World Cup Roundup: Messi on Bench, Senegal Dominates, France Tops Group

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni says Lionel Messi will be on the bench for tomorrow's game with Jordan.

Already qualified, Scaloni will make changes to rest some of the players.

Probably a relief for those players chasing the Golden Boot as lord knows how many Messi would have scored against Jordan.

Later today, the final games in Group G will be played.

Whoever finishes second in the group will face the Socceroos in the knockout phase in the early hours of next Saturday.

As it stands, any of the four sides in the group could finish second.

Today we have Egypt vs Iran and Belgium vs New Zealand.

We couldn't get Australia vs New Zealand in the round of 32 could we?

- AP

Senegal needed to win and it needed to win big. Done and done.

Senegal racked up the goals against 10-man Iraq in a 5-0 victory that boosted its chances of reaching the knockout stages.

"The job is done, but fate is no longer in our hands," Senegal coach Pape Thiaw says.

"We have to wait until the other matches are over."

- AP

Norway coach Ståle Solbakken says resting so many players was an easy decision for him.

He made 10 changes for the game against France, including leaving out star striker Erling Haaland.

"The break that we had from the last game to this game was the shortest of any team. ... So it’s a no-brainer," he said.

"The fans around Norway and also in the arena would have like to see Erling. But that is not really the issue. We want to proceed as long as we can in the tournament."

The Norwegians will face Côte d'Ivoire in the round of 32 in Texas.

- AP

A special guest crashed Portugal coach Roberto Martínez's news conference: Grammy winner Dua Lipa.

Her sound, anyway.

Speakers inside the interview room at the stadium started blaring some of Lipa's songs for a few minutes in the middle of Martínez's press conference.

It wasn't totally clear why — some wires got crossed, evidently, during a rehearsal happening inside the stadium — but nobody seemed to mind that it happened.

Martinez even swayed a little in his chair while workers tried to find a way to silence the music.

"Dua Lipa's supporting Portugal, I believe," he said.

- AP

Before the Iranian coach and goalkeeper answered any questions ahead of the team's World Cup match with Egypt, a FIFA official spoke up.

Daniel Marin, FIFA's executive director of public relations, read a statement on behalf of the Iranian team in light of the Pride celebration in Seattle on Friday.

Egypt and Iran are two of the most repressive places in the world for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, but they coincidentally will play each other while the host city honours the LGBTQIA+ community.

"This Islamic Republic of the Iran Football Federation has asked us to inform the media that they are only willing to answer questions in relation to the game," Marin said.

"We fully respect the right of all journalists to ask questions. In this case, we ask you respect the rights of the federation here today to only answer questions in relation to the team, the tactics, the match, and so on."

Egypt took a similar approach to the Iranians in trying to steer the conversation back to the match and away from the Pride festivities.

Egypt players were barred from answering questions about Pride. Team staffers stepped in and would not allow reporters to ask such questions.

"We are all focused on football," Egypt coach Hossam Hassan said in Arabic.

"This is all that we think about."

- AAP

When Nestory Irankunda was told he would be Australia's starting striker against Paraguay, the young dynamo was stunned.

Irankunda, 20, was dynamic as a winger playing off Mohamed Toure in Australia's opening 2-0 win over Türkiye, then came off the bench as a striker for the second half of the 2-0 loss to the US.

But coach Tony Popovic threw Irankunda straight into the fray ahead of Toure, and Australia claimed a 0-0 draw yesterday that sealed second place in Group D and progression to the round of 32.

"I had no idea. It was kind of like last minute for me," Irankunda said.

"But you know, we've got how many nines - Mo, Tete (Yengi).

"So it was a bit of a surprise for me when I got told I was going to be starting up front as a nine, and I didn't expect it.

"But playing for the country, I always have to try my best and play my heart out."

Largely playing as a back-to-goal striker, Irankunda battled manfully throughout, working hard to compete in the air while showing flashes of the elusiveness and running power that makes him so dangerous out wide.

Senegal boosted their chances of reaching the knockout phase of the World Cup with a thumping 5-0 win over Iraq.

The African nation scored early through a deflection off Habib Diarra.

Iraq went down to 10 men when Rebin Sulaka saw red for denying Sadio Mane a goalscoring opportunity.

Ismaila Sarr made it 2-0 just after the break before substitute Pape Gueye scored twice with two powerful finishes.

Iliman Ndiaye scored the fifth late on with another fine effort.

Senegal must now wait to see if they have done enough to qualify as one of the best third-placed teams.

Ballon d'Or winner Ousmane Dembele scored a first-half hat-trick as France beat Norway 4-1 to top Group I.

Kylian Mbappe hit the bar after only 25 seconds as France raced out of the blocks.

Dembele fired France in front on seven minutes with a fine finish.

His second on 20 minutes came with a cool shot.

Norway pulled a goal back straight away, Thelo Aasgaard scoring with a deflected effort.

Dembele completed his treble on 32 minutes with a curling shot into the corner.

Jørgen Strand Larsen missed a penalty in the second half as Norway attempted to get back into the game.

Désiré Doué grabbed a fourth in stoppage time with a header.

Norway qualified for the knockout phase in second place.