Didier Deschamps has signed on to lead France up to the 2018 World Cup after extending his contract with the national team.
France have tied coach Didier Deschamps down to a new deal, which will keep the former captain in charge through to the 2018 World Cup.
The 46-year-old replaced Laurent Blanc after Euro 2012 and helped guide the 1998 World Cup winners to the last eight in Brazil last year.
Deschamps had already extended his contract to oversee France s Euro 2016 preparations – a tournament they will host – and will now prepare their long-term plans and look to mastermind their way to Russia in 2018.
It was essential to have stability, said French Football Federation president Noel Graet. Didier Deschamps will stay until the World Cup in Moscow (…
England will be without Bukayo Saka, John Stones and Harry Maguire for Monday s friendly against Bosnia and Herzegovina, manager Gareth Southgate confirmed on Sunday.
Saka will be rested after missing Arsenal s last Premier League game of the season, while Stones is still finding fitness after his club campaign with title-winning Manchester City.
In more concerning news for the Three Lions, Manchester United pair Maguire and Luke Shaw are potential longer-term absentees ahead of Euro 2024, which starts on June 14 in Germany.
All are progressing well, Southgate said at his pre-match press conference. We are pleased with the progress they ve made, none of them will be involved tomorrow.
Same tomorrow for Bukayo Saka and for John Stones. Everybody else wil…
Timo Werner scored twice as Germany swept aside Norway 6-0 to move one step closer to qualification for the World Cup finals in Russia next year.
The holders would have secured progress had Northern Ireland failed to defeat Czech Republic, but their Group C rivals win means the defending champions will advance if they avoid defeat in Belfast next month.
Few would back against Joachim Low s side on this form, after a three-goal blitz in the opening 21 minutes effectively put the game to bed in Stuttgart on Monday.
Mesut Ozil, perhaps relishing the freedom of a break from the current discontent at Arsenal, gave Germany the lead and Julian Draxler recalled as one of three changes from Friday s 2-1 win in Prague added a second soon afterwards.
Werner s first …
After Portugal ended the Euro 2024 group stage with a shock 2-0 defeat to Georgia, centre-back Pepe knows more will be required when they face Slovenia in the last 16 on Monday.
That defeat did not stop the Selecao topping Group F and landing a round-of-16 draw against Slovenia, who qualified as one of the best third-placed finishers.
However, they are now on the same side of the knockout bracket as France, Belgium, Germany and Spain, and know they will likely have to beat multiple heavyweights if they are to go all the way.
At their last major tournament, the 2022 World Cup, Portugal set the record for the biggest margin of victory in a last-16 match at the World Cup or Euros, trouncing Switzerland 6-1.
They were, however, beaten 2-0 when they last met S…
Reported Liverpool managerial target Xabi Alonso is unlikely to jump ship from Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen, according to Bayern Munich honorary president Uli Hoeness.
The 42-year-old, who lifted the Champions League trophy in 2005 during his debut season with the Reds, has been a widely touted as a likely replacement for Jurgen Klopp, who in January announced he will stand down at the end of the season after eight-and-a-half decorated years at Anfield.
Bayern are thought to be one of the other clubs courting the Spaniard’s services, but Hoeness was highly pessimistic about anyone’s chances of luring Alonso away from Leverkusen.
He told Das Erste: “We’ll have to see if we can do it this year.
The boys are back
— Bayer 04 Leverk…
Phil Neville has called for Portland Timbers to be more ruthless as they aim to get back to winning ways against Sporting Kansas City on Saturday.
The Timbers sit 11th in the Western Conference having won just one of their last 11 matches, though their 4-2 comeback win against 10-man San Jose Earthquakes did come in their last home outing.
Despite their poor run of form, Neville is pleased with what he has seen from his side in recent weeks.
We do feel as if we re heading in the right direction. There are signs, he said.
Now it s about us picking up points and making sure we stay in the pack and be more ruthless with what we re doing. It s time that we ve got to go out there and deliver.
Kansas City are three points behind Saturday’s opponent…
Competition: Euro 2016
Market: Griezmann to score anytime
Odds:
France’s in-form forward Antoine Griezmann is expected to start in attack against Portugal in tonight’s Euro 2016 final, and is being tipped to bag himself a goal that could well settle the contest at the Stade de France.
The Atletico Madrid man has been in fantastic form for his country this summer, scoring six goals in as many games, but Griezmann has really come to life in the latter stages of the competition.
The 25-year-old scored both goals in France’s last-16 win over the Republic of Ireland, he notched one against Iceland in a 5-2 win in the quarter-finals, and he scored both goals in a 2-0 win over World champions Germany in the semi-finals.
Antoine Griezmann has …
The Euro 2024 group stage is done and dusted.
Croatia were the biggest name to fail to make the knockouts, as they and Hungary were the two third-placed sides to miss out on the last 16.
Previous finalists Italy and England progressed along with the likes of hosts Germany, France, Spain and Portugal, though some nations were more fortunate to advance than others.
Here, we use Opta data to assess the unlucky losers and the lucky winners from the Euro 2024 group stage, both in terms of individual matches and the first phase of the tournament as a whole.
UNLUCKY LOSERS
Croatia
Let s start with the tournament s biggest expected goals (xG) underperformers so far and the big-name casualty of the group stage.
Luka Modric became the old…
Michael Bradley s brace of goals lifted the United States to a 2-0 victory over Mexico, while Andy Furtado struck twice for Costa Rica in a 2-0 World Cup 2010 qualifying win over Honduras on Wednesday.
El Salvador and Trinidad and Tobago played to a 2-2 draw in the remaining match on the slate as the six-nation final phase of qualifying for the North and Central America and Caribbean region got underway.
In Columbus, Bradley opened the scoring in the 43rd minute and added another goal in the 90th after Mexico had been reduced to 10 men with the sending off of Rafael Marquez in the 65th minute.
Bradley gave the hosts the lead late in the first half after a corner kick by DaMarcus Beasley found Landon Donovan at the far post.
Donovan headed the ball back a…
Antonio Conte is back in Italian football and is charged with restoring the glory days to Inter after several years of underachieving.
The former Italy, Juventus and Chelsea coach represents a significant coup for Inter, who ditched Luciano Spalletti at the end of last season.
Inter only just scraped a Champions League spot on the final day of the previous campaign and are now nine years on from their most recent Serie A success.
The squad has been bolstered by some new arrivals, with Nicolo Barella, Stefano Sensi, Valentino Lazaro and Diego Godin among those to join, while Matteo Politano s purchase option was triggered and George Puscas returned from loan in the hope of having a squad role.
Despite the investment – and aside from the potential purchas…