on Rodriguez.
One huge turn and a whole lot of commitment!Quarters bound for Molly Picklum as a result.📺 @vivobr #RioPro is LIVE | @corona pic.twitter.com/vnsf3Rr460
— World Surf League (@wsl) June 22, 2025
"I woke up this morning feeling a little foggy, so I was just really happy to make my waves and work with the swell here," Picklum said.
"Brazil's definitely one I want to win - I love the energy here and I have so many good friends here, and it's definitely something I would love to win.
"This year, I've made a couple of finals, but unfortunately, haven't got the win.
"I just keep knocking on the door, you know, just keep showing up, and let's see if I can try and crack it and take home the trophy."
On the men's side of the draw Sydney rookie Joel Vaughan, competing on his first year on tour, scored 13.33 for a rousing win over Japan's third-ranked Kanoa Igarashi (6.34) and Brazilan Alejo Muniz (4.97).
Vaughan previously earned a perfect 10-point ride during the Challenger Series event in Brazil.
"It feels awesome to be back," the 21-year-old said.
"I've tried to just keep it pretty simple and work on myself and try to get some good waves and yeah, stoked to make that one."
But Australia's Olympic duo, silver medal-winning Jack Robinson and Ethan Ewing must contest the elimination round.
Robinson will take on Indonesian star Rio Waida while Ewing has drawn exciting young Frenchman Marco Mignot.
With two more competitions before the Finals-bound top five head to Cloudbreak in Fiji to decide the world champion, Ewing is ranked six and Robinson seven.
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New York Times
28 minutes ago
- New York Times
Euro 2025: Spain team guide – have things finally settled for the World Cup winners?
The 2022 European Championship sparked a crisis in Spanish football. The team went to their debut Euros with certain expectations, including a hope of winning their first competition or, at least, going far. But they were eliminated in the first round of the knockout stages by England in extra time. It proved to be the last straw for many players. Advertisement The reckoning was less about losing to England — the eventual winners — and more about Spain's best generation of footballers being let down by a coach who could not help them in certain matches. While off the field, the players felt that the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) did not support them enough or provide them with the professional tools that other countries had. It sparked the 'Las 15' movement, with 15 players refusing to return to play for the RFEF until conditions changed. Only three of the 15 played in the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, which Spain won. 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Pina has had a great season, but Spain seem to prefer her as a substitute. The midfield trio of Patri Guijarro, Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putellas is the key to Barcelona's — and Spain's — success. Mariona Caldentey, of Arsenal, provides a bonus to this setup. Caldentey was the Women's Super League (WSL) player of the season and won the Champions League with Arsenal, playing a key role in the final win over Barcelona, her third consecutive Champions League title. Although it is not her ideal position, Tome plays Caldentey as a right-winger. Guijarro has returned to defensive midfield after two years playing in the attack, and this is where she shines most. The 27-year-old organises the team, provides balance between attack and defence, and is the compass for her side. Bonmati was considered one of the top players in the Champions League, but she did not have her best season in Liga F. The 27-year-old still has the ability to shine in big games and is the one who sets the tempo for the team. Putellas is back to form after an ACL injury suffered the day before the start of Euro 2022, which prevented her from performing at her prime in the World Cup and the following season. This season in Liga F, she has been Barcelona's top assist provider and second-highest goalscorer behind Ewa Pajor. The 31-year-old gives the team vision and is a player who tends to make good, quick decisions. An ability to link up well. The World Cup winners know how to play an attacking and entertaining style of football thanks to the talent of one of the best generations of players the national team has ever had. It also helps that the core of the team is made up of Barcelona players, who are used to playing together. Teams that sit back in a defensive block are Spain's biggest weakness. 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New York Times
32 minutes ago
- New York Times
What Brazil's early success at the Club World Cup says of its status as a football power
This is a public service announcement. You may think that this Club World Cup is an American affair. You probably looked at the host cities, saw FIFA president Gianni Infantino glad-handing with Donald Trump in the Oval Office, noted the distinctive bombast of those grating individual player walk-ons, heard the U.S. anthem being played before each of the 32 matches so far. Advertisement All very American, fair enough. Hence your confusion. But sorry, no. Appearances have deceived you. This is actually a Brazilian tournament. The rest of the world just hasn't realised it yet. First there are the demographics. 508 players took to the field in the first round of group matches. 70 of them — 14 per cent — were from Brazil. Argentina had 57 players on that list. Next was Spain with 26. There are, granted, four Brazilian clubs in the U.S. this summer. But the reach of the diaspora is remarkable. There are Brazilians at Manchester City, Real Madrid and Los Angeles FC, but also at Esperance de Tunis and Urawa Red Diamonds, Pachuca and Al-Hilal, Ulsan and Mamelodi Sundowns. Some countries sell oil, grain or circuit boards to the wider world; Brazil exports footballers. This, though, is only a footnote to the bigger story. The Brazilian teams have played eight matches between them. They have won six of them, drawn two, lost zero. Each tops their group after two rounds of games. It's not because they've only had easy fixtures, either. Flamengo duffed up Chelsea. Fluminense went toe-to-toe with Borussia Dortmund. Botafogo defrocked Paris Saint-Germain, the European champions and any rational person's idea of the best team in the world right now. 'No one has defended better against us this season,' an admiring Luis Enrique said after that match. The results have been greeted with a mixture of humour and excitement in Brazil. 'The Europeans are sending a petition to FIFA,' went one typically catty gag doing the rounds on Brazilian WhatsApp. 'They want Vasco da Gama (the fourth of the big Rio de Janeiro sides) in the competition so they have a chance of winning.' Writing in the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper, former Brazil international Tostao — usually a fairly sober observer of the game — allowed himself to dream, just for a sentence: 'Can you imagine the euphoria and pride if a Brazilian team ends up becoming champion?' Take a long view of history and this may appear quite normal. In the early 1960s, Pele's all-conquering Santos side enjoyed back-to-back victories in the Intercontinental Cup, a competition established in 1960 to pit the European champions against their South American counterparts. Flamengo thrashed Liverpool in the same competition in 1981; Gremio and Sao Paulo (twice) also tasted glory. Advertisement When FIFA first dreamt up the Club World Cup in 2000, Brazil's clubs thrived. Corinthians won the inaugural edition, beating Vasco in an all-Brazilian final,. The next two editions went to Sao Paulo and Internacional. The years since, though, have been cruel. In 2010, Internacional were knocked out by Congolese side TP Mazembe. Santos were hammered by Barcelona a year later. Gremio, Flamengo, Palmeiras and Fluminense have all lost to European teams in the final. Before this current tournament began, no Brazilian club had beaten a European side in a competitive match since 2012, when Corinthians famously overturned Chelsea. You could write a book on the factors underpinning that drift. The short version is that European football — the top leagues at least — left Brazilian domestic football behind in a number of areas, from commercialisation and investment to infrastructure and tactical innovation. It is no coincidence that Brazil's last World Cup win came in 2002. Nor did the decline go unnoticed: lamentations about the growing quality gap were a staple of the Brazilian media for decades. Where, then, have the results of the past nine days come from? In the first instance, a little context is probably due before we get too excited. Dortmund and Porto — held to goalless draws by Fluminense and Palmeiras respectively — are not great teams. Fluminense also made extremely heavy work of Ulsan. Flamengo fans were thrilled with the win over Chelsea but dedicated watchers of the Premier League may not have viewed it as quite such a coup. Even Botafogo's result against PSG came with a minor caveat: Luis Enrique rested a number of key players. None of which to say it isn't an eye-catching pattern, or not worth zooming in on. Indeed, even those involved have been struck by the novelty of it all. 'I'm surprised by these results,' Flamengo manager Filipe Luis said after the Chelsea match. 'I know the quality of European clubs, especially the elite.' Advertisement There are three circumstantial factors at play. One is the climate: the Brazilian clubs are more accustomed to playing under a roasting sun. 'We're used to it,' Botafogo right-back Vitinho said last week. 'I hope that it works in our favour.' Another is that the Brazilian teams are midway through their season, which runs from January until December. The national league only kicked off at the end of March. Compared to the European sides, many of whom look exhausted at the end of a long campaign, there is a level of freshness there. Motivation is also relevant. There has been scant evidence to suggest that the European sides are phoning it in, but are they committing to the competition with every last drop of energy? That's up for debate. Rightly or wrongly, the Club World Cup is not currently seen as being on the same level as the Champions League or even domestic competitions. For the Brazilian clubs, like many others from outside Europe, this is a priority. Even if they are just half a percentage point more motivated, it can make a big difference. 'You can see the teams are playing every game like it's a final,' Filipe Luis said on Friday. 'That makes a lot of difference.' There are wider trends at work here, too. Brazilian football has evolved a lot in the last 10 years, particularly behind the scenes. A number of the country's big clubs — Flamengo and Palmeiras in particular — have gone to great lengths to become more professional and stable. Their training facilities are every bit as good as those found at the best European clubs; their marketing departments have finally found a way to leverage the colossal fanbases that exist in a country as big as Brazil. In 2021, Brazil's government passed a law that introduced a new ownership model for the country's football clubs, promising to make them more corporate, more sustainable and even — whisper it quietly — profitable. In has come foreign investment: John Textor, the co-owner of Crystal Palace, acquired Botafogo; Red Bull has put significant resources into Bragantino; the City Football Group added Bahia to its roster of clubs. Advertisement As recently as 15 years ago, most Brazilian squads were filled with players at the bookends of their career: youngsters destined for Europe and veterans in the twilights of their careers. The very best youngsters still leave but clubs can afford to sign and pay players in their prime. The 28-year-old midfielder Gerson, bought by Flamengo from Marseille for €15 million in December 2022, is the most obvious example of this trend but far from the only one Nor is it just a question of quality. 'You look at the Palmeiras squad and they have two or even three high-level players in every position,' Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano said on Sunday, before his side's game against the São Paulo side. 'It's the same with Flamengo, Fluminense, Botafogo. They have invested a lot of money.' Alongside the spending has come greater openness to new ideas. A wave of foreigners has freshened up the local managerial scene, challenged old notions. Four of the past six Brazilian championships have been won by Portuguese coaches. Little wonder that public opinion over the possibility of a non-Brazilian manager of the national team softened considerably over that time frame. The result of all this? Brazil has begun to dominate the Copa Libertadores, South America's Champions League equivalent, like never before. The past six editions have been won by clubs from the Campeonato Brasileiro. Four of those finals were all-Brazilian affairs. That might not be good for the overall health of the South American game. For Brazil, though, it's a signal that they are doing something right. So too is the growing ease with which they are able to scout and sign youngsters from other South American nations. 'They clearly have an economic strength that the rest of the countries do not,' Mascherano said. The next step is unclear. There are some who see huge potential, just waiting to be harnessed by good governance, the right global TV deal. 'Brazilian football looks like the next Premier League,' ran a headline in The Economist in December. Textor, the Botafogo owner, has been bullish in his championing of the Brazilian game. Hurdles remain, however. The calendar remains bloated: the most successful teams play 70 or 80 matches a season, many of them in the outmoded, low-wattage state championships. This affects the quality of the football, as do poor pitches. Working conditions for coaches have improved but there is still a culture of short-termism and churn. Advertisement The Club World Cup, though, is providing hope that the chasm is bridgeable. Not even the most one-eyed Botafogo fan thinks her team is better than PSG's. But maybe they're not as far off as some would have assumed before the tournament began. 'I think there's an elite in football, formed of eight or ten teams,' Filipe Luis, the Flamengo coach, said last week. 'They're far superior. Beyond that elite group, I think the Brazilian clubs are on the second rung.' Renato Gaucho, his Fluminense counterpart, echoed that view. 'There's no way we can compete with the European teams financially,' he said on Saturday. 'They can buy the best players and build incredibly strong teams. But football matches are decided on the pitch. The Brazilian people should be really proud of what our clubs are doing at this Club World Cup.'
New York Times
38 minutes ago
- New York Times
Lanes, columns, Transfermarkt and a kiss – How Textor hired the coach who humbled PSG
Renato Paiva was midway through his post-match flash interview, after guiding Botafogo to an impressive Club World Cup victory over Paris Saint-Germain, when John Textor came crashing in, clasped his manager's head in his hands, and planted a lasting kiss on each of his cheeks. Textor, whose Eagle Football multi-club vehicle owns the Brazilian club, is not averse to courting publicity or displays of emotion, with this game's backdrop a spat between the American and PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, but this was a particularly prominent display of affection for Paiva. Advertisement While it was not the full-strength PSG side that won the Champions League last month, this remained a notable upset at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. That Textor kiss was one of humility, with Paiva having raised eyebrows by settling on a more defensive set-up — something which went against Textor's preferred approach — only to be vindicated. 'We knew we had a great mind (in him),' Textor tells The Athletic. 'He sees five lanes and the group of thirds, so vertically he has a great way of teaching positional play to make sure that he's got the right players in the right five vertical columns across the three horizontal segments depending on where the ball is and the situation. When players become practised in this, he always has them in incredible positions.' Paiva is seemingly as bold and confident as his owner. He had aimed a punchy barb at the French giants in his pre-match press conference. 'The cemetery of football is full of favourites,' he said, convinced as he was that his team could achieve against the odds. His post-match comments were equally poetic. 'We killed PSG with their own poison. By playing like a great team united in defence and attack. They didn't have those clear-cut chances.' The Portuguese has only spent three months in charge of Botafogo and has a difficult act to follow after taking over from Artur Jorge, his compatriot, who led the club to the Copa Libertadores and a league title last season. His CV might appear underwhelming, albeit with one significant exception. Paiva spent more than 15 years working in Benfica's academy setup, where he played a role in developing some of the world's most talented players, many of whom have gone on to play in the Premier League and other elite European leagues. Among those with whom he worked at the Portuguese club are former Bayern Munich, Lille and PSG midfielder Renato Sanches, Manchester City's Ederson, Ruben Dias and Bernardo Silva, and Chelsea's Joao Felix. 'He had enormous technical ability,' Paiva told The Athletic in 2019 when asked about Joao Felix, whom he coached as Benfica's under-17s manager. 'I turned to my assistant and said, 'What on Earth?!'. I didn't understand how a club like Porto could let a player like that go because his talent was so obvious. You took one look at him playing and thought, 'This is something out of the ordinary'. He was just different. It was easy to identify.' Advertisement Paiva remains in contact with many of his former proteges, including former City defender Cancelo, now of Al Hilal. In the PSG side on Thursday were others he had coached in Goncalo Ramos and Joao Neves, with Paiva revealing he had spoken with Ramos before the game. In 2019, he stepped up to coach Benfica's B team, replacing Bruno Lage, who had been promoted to the first team, before leaving to take up the managerial role with Ecuadorian side Independiente del Valle on Christmas Day, 2020. During the two years he spent in Ecuador, his side won the first division title for the first time in their history. That successful first year in particular saw him work with a mix of young players and experience, demonstrating a degree of versatility for a manager with a limited body of work outside of coaching emerging talent. 'I felt I needed something more to prove myself and test myself,' he told in 2021. 'After you get to the B team, it becomes more difficult. I wanted new challenges and to test myself in professional football.' He was one of those considered by MLS side Los Angeles FC to succeed Bob Bradley in December 2021, having led his side to the title that month, but they instead appointed Steve Cherundolo. In May 2022, at the end of his second season at the helm, he departed IDV to move to Mexico, where he took charge of top-flight club Leon. It was, he said, the 'project' that inspired him to switch clubs. After only six months in the role, however, he resigned, reportedly over a perceived lack of backing in the transfer market. A week later, he returned to management in Brazil with Bahia, who had recently been taken over by the City Football Group, and guided them to success in the state's league. The newly appointed head coach was willing to buy into the style of play demanded by the club's hierarchy. 'I don't define our philosophy,' he told local media after his arrival. 'The ones in charge of that are the group that bought Bahia. I have come to meet that game philosophy.' Advertisement He claimed a 49 per cent win record over his time in Bahia before resigning within a year of being appointed, having coached 51 games. Paiva left in September 2023 with the club 16th in the Brazilian top flight, a point above the relegation zone. Despite that record, his time with Bahia was largely considered a failure, although his recent success with Botafogo has led to some re-evaluation of the work he did. That theme of spending a relatively short period of time at a club continued when he returned to Mexico in December 2023 with Toluca. He promised to implement an attacking style of play, looking to provide entertainment and high-scoring games, having inherited an expensively assembled squad, but he failed to deliver the title. His side finished second in the league over the course of the regular season, but were beaten in the quarter-finals of Liguilla, the final phase knockout to determine the league's champions. That, in turn, prompted the Toluca hierarchy not to renew his one-year contract. Paiva's appointment at Botafogo was unexpected. He was not first choice, albeit in the top three, but that link with Benfica guided Textor to turn to the 55-year-old. The American is a long-time follower of Benfica, having initially sought to buy the club and integrate them into his multi-club model before buying a 40 per cent stake in Premier League side Crystal Palace in August 2021. The coach's previous work with young players was a significant factor, as was the desire to play with an attacking mindset. Yet the club's focus in the transfer market was to strike a balance of younger talent alongside proven experienced players who could come in and make an immediate impact. Paiva's preference was not solely to work with emerging players. But his accumulation of points compared to the squad with which he worked caught Textor's eye. 'I really look at points per game against money invested,' Textor says. 'There's a clear correlation between money, competition, and points so you can determine relative thresholds of good coach, bad coach based on the combination of those three things. Advertisement 'When I look at point production, I go on a Transfermarkt, see how many points per game somebody gets and make the comparison. You can learn everything about a coach by looking at them that way. Then you interview them and you talk to them about their beliefs — and I was really impressed by this guy. 'If you value-adjust some of the top coaches in the world, they don't compare to Renato Paiva.' Paiva's philosophy impressed Textor, who prefers attack-minded coaches, but acknowledges his manager will need the right recruitment and has had to contend with injuries to creative players. 'We have to have a balance between attack and defence,' Paiva told the media at his unveiling with Botafogo. 'A big team has to know how to attack in different ways. I want us to attack with many and defend with a few. Knowing how to defend with a few has to do with positional issues. Sometimes you think you're controlling the opponent, but you're not. 'We have to play with a short block, with a lot of pressure. When we lose the ball, everyone has to try to eliminate the opposition's possession.' Yet victory over PSG owed itself to something even more flexible. 'We have no attacking midfielders, except for the ones we just signed,' Textor says. 'So he's become really defensive and careful and now we'll see if he gets back to the old Paiva. But the players believe in his positional coaching so now that we start adding weapons back, in the second half of our season we're going to be the best producer of points in Brazil. 'He's started to abandon his positional play. But then he comes to us with the gameplan for PSG. I don't get involved in gameplans. I get involved with ambition. I teach courage and ambition and I don't tell people how to coach. 'He says, 'John, you're gonna kill me, but I believe it'll work. I'm gonna go slow and play three holding midfielders'. I'm like, 'What?'. But (former England, Fulham, Liverpool and Crystal Palace manager) Roy Hodgson taught me this: don't lose the game in the first half. Build your foundation and get to half time 0-0. Then talk about what you can do to try and win the game. Advertisement 'He had a gameplan that I ultimately supported. I wasn't sure he would get to half-time 0-0 but he said, 'Boss, it's going to be slow and organised', and it worked. 'He goes, 'We're gonna play more like a European team than a Brazilian team. Then at some point in the game, I'll see an opportunity to win and we will be more aggressive'.' 'We played with heart and maybe we wanted it more,' Textor said after the PSG victory. 'It's a privilege for us to play against (PSG) in this format, to show that Brazilian teams can play football. But we played like an English team today. 'We played with structure, discipline and organisation. We looked European tonight.' It has been an inauspicious start for Paiva in Brazil, with Botafogo 11th in the table after 11 games, only five of which have been won. The club's supporters questioned his appointment earlier in the campaign. If Thursday's Club World Cup win was already a shock, then his side's overall form in their domestic league made it even more surprising. Yet Textor's public display of affection will carry weight. The win should give him time to push Botafogo up the table; he may have bought himself some breathing space. 'He was getting beaten to shreds,' Textor adds. 'But now, people are starting to see how well organised he can coach a team because it was a masterclass.'
