Former United States women’s national team player Carli Lloyd labelled USA’s performance against Portugal “lacklustre” and “uninspiring” as they almost crashed out of the World Cup in the group stages. The defending champions needed to avoid defeat but were inches away from elimination when Portugal substitute Ana Capeta struck the post in stoppage time. The USA held on to scrape a 0-0 draw, enough to secure progress to the last-16 while knocking Portugal out, but the four-time winners missed out on top spot in Group E with Lloyd highly critical of the display from her former side. "I made some comments when I retired in 2021. I felt a shift within this team and federation, the culture and mentality, she said speaking on FOX Soccer. “The importance and meaning from winning has changed, the importance now comes from what comes from winning. “It started to shift post-2020. There are a lot of off-the-field things that are happening but you never want to take anything for granted. You put on that jersey and you want to give it everything you have for the people before you and the people that are going to come after you. “I’m just not seeing that passion. I’m just seeing a very lacklustre, uninspiring, taking it for granted [mentality] where winning and training and doing all that you can to be the best possible individual player is not happening.” After the game, the players were pictured dancing and smiling as well as taking pictures with fans, something that drew further criticism from Lloyd. She said: “There’s a difference between being respectful to the fans and saying hello to your families but to be dancing and smiling...the player of the match was that post, they are lucky to not be going home right now.” Having won their opening game 3-0 against Vietnam, the US have now drawn back-to-back games to finish second in their group for just the second time in the history of the competition. The draws also mark the first time in Women’s World Cup history that the US team has failed to win at least two of their group-stage fixtures. “It’s tough to be second, we wanted to go through first,” Alex Morgan told ITV after the game. “This team gave everything, we just didn’t put the ball in the back of the net. “In the last few minutes, we had to hold it down and get the result to move on. It’s not the result we wanted but we move forward. It’s just not going in the back of the net. “We have so many corners and we have so many opportunities, we get the crosses. It’s just unlucky. It’s about following through with shots and making the right decisions in front of goal.” The US will now likely face Sweeden in the first round of the knockout stages. Despite the draw, they remain undefeated in their last 18 games at the World Cup, their longest unbeaten streak in the competition. Read More USA’s narrow escape spells the end of Women’s World Cup dominance Women’s World Cup TV schedule: How to watch every match today England vs China LIVE: Women’s World Cup team news and build-up Women’s World Cup golden boot: Who’s leading the top-scorer standings? England vs China: Kick-off time and how to watch on TV

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Scientists have urged people not to speculate about why Iberian orcas have been ramming into vessels, warning that demonising them could put the already endangered animal at risk. Orcas coming into contact with vessels n the Mediterranean are most likely being playful and are not “attacking” the boats as previously speculated, after more than 250 boats have been damaged by the species since 2020. Experts have warned the idea that the orcas intend to do harm could lead to the creatures being harmed by humans, after footage showing a sailor opening fire on a pod earlier this month. One theory proposed by marine scientists is that the orcas’ behaviour is a ‘cultural fad’ and will likely go away as attention over the animals decreases. There are 15 orcas believed to be responsible for the recent rammings, with damage varying from teeth marks to the sinking of five boats entirely. In an open letter, the scientists said: “We urge the media and public to avoid projecting narratives onto these animals. In the absence of further evidence, people should not assume they understand the animals’ motivations. “We are concerned that factual errors related to these interactions are being repeated in the media … we believe this narrative inappropriately projects human motivations onto these whales and we are concerned that perpetuating it will lead to punitive responses by mariners or managers.” Scientists remain baffled over the behaviour of the orcas off the Spanish and Portuguese coasts, but agree they are likely being playful and socialising with each other instead of acting aggressively, the letter says. “The whales have shown a wide range of behaviours during the interactions, many of them consistent with playful social behaviour,” the letter continues. “There is no evidence of an identifiable ‘leader’ of these interactions. Despite the damage to vessels, we believe characterising the interactions as ‘attacks’ is misleading. “ Orcas (and other dolphin species) elsewhere have been known to develop cultural ‘fads’ (novel behaviour that briefly persists and expands within a population—an analogy might be fashion trends in people), such as carrying dead fish on their heads. While these vessel interactions may be a similar phenomenon, they are persisting longer than typical fad behaviour, expanding within the population and escalating in impact. Nevertheless, it is possible the behaviour, as previous fads have, will disappear as suddenly as it appeared. Of the fifteen orcas believed to be responsible for the rammings, 11 are calves and four are adult females. Iberian orcas are considered critically endangered, with possibly less than 40 in their population. Earlier in June a sailor told how his yacht was thrown around like a “rag doll” by orcas near Gibraltar, as the mammals tore off its rudders. “I noticed a fin then noticed a light bump and then a very big bump and looked round and there was a very large whale pushing along the back and trying to bite the rudder,” he told BBC Radio 4. “Then we lost the second rudder so we had no mechanism of steering the boat and the whales were in charge of the boat and they pushed us around like a rag doll,” he added. Read More Shark attacks swimmer in shallows of popular Spanish holiday beach Fisherman airlifted to hospital after shark bite off coast of Portugal Lolita the orca dies after spending more than half a century in captivity Russia says 10 bodies and flight recorders recovered from Prigozhin jet crash site Tourist sprays football graffiti on 460-year-old Italian landmark Belarus president says he warned Wagner chief to watch out for threats – Ukraine live

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