FIFA World Cup - players.bio

Fans at World Cup pay homage to football great Diego Maradona with shirts and chants

DOHA: Javier Maluf will quietly put on a shirt worn by Diego Maradona against England, but other fans at the World Cup have more noisy plans for Friday’s second anniversary of the death of the flawed genius. Argentina’s legion of supporters may also be praying to the sporting gods that the late football great can still inspire his country to victory over Mexico on Saturday to keep their hopes in Qatar alive. Maluf is like many Argentina fans who have never fully recovered from Maradona’s death from a heart attack at the age of 60.

World Cup host Qatar must conquer nerves before Senegal

DOHA: There’s a good chance the World Cup will go from bad to worse for the Qatar team if the players don’t conquer their nerves when they face African champion Senegal in their second group match. The Qataris are already the first hosts to lose the opening game of a World Cup after they were overwhelmed by their nation’s biggest sporting occasion in a 2-0 Group A defeat to Ecuador on Sunday. That puts them in danger of also being only the second host after South Africa in 2010 to be eliminated in the group stage.

England wary of World Cup upset against US

DOHA: England scored six goals in its opening World Cup game against Iran, but it was the two it conceded that concern coach Gareth Southgate and provide hope for the United States. “By the end we looked sloppy,” said Southgate of the 6-2 win over Iran on Monday. He also warned the US would be coming “full-throttle” in Friday’s Group B match.

After 36 years, Canada has to wait longer for World Cup win

AL-RAYYAN, Qatar: O Canada, the wait remains. Alphonso Davies had the chance to score his nation’s first-ever World Cup goal, to grab a quick lead on Belgium. As Davies readied for the spot kick in the 11th minute after a hand ball, red-clad Canadian fans at the other end of Ahmed bin Ali Stadium buzzed in anticipation for a moment decades in the making.