分类： sports

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand’s national rugby union team, the legendary All Blacks, secured their second consecutive victory at the inaugural Nations Championship on Saturday, grinding out a 47-17 win over Italy after a shaky opening half that exposed persistent flaws in their game plan. Though the final scoreline was lopsided, the match highlighted a growing gap between the team’s high offensive ambitions and their inconsistent on-field execution, leaving questions ahead of their much-anticipated next matchup against Ireland in Auckland.

From the opening whistle, repeated errors from the All Blacks handed Italy an early advantage. Just days after a narrow 34-32 win over France that was also marred by unforced mistakes in handling, aerial defense, and discipline, the All Blacks gifted Italy the opening try. Italian center Tommaso Menoncello crossed the line after capitalizing on an All Blacks turnover, putting the visitors out to an early lead.

The All Blacks responded within five minutes to narrow the score, with lock Sam Darry touching down for his first try of the match. But Italy’s tight defense denied New Zealand both space and possession, holding the All Blacks to a 14-10 lead at the halftime break.

The turning point of the first half came in the 30th minute, when Will Jordan scored his first try of the match against the run of play. The try, set up by a perfectly placed chip kick from Jordie Barrett and a deft offload from Leroy Carter, gave the All Blacks their first lead of the game. More importantly, it marked the first of three tries that would cement Jordan’s place in All Blacks history.

Two debutants made the most of their opportunities after coming off the bench to turn the tide of the match in the second half. Winger Josh Moorby made his first test appearance on his 26th birthday, entering the game in the 31st minute before lighting up the pitch after halftime. Backrower Anton Segner, the first Germany-born player ever selected for the All Blacks, also made his debut coming off the bench at the start of the second half, with his parents flying in from Frankfurt to witness the historic moment.

Moorby was the star of the second half, playing a key role in three of the All Blacks’ five second-half tries that turned a narrow deficit into a comfortable win. Just two minutes after the resumption of play, he broke down the left wing and combined with his Hurricanes teammate Cam Roigard to score. He then won an intercept that nearly put him over the line before prop Ethan de Groot crashed over for a try in his 42nd test. Finally, he outpaced Italy’s cover defense to set up Jordan’s second try of the match, which equaled the All Blacks’ all-time test try record of 49 set by Doug Howlett.

Just 10 minutes later, Jordan claimed the record outright when he scored his third try, created by a quick-tapped penalty from Jordie Barrett. Jordan finished the match with 50 career test tries from just 56 appearances, a new milestone for New Zealand rugby. Reflecting on the record after the match, Jordan called the achievement humbling. “I think back to when I was a kid practicing my chip and chase in the back yard. To think I’d be here today, it’s hugely humbling,” he said. “I guess as a winger on the end of the chain I’ve been part of some great teams over the last seven years.”

Italy captain Michele Lamaro acknowledged that his side could not match the All Blacks’ second-half intensity, after a strong opening 40 minutes put the world-famous side on the back foot. “I think we started really well and we were putting them under pressure,” Lamaro said. “They were trying to compete around the breakdown and we were really strong in that area. They came back on the field after halftime with another gear and we couldn’t hold them.”

Italy was forced to play most of the final quarter with 14 men, after a yellow card given to Niccolo Cannone for an attempted head butt on Roigard was upgraded to a red card. Despite being a man down, Italy still crossed for a second try through Leonardo Marin in the 57th minute. The All Blacks were also reduced to 14 men late in the match, when flyhalf Ruben Love was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on in the 71st minute, his second yellow card in two matches.

Italy entered the match still reeling from an opening-round loss to Japan in Tokyo, leaving them winless after two rounds of the new tournament. For the All Blacks, while the win keeps their tournament record unbeaten at 2-0, head coach Dave Rennie will likely have plenty to address ahead of next weekend’s clash with world number one ranked Ireland. Persistent unforced errors at both ends of the pitch throughout the match have emerged as a worrying pattern for the side after similar problems plagued their opening win over France.

PAMPLONA, Spain – The iconic yet dangerous annual San Fermin festival saw a chaotic fifth morning bull run on Saturday, leaving one thrill-seeking runner with a severe facial goring and a dozen more needing emergency medical care for injuries sustained during the 875-meter dash through Pamplona’s historic narrow streets. This year’s event carries a special milestone, marking a full century since the release of Ernest Hemingway’s *The Sun Also Rises* — the novel that catapulted this regional Spanish celebration to global notoriety, drawing thousands of first-time participants and international tourists every year.

During the two-and-a-half-minute run, six fighting bulls and their guiding steers charged through tightly packed crowds that lined the cobblestone course from the holding pen to the city’s bullring, where the animals will be killed by professional bullfighters later the same day. The confined space and panicked movement of participants created multiple dangerous pileups, with dozens of runners knocked off balance as the massive animals surged through. What made the incident even more unpredictable was an early breakaway: a black bull separated from the main pack just moments into the run and charged directly into a clustered group of runners, striking one participant in the side of the face with its horn. While officials have not confirmed this breakaway charge was the exact moment the facial goring occurred, it was the most high-risk incident of the day.

Officials from the University of Navarra Hospital confirmed that one runner suffered a horn penetration to the face, while 12 additional people sought treatment for minor bruises, scrapes, and other impact injuries from the rush. Witness accounts note that many inexperienced participants failed to notice how close the bulls were until the animals were mere feet behind them; surprisingly, several bulls did not attempt to gore runners and instead simply pushed people out of their path to continue along the course.

This year’s eight-day festival has drawn extra attention for its centennial connection to Hemingway’s work, which introduced the adrenaline-fueled tradition to audiences across the globe. While the sport carries inherent risk, major fatalities have been rare: the last death recorded during a San Fermin bull run dates back to 2009. Even so, non-fatal injuries including gorings and broken bones remain a regular occurrence, a trend experts attribute to the growing mix of novice runners and international tourists with little experience navigating the high-stakes course alongside more practiced local participants.

Standing 6 foot 5 inches tall and boasting elite scoring prowess that has outmatched every defender he has faced at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Erling Haaland has long been known as a seemingly unstoppable on-pitch machine. But to a rapidly growing legion of new, loyal fans across social media, the Norwegian star is far more than just a top striker — he is their beloved “babygirl” and “pretty Norwegian princess.” Haaland’s unprecedented cross-over fame, which has turned casual sports observers and even soccer newcomers into diehard fans, is reshaping how modern athletes connect with global audiences, proving that personality off the pitch can amplify stardom as much as skill on it.

Haaland’s viral appeal stems from a striking contrast that fans cannot get enough of: his imposing physical dominance and clinical finishing as the Premier League’s all-time top scorer collide with an unexpectedly goofy, unfiltered online persona that feels deeply relatable to young audiences. From his signature flowing blond mane and matching color-coordinated hair ties to playful, off-the-cuff social media content, Haaland has leaned into internet culture in a way few elite athletes have before. One of his most famous posts is a Snapchat-filtered selfie where he dubbed animated character Shrek his “twin,” a moment that quickly spread across TikTok, Instagram, and X. This contrast between fierce on-pitch competitiveness and a softer, playful off-pitch presence is what has earned Haaland the internet’s “babygirl” label — a fan slang term used for endearing male public figures who read as warm, approachable, and even unexpectedly vulnerable.

As Haaland leads Norway into a World Cup quarterfinal match against England, his fame has reached a fever pitch that extends far beyond traditional soccer circles. Sarah Wilson, a 31-year-old baseball content creator based in New York, is one of the many new fans who caught “Haaland fever” in recent weeks. Her viral TikTok declaring her love for the star, where she called him both a stunning “pretty Norwegian princess” and one of the best strikers in the world, racked up millions of views and resonated with thousands of new fans like herself. Wilson told the Associated Press that Haaland’s mass appeal boils down to two core pillars: unmatched talent and unapologetically Gen Z energy. “Him being really, really talented — that’s the first pillar of it all. And then you find out that he’s 25 years old and he’s probably the most Gen Z athlete in the World Cup,” she explained, pointing to his regular use of playful Snapchat filters, casual self-posted content, and willingness to joke about himself.

Haaland has actively leaned into his viral fame rather than shying away from it, constantly interacting with fans and leaning into the meme culture that has grown up around him. After scoring two goals to knock Brazil out of the tournament, he posted a cheeky, smug locker room selfie to Instagram with the simple caption: “Well well well.” When an Instagram video with nearly 100 million views joked that his silhouette and hair made him look like a green onion, Haaland commented on the post with a viral side-eyeing dog GIF, playing along with the joke. When Google added an interactive Viking row animation to Haaland’s search results (a nod to a popular Norwegian team tradition), he shared the discovery on X with a winking emoji, encouraging his followers to check it out. In a press conference ahead of the quarterfinal, Haaland said he has enjoyed the overwhelming warm reception he has received in the United States during the tournament. “I think it’s a good thing because I like the Americans. I think they are kind of hilarious as well. They are funny. I like the way they are,” he said. “I think it’s just good and honestly, on every single thing, the World Cup so far here has been amazing.”

Scholars who study athlete-fan dynamics say Haaland’s cross-over success reflects a larger shift in how sports and pop culture intersect in the social media era. Jeffrey Kassing, an Arizona State University professor who researches athlete social media use, noted that sports have long functioned as a powerful cultural force on par with politics and religion, making it natural for top athletes to break into mainstream pop culture. What makes Haaland’s moment unique, he explained, is how much control modern athletes have over their own public image, a stark change from decades past when athletes only interacted with the public through formal press conferences and managed media interviews. “There used to be a whole lot of gatekeeping that would happen with athletes; you would only ever hear from athletes maybe in an interview or in a press conference,” Kassing said. Haaland, he added, is clear evidence of how much more autonomy players have to shape their own public image today.

This increased access to athletes has fostered what academics call parasocial relationships, where fans feel a deep, personal connection to public figures even though the connection is one-way. Gayle Stever, a professor at Empire State University who has studied celebrity-fan dynamics for decades, noted that the vast majority of these relationships are positive, healthy, and normal, with only a small share of fans taking interactions to an unhealthy extreme. Skyla Clarke, a 19-year-old sports management student in Brisbane, Australia and lifelong soccer fan, says she has seen the darker side of modern fan culture: unprompted harassment of players after poor performances, and even targeted abuse of athletes’ family members, is an all-too-common occurrence. Haaland himself has spoken out about the risks of unregulated AI-generated deepfake content targeting players, calling it “bit scary.” But he also framed the widespread viral attention around his team and their traditions as a net positive, noting that widespread interest is usually a sign that a team and a country are succeeding on the global stage.

Haaland is not the only top player to receive this affectionate, playful rebranding from internet fans. Croatian star Luka Modrić, who is widely expected to play his final World Cup match this tournament, has also been dubbed a “babygirl” by fans, who often describe feeling a protective, maternal pull toward him. Modrić’s well-documented difficult childhood growing up amid the dissolution of Yugoslavia has deepened this fan connection, with creators like Clarke sharing childhood photos of the star to help new fans connect with his story. One of Clarke’s TikTok videos about Modrić’s potential retirement gained hundreds of thousands of views in just a few days. Even with Modrić’s much more reserved social media presence, Kassing notes that fans often take it upon themselves to shape the public perception of athletes they feel connected to, often adding playful edits like bows and heart emojis to their photos.\n\nAhead of Haaland’s quarterfinal match against England, fans have also latched onto his longstanding friendship with former teammate Jude Bellingham, the English star, with many fans “shipping” the pair and creating viral fan edits of the two celebrating together. Fans have even dubbed the pairing “heated Haalandry,” a playful reference to the popular romantic drama *Heated Rivalry*, which centers on a relationship between two opposing pro hockey players. For fans like Nulara Ratwatté, a 19-year-old art student at the University of Melbourne, the affection for Haaland transcends soccer skill — even for fans who do not follow the sport regularly. Ratwatté, who went viral for her own videos gushing about the Norwegian star, says she once considered herself outside of soccer culture, but has fully embraced Haaland fandom. She describes him as a “big, friendly giant,” and now tunes into every Norway match to cheer him on. “Truly, from the bottom of my heart,” she said, “I love him.”

INGLEWOOD, California – Fresh off Spain’s tense 2-1 quarterfinal victory over Belgium that booked the nation’s first World Cup semifinal spot since 2010, 18-year-old Spanish breakout star Lamine Yamal has issued a bold warning to defending champions France: the European powerhouse should be wary of his side when the two global football giants face off for a place in the World Cup final next week.

Speaking to reporters immediately after Friday’s quarterfinal win at SoFi Stadium, the teenage sensation made his stance clear: “I believe if France has to fear anyone, it should be us, in my opinion. We were the ones who knocked them out before.”
Yamal’s confidence is rooted in recent head-to-head history: Spain eliminated France in the 2024 European Championship semifinals, and the two sides have also faced off in Nations League competition in 2023, with Spain coming out on top once again. The young winger, who made history as the youngest goal scorer at the 2024 Euros, earned man of the match honors for his impactful performance against Belgium, and says his side enters the matchup with no intimidation.

“We don’t fear anyone,” Yamal said. “It’s clear that we are two great teams, world-class national teams, and for me they are one of the best. We’ll see what happens.”
The highly anticipated semifinal will take place at the home stadium of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, marking another high-stakes chapter between two of men’s football’s most talented national squads. France, the 2018 World Cup champions and 2022 runners-up, have been the tournament’s most prolific attacking side so far, notching 16 goals across six matches en route to the semifinal round. For Spain, Friday’s quarterfinal win was secured by a dramatic 88th-minute match-winner from substitute Mikel Merino, with Belgium’s late first-half strike marking the first goal La Roja has conceded throughout the entire 2026 World Cup.
Spain’s current squad carries an unprecedented recent record: the team has gone 37 consecutive competitive matches without a loss dating back to March 2023, with the only blemish in that run coming via a penalty shootout defeat to Portugal in the 2023 Nations League final. It is just the second time Spain has reached a World Cup semifinal in the nation’s history, after their victorious 2010 campaign where they lifted the trophy.
Though Yamal has only found the back of the net once in his debut World Cup, his dynamic playmaking and relentless energy down Spain’s right attacking flank has been a standout feature of the team’s run. He set the game’s first goal in motion against Belgium, combining in a quick one-two with right-back Pedro Porro to open space for the attack, ultimately leading to Fabián Ruiz’s rebound finish after Dani Olmo’s initial shot was saved. It was the second consecutive match Spain secured victory with a late match-winner, a trend that has tested the side’s resilience ahead of their biggest match of the tournament.
Even with the tight wins, Yamal says his side has proven they are prepared to face France, the tournament’s most dominant attacking unit. He argued that Spain’s attractive, possession-based style has forced every opponent this tournament to abandon open play and sit deep in defense, making results harder to come by than they might appear.
“I think we were much better (than Belgium),” Yamal said. “It seems like we’re playing very beautiful football, but in reality, there isn’t a team that plays against us on equal footing. Everyone drops back, and that makes it more difficult. Nobody has gone toe-to-toe with us. But in the end, we secured the win.”
Yamal will turn 19 years old on Monday, the day before the two sides kick off their semifinal battle for a spot in the World Cup final.

Global soccer governing body FIFA has ignited public debate over its latest monetization move for the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup, announcing it will sell segmented pieces of the natural grass pitch used for the tournament’s July 19 final at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium for $450 per collectible.

The commemorative items, marketed as a one-of-a-kind piece of soccer history for die-hard fans and collectors, each contain an original fragment of the final’s playing surface. The turf pieces are preserved in high-quality acrylic casing paired with a USB keepsake marked with an official authenticity film. Packaged in a premium rigid gift box with detailed UV finishing, FIFA positions the product as an exclusive memento for enthusiasts of the world’s biggest sporting event. However, the organization has left key details ambiguous: while FIFA’s official store lists the dimensions of each turf segment as 17.5 by 17.5 by 17.5, it fails to specify whether the measurement unit is inches, centimeters or millimeters. The Associated Press reported that FIFA did not immediately respond to requests for clarification on the product’s specifications as of press time. Shipping is also restricted, with the collectibles only available to customers with delivery addresses in the United States and Europe, and all orders will be fulfilled only after the final match concludes.

This new commercial offering comes as FIFA already faces widespread criticism for exorbitant pricing for the 2026 World Cup held across North America, including the United States. Ticket prices for the final currently top out at $32,970 for standard seating, while premium hospitality packages that include food and beverage service are being sold for $32,500 to $34,500. The MetLife Stadium pitch itself has also been a point of contention: the venue normally hosts NFL games for the New York Giants and New York Jets on artificial turf, and players and coaches have already raised public concerns about the quality of the temporary natural grass surface installed for the World Cup final.

The move to sell pieces of the final pitch marks one of the most high-profile examples of FIFA’s aggressive commercialization of the 2026 tournament, drawing attention to the growing gap between premium, high-priced World Cup experiences and average soccer fans seeking affordable access to the event.