France captain Kylian Mbappé has become the highest goalscorer in the history of the FIFA World Cup after taking his tally to 22 goals.
The landmark achievement came during France’s 2026 FIFA World Cup third-place match against England, where Mbappé scored twice to move past the previous all-time record and write his name into the history books.
The goals also strengthened his position in the race for the tournament’s Golden Boot. Mbappé now leads the scoring chart with 10 goals, opening a two-goal advantage over his closest challenger, Lionel Messi.
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France produced a spirited second-half comeback after trailing 4-0, with Mbappé leading the fightback. His goals, along with strikes from Bradley Barcola and Ousmane Dembélé, reduced the deficit, but England eventually secured a 6-4 victory to claim the bronze medal.
In addition to becoming the World Cup’s all-time leading scorer, Mbappé also finished the tournament with 14 goal contributions, setting a new record for the most goal involvements by a player in a single FIFA World Cup.
The latest milestone further cements Mbappé’s place among football’s greatest players and adds another remarkable chapter to his already outstanding World Cup career.
In the first 15 innings of their series with the San Francisco Giants, the Seattle Mariners had only three hits and hadn’t scored a single run. Then a man dressed as a short-spined raccoon beat four people dressed in salmon costumes during the seventh-inning stretch, and everything fell apart for the Giants in a 4-3 extra-inning loss.
The unexpected raccoon victory inspired the Mariners to a three-run rally in the 7th inning, which started when Logan Webb hit Randy Arozarena with a pitch with one out. It was only the Mariners’ third base runner of the game and their second hit batsman. Webb proceeded to issue his first walk of the game to Josh Naylor, on four pitches, before 22-year-old Cole Young hit a three-run homer to tie the game.
Yes the announcer says “unexplicably” in that clip.
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Should the Mariners be allowed to start a second baseman named Cole and a shortstop named Colt? Not if I was the commissioner, but until there’s some common sense in the league office, the home run stands. Webb was pulled one batter later when Luis Arraez committed an error, then Sam Hentges got out of the inning with one pitch when Daniel Susac threw out Luke Raley as he tried to steal second.
Why is there a hunched-over raccoon running during a baseball game? First, you have to understand that the Mariners have a race between four different varieties of salmon during the 7th inning of home games. According to the official Salmon Run page, “four unsuspecting salmon, infused with the caffeinated chemicals of a spilled triple-shot espresso, grew to monstrous size to fulfill their destiny – race for the delight of baseball fans in the Pacific Northwest.”
The biggest salmon is named King, the Sockeye is a grunge salmon who wears flannel and loves Alice In Chains, the Silver salmon is a tech nerd, and Humpy wears an inner tube and usually loses the race.
Then there’s “Jimothy,” a new addition to the race thanks to a video of a young raccoon with an unnaturally short spine went viral this week. The original videographer named the raccoon, and he entered his first Salmon Run Saturday night, much to the dismay of Webb and the Giants.
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Things were looking promising before Jimothy showed up. The Giants got home runs from Rafael Devers and Willy Adames in the 6th inning, with Devers’ opposite-field blast confusing everyone on the field, including the umpiring crew, who didn’t realize the ball was pretty clearly a fair ball. Thankfully, some Giants fans in left field began signaling for an official review, and Devers followed suit.
Adames followed two batters later with his own opposite-field shot off Mariners starter Bryan Woo (6 IP, 6H, 3R, 2ER, 7K, 2BB) to make it 3-0. It was Adames second homer in two games and gave the Mariners an upstream battle to catch up.
The Giants offense clocked out after the Adames homer. Their only base runners afterward came on a Heliot Ramos infield single that should have been ruled an error, a free courtesy runner, and an intentional walk to Casey Schmitt so winning pitcher Jose Ferrer (3-1) could strike out Devers in the 10th, his third whiff of the game.
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Dylan Smith (0-2) was the hard-luck loser in the 10th inning after a pretty decent performance from the Giants bullpen. Keaton Winn rescued Hentges in the 8th after Seattle got runners on first and third, hitting Arozarena again along the way. Erik Miller struck out two in a perfect 9th.
But with defensive replacement Victor Robles on second, who scored the winning run without getting an official at-bat, Colt Emerson bunted him to third. After a walk to J.P. Crawford, Rodriguez rebounded from an 0-for-4 start with two strikeouts by delivering a deep fly to left field that walked off the Giants.
It was Rodriguez’s first game back from the injured list, but he decided to wait until the most painful moment possible to get his first RBI.
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The Giants scored their first run thanks to some sloppy Mariners defense. Drew Gilbert grounded a leadoff single into right field, then Luis Arraez hit one in nearly the same place, only to have Young throw the ball away. Somehow, this was also ruled a hit, and now Arraez’s batting title will have an asterisk.
Bryce Eldridge singled to center on a play where Gilbert was going to be held at third before Raley bobbled the ball, giving the Giants their first run and depriving the rookie of an RBI. They couldn’t capitalize further when Schmitt popped out and Devers swung through a 98 MPH fastball.
The Giants broke their three-game win streak, which ties for their longest of the season. Three games! It’s the first time in franchise history that they’ve played 98 games without putting four wins together in a row, going 0-for-6 in their attempts at extending a three-game win streak. This also means that they will become, at the very least, the first Giants team to go 101 games without a four-game winning streak as well.
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The raccoon shook the Giants because they recognized themselves in Jimothy. They’re a desperate, malformed beast of a team, a squad that’s constantly sniffing around in dumpsters, trying to scrounge up a way to save their season. Once, they had Kung Fu Panda. Now, the Giants are simply trash pandas.
Sports analyst Dan Dakich previews the FIFA World Cup Final between Argentina and Spain, highlighting Lionel Messi’s leadership. Dakich predicts Argentina will win, praising Messi’s consistent greatness. The discussion then shifts to WNBA star Caitlin Clark, whom NBA Commissioner Adam Silver called a ‘political football’ amid physical play controversies. Dakich attributes some issues to WNBA players’ jealousy and envy.
The two soccer powerhouses will look to etch their names in the history books and become World Cup champions when they play at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday at MetLife Stadium. The game will be broadcast on FOX.
For Argentina, they have the opportunity to become the first back-to-back World Cup winner since Brazil did it in 1958 and 1962, and just the third country to win back-to-back titles overall. Italy first won consecutive World Cups in 1934 and 1938.
(Left) Argentina’s Lionel Messi (10) reacts during the World Cup semifinal soccer match between England and Argentina in Atlanta, Georgia, on July 15, 2026. (Right) Spain’s Lamine Yamal (19) reacts during warm-up ahead of the World Cup Round of 16 soccer match between Portugal and Spain in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, on July 6, 2026.(Stephanie Scarbrough/AP Photo; Tony Gutierrez/AP Photo)
However, for a long time in Argentina’s semifinal matchup against England, it did not look like they were going to have a chance to make history. The Three Lions held Argentina off the scoresheet for 85 minutes, but Lionel Messi sparked another electrifying come-from-behind win.
Anthony Gordon got the scoring started when he buried a cross from Morgan Rogers to put England on the board first in the 55th minute with an acrobatic finish. Harry Kane sparked the counter with a long pass that left the Argentina defense flummoxed for the first time all game.
However, that would end up being the lone true scoring opportunity of the game for the Three Lions. After England got on the board, Argentina’s pressure was relentless, but England was able to stave off the Argentine attack for about 30 minutes.
Enzo Fernandez of Argentina celebrates his goal during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Semi Final match between England and Argentina at Atlanta Stadium on July 15, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia.(Image Photo Agency/Getty Images)
They finally broke through when Messi set up Enzo Fernandez just outside of the penalty box, and the 25-year-old hooked a shot around England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford into the back of the net to knot it at 1-1.
Lautaro Martinez then played the hero as he came off the bench and into Argentine soccer lore by scoring the winning goal in stoppage. In the 92nd minute, Messi recorded his second assist after he gathered a loose ball and played a beautiful pass into the penalty area, where Martinez was waiting unmarked. Martinez headed the ball past Pickford to send the Argentine fans into a frenzy as they completed the comeback.
It was not the first remarkable comeback of Argentina’s run to the title game. In the Round of 16, they scored three goals in 13 minutes to erase a 2-0 second-half deficit against Egypt to keep their World Cup hopes alive .
How to watch France vs Spain: Live stream the 2026 FIFA World Cup Semifinals
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For Spain, their run have not been quite as dramatic, but it still has been remarkably dominant.
Mikel Oyarzabal of Spain celebrates after converting a penalty to score his team’s first goal during the FIFA World Cup 2026 semifinal match between France and Spain at Dallas Stadium in Arlington, Texas.(Lars Baron/Getty Images)
They have shut out their opponents in six of their seven matches, and has allowed just one goal all tournament. Belgium was the lone country to break through against Spain , but the Spaniards beat Belgium 2-1 in the quarterfinals.
Against France in the semifinal, Spain capitalized on an early mistake and never looked back.
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Veteran French defender Lucas Digne misread the ball and challenged a ball on a cross, but kicked Lamine Yamal instead, committing a foul and giving Spain a penalty kick in the 22nd minute.
Mikel Oyarzabal stepped up for Spain and buried the penalty kick, giving the Spaniards a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
Pedro Porro doubled the lead for Spain in the 58th minute, when he broke through the French defense and found the back of net after beating France goalkeeper Mike Maignan on a crisp pass from Dani Olmo.
The French desperately tried to get back into the game, but the Spanish defense was too sound for them to break through , and held on for the win.
Pedro Porro of Spain celebrates after scoring his team’s second goal during the FIFA World Cup 2026 semifinal match between France and Spain at Dallas Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on July 14, 2026.(David Ramos/Getty Images)
When: Sunday, July 19, 2026
Where: New York/New Jersey Stadium , East Rutherford, New Jersey
India vs England Live Score, 3rd ODI: The cricketing world will be watching Rohit Sharma closely when India take on England in the series-deciding third ODI at Lord’s on Sunday.
Speculation over Rohit’s future has dominated the build-up to the match. However, the BCCI has made it clear that the Lord’s ODI will not be the veteran opener’s final international appearance.
Even so, Rohit will be eager to silence his critics after struggling in the first two matches of the series.
Rohit looks to rediscover his touch
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At his best, Rohit is known for his effortless pull shots against pace and his ability to dominate spin. But the 39-year-old has looked far from his fluent self so far, leading to fresh debates over whether he can continue until the 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa.
The two-paced surface in Cardiff did not help his cause as he played nine consecutive dot balls before getting out.
A better batting wicket at the “Home of Cricket” could give Rohit the ideal opportunity to produce a trademark innings.
As India’s former captain, Rohit has often set the tone by attacking in the powerplay. His biggest challenge on Sunday will be handling the pace and bounce of Jofra Archer in the opening overs.
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Gill, Kohli key to India’s batting
Current captain Shubman Gill has looked in fine touch with the bat and will be hoping to convert his start into a big hundred after throwing away his wicket in Cardiff.
While Rohit has struggled, Virat Kohli has continued to dominate the ODI format. He looked set for another century in the second ODI before falling to Archer, triggering a middle-order collapse that proved costly for India.
India will hope to avoid repeating those mistakes in the series decider.
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KL Rahul’s availability also remains a talking point after Ishan Kishan replaced him in the previous game due to illness. Kishan, like several other Indian batters, found it difficult against England’s short-ball tactics.
Shreyas Iyer has been one of India’s positives in the middle order, especially with his confident batting against leg-spinner Adil Rashid.
Squads
England: Harry Brook (captain), Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Jacob Bethell, James Coles, Will Jacks, Rehan Ahmed, Gus Atkinson, Sam Curran, Liam Dawson, Tom Banton, Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer, Saqib Mahmood, Adil Rashid, Josh Tongue.
India’s senior swimmer Sajan Prakash said striking a balance between chasing personal best timings and winning medals is essential, stressing that while personal milestones reflect an athlete’s progress, medals bring glory to the country on the world stage. The 2026 Commonwealth Games will get underway with the Opening Ceremony on July 23 in Glasgow. The multi-sport event will be held over 11 days across four existing venues before concluding on August 2. The swimming events will be held from July 24 to July 29.
Ahead of the multi-sport event, Sajan, speaking in an interview, lauded the Sports Authority of India (SAI), saying personal best performances and medals complement each other.
“Personal best is always knowing that you have progressed. In training, a lot of times, that will replicate in the competition. And medals are very important for the country to glorify its name on the world stage. So both go hand in hand,” Sajan told reporters.
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The 32-year-old Olympian also spoke about the responsibility of representing India as one of the country’s senior swimmers ahead of the Commonwealth Games, saying the responsibility remains the same irrespective of seniority, though experience brings added accountability.
“I’ve always been responsible when representing the country, irrespective of whether I’m a senior or not. But definitely, yes, I should know what to talk about, when to talk and how to talk to the media and everyone else. That is one. And my performance needs to be on point on the day of the race because there are many things that can spoil that, but I need to be much more prepared months before and days before. So definitely, yes, I have the weight on my shoulders to take it forward,” he told reporters.
For those unversed, Prakash scripted history for Indian swimming by becoming the country’s first swimmer to earn direct qualification for the Olympic Games through the qualifying standard, according to Olympics.com.
Sajan secured his place at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics after producing a historic performance in the men’s 200m butterfly at the 2021 Sette Colli Trophy in Rome. He clocked 1:56.38, setting a new national record and going below the Olympic Qualification Time (OQT) of 1:56.48 to seal a direct Olympic berth.
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The achievement marked a watershed moment for Indian swimming, as no Indian swimmer had previously qualified for the Olympics by meeting the OQT, according to Olympics.com.
Tokyo 2020 was Sajan’s second Olympic appearance after making his debut at the Rio 2016 Games. While his Rio participation came through the universality quota, his qualification for Tokyo was earned on merit through the Olympic qualifying standard, making him the first Indian swimmer to achieve the feat.
At the Tokyo Olympics, Sajan also became the first Indian swimmer to compete in two editions of the Olympic Games, further cementing his place in Indian swimming history.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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Haaland Memes | “It’s A Special & Funny Game”: Haaland Ahead Of Quarterfinals Against England
England fans will be keen to follow the Three Lions’ progress despite time differences (PA)
The time difference has provided a challenge for European audiences, with some games kicking off in the early hours – though their were kinder start times for the semi-finals, and it will be the same for the final.
Here’s how you can watch the final game of the 2026 World Cup:
SOUTHPORT, England — The most revealing words from Bryson DeChambeau’s sport-trembling two-shot penalty on Friday night at the Open Championship didn’t come from DeChambeau at all.
They came from his manager, Brett Falkoff, informing the world that his client was considering withdrawing from the Open.
“He’s a lot of things,” Falkoff told a group of reporters as the sun descended low into the horizon next to the practice range at Royal Birkdale. “He’s not a cheater.”
DeChambeau brought this war to golf just minutes earlier, when he refused to say whether he’d continue competing at the Open following his two-shot penalty. He fired the first shots behind closed doors, in the scorer’s tent with R&A officials, and out in the field as he pleaded his case. Now, Falkoff was bringing it to the media, drawing the official line in the sand.
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Falkoff’s words were not just revealing for their implied threat. They were revealing because they spoke to DeChambeau’s willingness to stoke a debate already forming in living rooms and clubhouse bar rooms the world over — a debate that has filled every nook and cranny of life far beyond the golf course for many years now. A debate between the individual and the institution.
It has been a hard century for the establishment. The explosion of the internet and the polarization of public life have turned pieces of our existence that were once so boring they made our eyes bleed into a fully electrified third rail. In some cases, the dismantling was well-earned, the result of overwhelming bureaucracy and inept leadership; in others it wasn’t, the result of a vulnerable public good and far too much self-interest.
It might sound strange to compare DeChambeau’s battle with the R&A to these tried-and-true political spats, but you didn’t need to spend much time around either the golfer or the governing body on Saturday at the Open to see that the sides were falling along the same battle lines. On ropelines all over Royal Birkdale, fans screamed the familiar battle hymns. They begged DeChambeau to take it to the establishment, to overwhelm them with his charisma and braggadocio — “Get those shots back!” They looked at the volunteers and employees bearing the black polos and old crest of the tournament organizers with open disgust — “F*** the R&A!!!”
At the very least, it was easy to understand the nature of their preferences. In one corner sat DeChambeau, perhaps the single most powerful individual in the entire sport, a maverick and entertainer whose very existence seems to engender a kind of frenzied masculinity at golf events unmatched by any modern player since Tiger Woods. In the other corner sat the R&A, perhaps the single most cloistered institution in a sport full of them — a collection of individuals so well-connected and old-fashioned their name literally stands for Royal and Ancient.
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And yet it was vaguely terrifying to witness how painfully familiar it all looked. How easily and instinctively even these British crowds, freed from America’s cultural battles, smelled blood in the water. How the disdain dripped from their voices as they screamed, in several instances, “STICK IT TO THEM, BRYSON!”
DeChambeau is not the first golfer to find strength in individuality. In a sport filled with reserved personalities, he is one of the few willing to proudly and directly position himself in the public eye. His years as LIV — and the subsequent explosion of his YouTube presence — have only amplified the power of his persona.
He is also not the first golfer to take issue with the stodginess and opacity of golf’s governing bodies as it relates to the enforcement of the rules. It wasn’t even a month ago that folks were up in arms over the USGA’s decision not to penalize Wyndham Clark, the U.S. Open winner, for a similar club-grounding event in the rough at Shinnecock. It was only a few days before that that golfers were similarly peeved over the USGA’s decision to penalize Joaquin Niemann for a player conduct violation … but not divulge the footage of the offense.
In both instances, it might be said that DeChambeau’s anti-establishment bent is good for golf. He is forcing the sport to change, to rid itself of the old ways, to embrace the future — like his pal Tiger Woods once did. He is encouraging the governing bodies to remove the perception of the smoke-filled room and bring their processes out in the light where everyone can see them.
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And yet, in both instances, it might be said that DeChambeau’s willingness to take on the establishment reflects a responsibility to uphold its traditions — a responsibility that at least one of DeChambeau’s counterparts found sorely missing from his behavior on Friday and Saturday at the Open.
“I think a lot of it’s performative. I think a lot of it’s for attention,” Rory McIlroy said. “To hold the tournament hostage like that, and to have all of us, players, volunteers, everyone waiting on him to depart, I didn’t feel like it was a great look.”
It was telling that a large part of the public discourse around DeChambeau’s penalty did not surround whether he was actually in the wrong for his behavior from off to the side of the 5th green, and instead focused on if DeChambeau was under a bigger microscope than other players in the field. If you didn’t know any better, you might see the discourse and think a generation of fans (and some competitors!) believed it didn’t matter if DeChambeau had actually broken the rules because his rule-breaking occurred in an environment where other players could get away with it.
“Yeah, it’s hard. Every shot is on camera. There’s a lot of guys that play this week and the shots aren’t on camera. So you can say that that’s unfair or whatever, or it might happen more than it does,” McIlroy said. “It’s obviously impossible to police everyone, and that’s why it is, for the most part, a self-policing game.”
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That last part of McIlroy’s answer is prescient. Golf is a self-policing game. When self-policing fails, governing bodies like the R&A are called to clean up the mess.
On the simplest level, DeChambeau’s penalty was little more than that: The R&A cleaning up a mess of his creation. The ruling was fair because it was correct. It was necessary because it was correct. If we cannot agree to enforce the rules when we know they are broken, then we don’t have to worry about if rulings are fair or correct, because we don’t have much of a golf tournament at all.
Even if his Friday night transgressions are forgotten, DeChambeau’s war against the golf establishment will continue far beyond this week at Royal Birkdale. It will be felt every time he steps inside the ropes at a big-time golf event, and some of the changes have the power to alter golf as we know it.
A lot of that change is good. It should be celebrated. But some of it is very dangerous in the hands of just one individual. Some of it is very dangerous indeed.
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If Saturday at the Open was any indication, the road ahead is treacherous for golf’s institutions. Power comes at a cost, and the cost of this week’s display of power has been steep.
The truth is that there’s no knowing when the next battle will arrive. In fact, at this juncture, all we know is that the institutions will be challenged. There are battles on the horizon, and the individuals are getting closer to the edge.
Yamal or Messi? With just a few hours to go before kick-off in the World Cup final between Spain and Argentina, we took to the streets of New York to ask fans which of the two players they prefer
July 18, 2026; Miami Gardens, Florida, U.S.; France’s Kylian Mbappe in action with England’s Marc Guehi. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
France didn’t get the win but Kylian Mbappe got the record on Saturday. For now.
The French star became the all-time leading goal scorer in World Cup history with 22 after his second goal of his club’s third-place match against England in Miami Gardens, Fla.
Despite Mbappe’s efforts, France lost 6-4 as their attempted comeback from a 4-0 halftime deficit fell short.
Mbappe scored goals in the 48th and 66th minutes to move one ahead of Argentina great Lionel Messi.
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“I’m just trying to help my team score every time,” Mbappe said after the match. “It’s for sure that when you score that many goals in the World Cup, it elevates you to certain levels but I would have liked to not be the top scorer in history and play tomorrow’s (championship) match.
“So, I think it’s good for legacy and when we stop (playing) to say that I was one of those players. But today, it’s not the first thing crossing my mind.”
Mbappe also has 10 goals in this World Cup, two ahead of Messi in the competition for the Golden Boot. Messi’s squad meets Spain in Sunday’s final in East Rutherford, N.J., meaning the Argentine star has a chance to surpass both marks Mbappe set.
Mbappe is the first player with 10 goals in a World Cup since West Germany’s Gerd Muller in 1970.
The rules are simple. Each day there’s a new footballer and the challenge is to guess who they are in as few attempts as possible.
After each wrong guess you unlock a new clue. Guess the answer after as few clues as possible to score more points.
Three is a good score, four or five points is exceptional.
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So take part and return for more tomorrow.
Today’s player and clues set by BBC Sport’s Adam Millington.
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