England s World Cup bid chiefs have been told their attempt to win the right to host the 2018 tournament is spluttering to towards failure, according to a report in the Times on Wednesday.
After starting the bidding process as favourites ahead of Russia, Australia and the joint-venture by Spain and Portugal, England s 2018 campaign has hit choppy waters in recent weeks.
England s bid has been severely criticised by Jack Warner, one of FIFA s executive committee members, and Lord Triesman, the English bid chairman, has come under pressure over his inability to devote more than two days a week to his role.
It is believed that Warner s influence is likely to result in at least another two votes and probably more like another three or four votes being lost, accordin…
UEFA will consider a possible increase in the size of squads for Euro 2024 at a meeting next month.
A number of coaches have called on European football’s governing body to allow countries to take 26 players to Germany instead of 23, a move England boss Gareth Southgate may be glad to accept as he deals with a number of injuries.
“We have taken note of comments expressed by some national team coaches on the squad size for Euro 2024,” UEFA said in a statement released on Friday.
“A workshop with the participating teams will be held on 8 April and on that occasion UEFA will listen to the views of the coaches.
“Any idea in this respect will then be considered and assessed.”
This summer’s finals is the first time since the 2018 World Cup…
France coach Laurent Blanc has named his squad for the forthcoming Euro 2012 qualifiers against Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
And the surprise call up was Lyon s Bafetimbi Gomis who scored a sensational goal for his side in the Champions League against Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday.
Gomis replaces the injured Guillaume Hoarau while there was no call up for Real Madrid s Raphael Varane.
Maxime Gonalons and Jeremy Toulalan were also excluded from the squad but Karim Benzema made the cut.
Blanc explained Gomis inclusion in the squad, telling RMCsport: He is in the team because of the form he has shown in the early season.
He has lots of confidence and his goal (against Dinamo) proved this. He was always close to being called because of the good perfo…
Julian Nagelsmann announced he has basically made a decision about his final Euro 2024 squad but would not be revealing it until Friday.
Germany face Greece in their final warm-up game on Friday before their home tournament, which they will kick off against Scotland on June 14.
Nagelsmann initially named a provisional squad of 27 and needs to reduce that by one, confirming the official 26-man group by Friday.
The former Bayern Munich manager conceded that places will still be up for grabs depending on performances against Greece but would not give any hints about whom the player likely to drop out would be.
We have our starting 11 in our heads but the performance in the match and in training must fit, Nagelsmann told a press conference on Thursday.
…
Major League Soccer announced the competition format for the 2012 regular season and MLS Cup playoffs on Sunday.
Each of the 19 MLS clubs will play 34 games, with Western Conference clubs to play each West opponent three times, while East teams will play seven conference opponents three times each (21 games).
Having a competitively determined site for MLS Cup is one of the most exciting improvements our Board of Governors has adopted, MLS executive vice president Nelson Rodriguez said.
We believe this provides every club a tremendous incentive during our regular season and ensures a festive and boisterous setting for our championship game.
The Montreal Impact will begin their inaugural MLS season as the 10th team in the Eastern Conference, while the…
Kansas City Current forward Temwa Chawinga scored her 19th goal of the National Women s Soccer League season to break the competition s single-season record.
Chawinga, who signed for the Current from the Chinese Women s Super League, scored a stunning long-range strike in the 35th minute of Saturday s clash with Bay FC.
That saw the 26-year-old overtake the previous record of 18 goals in a single NWSL season, which was set by Sam Kerr for Chicago Red Stars in 2019.
Chawinga s 19 goals have come from 24 games, while she has scored every 109 minutes on average, having 103 shots and registering a shot conversion rate of 18.63%.
Give it up for the NWSL s newest record holder, Temwa Chawinga
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL)
Kerr r…
Jonny Evans has extended his stay at Manchester United until the end of next season, penning a new one-year contract.
Having come through United s academy and spent an initial nine-year spell in the Red Devils first team between 2006 and 2015, Evans returned as cover for Harry Maguire, Raphael Varane, Lisandro Martinez and Victor Lindelof last year.
With all four of those players enduring injury-hit 2023-24 seasons, Evans played a far more prominent role than expected as United finished eighth in the Premier League.
The 36-year-old made 30 appearances across all competitions, including coming off the bench in May s FA Cup final victory over rivals Manchester City.
Evans has now won every domestic trophy with United, having claimed three Premier League tit…
Manchester United are interested in signing Atletico Madrid midfielder Rodrigo de Paul, according to . De Paul is under contract at Atletico until 2026, and United are keen on a deal for the Argentina international midfielder.
De Paul has been on the books of Atletico since 2021 when he joined from Udinese. The Argentina international is one of the best players in the world in his position and is an important player for Atletico. The 30-year-old has given one assist in four starts and four substitute appearances in La Liga and has played twice in the UEFA Champions League for Diego Simeone’s side so far this campaign.
United are 14th in the Premier League table at the moment with eight points from seven matches, five points above the relegation zone. Meanwhile, Atleti…
Where did it all go wrong for Brazil at the Copa America?
The Selecao went into the tournament as the second favourites, with the Opta supercomputer rating their chances of lifting the trophy at 23.2%.
Yet the nine-time Copa America champions were instead left licking their wounds after losing 4-2 to in-form Uruguay on penalties in the quarter-finals.
Brazil could have avoided that tie with Marcelo Bielsa s team, and instead have faced Panama, had they shown more in the group stage.
But as it was, an opening 0-0 draw with Costa Rica and a closing 1-1 draw with Colombia, another of the Copa America s most impressive teams, meant a 4-1 win over Paraguay marked the only bright spark in a disappointing campaign.
Dorival Junior, who took over as head c…
FIFA have revealed that a host of new stadiums being built for the 2014 World Cup will not be ready in time to be tested at a tournament next year.
On Thursday, Rio de Janeiro, Recife, Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Salvador and Fortaleza were named as the host cities for the 2013 Confederations Cup, but a number of venues currently under construction are running behind schedule.
FIFA communications director Walter Gregorio revealed that it was hoped the new stadia could be used next year, as a warm-up for the 2014 World Cup, but this will now not happen as a result of concerning delays.
We always said that the stadiums should be delivered by the end of the year, and only two of them will meet the deadline, he revealed at a press event in Sao Paulo.
Belo Ho…