Neymar says all the hard work paid off as he recovered from injury to play a big part in Brazil s sublime 4-1 win over South Korea in Monday s World Cup last-16 tie.
The Paris Saint-Germain superstar missed Brazil s final two group games after sustaining an ankle injury late on in the opening 2-0 win over Serbia on November 24.
However, the 30-year-old was deemed fit enough to play 81 minutes of the one-sided contest with South Korea and scored the second of his side s goals at Stadium 974.
Neymar admits he feared the worst when suffering the injury 11 days ago and is glad to now be back on the field playing – and scoring – again.
I was very scared, he said in his post-match interview. I was doing well after a positive start to the season, so sufferi…
The Columbus Crew ended their home regular-season campaign on a high note by thrashing the New England Revolution 4-0.
Reigning MLS Cup champions Columbus had already sealed their playoff spot and a regular-season club-record tally of points prior to Saturday s fixture at Lower.com Field.
Yet Wilfried Nancy s team did not let up as Alexandru Matan s hat-trick propelled them to an emphatic victory over a New England side that must lick their wounds after a dismal season.
DeJuan Jones got the ball rolling with a sublime curler in the fourth minute, with Matan subsequently taking centre-stage.
The Romanian drilled home a low finish in the 14th minute, before doubling his tally from close range in the 64th.
Matan should have scored a third when he was…
Federico Chiesa stunned Chelsea at the start of the second half and earned Juventus a 1-0 victory in Wednesday s Champions League Group H clash.
Chelsea failed to make their dominance of the ball count in the opening period and just 10 seconds after the restart Chiesa fired Juve in front at the Allianz Stadium.
The reigning champions continued to labour when going forward and a trio of substitutions just after the hour mark failed to spark them into life.
Juve were comfortable in seeing out a victory that handed their hopes of going into the last-16 as group winners a significant boost.
Chelsea exposed themselves to counter-attacks by giving the ball away – Chiesa flashing an effort narrowly wide after seizing upon a stray pass from Mate…
Zlatan Ibrahimovic has hit another career milestone after netting his 300th goal across Europe s top five leagues.
The Milan veteran scored a spectacular stoppage-time equaliser against Udinese on Saturday in what was his 450th appearance in the top five leagues.
That took Ibrahimovic to 300 goals in those competitions – the Premier League, Bundesliga, Serie A, LaLiga and Ligue 1.
Only Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have reached that mark previously in the 21st century.
Ibrahimovic has featured in four of the top five leagues, with the Bundesliga the only competition missing off his list.
Having joined Juventus in 2004 from Ajax, the Sweden striker has gone on to play for Inter, Barcelona, Milan (over two spells), Paris Saint-Germain an…
Gareth Southgate has resigned as England manager following their Euro 2024 final defeat.
Southgate s contract was due to expire at the end of the year, but the 53-year-old had admitted he was unlikely to carry on if they did not lift the trophy.
He was in charge of the Three Lions for eight years, having taken on the role following Sam Allardyce s abrupt exit in September 2016.
Southgate managed England at four major tournaments, leading them to the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup in the first.
The former defender then led the side to their first major tournament final since 1966 at Euro 2020, losing 3-2 on penalties to Italy at Wembley, before guiding them to the quarter-finals at the World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
His final tournament in charge s…
Manchester United must become more clinical in both boxes , said a frustrated Erik ten Hag after Saturday s last-gasp 2-1 defeat to Brighton.
Joao Pedro headed in a stoppage-time winner for Brighton at the Amex Stadium, condemning United to their first Premier League loss of the season.
Amad Diallo had earlier cancelled out Danny Welbeck s opener, which was the Brighton forward s 100th club goal, and his sixth against his old side United.
United had a would-be equaliser disallowed when the offside Joshua Zirzkee got a knee to Alejandro Garnacho s strike on the line, and ultimately contrived to lose when some slack defending allowed Pedro to pounce at the back post.
Yet Ten Hag refused to pin the blame on Zirkzee s mistake, and instead reiterated the need …
Marcus Rashford s scintillating form comes from just confidence and not the influence of Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag, who joked: I m not Harry Potter .
The England international scored his 18th goal of the season amid a routine 3-0 EFL Cup semi-final first-leg victory at Nottingham Forest on Wednesday.
Only Erling Haaland (31) has netted more than Rashford among Premier League players in all competitions this term, though Ten Hag says he has had little influence on the United forward s development.
I m not Harry Potter, the Dutchman said ahead of Saturday s fourth-round FA Cup clash at home to Reading.
It s just confidence. Every player has to make and get his own confidence.
He fought for this, he invested in this. Of course with my…
Wales have enlisted the support of former manager Chris Coleman to help them avoid relegation from the Women’s Nations League.
Coleman memorably led Wales to the semi-finals of Euro 2016 and spoke to boss Gemma Grainger and her squad before Friday’s relegation decider against Iceland in Cardiff.
Wales need to probably win by a two-goal margin to stay in League A, as well as boost their Euro 2025 qualifying hopes, and Coleman gave the lowdown on his time as men’s team manager between 2012 and 2017 during a 20-minute Zoom call on Wednesday.
“One of the things we have done in terms of the mindset and mentality is being fortunate enough to spend some time with Chris Coleman,” Grainger said at her pre-match press conference.
“We spoke to Chris arou…
The Czech Republic secured their qualification for Euro 2020 with a dramatic comeback win over Kosovo in Thursday s crucial Group A encounter.
Kosovo – who are guaranteed a play-off place thanks to their efforts in the UEFA Nations League – needed to avoid defeat at Doosan Arena to keep their chances of automatic qualification alive.
The visitors looked set to cause an upset when Sheffield Wednesday forward Atdhe Nuhiu put them ahead with a superb header in the 50th minute.
But the Czechs fought back, Alex Kral s stunning hit pulling them level before the midfielder provided the assist for Ondrej Celustka s winner eight minutes later as Jaroslav Silhavy s side completed the comeback to book their place at next year s tournament.
qualification…
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Hoping to spring another upset on their travels this weekend, Rayo Vallecano will travel to the Estadio Coliseum when they meet local rivals Getafe on Saturday night.
Starting with the hosts, getting proceedings underway with a rugged performance last weekend as they snatched a 1-1 stalemate away at top-four hopefuls Athletic Bilbao, Getafe will be looking to use that display as a platform to build on. However, eventually limping their way over the finishing line last season, the Blues know that stability is key this time around. Signing off the 2023/24 campaign with a 2-1 defeat at home against Mallorca, Jose Bordalas’ camp lost all of their final five La Liga appearances prior to the summer break with a 9-1. Likewise, the M…