Italy vs. Germany Will Determine Euro 2016 Favourite

The bottom of the knockout draw at the 2016 UEFA European Championship was a daunting sight. Among the eight teams on this side of the bracket were five former world champions.  France, England, Spain, Italy and Germany toted 11 World Cups combined into this phase of the competition, as well as nine combined Euro wins.  It looked like a series of titanic clashes was in order. Despite the incredible capitulation of England to a Cinderella Iceland team, this side of the knockout round is still set to deliver some incredible football.  Iceland and France will be fascinating to watch,... 

England Must Fix Their Mentality Before They Fix Anything Else

By now, the usual inquest which follows an English exit from a major tournament feels tired. The manager resigns, or at least faces intense media interrogation, while underperforming players are trialled by a public jury. Until that changes neither will England’s international football fortunes.  Indeed, the investigation that will follow England’s humiliating last-16 exit to Iceland at Euro 2016 must go deeper than ever before. The sample size of failure is simply too big for the explanation to be singular. England is a broken footballing nation and it has more to do with the... 

Deflated Argentina Must Rebuild Without Lionel Messi for World Cup Qualifiers

After the painful interlude of the Copa America Centenario, the long slog to the Russia World Cup resumes for Argentina. But the team that takes up the qualifying mantle may look rather different to the line-up that fell just short in New Jersey days ago.  There is little time for the Albiceleste to lick their wounds following Sunday’s penalty shoot-out defeat to Chile. Nor do Gerardo Martino’s men have much margin to settle back into action after such an emotional roller coaster in the United States.  On September 1, Uruguay await in Mendoza’s Estadio Malvinas Argentinas.... 

Cristiano Ronaldo Has a Golden Chance to End Portugal Trophy Drought

The concept of a one-man team has been a dominant theme of Euro 2016. Gareth Bale and Wales. Marek Hamsik and Slovakia. Not forgetting, of course, the old faithful, the original: Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal. So what if we’ve reached a point where Portugal have at last found a way to be more than that? While there was much to forget about the last-16 tie against Croatia (and from an aesthetic point of view, it was as bad as it’s got in this tournament), one statistic stood out as one picked over the bones afterwards. Having taken 30 efforts at goal in the first three games, Ronaldo... 

Germany Have the Chance to Overcome Trauma in Euro 2016 Quarter-Final vs. Italy

Germany head coach Joachim Low knew before the penultimate round-of-16 match on Monday evening that he’d face a nemesis of sorts in the quarter-finals of Euro 2016. Both Spain and Italy had proved to be insuperable foes in the 56-year-old’s 12 years with the national team. The only time his men didn’t face either Spain or Italy was in 2014 and, promptly, they finally hoisted another trophy after an 18-year wait. At the home World Cup in 2006, back when Low was still Jurgen Klinsmann’s assistant, Italy ended the dreams of an entire country in extra time in the semi-final.... 

Why Jose Fonte’s Long Road to the Top Can Be Euro 2016 Inspiration for Portugal

It has been a Euro 2016 tournament in which the underdog stories have been the ones to savour, and Portugal were able to tap into one of their own during the long old slog that it took to beat Croatia in Lens on Saturday night. With the ageing Ricardo Carvalho having been dropped from the side following his cat on a hot tin roof of a performance in the 3-3 draw with Hungary, coach Fernando Santos opted to turn to a player only six years Carvalho’s junior, albeit one who has had quite the different career. Six years ago, when Carvalho was completing a move from Chelsea to Real Madrid having... 

England Manager Search: Latest News, Rumours and Speculation on Three Lions Job

Following Roy Hodgson’s resignation as England manager after their disastrous exit from UEFA Euro 2016, the search for a new Three Lions boss has begun. Continue for updates. Southgate Reportedly Not Interested in Job Wednesday, June 29 Dominic Fifield of the Guardian reported that England Under-21s manager Gareth Southgate “has no interest” in succeeding Hodgson and “would be reluctant to even consider accepting the position on an interim basis.” Fifield also reported Southgate’s reservations regarding the position: Southgate, who has spoken about the issue... 

Wayne Rooney Talks ‘Embarrassing’ England Loss to Iceland, Roy Hodgson, More

England captain Wayne Rooney has insisted he wants to remain part of the national team setup despite the side’s “embarrassing” 2-1 loss to Iceland in the last 16 of the 2016 UEFA European Championship on Monday.  The loss was the biggest surprise of the tournament so far, as a star-studded Three Lions team failed to find a way back into the game after falling 2-1 behind. For manager Roy Hodgson the contest proved to be the end, as he announced afterwards that he would not be renewing his contract with the Football Association, per BBC Sport. Rooney reflected on a nadir for... 

Lionel Messi Urged to Return to Argentina National-Team Duty by Diego Maradona

Argentina legend Diego Maradona has urged Lionel Messi to reconsider his retirement from the national team.  Per La Nacion (h/t Goal’s Sacha Pisani), Maradona said:  Messi has to stay in the national team. He will go to Russia in form to be world champion. He has to rely more on boys who can help take the team forward and less on those who say they have to go. Those who are saying he should quit are doing it so that we won’t see what a disaster Argentine football has become. Maradona expanded on the state of the Argentine Football Association, with the presidential election... 

Predicting the USMNT’s 2018 World Cup Squad After the Copa America

With the Copa America Centenario in the rearview mirror, the focus of the United States men’s national team has shifted to qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.  Barring a meltdown of epic proportions in CONCACAF World Cup qualifying, the Yanks will play in their eighth World Cup in a row in two years’ time.  There will be a healthy amount of change between now and then in terms of the personnel on the 23-man roster due to the high amount of older players in the Copa squad. Given everything we know about the players in the talent pool at this moment, we have tried... 

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