Blog (Page 42)

England have confirmed that Phil Foden underwent surgery on his appendix on Sunday morning. The Manchester City star was expected to play some part for the Three Lions against Ukraine this weekend, but he has had to withdraw from the squad following a sudden bout of appendicitis. In a statement, England said: “Phil Foden has been ruled out of this evening’s UEFA EURO 2024 qualifier with Ukraine following surgery to remove his appendix this morning. “England manager Gareth Southgate has not called up a replacement, meaning he has 20 players to choose from after the earlier withdrawal of Reece James and Luke Shaw’s suspension.” ReportsRead More →

Chelsea winger Mykhailo Mudryk has boldly claimed the Blues rule London. The Ukraine international completed a sensational switch to Stamford Bridge during the January transfer window for a fee that could reach €100m. Despite heading to Chelsea, Mudryk had long been linked with a move to Arsenal. The 22-year-old made clear his desire to join the Gunners, while he continually dropped hints on social media suggesting his heart lied at the Emirates Stadium. But Arsenal’s offer to Shakhtar Donetsk was blown out of the water by Chelsea’s. Mudryk has played seven times for the Blues since his winter transfer, but is yet to score andRead More →

Gareth Southgate has recognised England face competition from the United States to secure the international allegiance of Folarin Balogun. The Arsenal striker has spent the 2022/23 season on loan at Reims and has only been outscored in Ligue 1 by Kylian Mbappe and Jonathan David, registering 17 goals in 27 league games. Balogun was born in New York but moved to England when he was just two years old, making him eligible to play for the USMNT. Through his parents, he could also choose to represent Nigeria. After injury ruled him out of England’s Under-21 games this international window, Balogun jetted off for a breakRead More →

Full of confidence after their demolition of the Netherlands on Friday, France will look to build a winning streak when they travel to face the Republic of Ireland on Monday. Les Bleus, fresh off losing in the World Cup final, dismantled the Dutch to the tune of four unanswered goals, with new captain Kylian Mbappe kicking off his reign with two strikes of his own. Ireland’s preparations for this game came earlier in the international break with a 3-2 friendly victory over Latvia, with exciting young striker Evan Ferguson bagging his first goal for his country. Here’s all you need to know about this one.Read More →

England manager Gareth Southgate has insisted he is fine with Marcus Rashford jetting off to the United States this international window having been ruled out of the Three Lions’ games with injury. Rashford – one of the Premier League’s standout players this season – was ruled out of contention for England’s Euro 2024 qualifiers this month with an ankle problem. Though it’s largely accepted that injured players head off on holiday while recovering, Rashford drew criticism from some corners after making a trip to New York this week. But Southgate – who admitted in recent days he was frustrated that the Manchester United forward isRead More →

The Euro 2024 qualification campaign is up and running, with the second round of matches getting underway this weekend. Sunday’s games feature big games group favourites and some cases of David vs Goliath that only international qualifiers can provide. Here’s all you need to know about them. England picked up a big win against Italy / Anadolu Agency/GettyImages England made a perfect start to Euro 2024 qualifying, beating Italy 2-1 in Naples courtesy of goals from Declan Rice and Harry Kane. Ukraine look likely to be their biggest threat asides from the Italians, and will be hoping to kick their qualification campaign off with theirRead More →

Euro 2024 hosts Germany kicked off their preparations for the tournament with a routine 2-0 victory over Peru in a friendly on Saturday. Hansi Flick went strong with his lineup in search of an early lead and they got exactly that as Niclas Fullkrug powered home from close range after 12 minutes, having seen an excellent header kept out just moments earlier. Peru stopper Pedro Gallesse was busy all evening and had to be sharp with a couple of excellent saves to keep Florian Wirtz and Timo Werner out, but Fullkrug proved to be too much to handle once again soon after. Marius Wolf’s lowRead More →

A late double from debutant Joselu handed Spain a 3-0 victory over Norway which was by no means as comfortable as the scoreline would suggest. Dani Olmo put Spain ahead early on but Norway enjoyed some excellent moments after that and could have easily secured at least a point from the game before Joselu netted twice in quick succession to put the game to bed. Predictably, Spain stamped their authority on the game almost immediately, and the first goal of the Luis de la Fuente era came 12 minutes in as Alejandro Balde’s low strike across the box was expertly flicked home by Olmo. MartinRead More →

Leah Galton made her milestone 100th Manchester United appearance in the club’s 4-0 win against West Ham at Old Trafford on Women’s Football Weekend. Galton, who was one of the club’s original recruits when a first-team squad was reformed in 2018, is the fourth United player to get to the century mark after Ella Toone, Katie Zelem and Millie Turner, the latter reaching her 100th appearance in last month’s trip to Tottenham. Galton has been a hugely important player for United since the early days in the Women’s Championship. She had fallen out of love with football after a brief spell at Bayern Munich butRead More →

Anthony Elanga has confessed to feeling frustrated towards his reduced role at Manchester United this season. The 20-year-old winger was a regular starter towards the end of last season but has tumbled down the pecking order under Erik ten Hag, starting just five Premier League games and struggling for minutes in cup competitions as well. There were plenty of rumours suggesting Elanga could leave United in January, with the likes of Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund both touted as suitors, but a move ultimately failed to materialise and the Sweden international has remained on United’s bench. “It is frustrating,” Elanga told Afton Bladet. “You want toRead More →