The Socceroos have to settle for a draw as the five-time world champions score a last-gasp goal to cancel out Irankunda’s stunning free kick

Brazil might be looking to refresh their squad after their World Cup disappointment but there is still more than enough star power to light up any stage. Barcelona and Brazil forward Raphinha is one of the biggest stars of the lot, and will help lead the line against the Socceroos in Townsville. The No 9 spoke to Sid Lowe about embracing his new role as a leader of the team and the focal point of the attack.

What kind of leader [I am] depends on the moment. If I have to be slightly tougher, I can. But I prefer nicer moments, jokes. The last two years have been spectacular so I haven’t had to be the pesado [pain in the arse] often. I know that annoys people but someone has to do it sometimes.

Very honoured and proud to be in this position [playing Brazil]. I enjoyed it as a player thoroughly, enjoying it as a coach, and as I did at the World Cup and tonight, we have a huge challenge against one the world’s best.

We [Carlo Ancelotti] have caught up a few days ago in Brisbane. He’s just a fantastic man and obviously one of the world’s greatest managers. He’s done so much in his career and won so many titles I’m sure he doesn’t have enough room at home with all the trophies he’s won. So it’ll an honour and a pleasure to share the pitch with him.

Curtain-raiser can offer clues but it is no reliable pointer to a season – its winners have not landed the title since 2018

The doubt for anyone when a long-strived-for goal has been achieved is hunger. Arsenal waited 22 years for their 14th league title and, compounding the yearning, finished second three times in a row before finally lifting the Premier League trophy in May. The physical exertions of last season were immense – as seen by Declan Rice’s clear exhaustion and Bukayo Saka’s intermittent contributions at the World Cup, where William Saliba picked up a back injury – but so too was the emotional strain.

The first weeks of a new season after a major tournament, especially the World Cup, are often a little erratic anyway, but this feels like a particularly unpredictable start to a campaign. Nine of the 20 Premier League clubs have changed manager this summer. For the first time in 40 years, none of the five big managerial beasts of the Premier League era – Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsène Wenger, José Mourinho, Jürgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola – will be in charge of a club. There are unknowns and uncertainty everywhere, even at Arsenal. Mikel Arteta may be the longest-serving manager in the league but there are questions even there; it would be no great surprise if Arsenal were to start slowly.

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Andoni Iraola told his Liverpool team they have work to do after ­squandering a 2-0 lead against Monaco to lose a second successive pre-season friendly.

The former Bournemouth coach last managed a game at Anfield almost exactly a year ago in the memorable opener to the 2025-26 Premier League season, a game the Cherries were unfortunate to lose 4-2. Now on his debut in the home dugout, Iraola saw his team produce a similarly open display and lose again. It became clear Liverpool’s longstanding defensive frailties are still to be eliminated.

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The Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta, has backed “warrior” Bruno Guimarães, to “ignite something different” in the Premier League champions. The Brazil midfielder was introduced to fans ahead of Sunday’s 3-2 defeat by Borussia Dortmund in the Emirates Cup after completing his £75m move from Newcastle.

The 28-year-old, who has signed a four-year deal, bolsters a midfield which already includes Declan Rice, Martin Ødegaard, Mikel Merino, Martín Zubimendi and Eberechi Eze.

• Delap scores twice from spot in 3-3 draw with JDT

• Manager made 11 changes against Malaysian champions

Chelsea’s problems mounted as their pre-season tour came to an end in a strangely fiery draw against the Malaysian champions Johor Darul Ta’zim. The omens do not look promising with a bloated choice of forwards, echoes of their inexperience and indiscipline last season, and fewer than two weeks for the new manager, Xabi Alonso, to reintegrate key players and work with the entirety of his squad before they kick off the Premier League season against Fulham – managed by his old friend Álvaro Arbeloa – on 24 August.

Alonso, tasked with transforming a club that finished 10th in the Premier League last season into Champions League qualifiers, made 11 changes for the friendly against JDT. He rested players after beating Milan with a strong lineup only 24 hours earlier, 600 miles away.

• Liverpool 2-4 Leeds

• Calvert-Lewin scores twice as Leeds come back from 2-0 down

After 45 minutes at Soldier Field the tale of Liverpool’s pre-season tour of the US was of three straight wins and Andoni Iraola’s ideas taking shape thanks in no small part to Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak. After 90, with Liverpool’s expensive duo off the scene, it centred on a stirring Leeds fightback and the recurrence of a fragility that Iraola could well do without.

Daniel Farke’s team staged a convincing comeback to inflict a first defeat of pre-season on the new ­Liverpool head coach. Dominic ­Calvert-Lewin, twice, Brenden Aaronson and Sean Longstaff all scored in the space 25 minutes as Liverpool failed to deal with Leeds’ strength at set-pieces and the disruption caused by a series of half-times changes. The drop-off from Liverpool, who led 2-0 at half-time, following the departures of Wirtz, Isak, Trey Nyoni and Rio Ngumoha was drastic.

• 10-man Spurs win pre-season match 2-1 in Sydney

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Roberto De Zerbi wants Richarlison to stay at Tottenham, but says the striker, who has been linked with a move away, is still unsure about his future.

The Brazilian scored a last-gasp winner as 10-man Tottenham defeated Chelsea 2-1 in a pre-season friendly in Sydney, with Kevin Danso sent off just minutes after coming on as a half-time substitute.

It was the day when Thomas Tuchel showed his hand for England’s World Cup opener against Croatia in Dallas next Wednesday and his players hinted at what can happen when they play with intensity and slick connections.

The paucity of the opposition had to be considered. Costa Rica barely even saw the ball; it was entirely a rearguard effort from them. But there was nevertheless encouragement for Tuchel, who went strong with his line-up, the occasion framed, really, by who he picked at the outset.

• Wilson sparks winner as US beat Brazil 1-0

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• Riot police surround match officials

United States manager Emma Hayes said she had “an experience I will never forget” after her side’s bad-tempered 1-0 win over Brazil in Fortaleza saw the home team handed eight red cards.

Brazil head coach Arthur Elias and three members of his staff were dismissed towards the end of the second half before police in riot gear surrounded the match officials on the pitch at full-time after further flashpoints.

• Croatia 2-1 Slovenia

• Modric scores on what could be last game on home turf

Luka Modric discarded his protective mask, accepted Zlatko Dalic’s congratulations and half-waved bashfully to a vigorously appreciative crowd. Had this really, finally, been his last official appearance on Croatian soil? The pre-match wisdom had certainly leaned that way, even though the home side’s ageless metronome has given little indication of his post-World Cup plans. It was a suitably romantic narrative to enliven a warm, woozy evening in the country’s far north and, as Modric returned to the bench shortly before the hour, he had already reminded any wandering England eyes of the gifts that still give scant sign of fading away.

Until Mario Pasalic’s spectacular volley, thrashed in with the game’s final action, nobody else had done much to stir local emotions. Croatia depart for the US with questions lingering about form, fitness and formation but at least they were waved on their way with a 2-1 win over a punchy and slightly unfortunate Slovenia. Warm-up games offer a flawed, fragmented picture by their nature but Modric’s putative send-off offered cover for a palpable fallibility that has infected Dalic’s side.

Bellingham will have been happy to take the armband, O’Reilly is a midfield option but Stones looks a weak link

England may as well pack their bags and go home if Harry Kane picks up an injury. The captain laboured through Euro 2024, leaving some to wonder if his international career was winding down, but there is no doubting his importance before the World Cup. It had to be Kane calming the nerves as England warmed up with a win over New Zealand in testing conditions in Tampa.

It was a glorified training game, mainly about acclimatisation for Thomas Tuchel’s England players; unsexy stuff like the right amount of loading, re-connecting with the manager’s principles. But the win was good, too, and it was welcome after the stodge of the March internationals, which had seen the draw against Uruguay and the loss to Japan.

With the temperature peaking at 33C and the humidity at about 40%, Tuchel played different teams in each half and both were too good for New Zealand, who will be the lowest-ranked team at the World Cup.

“I think a medal of some sort will come. I pray and hope that it is the gold one.” Ally MacLeod was never to live down his hubris of 1978. A Scotland loss to Peru and draw with Iran saw to that. Unlike MacLeod, Steve Clarke has never been prone to bold or rash predictions. Excitement will be left to everyone else. Who can reasonably deny them that?

In a last outing before a first World Cup appearance in 28 years, Scotland dismantled Bolivia. Suddenly, worries over a potentially tournament-defining joust with Haiti next weekend evaporated. If Clarke’s men are this ruthless and efficient when the proper stuff starts, they have a serious chance of emerging from the group phase for the first time in Scotland’s international history. This friendly, in theory an exercise in box-ticking, instead gave reasons for huge Scottish confidence. Scotland will remember their first ever game against Bolivia with great fondness.

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Thomas Tuchel was unhappy with England’s “freestyle” performance in the first half of their 1-0 win over New Zealand but the head coach was pleased with Jude Bellingham’s impact as a substitute in Tampa.

Harry Kane’s goal just before half-time was the difference in a forgettable encounter at Raymond James Stadium and there was plenty for Tuchel to ponder after his side failed to capture the imagination in their penultimate warm-up game before the World Cup.

• Pre-World Cup friendly updates from 9pm UK time

• Who might England play if they reach final?

• You can email Scott with your thoughts

… and on that very subject, this is great fun / dangerously addictive. Fiddle around, and find out how quickly the draw can get all out of whack when just one of the leading contenders fails to win their group, as they did when I ran my model. Oh Spain, that last-minute equaliser for Cape Verde so costly! The knock-on effect was an all-Iberian quarter-final clash with Portugal, who swept them aside just as they did in the Nations League last year. Portugal went on to the final, where they were beaten by Turkey, who had surprised Germany in the semis. I had Scotland making the quarters, as well, so I wouldn’t rush out to the bookies and lump big on any of this. But yes, great fun.

… so having talked about not getting too far ahead of ourselves too soon, here’s a piece about England’s route to glory, as determined by Opta and their big calculator. Hey, we’re nothing if not a broad church.

• Minute-by-minute updates from 9pm UK time

• Essential guide to all 1,248 World Cup players

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Ewan also wrote our Scotland preview.

Clarke is pragmatic in approach but it will be a shock if he does not start with two strikers for game one against Haiti. Victory there and Scotland have a genuine chance of progression from the first round for the first time. There is also a lingering reason for Clarke to at least appear bold; he was castigated by supporters for negative tactics in a must-win match against Hungary at the last Euros.

A more defensive style is likely and understandable against Morocco and Brazil, who simply put are better teams than Scotland. Clarke’s team can be useful in such a situation; they are excellently drilled and carry a counterattacking threat.

Clarke insists he cannot alter plans on account of potential fitness setbacks.

“Do you want to wrap them in cotton wool and [they] don’t train?” Clarke asked. “You need to work. Injuries are part and parcel of football. When it happens, especially when it happens in the circumstances it happened to Billy, it is really disappointing. Everybody has got to take a deep breath and move forward again. That is what we will do.”

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• Reach out to Bryan on Bluesky or by email

2 min: An early free kick given to Germany as Nmecha is brought down by Adams. Sané will take it.

1 min: And we’re off! The US kick off and attack from left to right in white shirts and blue shorts. Germany are going from right to left in their all-black strips.

In the early stages, Scotland looked to be opting for something different. That is, heading to a major tournament while completely unburdened by expectation. Little Curaçao were embarrassing Steve Clarke and his team. Scottish Football Association big wigs, who handed Clarke a four-year deal in recent days, were shuffling uncomfortably in the plush seats. Excitement was surely raising in Haiti, Scotland’s first World Cup opponents.

That Scotland played against 10 men for more than a half must be factored in to analysis of their recovery. Nonetheless, the response was stirring enough to raise optimism among a supporter base who will shortly grace a World Cup for the first time in 28 years. The Tartan Army remained in place to afford Scotland a rousing send-off for the US. Victory had ultimately proved as comfortable as should have been the case. However, the optimism was soured by the news later on Saturday night that Billy Gilmour had been ruled out of the finals by a knee injury.

The playing of a Scotland fixture on Merseyside provided a significant boost to the area’s hospitality sector. Questions remain over whether Scotland’s upcoming World Cup involvement can deliver on-field impact. There was improvement and encouragement for Steve Clarke despite Côte d’Ivoire’s success. Yet Scotland still look short, particularly of scoring threat. Clarke, while positive in demeanour and sentiment, bemoaned a lack of “calmness” in front of goal.

This has proved a wholly rewarding stopoff in the United Kingdom for Côte d’Ivoire. Les Éléphants will remember their two wins from two. But for wastefulness, this victory would have been by a grander margin.

It is not a question that Thomas Tuchel wants to entertain at the World Cup this summer but one he had a run at here in what was supposed to be England’s grand Wembley sendoff. Can the team thrive against good opposition without Harry Kane? The answer was played out across an increasingly frustrating 90 minutes. It was no.

It was not all about Kane, who missed out because of a sore foot. But it was easy to conflate England’s lack of cutting edge with his absence. Tuchel had highlighted on Monday the poor goal returns from his other attacking players. They needed to bring more to the party. There was only bluntness.