Ламин Ямалын гэмтэл: Испанийн од ДАШТ-ийг өнжих үү?

Falling stars: Why Yamal and others are sweating on the World Cup

A glance through the Spanish media yesterday morning revealed panic on the streets of Barcelona, Madrid and every town in between.Lamine Yamal was injuredand newspapers were full of conjecture about what that meant for Spain and their World Cup campaign.

They were right to be anxious. A few hours later, Barca confirmed that the 18-year-old Yamal’s season is over,abruptly ended by a hamstring strainsuffered against Celta Vigo in La Liga on Wednesday. But crucially,the club expect himto be fit for the World Cup—prompting cautious sighs of relief all round.

Spain’s head coach,Luis de la Fuente, won’t be counting his chickens. Barca’s last league game falls on May 24 and the World Cup starts on June 11. Any minor setback or change in the timeline of Yamal’s rehabilitation and he’ll be struggling to get there, potentially depriving De la Fuente of the best player on the planet, give or take. Assuming Yamal makes it, he’ll still do well to arrive in peak condition. Tournaments can turn on injuries like his.

We’ve seen a lot of this over the past few days.Germany’s Serge Gnabry is out of the finals, struck down by a thigh strain. Brazil’s 19-year-old star Estevao, who has a hamstring problem like Yamal’s, will be lucky not to suffer the same fate (once more raising the question of whether all-time top scorer Neymar might secure a last-gasp call-up).

USMNT enthusiasts, meanwhile, should pay attention to news of Arda Guler, Turkey’s main man.The 21-year-old Real Madrid midfielder is also out for the rest of the seasonwith a hamstring injury, casting doubt over his prospects of facing the U.S. in Group C on June 25.

Madrid think Guler will be back in time, and Turkey can only hope. Likewise, Spain with Yamal. We’ve hit that window when injuries can really hurt a World Cup nation, and diminish the spectacle of the tournament itself —especially when a casualty has Ballon d’Or class.

Are youngsters playing too much?

Yamal is still young. Despite that, he’s made more than 100 La Liga appearances for Barca already and played in 49 matches across all competitions this season. A teenager’s body needs careful management, but Barca, understandably, can’t ever bring themselves to hold Yamal back.

Pol Ballus crunched the numbersand found that, in 2025-26, no Barca player has amassed more minutes than Yamal’s 3,702. He’s featured more than goalkeeper Joan Garcia (and goalkeepers are usually as present as anybody).

A row broke out between Barca and the Spanish Football Federation last year when the forward took painkillers to feature for Spain, despite carrying a groin strain. Barca could also do with working out why hamstring injuries are so prevalent at the Camp Nou —seven players, not including Yamal, have suffered from them this season.

FIFA’s calendar is stacked and, as a result, teams like them are battling on several fronts. Guler has played 50 times for Madrid this term and is being flogged every bit as hard. The World Cup is a huge target for these stars, but fitness-wise, they’re at the mercy of their bodies after a long, hard year.

Their national coaches can only pray to whichever God they believe in, unable to do much more than allow nature to take its course.

News Round-Up 🗞️

• Manchester Cityare considering tabling a bidfor Chelsea’s Argentina midfielderEnzo Fernandez, who has given the impression he wouldn’t mind a change of scene this summer. Nottingham Forest’sElliot Andersonis another name on City’s list of midfield targets.
• Italian sports ministerAndrea Abodiwasn’t entertaining the idea of Italy replacing Iran at the World Cup, a suggestion put forward by an envoy of U.S. President Donald Trump.“Qualification is on the pitch,” Abodi said. Damn straight.
• U.S. secretary of stateMarco Rubio, however, has kept the focus on Iran’s involvement by warning that anybody with links to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)will be banned from entering Americathis summer, even if they are part of Iran’s travelling party for the finals.
• Civil rights organisations are warning that visitors to theWorld Cup— particularly those from immigrant groups, ethnic minorities and the LGBTQ+ community — will be“most vulnerable to serious harm” in the U.S.Both FIFA and the White House rejected their concerns.
• English second-tier sideMillwallare considering their legal position after a children’s educational bookdepicted a Ku Klux Klan figure with the club’s crest on their outfit. London’s Westminster Council, which was responsible for the publication, has apologised.
• One for UK TV viewers: the BBC has pulled its famous Saturday lunchtime show,Football Focus. It will end when the 2025-26 season finishesafter 52 years on air.

 Chelsea’s managerial merry-go-round: Could Iraola be next in the hot seat?

Our big read on Liam Rosenior’s Chelsea downfallwon’t make pleasant reading for the sacked head coach. But, more than that, it reveals the extent to which parting company with his predecessor, Enzo Maresca, in January unsettled the dressing room. The timing of that decision badly compromised their season.

But football presses on quickly and so have we, turning our attention to the matter of who will be next to give aseemingly thankless joba crack. Does anyone out there have it in them to take hold of this beast and put it on a leash?

Former Chelsea midfielder and up-and-coming Como manager Cesc Fabregas, who TAFC referenced yesterday, would be an interesting choice. But, havingpicked through the analysis by Mark Carey andConor O’Neillthis morning, I’d be a little surprised if Chelsea look far beyond Bournemouth’s Andoni Iraola. He’s under early consideration, and it’s not difficult to see why.

For one thing,he’s leaving his current club when the season finishes, and courting a free agent is so much easier (and cheaper) than appointing an under-contract manager. Tactically, the Basque coach is great at harnessing young players’ potential, with an aggressive pressing style. He improves their individual levels and he’s shown that he can cope with squad churn (see the graphic, above).

Those strengths would help, and they must appeal to the hierarchy at Chelsea. There’s probably no such thing as a silver bullet for a club so messy, but ignoring Iraola might be staring a gift horse in the mouth.

Garcia working miracles:  105 games unbeaten for history-chasing team

#OnThisDay in 2005, @luchogarcia14 netted THAT goal against @ChelseaFC to send us to Istanbul 🙌 pic.twitter.com/ieQydfLMKs

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) May 3, 2020

When I openedAndy Jones’ interview with Luis Garcia, I expected to be hit straight off the bat with chat about Garcia’s Champions League ‘ghost goal’ against Chelsea in 2005 (above), en route tothatmiraculous Istanbul final. Even now, many of a blue persuasionrefuse to accept that the Spaniard’s effort crossed the line.

What I found insteadwere stats that made me do a double take. Garcia now works as CEO for Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT), a team in Malaysia’s Super League. They lift the title every year, basically, and they’ve just notched their 12th in a row.

But get this:they’re on a streak of 105 games without defeat, stretching back to April 2021 (when they lost to Terengganu). They’re three games away from equalling the longest unbeaten run in league football ever, set in the Ivory Coast by ASEC Mimosas in 1994.

JDT are so untouchable that they’ll surely reach and breach that mark. But to set a new record, they’ll have to wait until the start of next season because their current campaign has only three games to go. Needless to say, we’ll be watching.

Around TAFC 🔄

Catch A Match 📺

 Selected games (times ET/UK)

Friday (all 3pm/8pm): Premier League: Sunderland vs Nottingham Forest — USA Network/Sky Sports. Championship: Leicester City vs Millwall — CBS, Paramount+, Amazon Prime/Sky Sports. La Liga: Real Betis vs Real Madrid — ESPN, Fubo/Premier Sports.

Saturday: FA Cup semi-final: Manchester City vs Southampton, 12.15pm/5.15pm — ESPN/BBC, TNT Sports. Premier League: Fulham vs Aston Villa, 7.30am/12.30pm — USA Network/TNT Sports; Arsenal vs Newcastle United, 12.30pm/5.30pm — Peacock Premium/Sky Sports. La Liga: Getafe vs Barcelona, 10.15am/3.15pm — ESPN, Fubo/LaLigaTV. MLS: Minnesota United vs LAFC, 4.15pm/9.15pm — Fox, Apple TV, Fubo/Apple TV; Inter Miami vs New England Revolution, 7.30pm/12.30am — Apple TV in both regions. UEFA Women’s Champions League semi-final: Bayern Munich vs Barcelona, 12.15pm/5.15pm — ESPN, Paramount+/BBC, Disney+.

Sunday: FA Cup semi-final: Chelsea vs Leeds United, 10am/3pm — ESPN, Fubo/TNT Sports. Championship: Coventry City vs Wrexham, 7am/12pm — Paramount+/ITV, Sky Sports. UEFA Women’s Champions League semi-final: Arsenal vs OL Lyonnes, 10.30am/3.30pm — ESPN, Paramount+/BBC, Disney+. Serie A: Milan vs Juventus, 2.45pm/7.45pm — Paramount+, DAZN/TNT Sports, DAZN.

And Finally…

For something a bit different this weekend, pay attention to the National League, the fifth tier of English football. The scenario at the top of it is absolutely bonkers.

York City lead the way. They’ve picked up 107 points from 45 matches, scoring 113 goals along the way. Their goal difference stands at +73 (lol).

Despite running riot, they have not been promoted yet — because the National League has only one automatic spot and Rochdale are right behind them: with 105 points, 87 goals scored and a goal difference of +47.

And wouldn’t you know it? York and Rochdale meet tomorrow, in the final game of the season and the shootout to end all shootouts. Place your bets…