Former Italy under-20 international Cristian Volpato has decided to represent Australia and will join the Socceroos' training camp in Los Angeles ahead of the World Cup, Football Australia said on Friday.

Lionel Messi will turn 39 during the upcoming World Cup and could have been forgiven for quitting international football after leading Argentina to glory in Qatar in 2022, but he remains his country's talisman as they aim to retain the trophy in North America.

The 31-year-old issued an impassioned proclamation of his patriotism last week, triggering Monday's appeal from Vice President Abdolkarim Hosseinzadeh.

"It's not a bad thing to cancel your wedding for – it only happens every four years," the 27-year-old keeper told New Zealand media.

The tournament expanding to 48 teams from 32 helped propel Jordan, a country of 12 million people with a creaking football infrastructure, to their maiden finals.

Since stepping into professional football in 2002, Cristiano Ronaldo has dazzled audiences from Lisbon to Manchester, Madrid, and now Saudi Arabia. He has conquered Europe with both club and country, and in his glittering career, he is steadily moving toward the unbelievable milestone of 1,000 goals.

Marcelo Bielsa is widely revered as a pioneer of coaching but his unconventional methods risk ruining Uruguay's World Cup chances before the tournament has even begun.

They are unbeaten in 11 games stretching back to September 2024 and aiming to go beyond the last 16 for the first time.

The Dutch have never won a World Cup, losing in the final in 1974, 1978 and 2010.

The US states of New York and New Jersey announced a probe Wednesday into whether FIFA has exploited football fans with "impossibly high" World Cup ticket prices.

The Netherlands' top scorer Memphis Depay and Arsenal defender Jurrien Timber were both included on Wednesday in the country's squad for next month's World Cup despite concerns over their fitness.

Sometimes a single goal changes an entire life. It becomes more than a strike into the net – it turns into a man’s identity, the essence of who he is. For Mario Gotze, there was one such moment. Just one. But one was enough.

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said the initial news regarding superstar Lionel Messi's fitness "is not that bad" and hopes further examinations will confirm that diagnosis with the World Cup just a fortnight away.

Borussia Monchengladbach attacking midfielder Reyna appeared as a substitute in the USA's friendly defeats to Belgium and Portugal in March after impressing Pochettino during last November's international window.

The 33-year-old forward, once one of the most prolific goalscorers in England at Tottenham Hotspur, has yet to hit the mark for Los Angeles FC in the league so far this season.

Ouahbi, who took up the Moroccan coaching role three months ago, has kept faith with the majority of the squad that took part in the African Cup of Nations.

In his hometown of Santo Domingo, Caicedo's face appears on murals, shirts and even on the shin guards of children who dream of following in his footsteps, such as nine-year-old Julian Hidalgo.

For the Netherlands, it was a golden opportunity to banish the ghosts of back-to-back final defeats in 1974 and 1978

Having notched four goals at the 2022 edition, including a memorable brace in the semi-finals against Croatia, Alvarez is now dreaming of further international glory at this year’s World Cup.

Luis de la Fuente stressed that Spain's badge outranks any club crest on Tuesday after naming a World Cup squad with a distinctly Barcelona hue and, for the first time, no Real Madrid player in sight.