List of All Articles with Tag 'football'

Lauren Hemp didn’t need to look; she already had the picture in her head. After 86 minutes of being everywhere for England, Hemp found another burst to turn away from Katrina Gorry and ease into the space, gliding to the left to create room on the right. As Australia backed off, Hemp opened up the angle and reversed the ball back to Alessia Russo - her target all along. Then came the finish, low, controlled, a clinical way to round off a ruthless performance on a gutsy night. Cool, calm and collected, it booked England’s place in the World Cup final and summed up how they beat Australia. “Incredible finish, incredible pass,” Sarina Wiegman said. For the second match in a row, her front two were both on the scoresheet, Hemp and Russo on target in the semi-finals, just as they were in the quarter-finals, just as Wiegman had planned. Except, of course, that no one would have planned for this, in a tournament where rarely anything has gone to script for England and they have been forced to adapt. The Lionesses came into the World Cup with seven forwards and they will likely start Sunday’s final with only two in attacking positions; Hemp and Russo stand as their unlikely combination. But it is a partnership that is a game away from winning the World Cup, and who have come to represent the qualities of this England team: one that battles and digs in from the front, but that has quality to deliver when it counts. Hemp has gone from England’s dynamic winger to a roaming threat in a team that doesn’t play with wide forwards, and who instead offers so much more, covering the work of two positions. “She is just a nuisance,” said Ella Toone. “A nightmare to play against.” Hemp saved her best performance of the World Cup for the semi-finals and led the way to show what England needed as they faced the hosts and an entire nation in Sydney, on what was their biggest night in a generation. “I feel really fearless at the moment,” the 23-year-old said. “I’ve taken up a new role, I guess, in the team, running in behind players and getting the ball, creating something. I feel like I’m playing some of my best football.” Hemp has always been an attacker who has played with a mental picture of what is around her and an understanding of where defenders are. Hemp has always had the pace to hurt teams, the acceleration to just glide away, but Wiegman’s decision to bring the Man City forward inside the touchlines has made her threat more consistent. Unlike the Euros last summer, teams are not able to double-mark her. It has also brought her closer to Russo, who started the tournament isolated, a target for crosses swung into the box but who really just wanted to be involved and have the play near her. “They are complimentary in their qualities,” Wiegman said. With Hemp alongside her, Russo has found her position and her confidence, growing into the tournament like England as they have reached the final. The Lionesses, though, are faced with a decision ahead of Spain on Sunday. England’s deadly duo was their attacking trio, one that could now be reunited against in the World Cup final. James will be available after serving her two-match suspension for stamping on Nigeria’s Michelle Alozie in the last-16. If that was a moment that threatened not only her, but England’s participation in the tournament, then the fact that James is free to play against Spain is thanks to the spirit and resilience of her teammates, as well as the discretion of Fifa’s disciplinary panel. The Lionesses overcame not only the immense challenge of getting through Nigeria with 10 players but the battles against Colombia and Australia. Nothing has come easy for England at the World Cup and James, through a moment of madness in which she did apologise for, made it harder. James remains a tempting option, however. She is England’s greatest talent, a player who lit up the group stages with her two-goal, three-assist display against China, shining in a system that was designed and revolved around her in the No 10 position. Wiegman, though, has since been made to adapt, and the attacking triangle of James, Hemp and Russo has shifted to the midfield trio of Ella Toone, Keira Walsh and Georgia Stanway. Against Spain, the fixture in world football where individual battles in midfield are the most important, Wiegman is unlikely to move away from the formula that is working for this England team. Nor should she. After a difficult tournament, Toone had her moment against Australia, scoring another big-game goal for the Lionesses. It would be extremely harsh to drop her now, while having James as an impact substitute alongside Chloe Kelly is an excellent option for Wiegman to have. So too, suddenly, is the front two. "This team has ruthlessness,” Wiegman said, and it’s a spirit led from the front. Read More England finally reach the world’s greatest stage — and that is worth celebrating How England deployed dark arts and cool heads to silence Australian noise With one sublime pass, the Lionesses have unlocked the door to football Narnia

England are through to the Women’s World Cup final for the first time after a stunning 3-1 win over Australia in Sydney set up an all-European title decider against Spain on Sunday. The Lionesses broke the hearts of the home nation as goals from Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo sealed a historic victory, after Sam Kerr sent the got the Matildas and capacity crowd of 75,784 rocking with a stunning individual goal. England manager Sarina Wiegman said she was “in a fairytale” after guiding England to the final for the first time, while defender Lucy Bronze was overcome with emotion after playing in two previous semi-final defeats in 2015 and 2019. The Lionesses will play Spain on Sunday in England’s first World Cup final since 1966 and the nation is set to come to a halt as England look to bring the game’s biggest prize back home. Follow all the reaction to England’s win against Australia in the semi-finals and get all the latest Women’s World Cup odds here: Read More Sensational England capitalise on Sam Kerr’s missed moment to make World Cup history How England deployed dark arts and cool heads to silence Australian noise Will Lauren James play in the Women’s World Cup final?

Bo Nix's Heisman campaign just got elevated to new heights as the Oregon quarterback was gifted his own billboard in NYC.History is repeating itself for the Oregon Ducks, though hopefully, the school will get a happier ending this time around.Oregon quarterback Bo Nix is getting his ver...

Pep Guardiola is targeting the Club World Cup to complete the set after Manchester City overcame a sloppy start to beat Sevilla on spot-kicks to lift the UEFA Super Cup. Two months on from becoming the second English club in history to win the treble, the Champions League holders faced the record Europa League winners in Greece. Sevilla took the lead through Youssef En-Nesyri’s towering header and had numerous chances to extend their lead before City struck back through Cole Palmer’s looping header. The Super Cup ended 1-1 after 90 minutes and Guardiola’s men triumphed on penalties 5-4 after Nemanja Gudelj smashed the last spot-kick of the shoot-out off the bar. This was the first time City have won the competition and the Spaniard is determined to add the Club World Cup to their cabinet in December. “Of course we are not in the best, best moment, I would say,” Guardiola said after winning his fourth Super Cup as a coach. “But knowing a little bit the players and the mentality of the backroom staff, I had a feeling that we will try. “We are really pleased to have already one title in this season. Really pleased for the club – this title we didn’t have and now we have it. “We miss just one to finish all circle and be able for this club to win all the titles we can have. It’s happening in December, when we go to Saudi Arabia to play there, the (Club) World Cup. “I would say really, really pleased. A tight game like happened in the (Champions League) final against Inter, a tight game that we lost in the last minute against Arsenal (in the Community Shield). Football in these stages, in that moment, in that period is a coin (flip).” This was an energy-sapping night for City in hot and humid Piraeus, where the match kicked off at 10pm local time and finished in the early hours of Thursday morning. It is a quick turnaround after a tough test, leading Guardiola to take a pop at the Premier League for scheduling their next match against Newcastle on Saturday evening. “Of course tomorrow will be even more happier than today,” he said, with City due to fly back to the north west on Thursday. “Recover, not one drop of alcohol today. Recover as much as possible because again, from Greece, thank you so much for the Premier League to let us play on Saturday. And not on Sunday and Monday. Thank you so much.” The star man for City was player of the match Palmer, who followed his fine finish in the eventual Community Shield shoot-out loss to Arsenal by scoring a clever header in Greece. The 21-year-old has been subject of speculation this summer and Guardiola ruled out a loan move for the home-grown talent. “The opinion I had when he arrived is he wanted to leave, but now I don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said. “I don’t think a loan is going to happen. He’s going to stay or going to sell, but I think a loan is not going to happen. “He has a character. It’s not easy to play against defenders like (Marcos) Acuna, for example, who is a top defender. “It’s not easy, it’s a final. He’s a young player playing in these stages. It’s not easy for these guys. He played really, really good and made a fantastic goal, too.” As for Sevilla, the shoot-out heartbreak represented a sixth successive Super Cup loss. Head coach Jose Luis Mendilibar said: “To make a good plan against a team as good as City is very complicated. I really wish we’d played higher up the pitch and put them under more pressure. “When we had the chances to score the second goal, we didn’t take them. But I really believe we played a good game, and we probably created more chances than them.”

First Istanbul, then Athens. Manchester City have bookended their summer by going from east Manchester to eastern Europe and returning with continental trophies. They added the Super Cup to the Champions League, their fourth piece of silverware of 2023, when Sevilla’s Nemanja Gudelj became the only player to miss in a penalty shootout. Erling Haaland, Julian Alvarez, Mateo Kovacic, Jack Grealish and Kyle Walker – the captain, a particularly rare penalty taker, breathed a sigh of relief when his effort squeezed under Bono – found the net in an increasingly tense shootout. There was outstanding goalkeeping in the preceding 90 minutes but neither Ederson nor Bono made a save thereafter and when Gudelj’s spot kick was a fraction high, the City celebrations began. If Ederson was one who starred for a depleted City side, so did Cole Palmer, the youngster developing a taste for the big occasion. In two August finals, Palmer has scored two excellent goals, a Community Shield strike and a Super Cup equaliser; only Michael Owen had previously done the double of scoring in each in the same season. Each goal may have been a blow to the clubs hoping to take Palmer on loan: he is staking a case to be involved at the Etihad Stadium more often. Scorer of the Champions League final winner, Rodri, added a Super Cup assist with a deep cross. Palmer stole in at the far post to head back across goal and, buoyed by his goal, he sought a winner with a shot Bono parried, one which followed an audacious drag-back. It was a display to suggest he can take over seamlessly from Riyad Mahrez as the goalscoring left-footed, right winger. The Algerian tweeted approvingly about the young pretender’s performance. It was nevertheless notable that City’s contingent of high-class passers was depleted since the Champions League final, with the Barcelona-bound Ilkay Gundogan, ill Bernardo Silva and injured Kevin De Bruyne all absent. It may have been reflected in a lack of creativity which, in turn, may prompt another bid for West Ham’s Lucas Paqueta. And yet City still had the opportunity to score rather more. But they encountered wonderful resistance by the defiant Bono, who made a series of excellent saves, bookended by early and late stops from Nathan Ake, who perhaps ought to have scored with each header. City ended up with 22 shots though, from their perspective, too few from Haaland, who is still yet to score for them in a final. They had to come from behind against underdogs. Sevilla had ensured the Super Cup would not be an all-Mancunian affair, eliminating Manchester United from the Europa League. Sevilla have lost their influential director of football, Monchi, in the summer and some players could follow but they retain a spirit that has rendered them fearsome competitors on the European stage. The energetic Lucas Ocampos was excellent, in the age when the classic No. 9 has started to look an endangered species, Sevilla got a trademark goal for a true centre-forward. It was a bullet header from Youssef En-Nesyri, rising above Ake to meet Marcos Acuna’s cross. Yet he and Sevilla could rue an inability to score a second when they broke at speed and with menace. En-Nesyri ought to have had a second brace against a Manchester side in 2023, spurning two chances. First, Lucas Ocampos released him on a counter-attack but Ederson saved his shot, then the Brazilian made another stop. It amounted to a difficult full debut for Josko Gvardiol. The £77 million defender’s previous appearance in European club competition was a 7-0 defeat for Leipzig, against City. If this was less painful, City missed Ruben Dias and John Stones, who were both only on the bench after missing the win at Burnley. For much of the match, though, City were attacking. Jose Luis Mendilibar has been billed as the Spanish Tony Pulis, a veteran relegation firefighter who is unafraid to adopt direct tactics. Sevilla were content not to have the ball; Mendilibar does not burden his side with a passing philosophy. As City had around three-quarters of possession, Sevilla were increasingly penned in. Pressure eventually told and history was made. Guardiola had won this trophy with both Barcelona and Bayern Munich, the latter courtesy of Jupp Heynckes’ treble-winning feats. He became the first manager to win the Super Cup with three different clubs. His determination was apparent: whereas in the Community Shield, he removed Haaland, in Athens, he kept 10 of the starters on for the full 90 minutes, substituting only Palmer, and three days before a clash with Newcastle. Yet winning the Champions League brought other prizes, the chance for more silverware, and City already have their first trophy of the season. Read More Kevin De Bruyne facing up to four months out and may require surgery Man City fears grow after Kevin De Bruyne hamstrung by the same old problem Man Utd confirm Mason Greenwood investigation is over - but no decision on future made

The Florida State Seminoles' and Clemson Tigers' desires to leave the ACC hit a roadblock due to this specific reason.Realignment has been a hot topic in college football. While USC and UCLA both moved from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten last year and officially doesn't kick in until t...

The Georgia Bulldogs earned the No. 1 ranking by the Associated Press ahead of the 2023 season. ESPN's Rece Davis doesn't, because of this reason.The 2023 college football season is almost here, and fans got their first taste of what to expect this upcoming season. This past week, the ...

TCU enters 2023 with much higher expectations a year ago, hoping to recreate last year’s magical season.How does a Cinderella team one up a season to remember? Carrying the weight of a 13-2 season and the first Big 12 school to win a College Football Playoff game.Combined with the expl...

Liverpool have made a bid for Wataru Endo in an attempt to end their search for a defensive midfielder after missing out on Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia. They are in talks with Stuttgart about the 30-year-old Japan international, who is thought to be keen on a move to Merseyside. Liverpool have been looking for a holding midfielder since Jordan Henderson and Fabinho moved to Saudi Pro-League clubs Al-Ettifaq and Al-Ittihad for a combined £52 million. They submitted three offers to Southampton for Lavia and a British record £111m bid to Brighton for Caicedo, but both preferred to join Chelsea, while summer signing Alexis Mac Allister had to anchor the midfield in Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge. Manager Jurgen Klopp and new sporting director Jorg Schmadtke have returned to the Bundesliga for Endo, who captains both Stuttgart and his country. Endo impressed in the World Cup, when Japan beat Germany and reached the last 16, and his high-energy approach should make him a good fit for Klopp’s style of play. If a deal is completed, he will become Liverpool’s third summer signing, after Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai. Read More Liverpool identify new midfield target after missing out on Caicedo and Lavia Chelsea negotiating for Lavia transfer to take Boehly past £900m mark Chelsea and Liverpool trial football without defensive midfielders

Manchester City are back in midweek action as they take on Sevilla in the Uefa Super Cup this evening. Pep Guardiola’s men triumphed in the their Champions League final against Inter Milan back in June, securing a treble in the process, and setting up this one-off match against the Europa League winners. Sevilla are City’s opponents tonight after the Spanish outfit won the Europa Leagu, yet again, by beating Jose Mourinho’s Roma. They are well versed in Super Cup games having lost four of these matches of the last nine seasons while tonight’s game will be City’s first appearance in the Super Cup. The Champions League winners have a second chance in three games to collect some silverware after they were beaten on penalties by Arsenal in the Community Shield at Wembley 10 days ago. In the interim they got their Premier League season off to a wonderful start with a victory 3-0 over Burnley and will hope to return to Manchester with another trophy under their belt. Follow all the action and find out the latest odds as Manchester City take on Sevilla in the Super Cup: Read More Super Cup is crucial to Man City’s season but it’s not about the trophy Kevin De Bruyne facing up to four months out and may require surgery Kevin De Bruyne amid Man City trio left out of Uefa Super Cup squad

Tensions rose high at Colorado Football fall camp early Wednesday.With Terrell Owens in the facility watching his old friend Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes practice, you knew things were going to be hectic.Just maybe not this hectic or psychical.Things got heated in Fall Camp at ...

Alex Greenwood claimed she “cannot put it into the words”, so she just kept repeating the words that made her feel like that. “We’re in a World Cup final.” “I just keep having to say it,” she laughed. It is a glorious fact worth actually reflecting on, even as thoughts quickly turned to Sunday, what next, who starts, whether Lauren James comes in. If actually winning the World Cup is the great ambition of any career, the final itself is the great stage. Those who step onto the pitch will leave their own mark on history, the very line-ups part of the record that makes football so rich. “We wanted to take England and women’s football to a new level and we have certainly done that over the last 12 months,” Ella Toone said. They’ve taken it all to the highest level for the very first time. That is worth celebrating, as Sarina Wiegman and the players insisted they would be doing. The squad were loving it out on the pitch but, as the Stadium Australia sound system played the Fifa-approved songs, they quickly realised they wanted to get into the dressing room and play their own music. This was the overriding feeling as they then made their way through the mixed zone. “We will celebrate tonight, I’d rather be in the changing room than talking to you lot,” Toone smiled. Everything they said still captured all it means. Some of them might have been cliches, but they’re cliches for a reason. They’re just what comes to mind as you try to make sense of something that goes beyond your imagination; your hopes. “It’s unbelievable, this is what dreams are made of,” Chloe Kelly said. “It is history,” Lucy Bronze added. Toone, meanwhile, graciously spoke a lot despite pleading she was so eager to get away. “This is going to be the biggest game of our careers.” That’s apt, because this - to quote their manager - has been a team that has grown with this World Cup. That is the major theme of, and explanation for, England’s historic run to the final. Performances have gotten better. Key players, and especially the attackers, have found form. Solving so many problems has honed the team. It meant they were supremely primed for what was supposedly their biggest test so far, a semi-final against a fine Australia in front of a fervent home crowd. There was even the shock of Sam Kerr’s thunderbolt, and a brief period where it seemed like it could all turn. Not a bit of it. Weaker sides, or even previous England teams, might well have wilted at that point. England turned it into their second biggest win of the World Cup so far, three of their attackers fittingly scoring again. “We just have this belief, nothing fazes us,” Toone added. “We face a lot of challenges this tournament and we have come through every one of them.” Lucy Bronze echoed that. “This tournament we’ve had so many things go against us, red cards, key players getting injured before the tournament, during the tournament, going a goal down in the last game, going against the host nation, everyone’s throwing everything at us including the kitchen sink. And we’ve just won games.” The variety of ways they have to win was pleasingly followed by the variety of the goals. One was just a straight contender for goal of the tournament, even as it swerved into the top corner, a moment of pure quality. “Honestly, that’s the best shot I’ve hit in my life,” Toone said. The second was a classic piece of opportunism, if from a rudimentary approach. Lauren Hemp had to be there, though, just as she was almost everywhere throughout this semi-final. “She has been like that the last few games,” Toone said. “She is just a nuisance. She runs in behind, she comes to feet, she is fast and she is strong. I think she would be a nightmare to play against and she has shown that today with a goal and an assist too . But it’s a team performance, we all dug deep.” The last from Alessia Russo was a classic striker’s finish, after some deft play from Hemp. It all makes it very difficult for Wiegman to bring Lauren James back in. This has been another irony of the World Cup, that shows how well England have adapted. Wiegman generally doesn’t like to change a team that works, but has been forced to do so at pretty much every step. Now, as the path clears to the grand stage, she will surely keep it as is. James might even be better value as a potential game-changer to come on. Even someone as meticulous and forward-thinking as Wiegman, however, admitted that was something to consider tomorrow. Now was the time to just be happy. Hence there was a joyous response when Greenwood was asked about previous semi-final disappointment in 2015 and 2019, and how England had never previously got this far. “That’s something we don’t have to think about any more.” There was now only hope, ambition, dreams coming true. “I’ve always said the one thing I’ve wanted for England is to get a star above my crest,” Bronze said. “The men have it and we don’t, so finally we can share the same crest.” Read More Sensational England capitalise on Sam Kerr’s missed moment to make World Cup history How England deployed dark arts and cool heads to silence Australian noise Sarina Wiegman: Inside the ‘genius’ mind behind England’s run to the World Cup final Lionesses celebrate reaching World Cup final – Wednesday’s sporting social Lauren Hemp hails ‘special’ England as Ella Toone toasts ‘best shot’ of her life Sarina Wiegman v Jorge Vilda – a look at the coaches in Women’s World Cup final