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‘Great feeling’: Palmer hails Maresca after Chelsea glory but Trump booed at final | Club World Cup 2025

Cole Palmer said that Enzo Maresca is building something special after Chelsea produced a stunning performance to beat Paris Saint-Germain 3-0 in the first final of Fifa’s expanded Club World Cup.
Palmer was in astonishing form at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, scoring two brilliant goals and setting up João Pedro to make it 3-0 by half‑time. Chelsea were underdogs going into their clash with the European champions but they were set up brilliantly by Maresca, whose young side will go into next season with incredible belief after being crowned world champions.
“He is building something special, something important,” Palmer said of Chelsea’s head coach. “Everyone has talked a lot about us all season but I feel like we are going in the right direction.”
Chelsea have spent more than £1bn on signings since Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital bought the club three years ago. It has been a slow process but there are growing signs that their youth-driven recruitment is working. In Maresca’s first season in charge Chelsea have qualified for the Champions League, won the Conference League and dominated PSG in a major final.
“It’s a great feeling,” Palmer said. “Even better because everyone doubted us before the game, we knew that. To put a fight on like we did, it’s good. The gaffer put a great gameplan out. He knew where the space was going to be. He tried to free me up as much as possible and I just had to repay him and score some goals.”
Palmer features alongside Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior on billboards in New York. “I’ve seen the billboards in Times Square and outside Madison Square Garden,” he said. “It’s a nice feeling to be alongside those type of players.”
Maresca was delighted with Palmer. “These are the games where we expect Cole to appear,” he said. “Big games and big moments and once again he showed how good he is.”
Chelsea, who have made around £90m from their time in the US, will have three weeks off before returning to training in the lead-up to the new season. They open their Premier League campaign by hosting Crystal Palace on 17 August. “Of course I am very excited [about the future],” Maresca said. “But I’m more excited that we have three weeks off.”
Maresca hailed his young side for carrying out the plan to perfection. “I have no words for the players,” the Italian said. “They all deserve this and it’s a good moment. We won the game in the first 10 minutes. We set the tempo and we were very good at pressing them. The conditions made it hard to keep going but the boys did well.”
There was praise for Palmer, who shone in a right-sided role, but Maresca focused on the whole team. “ Today we found a position for him where there was more space to attack,” he said. “Obviously Cole played really well but the effort from all the players was fantastic.”
Maresca did not downplay Chelsea’s achievement in becoming world champions. “I think it will become as important as the Champions League and we value it as much as winning the Champions League,” he said.
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President Trump was jeered by the crowd on more than one occasion when he came on to the pitch for the trophy ceremony. Trump, who appeared next to Boehly and Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino, ignored the boos and remained front and centre with Chelsea’s players as they lifted the trophy.
“I knew he was going to be here but I didn’t know he was going to be on the stand when we lifted the trophy,” Palmer said. “I was a bit confused.”
There was a major security operation outside the ground before the match. Secret Service officials were present in the surrounding areas because of Trump attending the game and bag checks were conducted by Transport Security Administration officials.
PSG were stunned by Chelsea and lost their cool towards the end. João Neves was sent off for pulling Marc Cucurella’s hair and Luis Enrique, the Ligue 1 side’s manager, may face disciplinary action after appearing to push João Pedro in the face.
Luis Enrique defended himself by saying he was trying to separate players after a brawl broke out at full time. “I have no problem expressing my feeling at the end of the game in a high level of pressure,” he said. “It’s very stressful for all of us. It is going to be impossible to avoid. Everybody was involved. It was not what was best and the end result of the pressure of the match.
“I have seen Maresca. I saw he had pushed others and we had to separate all the players and I do not know where that pressure came from. But this is a situation we must all avoid. My intention is that I wanted to separate the footballers so the situation didn’t become worse.”
Maresca said: “After the final whistle I approached Luis to talk to him and I saw that something was going on but I don’t know what happened really.”
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Charlie Kirk shooting: new video of suspect released by FBI amid urgent appeal for help from the public | Charlie Kirk shooting

US officials have issued an urgent appeal for help from the public as they continue to search for the shooter of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, releasing new videos and photos from the scene of the attack in Utah.
More than 24 hours after Kirk was shot while speaking in front of thousands of people at a Utah university, the state’s governor, appearing alongside FBI director Kash Patel and other officials, said “we need as much help as we can possibly get.”
“We cannot do our job without the public’s help,” Utah’s governor, Spencer Cox said, adding that the FBI had received more than 7,000 leads and tips so far.
The newly released video showed a person wearing a hat, sunglasses and a long sleeve black shirt running across a roof, climbing off the edge of the building and dropping to the ground. The suspect is believed to have fled into the local neighbourhood after firing the one shot and has not yet been identified.
Investigators said they had obtained clues, including a palm print, a shoe impression and a high-powered hunting rifle found in a wooded area along the path the shooter fled. But they were yet to name a suspect or cite a motive in the killing.
The direct appeals for public support at the night-time news conference, appeared to signal law enforcement’s continued struggles to identify the shooter and pinpoint the person’s whereabouts. Authorities didn’t take questions, and Patel did not speak at the news conference. The FBI is offering up to $100,000 for information leading to the identification and arrest of the person.
The death of Kirk – a close ally of President Donald Trump – has drawn renewed attention to the escalating threat of political violence in the United States which, in the last several years, has cut across the ideological spectrum. The assassination drew bipartisan condemnation from political leaders.
In appealing for information, Cox said on Thursday, “there is a tremendous amount of disinformation” online.
“Our adversaries want violence,” Cox said. “We have bots from Russia, China, all over the world that are trying to instil disinformation and encourage violence. I would encourage you to ignore those, to turn off those streams.”
Cox also pledged to find the killer and pursue the death penalty.
Kirk’s casket arrived in his home state of Arizona aboard Air Force Two, accompanied by vice-president JD Vance. Vance’s wife, Usha, stepped off the plane with Kirk’s widow, Erika.
Vance helped carry Kirk’s casket with a group of uniformed service members as it was loaded on to the plane. Kirk’s conservative youth organisation, Turning Point USA, was based in Phoenix.
“So much of the success we’ve had in this administration traces directly to Charlie’s ability to organize and convene,” Vance wrote on social media, referencing Kirk’s role in getting Donald Trump elected last year. “He didn’t just help us win in 2024, he helped us staff the entire government.”
Kirk was a provocateur and a divisive figure who is credited with helping bring young people, especially men, into the US president’s Make America Great Again (Maga) movement.
In a statement on Thursday, TPUSA wrote: “All of us have lost a leader, a mentor, and a friend. Above all, our hearts are with Erika and their two children. Charlie was the ideal husband and the perfect father. Above all else, we ask you to pray for the Kirks after the incomprehensible loss they have suffered.”
Kirk’s killing drew bipartisan condemnation of the rise in political violence in the US.
Trump, who said he would award the Medal of Freedom posthumously to Kirk, spoke to Kirk’s wife on Thursday.
He said that authorities were making “big progress” towards tracking down the suspect and that in regards to a motive, he has an “indication … but we’ll let you know about that later”.
Just hours after Kirk had been declared dead after being rushed to a nearby hospital on Wednesday, Trump delivered a video message from the Oval Office, vowing to track down the suspect.
“My administration will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence, including the organizations that fund it and support it,” Trump said.
One day after his inflammatory address, blaming “the radical left” for Kirk’s death, Trump appeared to strike a more conciliatory tone, agreeing with a suggestion from a reporter that his supporters should not respond with violence.
The White House quickly posted the exchange on social media, perhaps hoping to tamp down anger that has already spilled into violence, with the beating of a critic of Kirk in Boise, Idaho, during a vigil on Wednesday night.
Don Bacon, a Republican from Nebraska who is retiring after this term, told NBC News that he wished Trump would unite the country after the shooting, “but he’s a populist, and populists dwell on anger”.
“I have to remind people, we had Democrats killed in Minnesota too, right?” Bacon added, in reference to the murder of Minnesota’s former house speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in June by a gunman with a hitlist of 45 people, all Democrats.
With Reuters and the Associated Press
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Packers defeat Commanders, 27-18, on Thursday Night Football

Packers dispatch Commanders 27-18, improve to 2-0
Parsons blew through a Josh Conerly Jr. block and Jeremy McNichols chip to flush Daniels from the pocket and into a 1-yard run. Washington responded with an 11-yard pass to McLaurin on third-and-9 and a Zach Ertz score off a 20-yard touchdown pass to make it 17-10 Packers with 13:45 remaining.
Green Bay opened with an 11-yard pass to Wicks on an out after coming across in motion. A holding penalty on Marshon Lattimore moved Green Bay across midfield.
On third-and-6, Kraft fought through illegal contact by Commanders safety Will Harris to pick up eight yards to the Washington 37 on a pass from Love.
Green Bay motioned Williams to the backfield on second-and-8 and he took a direct snap and ran the ball 16 yards to the Washington 19. Matthew Golden gained nine yards on a sweep on the next play.
On first-and-goal, Washington bit hard on the play fake to Jacobs and Kraft came free for an 8-yard touchdown to make it 24-10 Packers with 8:57 remaining.
Green Bay’s defense got a four-and-out on its next stand with Quay Walker hitting Daniels on third-and-4 to force and incompletion and Nixon getting his fourth breakup of the evening to give the offense the ball back at the Washington 41.
The Packers picked up two yards on a Jacobs run before McManus made a 56-yard field goal to push Green Bay’s lead to 27-10 with 6:42 remaining. That field goal ties Mason Crosby for longest make in a regular-season game by a Packers player.
Washington moved the ball down the field while Green Bay was playing prevent on its next series, with Nixon registering his fifth breakup.
The Commanders reached the end zone on a 10-yard slant to Samuel for a touchdown with 2:53 left. Daniels converted the two-point conversion with a pass to Luke McCaffrey, cutting the Packers’ lead to 27-18.
Wicks recovered the onside kick at the Green Bay 48. Love was sacked for a 13-yard loss on second down and Jacobs gained 10 back on third-and-21 as the game reached the two-minute warning.
Washington took over at its 20 with 1:47 remaining and no timeouts. The Commanders gained 13 yards before turning the ball over on downs and the Packers kneeled out the win.
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Packers deliver statement win over Commanders behind Jordan Love, Micah Parsons, Tucker Kraft

If the Packers used a Week 1 domination of the Lions as a major statement, they backed it up and then some in Week 2. The Packers (2-0) defeated the Commanders (1-1), 27-18, fueled by an explosive, efficient offense and a tremendous defense that seemed to move at a completely different speed than Washington’s offense.
Love finished with 292 yards passing and a pair of touchdowns, with six completions for 124 yards and a score going to Kraft. Micah Parsons officially recorded a half-sack, but his impact was much larger than that, and Green Bay sacked Jayden Daniels four times while smothering would-be pass catchers.
After a slow start — Jayden Reed’s shoulder injury being the main development — Green Bay’s offense got rolling on its second drive, fueled by a 57-yard completion from Love to Kraft after Kraft broke free down the middle. Love connected with Romeo Doubs for a 5-yard touchdown shortly thereafter.
Washington did not manage a single first down in the first quarter — a first since Daniels’ arrival — and Green Bay embarked on another long drive early in the second quarter, highlighted by a remarkable, twisting 37-yard catch from Malik Heath.
Josh Jacobs powered in from two yards out to make it 13-0. Commanders defensive lineman Deatrich Wise Jr. got carted off after trying to block the extra point (which was successful), adding to Washington’s woes. He was later ruled out with a quad injury.
Washington finally got on the board with a 51-yard Matt Gay field goal, but Gay missed a 58-yarder that could have cut the deficit further just before the half. But Green Bay’s Brandon McManus then doinked a 48-yard try as time expired.
Down 17-3 after a McManus field goal, Washington finally found the end zone via a 20-yard Zach Ertz catch-and-run. Green Bay answered, though, with another touchdown drive, this one capped by Love’s 8-yard touchdown toss to Kraft.
McManus nailed a 56-yard field goal shortly thereafter to extend the lead to three scores. Daniels found Deebo Samuel Sr. for a touchdown late, but it proved to be only window dressing — and a costly one at that: Austin Ekeler suffered a non-contact Achilles injury and was carted off the field.
Washington will hope to use the mini-bye to recuperate before hosting the Raiders in Week 3. Green Bay will hope to carry momentum over to a Week 3 visit to the Browns.
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