PoinBerita – Kabar Nasional & Internasional Terkini – 12 Juni 2026 | Portugal have received a major boost ahead of their final World Cup warm-up against Nigeria after their Paris Saint-Germain quartet of Nuno Mendes, Vitinha, João Neves, and Gonçalo Ramos linked up with the national squad on Saturday.
The quartet had been absent from Portugal’s opening training sessions of the international window, having been involved in PSG’s Champions League final triumph over Arsenal the previous Saturday. Mendes, Vitinha and Neves all started the final, while Ramos came off the bench late in the second half.
Portuguese newspaper A Bola confirmed that Friday’s training session was the last conducted without the PSG contingent, with all four joining the full squad on Saturday. The quartet missed Portugal’s friendly against Chile at the Estádio Nacional do Jamor on Saturday but are expected to be available for the Nigeria match on Wednesday, fitness permitting.
In other news, Arsenal has made the shock decision to dismiss their head of sports medicine, Dr Zafar Iqbal, just days after losing the Champions League final. The highly respected practitioner was removed from his post with immediate effect following a gruelling season that culminated in a historic Premier League title.
Chief executive Richard Garlick informed the 51-year-old of his immediate departure during a sudden meeting last Monday. According to reports from The Telegraph, the decision caught internal staff completely off guard after the club recently commissioned Spanish physiotherapist Joaquin Acedo to review their problematic injury record.
Despite navigating a massive 63-game campaign to lift their first league title in 22 years, the hierarchy chose to act swiftly following the conclusion of their European campaign. The formal process behind the decision remains unclear, leaving colleagues shocked by the sudden exit of the Football Association Medical Society chair.
The medical department operated under immense scrutiny due to several fitness crises during the championship run-in. Multiple internal viewpoints have emerged to debate the factors behind Arsenal losing vital figures like Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, Jurrien Timber, and Kai Havertz for extended periods of their title-winning campaign.
Staff have scrutinised training intensities, match selection, squad rotation, and the quality of physical care to understand why certain players buckled under the immense physical demands. Mikel Arteta’s uncompromising, high-intensity training philosophy ultimately delivered silverware, though unpredictable impact setbacks, such as Mikel Merino breaking his foot in January before returning on the final day, heavily complicated the department’s campaign.
Furthermore, a mysterious ‘cold blob’ in the ocean has puzzled scientists. A new study says it’s an ominous sign. The ‘cold blob’ appears in a data visualization showing average temperatures in 2015, relative to the 1951-80 average. New research links the cooling to a weakening system of Atlantic Ocean currents that researchers warn could reach a tipping point.
The shutdown of these currents would bring catastrophic changes to weather and climate across multiple continents. The North Atlantic Ocean, south of Greenland and Iceland, is doing something very strange. While the rest of the ocean heats up, it’s been getting colder. The swath of ocean — dubbed the ‘cold blob’ or ‘warming hole’ — has cooled by nearly 1 degree Celsius (1.8 Fahrenheit) since 1900.
Scientists have long debated whether this anomaly is driven by heat loss from the ocean surface due to changes to winds and clouds, or whether it’s a signal of the weakening of a critical system of ocean currents, which transports heat. The new research concludes it’s the latter, and the finding points to a worrying future.