France coach Didier Deschamps saluted Antoine Griezmann for playing a starring role in Les Bleus run to the World Cup semi-finals after coming through challenging times .
Deschamps side take on Morocco in the second semi on Wednesday, with France aiming to become the first European nation to reach successive World Cup finals since Italy in 1938.
While Kylian Mbappe and Olivier Giroud have grabbed the headlines, Griezmann has been similarly key to the holders progress despite being used in a new position, essentially in midfield.
The Atletico Madrid player has created more chances (17) and recorded more expected assists (2.9) than anyone else at the tournament, while his two assists against England in the quarter-finals took him to three for the campaign – no on…
Brazil coach Tite declared it s time to be champions as the Selecao eye World Cup success in Qatar.
Tite s side coasted through South American World Cup qualifying, going unbeaten as they booked a place at this year s showpiece tournament.
Brazil have not won the World Cup since 2002, their fifth triumph overall, and will first have to contend with Serbia on November 24 before clashes against Switzerland and Cameroon follow in Group G.
Argentina are another force in the battle for the trophy, with the Copa America champions undefeated in 33 games – the longest intact unbeaten run in international football.
Holders France will also prove stern competition, while England, Belgium, Spain and Germany are among the favourites for success.
But…
City fell to a 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa as United bounced back from the lifeless loss to Newcastle by beating Chelsea 2-1 thanks to McTominay’s brace, moving them within three points of their fourth-placed neighbours.
When that was pointed out to the matchwinner, along with the bunched-up standings, McTominay said: “We barely pay attention to that in terms of we just concentrate on how we’re playing and if the style of football that we’re playing is how the manager wants.
“In games like tonight it was and against Newcastle it wasn’t, so we have to find that balance between us where we try and do that every single week.
“I felt like that was a game where we had to come out and show to the fans that we have full focus on this game, we want to play we…
Hakan Calhanoglu relished Inter s Supercoppa Italiana win over Milan more than most, saying karma came back to bite the Rossoneri.
The former Milan player, who switched allegiance to Inter on a free transfer in 2021, faced mockery from a number of former team-mates when Stefano Pioli s team won last season s Serie A title.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic was among those who invited scorn to be poured during Milan s celebrations, but Inter s 3-0 victory on Wednesday not only gave them the first silverware of the Italian season, it also gave Calhanoglu a chance to hit back.
It was a very important victory, even more so for me. I m very happy. We were hungry, we showed what we are worth on the pitch, Turkish midfielder Calhanoglu said.
I always prefer to shut up, it wa…
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Martinique and the USA are set to face each other in the second round of Group B at the CONCACAF Gold Cup at the Children s Mercy Park in Kansas, United States, on Thursday evening (a couple of hours past midnight in Europe). The other match of the round will see Canada take on Haiti.
Martinique
Martinique ended their involvement in the previous two editions of the Gold Cup in third place in their group, finishing behind the USA and Panama in 2017, and behind Mexico and Canada in 2019.
Since then, they managed to qualify for the CONCACAF Nations League and having faced Honduras and Trinidad and Tobago (twice each), they finished second in Group C.
This tournament didn t start very well for Mario Bocaly s team, despite…
According to multiple relevant sources, Liverpool are now very close to completing the signing of goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili from Valencia. As defined in the terms of the agreement, the Georgia international would spend the 2024/25 season on loan at Valencia, before actually arriving to Liverpool next summer.
Liverpool s determination to get this transfer done is perhaps surprising, given that they already have a top-class goalkeeper in Alisson Becker, who will remain the No.1 choice between the posts for now. However, it shows that they re planning for the future as the Brazilian turns 32 in October (Mamardashvili is 23), and his future beyond next summer appears to be uncertain at the moment.
The Merseysiders will pay a fee of €35 million as the guaranteed part…
According to a recent report from Calciomercato, Antonio Conte is open to returning to Serie A at some point in the future.
It’s well known that Conte is a bit of a legend in the realm of Italian football. In addition to his early work, he’s best known for his time at Juventus, Inter Milan and the Italy national team.
Of course, he’s also had a lot of experience in England, most notably with Chelsea. In the present day, however, he is the manager of Tottenham Hotspur.
How long he stays there for will continue to be a hot topic in the weeks that lie ahead, given that Conte has refused to comment on the idea that he’ll depart in the summer.
Despite his success, Conte has never stayed at a job for longer than three years with his last three jobs las…
Bayern Munich head coach Julian Nagelsmann believed his side absolutely deserved the win as they beat Inter 2-0 at the San Siro to kick off their Champions League campaign.
A brilliant first-half goal from Leroy Sane set the German champions on their way to victory, before a Danilo D Ambrosio own goal as he clumsily tried to block a Sane shot killed the game off.
The Bundesliga side saw out the remaining minutes to earn a clean sheet and all three points to make it 11 games unbeaten against Italian teams in the Champions League, as they look for their first European title since the 2019-20 season.
And Nagelsmann was delighted with his team s performance, telling reporters: I m happy with the performance today. We had a good intensity throughout the 90 minutes.…
Zlatan Ibrahimovic says Pep Guardiola is the most immature coach he has worked with over his distinguished football career.
Guardiola s Manchester City came out on top in Sunday s Premier League derby clash with Ibrahimovic s United at Old Trafford, with the pair having had a stormy relationship during their time at Barcelona.
Ibrahimovic moved to Camp Nou from Inter in 2009, but spent a single season under Guardiola s leadership before returning to Serie A, joining AC Milan.
Although Guardiola and Ibrahimovic won the 2009-10 LaLiga title together, the former Sweden striker was unimpressed with the way the Catalan handled him and star man Lionel Messi.
I d scored a lot of goals in my first six months and we won two Super Cups, Ibrahimovic told Sky Italia…
Prediction: Spain win
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As fans prepare for the second and final week of the international break, it feels like there s even more of an appetite than ever before to see domestic football get back underway once again. Alas, while that could well be the case, it still seems like there are some big games left before we get back into the nitty gritty of the Premier League and beyond with Spain vs England being a particularly exciting contest. It s a game that we saw take place a little over a month ago, and given how that went, we re quite excited to see the sequel.
Spain
Since Luis Enrique began his new role as manager of the national team, Spain have been on fire. Their somewhat disappointing World Cup campaign is already behind them…