Chatter rippled quickly across the Wembley press room, a buzz of excitement quickly following. It was the first thing most people looking at hot-off-the-press team sheets mentioned.
Foden s starting.
Since describing the playmaker as a gift in the aftermath of his maiden senior outing for Manchester City against Manchester United in the 2017 International Champions Cup, Pep Guardiola persistently had his use of Foden questioned.
The teenager wasn t playing enough, then he wasn t starting enough, then he wasn t starting enough meaningful games. Guardiola maintained he had a plan and it absolutely did not include Foden going out on loan.
But there he was in the first XI for a major cup final. He responded by turning in a man-of-the-match display as City…
Leonel Vangioni s superb goal sent Monterrey on their way to a 3-2 Club World Cup quarter-final victory over Al Sadd that sealed a last-four tie against Liverpool.
Monterrey, third in this tournament back in 2012, will face the European champions on Wednesday after a thrilling victory at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium.
Vangioni scored with a stunning strike from 30 yards midway through the first half, before Rogelio Funes Mori made it seven goals in his past five matches with an effort just before the break.
Baghdad Bounedjah scored for the second straight match, but any hopes of an Al Sadd comeback were effectively ended when Carlos Rodriguez struck with 13 minutes to go.
There was still time for Abdelkarim Hassan to score a second for Al Sadd, who had labou…
Carlo Ancelotti criticised the state of Cacereno s pitch after his Real Madrid side s hard-fought 1-0 Copa del Rey victory on Tuesday, saying you can t play football on surfaces like that.
Madrid s fourth-tier opponents put up a stubborn performance against the European and LaLiga champions, but a superb 69th-minute strike from Rodrygo was enough to see Ancelotti s side into the round of 16.
The poor standard of the surface at Estadio Principe Felipe made it difficult for Madrid to get going as they made hard work of avoiding a massive upset.
Ancelotti was frustrated with the quality of the turf, telling reporters: You can t play football. For me it s not football, it s another sport.
It s nice because small teams can fight and compete with bigger teams.…
Memphis Depay underlined his importance to the Netherlands with both goals as Frank de Boer s side twice fought back to secure a 2-2 draw against shorthanded Scotland.
Kevin Nisbet s first international goal appeared to have Scotland – without seven players following a positive coronavirus case within the squad – on course for a first victory over the Dutch since November 2003, only for Depay to curl in a free-kick and level the game.
The influential Netherlands forward had earlier cancelled out Jack Hendry s long-range opener as two nations preparing for the upcoming Euro 2020 tournament could not be separated after 90 minutes in Faro.
FT. Our first friendly ends in a draw.
— OnsOranje (@OnsOranje)
Hendry had broken the deadlock in sp…
According to a recent report from Sport Bild, German giants Borussia Dortmund have put together a four-man shortlist of managers that could potentially replace Lucien Favre as the club’s new manager. Mauricio Pochettino, who recently left Tottenham Hotspur, is amongst the four names alongside Ralf Rangnick, Niko Kovac and Roger Schmidt.
The options are out there for Dortmund, and it’s all about making an appointment that would work within the core of their squad. They have specific needs and desires in regards to the way in which they play, and playing to those strengths is what they need to do in order to live up to that.
Jurgen Klopp was able to do some memorable things during his time over in Germany, and some would say it’s still an unfinished project. In …
Luciano Spalletti says the late Diego Maradona is playing a big part in irrepressible Napoli s quest to end their long wait to win the Serie A title.
Napoli have not won the Scudetto since Maradona inspired them to be crowned champions back in 1990, but there appears to be no stopping them this season.
A 3-0 win over Cremonese on Sunday put the runaway leaders 16 points clear of Inter, who have a game in hand, and the Partenopei also remain in the hunt for Champions League glory.
Napoli have reeled off six Serie A wins in a row since suffering their only loss to Inter.
Head coach Spalletti, who is on course to win a first Serie A title at the age of 64, revealed they are trying to go about their business in the same manner as club legend Maradona, who die…
West Ham United are interested in signing Nikola Vlasic from CSKA Moscow in the summer transfer window, according to . It has been reported that the Premier League club have now opened talks to bring the 23-year-old former Everton attacking midfielder to London Stadium in the summer transfer window.
Russian Premier League club CSKA are open to selling the youngster, but they want as much as £25 million as transfer fee for the Croatia international. The 23-year-old was on the books of Everton from 2017 until 2019 when he made the switch to CSKA on a permanent contract after a loan spell at the Moscow outfit.
Vlasic has established himself as a key player at CSKA and has developed and progressed a lot since his days at Everton. The Croatian playmaker scored and provided…
Diogo Jota s arrival at Liverpool gives the Premier League champions some added depth as they turn an eye to the future.
The forward s move from Wolves for a reported £45million was confirmed on Saturday as Jurgen Klopp continued to strengthen his squad.
But with one of the world s best attacks in Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino already in place, just where does 23-year-old Jota fit?
With thanks to Opta data, we take a look at Jota, Liverpool s front three and what the future could hold.
A back-up upgrade … for now
There is no doubt Jota will need to bide his time behind Salah, Mane and Firmino.
Salah and Mane scored 37 goals between them in the Premier League last season, with Jota s return at least more comp…
Rangers have confirmed the appointment of Philippe Clement as their new manager.
The 49-year-old arrives at Ibrox following the departure of Michael Beale at the start of the month.
He inherits a Rangers side who are currently joint-second in the cinch Premiership, seven points behind league leaders and defending champions Celtic.
Welcome to , is today delighted to confirm the appointment of Philippe Clement as the club’s new men’s first-team manager.
— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC)
Clement told the Rangers website: “I am honoured to have been appointed as the new manager of Rangers and I’d like to thank the board for giving me this opportunity.
“I am hugely excited by this chance to achieve success at one o…
Prediction: Egypt win
It s time to dive into the chaos of another international break and today, we ll be taking a look at the qualification phase for the Africa Cup of Nations. We re less than a year away from the 2023 (technically 2024) edition of the event, which is set to go down in Côte d Ivoire. On Friday, Group D will come back to life as Egypt and Malawi attempt to take a big step towards AFCON qualification.
Egypt
They failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in heartbreaking circumstances and they ve finished as runners-up in two of the last three AFCON tournaments. Still, this is one of the most successful African nations of all time we re talking about, and they have a true talisman in Mohamed Salah at their disposal. Before they can get excited, though, t…