Business
Spain Coach Luis de la Fuente Backs Lamine Yamal’s Bold ‘Unstoppable’ World Cup Claim Ahead of Austria Clash
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said Wednesday he “loves” teenage star Lamine Yamal‘s declaration that the reigning European champions will be “almost unstoppable” once they hit their stride at the 2026 World Cup, backing his young winger’s bold proclamation ahead of Thursday’s round of 32 match against Austria at SoFi Stadium.
De la Fuente’s endorsement came after Yamal set tongues wagging with comments made in a radio interview earlier this week, in which the 17-year-old Barcelona winger suggested Spain had yet to show their true colors and predicted a dominant run once the team clicked.
“Once we hit our stride … we’ll be almost unstoppable,” Yamal said in the radio interview, adding that Spain are “the only national team expected to play really well” at the tournament.
The comments prompted questions about whether Yamal’s confidence bordered on arrogance, particularly given Spain’s uneven group stage showing. The team drew 0-0 with Cape Verde in their opener, a result that drew widespread criticism given Cape Verde’s status as one of the tournament’s rank outsiders. Spain subsequently beat Saudi Arabia 4-0 and edged Uruguay 1-0 to top Group B, but neither performance fully dispelled the sense that the side was operating well below the level that had made them European champions in 2024.
De la Fuente, speaking at his prematch news conference Wednesday at SoFi Stadium, was asked directly about Yamal’s bold claims and offered an enthusiastic defense of his youngest star’s mindset.
“I think he’s an optimistic player, confident about his possibilities and those of his teammates,” De la Fuente said. “We know what our potential is. We know how far we can go. His words, in their context, seem very positive to me. He transmits optimism, confidence, security, and I love that.”
Yamal himself has had an uneven tournament, in part due to a pre-tournament injury that curtailed his preparation and limited his early availability. He played only 19 minutes in the Cape Verde draw before contributing a goal in 45 minutes against Saudi Arabia. He was on the pitch for 76 minutes against Uruguay but found it harder to impact the game against tighter, more organized defensive opposition. De la Fuente addressed questions about whether Yamal will be capable of completing 90 minutes against Austria and struck an optimistic note.
“Lamine can now play whatever we ask of him,” De la Fuente said. “We’ve been, as always, very careful with all the players’ recovery. It isn’t the same playing a very demanding game, very intense and fast, where you might only be able to play half an hour, and other games that are more comfortable and you can play 70 minutes. Lamine is really good. You’ve seen how excited he is to play.”
Austria’s coach Ralf Rangnick offered an interesting counterpoint to Yamal’s confidence, acknowledging the teenager’s generational talent while framing his team’s approach in purely practical terms. Rangnick stopped well short of dismissing the claims, instead expressing something closer to admiration tempered by the pragmatic language of a coach who needs his players focused on nullifying a threat rather than being distracted by it.
“He is an excellent player, and he will be for the next 12, 13, 14 years or even longer if he stays healthy and keeps a good head on his shoulders,” Rangnick said. “If you look at Lionel Messi, you can see he could play a lot of matches. He’s one of the players we’ll watch very closely tomorrow. We’ll try not to give him space when he starts dribbling. He’s a player all fans love to watch, but it’s our task to make sure he has the ball as little as possible.”
De la Fuente also delivered an upbeat injury report on two wingers who picked up knocks during the Uruguay match. Yéremy Pino, who initially appeared to suffer a serious collarbone injury, has made a faster-than-expected recovery and returned to full training, with De la Fuente describing the turnaround as near miraculous given how serious the initial assessment appeared.
“Yeremy’s recovery has been miraculous,” De la Fuente said. “After the game it looked like a fracture and it wasn’t. With his character and his courage, he’s back training completely normally.”
Nico Williams, another key attacking player who sustained what was feared to be a significant injury late in the Uruguay match, has been ruled out of Thursday’s match but is expected to be available for the round of 16 if Spain advance.
“Nico got a big shock, he thought he had an important injury after the game, but it wasn’t like that,” De la Fuente said. “It’s moderate discomfort that prevents him from playing tomorrow, but we’re optimistic he’ll be there for the next game, if we go through.”
Víctor Muñoz, who has yet to feature at all during the tournament, is also back in full training according to De la Fuente, though the coach noted that a lack of recent competitive minutes makes his selection for Thursday’s match a more complex decision.
Spain are widely considered among the tournament’s top three or four favorites despite their uninspiring group stage performances, with the depth of their squad, their tactical flexibility under De la Fuente and the frightening individual quality of players like Yamal, Pedri, Williams and Álvaro Morata giving them a ceiling that most analysts still rate among the highest of any remaining team. The question throughout the group stage has been not whether Spain have that potential but when, and against whom, it will finally manifest in sustained, 90-minute dominance.
De la Fuente closed his news conference with a declaration of growing confidence that mirrored his young star’s own self-belief.
“As the days pass, I believe even more in this team,” De la Fuente said. “I’ve always believed in this team. For me they’re the best in the world. As the tournament evolves, there’s equality with the results we’re seeing. I’m still just as demanding, still just as realistic, but also more optimistic every day.”
Thursday’s round of 32 match kicks off at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood with a place in the round of 16 on the line for both sides.
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Seven mutual fund NFOs from Kotak, Motilal Oswal, AlphaGrep, JioBlackRock, Edelweiss and Franklin India will open for subscription this week. The offers span index funds, ETFs, a fund of funds and a short-duration debt scheme, with minimum investments ranging from Rs 10 to Rs 5,000.
Business
Mcap of nine of top-10 most valued firms jumps Rs 2.51 lakh cr; Bajaj Finance biggest winner
Last week, the BSE benchmark Sensex climbed 2,034.87 points, or 2.67 per cent, and the NSE Nifty surged 616.15 points, or 2.59 per cent.
“Markets staged a strong rebound during the week, snapping their recent losing streak as easing crude oil prices, improving geopolitical sentiment, encouraging Q1 FY27 earnings, and renewed foreign institutional investor (FII) buying lifted risk appetite,” Ajit Mishra – SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said.
While Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Bajaj Finance, Larsen & Toubro, and Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) were the gainers from the top-10 pack, Hindustan Unilever emerged as the only laggard.
The market valuation of Bajaj Finance surged Rs 80,345.97 crore to Rs 7,10,817.51 crore, the most among the top-10 firms. Shares of NBFC Bajaj Finance on Friday ended over 8 per cent higher after the firm reported a 28 per cent year-on-year rise in consolidated profit after tax (PAT) for the June quarter of FY27.
Bharti Airtel’s valuation soared Rs 44,959.5 crore to reach Rs 12,30,005.63 crore.
The market valuation of TCS jumped Rs 40,414.03 crore to Rs 8,55,894.78 crore and that of Reliance Industries climbed Rs 39,447.35 crore to Rs 17,69,108.79 crore.The market capitalisation (mcap) of Larsen & Toubro rallied Rs 21,096.8 crore to Rs 5,41,844.69 crore and that of State Bank of India edged higher by Rs 10,845.97 crore to Rs 9,47,799.81 crore.
HDFC Bank’s mcap advanced Rs 8,164.73 crore to Rs 11,52,150.63 crore.
The valuation of LIC went up Rs 4,427.49 crore to Rs 5,37,435.05 crore and that of ICICI Bank climbed Rs 1,660.37 crore to Rs 10,29,878.30 crore.
However, the mcap of Hindustan Unilever declined Rs 10,326.46 crore to Rs 4,93,602.13 crore.
Reliance Industries remained the most valued firm, followed by Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, TCS, Bajaj Finance, Larsen & Toubro, LIC, and Hindustan Unilever.
The latest inflow marks a sharp reversal from the preceding months, when Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) withdrew Rs 49,340 crore in June, Rs 32,963 crore in May, Rs 60,847 crore in April and a massive Rs 1.17 lakh crore in March, according to data from the Central Depository Services (India) Ltd (CDSL).
Prior to the four-month selling spree, FPIs had invested Rs 22,615 crore in Indian equities in February.
Despite the turnaround in July, foreign investors have pulled out a net Rs 2.54 lakh crore from Indian equities so far in 2026, way more than the Rs 1.66 lakh crore withdrawn during the whole of 2025.
Market experts attributed the renewed foreign investor interest to relatively stable domestic markets, reasonable large-cap valuations, improving earnings prospects and a more favourable global environment.
V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments, said excessive volatility in markets such as South Korea and Taiwan, coupled with concentration risk in the “chip trade”, is prompting FPIs to look for relatively stable markets like India.
The stability of the rupee and fair valuations of India’s large-cap stocks are other factors facilitating renewed FPI inflows into the country, he added.Vedant Gupte, Co-Founder and CEO of investment platform Trackk, said improving earnings prospects also strengthened investor sentiment, with June quarter results showing signs of recovery across key sectors.
IT stocks, in particular, witnessed a sharp re-rating as better-than-expected earnings helped ease concerns over the impact of artificial intelligence on the sector’s growth prospects, he said.
At the same time, easing pressure from the US dollar and expectations that US interest rates are near their peak have improved the investment environment for emerging markets, Gupte added.
Foreign investor interest was not limited to equities, with the debt market continuing to attract significant inflows during the month.
FPIs invested Rs 29,212 crore in debt through the general route and another Rs 3,033 crore through the fully accessible route in July.
Going forward, the trajectory of foreign flows is likely to be influenced by both global developments and domestic triggers.
Pabitro Mukherjee, Deputy Vice President-Research at Bajaj Broking, said investors in the coming month will closely track crude oil price movements and developments in the ongoing US-Iran geopolitical tensions.
On the domestic front, the Q1FY27 earnings season and the RBI’s monetary policy scheduled for August 5 will remain in focus, he added.
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Nearly 23,000 pounds of Ukrop’s Homestyle Foods baked spaghetti and chicken cobbler products are being recalled over concerns they may be contaminated with metal slivers, federal regulators said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) said the recalled products were sold in Virginia, North Carolina and West Virginia, as well as through Department of War commissaries and online sales.
According to FSIS, the products may be contaminated with a foreign material, specifically metal slivers.
The recall was initiated after a customer found a piece of metal in one of the products.
FROZEN BURRITOS SOLD AT COSTCO PROMPT PUBLIC HEALTH ALERT OVER UNDECLARED ALLERGEN
Ukrop’s Baked Spaghetti products are being recalled after federal regulators said they may be contaminated with metal slivers. (U.S. Department of Agriculture / Unknown)
“The problem was discovered after the establishment received a consumer complaint regarding a metal piece found in a fully cooked product,” FSIS said in its recall announcement.
No injuries have been confirmed, according to FSIS.
“Anyone concerned about an injury should contact a healthcare provider,” the agency said.
PUBLIX EXPANDS FROZEN BERRY RECALL AMID E COLI OUTBREAK THAT SICKENED 12
Ukrop’s Chicken Cobbler products are included in a recall over concerns they may contain metal slivers, according to federal regulators. (U.S. Department of Agriculture / Unknown)
The recall affects products manufactured between July 1 and July 29, 2026.
The recalled products include 62.4-ounce bulk pans and 4.8-ounce single-serving trays of Ukrop’s Baked Spaghetti, along with 48-ounce family-size pans and 11.6-ounce single-serving trays of Ukrop’s Chicken Cobbler.
All affected products carry “best by” dates ranging from July 8 through Aug. 5.
Consumers who purchased the recalled products, including those stored in freezers, should throw them away or return them to the place of purchase for a full refund.
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Federal regulators announced a recall of nearly 23,000 pounds of Ukrop’s baked spaghetti and chicken cobbler products over concerns they may contain metal slivers. (Alfio Giannotti/REDA/Universal Images Group via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The recall comes after Rich Products Corp. recalled thousands of cases of its Farm Rich Pizza Cheese Crunchers in June because the frozen snacks may have contained metal pieces.
More than 160,000 pounds of the frozen snacks were recalled across 21 states, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
FOX Business’ Brie Stimson contributed to this report.
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To the Editor:
The reshoring of supply chains and enhancement in domestic manufacturing will also be needed to support ongoing growth in the automotive, defense, and semiconductor industries (“Beyond AI: 10 Ways to Cash In on the Global Building Boom,” Cover Story, July 23). Large foreign corporations like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing and Samsung Electronics are focusing on expanding their onshore semiconductor footprint in the U.S. to avoid 100% tariffs on imported semiconductors and complying with changing global trade regulations.
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