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2026 World Cup: Belfast’s Mick McDermott’s journey from Belfast to becoming Ghana’s assistant coach
McDermott’s relationship with Queiroz goes back to 2011 and has spanned three different national teams with two spells at Iran as well as one at Qatar and now Ghana, but it was a mutual connection that got the ball rolling for the two to meet.
“Carlos was considering the Iran job in 2011 and my former head coach in the USL in America was Carlos’ long-term goalkeeper coach. I was already in the Middle East, working in Abu Dhabi for a club team and the conversations started. I met Carlos in Doha, we talked and myself and two other staff members joined Carlos and accepted the Iran job and that was the start of it,” he explained.
While he did not accompany Queiroz to Colombia or Egypt, instead taking over at the “mighty Glentoran” where he won an Irish Cup, McDermott did not hesitate in following him to Qatar and now to Ghana after a spell with League of Ireland First Division side Cobh Ramblers.
“Here we are again, another brilliant project with a brilliant football nation. It’s an opportunity I don’t think anyone can say no to, to work with the Ghana football team and Carlos again, it’s been brilliant.”
While many managers and their coaching staff have a few months to plan everything from travel to squad selection for the World Cup, Queiroz and McDermott did not have that luxury.
Appointed in April, they did not get to work with their full 26-man squad until the end of May, with just one full training session before a 1-1 friendly draw against Wales on 2 June and a flight to the US the next day.
“The logistics and travel were already in place, we tweaked them a little,” he said. “A big group of our players didn’t arrive until 30 May and we didn’t have a full training session until 31 May.
“We had two days, played Wales and flew the next day to the US. We had to submit our 26-man list before we even played Wales but the players have been brilliant to work with.”
Their last-minute preparations do not seem to have hampered things on the pitch, with Ghana beating Panama 1-0 in their opening Group L game in Toronto, courtesy of a 95th-minute winner from Caleb Yirenkyi.
McDermott has been impressed with how the squad has gelled off the pitch and their musical talents.
“When they are together, as you can see from social media, there is a bond and it’s new to me. I’ve been around the Middle East, Asia, Ireland and US and have had groups with good atmospheres but this, it’s hard to express it. I stand sometimes and just enjoy it,” he said.
“It was the night before we played Panama in the hotel and they have a tradition where the day before their first game after the training session they have a prayer and a song.
“The song went from the pitch and carried on to the 30-minute bus to the hotel and carried on to the hotel and once they got going they got going, it went on for an hour and a half. When you see the positive energy it gives them it’s nice. My foot started tapping!”
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Commonwealth Games 2026: Aziz Abdul, grandson of Idi Amin, disqualified for headbutt in Glasgow
Before the super-heavyweight bout Abdul told the BBC he wanted to become the new ‘King of Scotland’ – in reference to Amin declaring himself that name in 1976.
After taking power in a coup in 1971, Amin ran a brutal regime during which an estimated half a million people were killed. He was also known as the Butcher of Uganda.
Abdul, who never met his grandfather, was chasing Uganda’s first Commonwealth boxing medal since Auckland in 1990 – something which would have been guaranteed had he beaten Thomas.
Instead, he was given warnings in the previous two rounds and was trailing on all of the judges’ scorecards.
“All I can say about this is the decision is not right, I am not happy,” he said.
“He elbowed me. He caught me with the elbow.
“It [the head movement] was not intentional. I was trying to come back.
“How can I headbutt someone? I would not.
“He was the person they wanted to win. He was the winner before.
“I knew if I did not get knockout I could not win the fight.”
BBC Sport has contacted Commonwealth Games organisers and World Boxing for a response to Abdul’s comments.
Thomas, who is now guaranteed at least a bronze medal, said it was “not the way” he wanted to win.
“I can’t change what happened today but I can control how I box on Friday,” he said.
Amin, himself a boxer, harboured a fascination with Scotland after serving in the King’s African Rifles in his 20s.
At the height of the regime, he was fond of wearing a kilt and playing the bagpipes – and even declared himself “King of Scotland” in 1976.
Some years later, those predilections even spawned an Oscar-winning film, The Last King of Scotland, starring Forest Whitaker and James McAvoy.
In a previous interview, Abdul said he was “inspired” by Amin, although it was not entirely clear whether he was talking about his boxing feats or not.
Speaking to the BBC, he refused to answer when asked if he was proud to be the dictator’s grandson, but he did address the question of how he feels when he is linked to someone with such a sinister reputation.
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Commonwealth Games 2026: Scotland claim eight medals in five chaotic hours as Games hit halfway
After a relatively quiet day, the first medal was claimed by the men’s 3×3 basketball team just before 17:00 BST.
A couple of hours later, three more followed in the space of five minutes.
The women’s wheelchair 3×3 basketball team took silver; Evans added her second gold – and third medal – of the Games in the 200m breaststroke; then Woods claimed gold in the women’s T54 1500m.
Shaw then joined in with bronze in the women’s S9 100m freestyle before MacInnes was edged into second place in the women’s 200m butterfly to take her second individual silver of the meet.
Around the same time, MacKenzie was leaping to long jump bronze, before the haul was completed in the pool when Evans and MacInnes teamed up with Katie Shanahan and Evie Davis to take silver in the women’s 4x100m medley.
Three more further medals are guaranteed in boxing – with fighters in semi-final action on Friday – while further prospects remain in athletics, bowls, cycling, judo and weightlifting.
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Women’s Open: Georgia Hall returns to venue of 2018 win five months after giving birth
The ultimate achievement would be to now emulate her old Solheim Cup skipper Catriona Matthew, who won the Women’s Open here at Lytham in 2009, just 11 weeks after giving birth to daughter Sophie.
The Scot plays down this remarkable achievement, saying it was easier than it would have been after the arrival of a first child.
“I spoke to her and I said, ‘I really don’t know how you did it,’” said Hall.
“You couldn’t dream of doing that. I couldn’t. She said, ‘Oh, it’s a lot easier with the second.’”
Hall asked for advice from Matthew, who told the Dorset star to manage expectations.
“Just as in expecting a little bit less, but not in a bad way,” Hall told BBC Sport.
“If you hit a bad shot, you’ve been out of it for a year. You’ve given birth to a human.
“So it will take some time, basically be patient. And that’s what I’m going to have in my mind this week.”
Hall will marry Conor’s father Paul Dunne, who led the 2015 Open as an amateur and beat Rory McIlroy to the 2017 British Masters title. The baby boy could hardly have more impeccable golfing genes.
And the new mum has already made sure of a family photo on the 18th green this week. Hall said: “It’ll be my new screensaver.”
Eight years ago the photos were of her clutching one of golf’s most prestigious trophies, but that is not her abiding memory.
“I think just holing so many putts,” she said.
“That’s why you play golf. It wasn’t even like holding the trophy at the end. It was the feeling you get from an accomplishment of holing great putts when it mattered.
“Just so many of them, I remember, and when I was playing practice rounds the last few days, I would remember, oh yeah, I hit it there and that pin position was there. So it is nice to relive.”
It is probably asking too much this week for Hall to reprise that 2018 victory when she finished 17-under-par to win by two shots. This year the remodelled links is baked out, providing a fast, firm and fearsome challenge.
“Definitely it’s one of the hardest,” said Hall. “This golf course is so hard and they made changes that make it harder. So I’m expecting scoring to be a bit tricky.
“But I’m improving every month and that’s just my only goal. I believe that my game’s in decent shape and if I can get in the right mentality and hole some decent putts, I think I’ll be OK.”
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CK Updates12 hours agoCommonwealth Games 2026: Scotland claim eight medals in five chaotic hours as Games hit halfway
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CK Updates18 hours agoWomen’s Open: Georgia Hall returns to venue of 2018 win five months after giving birth
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CK Updates6 hours agoCommonwealth Games 2026: Aziz Abdul, grandson of Idi Amin, disqualified for headbutt in Glasgow

