Poland finally ended their goal drought on Saturday, but last-minute defensive errors saw them draw 1-1 in a friendly against fellow Euro 2012 hosts Ukraine.
Fresh from Champions League success with his French club Auxerre, on-form striker Ireneusz Jelen hounded the Ukrainian defence from the outset, with Poland s attacks belying the visitors edge in possession.
Ukraine s Serbian-born Marko Devic hit back in the 11th minute, but was denied by Polish keeper Artur Boruc.
Minutes later, Jelen failed to latch onto a cross from Jakub Blaszczykowski, but Ukrainian keeper Andrei Pyatov conceded a corner.
Polish-born former Germany Under-21 Sebastian Boenisch on his first call-up after opting for Poland last month headed wide of the goal and then returned to the…
Jack Grealish has earned a recall to the England squad under interim boss Lee Carsley, who has named four uncapped players in his first selection.
Gareth Southgate left his role as Three Lions manager in the wake of the 2-1 loss to Spain in the final of Euro 2024.
Grealish was a notable absentee from England s squad for that tournament, but the Manchester City attacker has returned to the fold for next month s Nations League games against the Republic of Ireland and Finland.
The 28-year-old is joined in the squad by four new faces, with Noni Madueke, Morgan Gibbs-White, Tino Livramento and Lille midfielder Angel Gomes all included.
Grealish s club-mate Kyle Walker has been left out, while Kieran Trippier confirmed his international retirement on Thursday.…
With the Premier League’s return now fast approaching on the horizon, many are expecting another thrilling title chase during the 2023/24 campaign.
Watching complete another domestic romp last season as they eventually managed to pinch Arsenal at the final hurdle, the likes of Liverpool and Manchester United are also looking to spring their own upset.
With just over a fortnight until England’s elite mark their return to top-flight action, we have taken a look at who has been installed as the pre-season title contenders with the bookmakers.
Manchester City
Mounting a stunning charge when returning from the World Cup’s winter break as they eventually claimed a fifth Premier League crown from the past six seasons, certainly made real history last month.
Competition: Euro 2016
Market: France to win against Switzerland
Odds:
France host Switzerland at the Grand Stade Lille Métropole for their final Euro 2016 Group A game tonight, and are favourites to pick up all three points to have sealed their place into the knockouts with a 100% record.
Les Blues are currently top of Group A with six points from their first two games. They have beaten Romania and Albania, scoring four goals in total and conceding just one. France are two points clear of tonight’s opponents, but still need to avoid defeat to ensure they don’t relinquish their spot at the summit.
As for Switzerland, La Nati are second in Group A with four points from two games, and have conceded just one goal for their troubles too. Switzerland…
Market: Bayer Leverkusen win
Odds: 1/2 @
Looking to extend on their remarkable Bundesliga purple patch, Bayer Leverkusen will make the trip to Werder Bremen on Saturday afternoon.
Starting with the hosts, while Werder Bremen might have opened up the 2023/24 campaign with their sights set on trying to mount a genuine top-half charge, the River Islanders have continued to struggle with their consistency. Last seen suffering a major collapse on home soil as they eventually entered November’s international break with a 2-2 draw against Eintracht Frankfurt, Ole Werner’s side have recorded just a single win from their previous six Bundesliga appearances. With that extended rut stemming all the way back to a 2-1 victory against Koln on September 23rd, Bremen should…
Brazil great Ronaldinho will officially retire from football this year, with plans already underway for a farewell schedule of games.
The ex-Barcelona favourite and 2002 World Cup winner said last month he expected to say goodbye to his playing days in 2018, having last appeared competitively for Fluminense in 2015.
In an interview with Globo, Ronaldinho s brother and agent Roberto Assis confirmed this would indeed be the case, with a world tour in the works.
He s quit football, it s over, Assis said. Let s now do something nice [his farewell], big as it should [be], after the 2018 World Cup, maybe in August.
We ll do some events now around Brazil, Europe and Asia. Of course, we re also arranging something with the Brazil national team as well.
…
After Germany s 5-1 win over Scotland in the Euro 2024 opener, the goals continued to fly in on a busy day of action on Saturday.
Records were broken as Spain beat Croatia 3-0 and reigning champions Italy came from behind to beat Albania 2-1.
Switzerland also dispatched Hungary 3-1 in the other Group A meeting to ensure things are finely poised going into the second round of matches.
The 16 goals scored through the opening four matches of Euro 2024 so far are the most netted at this point of a European Championships or World Cup since Euro 76 (19).
Using Opta data, we take a look at some of the other standout statistics from Saturday s action in Germany.
Hungary 1-3 Switzerland: Swiss start in style
Switzerland have only lost one of their …
Diego Llorente has become the second Spain player to test positive for COVID-19, less than one week out from their Euro 2020 opener.
The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) confirmed the news on Tuesday following the latest PCR tests within the squad.
Spain s Euros preparations were thrown into chaos when captain Sergio Busquets returned a positive coronavirus test on Sunday, forcing the entire team into isolation and Tuesday s friendly with Lithuania to be hastily re-arranged.
Leeds United defender Llorente has since left Las Rozas in a medicalised vehicle, following all health protocols, while the national team will continue with personalised training.
The remainder of the senior squad in isolation all returned negative tests but will continue to f…
Wilfried Nancy insists that Columbus Crew’s Campeones Cup final defeat in midweek will not deter his side from achieving their goals in the MLS playoffs this season.
The Crew were edged out on penalties by Mexican side Club America after Malte Amundsen’s opener was cancelled out by Victor Davila before losing 5-4 in the shootout.
But attention now turns to league action with a trip to Audi Field to face D.C. United, and head coach Nancy believes the defeat in that showpiece match will only spur on his players.
We lost the game. I told them when we won the MLS Cup, we learned from that. And we lost the Concacaf Champions Cup final in Pachuca. We also learned from that,” Nancy said.
“So, at the end of the day, the fact that we win, or we lose, we l…
Despite two good performances at Euro 2012, co-hosts Poland must win their final group game against the Czech Republic to advance from Group A.
Poland have drawn their opening two group matches of the European Championship and know that anything other than victory on Saturday against the Czechs will mean their time at the tournament is over.
Greece fought back for a 1-1 draw in Poland s first match of Euro 2012 and then showed plenty of determination to manage the same score against Russia on Tuesday.
But with the Czechs beating Greece 2-1 on Tuesday, Poland need to win to qualify for the quarter-finals.
Russia top Group A with four points, ahead of Czech Republic (three points), Poland (two) and Greece (one).
To achieve victory on Saturday, Pola…