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GOAL goes over everything fans need to know about the unique transfer window opening from June 1-10 ahead of the Club World Cup
FIFA has opened a special transfer window from June 1-10, allowing teams to make roster additions ahead of the 2025 Club World Cup. It's an unprecedented move to allow players to swap clubs this early in the offseason. Still, with the marquee event beginning in just over two weeks on June 14, they opted to open the window so teams could bolster their core ahead of the competition.
Likewise, U.S. Soccer has reportedly sanctioned a window to run during the same timeline, but has limited it to the MLS teams competing in the tournament – Inter Miami, Seattle Sounders, and potentially, LAFC. The face Liga MX side Club America Saturday evening in a Club World Cup playoff game, with the winner clinching a berth in the competition.
FIFA and U.S. Soccer have introduced new rules and amended existing ones ahead of this summer’s competition, aimed at facilitating player movement. As a result, clubs participating in the tournament have additional flexibility in the transfer window – though some of the changes may not be widely known or understood by fans.
Some players have an opportunity to sign a short-term contract to compete, strictly in the competition, before entering free agency this summer. Others are completing pre-agreed transfers, while some are swapping new clubs entirely on multi-year deals. Then, there's a unique case like Trent Alexander-Arnold and Real Madrid, as have now paid the $11.3 million(€10 million) to secure his services ahead of the competition despite his contract ending on June 30.
GOAL goes over and explains everything you need to know about the Club World Cup transfer window.
Ted Lasso fans have been told they are “gonna love” Season 4 of the hit show as the title character moves into coaching with a women’s team.
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ECB escalate delay to BCCI and Indian government with 20-year-old stuck in UAE
Vithushan Ehantharajah22-Jan-2024England began their Test preparations in Hyderabad without Shoaib Bashir after visa issues left him stranded in the UAE.England arrived in India on Sunday ahead of Thursday’s opening Test following a training camp in Abu Dhabi, where Bashir remains after a delay in his paperwork left him unable to travel with the rest of the squad. The Somerset offspinner, whose parents are of Pakistani heritage, is being accompanied by Stuart Hooper, who recently joined the ECB as their new managing director of cricket operations.Brendon McCullum, England’s head coach, said that the ECB has escalated the matter with the relevant authorities, including the Indian government, and expects positive news in the next 24 hours. England are optimistic about a quick resolution and also expect to welcome Dan Lawrence on Monday evening.Related
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Lawrence was drafted into the 16-man squad after Harry Brook returned home following a family emergency. Brook flew back to the UK on Sunday, though Lawrence remained in the UAE to turn out for Desert Vipers in the ILT20 in their defeat to Abu Dhabi Knight Riders.Though Bashir is likely to miss two days of preparation – England will train on Tuesday morning at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium – McCullum insisted he will still be available for selection for the opening Test. Bashir, 20, was a bolter for the squad, selected on promise rather than performances, having taken just 10 first-class wickets at 67.Shoaib Bashir was a shock call-up for England’s tour to India•Getty Images
But he impressed on Lions duty and in the UAE with the full squad, where he has continued to make a strong impression with his high release point and ability to spin the ball sharply, which England regard as vital for the surfaces they expect to encounter in this series.”Bash will join us hopefully tomorrow as well,” McCullum said. “He’s got a couple of issues with his visa coming through. We’re confident on the back of the help from the BCCI and the Indian government that will sort itself out pretty quickly as well.”Things take time, don’t they? Everyone is doing what they can. It’s a process we need to go through. We’re pretty confident that we’re close. The time that Bash had with the squad over in Abu Dhabi, where he fitted in seamlessly, will serve him greatly.”We’ve also got a little bit of support out there for him so he’s not on his own. We’re hoping the news will come through today that his visa has been approved, then we’ll get him to sink his teeth into this series.”
The Herons were flat-footed, uninspiring and stagnant without Messi on the pitch, but still salvaged a point
Inter Miami and FC Cincinnati played to a scoreless 0-0 draw at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida Saturday night, as each side shared the spoils and walked away with a point.
The hosts were severely shorthanded, missing Lionel Messi, Jordi Alba, and Maxi Falcon due to suspension, and Allen Obando, Baltasar Rodriguez, Ian Fray, and Oscar Ustari due to injury.
Messi and Alba were suspended by MLS for skipping the All-Star Game midweek, while Falcon missed out due to yellow card accumulation.
With that, the were tasked with an uphill battle, and U.S. international Benjamin Cremaschi was even tasked with playing left back, despite being a natural midfielder. At the end of the day, they walked away with a point, but it was uninspiring.
Their attacking momentum fell flat without Messi on the pitch, and on the flank, they missed the forward progression that Alba would normally bring to wide areas and in the final-third. Their midfield put forth a top-tier performance to keep the likes of FCC's superstar Evander quiet and earn a point.
In the final minutes, chaos erupted as FC Cincinnati appeared to score the go-ahead winner off a header from U.S. international Miles Robinson. However, after a lengthy VAR review, it was determined he fouled a Miami player while leaping into the air by putting his hands to the face of the defender. Miami responded, nearly finding the back of the net, too, but it was cleared off the line by FCC, and the final whistle blew minutes later.
For the , they'll take the draw, considering FCC defeated them just last week 3-0. However, it was a missed opportunity to leap ahead of an Eastern Conference contender.
GOAL rates Inter Miami's players from Chase Stadium.
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Over the last four years, Sourav Ganguly has been thoroughly exposed by short-pitched bowling
S Rajesh05-Sep-2005Over the last few years, fast bowlers around the world have worked out a simple plan to dismiss Sourav Ganguly: pitch it short, attack his body, make him hook or pull, and then watch as he either defends clumsily or attempts an ungainly hoick and gets himself out. The idea isn’t terribly original, but it has worked so often that Ganguly’s weakness against short deliveries has become an open secret among the fast-bowling fraternity. Ganguly has often tried to defend himself on that charge by arguing that it doesn’t matter how a batsman looks while playing a stroke; what counts is the number of runs he scores and the number of times he’s dismissed. Well, if that is Ganguly’s defence, then he will be pretty disappointed with the numbers below.In all one-day internationals since September 2001 (excluding the matches in the ongoing Videocon Cup tri-series), Ganguly’s stats against the short balls present a pretty dismal picture – 143 runs from 128 balls with 12 dismissals at an average of less than 12. Among the Indian top-order batsmen, his stats are easily the worst.
| Indian batsmen v short ball | |||
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| Batsman | Runs (Balls) | Dismissals | Average |
| Rahul Dravid | 143 (100) | 4 | 35.75 |
| Virender Sehwag | 219 (134) | 7 | 31.29 |
| Mohammad Kaif | 60 (56) | 2 | 30.00 |
| Yuvraj Singh | 79 (51) | 4 | 19.75 |
| Sourav Ganguly | 143 (128) | 12 | 11.92 |
Ganguly is clearly ill at ease when playing the short stuff, but what makes his case even worse is his insistence on playing the hook or pull, strokes which are clearly low percentage for him. Ganguly’s overall runs per dismissal when playing the hook or pull is 25.33 (304 runs, 12 outs), but most of those runs have come off back-of-a-length deliveries. When bowlers have dug it in short, Ganguly has been all at sea while attempting those strokes, lasting less than five balls per dismissal.
| Ganguly – Pull/ hook v short ball | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Runs (Balls) | Dismissals | Average | Balls per dismissal |
| 96 (44) | 9 | 10.67 | 4.89 |
Ganguly’s in-control factor – the number of times he has middled his stroke or left the ball alone – against the short deliveries is only 68.75% (88 out of 128), further indication of his discomfort against the short stuff. And with Shane Bond in the opposition line-up tomorrow, Ganguly can expect another severe examination in the Videocon Cup final.
How Ricky Ponting kept England at bay, and Andrew Flintoff’s domination of left-handers
On the ball with S Rajesh and Arun Gopalakrishnan15-Aug-2005Throughout the series, Ricky Ponting had been struggling for runs, but he put it all together under serious adversity to score what is easily his most significant Test innings to date. It wasn’t a typical Ponting effort – he began scratchily, taking 105 balls to reach his half-century, but from there, it kept getting better: his next 50 took just 64 balls, and he needed only 78 more to get to 150.Ponting’s problem so far on tour had been his footwork; here, it showed vast improvement. He wasn’t very dominant off the front foot, but he made the bowlers pay whenever they pitched short. And he was only caught on the crease 18 times, a sign that he is slowly regaining his best form.Ponting’s fantastic knock thwarted a wholehearted effort from England, led by Andrew Flintoff. Flintoff has been in devastating form with both bat and ball in this series, and what’s been especially impressive is the manner in which he has bowled to the left-handers in the Australian line-up. On the final day at Old Trafford, Flintoff proved once again that he had the measure of the left-handers, dismissing three of them – Matthew Hayden, Simon Katich and Adam Gilchrist – and conceding just 18 runs from the 60 balls he bowled at them.Flintoff’s confidence in his ability shone through in the manner in which he attacked the batsmen. He switched from over the wicket to round the wicket regularly, but seldom erred in direction while doing so, keeping it on a good length around off stump most of the time. The way he shackled Adam Gilchrist was quite outstanding – in 22 balls, Gilchrist managed only a single before eventually falling to him for the third time in the series. Flintoff’s effectiveness against left-handers can also be gauged by the number of false strokes he induced from them – 15 times the ball took the edge or beat the bat. Even Ponting did not take too many liberties against him, scoring only 19 from 49 deliveries.
India settle most key issues ahead of World Cup
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan01-Feb-2007
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“When people score runs, it solves a lot of problems.” Rahul Dravid’s
forthright assertion at the end of the opening game against West Indies at Nagpur summed up India’s series, one which they began with several questions and ended with
most answered. The margin of victory (3-1) conveys their dominance and it
was mainly the shocking middle-order collapse at Chennai that prevented a
clean sweep.India returned from South Africa a destroyed one-day side and the home series offered a chance to get things back on track by finding answers to the various questions the team composition posed. We look at the crucial issues:The openers: The opening combination was kaput – Sachin Tendulkar out of sorts, Virender Sehwag struggling and Wasim Jaffer not being able to make the cut – and that was having a knock-on effect on the middle order. All it required was some tweaking and fine-tuning and India were away. Sehwag was dropped, Tendulkar pushed down the order. Sourav Ganguly returned in fine style and the tyros who opened with him – Robin Uthappa and Gautam Gambhir – seized one chance apiece.Gambhir’s series was illustrative of his career – confidence at Nagpur, misjudgement, maybe even misfortune, at Cuttack, and sloppiness at Chennai. He could have eyed the reserve-opener slot for the World Cup but Sehwag’s imminent return makes it an extremely long shot because Uthappa might just have upstaged him for that berth. His 41-ball 70 will be hard to match for its sheer impact, with crisply struck swats clattering
into the boundary hoardings. The jury is still out on his technique
-sophisticated slogger or adept thumper? – but this isn’t the time for
such philosophical questions.Uthappa has amassed 854 runs in seven games in a bowler-dominated Ranji Trophy
– significantly, three of his hundreds were on the first morning of games – and done
enough, one might say, in the ODIs to deserve a spot. He needs to cash in on the starts he’s got – in Chennai he gave it away when in the zone, in Vadodara he tried a cute glide to one that lifted from a good length – but he’s an explosive talent and must be persisted with.The middle order: India still don’t know how well equipped they are in run-chases. Brian Lara chose to field on three occasions and Dravid decided to bat at
Cuttack, the only venue where he won the toss. But Tendulkar shepherding
in the middle order provides an element of calm. His hundred at Vadodara
was a fine mix of strike-rotation and acceleration, giving India exactly
what they missed over the last few months – consolidation followed by the
final kick.Word is that Virender Sehwag, likely to return for the Sri Lanka series,
will bat in the middle order and, along with the impressive Dinesh
Karthik and destructive Mahendra Singh Dhoni, provide the much-needed
firepower at the death.If Sehwag is indeed tried out in the middle order then he may have to compete with Dinesh Karthik for a place. Sehwag provides the offspin option but Karthik’s agility, in a side that’s loaded with weak fielders, will be impossible to ignore. And where does this leave Suresh Raina, who squandered his only chance at Chennai? India’s ideal 12th man but whether fielding alone is enough for a spot remains to be seen.The allrounder: This is one slot that doesn’t seem to have any takers – Joginder Sharma muffed his chance at Cuttack, reckless with the bat and listless with the
ball. Ramesh Powar, till recently a handy domestic allrounder, seized his
chance with the ball, in his only opportunity at Cuttack, but his batting
seems to have fallen away (and he doesn’t have fielding to fall back on). He would anyway struggle to make the World Cup squad, with India almost set on picking two specialist spinners and the part-timers being slow bowlers as well. Irfan Pathan, lackluster in his only appearance at Vadodara, looks the ideal one to step into the No.7
void, he regains some sort of bowling rhythm.Unanswered questions: What does one expect against Sri Lanka? The main question over the bowling is the choice between the erratic Sreesanth and the fragile Munaf Patel, with only one of them likely to be picked for the West Indies, and there’s still a doubt over Pathan’s rhythm. Yuvraj Singh hasn’t done much with the bat since his return from injury and India will hope that the few remaining wrinkles are ironed over during
the last lap of their World Cup preparations.
In the first part of our investigation into cricket inside Zimbabwe, a look at what’s happening in the schools
Steven Price03-Feb-2008
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Finding out what is happening in any walk of life inside Zimbabwe is getting harder by the day, and cricket is no exception. Foreign journalists are rarely permitted to enter the country, and few local reporters are still working – those that remain write for outlets vigorously policed by the state.The only exposure cricket gets is when the national side plays. Outside that, the government-controlled Herald newspaper covers some local matches, but more often than not its reports are provided by Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC).In the aftermath of the World Cup, it was well publicised that Zimbabwe received approximately US$ 11 million from the ICC, and questions were inevitably raised as to how that sum was being spent, given the relatively few matches played by the team – they remain in self-imposed suspension from Test cricket – and the small number of players inside the country.The board, and Peter Chingoka, its chairman, countered the queries with bullish rhetoric about the state of school and club cricket and the investment being made in those areas. But for all the confident talk there remained rumours all was not well, and so I decided to find out for myself.I started at the bottom, schools cricket. Historically, private schools have provided the core of Zimbabwe’s provincial and national players – Chingoka himself was educated at the prestigious St George’s College – and given the money they have been able to spend on basics such as grounds and equipment, that was not surprising.The story in many of the schools was surprisingly good. “All the traditional junior and high schools are still playing cricket and the structures still seem to be there,” one administrator told me. “All the age groups are still running.” There was also good news among the government schools in high-density areas, where some were lucky enough to have ZC-funded coaches and many were still playing competitive cricket.But there were claims that the distribution was not necessarily even. “Many school grounds are not being used due to the high cost of maintaining the facilities,” one local player/coach admitted. “Only a few selected schools who are prepared to toe the line get funding from ZC for tractors and mowers to cut the outfields.”The increasing lack of good coaches is a growing problem, and one that is affecting even the private schools. “The current teachers require a second income to survive and can’t afford the time to coach in the afternoons,” said one former Test cricketer who helps out when he can. “It’s been a pleasure coaching a young side that is so keen, but without an experienced coach who has played the game at some level, how is any sport going to grow in this country?”The other big difference between government and private schools is equipment, which has always been scarce but now, as the economic crisis worsens, has become almost impossible to get hold of without foreign currency. Kit is shared between players – sides often have only one or two bats between them – and there are also growing issues with maintaining anything approaching reasonable surfaces for them to play on.
| Parents desire to have their children involved in the game, but then with the spiralling cost of basics such as food, transport, and school fees, cricket isn’t one of the priorities | |||
To its credit, ZC has a scholarship programme that enables talented players at junior schools to be sent to traditional cricket-playing private schools, such as Prince Edward School, Churchill Boys High School, and Milton High School. Exact numbers are hard to obtain but one master reckoned that at any one time there were around 25 boys on the scheme. Several of the current national side – for example, Tatenda Taibu, Hamilton Masakadza, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Chamu Chibhabha, Elton Chigumbura and Vusi Sibanda – have benefited from this programme.The downside is that the Zimbabwe Academy, which Chingoka recently claimed was operational and which takes in “youngsters between the ages of 17 and 23″, does not appear to have had an intake for at least two years. The buildings were burned down in late 2006, though the practice facilities remain.Outside Harare the picture is gloomier, and the lack of players means that many schoolboys are fast-tracked into senior sides, purely to keep the clubs functioning. In Manicaland it is estimated that as many as three quarters of those playing for clubs are still at school.”There’s just a little bit going on as there are only two schools that had a cricket culture on the school curriculum,” a local player said. Although he said there were attempts to spread the game, it was failing through a lack of investment. “Equipment for those taking up the game should be made available free, which isn’t happening,” he said. “The parents desire to have their children involved in the game, but then with the spiralling cost of basics such as food, transport, and school fees, cricket isn’t one of the priorities.”
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In Matabeleland, the private schools, such as Falcon College outside Bulawayo, still function. “The standard of play at school level is good … it’s really competitive,” one local said. “I know at High School they play two-day cricket, which is good in preparing the boys for the longer version of the game.” But outside the elite institutions things are not as rosy, and the coaching is a problem. “The board has got coaches at some of the schools in Bulawayo … but not all of them because many of them have left for South Africa. The private schools do have their own full-time coaches who are qualified enough.”What is of concern, and an observation that kept cropping up, is the perception that standards have fallen markedly in the last five years, a natural knock-on of deteriorating facilities, and as one headmaster told me, of the fact that for an increasing number of Zimbabweans survival is the priority and not sport. And only this week the United Nations reported that an increasing number of teachers are deserting their schools as they have not been paid.”Once they leave school they are on their own to fend for themselves. After school one has to get a job immediately to cope with inflation,” a coach said. “Half of them end up working and can’t afford the time to play cricket.”The falling standards in the schools and the drop in the numbers of those who continue to play the game is having an impact. One source close to the Under-19 side stated that man for man, the current side is weaker than the one that did so well at the 2006 U-19 World Cup, and that is also reflected across the age groups. Given that many of the current full side have come from the U-19s in the last two or three years, that more than anything should concern the administrators.Clearly, there is little ZC can do about the general malaise, but it does seem to be offering support where it can. There is a suspicion that Harare is much better catered for than some of the other centres; ZC would counter that the bulk of cricket is played there. It’s a chicken-and-egg situation.What is heartening is that despite all the hardships, cricket in schools is surviving, and that offers some hope for the future. The worry is that maintaining the structures gets harder with every passing day.Next week: Club cricket in Zimbabwe
With the captain not only unsure of where to bat, but also apparently unwilling to fulfill his all-round role, Pakistan have been uninspiring
Osman Samiuddin in Karachi26-Jun-2008
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When Imran Khan pontificates, people still listen. He’s not wrong as often
as his critics claim or right as often as his supporters do, but take note
they all do. So when he writes a column, part of which robustly questions
Shoaib Malik’s credentials as player and captain, ripples are inevitable.”A captain can only earn respect if he is doing his bit as a player,”
Imran wrote in today’s . “Shoaib [Malik] is a good
cricketer and seems to have a sensible head. However, the question is,
does he automatically select himself as a batsman? Unfortunately, the
answer is no, and till he changes that he cannot lead with authority.”It is unlikely Malik read the column before he went out to open today
against India. But as the beginnings of a response, his wasn’t half bad.
Malik as a top-order batsman is a different beast altogether to Malik
anywhere else. Indeed, part of the problem through his career, why people
never think him a certain starter, is that he has never made one spot
his own. Instead he has batted here, there and everywhere.Why this is so is unclear. The 58 ODIs in his career where he has batted
in the top four, he averages nearly 44 from. All his centuries and nearly
half his fifties have come from here. More than all these stats, he looks
more authoritative up there, able to run the singles and take advantage of
fielding restrictions, as he did here.His sixth hundred was a fine hand, controlled and always up-tempo. It gave
Pakistan just the base they wanted, though it ended just when it shouldn’t
have. Yet as captain, in 28 matches, he has batted in the top four only
four times. Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf at three and four are
accomplished batsmen, but not immoveable from their spots: if Malik is not
going to impose himself as captain, when will he? “We always look for the
right combination in our batting,” Malik said later. “It’s not that every
time you open you score a hundred.”Ultimately, after this loss and the nature of it, Imran’s questions still
hang in the air, awkwardly unanswered. So Malik was handicapped from the
off by the early loss of Umar Gul, as acknowledged by Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Defending 300 with two seamers and one spinner on what Dhoni said was one of the
flattest tracks in the world was never going to be easy.Though cramps and time off the field meant he couldn’t bowl today, his
lack of bowling is also problematic. Board officials and Malik himself
insist that he is in the team as an allrounder. Yet against the teams
that matter – South Africa, India and Sri Lanka – Malik has bowled just 49
overs in 16 matches. If three overs per match is the criteria, then
Virender Sehwag is a bona fide allrounder. When asked about Pakistan’s
recent performances and whether morale is down, he replied bizarrely,
“Are you sitting in my heart? The Pakistan team is famous for comebacks.
My form if it wasn’t good, at least I am still the best allrounder as far
as I know.”Perhaps on an evening lit up by Suresh Raina and Sehwag, none of it might
have mattered anyway. But how many can deny that Pakistan under Malik,
Kitply Cup or not, have been, not just uninspiring, but unsure of
themselves?Little wonder, when the captain is not only unsure of where to bat, but
also apparently unwilling to fulfill his all-round role. He has to decide
on one spot in the order, he has to stick to it and perform. Either he is
an allrounder or he isn’t. A surly press conference later, where he
inadvertently re-lit a simmering selectorial debate, wasn’t the ideal way
to finish off a demanding night. More results like this and this time
Imran Khan may well be proven correct.