Xhaka -- Switzerland's World Cup rock born to be skipper

Paris, France: Switzerland's World Cup captain Granit Xhaka says leadership is a role he learned aged four when he was handed the house keys as his Albanian parents worked overtime to make ends meet in their adopted country.

The 33-year-old midfielder has the opportunity to prove that that tough experience paid off by leading the Swiss into the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time since 1954 if they beat Colombia on Tuesday. solvita.blog

Those early years, though, when he and his brother Taulant, who is a year older, were left to their own devices have left their mark on a player who has at times let his emotions get the better of him on the pitch.

"I think I learned about leadership already when I was four years old," he told Stan Sport Football earlier this year.

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"My parents were working during the day, extra work just to get us what we wanted and it is why we are where we are today.

"I was four and I was given the keys to the house, so already I had responsibility," he added.

Xhaka, who like Taulant was born in Switzerland, said he and his brother would spend 18 hours alone together at the house.

"My two older daughters are six and four and I cannot see my kids staying alone for 18 hours today," he said.

"But we had this, my brother and I. My mother (Elmaze) would start work at four in the morning, prepare the lunch before she left, come back at three and make dinner before going to a second job.

"My dad (Ragip) was the same," he added, tearily.

'There were beatings'

Xhaka's parents met and married in Kosovo, at the time an autonomous province in Yugoslavia and later Serbia with a predominantly ethnic Albanian population.

Ragip fell foul of the regime of Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic and aged 22 was handed a six-year prison sentence for taking part in an anti-government demonstration.

"Nobody knew if he is still alive or not," Xhaka told The Times in May.

"So even with this ten minutes (of daily exercise), sometimes he had months without speaking with his family members.

His father told his sons of the beatings he suffered in prison. "He starts to tell you a little bit, but then he feels like he needs to stop," Xhaka said.

His father emerged from this hellish existence after three years and the family packed up their belongings and fled to Switzerland by bus. "My mom (was) legal, my dad not legal," he recalls.

Xhaka and Taulant rewarded their parents for their courage and sacrifices by becoming successful footballers.

Both played for Swiss club Basel, but while Xhaka opted to represent Switzerland -- he has 150 caps to his name -- Taulant chose Albania.

Xhaka has shown the steeliness he gained from his childhood in rebounding when times have been tough.

The lowest perhaps was when he was stripped of the Arsenal captaincy after blowing a gasket when he was substituted by then manager Unai Emery in October 2019.

Xhaka had a love-hate relationship with Arsenal fans.

"The darkness (after being substituted] was only when I was alone, but it was a nice darkness because I learnt a lot from it," he told The Times.

He stayed and re-established himself in the Arsenal set-up when Mikel Arteta took over and won a second FA Cup before heading to Germany.

There he played a pivotal role in Bayer Leverkusen's league and cup double in 2024, going unbeaten through the domestic season.

A successful return to England with Premier League surprise package Sunderland and now the possibility of a first World Cup quarter-final for Switzerland in over 70 years -- life surely could not be sweeter.

However, he keeps his feet firmly on the ground.

"We never forget where we come from."

عبر فهد بن علي المهندي رئيس السباقات باللجنة المنظمة لسباق الهجن، رئيس المهرجان الصيفي، عن سعادته الكبيرة بالانطلاقة المميزة والرائعة للسباق التمهيدي الأول ضمن المهرجان الصيفي للهجن 2026، والذي شهد مشاركات أعداد كبيرة من الهجن الخليجية، على مدار 25 شوطاً جرت تحدياتها صباح امس السبت 4 يوليو 2026 بميدان الشحانية.
وقال المهندي، عقب انتهاء منافسات السباق التمهيدي الأول صباح أمس، إنهم سعداء للغاية بهذا المشاركات الضخمة وهذا الحضور الجماهيري الكبير الذي يؤكد أن المهرجان يحظى بزخم كبير.
وأضاف المهندي: الحمد لله على هذه الانطلاقة المميزة، شاهدنا مشاركات كبيرة للغاية على مدار 25 شوطاً، المشاركات من قبل الأشقاء من دول مجلس التعاون الخليجي كانت كبيرة وكانوا متواجدين بقوة وأضفوا الكثير من الندية على المنافسات التي كانت قوية للغاية في يومها الأول.
مضيفاً: أقيمت أمس 25 شوطاً من مسافة الـ 2 كم، أصبح لدينا 250 متأهلاً للسباق الختامي الذي سيقام في أكتوبر القادم بإذن الله،

Houston: Canada became the first of the co-hosts to exit the World Cup as a clinical Morocco won 3-0 to reach the quarter-finals on Saturday in Houston.

The 2022 semi-finalists Morocco will face title favourites France or Paraguay as the business end of the tournament in North America approaches.

After a first half littered with more bookings than shots, midfielder Azzedine Ounahi fired the opener on 50 minutes.

Canada -- playing the biggest game in their footballing history -- pushed for an equaliser, but Ounahi scored his second to finally see off the resistance of Jesse Marsch's men.

Substitute Soufiane Rahimi slipped in the third with the last kick of the match.

It was tough on Canada, who were the better side in the opening period in front of a crowd of 68,777 as they sought to make more history.

They came into the contest in uncharted territory, having won a World Cup match and then a knockout game for the first time to get to the last 16.

They were clear underdogs and their fans were outnumbered by Morocco supporters at the air-conditioned Houston Stadium.

Yet they looked the more confident at the start, Tani Oluwaseyi turning sharply in the box and forcing Morocco's Montreal-born goalkeeper Yassine Bounou to save with a stretched-out leg after 10 minutes.

From Canada's fourth corner of the half, defender Alistair Johnston failed to make the most of a free header. Morocco were rattled.

After 20 minutes Mohamed Ouahbi's team suffered a big injury blow, Bayern Munich-bound Ismael Saibari -- who had scored three times at the tournament -- coming off for Rahimi.

Immediately after the drinks break Rahimi had a go optimistically from distance, registering Morocco's first shot on target with a quarter of the game gone.

There was a flashpoint shortly before half-time when Morocco captain Achraf Hakimi and defender Richie Laryea had a brief shoving match, with both shown yellow cards.

Referee Michael Oliver booked six players -- four from Morocco -- in a half high on niggly fouls and low on goal-mouth action.

The build-up to the last World Cup game of seven in Houston, with the United States celebrating its 250th birthday, was the highlight until that point.

Morocco, who beat Canada in the group phase at the 2022 World Cup, came out for the second period transformed.

Five minutes after the restart Hakimi pinged a low free-kick to Ounahi unmarked outside the box and he swept in first time.

Canada goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau had his view blocked by two of his defenders and the ball also went through Rahimi's legs.

On 82 minutes, Ounahi was the man in the right place again on the breakaway with another right-footed first-time finish, before Rahimi pounced in the 98th minute.

I spent almost two months in Suzhou, China as part of the XTERRA Elite Team, and looking back now, I can confidently say it was the most impactful experiences I have had as an athlete. As an age-grouper, stepping into a true elite environment represented a huge leap for me. It was not simply a step up in training volume or intensity, but a complete shift in the standard of coaching, the level of athletes around me, and ultimately the expectations I had of myself.

Many people have asked me the same question since I returned, so I should probably begin there: why China?

Over recent years, Trisutto has quietly built one of the most respected coaching systems in triathlon, producing some of the sport’s biggest names and shaping world champions, Olympic medalists and elite athletes across multiple disciplines. Brett Sutton, Trisutto’s head coach and one of the most influential figures in triathlon coaching, is currently based in Yuxi in China’s Yunnan province as Head Coach of the Chinese National Team.

Alongside this, Brett’s long time assistant coach and triathlon legend Susie Langley has been leading the XTERRA Elite Team in Suzhou as part of a partnership with XTERRA, helping create an environment where athletes can immerse themselves in full-time training.

For me personally, the decision to join felt like an easy one.

I lived in Shanghai from February 2017 until September 2021, and although I left China several years ago, it never really felt like I left entirely. I absolutely loved my time there. I speak Mandarin, built a large part of my career there and, in many ways, the country became part of my identity. It was a place that shaped me both personally and professionally, and it remained somewhere I always felt deeply connected to.

So when the opportunity came to combine two of my biggest passions—China and triathlon—I jumped at it immediately.

While technically based in Suzhou, the XTERRA training camp itself sits on the outskirts of the city near Taihu Lake, around an hour and a half by metro from the city centre. The distance meant that we were removed from the pace and noise of city life and instead surrounded by nature. Taihu Lake, China's third-largest freshwater lake, is so vast that standing on the shore often felt more like looking out at the sea than a lake. The horizon stretches endlessly, and on many mornings it became the backdrop to our training days.

The training setup itself was ideal.

We had turbo trainers set up in our apartment for power sessions and indoor workouts, although whenever weather allowed, we were out on the roads. The roads around Taihu were incredibly smooth, with wide shoulders and very little traffic, making them perfect for both riding and running. One of our longer cycling loops took us across multiple islands connected by bridges, and it quickly became one of my favourite rides. There was something incredibly satisfying about riding uninterrupted for long stretches with water surrounding you on both sides.

On Tuesdays we had access to a beautiful athletics track at a nearby school around five or six kilometres away from our apartment, which became the location for our track sessions. We also had access to a 25-metre pool located inside a nearby hotel, while the XTERRA base camp itself sat around six kilometres away on the edge of Taihu Lake. The base camp was genuinely stunning. It was set up with open water access for swims, mountain bike trails and training facilities, all surrounded by incredible scenery. Many of our open water swims happened after bike sessions or brick workouts, and being able to run straight into the lake after training felt like a luxury.

Although I had already been training under Trisutto principles through Sported for the past couple of years, actually living and training within the environment itself felt very different.

One of the biggest changes for me was the structure—or perhaps more accurately, the lack of structure.

At home in Dubai, life requires planning. I usually need to know roughly what my week looks like in advance so I can fit everything together around work commitments, training, dog walks, cooking, laundry and everything else that comes with normal life. Training has to exist alongside everything else.

Training camp stripped all of that away. The priorities became incredibly simple: train and recover.

We rarely knew what our next session would be until the previous one had finished. Susie would simply tell us what we had next and the day would unfold from there. Initially, I found it surprisingly difficult to adapt to. I like structure and I like planning ahead. However, over time I realised there was something incredibly freeing about removing all of that mental noise. There was no energy spent juggling logistics or thinking three steps ahead. The only task was to focus entirely on executing the work in front of you.

Across swim, bike and run, I averaged around 21 to 22 hours of training each week. Surprisingly, the discipline that challenged me the most was swimming.

I had always considered swimming one of my strengths. As an age-grouper, I was already swimming what most people would consider fairly high volume, averaging between 12 and 15 kilometres per week. Arriving in Suzhou, that volume immediately jumped to around 25 kilometres per week.

Essentially overnight, I doubled my swim load.

I have been asked if I suddenly felt dramatically faster in the water because of it, and the answer is probably only a little. But that misses the point entirely. Within Trisutto, the philosophy is that we do not swim like swimmers, we swim like triathletes. The objective is not simply improving swim times in isolation. It is about building fitness and durability that transfers into the bike and run. It is about becoming stronger for the entire race.

Cycling involved plenty of big gear work, which felt familiar enough, although the turbo trainers we used in Suzhou seemed to have significantly more resistance than the one I train on at home. When I returned to Dubai, I was convinced something was wrong with my trainer because suddenly everything felt easier. I actually ended up recalibrating it!

The run sessions, however, were where I felt I discovered a different level of myself.

The track workouts pushed me further than I realised I was capable of going. One of my favourite sessions involved running 20 x 400 metres on a 1:30 turnaround with 30 seconds recovery. After somehow surviving all twenty repetitions, I remember feeling relieved that the session was finally over.

Then Robbie Haywood looked at me and said, "Now you have five more. Twenty is for age-groupers."

I quickly learned that there is a difference between finishing a session and being told you have finished a session.

I also had the opportunity to share a track session with Michael Raelert, a 2x Ironman 70.3 World Champion. While I was hanging on through the set, Michael quietly asked if he could give me some advice and spent the next few reps coaching me through it. He gave me a few simple lessons around staying calm when a session starts slipping away, respecting that easy means EASY, and understanding that more is not always better. It was one of those moments that reminded me that being around great athletes is not just about witnessing performance, but also learning from their experience and mindset.

Overall, the experience was incredibly eye-opening, not only because of the training itself but because of the environment that surrounded it. Athletes would pass through between races, conversations would happen over meals or after sessions, and every day presented opportunities to absorb knowledge from people who had coached and raced at the highest levels of the sport.

What I valued most, however, was not necessarily any improvement in fitness, it was the way the environment raised my own standards. Being surrounded by people operating at a different level subtly changes your expectations of yourself. You stop questioning whether something is possible and start questioning why you thought it wasn't.

By Caroline Bridges, Sported Athlete Partner

Al Ahly agreed to let Mahmoud Trezeguet join Saudi club Al Riyadh for $1.5 million while the winger remains with Egypt at the World Cup.

Al Ahly have approved Mahmoud Hassan Trezeguet’s move to Saudi club Al Riyadh for $1.5 million, according to reports.

Sources say that Al Ahly had completed the procedures for the forward’s transfer to the Saudi Pro League side on a two-season deal.

Trezeguet is currently with the national team at the 2026 World Cup. Egypt will face Argentina in the round of 16 in Atlanta on July 7.

Argentina booked the tie after narrowly beating Cape Verde 3-2 after extra time in the round of 32. Egypt reached the last 16 after beating Australia 4-2 on penalties following a 1-1 draw in Dallas.

The deal comes as Al Ahly move to reduce salary costs and reshape their squad before the new season.

The post Trezeguet Inching Closer to Al Ahly Departure appeared first on KingFut.