Sriram Veera

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Garry Sobers: The cricketer who did not know he was like no one else

July 17, 2026 23:13 IST

He expected his teammates to bat like him, catch like him, think like him. None of them could. Nobody ever has.

Sat, Jul 18, 2026

A dejected Harry Kane after England were knocked out from FIFA World Cup 2026. (AP)

Harry Kane and the World Cup semi-final that ended like all the others

July 16, 2026 17:28 IST

After Messi and Argentina beat England in Atlanta, the story of a career built on Moscow, Wembley and every big game since

Thu, Jul 16, 2026

Thomas Tuchel, England manager in action at the FIFA World Cup 2026. (AP)

Thomas Tuchel, the England coach who keeps fighting his own players

July 14, 2026 17:00 IST

A day after Jude Bellingham's public "whatever" to his manager, the pattern behind it, a knee injury, a bar job in Stuttgart, and a title-winning coach once called "a flop”

Tue, Jul 14, 2026

South Africa’s FIFA World Cup star Jayden Adams dies at 25 in Cape Town

July 11, 2026 21:44 IST

South African footballer Jayden Adams, who played at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, has died at 25. Police have opened an inquest. He leaves behind a young daughter

Sat, Jul 11, 2026

Of all goals scored at this World Cup, 11.4 per cent have come in injury time, the highest share in the tournament's history. (AP Photo)

Beyond 90: Why the last minutes are deciding FIFA World Cup games

July 11, 2026 13:55 IST

Substitutes have scored 52 of 278 goals through the quarter-finals, tying the highest rate in World Cup history with Brazil 2014. It isn't luck. It's exhaustion, arriving on schedule

Sun, Jul 12, 2026

Norway face England in the quarter-final on Saturday. Whatever happens, Solbakken will be on the touchline, a pacemaker keeping time he was never supposed to have. (AP Photo)

The coach who died once and now leads Norway in a World Cup quarterfinal

July 11, 2026 06:30 IST

Ståle Solbakken's heart stopped for seven minutes in 2001. Twenty-five years, two pacemaker scares and his mother's death later, he's taking Norway into the last eight.

Sat, Jul 11, 2026

Egypt wants him gone. FIFA says nothing’s wrong. The referee just waits

July 09, 2026 18:05 IST

Francois Letexier has spent his career serving papers people don't want. This week, he found out what it feels like from the other side.

Thu, Jul 09, 2026

Born five minutes apart in 1966 in Helwan, south of Cairo, Hossam (L) and Ibrahim Hassan (R) joined Al Ahly's academy together at 13. (AP Photo/Reuters)

Who are the Hassan twins? Egypt’s coach, his brother, and the state backing them

July 08, 2026 13:51 IST

Hossam Hassan says he will never watch this football World Cup again after Egypt's exit to Argentina, the latest flashpoint in a career built brawl for brawl, ban for ban, alongside his identical twin.

Wed, Jul 08, 2026

A stoic Sidny Lopes Cabral nearly broke Argentinian hearts with his stunning extra-time equaliser against the defending champions. (AP) scored a 103-minute equaliser for Cape Verde against Argentina. (AP)

Messi’s Argentina survive Cape Verde scare — meet the man who nearly beat them

July 04, 2026 11:56 IST

Racially abused online, paid £850 a month in Germany's fifth tier, Sidny Lopes Cabral scored a 103rd-minute wonder goal that nearly ended the defending champions' World Cup -- a stunning turn for a nation of 525,000, the smallest ever to reach the knockout stage.

Sun, Jul 05, 2026

At 38, Messi has stopped running. That is what makes him impossible to stop

July 02, 2026 17:14 IST

Lionel Messi no longer relies on speed to beat defenders. He beats them by standing exactly where the fear of him has already cleared the space.

Thu, Jul 02, 2026

Mora vs. Bellingham: Two teenage prodigies, one World Cup collision

July 02, 2026 07:30 IST

Mexican wonderkid Gilberto Mora's World Cup began with his father's free kick, and it may soon collide with Jude Bellingham's midfield.

Sat, Jul 04, 2026

Morocco beat the Netherlands 3-2 on penalties, after a 1-1 draw through 120 minutes, to reach the World Cup round of 16 for the second tournament running. (AP Photo)

The borrowed Moroccan sons who broke Holland’s heart

June 30, 2026 10:27 IST

Issa Diop's stoppage-time header and Ismael Saibari's winning penalty sent Morocco through, Saibari beating the country where he built his career.

Tue, Jun 30, 2026

(L-R): The families of players like Alphonso Davies, Nathan Saliba, Milan Borjan and Jonathan David have immigrated to Canada. (AP)

The refugee sons who carried Canada into the World Cup last 16

June 29, 2026 19:33 IST

From Liberia, Serbia, Haiti, Ivory Coast: the families who fled war and built the team that made history in Los Angeles

Mon, Jun 29, 2026

Ben Stokes announced his retirement from international cricket mid-way during 3rd Test vs New Zealand. (Reuters)

Ben Stokes retires: the bottle, the kit bag, and a career like no other

June 28, 2026 23:26 IST

He spent fifteen years proving Andy Flower wrong. On Sunday at Trent Bridge, mid-spell, he finally stopped.

Sun, Jun 28, 2026

Pedro Leitao Brito grew up to captain Cape Verde. He is now known as Bubista, the Creole name for the island where he was born. (AP Photo)

How a coach who watched Maradona on a village TV put Cape Verde into the knockouts

June 27, 2026 09:37 IST

Cape Verde become the smallest nation by population to qualify for the World Cup knockout rounds; will face Argentina in Round of 32

Sat, Jun 27, 2026

Nilson Angulo is 23. He was born in Quinindé, in Esmeraldas province, a coastal town of oil palm and red earth. (AP Photo)

Ecuador’s miracle, and the mother who never stopped believing

June 26, 2026 11:26 IST

Nilson Angulo scored as the minnows beat Germany 2-1 to reach the last 16 — and somewhere in the United States was the woman who crossed continents to see it

Fri, Jun 26, 2026

The Azteca had asked for Guillermo Ochoa before the match. It gave him what he came for after it. He played twelve minutes. It took him twenty years to get there. (AP Photo)

Memo Ochoa walked onto the Azteca pitch. The crowd of 80,000 erupted

June 25, 2026 12:41 IST

At 40, after six World Cups, months as a free agent in Cyprus and a refusal to accept that Qatar 2022 was the end, Guillermo Ochoa got his farewell

Thu, Jun 25, 2026

Andres Escobar was killed for football. He was 27 years old. (AP Photo)

Andres Escobar: The footballer killed for an own goal at the 1994 World Cup

June 23, 2026 12:03 IST

Thirty years on, the story of Colombia's Gentleman of Football has not closed. It never will.

Tue, Jun 23, 2026

Argentina's Lionel Messi, left, celebrates with Leandro Paredes after scoring his side's second goal during the World Cup Group J soccer match between Argentina and Austria in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, Monday, June 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Messi missed the penalty. Then scored twice. Argentina are through

June 23, 2026 00:58 IST

The 38-year-old now has 18 World Cup goals — every Argentina goal at this tournament, all five of them, his

Tue, Jun 23, 2026

Miroslav Klose Lionel Messi World Cup record

Before Messi, there was Miroslav Klose. A carpenter from small-town Germany

June 22, 2026 19:45 IST

Klose scored 16 World Cup goals across four tournaments. Tonight in Dallas, Messi needs one more to pass him.

Mon, Jun 22, 2026

Eloy Room's 15 saves are the most by any goalkeeper in a World Cup match in regulation since saves became an official statistic in 1966. (AP Photo)

Curacao’s Eloy Room, goalkeeper without a club, just broke a World Cup recordSubscriber Only

June 21, 2026 09:15 IST

Room made 15 saves against Ecuador — more than any goalkeeper in regulation time since 1966. His last club match was a Belgian Cup game in December

Sun, Jun 21, 2026

In Morocco's World Cup opener against Brazil, Ayyoub Bouaddi stopped to applaud a pass from his teammate in the 87th minute. (AP Photo)

Ayyoub Bouaddi: Morocco’s teen sensation who stopped to applaud a pass at World CupSubscriber Only

June 20, 2026 08:06 IST

At 15 he won a national eloquence competition arguing that how you play matters. At 18, against Brazil, he proved it.

Sat, Jun 20, 2026

Czechia's Ladislav Krejci, centre, celebrates with teammates after scoring his team's first goal during the World Cup Group A soccer match between South Korea and Czechia in Zapopan, near Guadalajara, Mexico, Thursday, June 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Czechia: The secret policeman, the rap song and the bus that got stuck in MexicoSubscriber Only

June 17, 2026 17:56 IST

Czech football was run by a StB agent for two decades, watching its golden generation come and go. On Thursday in Atlanta, it plays its first World Cup match in twenty years.

Wed, Jun 17, 2026

Players of Congo pose before the international friendly soccer match between DR Congo and Denmark in Liege, Belgium, Wednesday, June 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)

Congo: 52 years, an Ebola outbreak and a squad without a homeSubscriber Only

June 17, 2026 07:30 IST

Democratic Republic of Congo waited 52 years to reach the World Cup. Six weeks after qualifying, Ebola broke out at home.

Tue, Jun 16, 2026

On the night Haiti qualified, their players were not in Haiti. (AP Photo)

Haiti at FIFA World Cup 2026: A war escape, a ghost coach and 52 years of waitingSubscriber Only

June 13, 2026 11:58 IST

Duckens Nazon fled a war in Tehran to get here. Sébastien Migne has never set foot in the country he manages. And for Haiti, none of it matters — they just need a sign.

Sat, Jun 13, 2026