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Has Lionel Messi ended GOAT debate? Why have star coaches been outshone? Day 35 recap

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Argentina are through to their second World Cup final in a row, after beating England 2-1 in Atlanta. Lionel Messi inspired them to a sensational comeback win, helped by Thomas Tuchel’s tactics after going 1-0 ahead.

They will now have to emotionally and physically regroup in double-quick time: they travel to New York to face Spain in the final on Sunday, and have the chance to be the first team to retain the World Cup since Brazil did it in 1962.

As for England, it was an enhanced version of previous failures, immediately sitting back and telling Argentina to attack them for the last half hour of the game. Which they duly did, and won thanks to strikes from Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez.

Has Messi already ended the GOAT debate?

If you still don’t think Lionel Messi is the greatest player of all time, then what on earth will persuade you?

Perhaps a second World Cup? If he leads Argentina to be the first team to win back-to-back titles in 64 years? What about if he scores in the final? Scores two, then? A hat-trick? Will that do it?

Argentina’s win against England gave more proof that you simply can’t stop Messi. You can try, and occasionally he will go a game without scoring, very occasionally that will be because you have managed to contain him.

But more often than not he will find a way. Play how you like, he’ll find a way to kill you somehow. Admittedly England played into his hands by giving him plenty of space outside the box, but while you can blame them for their tactics after going a goal up, maybe you can’t really blame them for being beaten by Messi.

Lionel Messi celebrates setting up Argentina’s winner against England (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

There was much talk in the early days of this tournament about the biggest stars really turning up. And it was great to see Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, Vinicius Junior, Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and Michael Olise all stepping up, all scoring goals, all doing what superstars should do. Cristiano Ronaldo half fits into this category: while he was quite clearly a burden to his team, ultimately he did score three goals in five games.

But in the end there’s only one of them standing. None of those other players could drag their team through when they needed it. None of them scored, or provided an assist, or really contributed in any meaningful way to the games in which their nations were eliminated.

Messi continues to make the difference. He didn’t score, but he set up both goals for Argentina against England — one with an admittedly routine pass, but the other courtesy of a delicious cross. He’s through to the World Cup final again, and all the other stars are going home.

That’s greatness. The greatest of all time.

Why are low-profile coaches outshining the stars at the World Cup?

The World Cup final will be contested by one coach who sort of got the job by accident, and another who spent the decade before he got the job coaching in his country’s youth system.

Lionel Scaloni was nobody’s idea of the man to finally help Messi win the World Cup when he was appointed in 2018. After failure at that year’s tournament, Jorge Sampaoli was fired at great cost, meaning the Argentinian federation simply couldn’t afford a bigger name. Scaloni, who had been one of Sampaoli’s assistants, was initially appointed as a caretaker, and when he was given the job permanently it didn’t go down well. Diego Maradona railed against the selection of a man who he said “couldn’t even direct traffic”.

But should they beat Spain on Sunday he will have won four major tournaments in a row — the Copa America twice, and the World Cup twice — which is simply unprecedented. It will make him the first coach to retain the World Cup since Vittorio Pozzo did it with Italy in the 1930s.

The man in the other dugout isn’t any more glamourous. Or at least wasn’t when he was appointed. Spain’s Luis de la Fuente dutifully worked his way up the age groups, firstly taking charge of the under-19s, then the under-21s, then the under-23s, before moving up to the senior side in 2022.

Luis de la Fuente has got the best out of Spain despite his lack of star reputation (Carl Recine/Getty Images)

Despite their lack of significant reputation, they have both created teams that work: Scaloni by finding a way of constructing a framework to make the most of their all-time genius, De la Fuente by adapting Spain’s traditional possession game to suit this new generation. Perhaps their lack of reputation has helped them succeed: their lack of ego means they were more likely to subjugate themselves to the needs of the team, rather than imposing their own pre-conceived ideas.

There is, perhaps, a lesson there for some of the other countries who decided that the way to go was a big name, expensive coach.

Thomas Tuchel proved inadequate and cost England their semi-final. Mauricio Pochettino ultimately couldn’t get the USMNT beyond roughly where their levels of talent suggested they should get. Carlo Ancelotti departed at the round of 16 stage with Brazil.

It’s quite gratifying that, in the international game at least, the biggest names and the deepest pockets do not necessarily equate to success.

Is the third-place playoff the saddest match in football?

The saddest match in football history took place in April 2013. It was a Premier League game between Reading and Queens Park Rangers. It was a stultifying, boring 0-0 draw, a result that meant both teams were relegated. It was about as bleak as football gets.

However, the third-place playoff — or the ‘Bronze Final’, as FIFA is calling it now — isn’t far behind. Enter France and England, who will have to drag themselves to Miami on Saturday after their respective demoralising defeats and pretend that this game means something.

On reflection, perhaps the party capital of the USA wasn’t the most appropriate choice for this game of sadness. Maybe FIFA thought that a night or two on South Beach would cheer up the players and fans who will shuffle into town for this one, but you would imagine enthusiasm will be low.

It’s not completely pointless. Third place is, after all, better than fourth place. It’s still a game at an actual World Cup, and a chance for some of those who haven’t yet appeared to get some time on the pitch and perhaps make it feel like a not completely wasted trip.

Kylian Mbappe still has a Golden Boot to win (Lars Baron/Getty Images)

It’s also a chance for Kylian Mbappe to go for the Golden Boot. He’s currently on eight goals, level with Messi, and it will be rather easier to pad out his numbers against a half-interested England as opposed to Messi facing Spain’s smothering defence. Croatia’s Davor Suker scored the goal that secured him the top scorer title in the 1998 third-place playoff, as did Germany’s Thomas Muller in 2010.

But ultimately this is a game that nobody wants or needs. The players have been away for the best part of six weeks, a gruelling tournament that has ended in disappointment, and they all need a rest before the relentless demands of the domestic season reappear all too soon.

They will want to be absolutely anywhere else on the planet on Saturday. And who can blame them?

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England v India – 2nd ODI: Ben Duckett wicket first ball

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July 16, 2026

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England get off to the worst possible start in their chase of 234 as India’s Jasprit Bumrah removes Ben Duckett for a golden duck with the first ball of the innings during the second one-day international in Cardiff.

FOLLOW LIVE: England v India – 2nd ODI

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Red Bull returns to old rear wing for Belgian GP after recent Max Verstappen crash and spin

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July 16, 2026

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SPA, Belgium — Red Bull will revert to its previous specification of rear wing for this weekend’s Formula 1 race in Belgium after Max Verstappen’s recent incidents in Austria and Great Britain.

Verstappen crashed out in qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix three weeks ago when part of his rear wing failed, going off at the high-speed penultimate corner of the Red Bull Ring.

Eight days later, the four-time world champion spun off-track at Stowe, another high-speed corner, during the race at Silverstone, costing him a podium finish.

Verstappen said afterwards that the incidents had been “super dangerous” and that he was feeling “really fed up” with Red Bull’s recent issues.

Red Bull adopted an unconventional rear wing design from the Miami Grand Prix, following Ferrari by introducing a so-called ‘flip-flop’ or ‘macarena’ wing where the main plane of the wing flips over 180 degrees when opening in Straight Mode. It is estimated to offer a top speed advantage than the more conventional rear wing designs used by the rest of the grid, which open by simply flipping upwards to flatten the top plane.

In light of the crashes, the team will now revert to its older specification of rear wing for both Verstappen and teammate Isack Hadjar’s cars for this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix.

The Spa circuit features a number of high-speed corners, including Eau Rouge, Raidillon and Pouhon, where any issues causing a loss of downforce from the wing could lead to accidents.

Red Bull will continue to refine the design of the ‘flip-flop’ wing in the hope of bringing it back to the track at future race. Team principal Laurent Mekies said after Verstappen’s spin at Silverstone that although the issues in the two incidents were not exactly the same, they were both related to the rear wing.

Verstappen said in Thursday’s FIA news conference it was “quite obvious” why the team was returning to the previous wing design.

“We’ll go back on the old one, and see whenever the latest or new one is ready again to be used for us,” he added.

Verstappen is seventh in the drivers’ championship (John Thys /AFP via Getty Images)

In the wake of Verstappen’s crash at Silverstone, the FIA’s technical department made enquiries with Red Bull about the design and operation of its rear wing.

F1’s governing body, which takes a keen interest in any safety matters, also spoke to Ferrari about its own rear wing functionality.

But the way in which Ferrari’s design operates is different to Red Bull’s. While Ferrari’s opens using actuators on either side of the rear wing, Red Bull uses a single central actuator in the middle of the wing. The Red Bull design also creates a bigger open gap — intended to offer a greater top speed boost — when the wing is open.

Ferrari also has not encountered any issues with its ‘flip-flop’ rear wing. It started testing the concept towards the end of last year when designing the SF-26 car and debuted it at preseason testing — at which point it also discussed the design with the FIA — before refining its operation ahead of it being used in qualifying and race sessions from Miami onwards.

Hadjar felt the return to the previous rear wing design would have a bigger visual impact than on the car’s performance, saying it is “hard even for us to measure the loss going back to it.”

“We still reckon to have similar competitiveness to last weekend, for example, even though it’s definitely a less impressive rear wing,” Hadjar told reporters. “We’re making sure the other one comes back to us as soon as we can, and in a safer way as well.”

Hadjar added that he got “quite lucky for two rounds in a row” not encountering any issues with the wing. “It could have happened to none of us, and it could have happened four times to the both of us,” Hadjar said. “On this one, (Verstappen) took it for me unfortunately. It’s his problem, it’s my problem as well, and we need to fix it.”

Verstappen said after his retirement at Silverstone that it would take “a very zen person to be optimistic at the moment” given the reliability issues he’d encountered. The retirement at Silverstone left him a lowly seventh in the world championship with just two podium finishes to his name this season.

“We’re just looking to the future, trying to fix current issues that we have on the car,” Verstappen said on Thursday at Spa. “But that’s a very open discussion.

“Yes, sometimes you get a little bit disappointed or upset after a race. For example, after Silverstone, you go home, you reset. On Wednesday, I was back at the factory, and then you prepare again for the weekends ahead.

“That’s how I’ve been operating all the years together. Of course, some years you’re just a little bit more competitive than others. But in terms of my approach and how we work as a team, nothing really changes.”

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Tour de France stage 12: Tim Merlier seals hat-trick of victories in chaotic, crash-marred finale

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July 16, 2026

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Tim Merlier made it three stage wins at this year’s Tour de France on Thursday, sprinting to victory in Chalon-sur-Saône ahead of Olav Kooij and Jasper Philipsen.

A largely pedestrian stage burst into life in the closing 40 kilometres as Lidl-Trek tried to defend Mads Pedersen’s green jersey by repeatedly attempting to split the peloton on some lumpy terrain.

The pure sprinters’ teams kept things together, however, which set up another fast finish — a finale that was marred by a nasty crash involving Fernando Gaviria that took down several riders.

Jacob Whitehead analyzes the action.

Huge crash as Merlier completes stage win hat-trick

Largely, this Tour has avoided large crashes in the peloton — but the closing kilometres of sprint stages are the race’s most dangerous moment.

With 500m remaining, Caja Rural’s Fernando Gaviria fell hard onto his left side after overlapping the wheel of a Bahrain-Victorious rider who cut across him, hitting his head and suffering a suspected broken collarbone.

His fall, in turn, brought down yesterday’s stage winner Soren Waerenskjold, with Netcompany-Ineos’ Dorian Godon then flying into the Norwegian as he rolled along the floor. After the stage it was confirmed that Gaviria had indeed broken his clavicle.

Tim Merlier, as he has throughout the Tour, read the mayhem perfectly to surge through the middle and outlast the fast-finishing Olav Kooij, with Jasper Philipsen in third place.

Merlier revealed post-stage that his Soudal Quick-Step team’s radios had broken during the stage. At the finish, he was met by his wife Cameron and young son — his partner is the daughter of late Belgian cycling hero Frank Vandenbroucke.

“It gave me extra motivation (them being here),” Merlier said. “We had some radio problems, the other guys were all coming to me, and I didn’t know about the (Lidl-Trek) attack with 27 riders. (Leadout) Jasper Stuyven then got a flat tire, he wasn’t sure if he could do the leadout, but we stayed calm, and I was on a good day.”

Merlier is undoubtedly the fastest man at this Tour — and will be the favourite to win his fourth stage on the Champs-Élysées next Sunday, the next and final opportunity of the race.

It also means there is just one chance remaining for Philipsen, the top-ranked sprinter entering the race, to win his first stage of the Tour. His Alpecin-Premier Tech squad possess the strongest leadout in the race but so far Philipsen has been unable to turn that into a victory.

Merlier has now won 75 races in his professional career (JASPER JACOBS / BELGA MAG / AFP via Getty Images)

Pedersen green jersey pursuit means Lidl-Trek continue to animate race

Mads Pedersen’s aims are clear: to become the first Dane to ever win the Tour de France green jersey. As he knows he does not possess the raw speed of the peloton’s fastest men — such as Merlier, Philipsen, and Kooij — it means he has to get creative.

Pedersen has won over half his points through the intermediate sprints midway through the stage, while also relentlessly trying to create reduced bunch finishes in which he stands a better chance of a higher places — infiltrating the breakaway to Foix for a win on stage four is the best example.

These tactics animated an otherwise straightforward stage. Pedersen’s line en-route to second in the day’s intermediate sprint, early in the stage, was investigated by the Tour’s commissaires, who appeared to be about to sanction him for deviation.

Lidl-Trek’s car was summoned to give representations, along with Pedersen himself — no sanction, in the end, was forthcoming, despite a long delay to the results. After Philipsen’s demotion, and subsequent reinstation on Wednesday’s stage 11, it was another unclear judgement from race officials.

Then, with a small category four climb approaching with 20km to the finish, Lidl-Trek decided to attack through the irrepressible Quinn Simmons and Czech rouleur Mathias Vacek — the American high-fiving his father on the roadside mid-attack. Their aim was to drop the pure sprinters, or go clear to the finish themselves — and though the race came back together, it led to a chaotic 20 minutes of racing in which EF Education-EasyPost made their own efforts to escape through Kasper Asgreen and Michael Valgren.

For all those efforts, Merlier survived the increase in pace to win the stage — with Pedersen way back in ninth, behind the majority of his green jersey rivals. He now leads by just 40 points over Biniam Girmay, with Philipsen and Merlier (who does not compete for intermediate sprints) lurking close behind. The outcome, however, should not influence the view of Lidl-Trek’s tactics — it was their best odds of minimising his losses today.

Ultra-aggressive Baptiste Veistroffer goes up the road again

What a way to make a name for yourself. This is Baptiste Veistroffer’s debut Tour — and as the rider who has ridden the most kilometres in breakaways this season, the 26-year-old was determined to live up to his own standards.

Having previously headed up the road on three other sprint days, stressing out the peloton as a lone escapee on stage seven, Veistroffer said mid-race that he “didn’t even mean to end up on my own” after making an early attack.

He was later joined by three other riders, Matteo Vercher (TotalEnergies), Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) and Ewen Costiou (Groupama-FDJ), though outlasted all of them at the front before being caught with 31km remaining as Lidl-Trek began attacking.

His nickname is the wonderful ‘Wild Boar of Fousenant’, and that indignance has justifiably been on display over the past week — with the Belgian revealing that other teams in the peloton have complained about his adventuring spirit.

“The sports directors from Alpecin-Premier Tech came over to tell us they were unhappy that they had been forced to ride hard behind him during the stage to Pau,” his DS Mario Aerts said. “But that is racing. At the Tour, there are no bad riders. When somebody attacks, you always have to ride hard to catch him.”

Aerts is completely correct — and Veistoffer will keep riding, seemingly, until his legs fall off.

Stage 12 top 10

  1. Tim Merlier | Soudal Quick-Step (3:38:53)
  2. Olav Kooij | Decathlon CMA CGM (same time)
  3. Jasper Philipsen | Alpecin-Premier Tech (same time)
  4. Biniam Girmay | NSN Cycling Team (same time)
  5. Milan Fretin | Cofidis (same time)
  6. Anthony Turgis | TotalEnergies (same time)
  7. Max Kanter | XDS Astana (same time)
  8. Clement Russo | Groupama – FDJ United (same time)
  9. Mads Pedersen | Lidl-Trek (same time)
  10. Huub Artz | Lotto Intermarché (same time)

Mads Pedersen just about defended his lead in the green jersey competition during stage 12 (Jeff PACHOUD / AFP via Getty Images)

General classification after stage 12

  1. Tadej Pogačar | UAE Team Emirates XRG (43:04:01)
  2. Jonas Vingegaard | Visma-Lease a Bike (+3m 36s)
  3. Remco Evenepoel | Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe (+4m 6s)
  4. Juan Ayuso | Lidl Trek (+4m 22s)
  5. Paul Seixas | Decathlon CMA CGM (+4m 35s)
  6. Florian Lipowitz | Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe (4m 44s)
  7. Isaac Del Toro | UAE Team Emirates (+5m 8s)
  8. Mattias Skjelmose | Lidl-Trek (+5m 45s)
  9. Lenny Martinez | Bahrain – Victorious (+6m 34s)
  10. Tom Pidcock | Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling (+11m 49s)

Who’s wearing the jerseys after stage 12?

What’s coming up tomorrow?

Stage 13 – Friday, July 17: Dole to Belfort, 206km, mountain

Just one mountain on today’s menu; the Ballon d’Alsace is actually the first proper mountain the Tour de France peloton ever tackled, back in 1905. A long stage and the race favorites may keep their powder dry with a big Saturday looming. Then again, they may not.

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