World Cup LIVE: USA red card drama, Rice injury latest after England scare, Senegal fury

Senegal held a 2-0 lead over Belgium in their last 32

World Cup

clash, but threw it all away through poor defending and rash decision making. Late goals from

Romelu Lukaku

and

Leandro Trossard

forced 30 minutes of additional time, before a 120th minute penalty decision in the Europeans' favour gave them the match outright,

Youri Tielemans

making it look easy from 12 yards out.

It wasn't the only touch of drama from Wednesday's World Cup fixtures, however. The earlier kick-off also saw

England secure a 2-1 win over DR Congo

to secure their place in the last 16,

Harry Kane's

heroics on full display as he bagged a late brace following a tough test, in which, the England trailed 1-0 for the majority of the game.

In the overnight game, USA beat Bosnia & Herzegovina 2-0 in San Francisco at 1am - joining co-hosts Mexico and Canada in the last-16 - but star striker Folarin Balogun was sent off.

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Thomas Tuchel called for families to put football before school when England play Mexico in the early hours of Monday.

The round of 16 clash will start at 1am UK time on Monday morning.

Tuchel pleaded after Harry Kane's two late goals saw England squeeze through to the next round, saying: "Write an excuse for school and let them watch football. Come on.

"There's so much school to go to, but the World Cup is every four years. Let them watch. There will be a big, big match on in four days and we need the support of everyone, and especially of the children."

Skills minister Baroness Jacqui Smith did not quite agree with Tuchel's comments and suggested young people may miss out on important learning by writing excuses to schools.

Speaking on LBC this morning, she said: "I don't want to be a killjoy here, but I’ll tell you what the biggest killjoy is – young people who then don’t have the learning to be able to go on and do what they need to do in life.

"I quite understand if people want to watch the match, including young people, I will be. I'll be having a little disco nap in the afternoon and I’ll be celebrating our victory the next morning when I go into work, looking obviously as fresh as a daisy."

But, the general secretary of the National Education Union, Daniel Kebede, suggested a more flexible start to Monday morning would work.

Only one in five employers is planning to offer flexible working hours during the World Cup despite the timing of some of the games, new research suggests.

England's next match, against Mexico, kicks off at 1am on Monday, so fans will have had little sleep before going to work.

A survey of 1,100 managers by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) found that only one in five employers plan to offer flexible working hours, such as adjusted start or finish times, to help staff watch World Cup matches.

A minority of firms are offering extended breaks, workplace screenings or additional leave options, according to the study.

Petra Wilton, director of policy at the CMI, said: "We're not saying every England win deserves a bank holiday, but if millions of people have stayed up until 3am supporting their team, asking employers to let them start a little later the next morning is simply common sense. We're saying to employers across the country: 'let them start late'."

Harry Styles was performing his tenth gig at Wembley Stadium on Wednesday night as part of his historic 12-date stint for the Together, Together tour at the iconic London venue.

Videos shared by fans showed Harry leaping into another mans arms in delight with a huge grin on his face as he threw his hands in the air and appeared to scream "YEAH!" after Harry Kane scored.

With DR Congo dispatched on Wednesday in their first knockout tie, England head to Mexico City next on their potential route to the World Cup final on July 19th.

There will surely be more shocks, twists and turns before then, but England's projected fixtures are Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Spain or France in the final. That route would represent the most difficult since record began, according to Opta.

England captain Harry Kane knows the importance of passing tests like their last-16 tie with Mexico, in Mexico City, if the Three Lions want to lifty the World Cup trophy.

Kane said: "I want to enjoy this one, because I know there's another extremely tough game coming in four days. Mexico, in Mexico, is as big as it gets maybe in the World Cup.

"The atmosphere is going to be incredible. It's going to be tough for many different reasons but ultimately, if you want to be world champions, you have to go through tough games, good teams, Mexico at home.

"We have to be ready but for now I just want to enjoy this moment, I want to recover, relax, and then obviously the focus will turn pretty quickly onto that one on Sunday.

O2 said it recorded the biggest mobile traffic event in its history as millions of football fans tuned in to follow England's victory in the World Cup last night.

The new record was 20% higher than the previous peak, set during the Arsenal vs PSG Champions League final.

Overall mobile traffic was also 27% higher than a comparable pre-tournament week, as millions of supporters streamed, followed and reacted to the match during the evening commute.

Jeanie York, chief technology officer at Virgin Media O2, said: "Live sport is one of the biggest drivers of mobile traffic in the UK and England’s victory over DR Congo set a new record on O2's network.

England's No 9 scored a header in his brace against DR Congo to take them through to the round of 16.

This was Kane's fourth headed goal during the World Cups he has played in. He has bagged 13 tournament goals since his first in 2018.

Kane's first World Cup header was in 2018 in a 2-1 group stage win against Tunisia.

The Bayern Munich-striker kicked off this tournament with a stunning header against Croatia, which put him on level with Gary Lineker for most World Cup goals scored for England.

Kane later overtook Lineker's record after a 2-0 win against Panama, on Saturday, when Kane scored his third header. Last night Kane scored a stunning header to equalise with DR Congo, before netting a winner 11 mninutes later.

Thomas Tuchel believes England's inability to adapt to the altitude in Mexico gives the co-hosts a "huge advantage" heading into this weekend's crunch World Cup last-16 clash.

Tuchel, ahead of the trip to Mexico City, said: "I think the heat and the humidity will not be the problem for us. We are used to that. We are used to that from training times and our prep camp in Florida.

"My understanding is that we cannot adapt to the altitude. That is just a huge advantage that Mexico will have. It just takes too much time. We have only three days in between this match. This is physically just not possible to adapt to the altitude, which is quite high.

"We knew that before, so this is just something, it’s just a disadvantage, with which we will have to deal, and I think we showed the attitude that we are ready for that, and from there we go."

Thomas Tuchel praised England's "shark" Harry Kane for smelling blood like fellow World Cup stars Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Erling Haaland.

France forward Mbappe leads the race for the Golden Boot with six goals and two assists, but Argentina star Messi is also on six and Haaland is just one behind. Kane joined Haaland on five goals with his match-winning brace in England's 2-1 victory against the Democratic Republic of Congo.

England boss Tuchel said of the quartet: "They're all sharks. They’re all sharks. If they smell blood, they come and score."

Kane collected his second man of the match award of the tournament with Wednesday’s display in Atlanta, where the skipper felt he experienced a "hero" moment.

Asked if the World Cup stars are driving each other to new heights, England head coach Tuchel said: "I don’t know. I mean, these big guys in this World Cup do they watch each other? Then they go like, 'no, not with me' and then I score, and then I do a hat-trick, and then you go. What is going on? I mean, crazy. So, so good.

Prince William joked it was "never in doubt" as England pulled off a late comeback to make it through to the last 16 of the World Cup.

The 2-1 victory over the Democratic Republic of Congo at the Atlanta Stadium in Georgia came after African side took a shock lead when Brian Cipenga scored after seven minutes.

It took until the 75th minute before skipper Harry Kane pulled England level with a header before firing home a winner in the 86th minute to the relief and delight of screaming fans back home.

Senegal star Pape Gueye has gone on strike from the international team sparking a row with head coach Pape Thiaw.

The Villarreal midfielder says he will be taking a break from the squad while the technical team is in place in the wake of their 3-2 World Cup exit to Belgium. Gueye, 27, took to social media to drop the bombshell news after the African nation was rocked following their World Cup exit.

Senegal conceded two goals in two-and-a-half minutes during their round of 32 elimination against Belgium as they surrendered their place in the last-16, losing 3-2 in extra-time.

In a post to his Instagram story, the 27-year-old said: "l'Il be back to give you a few words regarding elimination... but l announce today that as long as it's this technical staff l'II take a break from the selection."

Gueye was brought off shortly after the hour mark, while Senegal had a two-goal lead, with Thiaw bringing on Monaco midfielder Lamine Camara.

Sir David Beckham took to Instagram following England's win against the Democratic Republic of Congo yesterday.

The victory was led by captain Harry Kane who scored two second-half goals, including a header in the 75th minute, after being 1-0 down for the majority of the game.

Former England captain, Sir David, shared a photograph of Kane on his Instagram story and said: "Wow we needed our captain tonight."

Former AC Milan star Keisuke Honda has stated his willingness to become the new manager of the Japan national team.

Japan were knocked out by Brazil at the World Cup in the round of 32 stage, and there have been reports that manager Hajime Moriyasu could remain in the job.

DR Congo manager Sebastien Desabre saw the passing of his father announced to the world at the end of his post-match press conference following his side’s 2-1 round of 32 defeat to England in Atlanta,

reports Ryan Taylor

.

Desabre had been taking questions from World Cup reporters when the DR Congo communications manager announced the shock news and offered his condolences.

Former Arsenal striker Folarin Balogun

earned the stamp of approval

from NBA icon LeBron James during the World Cup clash between the United States and Bosnia & Herzegovina. However, the striker was later shown a red card following a lengthy VAR check in San Francisco.

Senegal's players were

left furious after a late penalty

in their World Cup clash against Belgium resulted in them being knocked out of the tournament. There was drama in the round of 32 clash in Seattle, with extra time needed to decide which team would progress to the last-16 of the tournament.

Belgium claimed a 3-2 victory over Senegal, battling back from 2-0 down to recover to 2-2 at the end of the 90 minutes.

Habib Diarra and Ismaila Sarr had put Senegal into a 2-0 lead and looked set to secure a place in the last-16, before goals from Romelu Lukaku and Youri Tielemans saw the contest go to an extra 30 minutes.

Here's how the last-16 draw looks so far.

The United States have their second goal and are closing in on a place in the last-16 at the World Cup.

Folarin Balogun has been sent off following a VAR check and the United States are down to 10 men here in San Francisco.

Not many chances to speak of in the early minutes of the second half, with the United States still holding onto their one-goal lead over Bosnia & Herzegovina.

As it stands, it will be the USA that will face Belgium in the last-16 at the World Cup.

Half-time arrives and it's the United States who have the lead going into the interval in San Francisco.

Folarin Balogun opened the scoring for the co-hosts, having also had a goal ruled out for offside earlier in the game.

Goal for the United States, and this time the goal will stand as Folarin Balogun opens the scoring at Levi's Stadium.

Balogun capitalises on a deflection in the penalty area to place the ball into the net and give the USA the lead just before half-time.

Former Arsenal star Folarin Balogun thinks he's opened the scoring for the United States, but his celebrations end early as the offside flag is raised.

We've reached the scheduled hydration break in the first half and it's a fairly even opening 23 minutes so far here at Levi's Stadium.

Both goalkeepers have been forced to make a couple of saves, but neither team has arguably done enough to take the lead.

We're underway at Levi's Stadium as the United States and Bosnia & Herzegovina go head-to-head for a place in the last-16 at the World Cup.