The football-loving people in your lives won’t know what to be doing with themselves - after 27 consecutive days of games, we have our first World Cup rest day. But at least the breather will allow time for the absorption of a game for the ages, Argentina coming from 2-0 down with just over 20 minutes to go to beat Egypt on Tuesday. “What other side in the World Cup is capable of this level of pure cinema,” asks Ken Early. It was, he says, “a scarcely believable comeback”, and need it be said, Lionel Messi played no small part.
For the United States, though, the journey ended with that defeat by Belgium, the team “bumping its head against the same glass ceiling as always”. And Dave Hannigan doesn’t see that changing any time soon, certainly not while “the sport excludes millions of American kids because, in most places, there remain prohibitive financial barriers to entry”.
Back home, Gavin Cooney has an explainer on the FAI’s extraordinary general meeting at the Aviva Stadium this evening when delegates will vote on whether to endorse the decision to fulfil the forthcoming Nations League games against Israel.
Shamrock Rovers, meanwhile, have plenty of work to do if they are to progress in the Champions League, their 2-0 defeat away to Malta’s Floriana on Tuesday leaving them with a sizeable task in next week’s return leg in Tallaght.
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Question of the day: Seven Irish cyclists have won Tour de France stages over the years - the first was Shay Elliott in 1963, the last Ben Healy in 2025. Can you name the five in between?
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In Gaelic games, Darragh Ó Sé looks ahead to the weekend’s All-Ireland football semi-finals. While Kerry are odds-on for Sam Maguire, he wouldn’t be shocked if Ger Brennan’s crew rose to the occasion, while the Louth v Mayo contest is, he says, “so hard to call”.
In hurling, Denis Walsh wonders how Henry Shefflin will fare as Kilkenny’s new manager and looks at the shape of the challenge facing him, while Seán Moran reflects on that controversial Nickie Quaid moment in the Limerick v Clare semi-final. Is it time to be a touch tougher on the unfair prevention of goalscoring opportunities?
In rugby, Gordon D’Arcy’s report card on Ireland’s Nations Championship win over Australia is a mixed bag - he salutes their resilience and how they found a way to prevail, but he’s still waiting for their attack to “grow into something less rigid”.
Japan present the next challenge in the competition, Gerry Thornley talking to scrum coach John Fogarty about the possibility of youth being given a fling in Saturday’s game. And Gerry also hears from Jimmy O’Brien who was a late replacement for the injured Robert Baloucoune against Australia.
John O’Sullivan would have been forgiven for losing count of the number of tries Ireland’s under-20s helped themselves to - 11! - in their throttling of the USA at the World Junior Championship. Next up for them will be Fiji next Monday in the first of two crossover games.
And in athletics, Ian O’Riordan has word on the International Olympic Committee being on a possible collision course with World Athletics after provisionally clearing the way for Russian athletes to compete at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. Ian also looks ahead to this evening’s Cork City Sports where Sophie O’Sullivan will be among the competitors fine-tuning their preparations for next month’s European Championships.
TV Watch: There’s another full day of Wimbledon action on BBC1 and BBC2, among the stand-out matches Marta Kostyuk v Jasmine Paolini and Linda Noskova v Elise Mertens in the women’s quarter-finals and Flavio Cobolli v Arthur Fery in the men’s. And both TG4 (from 2pm) and TNT Sports (from 12.30pm) have coverage of stage five of the Tour de France.
Answer: Sean Kelly (5 - in 1978, 1980 and 1982); Stephen Roche (3 - in 1985, 1987 and 1992); Martin Earley (1 - in 1989); Dan Martin (2 - in 2013 and 2018) and Sam Bennett (2 - in 2020).
