World Cup

XHERDAN SHAQIRI joined an exclusive club last night by scoring against Serbia.The former Liverpool ace was on target as his country won 3-2 to secure a place in the round of 16.
Xherdan Shaqiri scores at his third World Cup finals in a rowCredit: Alamy
Shaqiri, 31, celebrates his landmark strikeCredit: Getty
Shaqiri, 31, became just the third player to score at the last three World Cup finals.
The only other two players to have matched that feat are Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Shaqiri, now of Chicago Fire in MLS, was part of Switzerland’s squad for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa aged 18.
He failed to score that time around, receiving only 12 minutes of action – but he has put that right since.
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The attacker bagged a memorable hat-trick against Honduras in Brazil in 2014.
While he also scored against Serbia four years later in Brazil.
On both occasions Switzerland made it through the group stage, only to be eliminated in the round of 16.
Shaqiri and Co will hope to put that right this time around, when they take on Ronaldo’s Portugal on Tuesday night.
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Shaqiri scored a hat-trick against Honduras in 2014Credit: AFP
The winger also scored against Serbia four years agoCredit: EPA
The 37-year-old made history earlier in the tournament by becoming the first player to score at the last FIVE World Cups in a row.
He netted his first World Cup goal all the way back in 2006, bagging against Iran on his side’s way to the semi-finals.
In 2010 he added another to his tally, scoring against North Korea in the group stage before his side were knocked out in the round of 16.
Four years later his side failed to make it out of Group G, although Ronaldo did score against Ghana.
While in 2018 he produced his most memorable World Cup performance, scoring a hat-trick in a 3-3 draw with Spain, before also netting the winner against Morocco.
Messi, 35, has scored twice so far in Qatar – a penalty against Saudi Arabia and a brilliant strike from range in the 2-0 victory over Mexico.
Like Ronaldo, the Argentine also got off the mark on the world stage in 2006 – scoring from the bench against Serbia as an 18-year-old.
He failed to score at the 2010 finals, however, with his side bowing out to Germany in the quarter-finals.
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In Brazil he scored four times on the way to the final – grabbing strikes against Bosnia and Iran before a double vs Nigeria.
Four years later he again scored against the Super Eagles, although his side were beaten 4-3 by eventual winners France in the round of 16.
Cristiano Ronaldo has scored at five World Cups in a rowCredit: Getty
Lionel Messi scored a pivotal goal against MexicoCredit: Getty More

FANS all said the same thing as a supporter showed off their dodgy-looking hot dog at the World Cup. The football lover who has travelled to Qatar to watch their team in action took a photo of their grub at one of the stadiums.

And it is safe to say other social media users were less than impressed by the questionable presentation.
The photo, posted by AJ Jakubec, reveals the bun and three pieces of dark brown meat inside – making it look more like a cigar than a juicy, flavoursome sausage.
Jakubec captioned the post: “World Cup stadium food. Not the best.”
And the replies were full of hilarious responses.
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One said: “Cigar in a bun weird but I’d try it.”
Another added: “Always fancied a cigar in bread.”
A third commented: “Decent cigars.”
And a final user quipped: “Is that a Cuban?”
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Meanwhile a few suggested it was something even worse than a cigar.
One joked: “What’s wrong with turd on a bun?”
Another wrote: “Looks like what my dog serves up on his morning walk.”
And a third responded: “I got food poisoning just looking at that.”
It is unclear exactly how much the hot dog in the stadium cost.
But for comparison, the unappealing food at the Fan Zone in Doha is not cheap – a beef burger is £10, a chicken sandwich £8 and a paltry Greek salad sets supporters back £10.
The Greek salad costs an incredible £10
Nachos with guacamole cost around £4.60 while a chicken quesadilla is £8 More

ISMAILA SARR is not stupid. He will know just how big an opportunity this is.He is mature enough — even at the age of 24 — to realise this game for Senegal against England will be the biggest he has ever played in.
Ismaila Sarr can be too hot to handle when he is in formCredit: AP
Sarr gave Luke Shaw the runaround in the Premier LeagueCredit: Getty
He will be pumped up. He will think: ‘This is my time’.
If he delivers and scores, it will be a really, really difficult watch for Gareth Southgate.
From the moment he joined us at Watford back in the summer of 2019, we knew he was something special at 21 years old.
His blistering pace is frightening. He runs so effortlessly.
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When you are a big guy like me and you can’t run, it is quite disheartening.
He is genuinely a nice bloke, and funny. His English was not great at the start but rather than being embarrassed by it, he made fun of himself which was quite endearing.
At the same time, when Ismaila is on it, he is scary.
I remember watching him in the Europa League for Rennes against Arsenal in the 2018-19 season and he tore them a new one.
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He has the ability to do that, especially in his natural position on the flanks. If you play him down the middle, you lose something from his game but he can be deadly on the right or left.
He will cause a lot of problems for England out wide, especially their full-backs.
I remember a match at Vicarage Road against Manchester United in December 2019.
We won 2-0, Ismaila scored and he gave Luke Shaw a miserable time.
He also played up against Shaw and scored in another win at Vicarage Road last season — that 4-1 game that got Ole Gunnar Solskjaer the sack.
Harry Maguire played in both of those as well and he was on the back foot the whole time, worried about what was going to be sprinting in behind him.
Ismaila’s motivation will be through the roof… this could be this England defence’s first real testTroy Deeney
It will be the same tomorrow. I would bring in Kyle Walker again from the start, to try and negate that.
Walker can stop any of the best players in the world with his pace.
If we play France in the quarter-finals, Walker is man-marking Kylian Mbappe, mark my words, so this could be good practice for him.
We have got away with dominating the ball in the group stages and the teams up against us have not been able to threaten us in behind.
That will change with Ismaila in the mood.
This could be this defence’s first real test.
I still think we will dominate the ball and it will be us trying to break them down but they will really get at us on the counter.

The transition is going to be key. This will be a tighter game than people think.
Not many have given Senegal the credit they deserve.
They are not a shoddy team. They have lots of Premier League stars.
They won’t fear England and we won’t fear them, so it will be a good game.
Ismaila’s motivation will be through the roof.
With the January window coming up and with Watford in the Championship, we all know he wants to be playing in the Premier League and at World Cups and on these sorts of stages more often.
I still chat to him on Instagram. I drop him a message when he does well and wish him all the best.
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He will go on to have an unbelievable career.
I don’t want to put too much pressure on him but heads will turn at the biggest clubs in Europe if he is the star of the show this weekend.
Sarr and Troy Deeney linked up at Watford togetherCredit: Getty
Harry Maguire and Kyle Walker know they will need to be switched on to deal with his threatCredit: Richard Pelham / The Sun More

GRANIT XHAKA has been labelled a “mentality monster” after getting under the skin of the ENTIRE Serbia bench. Xhaka was in action as Switzerland beat Serbia 3-2 to secure a place in the World Cup last 16, and caused a bust-up after making a gesture towards the Serbia bench.
Granit Xhaka enraged the Serbian bench by grabbing his privatesCredit: https://twitter.com/karthikadhaigal/status/1598776740272537600?s=20&t=fdaRTF9zdQmdcoQtlOM-kw
It sparked a pitch invasion from the Serbia bench
Fans picked up on Xhaka’s ability to ‘rattle’ the opposition benchCredit: AFP
Nikola Milenkovic and Xhaka come to blows near the end of the gameCredit: EPA
Xhaka won the Man of the Match awardCredit: Getty
With Switzerland leading 3-2 during the second half, the Arsenal star then gestured towards the bench by grabbing his NUTS.
It came after Dusan Vlahovic scored in the first half and celebrated by grabbing his nuts to hit back at claims he had an affair with a team-mate’s wife.
Serbia’s camp did not take it well, and stormed on to the pitch.
The game ended with an astonishing 11 yellow cards from both sides, with Serbia picking up five in total after Xhaka’s gesture.
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He was then involved AGAIN as he picked up a yellow for a bust-up with Nikola Milenkovic towards the end of the game.
But fans online praised Xhaka’s ability to wind up his opponents.
One user said: “Mentality monster who’s mastered the dark arts without losing his head… he’s unlocked yet another level.”
A second user added: “🤣🤣 Xhaka had them rattled.”
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A third declared: “If Xhaka wasn’t a footballer…..he would have been a leader of a Mafia gang.”
A fourth said: “Xhaka you’re a menace. And I love it lol.”
After the game Xhaka told reporters: “You can hear from my voice that I am a bit hoarse but there were a lot of emotions involved tonight.
“But in general it was fair enough because we wanted to win this game and we are very proud to be in the round of 16.”
Serbia and Switzerland have some bad blood between them regarding the ethnic heritage of some of Swiss players.
Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri have previously celebrated using the Albanian Eagle – the nationalist symbol of their ethnic heritage.
Shaqiri was born in Kosovo (a former Serbian province which declared independence in 2008).
Serbia does not recognise Kosovo’s independence and relations remain tense with many families choosing to move to other European counties including Switzerland.
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Xhaka celebrated at the end of the match wearing the shirt of young Swiss sub Ardon Jashiri, who just happens to share a surname with the famous Kosovan freedom fighter Adem Jashiri, who was killed by the Serbs.
But Xhaka insisted: “There was nothing political at all. I was just showing my happiness for my young team-mate.” More