{"id":509181,"date":"2026-06-24T18:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T18:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/509181\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T18:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T18:50:10","slug":"djed-spence-appears-to-refuse-thomas-partey-handshake-before-england-v-ghana-world-cup-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/509181\/","title":{"rendered":"Djed Spence appears to refuse Thomas Partey handshake before England v Ghana | World Cup 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Djed Spence appeared to be the only England player not to shake Thomas Partey\u2019s hand before <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/live\/2026\/jun\/23\/england-v-ghana-world-cup-2026-live\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the World Cup game against Ghana<\/a> in Boston. There had been doubts over whether Thomas Tuchel\u2019s squad would snub the former Arsenal midfielder in the pre-match ritual.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Partey is scheduled to go on trial next year at Southwark crown court after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/2025\/jul\/04\/thomas-partey-former-arsenal-footballer-charged-with-rape-and-sexual-assault\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">he was charged<\/a> with five counts of rape and one of sexual assault last year. He was later charged with two further counts of rape. Partey has denied all the charges, with his lawyer insisting that he welcomes the chance to clear his name.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Television coverage cut away at the crucial moment but footage appeared to show Spence kept his hand in the right pocket of his tracksuit top when Partey, whose contract at Villarreal expires next week, walked past. That seemed to surprise Partey, who briefly glanced back towards the Tottenham player before carrying on.<\/p>\n<p>Quick GuideHow do I sign up for sport breaking news alerts?Show<\/p>\n<p>In the Guardian app, tap the Profile settings button at the top right, then select Notifications. Turn on sport notifications.<\/p>\n<p>If you already have the Guardian app, make sure you\u2019re on the most recent version.<\/p>\n<p>If you don&#8217;t have the Guardian app, download it from the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/app\/the-guardian\/id409128287?mt=8\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">iOS App Store<\/a>\u00a0on iPhone or the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=com.guardian\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Google Play store<\/a>\u00a0on Android by searching for &#8216;The Guardian&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Partey missed Ghana\u2019s first game of the World Cup, against Panama in Toronto, after he was denied entry to Canada by immigration officials. A judge <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/2026\/jun\/17\/ghana-thomas-partey-visa-appeal-rejected-canadian-judge-world-cup-panama\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">rejected Partey\u2019s appeal<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Post-match the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/england\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">England<\/a> head coach, Thomas Tuchel, was stopped from answering a question on the issue, with a spokesperson citing \u201clegal reasons\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">But his Ghana counterpart, Carlos Queiroz, did respond. \u201cWe refuse to be part of people that try to bring dust and politics inside the game,\u201d he said. \u201cWe fight to keep the four lines sacred. It\u2019s difficult sometimes, but it happens. So we have to congratulate everybody who leaves politics outside the four lines.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Djed Spence appeared to be the only England player not to shake Thomas Partey\u2019s hand before the World&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":509182,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-509181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}