Ivory Coast interim coach Emerse Fae has warned his players it is not their “destiny” to win the Africa Cup of Nations, despite their remarkable run to a semi-final showdown with DR Congo.
Fae’s side fought back to claim a remarkable last-gasp win over Mali in the quarter-finals after being reduced to 10 men just before half-time following Odilon Kossounou’s dismissal.
Nene Dorgeles had fired Mali in front in the 71st minute, but Simon Adingra’s 90th-minute equaliser took the tie to extra time before Oumar Diakite grabbed the winner with almost the last kick of the match.
The Elephants also came from behind against Senegal in the last 16 after scraping out of their group as the last of the four best third-placed teams.
“We are aware that we ha…
Gareth Southgate praised Rico Lewis after the teenage debutant bounced back from a contentious penalty call made against him during an impressive first England appearance away to North Macedonia.
An unbeaten year that started with victory in Italy ended with a 1-1 draw away in chilly Skopje as the Euro 2020 runners-up rubberstamped their place among the top seeds for next year’s finals.
Monday’s trip to Skopje represented England’s final match on foreign soil before Euro 2024 gets under way in June, and Southgate’s side had to dig deep after falling behind to a team they beat 7-0 in June.
Lewis was unlucky to see a spot-kick awarded against him shortly after Harry Maguire survived making a clumsy challenge in the box, with Enis Bardhi scoring after Jordan…
Brazil legend Cafu believes anything other than winning the World Cup in Qatar will be deemed as a failure for the Selecao.
Tite s side breezed through World Cup qualifying as they topped the South American group after going unbeaten through their 17 games, winning 14 and drawing three.
The world s number one ranked side and five-time winners have been labelled by many as favourites to lift the World Cup come December.
Brazil, who boast the likes of Liverpool pair Alisson and Fabinho, along with Paris Saint-Germain duo Neymar and Marquinhos, have been drawn into a group with Serbia, Switzerland and Cameroon.
However, the Selecao have not appeared in a World Cup final since 2002, when they won the competition, with the last four editions seeing European t…
Leah Williamson is part of the England squad for next month’s Euro 2025 qualifiers against Sweden and the Republic of Ireland.
The Arsenal defender returned to the international fold in February for the first time in nine months having recovered from an anterior cruciate ligament injury, but subsequently had to withdraw before friendlies against Austria and Italy due to a hamstring issue.
Chelsea’s Fran Kirby is also back, having missed the games in February after pulling up in the pre-Austria warm-up with a knee problem, while club mate Millie Bright remains out injured.
Here we go!
The selected for our upcoming qualifiers…
— Lionesses (@Lionesses)
Maya Le Tissier misses out, with fellow Manchester United defender Millie Turne…
Callum McGregor spoke of Celtic being at a “crossroads” following their shock Viaplay Cup exit to Kilmarnock on Sunday.
The Hoops captain did not like what he witnessed from last season’s treble winners at Rugby Park, where Marley Watkins’ second-half goal sparked an unlikely post-mortem into Celtic’s last-16 demise.
Boss Ange Postecoglou left for Tottenham at the end of the season after completing the clean sweep and winger Jota and defender Carl Starfelt have also gone, while returning manager Brendan Rodgers was without Alistair Johnston, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Reo Hatate and Oh Hyeon-gyu for the trip to Ayrshire.
Rodgers gave a debut to Swedish defender Gustaf Lagerbielke alongside fellow new signing Maik Nawrocki, with a first start for summer rec…
England made it two wins from two in World Cup qualifying as they secured a 2-0 victory against Albania in Tirana on Sunday evening.
It took until the 38th minute of the game for the Three Lions to finally find an opener as Harry Kane nodded in Luke Shaw s cross. Mason Mount then doubled the lead just after the break as he got on the end of a cool ball from Kane and caressed a great finish into the far corner to secure the three points for Gareth Southgate s men.
Here are three things we learned from the game:
Kane back on the England goal trail
Despite Kane s stunning season for Tottenham Hotspur in 2020/21 in which he has managed to find the net on 27 occasions in all competitions, it was somewhat of a surprise to find out that he had not scored for his natio…
Real Madrid fought back from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Club Brugge on Tuesday thanks to a late equaliser from Casemiro.
The visitors stunned the Santiago Bernabeu in the first half through two goals from Emmanuel Bonaventure Dennis, but Sergio Ramos and Casemiro clawed back a point for Zinedine Zidane s side.
A 3-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain on matchday one had led to some speculation over Zidane s position as head coach and the nature of their first-half display against Brugge will have done little to ease the pressure.
The comeback, secured after Ruud Vormer s red card, at least spared some of Madrid s blushes and means they are only a point behind Brugge in Group A, who drew with Galatasaray in their opening match.
Dennis made a mess of Perc…
Marcus Forss and Onni Valakari scored debut goals as Finland ended France s 12-match unbeaten run with a shock 2-0 friendly victory.
A much-changed Les Bleus side made a promising start, but 21-year-olds Forss and Valakari struck in the space of three first-half minutes to put Finland in command at the Stade de France on Wednesday.
France debutant Marcus Thuram struck the crossbar before Forss opened the scoring, but the world champions were toothless ahead of their Nations League encounters with Portugal and Sweden.
Finland, who also rung the changes, were solid after rocking Didier Deschamps side with those two first-half goals from out of the blue and famously secured their first win over France, whose previous defeat came against Turkey in June 2019.
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Kevin De Bruyne is wary of a Manchester United response as Manchester City seek to avoid more derby pain in the Premier League.
City make the trip to Old Trafford for Saturday s showdown against United, who were bundled out of the Champions League via the group stage on Tuesday.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and United are under pressure to bounce back, despite winning four consecutive Premier League matches to be seventh and a point clear of City, but five adrift of leaders Tottenham.
United are looking to beat City for the third consecutive match in the top flight for the first time since a run of four victories from 2008 to 2010, and De Bruyne is not underestimating the Red Devils.
I don t think the game is more important for them, said City star De Bruyne.
Milan striker Olivier Giroud believes it will be a special game when he lines up against former club Chelsea in the Champions League.
Giroud returns to Stamford Bridge for the first time since departing the Blues on a free transfer at the end of the 2020-21 season.
The 36-year-old spent three-and-a-half years with the Premier League side; scoring 39 goals in 119 appearances across all competitions.
He notably scored 11 times then the highest tally by a French player during a single European season as Chelsea won the Europa League in 2019, while adding another six during their Champions League-winning campaign two years later.
And Giroud is excited to be returning to the English capital, where he also scored 105 goals in 253 appearances for Arsenal between…