In 2024, Australia’s coking coal mines emitted an estimated 867 kt (kilotonnes) of methane – about two times more than the country’s entire oil and gas sector. With some mines releasing more methane than others, the IEA estimates that Australian coal adds on average 17% to steel’s short-term climate impact, but underreported data may be hiding even greater risks.
Australia is the world’s largest exporter of coking coal, mostly to steel-producing economies. The average reported and estimated methane intensities of mining this coal are between 3-5 tonnes per kilotonne of coal. These extraction-related emissions of Australia’s coal could add 10-17% to the short-term climate impact of steel – an issue that can only be addressed at the mine level.
Yet, the country’s persistent underreporting of coal mine methane emissions – repeatedly shown by independent studies – could mislead steelmakers who may be importing coal, the mining of which is responsible for up to three times more methane emissions than reported, making it harder to manage and reduce lifecycle emissions.
Methane emissions from metallurgical coal extraction fall under steelmakers’ value chain emissions (Scope 3 Category 1 – Purchased Goods and Services), but are rarely reported. Ember’s analysis found that, when estimated coal mine methane emissions from Australia were added, ArcelorMittal, Nippon Steel and POSCO’s Scope 3 emissions would increase by between 6% and 15%.
Using seaborne trade data, Ember’s case study found that, between 2023 and 2024, around 4.3 Mt (million tonnes) of coal from “super emitter” Hail Creek was shipped to major steel plants owned by ArcelorMittal, Nippon Steel and POSCO. The mining of this amount of coal was reportedly responsible for around 12.9 kt of methane emissions, with an additional 27.6 kt believed to be unaccounted for due to the operator’s underreporting. This unreported amount is equivalent to the methane emissions of about 283,000 beef cattle in one year.
Coal production releases methane during mining, but it is the steel industry’s coal demand that drives these emissions. As the main buyer of coking coal, the steel industry’s ambition to decarbonise could encourage suppliers to adopt direct measurement, transparent reporting and on-site abatement of fugitive methane.
In the short term, ahead of 2030, Ember recommends regulators and policymakers around the world to prioritise including coal mine methane emissions in policy instruments targeting steel.
Steelmakers, on the other hand, should set ambitious targets for managing fugitive methane emissions from upstream coal extraction. Given over half of coal mine methane emissions are avoidable using existing technologies, this is a good – and critical – starting point for steelmakers to begin reporting and reducing their value chain emissions. It also helps steelmakers to mitigate risks in their supply chains.
Looking to 2050 net zero targets, the shift to renewable-powered iron and steel production remains the ultimate decarbonisation pathway. Policymakers, steelmakers and relevant stakeholders need to work together to deliver this transition.
The 2-year overall survival rate in the DART and standard of care groups were 96.9% vs 98.3% with an HR of 1.68.
Patients treated with de-escalated adjuvant radiation therapy (DART) exhibited lower cumulative rates of toxicity vs patients with standard of care therapy for HPV-associated oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC), according to findings from the open-label, phase 3 MC1675 trial (NCT02908477) published in The Lancet Oncology.1
Among patients treated with de-escalated radiation therapy (n = 125) or standard of care adjuvant therapy (n = 61) were included in the primary analysis, the cumulative chronic grade 3 or higher toxicity rate from 3 to 24 months of treatment was 3% and 11%, respectively (P = .042). Additionally, the cumulative chronic percutaneous endoscopic gastric (PEG) tube rate was 2% vs 8% (P = .039).
The most common grade 3 late toxic effects in the DART arm included 2 instances of dysphagia, and single instances of hearing impairment and esophagitis. In the standard of care arm, the most common grade 3 late toxic effects included 5 instances of dysphagia, and individual occurrences of dry mouth, fatigue, esophagitis, osteonecrosis of the jaw, peripheral motor neuropathy, and generalized pain.
The 2-year overall survival (OS) rate in the DART and standard of care groups were 96.9% (95% CI, 93.9%-99.9%) vs 98.3% (95% CI, 95.0%-100%) with an HR of 1.68 (95% CI, 0.36-7.95; P = .51). The 2-year progression-free survival (PFS) rates were 88.2% (95% CI, 82.7%-94.0%) vs 96.6% (95% CI, 92.0%-100%), with an HR of 4.76 (95% CI, 1.11-20.40; P = .0203).
A post hoc analysis revealed that stratification factors, including extranodal extension and smoking history, remained significant (P = .025; P = .031). Among patients with negative extranodal extension, the cumulative chronic grade 3 or higher toxicity rate in the DART cohort was 4% vs 13% in the standard of care group and 3% vs 11% in the positive extranodal extension group.
“[The phase 3 MC1675 trial] demonstrated that a reduced post-operative dose of de-escalated adjuvant radiation therapy DART) for patients with HPV-associated oropharynx [SCC] yielded significantly lower toxicity and improved patient quality of life compared with standard of care adjuvant treatment, a finding that persisted even at 2 years after treatment,” Daniel J. Ma, MD, head and neck radiation oncologist in the Department of Radiation Oncology and co-leader of the Oropharynx Multi-disciplinary Clinic at Mayo Clinic, wrote in a written statement to CancerNetwork®. “Disease control with DART was also excellent for appropriately selected patients, particularly those without extranodal extension. Importantly, MC1675 also demonstrated that patients with more involved lymph nodes (pN2) were at greater risk for distant disease and should not be de-escalated.Future work will concentrate on biological biomarkers to determine the best patients for treatment de-escalation.”
Patients 18 years and older with American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) 7th edition pathological stage III to IV HPV-associated OPSCC were enrolled and randomly assigned 2:1 to receive DART (n = 130) or standard of care (n = 64), with 125 and 62 patients, respectively, included in the primary analysis. Patients were stratified by the presence of extranodal extension and smoking history, defined as less than 10 packs per year or at least 10 packs per year.
DART consisted of 30 to 36 Gy in 1.5 to 1.8 Gy fractions twice daily over 2 weeks and 15 mg/m2 of intravenous docetaxel on days 1 and 8. Standard of care consisted of 60 Gy in 2 Gy fractions once daily over 6 weeks and 40 mg/m2 once weekly intravenous cisplatin. The primary analysis was conducted among patients who received treatment and had no data missing.
The primary end point of the trial was a chronic cumulative grade 3 or higher toxicity rate. Secondary end points included disease-free survival, OS, PFS, locoregional disease control, distant metastasis-free survival, and quality of life.
In the DART and standard of care arms, the median age was 59.4 years (range, 37.9-81.6) vs 59.2 years (range, 48.0-72.5), and 88% vs 91% were male. Patients were most commonly White (94% vs 95%) and non-Hispanic (90% vs 91%). Additionally, most patients had AJCC 7th edition N1 disease (58% vs 66%), T2 disease (50% vs 45%), and no smoking history (72% vs 72%).
Reference
Ma D, Price K, Moore E, et al. De-escalated adjuvant radiotherapy versus standard adjuvant treatment for human papillomavirus-associated oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (MC1675): a phase 3, open-label, randomised controlled trial. Lancet Oncol. 2025;26(9):1227-1239
The professional bobsleigh athlete Simon Wulff tested positive for 4-methylhexan-2-amine (methylhexanamine) following an in-competition doping control of 7 December 2024.
The World Anti-Doping Agency, the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation (IBSF) and Mr Wulff have concluded a Case Resolution Agreement pursuant to Art. 10.8.2 of the IBSF Anti-Doping Rules (IBSF ADR) according to which the athlete is sanctioned for an anti-doping rule violation based on Art. 2.1 of the IBSF ADR with a period of Ineligibility of twenty-one (21) months starting on the date of the sample collection.
While there is no indication that the athlete, who was cooperative during the proceedings, committed the anti-doping rule violation intentionally, he was – despite significant efforts – not able to establish the source of the prohibited substance identified in his sample. The athlete will therefore be eligible to participate in any activities and competitions as of 7 September 2026. The athlete is, inter alia, allowed to return to train with a team two months before expiry of the period Ineligibility, i.e. as of 7 July 2026.
Pearl is one of the most versatile maps in Riot’s tactical hero shooter, offering almost endless possibilities for creative plays. If you want to truly master this map, you’ll need to know its layout like the back of your hand and have every callout in your back pocket. In this guide, we’ll run through all of this and more, including tips, tricks and agent picks.
Take a deep dive into Pearl, Omega Earth’s underwater city. This map doesn’t have any fancy gimmicks – it’s designed to encourage mid-control and well-coordinated attacks. Don’t let its futuristic/art-deco aesthetic fool you – this is a bread-and-butter map that will test your team’s mechanical skill and coordination.
The map features two bomb sites, with numerous twisting lanes in between them. The A site is open and features long sightlines, while B is much tighter, with corners that demand defenders find good angles. Rotations are particularly long on this map, so controlling mid is the key to success. This makes information gathering crucial for defenders, while attackers can play some mind games, using their long rotation times to their advantage.
The sheer amount of routes in Pearl makes Astra an obvious pick due to her ultimate ability, Cosmic Divide. This ability allows you to instantly create a wall to block off angles – particularly important when capturing or defending a site. Her regular astral abilities are also a boon, as she is able to throw out smokes and stuns in a pinch.
With so many possible angles for attack, Killjoy is an instapick for defenders. She can place down turrets to hold angles that you can’t watch and alarmbots to alert you to advancing enemies. This can be a lifesaver if you’ve already lost mid, making hectic fights much more manageable. In the likely event that you have to retake a site, Killjoy is invaluable thanks to her ultimate, Lockdown, which can trap enemies in place, allowing you to pick them off.
Jett’s mobility makes her the best duellist to pick on Pearl. Tailwind allows you to peek around corners and quickly escape danger, while updraft can instantly lift you to high ground. This is especially useful on A Site, which has one of the longest sightlines on any map in the game. Here, you can use Jett’s movement to secure the best angle and take down any attackers that step in your path.
Sova is one of the best information agents in the game and is particularly useful on Pearl. His Recon Bolt allows you to tag agents through walls, revealing their location and allowing your allies to get the drop on them. You can also send his Owl Drone through doors to reveal enemy locations. Combine these abilities with his Shock Darts and Hunter’s Fury, and you’ve got yourself a powerhouse initiator.
Pearl map tips and tricks
Pearl is one of the most versatile maps in VALORANT
Attackers’ first mission on Pearl is to take mid early. Due to its numerous routes, it’s essential to maintain control of this area. One great tactic is to use smokes to block A Art and B Connector and push through to the Plaza. From here, you’ve got access to both bomb sites. Defenders need to try and control mid too. Don’t play on-site, as attackers will overwhelm you in a flash.
Tip 2: Fake it ‘til you make it
Due to this map’s long rotations, it’s a great idea to bait the opposition using utility. A common tactic is to launch abilities on A site before rotating to B and surprising the defenders. Holding mid is crucial to this tactic – hold these corridors and you can easily slip from one site to the other before your opponents can decide where to focus their fire.
Defenders won’t have an easy job guarding B site, due to the advantageous angles attackers can exploit. The solution? Perfect your retake game. It’s better to retreat and then launch a coordinated assault to retake than suffer heavy losses and get locked out by the attacking team. B is particularly difficult to defend, so be prepared to fall back and fight from B Link to secure some crossfire kills.
The game I’m most looking forward to right now is Big Walk, the latest title from House House, creators of the brilliant Untitled Goose Game. A cooperative multiplayer adventure where players are let loose to explore an open world, I’m interested to see what emergent gameplay comes out of it. Could Big Walk allow for a kind of community archaeology with friends? I certainly hope so.
When games use environmental storytelling in their design – from the positioning of objects to audio recordings or graffiti – they invite players to role play as archaeologists. Game designer Ben Esposito infamously joked back in 2016 that environmental storytelling is the “art of placing skulls near a toilet” – which might have been a jab at the tropes of games like the Fallout series, but his quip demonstrates how archaeological gaming narratives can be. After all, the incongruity of skulls and toilets is likely to lead to many questions and interpretations about the past in that game world, however ridiculous.
I used to work as an archaeologist in the analogue world, where my work consisted of excavations, fieldworks and assessment of potential development sites across the UK. Now I’m doing a computer science PhD focusing in video game archaeology, where I get tocome up with novel ways to record gameplay experiences, like doing in-game walking interviews with players in the MMO Wurm Online, or recording the location of player messages in Elden Ring.
Because I know what being an archaeologist entails, I often find myself thinking about games that just have you play as a person with that job title, such as Tomb Raider or Uncharted, versus those that have you engage in work similar to what we do in the field. Walking sims like Gone Home and What Remains of Edith Finch invite you to explore a space and interpret what all of the objects left behind in the landscape mean. Dr Melissa Kagen, assistant teaching professor in interactive media and game development at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, refers to this interpretive gameplay in walking simulators as “archival adventuring”.
Ready for role play … Outer Wilds: Archeologist Edition. Photograph: Nintendo Switch
It’s not just walking sims though. There is a growing genre of puzzle games that I would argue also puts you in the role of an archaeologist, piecing together clues about the past from material remains and archival material. Some people refer to these games as “Metroidbranias”, but I’m personally quite fond of them. Essentially, “information games” (as developer Tom Francis calls them) require players to come up with theories based on the information they have, to in turn use those theories to acquire more knowledge. With its central mechanic of deciphering an ancient language, Heaven’s Vault is an obvious candidate, but I would argue that other information games like Return of the Obra Dinn, Her Story and Outer Wilds (which literally has a special “archaeologist edition”) also encourage you to role play as an archaeologist, searching for clues in the environment and past records.
In my own work I investigate how to preserve contemporary games, as carefully as you would an ancient artefact. SoI’ve been thinking a lot about parallels in the game world too: how players record their own experiences through screenshots, map-making and diaries, and these are also methods used by real world archaeologists. Some games use these recording methods as central game mechanics. A great example is Season: A Letter to the Future, in which you document the world on the eve of its destruction in your journal. Games that inspire you to take notes also arguably result in a record of the gameplay experience – a good example is 2025’s puzzle sensation Blue Prince, which explicitly encourages players to record anything interesting they see in each of the clue-filled rooms as they explore an ever-shifting estate.
Rather than raiding tombs, if you want to be a video game archaeologist, look out for those skulls next to toilets. Better yet, record them. A future games archaeologist will thank you!
What to play
Compulsive and stylish … Shinobi: Art of Vengeance. Photograph: Sega
We’re seeing a lot of classic 80s arcade games being rediscovered at the moment, with Gradius Origins pleasing shoot-em-’up purists and Bandai Namco’s Shadow Labyrinth thrillingly reimagining Pac-Man.
Next, here comes Sega with Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, a compulsive and stylish adventure platformer based on its classic series of ninja brawlers. A vast range of fighting skills, weapons and combos come into play as you leap across hand-drawn cyberpunk environments, all rich in detail. French developer Lizardcube has done amazing work marrying the old school immediacy of the original titles with modern features and considerable Gallic visual flair. Come for the nostalgia, stay for the blistering execution moves, which let you take out multiple enemies in a claret-soaked dance of death.
Available on: PC, PS4/5, Xbox Estimated playtime: 15 hours
What to read
Switch and bait … people wait outside the Nintendo Store for the release of the Nintendo Switch 2. Photograph: Kylie Cooper/Reuters
Want to find out more about Nintendo’s approach to game design? Forthcoming book Super Nintendo, from Pushing Buttons’s own Keza MacDonald, is now available for pre-order. It’s an in-depth look behind the scenes at the legendary game and console maker, with incredible access to the design teams, including Miyamoto himself. Essential stuff.
Over 450 Diablo developers have voted to unionise, according to theCommunications Workers of America union. As Team 3 Senior Software Engineer Nav Bhetti puts it: “My entire career as a developer has seen my peers and I paying the ‘passion tax’ for working in an industry that we love.”
Have you heard of “friendslop”? Nicole Carpenter dives into the emerging genre of social games such as Peak, Lethal Company and Content Warning, and asks what developers can learn from their emphasis on essentially messing about with your mates.
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What to click
Question Block
Console wars … Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Photograph: Games Press
This week’s straightforward question comes from Richard B via email:
“Are the console wars over?”
This is a question the whole industry seems to be pondering at the moment. In February, Xbox chief, Phil Spencer, told XboxEra that he was no longer looking to take gamers from PlayStation or PC. Three months later, the previously exclusive title Indiana Jones and the Great Circle was released on PS5, and Gears of War: Reloaded is also bound for Sony’s platform. Meanwhile, Sony has brought Helldivers 2 to Xbox and more titles are likely to follow, if a recently spotted Sony job advert is to be believed.
Of course, cross play – the feature of online games such as Fortnite and Apex Legends which allows people to compete against each other whatever machine they’re using – started us off in this direction. Now, in an industry where smartphone gaming is dominating (figures by NewZoo indicate mobile games were worth $92.5bn to the global economy in 2024, compared to $50.3bn for console), and the idea of two games hardware titans expensively competing on proprietary tech and software exclusives seems increasingly anachronistic.
And yet … Gamers are intrinsically territorial and always have been, while brand loyalty is a key facet of fandom (and, let’s face it, capitalism) – see also Nikon v Canon, Nike v Reebok or Android v iPhone. Tech specs are only ever part of these conflicts – style, image and identity come into play too. So don’t expect Xbox and PlayStation to, in the near future, become mere apps on a multitude of faceless platforms. Several battles may be over, but the war lumbers on.
If you’ve got a question for Question Block – or anything else to say about the newsletter – hit reply or email us on pushingbuttons@theguardian.com.
Roxane Gay is a risk-taker. The author and cultural critic is unafraid to label herself a “bad feminist” — the title of her 2014 essay collection — or admit on national TV that, despite being a progressive, she owns a gun. She famously wrote about her complex relationship with food and her own body in her searing 2017 memoir, “Hunger,” a no-holds-barred exploration of how she became “super morbidly obese” and the accompanying shame she felt; at her heaviest, she weighed 577 pounds. Both books were critically acclaimed bestsellers, and established Gay as a literary lodestar.
But that’s not why the National Book Foundation is bestowing its 2025 Literarian Award on her later this year. Gay will receive the lifetime achievement honor Nov. 19 at the organization’s National Book Awards ceremony in recognition of service to the literary community through efforts including the Audacity newsletter, the Rumpus literary magazine (co-owned by Gay and her wife, Debbie Millman, since May) and advocacy for underrepresented and emerging writers alongside her own writing for the New York Times.
The annual honor, which comes with a $10,000 prize, puts Gay in the company of luminaries such as Maya Angelou, Terry Gross and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, as well as to lesser-known booksellers and independent publishers. Gay “has intentionally and artfully carved out spaces to create opportunities for writers, readers and emerging publishing professionals of all backgrounds,” says David Steinberger, chair of the National Book Foundation’s board. “We will continue to reap the benefit of her achievements for generations,” he predicts.
In a Zoom interview from her home in Southern California — where Gay lives most of the year — the outspoken critic of censorship admits that when Ruth Dickey, executive director of the National Book Foundation, contacted her about the honor she first thought: “Oh, OK, she wants me to be on another committee.” When Dickey revealed the true purpose of her call, Gay had to remind herself to savor the moment: “I tend to downplay things,” she laughs, admitting that she now realizes “how wonderful it is — these moments don’t come often.”
Among her other activities, Gay in 2021 launched an eponymous book imprint with publisher Grove Atlantic and a year later began a tenure as the Gloria Steinem-endowed chair in media, culture and feminist studies at Rutgers. “I don’t think of myself primarily as an activist,” says Gay, who is “always trying to arc towards a greater good in everything I do.” True activists, she maintains, “are putting their lives on the line every day. Writing an essay about issues I care about just doesn’t rise to that level.”
The author was born in Omaha to Haitian immigrant parents, though Gay stresses that her path “wasn’t particularly difficult in that I grew up middle class and then upper middle class.” Her father was a civil engineer and her mother a homemaker; it was a loving and supportive family. Then, at 12, her childhood ended. “I was gang raped by a boy I thought I loved and a group of his friends,” she recalls in “Hunger.” “There’s a before and an after,” she writes of the experience. “In the after, I was broken, shattered, and silent. … I became nothing.” She turned to compulsive eating “so my body could become so big it would never be broken again.” At 13 she went away to boarding school, attending the elite Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, where she “ate and ate and ate,” then Yale. But in her junior year — the start of her self-described lost years — Gay met a man in his 40s online. “For the first time in my life, I felt wanted,” she writes in her 2017 memoir. Telling no one, she abruptly dropped out of Yale and moved with him to Arizona. For several months, until her parents found her with the help of a private detective, she worked a phone sex job and hooked up with a string of strangers. With her family’s care and assistance, she made her way back to school, finishing her undergraduate degree at Vermont College, then enrolling in an MA program in creative writing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. At night, she wrote stories, “mostly about women and their hurt because it was the only way I could think of to bleed out all the hurt I was feeling.” Page by page, she became a writer.
Roxane Gay is collaborating with her longtime crush, Channing Tatum, on a “sexy” romance novel.
(David Butow / For the Times)
“You have to hustle to make it as a writer,” Gay observes when asked to reflect on the obstacles she and others in their profession face. “It’s challenging to live a creative life in a world that doesn’t value creativity and art. I had to make a lot of opportunities for myself in the way anyone does.”
It enrages her that “some people have more barriers than others, whether it means that you’re working class or poor, or a person of color, or queer, or part of the gender spectrum.” Among her missions is to take down “the unnecessary gatekeeping that continues to make it so hard for people to make a living in the arts.”
Befitting her expansive approach, the latest anthology she curated, “The Portable Feminist Reader,” includes a wide variety of writing ranging from ancient texts to work by established feminists like bell hooks and Helene Cixous, alongside contemporaries such as Jessica Valenti, Sara Ahmed and Audre Lorde. Gay is also collaborating with her longtime crush, Channing Tatum, on a romance novel that she described as “very, very sexy,” during a witty appearance on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” to promote “The Portable Feminist Reader” in late March.
“It’s very fun,” she says now of the sex-filled novel tentatively set to be published in late 2026. “Just sort of one of those pinch me-moments, like, ‘Is this really happening?’”
But how does a romance novel co-authored with a movie star sync with the serious tenor of her other work? “So much of what I write about is incredibly depressing and incredibly difficult, whether sexual violence or voting disparities or racial injustice and police brutality,” Gay says. “So I always try to balance the darkness with hopefully some light and joy.”
Gay plans to attend the National Book Awards ceremony in November, where she will be introduced by her friend and fellow writer, Jacqueline Woodson, who won a National Book Award in 2014 for the memoir “Brown Girl Dreaming” and has been a finalist three times since. Yes, Gay is an esteemed writer, thought leader and philanthropist, Woodson says, “but she is also out and funny and beyond brilliant. In all these ways, she’s showing young people that there are so many roads to becoming and living one’s true self.”
I had to know one last thing: What will Gay wear to the ceremony, to be held at the ultra-fancy Cipriani Wall Street (and livestreamed for readers everywhere). She scoffs at the question but then admits she will likely wear an outfit by Emily Meyer, a purveyor of luxe bespoke suits. “And I’ll be wearing a great pair of shoes no matter what,” she adds.
Thomas Tuchel has called up 13 different midfielders in three squads since he became England manager. It is clearly an area of the team where he has more questions than answers, with the World Cup nine months away.
For this squad ahead of World Cup qualifiers against Andorra at Villa Park and against Serbia in Belgrade, he named Elliott Anderson and Adam Wharton in the England senior squad for the first time. Tuchel saw this as an ideal opportunity to assess the pair in the international environment – both in camp, and on the pitch in the qualifiers.
“We think both of them deserve it,” Tuchel said on squad-announcement day. “They played big roles in two very successful campaigns for their clubs last season. They have full rhythm. It’s time for more competition. It’s time for a bit of fresh blood.”
However, Wharton has withdrawn because of an adductor injury, and I’ve been told he is devastated to be missing out. He knows there aren’t many more opportunities left to meet and impress the new boss before the tournament in North America next summer.
The beneficiary of Wharton’s absence is Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who hasn’t played for England for almost seven years, but has been given a late call-up. Late being the operative word – his last appearance for the Three Lions was November 2018, just after he’d featured for England in the Russia World Cup.
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Sky Sports News’ Rob Dorsett brings updates on latest England call-up Loftus-Cheek
It would be easy to dismiss Loftus-Cheek’s call up as a one-off: the former Chelsea manager ringing his old Chelsea pal to come in at short notice and help him out. But that is not how Tuchel operates.
Everything he does is methodical, and the result of some deep thinking. Loftus-Cheek’s versatility and experience means we should not disregard the possibility – however unlikely it seems at this moment – that he could make a big impression this week, and force his way into Tuchel’s thinking for when he names his World Cup squad next spring.
In truth, Loftus-Cheek has been playing in a more advanced role for AC Milan recently, acting effectively as a No 10, but Tuchel used him predominantly as a deep-lying central midfielder at Chelsea, and that is his most likely role for England.
When the pair were together at Stamford Bridge, Loftus-Cheek was asked to play in a wide variety of roles across the whole of the midfield, and everywhere in defence – except left-back.
Image: Tuchel managed Loftus-Cheek for 46 games at Chelsea
“He [Tuchel] came into Chelsea and said, ‘right wing-back?’ I said ‘no, no, no’…but I played there anyway!” Loftus-Cheek explains. “I played many positions under him.
“Since I’ve been at Milan I’ve played a lot higher, closer to the striker to get goals and help the team in the final third, but under Thomas I played a lot deeper, so I’m able to do that. With things that happen in a tournament, being versatile is kind of a good thing. I’m happy to play anywhere to fill in for the team and do my best in any position.”
We know the England boss is searching primarily for a first-choice No 6. England have found themselves bereft in that position for several seasons – in truth, ever since Kalvin Phillips fell down the international pecking order. Jordan Henderson has been used there.
Who are the 13 England midfielders Tuchel has called up?
Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid)
Jordan Henderson (Brentford)
Curtis Jones (Liverpool)
Delcan Rice (Arsenal)
Morgan Gibbs-White (Nottingham Forest)
Morgan Rogers (Aston Villa)
Cole Palmer (Chelsea)
Phil Foden (Manchester City)
Eberechi Eze (Arsenal)
Conor Gallagher (Atletico Madrid)
Elliott Anderson (Nottingham Forest)
Adam Wharton (Crystal Palace)
Ruben Loftus-Cheek (AC Milan)
But the late inclusion of Jarrel Quansah is significant here – Tuchel didn’t call up another midfielder, he called up a centre-back.
And so it is possible that Quansah has been summoned as cover for John Stones, so that the Manchester City man could be tried in a more advanced role in defensive midfield. It is something Tuchel has been considering. Let’s see how that one develops.
It’s clear that Tuchel will continue to use Declan Rice in the more advanced No 8 role he has excelled in for Arsenal, rather than asking him to drop deeper.
To do so would be to limit his influence higher up the pitch, which Tuchel knows is now one of the strongest parts of his game. And with Kobbie Mainoo – England’s starting central midfielder in the Euros final in Berlin – strangely out of favour at Manchester United, he is currently a long way off an England recall.
And so in central midfield, the engine room of the England side, a key area if England are to dominate the ball in the big games to come – there is much for Tuchel to ponder. He will be desperately hoping that this international break brings him closer to a solution.
RIGA (Latvia) – Back in 2007, most of the players from the current roster were in school, starting another semester while watching Joao Santos, Joao Betinho Gomes and others fighting for a place among the top eight teams in Europe, narrowly missing out and finishing ninth.
In 2025, the players from the current roster will get a chance to do the same. Portugal reached the Knockout Phase for the first time ever, defeating Estonia 68-65 and setting up a date with Group B winners in the Round of 16 on Saturday.
Turning Point
Emotions were running high in this one and it came down to the wire.
Portugal thought they had it with an 11-0 run late in the third and early in the fourth stanza, but Artur Konontsuk had three straight triples and a layup to give Estonia a 64-61 lead heading into the final minute.
When Portugal needed a hero, they gave the ball to Rafael Lisboa, and the point guard knocked down a massive three-pointer from way beyond the arc, before making all four free throws in the closing seconds to give Portugal a memorable win.
Estonia tried forcing overtime, but Kristian Kullamae’s halfcourt shot did not drop as time expired.
TCL Player of the Game
Rafael Lisboa took matters into his own hands in this game, coming off the bench in a heroic effort with 17 points and 5 assists.
Stats Don’t Lie
Estonia struggled to find any kind of offensive flow throughout the game, committing 17 turnovers, including one when they had the chance to take the lead in the final 10 seconds.
To make it worse, 8 of those were also Portugal’s steal, resulting in a number of easy buckets that pointed the Round of 16 ship Portugal’s way. Portugal won the points off turnovers 19-7, big difference in such a close game.
Bottom Line
Even with Neemias Queta (15 points) picking up two technical fouls in the third quarter and being forced to watch the rest of the game from the locker room, Portugal showed incredible spirit to bounce back and pick up their second win of the day.
Incredible scenes as Portugal secured a win in dramatic fashion
Incredible scenes as Portugal secured a win in dramatic fashion
Incredible scenes as Portugal secured a win in dramatic fashion
Incredible scenes as Portugal secured a win in dramatic fashion
Incredible scenes as Portugal secured a win in dramatic fashion
Incredible scenes as Portugal secured a win in dramatic fashion
Incredible scenes as Portugal secured a win in dramatic fashion
Incredible scenes as Portugal secured a win in dramatic fashion
Estonia, meanwhile, heard the ovations from the 5,010 fans in the stands, but they could not advance from Group A.
Their fans are still one of the best stories of the entire FIBA EuroBasket, and they stayed long after the final buzzer to applaud the heartbroken Estonian players.
They Said
“Unbelievable feeling! That was our goal since the beginning of the competition, to accomplish the goals is always good and we are really, really, really happy. This is the win from the character of our team. We never gave up, we gave everything to the end, and that’s why we won this game.” – Rafael Lisboa, Portugal
“I’ve seen him make that before. I trust him, I believe in him, whatever he does, I’m okay with it. I knew it was going in.” – Travante Williams, Portugal, talking about the last Lisboa shot
For more quotes, tune in to the official post-game press conference!
