Ivan

Presidential candidate Ivan Cepeda accepted the victory of his opponent Abelardo de la Espriella.

Bogota, Colombia – Colombian presidential candidate Ivan Cepeda officially conceded defeat to hard-right populist Abelardo de la Espriella this morning following a tight run-off race.

While Cepeda had recognised the legitimacy of the preliminary results on Sunday, which gave de la Espriella a less than 1 percent lead, he said he would wait for the final, legally binding vote count, known as the scrutiny, before accepting defeat.

“I have decided to accept the result of this process, which indicates that Abelardo de la Espriella is the new president of the Republic,” said Cepeda in a livestreamed address on Wednesday.

While the voting verification process has not been fully completed, the National Registry, which oversees the elections, said yesterday that Sunday’s preliminary vote count was “99.997 percent” accurate after revision by judges at the municipal level. The vote must now be verified at the departmental and national levels.

There had been doubts among the Cepeda camp about the legitimacy of the vote process, with President Gustavo Petro – who was closely involved in the leftist candidate’s campaign – openly alleging fraud and foreign interference before and after the election.

“Electoral manipulation has been proven; I cannot say for certain that what has been uncovered guarantees an electoral victory [for Cepeda], but it is a fact,” wrote Petro on Monday.

For months, the president has warned about vulnerabilities in vote-counting software and clashed with the National Registry.

The president’s mistrust is largely based on the 2022 legislative election, in which his Historic Pact coalition recouped roughly half a million votes following the scrutinised vote count.

The recent memory of that vote led Petro and many Cepedistas (supporters of Cepeda) to believe that the roughly 250,000-vote margin between Cepeda and de la Espriella on Sunday could be overturned.

But the National Registry recorded high accuracy in both the preliminary count for March’s legislative election and the first round of the presidential race on May 31.

Petro also said that Washington’s interference in the election undermined the final result because President Donald Trump had endorsed Abelardo, breaking with tradition.

“President Donald Trump’s direct intervention nullifies the elections in Colombia,” wrote Petro in an X post yesterday.

But Cepeda’s concession appears to put distance between him and the president, who founded the Historic Pact movement.

“This suggests some sort of schism between Petro and Cepeda. While Petro’s term is sunsetting, Cepeda will likely become the leader of the opposition,” said Sergio Guzman, director of political risk consultancy Colombia Risk Analysis.

Cepeda, who is now expected to lead the Historic Pact party in the Senate, struck a conciliatory tone in his speech this morning: “I am doing this as an act of democratic responsibility, to contribute to harmony, peace and dialogue among Colombians.”

Ivan Toney and Morgan Rogers were among the scorers as England recorded a comprehensive 5-1 victory over Major League Soccer side Sporting Kansas City in a practice match on Thursday.

The game, played behind closed doors at England’s Swope Soccer Village training facility, featured the players not used in Wednesday’s World Cup 4-2 win over Croatia and the squad members who did not play significant minutes in Dallas.

Toney scored a hat-trick while Aston Villa duo Morgan Rogers and Ollie Watkins were also on target as England ran out comfortable winners.

Jordan Henderson, Eberechi Eze, Marc Guehi, Dan Burn, Kobbie Mainoo, Djed Spence and Jarell Quansah were among the players also involved in the training game.

The game was broken up into two halves of around 25 minutes each.

BBC Sport revealed on Tuesday that the Football Association had arranged the friendly to get minutes into certain players’ legs.

Having arrived back from Dallas at around 10.30pm local time on Wednesday, England players were afforded most of Thursday off.

Players were allowed to see family and friends immediately after the Group L game against Croatia, and loved ones were given access into the camp on Thursday to spend time with the team before they start preparations for next Tuesday’s game against Ghana in Boston (21:00 BST).

Captain Harry Kane and manager Thomas Tuchel were among a group of players and staff that attended a baseball game between Kansas City Royals and St Louis Cardinals later on Thursday.

This season, Toney finished second in the domestic scoring charts with 32 goals in 32 games – he evens boasts more assists and a better shot conversion rate than Bayern Munich forward Kane.

Just what those goals are worth outside Europe’s top five leagues is yet to be seen, but on numbers alone his record stands up to scrutiny against any English striker around.

Given he is also one of only three centre-forwards selected by Tuchel, with Ollie Watkins also in the squad, it does not feel like a position that is overmanned given that 26 squad places were up for grabs.

Previous Three Lions squads at major tournaments have at times included four or five personnel for the exact same position.

The argument against his inclusion would ask why England need another forward aside from Kane and Watkins, given modern-day formational switches and a dearth of top-quality options for that position?

Detractors would also argue Toney’s place should be used to accomodate another of those multi-talented number 10s who have been left behind.

However, former Chelsea and Paris St-Germain boss Tuchel could make a viable case for leaving behind Palmer and Foden, who have not hit previous heights in 2025-26.

Instead he has gone for a player brimming with confidence and one that is accustomed to dealing with the intense temperatures that England will encounter this summer at the tournament in the US, Mexico and Canada.

“We could see that he still collects the numbers. I think he has very special skills that could help us, the situations, scenarios when we are chasing a result,” added Tuchel.

“I think he can be a very valuable addition to Harry Kane, he can be present in the box when we are pushing for a goal.

“He can take attention off other strikers, he has a natural presence within the box, he is a natural finisher, he can help us with set-pieces – he is very strong in there. Very good in using his body and not to forget, he is a world class penalty taker. He ticks some boxes that we wanted to be ticked.”

The Three Lions, who reached the semi-finals in Russia in 2018 and the quarter-finals in Qatar four years ago, face Croatia in their opening Group L fixture on Wednesday, 17 June (21:00 BST).