
PSG Into Club World Cup Round of 16 With Win Over Seattle Sounders
Sport
04:50
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04:50 min
European champions PSG cruised past the Seattle Sounders 2-0 to reach the Round of 16 at the Club World Cup. The French side also secured the top spot in Group B thanks to Botafogo's defeat to Atletico Madrid. Despite beating the Brazilian side, Atletico are out of the tournament due to an inferior goal difference.
Chelsea and ES Tunis will battle on Tuesday for the final qualifying spot in Group D. A win or a draw will be enough for Chelsea to go through.
In the NBA, the Indiana Pacers have confirmed that their young star Tyrese Haliburton has suffered a torn Achilles tendon. The 25-year-old guard could miss the entire upcoming season.

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France 24
2 hours ago
- France 24
Benfica beat Bayern at Club World Cup as Auckland City hold Boca
Andreas Schjelderup scored the only goal of the Group C clash for Benfica in front of 33,287 fans in Charlotte, finishing first-time from a cutback by his fellow Norwegian Fredrik Aursnes in the 13th minute. The German champions, who left the likes of Harry Kane and Michael Olise on the bench at kick-off, were unable to come back in sweltering afternoon conditions in heatwave-hit North Carolina. Kane and Olise came on at half-time and Bayern did then look more dangerous, but Leroy Sane was denied when clean through by Benfica's Ukrainian goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin. A draw would have allowed Bayern to top the section but a Kimmich effort that found the net was ruled out for offside and Trubin denied Sane again while Kane mistimed a header from close range late on. It was Benfica's first ever win in 14 competitive meetings with the Bavarian side and it means they finish first in the group and so will play the Group D runners-up -- either Chelsea or Esperance -- in Charlotte in the last 16 on Saturday. "I think this was a very fair and important win, historic really," said Benfica coach Bruno Lage. "We were as straightforward and assertive as we should be and I think we were very effective in delivering our strategy today." Bayern finished second and so will go to Miami on Sunday to take on Brazilian giants Flamengo, with a potential quarter-final against European champions Paris Saint-Germain awaiting. "You could see that it was really tough conditions so respect to both teams for that," said Bayern coach Vincent Kompany. "Our first half was not good enough for sure, the second half was definitely more the level that we expected and good enough to score one or two or three goals." Another weather delay That result meant whatever Boca did against Auckland City in Nashville would not be enough to qualify, but the Argentine giants were still expected to do better than draw 1-1 against the tournament minnows from New Zealand. Auckland had lost 10-0 to Bayern and 6-0 to Benfica but this time they recovered from falling behind in the first half when goalkeeper Nathan Garrow palmed a Lautaro Di Lollo header into his own net. Christian Gray equalised with a header in the second half to earn the sole representatives from Oceania a remarkable point. "You can't say we haven't learned from the experience of being at the tournament, I'm thrilled for the players and the club, it's wonderful. It's something to go home with," said City coach Paul Posa. Posa said it was a great result for football in Oceania. "I think it's restored a little bit of pride, a little bit of reputation for us," he added. "We're a tiny club with a huge heart and that's evident for all to see." Chelsea eye last 16 The game was the fifth so far at the tournament to be suspended due to a weather warning, with play stopping for almost an hour -- when the action restarted not a drop of rain had fallen at Geodis Park. Chelsea faced Tunisian champions Esperance later at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, with the Premier League side needing only a draw to confirm their place in the next round from Group D. Flamengo, already assured of top spot in the section, faced eliminated Los Angeles FC at the same time in Orlando. Elsewhere on Tuesday, FIFA opened a disciplinary investigation into Pachuca's Gustavo Cabral after allegations he made a racist comment to Real Madrid's Antonio Rudiger. The incident came towards the end of Sunday's game between the two teams which Real won 3-1. Rudiger was visibly angered following an exchange of words with Argentine Cabral and spoke to the referee. Cabral denied he had racially abused the German centre-back.


France 24
2 hours ago
- France 24
Messi and Miami relishing reunion with PSG and Enrique
Miami were surprise qualifiers from Group A after beating Porto and drawing with Palmeiras and Al Ahly and now face the daunting task of playing the recently crowned European champions. Messi joined Miami after two seasons in the French capital and made clear he had not enjoyed his time with PSG. "It's clear that it would better for us if he was angry, because he's one of those players who, when he has something in mind, gives a bit extra," Mascherano told ESPN. The Argentine coach was clear though that the emotions will be less than if Messi were up against PSG on European soil rather than facing his old team in Atlanta. "I think that's in the past now, it's another story. Also, the fact that it's here in the United States, I don't think the atmosphere will be the same, but what we will try to do is play a great game. We know that in order to have a chance, we have to play a perfect game, and well, we'll go for it," he said. After joining Miami in Major League Soccer, Messi reflected on his time in Paris saying it had been "difficult". "I spent two years that I didn't enjoy. I wasn't happy on a day-to-day basis, with the training sessions, the games, I found it hard to adapt to all that," he said. The eight-times Ballon d'Or winner will face a very different PGS to the one that he left with the club having been transformed under Spanish coach Luis Enrique. Luis Enrique is a familiar face for several of the Miami team who played under him at Barcelona. 'He's the best' Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, Messi and Mascherano all featured for Enrique's Barca, winning the treble under him in 2015. "I've said it infinite times: For me, he's the best – I think not just as a coach, but also how he manages the group," said Alba, who also worked with Luis Enrique with the Spanish national team. "He's a phenomenon. I'm excited to see him, as well as his entire staff. I'll give him a hug but when the ref blows the opening whistle, try to beat him. Which is what all of us here are trying to do" added the left-back. Suarez, who scored in the 2-2 draw with Palmeiras on Monday, was also full of praise for the Spanish coach. "For me, along with Maestro (Oscar) Tabarez of the (Uruguay) national team, he was the most important coach of my career, for what they taught me, for what I learned in the day-to-day with them," he said. "He's a coach who influenced me greatly. I already had a competitive DNA, but he injected even more into me. He taught me how to move within a space where I had to play a role I wasn't used to, not touching the ball a lot … Not to mention on a personal level, a relationship of great respect and admiration for what he generated for us as players." Mascherano, in his first club coaching job, said he remains a personal friend of the PSG coach and his family. "That is the beautiful thing about football sometimes. You face these kind of things and, well, in my opinion, I do not deserve this as a coach just yet. But yes, it will be a very beautiful opportunity. I always wish him all the best; that won't be the case for Sunday. I hope luck will be on our side on Sunday. But yes, I have a very good relationship with him. I appreciate him a lot," he said.


France 24
2 hours ago
- France 24
Extreme heat, storms take toll at Club World Cup
With a brutal heatwave blanketing swathes of the eastern United States, adapting to the weather has become a key focus for coaches and players. Borussia Dortmund took the unusual step of leaving their substitutes in the dressing room for the first half of their game against Mamelodi Sundowns in Cincinnati, rather than have them sitting on the bench in blazing sunshine. Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca meanwhile cut short his team's training session in Philadelphia on Monday as the City of Brotherly Love baked in temperatures of 99 degrees Fahrenheit (37.2 degrees Celsisu). Dortmund coach Niko Kovac, meanwhile, said the weather could ultimately shape the destiny of the tournament. "I think that this tournament will be decided not by the best team, but the team that can adapt to these weather conditions the best. They will probably win this tournament," Kovac said. While cooling breaks midway through each half have become standard during the tournament, Dortmund, like other teams, are taking extra steps to mitigate the brutal heat and humidity. "Our boys are very well taken care of by our doctors and the medical staff," Kovac said. "We have very cold towels. We put them in ice baths. The boys also need to cool down their legs and their feet in cold water and ice baths." The experience of the Club World Cup is likely a preview of what can be expected at next year's men's World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico. A recent study published by the International Journal of Biometeorology warned of the risk posed by extreme heat at the tournament for players and spectators, citing climate change as a cause of "extreme heat" events that were "more frequent and intense". Storm disruptions The study concluded that 14 of the 16 host cities being used for the 2026 World Cup experienced temperatures that frequently exceeded the commonly accepted safe thresholds for wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) -- a widely used measure for heat stress. The study argued for games to be scheduled outside of the afternoon windows when conditions were typically at their most fierce. In addition to the brutal heat and humidity, teams at the Club World Cup have also had to deal with matches being halted due to the threat of lightning. On Tuesday, Boca Juniors' game against Auckland City became the fifth match of the tournament to experience a lengthy delay due to public safety regulations used in the United States that mandate play is halted whenever lightning is within 10 miles (16.1 kilometres) of a stadium. A weather delay in Benfica's game against Auckland led to an interruption in play of nearly two hours. National Weather Service official Ben Schott, who advises FIFA and the US World Cup taskforce for 2026, says the kind of weather affecting the ongoing competition is not out of the ordinary, and said teams and fans next year should plan accordingly. "Nothing that we're seeing right now is unusual even though we are breaking records," Schott told AFP. "Most of the eastern United States is breaking records, and then that happens almost every summer. To expect something similar next year as a possibility is something that people should prepare for if you're going to come and enjoy the games." While roasting heat was an issue when the United States last hosted the World Cup finals in 1994, no games at that tournament were halted by storm warnings. That is due to increasingly sophisticated forecasting technology, Schott said. "We're at a point now where we can start to see things almost a week in advance and predict them pretty accurately, as compared to 15-20 years ago," Schott said. "The advances in meteorology since we last had the World Cup here in 1994 have been substantial." Schott said thunder and lightning were "par for the course" in several regions of North America. "This is pretty typical for United States weather for this time of the year," Schott said. "We get a lot of moisture that pumps in from the Gulf of Mexico, and they get the afternoon thunderstorms pop up. "So as we move towards World Cup 2026, things that we're seeing right now would be quite typical to be seen again."