Gareth Southgate believes England’s “incredible” injury list will help him make better decisions around his Euro 2024 selection.
Already without a number of regulars for the March camp, Harry Maguire, Kyle Walker and Sam Johnstone on Sunday evening followed Bukayo Saka and Harry Kane in withdrawing from the squad after Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Brazil.
But England’s eye-watering list of absentees have allowed Southgate to take a closer look at up-and-coming options, with Anthony Gordon, Ezri Konsa and Kobbie Mainoo making their debuts against the Selecao.
More changes are planned for the final friendly before he names an expanded Euros squad on May 21, with one-cap Ivan Toney set to lead the line after Ollie Watkins played at the weekend.
“Ivan w…
France can go a long way toward securing Euro 2012 qualification with a win against Romania in Bucharest on Tuesday.
France lead Group D by three points from Bosnia and Herzegovina with both sides still to play three games, including one against each other on October 11.
Romania will not be lacking in motivation either for the clash, as they are only two points behind Bosnia and still very much in the mix for second place and a playoff berth.
Both teams enter the match in winning form, with Romania securing a 2-0 victory over Luxembourg on Friday courtesy of a brace from Gabriel Torje, but coach Victor Piturca will be ruing the yellow card the winger picked up to rule him out of the France game.
I knew it was important to win today but the match with Fr…
Gareth Southgate will use England s clash with Iceland on Friday as a chance to get Harry Kane right for Euro 2024, potentially meaning fewer minutes for Ivan Toney.
Kane saw his first season with Bayern Munich ended early by a back injury, missing their last two Bundesliga matches as he finished with 44 goals across all competitions in 2023-24.
He came off the bench to score as England beat Bosnia and Herzegovina 3-0 in the first of two warm-up matches on Monday and is expected to start at Wembley on Friday.
That may be bad news for Brentford striker Toney, who could be at risk of being omitted when Southgate cuts his 33-man preliminary squad to 26 players on Saturday.
Toney will be involved in the game on Friday but I have got to get Harry Kane right,…
William Saliba has vowed Arsenal will come back stronger after they suffered a third consecutive defeat on Sunday.
The Gunners created a number of chances, especially in the first half but exited the FA Cup in the third round following a 2-0 loss at home to Liverpool.
It saw Mikel Arteta’s team conclude a difficult festive period on another low after a run of four defeats in their last seven matches.
We know we’re not in our best moment, but we won’t give up and we’ll come back even stronger.
Saliba urges our players and supporters to stick together following today s result
— Arsenal (@Arsenal)
Arsenal will get the chance to reset with no fixture until January 20 and they are set to spend this week away in Dubai at a warm-wea…
Roberto Mancini dropped Moise Kean from his Euro 2020 plans as the Italy head coach trimmed his finals squad to 28 with two more players poised to be culled.
Ahead of UEFA s deadline of midnight on June 1, Mancini thinned out the large pool of players he selected on May 17 for the international friendly against San Marino.
Italy won that match 7-0 on Friday, and Mancini has been assessing his squad over the last week, with a view to finding the right players for the upcoming tournament.
He settled on 21-year-old striker Kean as one who would miss out, also releasing Cagliari goalkeeper Alessio Cragno, Fiorentina left-back Cristiano Biraghi, Lazio s versatile right-sided player Manuel Lazzari, Fiorentina midfielder Gaetano Castrovilli, Freiburg forward Vincenzo�…
Cristiano Ronaldo says Portugal s progression to the final of Euro 2016 is the stuff of dreams and he believes his team will go on to win against France or Germany.
The Real Madrid attacker s thumping header and Nani s sliding effort in the space of three second-half minutes made the difference as Fernando Santos men beat Wales 2-0 in Lyon.
Captain Ronaldo was ecstatic after the match and is confident Portugal are ready to go all the way, 12 years after their heart-breaking loss to Greece in the Euro 2004 final on home soil.
It is what we have dreamt of since the beginning, Ronaldo said to UEFA.
I hope that [after the final] we will be smiling and that it will be tears of joy in the end. I have always said my dream was to win a trophy with Portugal. We…
Luka Modric has signed a one-year contract extension with Real Madrid, ending speculation over his immediate future.
The former Ballon d Or winner was on an expiring deal but is now contracted to Madrid until June 2022.
Modric has enjoyed a glittering career with the club since signing from Tottenham nine years ago.
He has won four Champions League trophies in that span and remains a key player at the age of 35.
has extended his contract until 2022!
The midfielder signed the contract at with president Florentino Pérez. |
— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadriden)
Club president Florentino Perez confirmed in April that an agreement had been reached, but an announcement was not made until Tuesday, three days after the league season ended w…
Holland suffered a shock 1-0 defeat to group outsiders Denmark in their opening game of Euro 2012.
The Dutch had numerous chances to win the game but there profligacy in front of goal meant that the Danes claimed a memorable victory.
Composure
The Dutch performance wasn’t that poor and on another day they could have probably beaten the Danes by five or six goals.
However, the Dutch attack showed absolutely no composure in front of goal. I expected better from the likes of Robin Van Persie and Arjen Robben.
Holland managed more than 20 shots on goal without finding the net, an extraordinary amount for a team in any game. I expected the Oranje to find the net at some point and I think they did as well. They just couldn’t break the Danish resist…
Newcastle United saw off AFC Wimbledon with little fuss as Fabian Schar s penalty sealed a 1-0 win in the EFL Cup.
Tuesday s tie was rearranged and moved to St James Park following flooding damage at the Dons home ground last week.
And despite relying on a spot-kick from Schar in first-half stoppage time to get over the line, Newcastle never looked in danger of offering the lower-league visitors a sniff of an upset.
Miguel Almiron won the penalty after he was fouled by Joe Pigott, though referee Darren Bond needed a lengthy consultation with his assistant before he pointed to the spot.
Fab sends us into the fourth round of the Carabao Cup
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC)
Almiron, Sean Longstaff and Harvey Barnes could have added to Newcas…
Toni Kroos says he is not feeling nostalgic about the possibility of his career ending on Friday when Germany face Spain in the Euro 2024 quarter-finals.
Kroos came out of international retirement to play for Germany on home soil at the European Championships, but announced in May that he would be retiring from football at the end of the tournament.
The German won LaLiga before earning a sixth Champions League title in his farewell game for Real Madrid and is now aiming to finish his career by lifting the Euros trophy for the first time.
With a place in the next round not guaranteed, Kroos could play his final game on Friday should Germany lose to Spain, but that is not something he is thinking about.
It is the second most important title you can win, an…