Nina Dobrev and Paul Wesley are bringing their onscreen chemistry back from the dead.
The former Vampire Diaries costars confirmed they are set to team back up for an upcoming TV series based on…
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(The Center Square) – Justice Colleen Melody says voters should consider her appellate experience as they weigh their options for the Washington Supreme Court this August after she joined the bench last January following her appointment by Gov. Bob Ferguson.
Germany still tops the group. Ecuador finally found its finishing touch. Germany lost, and it cost the team nothing. Ecuador won, rescuing its World Cup dreams. On a hot Thursday afternoon at the New York New Jersey Stadium, Ecuador came from behind to stun a strong Germany side, 2-1 — a result that means wildly different things to the two teams trudging off the same field. Julian Nagelsmann’s side top Group E regardless. Sebastián Beccacece’s side leaves with its first goals of the tournament and is currently the best third-place team. Here are my takeaways: 1. Germany Top The Group — And Can Afford A Night Like This Here’s the perk of sealing your group early: you can lose like this and barely feel it. Top spot was secure before kickoff, so Thursday was a free hit, and Julian Nagelsmann’s side played like a team that knew it. It struck inside two minutes, then eased off. The press loosened. Ecuador pounced. The positives remain real, though. Seven goals past Curaçao. A grown-up win over Ivory Coast. Tons of attacking midfield talent. The back line wobbled, the finishing vanished and the complacency will gnaw at Nagelsmann all the way to the round of 32. But nobody lifts the trophy in June. You qualify, you learn, you move on. Germany has the first part down. 2. ¡Sí Se Puede! Ecuador Found Its Goals At The Perfect Time Two games, zero goals. Then the group winners rolled into town, and Ecuador remembered where the net was. That’s its whole tournament. A 1-0 loss to Ivory Coast, which it was incredibly wasteful against. A toothless 0-0 draw with Curaçao. An attack allergic to the final third. And then, against Germany of all teams, Nilson Angulo leveled inside 10 minutes, and Gonzalo Plata smashed in the winner with 13 to play, nodded down by substitute Kevin Rodríguez. Sebastián Beccacece always had the spine. Moisés Caicedo and Pedro Vite ran the middle. Vite set an Ecuadorian record for tackles in a World Cup match. The missing piece was a punch up top, as the living fossil Enner Valencia feels like a relic from the past. But in the most important game of the group, the squad collectively stepped up. Third place, four points, and — pending the other groups — a ticket to the knockouts. Sí se puede, indeed. 3. Florian Wirtz, Jamal Musiala, And A Reunion Worth Watching Remember when Florian Wirtz picked Liverpool over Bayern Munich partly to avoid sharing the No. 10 role with Jamal Musiala? Now they share it with Germany — the most tantalizing thing Nagelsmann owns. Thursday was a tease. Wirtz slid one gorgeous ball through to Musiala that Joel Ordóñez blocked superbly, then coughed up possession in the exact spots that made his Liverpool autumn such a slog. That’s the subplot. His £116 million move began miserably — no goal until after Christmas, mockery over the fee, the lot — before he roared back in the spring to look like himself again. The World Cup is the stage to finish that comeback. Pair a rediscovered Wirtz with a fearless Musiala between the lines, and Germany has a duo nobody wants to defend. A glimpse today. Imagine the team at its best for a full 90 in a game that actually matters in the knockouts. 4. Ecuador Didn’t Just Win — It Defended Like It Meant Everything Beating the group winner takes more than two good finishes. It takes a back line willing to throw itself in front of everything — and Ecuador had exactly that. Once Gonzalo Plata’s winner landed, the final stretch turned into a siege. Germany piled forward in waves; Ecuador refused to break. Willian Pacho, Joel Ordóñez and Piero Hincapié — three of the most composed young defenders at this tournament — blocked, headed and cleared everything coming their way. In front of them, Pedro Vite ran himself into the ground for nine tackles, the most by an Ecuadorian in a World Cup match on record and the joint-most by anyone at this one. Sebastián Beccacece spent two games hunting a goal. On Thursday, his side showed the other half of a knockout team: the intestinal fortitude to defend such an important lead against one of the best teams in the world.Latest Sports News from FOX Sports
(The Center Square) – As taxpayers continue subsidizing higher education and student loan debt at $1.8 trillion, more American families are planning and saving for college, according to a new Sallie Mae report.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas danced with Netherlands fans to their famous song “Links Rechts” ahead of the Orange Walk in Kansas City’s Power & Light District on Thursday. The Dutch supporters — along with the Scots and the Norwegians — have been some of the most exuberant in backing their team around the U.S. One local told the Kansas City Star that the experience topped a Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade.
Politics
Some of soccer’s biggest names have come to play at the World Cup: Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé, Erling Haaland, Vinícius Júnior and now even Cristiano Ronaldo have left their mark on the score sheet.
But one key player who loomed over just about every step of pre-tournament preparations has been notably invisible: Donald Trump.
Pre-tournament fears that the American president would trample on the soccer jamboree have, so far, proved largely unfounded after the first two weeks of competition. Trump has yet to attend a match, and even as the U.S. team mounts its best World Cup performance in decades he has done little to claim the success as his own.
Aside from persistent complications surrounding the Iran squad’s entry and exit to the U.S. for games, and the ban on a Somali referee from entering the country before the tournament started, political incidents involving the Trump administration and soccer — or leaders of other World Cup countries, including the neighboring co-hosts with whom he often spars — have been few and far between.
No ICE arrests around matches. No heavy-handed policing like soccer fans sometimes suffer in Western Europe. No beef between Trump and Democratic leaders of cities and states where some of the tournament’s highest-profile matches have been played.
As one European-based senior sports executive told POLITICO last year about the administration and the World Cup, “Why would they want to f—k it up?”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio attended the USMNT’s opener against Paraguay in Los Angeles, while Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — along with other senior Cabinet officials — was at the American match vs. Australia in Seattle. Though Trump himself hasn’t been to a game yet, he did send the U.S. squad a message of support at the start of the tournament.
In an interview last week with POLITICO, Massachusetts Democratic Gov. Maura Healey said her administration had worked with the U.S. government “around transportation funding, security funding. That’s the way it should be. There should be that kind of work and coordination.”
Trump allies are on the same page as the tournament progresses serenely through the group stage, beyond continued griping about high ticket prices and transport to and from some stadiums.
“It’s been really good to see the coordination, certainly from a law enforcement perspective,” said Andrew Giuliani, head of the White House’s World Cup task force, as he praised cooperation with police and security services in blue states like New York, New Jersey and California, where the administration doesn’t “agree eye to eye with the mayors and the governors.”
“It’s fun to see moments where the country can come together as well, and I think this is one of those great moments over our 250th birthday where that can happen,” he added.
This week, FIFA chief Gianni Infantino confirmed what many have expected: Trump plans to attend the final on July 19 and help present the winner’s trophy. Can a president who loves the spotlight stay away till then?
Politics
Governor Mike Dunleavy has signed Alaska’s state budget into law, funding schools, disaster relief, and wildfire suppression while vetoing several spending items. The cuts drew criticism from some lawmakers, while others defended the governor’s approach to limiting spending. Legislators could…
Gov. Mike Dunleavy has signed Alaska’s state budget into law, drawing mixed reactions from lawmakers over funding priorities and spending cuts. Legislators could return next week to consider possible veto overrides.
For the first time ever, Ivory Coast has qualified for the knockout stage of the FIFA World Cup. Ivory Coast sealed its progression with a straightforward win over Curaçao on Thursday in Philadelphia. Nicolas Pépé scored once in each half, including one in the seventh minute that put the African nation in control from the start. Here are our takeaways: 1. Ivory Coast Will Be A Tough Out … Ivory Coast got a late winner to earn three points against Ecuador in its opening match, and it was moments away from a draw against Germany. It’s clear Les Éléphants have a competitive squad, highlighted by Yan Diomandé in attack and veteran Franck Kessié in midfield. The team took care of business against Curaçao, clearly creating the better scoring chances and dominating possession. It even had a respectable 40% of the ball against Germany, despite scoring the first goal in the 30th minute and playing on the back foot for most of the game. This squad is full of players from top clubs in Europe. Striker Ange-Yoan Bonny is at Inter Milan, winger Amad Diallo at Manchester United, while midfielder Ibrahim Sangaré is also a regular in the Premier League for Nottingham Forrest. Ivory Coast will not be intimidated by any opponent, a sentiment that will come in handy in its next game. 2. … So Watch Out Norway (Or France) The Ivory Coast’s prize for finishing second in Group E might not be seen as a positive one by many. Les Éléphants will be drawn against the second-place team in Group I, which will be either France or Norway. Both teams are on six points entering their Friday catchup, but the French have a superior goal difference. That means Norway has to beat France to win Group I. Regardless of which team Ivory Coast will face, it will be an underdog to advance. France has some of the best players in the tournament, while Erling Haaland powers a Norway attack that is one of the best in the tournament. 3. Diomandé’s Price Tag Keeps Going Up The 19-year-old winger, who currently plays his club soccer at RB Leipzig in Germany, has been a hot topic this summer, with Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool rumored to be very interested in his services. He has shown why with three impressive performances in the group stage for Ivory Coast. Diomandé provided the assist for Pépé’s opening goal on Thursday, getting possession after a mistake from Curaçao in its own 18-yard box and putting it on a plate for Pépé. Having a player like Diomandé, who can create a chance out of nothing, will be huge moving forward for Ivory Coast. Chances may be at a premium for Les Éléphants in the knockout stages, but Diomandé is capable of making sure their quality looks at goal. 4. Curaçao’s Presence Won’t Be Forgotten This World Cup has featured some of the smallest nations ever to compete in the tournament, which makes sense given the expansion to 48 teams. No country is smaller than Curaçao, which has a population of 158,000 people. Only one player in the squad was born there (Tahith Chong), while the other 22 were born in the Netherlands with ancestry from the country. Of course, the tournament started with a 7-1 thumping against Germany, but Curaçao followed that up with an impressive defensive effort to hold Ecuador to a 0-0 draw. Cape Verde has captivated the tournament with two draws to open the tournament, while DR Congo held Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal scoreless. While there have been some lopsided scorelines in the tournament, it’s encouraging to see some of these teams get their shot on the biggest stage — and occasionally look like they belong.Latest Sports News from FOX Sports
The most high-profile team to miss out on the 2026 World Cup, Italy, is picking a new crop of officials to revamp its discredited soccer association — as Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s allies failed in their bid to take more control over the body.
Veteran sports official Giovanni Malagò, a former president of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) for more than a decade, overcame opposition from Italy’s right-wing government to become the new president of the Italian soccer association (FIGC) earlier this week.
Malagò’s key challenge is to mend ties with Italian Sports Minister Andrea Abodi, with whom he has clashed in the past and who publicly questioned Malagò’s soccer credentials. Until the very last minute, Meloni’s government tried to block Malagò from clinching the FIGC’s top job — but ultimately failed.
In a soccer-mad country where the sport carries outsized cultural weight, Italy’s failure to qualify for the World Cup turned into a proxy battle over governance, reforms, investment and the Meloni administration’s willingness to extend political influence into independent institutions.
Frustrated Italian soccer fans, who have seen their country miss out on qualifying for the last three World Cups, just want Malagò to pick Italy’s new head coach.
The favorites for the job are Roberto Mancini and Antonio Conte — two soccer grandees who both previously coached the Italian national team. Another soccer legend, former AC Milan captain Paolo Maldini, is being touted for a new job as a bridge between the FIGC and the players, according to Italian media.
But that’s not the only item sitting in Malagò’s in-tray.
Italy must nominate five stadiums capable of hosting matches at Euro 2032, which it will co-organize with Turkey, by an October deadline. That’s potentially problematic given that Europe’s governing body, UEFA, warned that Italy could lose its role as co-organizer unless it upgrades its dilapidated soccer infrastructure.
Politics