08/12/2025

SPORTS MONDAY | DEC 8, 2025

28 Contenders plot path to glory ... as Fifa reveals tournament schedule T HE path to glory at the 2026 World Cup has now been laid out with Fifa yesterday confirming the full match Uruguay in Guadalajara. England will open their bid against Croatia in the covered Dallas stadium on June 17, before shifting to the northeastern United States for their remaining Group L fixtures. last World Cup staged in the United States in 1994, will meet Morocco at the MetLife Stadium in their first Group C encounter on June 13. groups, England could find themselves playing co-hosts Mexico in Mexico City in the last 16 and then Brazil in the quarterfinals, before a semi against Argentina. The opening game sees Mexico play South Africa in a repeat of the 2010 inaugural match at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. The host nations have

Carlo Ancelotti’s team then take on Haiti in Philadelphia on June 19 before a clash with Scotland in Miami on June 24 – it will be the fifth time the countries have faced off at a World Cup. For the first time, the draw was done in such a way as to ensure the four highest-ranked nations were kept apart. Spain, Argentina, France and England cannot meet before the semifinals, if all top their groups. However, the path to that stage – with an extra knockout round now following the group phase – looks perilous. If the top seeds all win their

schedule for the first 48-team tourna ment, a day after the star-studded draw ceremony in Washington dominated by Donald Trump. Saturday’s event hosted by Fifa president Gianni Infantino revealed that Lionel Messi’s Argentina, the reigning champions, will begin their defence of the trophy against Algeria in Group J in Kansas City on June 16. They will then face Austria and Jordan in Dallas. European champions Spain will play their first two Group H fixtures, against debutants Cape Verde and Saudi Arabia, in the covered and air conditioned Atlanta stadium. They will then head to Mexico to take on FERRAN TORRES netted a first-half hattrick to help Barcelona thrash Real Betis 5-3 and move four points clear at the top of La Liga yesterday. Lamine Yamal and Roony Bardghji scored the other goals as the champions racked up what was mostly a comfortable victory in Seville, until they conceded two late goals. Fourth-place Atletico Madrid fell to a second defeat in a week with a 1-0 loss at Athletic Bilbao. Villarreal, third, kept the pressure on La Liga’s top two with a 2-0 win over 10-man Getafe. After some shaky performances Barca beat Diego Simeone’s Atletico in midweek and then built on it with another triumph at Betis. “We are fighting and (my players) were exhausted, so at the end not everyone was 100 percent, and this is normal,” Flick told reporters. “Today is positive. Really positive and compliments for my players.” Flick opted to make some rotations, with a key Champions League clash against Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday in mind. The German coach started Bardghji on the right wing and Torres up front in place of Robert Lewandowski, as well as moving teenage star Yamal into a central attacking midfield role, where he impressed. Former Manchester United forward Antony opened the scoring for Betis, fifth, at their temporary La Cartuja home, blasting home after Jules Kounde played him onside. The French defender made amends to help Barca get back level five minutes later, with Torres polishing off his cross at the end of a sharp team move. Torres struck again in the 13th minute in similar fashion from Bardghji’s cross to put Barca in front, and they never looked back. Bardghji scored the third himself after Kane cameo sinks Stuttgart HARRY KANE came off the bench to score a hattrick as Bayern Munich thrashed Stuttgart 5-0 on a day of late drama in the Bundesliga yesterday. Kane struck three times in the second half to crush spirited resistance from Stuttgart, while St. Pauli and Heidenheim both grabbed injury-time goals. “I always prefer to play the full game, but my job today was to help from the bench and as long as I can help the team, that’s the most important thing,” said Kane. “When you’re going through a season like we are and playing so many games, the boss is SHORTS

experienced turbulent relations since Trump came to power but he brushed that aside on Friday. Germany’s opponents in Group E will be Ivory Coast, Ecuador and Caribbean minnows Curacao – they play the latter in their first game in Houston – while Portugal face Uzbekistan, Colombia and a playoff winner. The United States got a manageable draw, with Paraguay, Australia and a European play-off winner in Group D.

Other possible match-ups include France and Germany being on a last 16 collision course and a potential meeting between Messi’s Argentina and Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal in the quarterfinals. The tournament will be held across the USA, Mexico and Canada from June 11 to July 19, with 16 more teams added to the global showpiece, up from the 32 nations involved in 2022. While the US will host most matches, including the final at the MetLife Stadium, three of the 16 venues will be in Mexico and two in Canada.

The 1966 winners will take on Ghana in Boston on June 23 and then face Panama at the MetLife Stadium just outside New York City on June 27. If they top their group they must then go to Atlanta for a last-32 tie on July 1. France, winners in 2018 and runners-up in 2022, will play all three Group I matches in the northeastern US, facing Senegal at the MetLife Stadium and Norway in Boston, either side of a fixture in Philadelphia against an intercontinental playoff winner. Meanwhile Brazil, who won the

The top two teams in each group advance to the last 32, joined by the eight best third-placed teams. – AFP Inter top Serie A ahead of Liverpool visit INTER MILAN moved top of Serie A yesterday after hammering high-flying Como 4-0 at the San Siro, ahead of the visit of struggling Liverpool in the Champions League. Strike partnership Lautaro Martinez and Marcus Thuram scored in each half before Hakan Calhanoglu and Carlos Augusto netted late as Inter eased to a victory which pushed them two points ahead of AC Milan and Napoli who are both yet to play. “Today we showed how good we are against a really good side in Como,” said Martinez. “We showed just how hungry we are to get as many points as we can… it’s a really good win for us.” Yesterday’s win was the perfect warm-up for Wednesday’s clash with Liverpool, which could be key to whether Cristian Chivu’s team secure direct qualification for the last 16 of the Champions League. Cesc Fabregas’ Como drop down a place to sixth, six points behind Inter after falling to their first defeat since August. “It’s hard to analyse when you’ve been beaten 4-0. It’s a heavy defeat… but honestly I didn’t see a huge difference between the two teams tonight,“ insisted Fabregas. “A result like today’s helps you develop... A heavy defeat is when you grow the most and when you learn the most.” Fiorentina plunged deeper into crisis with a 3-1 defeat at promoted Sassuolo which left them bottom of the division without a single win this season. Once the home of players like Gabriel Batistuta and Rui Costa and sixth-placed finishers last season, Fiorentina have collected just six points from 14 matches. Raffaele Palladino’s good start as Atalanta coach took a hit with a 3-1 loss at Verona, their first win of the season, in the day’s late fixture. – AFP 1-0 at Monaco the previous weekend. Kvaratskhelia scored twice with youngster Senny Mayulu, Ibrahim Mbaye and Gonçalo Ramos completing the romp in injury time. The modest northern club Lens with a large regional support base climbed top for the first time in 21 years the previous weekend, and were to remain top regardless of Paris Saint-Germain’s result. Lens sit top with 34 points, PSG have 33, and Marseille and Lille both have 29 after Lille edged OM 1-0 on Friday. Former Marseille and Newcastle attacking midfielder Florian Thauvin set Lens on their way to this fifth straight league win on 34 minutes and Wesley Saïd scored the winner on 81 after Nantes had levelled on 38 through Youssef El Arabi.

Barca extend Liga lead as Atletico slip

Ferran Torres (right) scores Barcelona’s second goal against Betis in La Liga yesterday. – REUTERSPIC

spot before the hour mark, after former Blaugrana defender Marc Bartra was harshly penalised for handball. Marcus Rashford’s shot was blocked by Bartra but the ball flew up and struck his hand. Yamal and Rashford missed big chances before Betis nabbed two late goals, with Diego Llorente turning home at the back post from a corner that Barca defended badly. Kounde clumsily felled another former Barca player in Ez Abde and Cucho Hernandez rolled home from the spot. – AFP

good work by Pedri to bring the ball forward, the Swedish winger finishing with aplomb. Torres completed his hattrick before half time with a stroke of luck, as his shot deflected home past Alvaro Valles. It was his 11th league goal, making him the second top scorer in La Liga behind Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe. “I already knew I could do this,”Torres told Movistar . “That’s what you have to do at Barca, and I’m aiming for many more (goals).” Yamal netted Barca’s fifth from the penalty

Anton Kade. Elsewhere, St. Pauli avoided a tenth defeat in a row with a 1-1 draw at Cologne, while Heidenheim came from behind for the second week in a row as they beat Freiburg 2-1. PSG thump Rennes but Lens stay top SURPRISE package Lens will emerge from the weekend as French Ligue 1 leaders after a 2-1 win at Nantes yesterday but Paris Saint-Germain thumped Rennes in the late game to loom just one point behind them. French and European Champions PSG travel to Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League midweek and on Saturday fielded a weakened side that routed Rennes 5-0, having slipped up

experienced enough to know it’s not always possible to play the same starting eleven,“ he added. “The most important thing is that when you do change it, the level doesn’t drop. It didn’t today.” Bayern remain eight points clear at the top of the table after second-place RB Leipzig cruised to a 6-0 win over Frankfurt in yesterday’s late game. Elsewhere, Christian Eriksen helped Wolfsburg to their first home win in almost a year with a 3-1 victory against Union Berlin. Wolfsburg’s win was not the only surprise of the day, as Augsburg snatched a shock 2-0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen in their first game since sacking coach Sandro Wagner, thanks to first-half goals from Dimitris Giannoulis and