^ ^ Colombia star takes swipe at FIFA after painful World Cup exit

Colombia fell short against Switzerland but was it a level playing field? (Picture: Getty Images)

Colombia’s Jhon Arias says teams were not ‘competing on equal terms’ after a painful penalty shootout defeat to Switzerland in the last 16 of the World Cup.

In one of the least memorable games of the tournament, Switzerland edged into the quarter-finals after a goalless draw.

Davinson Sanchez and Cucho Hernandez both missed from the spot for Colombia, allowing Ruben Vargas to score the winning penalty for the Swiss.

They will go on to face Argentina in the quarter-finals, while Colombia head home frustrated with the scheduling of their matches.

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Tuesday’s match was in Vancouver after they had beaten Ghana in the last 32 in Kansas City.

Colombia’s group games were held in Mexico City, Guadalajara and Miami, meaning all five matches were in different cities.

In contrast, Switzerland played their first two matches of the World Cup in Santa Clara and Inglewood (both in California), before three games on the spin in Vancouver.

Jhon Arias says ‘that’s how this industry works’ (Picture: Getty Images)

While not wishing to make excuses, Arias pointed out that it was hardly a level playing field.

‘It’s difficult to answer because I could be punished, but that’s how this industry works,’ the former Wolves midfielder said, via ESPN.

‘We don’t all compete on equal terms, but that’s not a new problem. It doesn’t end here, it continues and the trend is for it to get worse. That’s how football works, it’s nothing new. We have to compete wherever we are.

‘Obviously, traveling to three countries affected my physical condition, but that’s not an excuse.’

Colombia conceded just one goal at the World Cup (Picture: Getty Images)

The 28-year-old, who now plays for Palmeiras, also looked at what his country could do differently, in what was a solid World Cup performance, but not what they had hoped for.

‘It’s inexplicable. Unfortunately, we were once again knocked out, and with this bitter taste,’ he said. ‘We had enormous hope and believed we could make it to the final day, but something was missing, because we’re leaving the World Cup prematurely, in the round of 16.

‘With a cool head, we had a good World Cup, but that’s not enough. That’s football. We leave with a bad taste in our mouths, but also with the certainty that there are things we need to adjust and correct. We are on a path that can bring us great achievements in the future, because we already deserve it.

Granit Xhaka was overcome with emotion after Switzerland's penalty shootout success 🇨🇭 pic.twitter.com/0iBfwJnr5b

— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) July 7, 2026

‘We all want the same thing: to win and conquer important titles with the national team, because our people deserve it. They always support us, show confidence, create hope, and in the end we always leave empty-handed.

‘Hopefully this will serve to provoke a change in the national team, because it’s enough that we’ve been at the door and haven’t made it to the last day . I firmly believe that God has great things in store for us, but we still need to do everything humanly possible to get there.’

Switzerland progress to face Argentina on Saturday in Kansas City.

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^ ^ Norway ridicule ‘sickness bug’ claim before England World Cup match

Erling Haaland’s double against Brazil set up Norway’s quarter-final tie against England this weekend (Getty)

Norway’s team doctor has hit back at reports suggesting that the squad are battling a sickness bug ahead of their World Cup quarter-final against England.

Erling Haaland’s second-half double sealed Norway’s 2-1 win over Brazil to set up a quarter-final tie against England, which kicks off in Miami at 10pm BST on Saturday.

Speaking ahead of the game against England, Norway’s head coach, Stale Solbakken, raised concerns over the health of his squad due to the amount of travelling required throughout the World Cup.

Norway set up their World Cup training base in Greensboro, North Carolina, and have travelled across the United States to play their games in Boston, New York and Dallas.

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‘We’ve really only had Jorgen [Strand Larsen] who has had ​a fever, but then there’s been a bit of ​coughing and rasping scattered throughout,’ Solbakken said.

‘But there’s air conditioning, flights, changing rooms and all that. There’s 50 people [in Norway’s ​travelling party], so it would be strange if ​something or other didn’t crop up.’

Stale Solbakken admits there has been ‘​coughing and rasping’ among his Norway players (Shutterstock)

However, Norway’s team doctor, Ola Sand, insists reports of illness in the squad have been overblown.

‘All players are healthy now,’ Sand told Nettavisen.

‘Very little fuss considering that we have been close together for almost six weeks.’

When asked about the headlines in the English media about the alleged ‘sickness bug’ spreading across Norway’s squad, Sand replied: ‘So great that they believe this. We are in control.’

Jorgen Strand Larsen was in hospital for two days before the start of the World Cup (Shutterstock)

However, speaking before Norway’s 2-1 win against Brazil, striker Jorgen Strand Larsen admitted the severity of his illness at the start of the tournament was not fully disclosed.’

‘I had been in the hospital bed for two days straight and was really sick,’ Strand Larsen told Nettavisen.

‘At first you get scared. I woke up the day before the match and felt it a little, and then it was worse than I had imagined. I got ‘FOMO’ [fear of missing out] and thought I wouldn’t be allowed to join.’

Strand Larsen was able to recover quickly as he was named on the bench for Norway’s 4-1 win over Iraq in their opening World Cup group game on June 16.

‘Many people told me that my smile was back in place in the morning [on match day], and then they realized that I was starting to get better again,’ he said.

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^ ^ FIFA receives official Argentina complaint ahead of possible England World Cup game

Argentina’s win was clouded in controversy (Picture: Elsa/Getty Images)

Egypt have filed a formal complaint with FIFA following their World Cup defeat to Argentina, demanding the officials at the heart of the controversy be kicked out of the competition.

The defending world champions were on the brink of a last 16 exit in Atlanta on Tuesday before staging a remarkable comeback. Trailing 2-0 with 11 minutes left on the clock, Cristian Romero, Lionel Messi and Enzo Fernandez struck to rescue La Albiceleste – setting up a quarter-final showdown with Switzerland.

Should Argentina with that game, they could meet England in a titanic semi-final if the Three Lions beat Norway on Saturday.

Their fightback against Egypt was clouded in controversy however with The Pharaohs denied a penalty moments before Julian Alvarez started the counter that led to Fernandez’s late winner.

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Alvarez tackled Mohamed Salah inside the penalty box, appearing to catch his foot before taking the ball. Immediately after as the ball broke loose, Alexis Mac Allister appeared to pull Hamdi Fathy. VAR did not appear to check either incident with Argentina scoring moments later.

Egypt had already seen a goal ruled out earlier in the game after Zico capped a wonderful counter attack. A VAR checked deemed Lisandro Martinez had been fouled in the build-up.

According to Argentina’s TYC Sports, president of the Egyptian Football Association Hany Abo Rida has demanded a formal investigation into the refereeing decisions.

Egypt had a goal chalked off (Picture: Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images)

As part of his complaint, he has requested the match official from Wednesday’s game, Francois Letexier, and his team be excluded from refereeing for the remainder of the competition.

Egypt are demanding an investigation into their disallowed goal and the two infringements that took place moments before Argentina’s third goal.

Fifa are yet to take any decision on Egypt’s request with their coaching staff and players furiously accusing the officials and the competition of favouring the defending world champions.

Egypt felt huge decisions went against them (Picture: Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images)

‘The referee wasn’t good, he was unfair. His injustice was clear. He persecuted us from the start of the match. He doesn’t want us to win,’ said Zico, whose goal was chalked off before scoring again later in the second-half.

‘It was a rigged game. It wasn’t our fault. That referee… it seems like this match was rigged. We were winning 2-0, and he kept coming at us.

‘Congratulations to Argentina on another World Cup, it seems.’

Head coach Hossam Hassam also launched an extraordinary attack on match officials and FIFA, accusing them of going to extreme lengths to ‘to keep Messi’ in the competition.

‘We looked better than the reigning champions – better in everything – but the result was influenced by internal factors on the pitch and external factors off it,’ he said.

‘Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champion in the competition. Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the running.

Messi scored his eighth goal of the competition (Picture: Anadolu)

‘In football, there are sometimes external factors that go beyond the technical aspects. The world champion received support at every level.

‘There seem to be pressures from the Argentina side on this outcome. We were objecting to the selection of the referee because of the French situation [Argentina beat France in the 2022 World Cup final], but everybody has to suffer at some point and we suffered.

‘We haven’t seen respect or fair play. A penalty was ruled out, it was not even checked by the VAR and our second goal was remarkably, for whatever reason, disallowed.

‘We have all seen the shirt pulled back [by Mac Allister] and not even a VAR check. Life is unfair, normal life is unfair, so why is there no fairness in sports?

‘I’m not convinced by this outcome and the way things unfolded in this match. I want to put it in beautiful words and say hard luck, but we have been treated unfairly and it has been an injustice.’

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^ ^ Zlatan Ibrahimovic fires warning to Argentina over ‘animal’ Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi remains the talisman for Argentina (Picture: Getty Images)

Zlatan Ibrahimovic says Lionel Messi needs more help from his Argentina teammates as the 39-year-old is still operating at a different level to them.

Argentina survived a huge scare in the last 32 on Tuesday and produced an all-time classic comeback to beat Egypt 3-2 after falling 2-0 behind in Atlanta.

That is how the scoreline stood on 78 minutes as the defending champions looked set for an unexpected exit, but Cristian Romero nodded in Argentina’s first from a Messi cross to give them hope.

The Inter Miami forward, who had missed a penalty earlier in the match, then equalised on 83 minutes with a sharp finish, before Enzo Fernandez scored the winner in stoppage time, leaving Messi in tears after the final whistle.

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The Barcelona legend heads into the quarter-finals as the leading scorer at the World Cup with eight goals, ahead of Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland on seven.

It has been an incredible return from the veteran who is once again inspiring his country to success and they will fancy their chances in a quarter-final with Switzerland on Saturday.

Ibrahimovic was blown away by the ‘animal’ Messi became when Argentina needed him, but has warned his teammates that they should not expect to rely on him all the time, even though it often seems that they can.

Messi produced yet another unforgettable moment (Picture: Getty Images)

‘You can see that something changed. He flipped a switch (after 2-0). He became an animal and nobody could stop him,’ Ibrahimovic said on Fox Sports.

‘You can see how much it means to him. He may have won everything, however many Ballon d’Or awards there are, but he still wants more.’

He added: ‘To be a little critical, his teammates need to step up more and help. He’s on another level. If Messi continues like this until the end, nobody will be surprised. But he needs help.’

Thierry Henry and Zlatan Ibrahimović have been a powerhouse punditry duo for Fox (Picture: Getty Images)

Ibrahimovic is joined by fellow iconic striker Thierry Henry on the Fox Sports coverage, who said of Messi: ‘If you write that script, it’s the kind of film you think could never be real. The kind where you think the director went too far. But Messi writes like that, this guy writes history with his feet.’

His strike against Egypt took his international tally to 125 goals in 204 caps for Argentina.

He has now scored 21 goals in World Cups, stretching his lead on Mbappe, who has netted 19 times in the sport’s biggest tournament.

Miroslav Klose was the World Cup’s all-time leading goal-scorer at the start of this year’s event with 16, but has been surpassed by both, with Harry Kane also closing in on him with 14 goals.

Messi again! 🔁

The Argentina superstar has scored in NINE consecutive World Cup games! 🤯🇦🇷 pic.twitter.com/bJhYD5xlBY

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 7, 2026

Messi said after his latest masterclass: ‘It got tough at 0-2 and it was very exciting to be able to turn it around.

‘It’s not easy to come back from 0-2 down, but this group never gives up and tries until the end. What this group did today in this qualifying round is insane.’

After Switzerland edged past Colombia on penalties following a goalless draw they take on the defending champions in Kansas City on Saturday for a place in the semi-finals against the winners of England vs Norway.

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