Pep Guardiola jokes he could play for much-changed Man City in Newcastle cup tie
Pep Guardiola has joked he may come out of retirement for Manchester City’s Carabao Cup trip to Newcastle. The treble winners are three games into a run of seven matches in three weeks and manager Guardiola intends to make changes for Wednesday’s third-round tie at St James’ Park. However, with injuries affecting the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, John Stones, Mateo Kovacic and Bernardo Silva, the options for rotation among his main first-team squad are actually limited. That has prompted the former Barcelona midfielder to jest that at 52, 17 years after calling time on a distinguished playing career – and notwithstanding his recent back surgery – he could lace up his boots once again. He said: “Some players who’ve had a lot of minutes are not going to play against Newcastle. “The Carabao Cup is great for all the guys who don’t play regularly. They can play some minutes and that’s perfect. “But for the other players I’m not going to waste one per cent of energy for Carabao Cup. The likes of Kyle (Walker), Ruben (Dias) – playing 90 minutes for us, 90 for the national team, they are exhausted already. “That’s why we are going to play with the guys who need it, the Academy, maybe me. My back is getting better so I might manage a few minutes!” One decision taken out of Guardiola’s hands is the availability of Rodri after his sending off against Nottingham Forest on Saturday. The Spain midfielder picked up an automatic three-game ban for violent conduct for raising his hands to the neck of Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White in City’s 2-0 Premier League win at the Etihad Stadium. It is unlikely Rodri would have been involved at Newcastle but his absence against Wolves next weekend, and particularly Arsenal on October 8, could prove costly. Guardiola was rather more serious when expressing his anger over the conduct of his key holding midfielder on Saturday. It seems unlikely the club will appeal against his suspension. Guardiola said: “I have to talk with the club but I’m not going to change it. For me it’s not three games, but the rules are the rules. Part of that, he has to learn, and hopefully it won’t happen again.” Rodri’s absence could offer a chance for England midfielder Kalvin Phillips, who has found opportunities limited since his arrival from Leeds in the summer of 2022. He played the final 39 minutes against Forest as City reshaped with 10 men. Guardiola said: “He played really well, the type of game that we needed. I’m so pleased for him because he’s an incredible guy. “He’s not fazed about his minutes and he’s a national player with England. With us he hasn’t played much but he’s really helped us.”
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Sarina Wiegman asks if she’s in ‘a fairytale’ as England reach World Cup final
Sarina Wiegman has questioned whether she is “in a fairytale” after guiding England to their first Women’s World Cup final following a 3-1 win against co-hosts Australia. Ella Toone, who replaced the suspended Lauren James for the Lionesses’ quarter-final win over Colombia, scored 36 minutes into her third start of the tournament in front of a capacity crowd of 75,784 in Sydney. Australia captain Sam Kerr, making her first start of competition, equalised for the first-time semi-finalists with a stunning individual goal after the break before Lauren Hemp put England back out in front. Alessia Russo made it 3-1 late in the second half to cap off the historic encounter and set up an all-European final showdown against Spain on Sunday. Wiegman will now appear in a fourth successive final as a head coach after winning the 2017 Women’s Euros with the Netherlands, who she managed in the World Cup final defeat to the United States two years later, before she led England to European glory last summer. Speaking after the semi-final victory pitchside, Wiegman told BBC One: “We achieved the final and it’s unbelievable, it feels like we’ve won it. “But we won this game, it’s an incredible stadium, an away game, of course it was a hard game but again we found a way to win. “We scored three goals, in this team that ruthlessness, whether it’s up front or in defence we really want to keep the ball out of the net, we really want to win and we stick together. We stick to the plan and it worked again.” Am I in a fairytale or something? England boss Sarina Wiegman She added: “The chance as a coach you make it to two finals is really special, I never take anything for granted but I’m like – am I in a fairytale or something?” England defender Lucy Bronze was overwhelmed after finally reaching the World Cup final at the third time of asking after featuring in England’s previous semi-final defeats. “This is the one thing I’ve always wanted, to be in the final of a World Cup and after two times of getting such disappointment, I honestly can’t believe it.” She added: “We all dreamed of being in the final and all our family and friends booked here to stay until the final because they believed in us. To have everybody here and all that support is unbelievable. “It’s been amazing to play against Australia, what a fantastic tournament they had, but I’m so happy to get to the final.” Sunday’s final sees Bronze and Keira Walsh pitted against some of their Barcelona team-mates and the defender praised Spain’s performance in the tournament. Bronze said: “They’ve been very good. Me and Keira know 90 per cent of the starting 11 pretty well so I think we’ll be getting asked a lot of questions ahead of the final.” Captain Millie Bright echoed her team-mate’s sentiments that “the dream remains alive”. “I think it’s a moment that we’ve wanted for so long, we had amazing success last summer, but we always knew there was something missing and it was the World Cup,” she said. “Now we have that opportunity and like Less (Russo) said before, the dream remains alive. What an incredible semi-final.” Bright will lead the team out on Sunday and admitted it will feel “incredible”. She added: “Crazy, to be honest I’m just keeping two feet on the ground and remaining on task and focused,” she said. “I don’t even have any words for that, to be saying we’re going to the final is crazy and overwhelming – there’s so many different emotions. “Just so happy we could give the fans the dream they wanted back home and the fans that are here as well, but to lead them out will be absolutely incredible.”
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