Blog (Page 214)

[ad_1] Arsenal manager Jonas Eidevall is excited to lead the Gunners into the Women’s Champions League group stage as he believes it will provide a good yardstick of their progress. After just finishing as runners-up to Chelsea in last season’s WSL, Arsenal navigated Round 2 of qualifying against Dutch champions Ajax to set up a group with Juventus, Zurich and holders Lyon. Speaking ahead of their trip to Lyon on Wednesday evening, Eidevall said he is excited to learn of whatever outcome as it will give him an idea of where Arsenal are against Europe’s elite teams. “It’s a very good reality check to seeRead More →

[ad_1] Queens Park Rangers manager Michael Beale has agreed terms to take charge at Wolverhampton Wanderers, 90min understands. Wolves have been looking at a whole host of candidates following the departure of Bruno Lage. Former Sevilla boss Julen Lopetegui rejected the position, after which Wolves held talks with a number of different options. Among their list of possible targets was Beale and sources have now confirmed to 90min that the 42-year-old, who only joined QPR in the summer, has agreed to make the move to Molineux. Wolves were thoroughly impressed by Beale during recent talks with the boss and there is confidence that a dealRead More →

[ad_1] Manchester United right-back Ona Batlle is making daily progress under concussion protocol following a clash of heads in the closing stages of last weekend’s WSL win over Brighton. Having already used all of their five permitted substitutions, United were able to make use of a legal sixth change in stoppage time under concussion rules to replace Batlle with Maria Thorisdottir. Ahead of Sunday’s away trip to Leicester, Batlle remains under supervision of the club doctor but no risks will be taken by trying to speed up any recovery. The Spaniard, recently dubbed one of the best right-backs in the world by manager Marc SkinnerRead More →

[ad_1] Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira isn’t worried that talisman Wilfried Zaha has yet to renew his contract. The 29-year-old is out of contract at Selhurst Park next summer, and has regularly been linked with moves to clubs playing in European competition. Zaha scored the winner against Wolves in Palace’s 2-1 win over Wolves on Tuesday night – his fifth goal of the Premier League season – and showed all of his qualities in another dazzling display. Chelsea were linked with a move for Zaha in the summer, while he’s previously been linked with the likes of Borussia Dortmund and Tottenham Hotspur. But Vieira isn’tRead More →

[ad_1] Who else is getting incredibly excited? The days are getting colder, which means we must be getting close to a World Cup, right? However strange a winter World Cup is, it doesn’t matter; we don’t have at all long to go until the feverish footballing festivities kick off in Qatar, and we cannot wait. It will be the first time the competition will be hosted in the Middle East, with eight stadiums making their World Cup debuts. We’ll see the first demountable stadium in World Cup history with Doha’s Stadium 974, built out of shipping containers, to be dismantled after the tournament. Among theRead More →

[ad_1] Florentino Perez has confirmed that Real Madrid made a bid for Neymar before he joined Barcelona. Neymar left Santos to sign for Barcelona in 2013 in a deal that has proved to be hugely controversial. The Catalan club insist the move cost just under £50m but Brazilian company DIS, which owned 40% of the player’s sporting rights when he was at Santos, claim the money paid was over £20m more than that. DIS claim that Neymar, Santos and Barcelona all colluded to hide the full cost of the deal. The matter has now gone to court, and Real Madrid president Perez was called toRead More →

[ad_1] PSV Eindhoven winger Cody Gakpo has confirmed that he came “close” to joining Manchester United after talking to Erik ten Hag. The 23-year-old was on the radar of a number of Premier League clubs and looked likely to depart Eindhoven after scoring 21 goals in all competitions last season. United were considered frontrunners to sign Gakpo, who looks likely to represent the Netherlands at this winter’s World Cup, if a deal for Antony failed to materialise, and at one point it seemed as though the Brazilian winger would be staying put at Ajax. However, Antony finally sealed a move to Old Trafford late onRead More →

[ad_1] Crystal Palace put in a stylish performance to secure a 2-1 comeback win against Wolves on Tuesday. Fans at Selhurst Park were treated to a lively affair in the first half which could’ve seen a glut of goals scored. But for all of Palace’s efforts, Wolves had an answer on the counter and managed to pull ahead after half an hour. Ruben Neves almost doubled their lead on the cusp of half-time and was punished for not doing so mere minutes into the second half, when Patrick Vieira’s side levelled things up. The hosts dominated possession from there, with the front three linking upRead More →

[ad_1] The points were shared in a drab affair at the AMEX as Brighton were held to a 0-0 draw by Nottingham Forest. Roberto De Zerbi’s Seagulls dominated the ball as they so often do these days, but for all the pressure the piled onto the visitors in the opening stages, they couldn’t draw first blood. Proceedings died down considerably after the break, despite the crowd’s best efforts to inject some urgency into the game. Forest looked helpless in the rare spells of possession they could muster up when trying to create chances, while the hosts seemed to lose the edge they had in theRead More →

[ad_1] For a team to rise from near the bottom of the table to contenders at the top in just a year, it needs a special performer to step up. For Austin FC this season, that has been Sebastian Driussi. The Argentine midfielder has, at times, carried his team on his back, proving a goalscoring machine and a creative linchpin with 22 goals and five primary assists in 34 regular-season appearances. That’s even a marked improvement from the five goals and eight assists in 17 games last year, when Driussi only joined halfway through the season. But then, given his pedigree, we shouldn’t have expectedRead More →