分类： sports

Saturday’s highly anticipated opening fixture of the first-ever bilateral one-day international cricket series between India and Afghanistan in Dharamshala faced an early setback, as persistent inclement rain forced officials to push back both the pre-match coin toss and the game’s starting time.

This three-match series marks a historic milestone for both cricketing nations, as it is the first time they have faced off in a standalone bilateral ODI arrangement. Prior to this series, the two sides only clashed in the 50-over format during top global and regional competitions: the ICC Cricket World Cup and the ACC Asia Cup. Across their four previous ODI meetings, India has claimed victory in three contests, while the fourth ended in a rare tied result.

Heading into the opening match of the new series, the two teams bring contrasting recent run of forms to the pitch. India has struggled for consistency in its most recent 50-over outings, dropping three of its last five ODI matches. In sharp contrast, Afghanistan has built strong momentum ahead of the series, securing wins in four consecutive ODI fixtures ahead of Saturday’s game. This meeting comes just one week after India dominated Afghanistan in a one-off test match, sealing a massive innings-and-300-run victory inside just three days of play.

The series is scheduled to continue after the Dharamshala opener, with the second ODI set to take place in Lucknow this coming Wednesday. The third and final match of the three-game series will be hosted in Chennai on June 20, wrapping up the historic first bilateral ODI contest between the two nations.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — A tense pre-match war of words has emerged ahead of Turkey’s long-awaited return to the FIFA World Cup, as captain Hakan Calhanoglu has declared his side will dominate their opening Group clash against Australia this Saturday at BC Place. For Turkey, this tournament marks their first appearance on the world’s biggest football stage in 22 years, having failed to qualify for the previous five editions of the competition despite consistent strong performances at the continental level through much of the 21st century. The 32-year-old Inter Milan midfielder, who lifted the Serie A title with the Italian giants just this past season, doubled down on his confidence in comments made Friday. “I think we will dominate Saturday’s game, because we have more qualities and a more talented team,” Calhanoglu said. “So we will see what happens this weekend.”

Australia, by contrast, heads into this match as a seasoned World Cup competitor, appearing in their sixth consecutive finals tournament after advancing to the knockout round at the 2022 Qatar World Cup. The Socceroos were quick to respond to Calhanoglu’s bold claim, with midfield star Aiden O’Neill saying the Turkish captain was entitled to his perspective while emphasizing his own side’s competitive strength. “He’s allowed to have his own opinion,” O’Neill said Friday. “We’ve got quality players on our team, too, so we’re ready.”

Not all interactions between the two camps have been tense, however. Turkish manager Vincenzo Montella, who previously managed top-flight clubs across Europe, offered a complimentary nod to Australia’s playing style, noting that he found the Socceroos’ tactical approaches compelling. “I would like to use some of their techniques because I think they are interesting techniques,” Montella said.

This opening match is set to be a test of two teams with contrasting recent World Cup trajectories: a Turkey side hungry to prove it belongs back among the world’s elite after two decades away, and an Australia side looking to build on their impressive 2022 run and silence their opponent’s pre-match bravado.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup, co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, opened on Thursday to widespread controversy, as sweeping visa denials, entry bans and controversial security measures imposed by U.S. authorities have barred dozens of accredited football delegates, sports officials, journalists and fans from accessing matches, drawing accusations of politically motivated discrimination against the global football community.

The most high-profile case involves Jibril Rajoub, president of the Palestinian Football Association, who holds official FIFA accreditation to attend the tournament. Though the Palestinian men’s national team did not qualify for this year’s World Cup, Rajoub planned to join fellow global football governing body delegates to watch matches in the U.S. Instead, U.S. consular officials rejected his visa application, leaving him stuck in Mexico City, where he watched the tournament’s opening fixture between Mexico and South Africa earlier this week.

Rajoub has framed the visa refusal as a politically motivated attack on the fundamental right of global football representatives to participate in the world’s biggest sporting event. He highlighted the stark double standard between this tournament and the 2018 World Cup in Russia, where he traveled and attended matches without any diplomatic barriers. “I don’t believe that it’s fair to use or to abuse and deny the right of all footballers all over the world to attend,” he said, adding the restriction is fundamentally unfair.

The refusal comes just one month after Rajoub declined a public request from FIFA President Gianni Infantino to shake hands with the head of the Israeli Football Association. Rajoub explained at the time that such a symbolic gesture would merely serve to whitewash Israel’s widely condemned unlawful actions in Palestinian territories.

Rajoub is far from the only accredited World Cup stakeholder blocked from entering the U.S. The visa issues have already touched nearly every corner of the global football community, from top referees to national team delegations, working journalists, and ordinary ticket-holding fans.

In one recent high-profile incident, Omar Abdulkadir Artan, named 2025 African Referee of the Year, was denied entry to the U.S. even though he held a fully valid visa issued by the U.S. Department of State. Members of Iraq’s official national delegation, including star striker Aymen Hussein and the team’s official photographer, were held for seven hours of detention at Chicago O’Hare International Airport. While Hussein was ultimately granted entry after extended questioning, the photographer was turned away and deported.

The International Sports Press Association has confirmed that dozens of journalists from African nations and Iran have also been blocked from obtaining the multi-entry visas required to travel between all three co-host nations to cover matches. Even fans with confirmed match tickets have not been spared: fans from Scotland and Morocco have seen their pre-approved travel authorizations revoked or their visa applications rejected at the last minute, just days before they were set to travel for the tournament. Iran’s government additionally confirmed that the 8 percent ticket allocation allocated to official Iranian fans was revoked just days before the tournament kicked off, leaving hundreds of Iranian supporters who had already booked flights and accommodation stranded with no way to attend.

Compounding growing tensions over access to the tournament, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security recently confirmed that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) enforcement agents will be deployed inside World Cup stadiums hosted on U.S. soil as part of the tournament’s security plan. More than 120 U.S. and international civil rights organizations have condemned the decision, warning that the presence of uniformed immigration enforcement agents inside venues will undermine the personal safety of both international visitors and stadium staff, particularly for fans and workers from immigrant backgrounds.

In response to widespread criticism of the visa restrictions and disruptions, FIFA issued a formal statement asserting that the governing body does not intervene in the domestic immigration and visa adjudication processes of the tournament’s host nations. This neutral stance has already drawn comparisons to FIFA’s 2023 decision to strip Indonesia of the right to host the Under-20 World Cup, after Indonesian local government officials objected to Israel’s participation in the tournament.

This independent reporting was originally produced by Middle East Eye, a global outlet focused on in-depth coverage of the Middle East and North Africa region.

As Australia’s men’s national football team, the Socceroos, prepares to kick off its 2026 FIFA World Cup Group D campaign against Turkey in Vancouver, British Columbia this Saturday, the squad is using the global tournament spotlight to deliver a unifying message: soccer belongs to everyone, regardless of where you come from. This intentional stance comes as anti-immigrant rhetoric and hostility surges across Australia and much of the globe, creating a fraught backdrop for the team’s statement of inclusion.

Central to the message is the team’s own diverse makeup, which is showcased in a new video released by Professional Footballers Australia (PFA). Multiple current squad members arrived in Australia as refugees, each carrying a unique journey to the world’s biggest football stage. For attacking player Awer Mabil, who is set to make his second World Cup appearance after growing up in a Kenyan refugee camp born to South Sudanese parents, representing Australia carries layered meaning. “There’s a lot of journeys behind the jersey, so to be a Socceroo has many different meanings, but with one purpose, and that is to do the country proud,” Mabil shared in the video.

Mabil is not alone in his refugee background. Two of his teammates, both making their World Cup debuts this year, share similar origin stories. Mohamed Touré, a forward who currently plays club football for Norwich, was born to Liberian parents in a Guinean refugee camp before his family resettled in Adelaide. Nestory Irankunda, an attacker plying his trade at Watford, was born in a Tanzanian camp after his parents fled conflict in Burundi; his family first moved to Perth before ultimately putting down roots in Adelaide, where he and Touré became close friends. Even defender Milos Degenek’s story is shaped by refugee experience: his family fled Croatia when he was an infant, sought asylum in Serbia, and later resettled in Sydney to build a new life.

The timing of the Socceroos’ celebration of immigrant team members is anything but accidental. Across the world, recent weeks have seen growing tensions stoked by anti-immigrant rhetoric. Earlier this month, a knife attack in Northern Ireland, fueled by anti-migrant speech, sparked two consecutive nights of violent rioting. In the United States, where the team has been training in Oakland, California, the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration crackdown has even spilled over into the World Cup: Somali referee Omar Artan was denied a visa to enter the country for the tournament, barring him from his officiating assignment. Within Australia itself, a series of anti-immigrant “March for Australia” rallies have been held across the country, with events resulting in multiple arrests on hate speech charges and violent clashes with counter-protesters who support inclusive immigration policy.

PFA Chief Executive Beau Busch explained that the team’s public embrace of its multicultural roots is a deliberate rebuke to divisive rhetoric. “At a time when some seek to divide us and question who belongs, the Socceroos stand as a powerful reminder of who we truly are as a nation and as Australians,” Busch said. “The Socceroos highlight the profound impact of multiculturalism on our country. People who have come from all corners of the world have shaped football, our community and our sense of self in the world.”

Off the pitch, the team’s final preparations hit a small bump earlier this week when Touré—one of 17 first-time squad members selected for the tournament—was absent from a Wednesday training session, causing minor concern among coaching staff. Teammates confirmed Thursday that Touré had returned to practice, clearing the way for him to be available for Saturday’s opener. This will mark Australia’s sixth consecutive World Cup appearance; the Socceroos have advanced to the knockout round of 16 twice in their tournament history, including during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.