Saturday, June 30, 2018

World Cup 2018: Ronaldo shows off his skills in Portugal training before Uruguay game

BBC Sport - Football
World Cup 2018: Ronaldo shows off his skills in Portugal training before Uruguay game
World Cup 2018: Ronaldo shows off his skills in Portugal training before Uruguay game
Cristiano Ronaldo shows off his skills in training by bending a ball into the net from behind the corner flag, as Portugal prepare for their last-16 tie with Uruguay.

Friday, June 29, 2018

World Cup 2018: looking ahead to the last 16 plus England reaction – live!

Football | The Guardian
World Cup 2018: looking ahead to the last 16 plus England reaction – live!
Live updates as the World Cup enters the knockout stageTen things we learned from the final round of group games
Email or tweet Will your thoughts

12.58pm BST

Something to do at lunch

As suggested to me by my close personal friend Jihong Lee, Professor of Economics at Seoul National University, here is my team of the group stage. What is yours? Post in the comments or email me

12.40pm BST

I see that the England ‘debate’ is still going strong – in the comments, my inbox and on Twitter.

My tuppence worth: England didn’t play to lose that game last night, but they made the result an order of second importance to resting players. Most coaches having one their first two group games would opt to do the same. Our opponents did the same. The reason for doing it was in order to give us the best chance of winning our first knockout game. I don’t think anyone in the England camp has said anything about this tie other than that it would be a real challenge, whoever we played. England, as Gareth Southgate keeps saying, have not won a knockout round game in 12 years. There is no doubt that Colombia will post a real challenge for England, and that we are not favourites to win. Creating a narrative that, if we do lose, it would be because we chucked away momentum is great because it could never be disproved. It’s also pretty arrogant. And yet it seems like the argument against resting is that it was arrogant!

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Wednesday, June 27, 2018

England vs. Belgium: Top spot on the line, but do Southgate, Martinez want it?

ESPN FC News
England vs. Belgium: Top spot on the line, but do Southgate, Martinez want it?
Paul Mariner reveals his grades for England's starting XI vs. Panama and explains why they can't let up despite having already advanced. Free-Kick: Race for Golden Boot heats up as Kane overtakes Ronaldo and Lukaku Group G's winners will be decided on Thursday, but considering the benefits of finishing second, it promises to be an intriguing clash in Kaliningrad. A potentially smoother draw as well as a longer rest could be on offer for the runners-up, but you can't put a price on momentum ahead of the knockout rounds.  Liam Twomey (England) and Sven Claes (Belgium) take a look at the match as the final games in the group stage come to a close. (function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(d.getElementById(id))return;js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src='https://embed.playbuzz.com/sdk.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}(document,'script','playbuzz-sdk')); What's at stake?  Liam Twomey: Top spot...

Monday, June 25, 2018

World Cup 2018: Groups A and B get set for finales, Argentina news – live updates!

Football | The Guardian
World Cup 2018: Groups A and B get set for finales, Argentina news – live updates!
Live updates from Russia before final games in Groups A and BTen talking points from the second round of matchesAny comments? You can email or tweet @DanielHarris

12.53pm BST

I wonder what will happen to Lingard next season, though. If Mourinho is desperate to include Matic every game, with Fred and Pogba also around, there’s no midfield space, so he might need to play from the right. He’s capable of it, but a decent right-back would make it much easier.

12.46pm BST

Jesseh Lingard, then. There’s still plenty of work to do - he has a tendency to disappear from games, and needs more consistency in his finishing of easy chances. But he makes the players around him play better, has excellent pace and movement, can do special things, and isn’t scared. Alex Ferguson, Louis van Gaal, Rio Ferdinand, Paul Scholes, Jose Mourhino and Gareth Southgate all rate him - it might not matter so much that your da/boyfriend/you don’t.

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Sunday, June 24, 2018

Sterling to start for England and reaction to Germany's win: World Cup 2018 – as it happened

Football | The Guardian
Sterling to start for England and reaction to Germany's win: World Cup 2018 – as it happened
Follow England v Panama – live!The Englishman behind Panama’s World Cup dreamWorld Cup Daily: Germany leave it late, Mexico wait
Email John your thoughts or tweet @johnbrewin_

12.03pm BST

Those confirmed teams, and the launch of Rob Smyth’s England v Panama live coverage, with the match kicking off at 1pm BST concludes this blog for the day. Thanks for joining us. We’ll be back tomorrow.

Related: World Cup 2018: England v Panama – live!

12.00pm BST

England team confirmed: Pickford, Walker, Stones, Maguire, Lingard, Henderson, Trippier, Young, Loftus-Cheek, Sterling, Kane.

Panama meanwhile: Penedo, Murillo, Roman Torres, Escobar, Davis, Barcenas, Cooper, Gomez, Godoy, Jose Luis Rodriguez, Perez.

Continue reading...

Thursday, June 21, 2018

Soccer-From school kids to warriors, Germany must get serious - Khedira

ESPN FC News
Soccer-From school kids to warriors, Germany must get serious - Khedira
Germany Sweden Fox 3:00 PM UTC Match 27 Game Details Live football odds with bet365. Bet Now » GameCast Lineups and Stats SOCHI, Russia, June 21 (Reuters) - Germany will need to transform from a schoolboy team to a fighting unit if they are to have any chance of progressing in the World Cup, midfielder Sami Khedira said on Thursday.The reigning world champions suffered a shock opening Group F defeat by Mexico, leaving their hopes of making the knockout stage in the balance.They must now beat the Swedes, who have three points, on Saturday as any other result could potentially see them eliminated. Germany play South Korea...

Wednesday, June 20, 2018

World Cup 2018: Cristiano Ronaldo heads Portugal in front against Morocco

BBC Sport - Football
World Cup 2018: Cristiano Ronaldo heads Portugal in front against Morocco
World Cup 2018: Cristiano Ronaldo heads Portugal in front against Morocco
Cristiano Ronaldo heads Portugal ahead against Morocco in their second Group B match, making him the all-time leading European goalscorer in international football.

Monday, June 18, 2018

Tadic says Man Utd, Real Madrid target Milinkovic-Savic 'Serbia's future'

Tribal Football - Football News, Soccer News, Transfers & Rumours
Tadic says Man Utd, Real Madrid target Milinkovic-Savic 'Serbia's future'
Tadic says Man Utd, Real Madrid target Milinkovic-Savic 'Serbia's future'

Southampton midfielder Dusan Tadic has hailed the quality of Serbia teammate Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.

The Lazio midfielder is being linked with Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus.

Read more on Tribal Football

Sunday, June 17, 2018

Costa Rica v Serbia: World Cup 2018 – live!

Football | The Guardian
Costa Rica v Serbia: World Cup 2018 – live!
Group E updates from the 1pm BST match in SamaraWorld Cup Daily: the podders review day threeEmail Daniel or tweet @DanielHarris

12.14pm BST

Costa Rica (a devastating 5-4-1): Navas; Calvo, Acosta, Gonzalez, Duarte, Gamboa; Bryan, Guzman, Borges, Venegas; Urena.

Serbia (a third quarter-heavy 4-2-3-1): Stojkovic; Ivanovic, Milenkovic, Tosic, Kolarov; Matic, Milivojevic; Tadic, Sergej, Ljajic; Mitrovic.

11.47am BST

Everyone deserves to be spoilt once in a quadrennial period, and as such, I have no compunction whatsoever in saying I want an Oompah-Loompah Daddy it’s about bloody time we were served a decent game. Because, brilliant though Spain-Portugal was, it was all of 36 hours ago. I mean.

And we’ve decent reason to hope that today’s first attempt might just be the thing. Costa Rica have a proud tradition of attacking football, they need the points, and they might not want to invite Serbia onto them. That’s because Serbia scored 20 times in 10 qualifiers and, particularly in midfield, have players with skill, imagination and wit.

Continue reading...

Saturday, June 16, 2018

Argentina v Iceland: World Cup 2018 – live!

Football | The Guardian
Argentina v Iceland: World Cup 2018 – live!
Latest updates from the 2pm BST Group D kick-offFrance 2-1 Australia: Pogba rescues stuttering sideFeel free to drop your thoughts to rob.smyth@theguardian.com

1.04pm BST

Argentina Caballero; Salvio, Otamendi, Rojo, Tagliafico; Biglia, Mascherano; Meza, Messi, Di Maria; Aguero.

Iceland Halldorsson, Saevarsson, R. Sigurdsson, Arnason, Magnusson, Gudmundsson, Bjarnason, G. Sigurdsson, Gunnarsson, Hallfredsson, Finnbogason.

1.02pm BST

This happened a minute ago at the precise moment Phil Neville started talking about VAR

BBC World Cup coverage has peaked. pic.twitter.com/Fl08hPlX5U

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Friday, June 15, 2018

Salah on bench for Egypt's World Cup opener against Uruguay

BBC Sport - Football
Salah on bench for Egypt's World Cup opener against Uruguay
Salah on bench for Egypt's World Cup opener against Uruguay
Egypt forward Mohamed Salah is on the bench for Friday's World Cup opener against Uruguay in Yekaterinburg.

Thursday, June 14, 2018

Premier League fixtures: Arsenal face Man City, Chelsea in first two games

ESPN FC News
Premier League fixtures: Arsenal face Man City, Chelsea in first two games
New Arsenal coach Unai Emery faces a tough start to life at the Emirates after the Premier League fixture list handed him games against Manchester

Tuesday, June 12, 2018

Gudjohnsen doubts Abramovich will sell Chelsea

Tribal Football - Football News, Soccer News, Transfers & Rumours
Gudjohnsen doubts Abramovich will sell Chelsea
Gudjohnsen doubts Abramovich will sell Chelsea

Former Chelsea star Eidur Gudjohnsen doubts Roman Abramovich will sell the club.

There have been murmurs the Russian billionaire is looking to sell the club after he shelved plans to build a new stadium.

Read more on Tribal Football

Monday, June 11, 2018

Referee Atkinson begins 1,700-mike bike ride to Russia

BBC Sport - Football
Referee Atkinson begins 1,700-mike bike ride to Russia
Referee Atkinson begins 1,700-mike bike ride to Russia
Martin Atkinson will ensure there is at least one British referee at the World Cup - although he is having to cycle 1,700 miles to be there.

Sunday, June 10, 2018

Will Arzani start against France?

ESPN FC News
Will Arzani start against France?
Australia's 2-1 win over Hungary will be a big confidence-boost ahead of the World Cup. The Socceroos' performance also raised a number of fascinating questions in the lead-up to the clash with France on June 16. Rob Brooks »

Saturday, June 9, 2018

World Cup 2018: six unheralded talents to watch in Russia | Nick Ames

Football | The Guardian
World Cup 2018: six unheralded talents to watch in Russia | Nick Ames

From the Iran winger who could upset Spain and Portugal to the man who has the power to make Peru smile again, we pick six lesser-known names to watch

The whipped free-kick that flew past Petr Cech during Arsenal’s 4-1 victory over CSKA Moscow in April proved little more than a footnote, but its provider looks destined for headlines. What little positivity Russians are able to muster about their team’s prospects tends to centre on the drive and vision that Golovin, who only turned 22 in May, brings to the midfield. He is that rarity among the host nation’s fairly staid current vintage: a genuine game-changer who makes those around him perform better. Premier League clubs are watching closely and if Golovin, who was born in the Siberian town of Kaltan and primarily played futsal growing up, can inspire Russia to some semblance of success he may be able to take his pick.

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Friday, June 8, 2018

Palace sign goalkeeper Guaita from Getafe

BBC Sport - Football
Palace sign goalkeeper Guaita from Getafe
Palace sign goalkeeper Guaita from Getafe
Crystal Palace complete the free transfer of Spanish goalkeeper Vicente Guaita from La Liga side Getafe.

Thursday, June 7, 2018

Comitis not concerned by McCarthy link to St Mirren

ESPN FC News
Comitis not concerned by McCarthy link to St Mirren
Cape Town City chairman John Comitis has taken a philosophical view to losing coach Benni McCarthy amid reports that newly-promoted Scottish Premier League side St Mirren have short-listed him for their managerial vacancy. McCarthy has been linked to the post along with the likes of former Netherlands international Patrick Kluivert, ex-Wigan manager Gary Caldwell and former Hibernian coach Alan Stubbs.   McCarthy has just completed the first year of a three-year contract at City, and also...

Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Arsenal’s Unai Emery raids PSG to sign teenage prospect Yacine Adli

Football | The Guardian
Arsenal’s Unai Emery raids PSG to sign teenage prospect Yacine Adli
• New manager takes midfielder from his former club
• Adli, 17, made first-team debut on final day of season

Arsenal have signed the 17-year-old midfield prospect Yacine Adli from Paris St-Germain. They have secured him to an initial three-year contract, although it contains options, after he rejected the offer of professional terms at PSG – much to the French club’s dismay.

Unai Emery, the new Arsenal manager, has helped to get the deal over the line. Emery left PSG at the end of this past season and one of his final acts was to give Adli his first-team debut. He brought him on as an 83rd-minute substitute in the last game against Caen. Emery, together with Arsenal’s head of recruitment, Sven Mislintat, has convinced Adli that his development will be best served at Arsenal.

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Tuesday, June 5, 2018

World Cup 2018: Fifa files complaint against ticket website Viagogo

BBC Sport - Football
World Cup 2018: Fifa files complaint against ticket website Viagogo
World Cup 2018: Fifa files complaint against ticket website Viagogo
The body accuses the Viagogo website of deception and says tickets sold through it may be cancelled.

Monday, June 4, 2018

Transfer Talk LIVE: Bayern Munich tracking Jordan Pickford at World Cup

ESPN FC News
Transfer Talk LIVE: Bayern Munich tracking Jordan Pickford at World Cup
The transfer window is open, and Transfer Talk has the latest rumours making the rounds. Follow live with our daily blog

Sunday, June 3, 2018

Manchester United's players must show flair and spirit - Ryan Giggs

ESPN FC News
Manchester United's players must show flair and spirit - Ryan Giggs
In an exclusive interview with ESPN FC, Ryan Giggs recounts his Man United memories and reveals what the current squad can learn from his success. Ryan Giggs has told ESPN FC that Manchester United's flair players to do more to excite the Old Trafford crowd. Manager Jose Mourinho guided United to second in the Premier League, their best finish since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013, but his team were at times criticised for their approach. Giggs was a key part of United's attacking style during a career that saw him win 13 Premier League titles, and the 44-year-old wants to see similar flair from players such as Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial...

Saturday, June 2, 2018

LIVE Transfer Talk: Barcelona players plead for Thiago homecoming

ESPN FC News
LIVE Transfer Talk: Barcelona players plead for Thiago homecoming
The transfer window is open, and Transfer Talk has the latest rumours making the rounds. Follow live with our daily blog throughout the

Friday, June 1, 2018

​New Derby boss Lampard admits 'long, long way off' Chelsea job

Tribal Football - Football News, Soccer News, Transfers & Rumours
​New Derby boss Lampard admits 'long, long way off' Chelsea job
​New Derby boss Lampard admits 'long, long way off' Chelsea job

Frank Lampard says his completely focused on his first managerial job at Derby County.

The Chelsea icon doesn't see his new role as a stepping stone for a future job as the Blues' manager however, and is adamant he's completely dedicated to success with the Rams.

Read more on Tribal Football