US coach Vlatko Andonovski said it was “insane” for anyone to question the team’s commitment as he responded to criticism from former American international soccer star Carli Lloyd.

“The player of the match was that post,” two-time World Cup winner and former US player Lloyd said on the FOX broadcast – a reference to Portugal hitting the upright late on – adding that her former teammates are “lucky to not be going home right now.”

The 0-0 draw in Auckland on Tuesday, New Zealand, saw the four-time world champion finish as runner-up in Group E, likely setting up a meeting with Sweden in the last 16 on Sunday.

“Everyone is entitled to opinion and, you know, they can say whatever they want, but I just know how this team feels,” he added.

Andonovksi, however, acknowledged that the team underperformed against Portugal, as the US came painfully close to exiting the tournament when substitute Ana Capeta hit the post in the dying moments of the game for the European team.

“It’s not like we played well by any means, but we owned it,” said Andonovski. “We know that it’s not good enough … We’re not happy with our performance, but we qualify for the next round. We’re moving on.”

Lloyd’s comments came after images surfaced of the American players’ reaction following the draw.

“I have never witnessed something like that,” she said, adding: “To be dancing, to be smiling?”

What’s gone wrong for the USWNT?

A victory against Vietnam and draws against the Netherlands and Portugal mean this was the US’ worst-ever group stage performance at a World Cup, according to FIFA, and Tuesday’s game was just the sixth time in the history of the tournament that the team has failed to score.

And that’s not all: this was the first time the US has failed to win successive World Cup group stage matches and the second time (after 2011) that it has failed to win its group.

No team has ever won the Women’s World Cup having collected as little as five points in the group stages, but now the defending champion must try and do exactly that.

“The performances aren’t where we want them,” experienced forward Megan Rapinoe, who came on as a second-half substitute against Portugal, told reporters.

“But we’re through to the next round. We’re finding ways to get results that we need and I think finding our way into the tournament.

“We obviously haven’t played together a ton as the same lineup over a long period of time, we have people come back from injuries. It’s no excuse but I think we knew it was going to take a little bit of time to get into the tournament. Now it’s time to figure it out.”

The current US team is a mix of older players like Rapinoe, Alex Morgan and Kelley O’Hara – all appearing in their fourth World Cups – and younger players like Sophia Smith, who scored twice against Vietnam, making their debuts at the tournament.

It’s clear, as the players themselves know, that things haven’t clicked for Andonovski’s team yet.

“I think we just haven’t really controlled the ball as well as we would like to,” midfielder Julie Ertz told reporters after the game against Portugal.

“I think we’re giving up easy transitions for other teams. So I think for us, it’s just honing in and having more quality on the ball … It’s coming together as a team and really providing options for each other. I think there are a lot of little small things that we can do to just collectively hold onto the ball better.”

What’s next for the US team?

The message from Andonovski and his players is that this is not time to panic.

Despite a nerve-wracking conclusion in the draw against Portugal and finishing behind the Netherlands, the US would appear on paper to have enough experience and star quality to beat any team in the tournament.

Next up will likely be Sweden, which currently sits top of Group G, though that last-16 matchup won’t be confirmed until the conclusion of Wednesday’s games.

“The approach is it’s do or die,” Morgan told reporters. “The knockout stage – anything can happen and we are looking to get back, feel good, get our bodies back, and we’ll be watching tomorrow to see who we will be playing.

“I don’t think it’s big adjustments. I feel like it’s taking advantage of the chances that we have. We created enough to put the ball in the back of the net.”

The US team’s historical success at the tournament places enormous pressure on the side each time it takes to the field. As well as winning four world titles – 1991, 1999, 2015 and 2019 – the US has shown remarkable consistency by reaching at least the semifinals of every Women’s World Cup.

To make matters harder, there will be no Rose Lavelle for the round-of-16 game with the midfielder suspended after picking up a second yellow card against Portugal. The players, however, remain undaunted by the weight of adversity and expectation.

“I’m very confident in this team,” midfielder Lindsey Horan told reporters. “Obviously, this is not the performance that anyone wanted to see, or we felt like, you know, we could do. I think we need more and we will build off of that. You’re gonna see a better team in the round of 16.”

After the thrill of winning successive Women’s World Cup titles, the 2023 tournament – so far – has brought the US team very much down to earth with a bump.

Hearts must have been in the mouths of US fans during Tuesday’s tense 0-0 draw with Portugal as the four-time world champion came within inches of being knocked out of the tournament altogether.

Portugal was desperately unlucky not to engineer one of the great Women’s Cup shocks, notably when Ana Capeta’s shot deflected off the post in the last few minutes of the game.

For a team that has been so historically dominant at the Women’s World Cup, performances throughout the 2023 edition so far have been underwhelming for women’s soccer’s most dynastic team.

Their three matches at this tournament represents the US women’s worst group stage performance in World Cup history – and no team has ever won the competition having picked up so few points in the preliminary stage.

Goalscoring woes

Alex Morgan listed the lack of clinical finishing at the tournament as the main cause of the team’s woes.

“You know, I feel like it’s taking advantage of the chances that we have,” Morgan told reporters. “We created enough to put the ball in the back of the net.”

At the 2019 World Cup, the US scored 18 goals in its three group stage matches, compared to just four at this year’s edition, though 13 of them came in a famous win over Thailand. However, the goalless draw against Portugal marks the first time since 2015 that the team has failed to score in a World Cup game.

It is just the second time the US has failed to win its group – the other occasion being 2011, though they did progress to the final that year.

The USWNT had also never before failed to win at least two of its group games in any of its World Cup appearances.

However, this World Cup has arguably demonstrated a leveling up in the women’s game. True there have been some wide margins of victories – the Netherlands beat Vietnam 7-0 on Tuesday – but nothing to compare with Thailand’s humbling by the US four years ago.

Prior to Tuesday’s draw, the USWNT had a 10-0 winning record against Portugal, scoring 39 goals and conceding zero. In that context, it is easy to see the 0-0 draw as a disaster, but that would fail to take into account Portugal’s rapid progress that saw them hold England to a similarly stagnant draw and routing co-hosts New Zealand 5-0 in friendlies earlier this year.

Blending experience with potential

Four-time winners of the tournament, the USWNT arrived for their three Group E games in New Zealand looking to bring home the trophy for the third consecutive edition – something no team in either men’s or women’s football has achieved.

However, the squad perhaps does not possess the veneer of invincibility that characterized those squads.

It was defeated by Canada in the semifinals of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 – having already been handily beaten 3-0 by Sweden earlier in the tournament. In October 2022, the team suffered back-to-back defeats to England and Spain in high-profile friendlies – marking the first time in over five years that had occurred.

While stalwarts of previous successes such as Megan Rapinoe and Morgan remain in the team, Andonovski has overseen something of a transitional period as a host of young talent looks to establish itself in the team. The US squad contains 14 World Cup debutants – blending them in seems to have taken a toll on the usual ruthless efficiency of the team.

It should also be remembered that the USWNT is missing a number of players due to injury: forwards Mallory Swanson, Christen Press and Tobin Heath, midfielders Sam Mewis and Catarina Macario, as well as defenders Becky Sauerbrunn and Abby Dahlkemper.

Doubt among the fans?

Known for their extravagant support of the normally all-conquering side, US women’s soccer fans appeared to demonstrate the same nerves that reverberated among the squad during the draw against Portugal in Auckland.

From the outset, the players were greeted by a relatively subdued fanbase with supporters arriving at the stadium much later in comparison to the matches against Vietnam and the Netherlands. Both of those games had seen fans streaming in more than an hour before kick-off – whereas empty seats remained plentiful at Tuesday’s decider right up until the start of the game.

Similarly, tension seemed to affect the vociferousness of the crowd. Compared to the constant cheering and chanting that accompanied the US draw with the Netherlands in Wellington, the loudest cheers against Portugal came when substitutes Rapinoe and Trinity Rodman entered the fray.

Criticism

Former US stars have been scathing in some of their analysis, most vocally Carli Lloyd, who said the team was “lucky not to be going home right now” following the “lackluster and uninspiring” performance against Portugal.

“There is a difference between being respectful to the fans and saying hello to your family, but to be dancing, to be smiling – I mean the player of the match was that post,” Lloyd said in response to footage of Rapinoe, Morgan and Crystal Dunn dancing before the Portugal match.

“To question the mentality of this team, to question the willingness to win, to compete, I think is insane,” Andonovksi said. “Everyone is entitled to their opinion and you know, they can say whatever they want, but I just know how this team feels,” he added.

Three-peat?

Amid the criticism it should be remembered that winning three championships in a row is extremely hard to do at the professional club level in any sport, let alone the World Cup in international soccer – no nation has ever won three consecutive World Cups in either the men’s or women’s game.

The biggest enemies of sustained success in sports are waning motivation and, most often, time. The amount of effort, skill and sustained passion it takes to keep up success over a long period of time is beyond difficult and the years between World Cup editions only ratchet that tension up.

Professional teams have a hard enough time keeping a core championship group together and healthy for three consecutive years on a club level – the US women’s team is attempting to do the same thing eight years after winning the 2015 World Cup.

The legendary generation of players which won that tournament is largely gone – just five players from 2015 remain on the squad in this tournament.

The teams that have pulled off three-peats are often legendary. The 1990s Chicago Bulls, the late 90s-early 00s New York Yankees and Los Angeles Lakers, the mid-century Boston Celtics and Montreal Canadiens, the New York Yankees (again) in the 1930s and 40s – all teams that live long in the consciousness of American sports fans.

In club soccer since 2000, only an iconic Real Madrid side led by Cristiano Ronaldo won three UEFA Champions Leagues in a row from 2016 to 2018.

Meanwhile Spain is the only country to ever win three major international championships in a row – Euro 2008, the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012 – and those were still two different competitions taking place every two years, not very comparable to what the US women are attempting to do in winning three World Cups in a row.

This US Women’s National Team still has a path – albeit one that might be rockier and steeper than most observers expected even two weeks ago – to join those legendary ranks. If they pull it off, perhaps the disappointing draws from the 2023 tournament’s group stage will be seen as a case of survive-and-advance.

Eyes on the prize

USWNT players and Andonovski are looking ahead to the knockout stage, where they will meet the winner of Group G – almost certain to be Sweden, barring a 10-goal swing in the final round of fixtures.

“The approach is do or die,” Morgan told reporters after the game. “You know, the knockout stage, anything can happen and we are looking to get back, feel good, get our bodies back and we’ll be watching tomorrow to see who will be playing.”

Star midfielder Lindsey Horan, who has scored two of the team’s four goals, was keen to focus on the positives after the game but recognizes the need for improvement.

“I’m very confident in this team,” she said after the match. “Obviously, this is not the performance that anyone wanted to see, or we felt like we could do.

“I think we need more and we build off of that. You’re going to see a better team in the round of 16.”

Andonovski himself added, “We’re not happy with our performance, but we qualify for the next round. We’re moving on.”

The USWNT’s next fixture takes place on Sunday at 5 a.m. ET. A game against Sweden, No. 3 ranked in the world by FIFA, has plenty of World Cup history. Sweden drew with the US in 2015 and also beat them in 2011 – the last time any team defeated the USWNT inside regulation at a World Cup. The US defeated the Scandinavian side in the group stage in 2019.

Jamaica’s ‘Reggae Girlz’ are becoming accustomed to making history.

The team secured the country’s first ever Women’s World Cup point against France and then went one better by earning a first ever victory with a narrow 1-0 win over Panama.

If the team is to add another historic achievement to its resumé and reach the knockout stages of a World Cup – men’s or women’s – for the first time, it will need to avoid defeat against Brazil.

The team knows just a draw will be enough to progress to the round of 16 and will be boosted by the return of star striker Khadija Shaw, who was suspended for the win over Panama after picking up a late red card in the team’s opener.

Brazil, currently a point behind Jamaica, knows only a victory will suffice – As Canarinhas can technically still progress with a draw, but would simultaneously require the extraordinarily unlikely scenario of a Panama victory over France.

Brazil legend Marta, considered by most to be the greatest female footballer of all time, has only been used as a second-half substitute so far in Australia and New Zealand and it’s likely she will continue in that role moving forward.

Ary Borges, who scored a hat-trick for Brazil against Panama, is just one of a number of talented youngsters coming through the ranks that are tasked with a least partially filling Marta’s sizable shoes.

The 37-year-old is playing in her sixth and final World Cup and a major title with Brazil is the only accomplishment missing from her glittering career.

In Group F’s other match, France can secure top spot with a victory over already eliminated Panama.

Group G

Sweden is already through to the last 16 and only needs a draw against Argentina to guarantee top spot.

Italy will qualify if it beats South Africa or if it draws and Argentina draws or loses against Sweden.

Argentina and South Africa both need to win to stand any chance of reaching the knockout stages.

If they both win, three teams will be on four points and it will again come down to goal difference, then goals scored, then head-to-head.

Here’s a look at the life of former Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

Personal

Birth date: August 17, 1926

Death date: November 30, 2022

Birth place: Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province, China

Birth name: Jiang Zemin

Father: Jiang Shijun

Mother: Wu Yueqing

Marriage: Wang Yeping

Children: Jiang Miankang and Jiang Mianheng

Education: Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Electrical Engineering, 1947

Religion: Members of the Chinese Communist Party are officially atheist.

Other Facts

When an uncle, a Communist partisan, was killed in combat, Jiang’s father gave Jiang to the uncle’s family so they would have a male heir.

Supported the suppression of the student-led pro-democracy protests at Tiananmen Square.

Timeline

1946 – Joins the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

1955-1956 – Trainee with the Stalin Automobile Factory in Moscow.

1971-1979 – Deputy director and later director of the Foreign Affairs Bureau of the First Ministry of Machine-Building Industry.

1981-1982 – Vice minister of the State Foreign Investment Commission.

1982 – Appointed vice minister of Electronics Industry and later in the year elected a member of the CCP Central Committee.

1983 – Promoted to minister of Electronics Industry.

1985-1988 – Mayor of Shanghai.

June 1989 – Appointed general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, succeeding Zhao Ziyang.

November 1989 – Succeeds Deng Xiaoping as chairman of the Central Military Commission.

1993-2003 – President of the People’s Republic of China.

September 1997 – Unveils plan to privatize China’s unprofitable state-owned enterprises.

October 28, 1997 – Meets with US President Bill Clinton at the White House and attends a US-China summit regarding nuclear power technology.

June 28, 1998 – In a live televised debate, discusses human rights with President Clinton in Beijing.

July 16, 2001 – With Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, signs the Treaty on Good-Neighborliness Friendship and Cooperation Between the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China.

December 11, 2001 – China formally joins the World Trade Organization as the 143rd member.

October 2002 – In Jiang’s last visit to the United States as president and head of state, meets with former President George H. W. Bush in Houston and President George W. Bush in Crawford, Texas.

November 2002 – Retires as general secretary of the Chinese Communist party.

March 2003 – Limited to two five-year terms in office, Jiang steps down and Vice President Hu Jintao becomes president of China.

March 2005 – Formally steps down as chairman of the Chinese military, having offered his resignation in a letter in September of 2004.

October 9, 2011 – Appears at a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of China’s 1911 revolution. It is the first time he has been seen in public since rumors of his death spread in July 2011.

December 6, 2011 – The Hong Kong Broadcasting Authority fines Asia Television Limited (ATV) almost $39,000 (HK $300,000) for airing a report in July that suggested Jiang had died.

September 13, 2019 – Marking 70 years of Communist rule, Jiang’s giant portrait is carried down Chang’an Avenue in Beijing following the portraits of Communist leader Mao Zedong and reformist leader Deng Xiaoping, who both served as China’s “core leader” before Jiang.

November 30, 2022 – Passes away at the age of 96.

One of the most exceptional heat streaks in US history finally ended Monday when Phoenix’s high temperature peaked under 110 degrees Fahrenheit for the first time in a month, a cumulative toll that has catapulted the city to the top of the record books. But the heat is far from over for Phoenix and millions of others across the Central US.

Tuesday’s high temperature was 108 degrees in Phoenix, or 2 degrees above average. The 31 consecutive days at 110 degrees or above broke the previous record by 18 days.

It wasn’t just high temperatures breaking records: The city also set a new record warm low temperature of 97 degrees during the streak. With temperatures warming up to extreme highs and hardly cooling down overnight, July averaged a record-shattering 102.7 degrees for the month, the hottest month on record for any US city, let alone Phoenix, according to the office of the Arizona State Climatologist.

“It’s been a year of abnormalities and streaks, so it’s just a testament to just how strange this year has been,” said Ryan Worley, meteorologist for the National Weather Service office in Phoenix.

It’s official, this July was the hottest month in Phoenix on record, with an average temperature of 102.7°F. This beats the previous record of 99.1°F set back in August 2020 by 3.6°F. It was certainly a month for the record books. #azwx pic.twitter.com/AvtODKN00s

— NWS Phoenix (@NWSPhoenix) August 1, 2023

July 2023 will go down in history books for many locations across the US southern tier.

More than two dozen cities from California to Florida could end up setting records for the warmest July. Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Kingman, Arizona, Miami and Las Vegas, have already clinched the number one spot for the warmest July on record.

These are just numbers that have manifested into a very real danger for people and animals.

The heat has taken a deadly toll

At least 25 people have died from heat so far in 2023 in Maricopa County, home to Phoenix, with 249 other deaths still under investigation for a possible heat connection, according to the Maricopa County Department of Public Health.

Multiple people have died in National Parks this year from the heat, police dogs even died from heat-related illness in Indiana after an air conditioning failure, authorities said. Even cactuses are succumbing to the Arizona heat.

The heat is far from over

The end of July did not bring an end to the relentless heat. August will start as July finished with oppressive heat across much of the Central US.

Heat alerts are in effect for more than 50 million people from the Southern Plains to the Lower Mississippi River Valley where the “feels like” temperature will reach 110 degrees or more.

What is the “feels-like” temperature or heat index?

North Texas, including the Dallas Metroplex, could get as high as 111 degrees Tuesday and Wednesday.

Heat indexes could climb as high as 115 degrees for New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Even Phoenix will be back in the extreme heat by Wednesday, as the dome of high pressure that’s responsible for creating this massive heat waves shifts once again to the west.

Temperatures topping 110 degrees will arrive in Phoenix again by Wednesday. Highs on Sunday could reach 116 degrees so the city will once again be under heat alerts beginning Friday and lasting through the weekend.

Moored five miles off the coast of Yemen for more than 30 years, a decaying supertanker carrying a million barrels of oil is finally being offloaded by a United Nations-led mission, hoping to avert what threatened to be one of the world’s worst ecological disasters in decades.

Experts are now delicately handling the 47-year-old vessel – called the FSO Safer – working to remove the crude without the tanker falling apart, the oil exploding, or a massive spill taking place.

Sitting atop The Endeavor, the salvage UN ship supervising the offloading, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen David Gressly said that the operation is estimated to cost $141 million, and is using the expertise of SMIT, the dredging and offshore contractor that helped dislodge the Ever Given ship that blocked the Suez Canal for almost a week in 2021.

Twenty-three UN member states are funding the mission, with another $16 million coming from the private sector contributors. Donors include Yemen’s largest private company, HSA Group, which pledged $1.2 million in August 2022. The UN also engaged in a unique crowdfunding effort, contributing to the pool which took a year to raise, according to Gressly.

The team is pumping between 4,000 and 5,000 barrels of oil every hour, and has so far transferred more than 120,000 barrels to the replacement vessel carrying the offloaded oil, Gressly said. The full transfer is expected to take 19 days.

The tanker was carrying a million barrels of oil. That would be enough to power up to 83,333 cars or 50,000 US homes for an entire year. The crude on board is worth around $80 million, and who gets that remains a controversial matter.

Here’s what we know so far:

Why the UN has been sounding alarms about this ‘ticking time bomb’

The ship has been abandoned in the Red Sea since 2015 and the UN has regularly warned that the “ticking time bomb” could break apart given its age and condition, or the oil it holds could explode due to the highly flammable compounds in it.

The FSO Safer held four times the amount of oil spilled by the Exxon Valdez off Alaska in 1989 which resulted in a slick that covered 1,300 miles of coastline. A potential spill from this vessel would be enough to make it the fifth largest oil spill from a tanker in history, a UN website said. The cost of cleanup of such an incident is estimated at $20 billion.

The Red Sea is a vital strategic waterway for global trade. At its southern end lies the Bab el-Mandeb strait, where nearly 9% of total seaborne-traded petroleum passes. And at its north is the Suez Canal that separates Africa from Asia. The majority of petroleum and natural gas exports from the Persian Gulf that transit the Suez Canal pass through the Bab el-Mandeb, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

The sea is also a popular diving hotspot that boasts an impressive underwater eco-system. In places its banks are dotted with tourist resorts, and its eastern shore is the site of ambitious Saudi development projects worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

A complex and risky operation

The first step of the mission was to stabilize and secure the vessel to avoid it collapsing, Gressly said. That has already been achieved in the past few weeks.

Booms, which are temporary floating barriers used to contain marine spills, were dispersed around the vessel to capture any potential leaks.

The second step is to transfer the oil onto the replacement vessel, which is now underway.

After The Safer is emptied, it must then be cleaned to ensure no oil residue is left, Gressly said. The team will then attach a giant buoy to the replacement vessel until a decision about what to do with the oil has been made.

“The transfer of the oil to (the replacement vessel) will prevent the worst-case scenario of a catastrophic spill in the Red Sea, but it is not the end of the operation,” Gressly said.

While the hardest part of the operation would then be over, a spill could still occur. And even after the transfer, the tanker will “continue to pose an environmental threat resulting from the sticky oil residue inside the tank, especially since the tanker remains vulnerable to collapse,” the UN said, stressing that to finish the job, an extra $22 million is urgently needed.

What if a spill does occur?

A spill would shut the Yemeni ports that its impoverished people rely on for food aid and fuel, impacting 17 million people during an ongoing humanitarian crisis caused by the country’s civil war and a Saudi-led military assault on the country. Oil could bleed all the way to the African coast, damaging fish stocks for 25 years and affect up to 200,000 jobs, according to the UN.

A potential spill would cause “catastrophic” public health ramifications in Yemen and surrounding countries, according to a study by researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine. Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Eritrea would bear the brunt.

Air pollution from a spill of this magnitude would increase the risk of hospitalization for cardiovascular or respiratory disease for those very directly exposed by 530%, according to the study, which said it could cause an array of other health problems, from psychiatric to neurological issues.

Up to 10 million people would struggle to obtain clean water, and 8 million would have their access to food supplies threatened. The Red Sea fisheries in Yemen could be “almost completely wiped out,” Rehkopf added.

The tanker has been an issue for many people in Yemen over the past few years, Gressly said. Sentiment on social media surrounding the removal of oil is very positive, as many in Yemen feel like the tanker is a “threat that’s been over their heads,” he said.

Who gets the oil?

The tanker issue remains a point of dispute between the Houthi rebels that control the north of Yemen and the internationally recognized government, the two main warring sides in the country’s civil conflict.

While the war, which saw hundreds of thousands of people killed or injured, and Yemen left in ruins, has eased of late, it is far from resolved.

Ahmed Nagi, a senior analyst for Yemen at the International Crisis Group think tank in Brussels, sees the Safer tanker issue as “an embodiment of the conflict in Yemen as a whole.”

The vessel was abandoned after the outbreak of the Yemeni civil war in 2015. The majority of the oil is owned by Yemeni state firm SEPOC, experts say, and there are some reports that it may be sold.

“From a technical point of view, the owner of the tanker and the oil inside it is SEPOC,” Nagi said, adding that other energy companies working in Yemen may also share ownership of the oil.

The main issue, Nagi added, is that the Safer’s headquarters are in the government-controlled Marib city, while the tanker is in an area controlled by the Houthis. The Safer is moored off the coast of the western Hodeidah province.

Discussions to determine the ownership of the oil are underway, Gressly said. The rights to the oil are unclear and there are legal issues that need to be addressed.

The UN coordinator hopes that the days needed to offload the oil will buy some time for “political and legal discussions that need to take place before the oil can be sold.”

While the UN may manage to resolve half of the issue, Nagi said, there still needs to be an understanding of the oil’s status.

“It still poses a danger if we keep it near a conflict zone,” he said.

The United Kingdom government has been heavily criticized by Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee for underestimating the growth of Russia’s Wagner private mercenary group, despite it posing a major threat to the country’s interests.

In a damning report published Wednesday, the cross-party committee of lawmakers accused the government of viewing Wagner in overwhelmingly European terms, miscalculating its “activities in Africa,” and imposing deeply inadequate sanctions on entities and individuals linked to the group.

“We are deeply concerned by the government’s dismal lack of understanding of Wagner’s hold beyond Europe, in particular their grip on African states,” said Alicia Kearns, a Member of Parliament and chair of the Committee.

“For nearly 10 years, the Government has under-played and underestimated the Wagner Network’s activities, as well as the security implications of its significant expansion,” read the report, titled “Guns for Gold: the Wagner network exposed.”

The report assessed with high confidence that Sudan was one of seven countries where Wagner fighters have carried out offensive military operations since 2014, alongside Ukraine, Syria, Central African Republic, Libya, Mozambique and Mali.

Wagner “essentially operate like a criminal mafia,” Kearns said in an interview with Sky News Wednesday. “They go into countries, they breed corruption, they breed instability, they steal natural resources and they leave behind them a wake of atrocities.”

The report criticized the UK government for underestimating the size of these operations, which it said was the result of its viewing Wagner “through the prism of Europe,” and particularly its footprint in Ukraine.

“Wagner’s activities in Ukraine are not representative of the network’s operations globally,” the report said, adding that it was a “significant failing” to underestimate Wagner’s “geographic spread and the impact of its activities on UK interests further abroad.”

It also criticized the UK government for only beginning to seriously monitor the group after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.

“It is deeply regrettable that it was not until early 2022 that the Government began to invest greater resource in understanding the Wagner Network, despite Wagner fighters having already conducted military operations in at least seven countries for almost a decade,” read the report.

The report went on to describe the UK’s efforts to sanction individuals and entities linked to Wagner as “underwhelming in the extreme,” especially considering similar actions taken by the United States and the European Union, which have sanctioned roughly twice as many members of the network.

“The Government has not told us anything specific that it is doing to challenge the network’s influence and impunity outside of Ukraine,” the report said. “We received no evidence of any serious effort by the Government to track the Network’s activities in other countries.”

It recommended that the UK government “urgently proscribe the Wagner Network as a terrorist organization,” and “move faster and harder to sanction Wagner-linked actors.”

The report also recommended that the UK work to provide a “genuinely compelling alternative to priority countries in need of security partnership,” to prevent Wagner taking hold in “fragile and conflict-affected countries.”

Uruguayan defender Diego Godin’s farewell match ended with his team Velez Sarsfield losing to Huracan, sparking a violent incident on Sunday, as some of the Argentine club’s own fans viciously attacked the players, assaulting them at gunpoint.

When the team returned to their training camp at the Villa Olimpica Stadium hours after the match, they suffered a brutal visit from the club’s supporters, as cars ambushed some of the players.

“We arrived (at the Stadium) to get our cars and go home. We came out and it was all dark when the cars of the ‘Barra Brava’ came across us. There were probably five or six of them,” striker Gianluca Prestianni told ESPN on Monday.

“They hit me twice in the face while grabbing me by the jacket. I was too scared and my teammates didn’t want to go home in case they were followed.

“They even told one of them: ‘Get out of the car or I’ll shoot you twice in the legs,’” the 17-year-old forward said, adding that the incident is making him rethink staying at the club.

Former Boca Juniors defender Leonardo Jara was the one who received the threat. “They crossed a car in front of me, they wanted me to get out of mine and said they were going to shoot me in the legs,” he told a radio local program.

Forward Santiago Castro and defender Francisco Ortega were also involved in the incident.

“Atletico Velez regrets and strongly repudiates the intimidating situation experienced last night by some of our first team players in the vicinity of the Villa Olimpica,” the club said in a statement.

Local media reported that the players decided not to file a police complaint, but were summoned for criminal investigation, and coach Sebastian Mendez informed the directors that the team would not return to training until security is guaranteed.

With only five wins in 27 games, Velez finished 25th out of 28 after the loss in the last round of the Argentine Professional League.

The US Women’s National Team was a post width away from exiting the Women’s World Cup at the group stage, but survived a late scare to earn a goalless draw against Portugal and reach the last 16.

With the game hanging in the balance, substitute Ana Capeta had a glorious chance to earn Portugal a famous win in the closing stages, but her effort struck the post with goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher completely helpless.

Defeat for the USWNT – a team aiming for a third consecutive world title – would have ended its participation in the tournament.

The Netherlands’ 7-0 win over Vietnam means the Dutch finish top of Group E on seven points, two ahead of the US. It is the first time in the history of the competition that the USWNT has won just one group stage match.

On almost any other occasion, a 0-0 draw against the two-time defending champion would have been a cause for celebration, but at full time many of Portugal’s players fell to their knees in tears as the reality of their World Cup exit began to sink in.

When the dust settles and the pain subsides, Portugal’s players will feel confident the future of women’s soccer in the country is bright after pushing the Netherlands all the way in a narrow 1-0 defeat and then drawing with the US.

For the USWNT, however, there will be serious questions asked about the team’s performances in the group stages.

The squad has 14 players appearing at a World Cup for the first time and the new-look team has struggled to find any kind of cohesion throughout the tournament. The performance against Portugal was the most disjointed the team had looked so far.

“It’s tough to be second,” US forward Alex Morgan told FIFA after the match. “We wanted to go through first. This team gave everything, we just didn’t put the ball in the back of the net.

“In the last few minutes we just had to hold it down – we had to get the result and move on.”

Morgan admitted the team had been below its best so far in Australia and New Zealand, “but we’re looking forward to working on the improvements that we need to make and looking at the next round,” she added.

“Whether we’re playing Sweden or whoever it’s going to be. We’ll be paying attention to tomorrow because we’ve got to bounce on this.”

On the brink

Expectations were high going into the game and hundreds of US fans were in fine voice in Auckland, New Zealand as they marched towards Eden Park ahead of kick off.

Chants and songs of “U-S-A,” “Oh When the Saints” and “America the Beautiful” filled the air as other fans danced in the ticket queues to a jazz band.

But that enthusiasm wasn’t replicated by the American players on the pitch.

The opening exchanges gave an early insight into how the game would unfold. It was Portugal which created the first chance of the match, but Jessica Silva – the hub of the Portuguese attack – dragged her effort wide of the far post.

Portugal’s players were doing a brilliant job of disrupting the US, snapping into challenges and barely allowing them a second to settle on the ball.

Morgan managed to fashion the US’ best chance of the first half, wriggling free on the touchline to cut the ball back for Lynn Williams, who had two stabs at the ball but prodded her second effort over the crossbar.

The USWNT players would no doubt have been aware of the Netherlands’ 5-0 lead over Vietnam at half time, which meant the Dutch leapfrogged them into first place in Group E.

Despite getting more of a foothold in the game as the second half progressed, the US was still unable to craft any clear-cut opportunities in front of goal. Half-chances fell to Morgan and Williams, but Portugal was able to clear the ball without much trouble.

Even as the game entered the closing stages, Portugal looked just as likely as the US – if not more so – to snatch a late winner.

Some hesitant defending in the USWNT’s back line allowed Capeta in behind as the game entered stoppage time, but to the relief of Americans everywhere her effort struck the foot of the post and bounced away to safety.

“We had our World Cup on the line,” veteran Megan Rapinoe admitted afterwards. “Of course those moments are going to be intense.

“We’re thrilled to be going on to the next stage. That’s exactly what we wanted out of this match ultimately, is to have another one. On to the round of 16 – excited to see who we play.”

“The defenders were always mad at her,” Sissi recalls with a chuckle. “You were like: ‘How are we going to stop this girl?’”

Out of the thousands of training sessions the former Brazil international took part in over the course of her 13-year career, there is one in particular that stands out.

Back in 2000, when Sissi was playing with Rio de Janeiro-based club Vasco da Gama, the team’s Under-15 squad was called up to play in a training match against the seniors.

Among them was a little forward by the name of Marta Viera da Silva, who nobody initially paid much attention to – until they had to.

“She used to be so good on the ball. It was almost like, close to the goal, she was always waiting for the defender to come for her to do a different move and sit people on the ground.

“It made us laugh. She was very special, very fast, very creative, but it was hard. It was hard for us.”

As a forward herself, Sissi says she was “glad” she never had to defend a 15-year-old Marta as the defenders “always got pissed” after facing her. She chuckles again at the memory.

But if defending wasn’t Sissi’s strong suit, attacking certainly was. At the 1999 World Cup in the United States, Sissi earned the Golden Boot for finishing as the tournament’s joint top scorer and her stunning, match-winning free kick against Nigeria in the quarterfinals is one of the all-time great World Cup goals.

That tournament would go on to define her career and Sissi remains a much-loved figure in Brazil for her exploits in the national team’s famous yellow jersey, even thriving under the pressure that came with being handed the No. 10 shirt made famous by the great Pelé.

Sissi was at the peak of her powers when a young Marta gave her and her teammates the runaround and says it became evident very quickly – perhaps even as early as that first training session – that the teenager would go on to become a star for Brazil’s women’s national team.

‘You talk about Pelé, you talk about Marta’

But even if Sissi predicted Marta’s path to the national team, she surely couldn’t have imagined the little girl from that training session would go on to achieve all that she has.

Marta, now 37 and playing in what will be her sixth and final World Cup, is considered by many – perhaps even most – to be the greatest female footballer of all time.

She has won the FIFA Player of the Year award an unprecedented six times – no other women’s player has won it more than three times – including five years in a row from 2006 to 2010 and is Brazil’s all-time record goalscorer, male or female, with 115 goals.

She has also lifted the Champions League, the Copa Libertadores and was awarded the Golden Boot and Golden Ball for top scorer and best player at the 2007 World Cup. In 2019, Marta became the first male or female player in history to score at five World Cups and her 17 World Cup goals are an all-time record in men’s and women’s football.

She has won the Copa América Femenina three times, but the only achievement missing from a glittering CV is a major global title with her beloved national team. Three times Marta has come agonizingly close to glory with Brazil, losing the 2007 World Cup final to Germany and twice suffering defeat in the Olympic gold medal match.

Sissi says Marta has meant “everything” to As Canarinhas during her 21-year international career, pushing the team to new heights and becoming a reference point for people all over the country.

“She’s an icon,” Sissi says. “She has been a mentor for a lot of kids.

“My generation, we did not have female players to look up to, so now to have players like her, especially with what she achieved and who she became, it’s very important. You already saw how much the game changed in Brazil. Now, people can say: ‘I want to be like Marta.’

“We have to enjoy her as much as we can … because I don’t think there will be another Marta, that’s for sure. She’s already made a huge impact, not only in Brazil, but I think all over the world. Everybody knows who she is, so I am very proud as a Brazilian. Very proud.”

The ‘complete’ player

As Marta began to emerge as a bonafide star in the women’s game during the early to mid 2000s, Brazil’s men’s national team was awash with superlative talents: Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Rivaldo, Cafu, Roberto Carlos and Dida were just some of the world class names who lifted the World Cup in 2002.

Marta certainly fitted the mold of the stereotypical Brazilian footballer of that time: a velvet touch, a slick passer and technically close to perfection. She is as adept at providing goals as she is scoring them, a genuine all-around player with very few weaknesses in her game.

Though Marta has scored countless memorable goals throughout her illustrious career, the one that perhaps encapsulates her game better than any other came during Brazil’s 4-0 rout of a United States Women’s National Team that was unbeaten in 51 games – almost three years – heading into the 2007 World Cup semifinals.

With her back to goal around five yards from the corner of the 18-yard box, Marta took one touch with her right foot to control a bouncing pass, before instantly using her left to flick it past defender Tina Ellerston.

She span into the penalty area as Ellerston desperately tried – and failed – to grasp her shirt, collected the ball and cut inside another defender, almost dropping her to the floor. Marta then drilled her low effort past the goalkeeper, who got a hand to the ball but not enough to stop it from nestling in the back of the net.

The mix of instinctive ingenuity, balance, control and ruthlessness in front of goal was a marvel to watch and that complete mastery of ball and body is a rare sight in soccer.

Juca Kfouri, one of Brazil’s most decorated commentators, says Marta’s game was unrivaled in Brazilian soccer, even in an era when the country was especially blessed with some of the greatest men’s players in its history.

“All of them: passing, shooting, heading, vision of the game, shooting left and right [footed]. She was more complete as a football player than geniuses like the two Ronaldos or Rivaldo, who were also voted the best players in the world at that time.

“We find it difficult to compare Pelé with any other football player, regardless of gender, but I think that Marta’s comparison with the Ronaldos, with Rivaldo fits in this aspect. If you look at Marta’s mastery of the fundamentals of the game, she was closer to perfection in that regard than those players.”

But even the great Pelé himself welcomed the comparisons, famously dubbing Marta “Pelé in skirts.”

Changing the game

However, Marta’s impact hasn’t just been limited to the pitch; in fact, she has leveraged her on-field exploits to help create better conditions for female soccer players across the country.

From 1941 to 1979, it was illegal for women to play soccer in Brazil, a law that Sissi ignored as a child to play with the boys in the streets of her hometown. By the time Marta was emerging as one of the world’s brightest prospects, the women’s game in Brazil was still nascent after years of neglect.

Marta’s profile as the best the player in world for much of her career has forced authorities in the country to take women’s soccer more seriously, investing time and resources into both the national team and domestic league.

Sissi says Marta’s “strength to speak up” was crucial to women’s soccer in Brazil having the structure it does today.

“That’s something she’s still fighting for,” Sissi says.

Marta mania in Brazil perhaps reached its peak during the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. As the men’s national team, led by Neymar, struggled at the tournament, the women’s side and it talismanic captain Marta got off to a flying start.

While both players wear Brazil’s famous No. 10, fans quickly realized that only Neymar’s jersey was easily available to purchase across the country. This led to countless fans taking matters into their own hands, as they crossed out Neymar’s name and wrote ‘Marta’ themselves in pen on the back of the shirts.

Even as recently as this year, a project was approved in Alagoas, Marta’s home state, to change the name of the ‘King Pele Stadium’ to ‘Queen Marta Stadium,’ though the change has yet to be sanctioned.

After Brazil was eliminated from the 2019 World Cup, Marta – wearing deep red lipstick, which she said was to show her readiness to “leave blood on the pitch” – gave an impassioned speech to the cameras.

She pleaded with young girls in Brazil to take up the mantle, saying there will not be “a Marta forever.”

“Women’s football is relying on you to survive. Think about it, value it more. Cry in the beginning to smile at the end,” she said.

Kfouri says moments such as these exemplify how Marta has carried the “fragility of women’s football in Brazil” on her back almost single-handedly throughout her career.

“Marta is something phenomenal,” Kfouri adds. “Because you think of someone who was voted the best player in the world six times, in a country where women’s football never had support and, on the contrary, for many years it was forbidden that women play football. It’s startling the fact there was a Marta in Brazil.

“She was fundamental for the existence of a Brazilian soccer team and for it to end up having the recognition it has today. If it weren’t for Marta, women’s football in Brazil would probably still be a very incipient thing.

“She was and is a very valuable figure, I have no doubts saying that, as an athlete and as a citizen.”