Football Blog (Page 221)

[ad_1] Southampton are furious that they are set to lose their head of recruitment Joe Shields to Chelsea, just three months after he joined the club, 90min understands. Shields is understood to have agreed to make the move to west London, despite only joining Southampton in July, although terms between the clubs are not finalised. Shields will have to serve a period of gardening leave, meaning he will not be able to start work at Chelsea until around Easter next year. The Saints had worked hard on a deal to lure Shields to St Mary’s this summer to take charge of their recruitment and heRead More →

[ad_1] From Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – You know how the old saying goes – ‘it’s a game of two halves’. Well, Tottenham and Eintracht Frankfurt didn’t quite get the fractions right on Wednesday. It was more like a game of nine tenths plus one other tenth. Spurs ran out 3-2 winners to move to the top of Champions League Group D with two games remaining. It was a much-needed victory and they were good value for it. Having fallen behind to an early Daichi Kamada goal – largely in part to Eric Dier’s clumsiness – Antonio Conte’s men responded perfectly. Tottenham pulled their Bundesliga visitorsRead More →

[ad_1] Brandon Vazquez has been a staple for FC Cincinnati throughout the 2022 Major League Soccer campaign, defying odds by leading the team to fifth on the Eastern Conference table. The forward managed 18 goals and eight assists alone, propelling Cincinnati to the playoffs while attracting international attention. But Vazquez, who is eligible to play for the United States and Mexico, has yet to receive a senior team call-up by either country. Despite pleas by supporters, Gregg Berhalter did not include the goalscorer amid a number 9 crisis and Vazquez finally explained why. “I talked to Gregg right before that [September] camp,” Vazquez told MLSRead More →

[ad_1] Erik ten Hag has spoken to the media ahead of Manchester United’s Europa League game at home to Omonia. The Red Devils have taken six points from a possible nine so far in the group stage and have not won in their last three European outings at Old Trafford. But United head into this one having won their last two matches across all competitions, including in the reverse fixture last Thursday. Here’s what Ten Hag said at his press conference. “I want to support him as good as possible. We have a certain demand of him and what we expect of him in certainRead More →

[ad_1] Manchester United return to WSL action after the international break on Sunday when they host Brighton at Leigh Sports Village for only a second home game of the new season. United have started the 2022/23 league campaign in fine form with back-to-back wins over Reading and West Ham, scoring six and conceding none. They hit a slight snag in the Continental Cup before the international break when they were held to a 1-1 draw and then lost a penalty shootout, but Brighton are an opponent that Marc Skinner’s side beat home and away last season. Skinner spoke to the media on Wednesday on aRead More →

[ad_1] The U.S. women’s national team fell 2-0 to Spain on Tuesday in Pamplona, as goals from Laia Codina and Esther González took down the reigning World Cup champions.  The American side hoped to come back stronger, after losing to England 1-0 in Wembley just days before. But instead, the second friendly marked the first back-to-back defeats for the USWNT since 2017 when they lost to England and France in the group stage of the SheBelieves Cup.  Though their five-year-and-seven-month streak came to an end, head coach Vlatko Andonovski insists the team will use the experience to learn.  “We have a winning mentality, and whenRead More →

[ad_1] The World Cup sees the best national teams around the globe compete to win football’s most prestigious prize. The qualification roads are often long and hard and the best teams can struggle to make it to the big time – just ask Italy. Here’s the history behind the amount of teams that play at World Cups. At present, 32 teams qualify for the World Cup. Hosts qualify automatically, but winners are no longer afforded that luxury – France, the winners in Russia in 2018, were required to go through normal qualifying. The amount of teams present at the World Cup has steadily grown sinceRead More →

[ad_1] Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was not best pleased when told of former midfielder Dietmar Hamann’s opinion of the club ‘lacking a spark’. The Reds slipped to a 3-2 defeat to surprise Premier League leaders Arsenal on Sunday to continue their indifferent run of form, and they now sit 14 points off the pace after just eight games. Klopp, who ruled Liverpool out of the title race after the loss, has seen his side ravaged by injuries – Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joel Matip and Luis Diaz the latest casualties – and has frequently faced questions about the manner of their defending. The German, speaking before theRead More →

[ad_1] As one of the biggest football nations on the planet, Italy are synonymous with the World Cup. As four-time winners, they have the joint-second best record in the competition’s history – tied with Germany and behind Brazil who have five trophies. However, there will be a sad lack of Azzurri blue once the action kicks off in November. Here’s why Italy won’t be present at Qatar. Related To make a long story short, they failed to qualify. To make a long story, well, long, Italy were drawn alongside Switzerland, Northern Ireland, Bulgaria and Lithuania in Group C of UEFA’s World Cup qualification. They endedRead More →

[ad_1] Gabriel Jesus was not present in Arsenal’s training session on Wednesday ahead of their Europa League clash with Bodo/Glimt. The 25-year-old summer signing was caught by a flailing arm from Liverpool full-back Kostas Tsimikas in the Gunners’ 3-2 win at the weekend and appeared to be in some discomfort before leaving the pitch a few minutes later. After the game, manager Mikel Arteta admitted he was not too concerned by the severity of Jesus’ injury. “I don’t know, I haven’t been with the doctor yet, I’m sure they are checking him, he seemed ok after the game, I don’t know actually what happened butRead More →