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Finally, Liverpool beaten by Crystal Palace 2-1
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League champions on Saturday got defeated as unbeaten Crystal Palace slammed the team 2-1.
Having become the masters of scoring late in the Premier League this season, Liverpool saw their familiar script flipped on Saturday afternoon when they suffered a last-gasp 2-1 victory at the hands of an ascendent Crystal Palace.
After being comprehensively outplayed during a first half in which Ismalia Sarr’s ninth-minute goal gave the hosts a deserved lead, Arne Slot’s side thought they had done enough to snatch a precious point thanks to Federico Chiesa’s strike in the 87th minute. Palace, though, ensured their visitors got a taste of their own medicine, with substitute Eddie Nketiah rifling home the winner in the final seconds of the game.
The victory moves Palace up to second in the Premier League table and extends their unbeaten run to 18 games in all competitions. However, perhaps the biggest victory for the South London club came last month in the boardroom, when chairman Steve Parish put the brakes on captain Marc Guéhi’s deadline day transfer to Anfield.
This was an afternoon when the England defender’s importance to Palace — and Liverpool’s defensive frailties — were laid bare. In fact, the hosts’ dominance in the first half was such that Slot and his players may well have shook hands on a narrow defeat at the break.
Sarr — who now has five goals in eight career games against Liverpool — put Palace ahead after nine minutes after the visitors failed to deal with an early corner, before both Yeremy Pino and Daniel Muñoz forced Alisson Becker into fine saves to keep the game in the balance.
The Liverpool supporters in the away end at Selhurst Park could perhaps be forgiven for casting admiring glances at the impressive Guehi, who barely put a foot wrong while Ibrahima Konaté struggled to handle the threat of the ever-lively Jean Philippe-Mateta.
In a week when an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury to 18-year-old centre-back Giovanni Leoni put Liverpool’s defensive options in the spotlight, Guehi’s quiet brilliance offered the champions a painful reminder of what could have been. At the other end of the pitch, too, Liverpool toiled despite the abundance of attacking talent on the pitch.
In the first half, British-record signing Alexander Isak completed just one of his four passes and while his influence grew significantly after the break, he was substituted off the pitch to cries of “What a waste of money!” by the Palace supporters.
Fellow summer arrival Florian Wirtz also took time to impose himself on the game, while Mohamed Salah’s biggest contribution of the afternoon arguably game when he deflected Dominik Szoboszlai’s goal-bound shot wide of the net.
Instead, it fell to substitute Chiesa to restore parity for Liverpool, finishing smartly past Dean Henderson from close range to set his team on course for another late escape.
Had Slot’s side managed to see the game through, Chiesa’s strike would have constituted their fifth result-changing goal in the final 10 minutes this season; no other Premier League team has more than two.
Whether those numbers are down to quality, perseverance or sheer good luck, the law of averages suggested that Liverpool were always likely to fall foul of a moment of late magic at some point.
And so it proved, with former Arsenal man Nketiah giving his old club a huge early-season boost in the title race when he struck with virtually the last kick of the game, after Liverpool failed to deal with a long throw by Jefferson Lerma, to propel the home crowd into dreamland.
Cape Verde inscribed their name into FIFA World Cup history on Friday, becoming the smallest nation ever to reach the tournament’s knockout stage after holding Saudi Arabia to a goalless draw in their final Group H clash in Houston.
The island nation, with a population of just over 600,000, secured qualification from Group H after finishing unbeaten, collecting three points from three draws against Spain, Uruguay, and Saudi Arabia.
We are small,” said Vozinha, Cape Verde’s 40-year-old goalkeeper who embodied the grit of his nation. “But we have big hearts and we are fighters.”
The tournament debutants pulled off one of the World Cup’s biggest surprises by playing pre-tournament favorites Spain to a scoreless draw in its opener.
They followed that up by scoring their first goals of the World Cup in a 2-2 tie against Uruguay.
With Friday’s draw, they finish undefeated on three points and take second place in Group H behind 2010 winners Spain and a point ahead of two-time World Cup champions Uruguay.
Cape Verde will face defending champions Argentina next up in a round-of-32 matchup in Miami Gardens, Florida, on July 3.
France maintained their perfect start to the 2026 FIFA World Cup with a commanding 4-1 victory over Norway on Friday, thanks to a first-half hat-trick from Ousmane Dembélé that sealed top spot in Group I.
The French winger struck in the seventh, 20th and 32nd minutes, with two of his goals set up by captain Kylian Mbappé and the third assisted by Aurélien Tchouaméni. Désiré Doué added a fourth deep into stoppage time to complete another dominant display by Didier Deschamps’ side.
Norway briefly threatened a comeback when Thelo Aasgaard pulled one back in the 21st minute after being set up by Andreas Schjelderup. However, the Scandinavians struggled to break down the French defence for the remainder of the contest despite enjoying more possession after the interval.
France, who had already secured qualification before kick-off, completed the group stage with three wins from three, underlining their credentials as one of the favourites for the World Cup title. Mbappé once again played a key role, providing two assists before being substituted late in the game.
The result ensured Norway also progressed to the Round of 32 despite the defeat, having already booked qualification with victories in their opening two matches.
France will now head into the knockout stage with maximum points and growing momentum, while Norway will look to regroup before their Round of 32 clash after suffering their first defeat of the tournament.
Senegal boosted their chances of reaching the knockout stage of the World Cup with a 5-0 victory against 10-man Iraq.
The Lions of Teranga finished third in Group I with three points to climb to fifth among third-placed teams, but they will still need results elsewhere to go their way to secure a place in the last 32.
Senegal played a near-perfect game in Toronto as they looked to bounce back from defeats by France and Norway, and the result pushed Scotland down to ninth in the table of third-placed sides, with eight to advance to the next round.
Fast-starting Senegal opened the scoring after only four minutes. Abdoulaye Seck’s header from a corner took a decisive deflection off Sunderland midfielder Habib Diarra on its way past Iraq goalkeeper Ahmed Basil.
Iraq’s problems were compounded nine minutes later when referee Anthony Taylor sent off defender Rebin Sulaka for pulling down Sadio Mane at the edge of the penalty area, deeming it a denial of a goalscoring opportunity after a video assistant referee review.
Mane tested Basil from the resulting free-kick, but Pape Thiaw’s side, who needed goals to improve their goal difference and thereby their chances of progressing to the next stage, failed to register another shot on target in the first half.
But they capitalised on former Manchester United midfielder Zidane Iqbal giving away possession at the edge of the box as Lamine Camara cut the ball back for Ismaila Sarr to apply a simple finish to make it 2-0 in the 56th minute.
Their lead was extended three minutes later as Pape Gueye curled a left-foot strike into the top corner – his first involvement after coming on moments earlier.
Villarreal defensive midfielder Gueye added his second goal with another thunderous effort in the 71st minute before fellow substitute Iliman Ndiaye sealed the 5-0 win, which they would hope will be enough to send them through to the knockout stage.
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