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Tag: England

  • Berbatov says Bulgaria need footballing miracle to win at Wembley

    Dimitar Berbatov believes Bulgaria will need a footballing miracle to beat England in their Euro 2020 qualifier against England at Wembley on Saturday.

    But the Bulgaria legend also says the Balkan nation could hurt Gareth Southgate’s side.

    England have scored 10 goals in two Group A victories against the Czech Republic and Montenegro.

    On the other hand, Bulgaria have managed only two points from four games and sit joint bottom of the group.

    Bulgaria are winless in 10 previous encounters against England and the current squad is light years away from the one that reached the semi-finals of the 1994 World Cup.

    That was when current manager Krasimir Balakov was their midfield linchpin and former FC Barcelona striker Hristo Stoichkov banged in six goals.

    “The hosts are overwhelming favourites because they have world-class players, but miracles happen in football,” said former Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United striker Berbatov, Bulgaria’s all-time record goalscorer.

    “This is a relatively young Bulgarian team. It isn’t dominated by one outstanding player, like Histro Stoichkov back in the day, or when I was in the team.

    “What I like most about this Bulgarian team is their excellent spirit.”

    Berbatov, while previewing the game in his role as an ambassador for Betfair, picks out 22-year-old striker Kiril Despodov as one player who could cause England problems.

    Despodov is on loan to Austria’s Sturm Graz from Italian club Cagliari.

    “He can hurt England with his speed and tricks on the ball. So, England’s defenders need to watch out for him,” he said of the 2018 Bulgarian Footballer of the Year.

    Defeat at Wembley will leave Bulgaria’s hopes of qualifying for the finals looking forlorn, but Berbatov hopes Balakov is given time to turn around their fortunes.

    “He is a national legend,” he said. “I know him well and had the pleasure of playing with him for the national team. He only took over as coach this year. So, it’s too early to judge him. But I really want Balakov to succeed in the job.

    “We’re in a difficult qualifying group for Euro 2020 and, if the players give 100 percent, the fans can’t ask for more.”

    Bulgaria have scored only two goals in their 10 clashes with England, while Berbatov is one of only two Bulgarians to score at Wembley.

    It is a statistic he hopes will improve on Saturday.

    “I will love for someone else to find the net. In my wildest dreams, I will like us to win it,” the 38-year-old said.

  • Wan-Bissaka withdraws from England squad

    Wan-Bissaka withdraws from England squad

    Manchester United defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka has withdrawn from the England squad with a back injury.

    The 21-year-old was included in the senior squad for the first time for Euro 2020 qualifiers against Bulgaria and Kosovo.

    But after arriving for training at St George’s Park he was diagnosed with a back problem and released back to his squad.

    Gareth Southgate, the England manager, has no plans to call up a replacement at right-back with Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold and Atletico Madrid’s Kieran Trippier already in the now 24-man squad.

    “We’re really looking at him (Wan-Bissaka) and Trent (Alexander-Arnold) – that’s the reason, on this occasion, Kyle Walker’s not with us – we think it’s an opportunity to have a look at two young players,” said Southgate.

    “We talked about the number of games we’ve got ahead of next summer, we think we need to see them quickly and we wanted to reintegrate Kieran Trippier back into the group so he knows he is still on our radar.

  • FIFA WWC: England reach semi-finals with 3-0 win over Norway

    FIFA WWC: England reach semi-finals with 3-0 win over Norway

    England sent out a warning to their rivals as they stormed into the women’s World Cup semi-finals with an impressive 3-0 victory against Norway on Thursday.

    Ellen White scored her fifth goal of the tournament in between Jill Scott’s opener and a Lucy Bronze screamer from the edge of the area.

    Phil Neville’s side has set up a mouthwatering clash with either holders the United States or hosts France.

    England were devastating on their right flank with Bronze and Nikita Parris, who missed a late penalty, tormenting their opponents throughout as Norway suffered physically.

    England got away with some sloppiness in defence but the Lionesses will hope to improve on their third place from 2015.

  • England want more than semi-final finishes – Southgate

    England want more than semi-final finishes – Southgate

    England have reached the semi-finals of the last two major championships but manager Gareth Southgate says missing out on the World Cup and Nations League final has left the squad deeply unsatisfied.

    England’s shootout win over Switzerland on Sunday saw them finish UEFA’s inaugural Nations League in third place, one spot better than the 2018 World Cup when they were beaten by Belgium in the bronze medal game.

    “None of us is satisfied with two semi-final appearances in successive years,” Southgate told reporters. “We all wanted to move forward further.

    “We needed to finish what’s been a good year with the international team with a strong performance.”

    Southgate said it was a good thing that the players were feeling they could have achieved more.

    “We owed it to ourselves… The commitment is there. They’re not satisfied with where they’re at and that, as a coach, gives you a lift,” he added.

    Southgate also voiced his displeasure over UEFA’s decision not to award England their bronze medals on the field after the game.

    “We’ve had to go through another third/fourth-place playoff and have finally won one, and we don’t even get the medals in front of our fans,” Southgate said.

    “It’s nice to have some acknowledgement, but we’ll be parking it to one side and looking forward.”

  • Netherlands defeat England to reach Nations League final

    Netherlands defeat England to reach Nations League final

    Netherlands capitalised on two defensive mix-ups by England in extra-time to win their Nations League semi-final 3-1 on Thursday and reach the showpiece against Portugal on Sunday.

    The Dutch went 2-1 ahead when England defender Kyle Walker turned the ball into his own net in the 97th minute after a mistake by team mate John Stones.

    Quincy Promes got the third in the 114th minute after England again gave the ball away at the back.

    Marcus Rashford had put England ahead with a penalty kick in the 32nd minute after a mistake by Matthijs De Ligt.

    De Ligt went from villain to hero by heading the equaliser in the 73rd minute.

    Jesse Lingard thought he had scored for England in the 83rd minute but a VAR review showed he was just offside.

    England will now go on to face Switzerland on Sunday in the third-place match.

  • Chelsea’s Hudson-Odoi earns first England call-up

    Chelsea’s Hudson-Odoi earns first England call-up

    Chelsea winger Callum Hudson-Odoi has been called up to the England squad for the first time for the Euro 2020 qualifiers against the Czech Republic and Montenegro.

    The 18-year-old was due to be part of the England Under-21 squad.

    Hudson-Odoi played 19 games for Chelsea this season, scoring five times, but is yet to start a Premier League match.

    Luke Shaw has joined John Stones, Fabian Delph and Ruben Loftus-Cheek in withdrawing from the squad.

    Earlier on Monday, Southampton midfielder James Ward-Prowse was called up as a replacement.

    Hudson-Odoi’s Under-21 call-up was his first at that level but the winger has previously represented England from Under-16 to Under-19 level, winning the Under-17 World Cup in 2017.

    “It’s been a crazy experience but I’m delighted to get the call and it’s a nice feeling to be here as well,” Hudson-Odoi said.

    “I thought the manager [Under-21 manager Aidy Boothroyd] was joking.

    “I was shocked and then when I heard that I actually had to go over [to England’s training base at St George’s Park], I couldn’t believe it. I was delighted.

  • England’s World Cup-winning goalkeeper, Banks, dies at 81

    Gordon Banks, the goalkeeper in England’s 1966 World Cup-winning team, has died at 81, his former club, Stoke City, said on Tuesday.

    Banks won 73 caps for England between 1963 and 1972 and made 200 appearances for Stoke before his playing career was brought to an end by a car crash that cost him his sight in one eye.

    He was widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers to have played the game.

    He will be best remembered for the diving stop he made to deny Brazil’s Pele at the 1970 World Cup, which later became known as the “save of the century”.

    “It is with great sadness that we announce that Gordon passed away peacefully overnight,”

    “We are devastated to lose him but we have so many happy memories and could not have been more proud of him,” Banks’ family said in a statement posted on Stoke’s official website.

    Banks played every game in the 1966 World Cup, including the 4-2 victory over West Germany in the final at Wembley – the only time England has won the world title.

    Four years later though, in Mexico, he produced one of the most outstanding saves in the history of the tournament in a group game between England and Brazil, which Brazil won 1-0.

    Pele rose to head a cross from the by-line by right-winger Jairzinho, thundering the header down towards Banks’ right hand post.

    The ball appeared to be past Banks but his agility and strength saw him get down and palmed it high and wide to safety.

    Pele travelled to Stoke 38 years later to unveil a statue to Banks and recalled the save.

    “From the moment I headed it, I was sure it had gone in.

    “After I headed the ball, I had already began to jump to celebrate the goal. Then I looked back and I couldn’t believe it hadn’t gone in.

    “I have scored more than a thousand goals in my life and the thing people always talk to me about is the one I didn’t score,” Pele said.

    Banks recalled the moment modestly as a piece of good fortune.

    “As soon as I got my hand to it, I thought it was going in the top corner.

    “But, after I’d landed on the hard floor, I looked up and saw the ball bounce behind the net and that’s when I said: Banksy, you lucky prat,” he said.

    The Sheffield-born Banks began his career at Chesterfield in 1958 and moved to Leicester City the following year. He won his first England cap in 1963, four years before he joined Stoke.

    Banks retired in 1973 following the car crash, aged only 33, but four years later he returned to play in the North American Soccer League with Fort Lauderdale Strikers.

    The German Football Association (DFB) paid tribute to Banks on, saying on Twitter: “A fierce opponent and a good man.”

  • England football star kicked out of nightclub for taking cocaine

    England football star kicked out of nightclub for taking cocaine

    An England footballer was kicked out of a nightclub after he was caught snorting cocaine in the toilet, it has been revealed.

    The unidentified star was allegedly spotted by a Premier League teammate ‘doing a line’ in the toilets of a nightclub on a recent night out.

    A source claimed other teammates saw him emerging from the club’s toilets looking worse for wear and he was later bundled into the back of a cab by the manager – who thought he had simply ‘drunk too much’.

    ‘Everyone is talking about it,’ the insider told The Sun.

    ‘It wasn’t the club’s official Christmas party but a few drinks after a game and many of the players and manager were there.

    ‘One of the players saw him doing a line in the toilets then half an hour later he was all over the place. His jaw was working overtime and he was a mess.

    ‘He wasn’t just drunk. The gaffer was furious and got him out the back door and into a taxi thinking he had drunk too much.’

    The footballer had tested negative for drugs just a day before the incident, meaning he knew he was unlikely to be tested within the next few days and could ‘get away with it’, it is claimed.

    But the incident caused a rift within the dressing room.

    They said the team had been suffering from ‘bad results’ on the pitch and it had happened at ‘the worst possible time’.

    UK Anti-Doping is said to collect more than 5,000 samples from players last season, including almost 2,000 from Premier League players.

    In the 2016/17 season there were only 1,171 samples collected from Premier League clubs – with an increase of 820 last year alone.

  • England face Netherlands in Euro Nations League semi-final

    England face Netherlands in Euro Nations League semi-final

    England will play the Netherlands in the Nations League semi-finals in Guimaraes, Portugal on 6 June 2019.

    The hosts face Switzerland on 5 June at Porto’s Estadio do Dragao in the other semi-final, with the final on 9 June.

    “It’s a very exciting game to look forward to and a second semi-final for us,” said England manager Gareth Southgate.

    The winners of the Nations League will receive £6.7m in prize money, and the fourth-placed team £4m.

    England reached the last four of the World Cup in Russia this summer.

    They qualified for the Nations League semi-finals by finishing top of a group containing Croatia and Spain.

    The game against the Dutch, managed by Ronald Koeman, at Estadio D Afonso Henriques will be the first competitive meeting between the sides since Euro ’96, when an England side containing Southgate won 4-1.

    “We play a team in Holland who are at a similar stage to us – developing, lots of exciting young players in both sides – and you can see the impact Ronald has had,” said Southgate.

    The Netherlands qualified for the last four thanks to a 90th-minute equaliser in their final group game in Germany.

    Switzerland pipped Belgium to top spot by virtue of their superior head-to-head record, beating them 5-2 in their final game.

    European champions Portugal progressed at the expense of Poland and Italy.

    The Nations League, which began in September and featured 55 nations in four tiers, also provides a second opportunity to qualify for Euro 2020.

    BBC

  • Former England midfielder charged with sexual assault

    Former England midfielder Paul Gascoigne has been charged with sexually assaulting a woman on a train from York to Durham.

    Gascoigne, 51, was arrested at Durham station on 20 August.

    British Transport Police said the football legend has now been charged with one count of sexual assault by touching and will appear at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates’ Court on 11 December.

    Mr Gascoigne shot to international fame during the 1990 World Cup.

    After leaving his hometown club Newcastle United in 1988, he enjoyed success at Tottenham Hotspur, Lazio and Rangers.

    He has had a well-documented struggle with alcoholism in the past.

    A spokeswoman for British Transport Police said Mr Gascoigne, of Leicester, was “charged via postal requisition with one count of sexual assault by touching, contrary to Section 3 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003”.

    “The charge relates to an incident on board a train on 20 August this year,” she added.