Day: July 20, 2026

Just as we saw a new generation of elite young players make big strides in the World Cup’s immense global spotlight, we also saw what is likely the curtain call for some of the greatest and most beloved players of all time. Nothing is ever known until a player formally retires, and even then, some players come out of international retirement when asked. But with a very high degree of likelihood, this tournament will be the World Cup goodbye for four of the greatest players of all time and several others who were among the best of their generation. There were many “passing of the torch” moments. The final left us with Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal embracing after Spain’s win, leaving many fans hopeful that Yamal and teenage teammate (for both club and country) Pau Cubarsí can help fill the greatness void left by the near-retirement of Messi and his generation. There was also Gilberto Mora and Guillermo Ochoa, both playing for Mexico against Czechia at Mexico City Stadium. Messi and Yamal were pictured in a now-famous photo together when Yamal was a baby. Similarly, Mora was the youngest player at the 2026 World Cup, and during the tournament, he shared a childhood picture of him with Ochoa, his idol growing up. Bosnia and Herzegovina’s team was led by its legendary 40-year-old captain Edin Džeko, who was born in Yugoslavia, grew up through the war and survived the 1992-95 Siege of Sarajevo. Many of the young Bosnian players on the team, including teenage star Karim Alajbegović, were born abroad after being displaced by the war. Now they are returning to play for the national team. For them, Džeko is an important figure and playing with him at this tournament was heavily symbolic of the country’s brutal past and hopeful future. “I am happy because I am the captain of this great generation,” Džeko said in the lead-up to the tournament. This tournament was a poignant transition between generations. Of course, all World Cups see many great players leave the international side of the game following the tournament, but never has a tournament marked the exit for such a class of legendary players. Goodbye To The GOATs There isn’t anything more that can be said about Messi’s greatness. Eight-time Ballon d’Or winner, a World Cup champion, two-time runner-up, two-time Copa América champion, a four-time Champions League winner, 10-time LaLiga champion, two-time Ligue 1 champion, six Copa del Reys and, recently, an MLS Cup. He wasn’t just great; he was also popular and likable. He was a wonderful torchbearer for this sport. We won’t likely see him again at such a stage as he was in Sunday’s World Cup final. Ronaldo never won the World Cup, but he has achieved so many historical accomplishments that make him easily among the greatest players of all time. He has a record 146 international goals for Portugal, where he has won a European Championship and two Nations Leagues. He has won the Ballon d’Or five times and the Champions League five times, the Premier League three times, La Liga twice, Serie A twice and the Saudi Pro League once. The 2026 World Cup was not a great tournament for Ronaldo, now age 41, but his two goals in a 5-0 win over Uzbekistan made him the first player to ever score in six World Cups. He finishes his World Cup career with 11 goals and two assists over 27 games, but his penalty conversion against Croatia in the round of 32 was his only knockout goal at the tournament. As one of the greatest midfielders of all time, Modrić, 40, earned his 200th cap for Croatia during the 2026 World Cup. During his decorated career, he helped Croatia’s national team become one of the best in the world with a second-place finish in 2018 and a third-place finish in 2022. In 2018, he was awarded the World Cup Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player. In 2022, he won the Bronze Ball as the tournament’s third-best player. His club career is remarkably decorated. In 2010, he helped Tottenham return to the Champions League for the first time in nearly 50 years. With Real Madrid, he won the tournament six times, a record he shares with four other players. Regarded by many as the greatest goalkeeper of all-time, Neuer came out of international retirement to play for Germany at the 2026 World Cup. Ultimately, it did not go well as Germany was eliminated by Paraguay in the round of 32. Neuer gave his team a chance to win it with a save in the fifth round of a shootout, but Germany would eventually fall. Neuer is a World Cup winner with Germany and a 13-time Bundesliga champion with Bayern Munich, including the recent 2025-26 season. He also won the Champions League twice. National Team Legends If reports are correct, the 35-year-old captain of Liverpool and the Netherlands appears set to retire from the international game following the Netherlands’ round of 32 loss to Morocco at the World Cup. As one of the greatest central defenders of his generation, he won the Premier League twice and the Champions League once with Liverpool. In 2018-19, he was named the Premier League Player of the Season and the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year. The greatest Mexican goalkeeper in history hung up his gloves following the 2026 World Cup. He made just one appearance, coming on as a late substitute in a 3-0 win over Czechia at Mexico City Stadium to participate in his sixth World Cup, a record he shares with Ronaldo and Messi. It was an emotional moment for Ochoa, who was cheered and tossed into the air by his teammates for his legendary career with the team that ended with 153 caps. As one of the top center forwards of his generation, Džeko is sure to bow out of the international team following the World Cup, where he made three starts and was held scoreless. But Džeko was critically important over the past 18 months in ensuring Bosnia and Herzegovina qualified for the World Cup. He memorably scored a late equalizer against Wales in the playoff semifinal, which Bosnia and Herzegovina would eventually win in a shootout. For Bosnia and Herzegovina, Džeko has 73 goals in 151 caps. He has also won the Bundesliga once and the Premier League twice. He has also won the single-season scoring titles in both the Bundesliga and Serie A. The highly accomplished Croatian national team winger was still playing at a high level at this World Cup, and his goal against Portugal in the round of 32 seemed like it might have been enough to propel his team to victory. Unfortunately for Perišić, Portugal found a late winner in one of the tournament’s most debated moments. In Croatia’s opening game, Perišić assisted in a loss to England but picked up an assist to become the second player (along with only Lionel Messi) to have an assist in four different World Cups. At 37, Perišić might have some more left to give and has not announced his retirement from Croatia, but this is likely his last World Cup. It’s been a great international career for Perišić, who has 39 goals in 158 caps. He is still going strong at the club level, having won two straight Eredivisie titles with PSV Eindhoven. Prior to that, he won two Bundesliga titles, a Serie A title and a Champions League trophy with Bayern Munich in 2019-20.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

The buck stops here — even if Warde Manuel preferred it didn’t. See, he either never learned or forgot what President Harry S. Truman knew about making hard decisions and accepting the fault of his subordinates. Everything is your fault when you are the man in charge. For Manuel, that means losing the job he loves after Michigan offered Manuel a buyout to leave his athletics director position before his contract expired, following an investigation by an outside law firm that uncovered details of a culture of irresponsibility. The University of Michigan paid law firm Jenner & Block nearly $12 million to rummage through its athletics closet and its bins and uncover its sins. The firm has been compensated similarly to the reported cost of Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood for three whole years because Manuel’s house has not been in order, despite Michigan football and men’s basketball getting good again. Manuel — Michigan’s AD from 2016 now through the end of 2026 — has arguably been the nation’s best AD based on pure performance since 2021. And yet, he is out of that job not four months after watching the Wolverines’ men’s basketball team win the national title. Explaining why begins in February 2021. One of Manuel’s first brilliant acts was getting former head coach Jim Harbaugh to accept an insulting and incentive-laden contract. And thus, 2021 began the best three-year run the Wolverines have seen on a football field this century: three Big Ten titles, three trips to the College Football Playoff and a perfect 15-0 run to the 2023 national championship. However, those three years are checkered with coaching scandals. Harbaugh received a 10-year show-cause order, a three-game suspension for violating Big Ten sportsmanship policy from B1G commissioner Tony Petitti and financial penalties from the NCAA that will cost the university $30 million, according to Manuel. Harbaugh’s consequences were the result of allowing former offensive analyst Connor Stalions to orchestrate a robust sign-stealing operation that gave the Wolverines an unfair competitive advantage against opponents. Those facts reveal how the Michigan athletics department operates in comparison to the rest of the country. But there’s more. Former Michigan assistant coach Matt Weiss was indicted on 24 federal charges stemming from allegations that he secretly accessed more than 3,300 student-athletes’ private accounts to steal intimate photos and videos between 2015 and 2023. Former head football coach Sherrone Moore, who succeeded Harbaugh, was engaged in an inappropriate relationship with former Michigan staffer Paige Shiver and was fired in December. Moore, later, trespassed into Shiver’s apartment and was arrested the same day he told Manuel about his violation of university policy. But according to The Wall Street Journal, Manuel knew about Moore’s close relationship with Shiver as early as Aug. 29, 2024. He informed Moore in handwriting on Michigan letterhead that he was concerned about Moore’s closeness with his executive assistant. “I told him I didn’t remember if we had already discussed [it], but that she couldn’t accompany him on trips,” Manuel wrote. On Tuesday, July 14, Manuel gave an interview to The Michigan Insider where he defended his record as an administrator at Michigan since 2016 and let it be known he had no intention of leaving his post willingly. His supporters would have seen him as a convenient scapegoat for decisions made by others. “I don’t need the credit [for Michigan’s success],”Manuel said, “but I’m not going to stand idly by and let people say all this happened despite Warde Manuel.” Stop. First, no one says your name alongside the wins you helped put on the board because that’s what the money’s for. Second, that’s what history exists to record. And, buddy, you’re in that record. But going on a radio program to discuss your résumé isn’t what blue-blood athletics directors do, unless they have something to address that ain’t among their greatest hits. You need us to say it? OK. It happened not despite of Warde Manuel, but because Warde Manuel is the athletics director at the storied University of Michigan. This is true while 31 other Power 4 programs have turned over athletics directors in the last two years. It happened because Warde Manuel is the man who oversaw Jim Harbaugh, Matt Weiss and Sherrone Moore as employees at Michigan. It happened because Warde Manuel was the AD while Paige Shiver went from Michigan intern to victim of a head coach’s abuse of power. Just as every upstanding and courageous Michigan athletics employee is your people, Jim Harbaugh is your people. Matt Weiss is your people. Connor Stalions is your people. Sherrone Moore is your people. Paige Shiver is your people. Just because you acted when the time came does not absolve you of responsibility for the culture that created space for Weiss’ indictment, Harbaugh’s flippancy for NCAA rules, Stalions’ willingness to bend them, Moore’s abuse of power and Shiver’s injury. I know the character of his coaches is important to him because Manuel said so in the same July 14 interview when he expressed why he hired Mike Boyton, Jr., to be head coach of the Michigan men’s basketball team: “Mike is a great person.” Manuel said similar things about new Michigan football coach Kyle Whittingham, who he hired last December. Most Michigan Wolverines are, presumably, good people. But when they are not, and their transgressions are severe, the university has a duty to objectively question its leadership and take appropriate action. That appropriate action happened to Warde Manuel. I know this because I believe an objective look into the history of the past six years would likely lead Warde Manuel to fire Warde Manuel as well.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports