Only one man in charge: how Pickford became England’s penalty hero

Others may have gone missing, but the goalkeeper has been Southgate’s most reliable player in Germany

Perhaps the most striking part of England’s quarter-final victory against Switzerland in Düsseldorf was the sense of contrast. For large parts of normal and extra time England once again played like a team here under sufferance.

This was another awkward dance without music, a facsimile of how elite clubs play, footballers out there trying to run the patterns, then remembering that, actually, there are no patterns. Continue reading...

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Gianluca Vialli: a look back at the Italy great's football life – video obituary

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The former Italy striker Gianluca Vialli has died at the age of 58. Vialli, who played for Chelsea during a stellar career before going to become the club’s manager, had been undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer. Vialli began his career at Cremonese, his hometown club, before going on to star in Serie A for Sampdoria and Juventus, ending his playing career at Chelsea before going into management and coaching. He was part of the backroom team that beat England in the final to win Euro 2020 and recently announced that he would be stepping away from his role as delegation chief with the Italy team to focus on his cancer treatment. Vialli announced he had undergone radiotherapy and chemotherapy in November 2018, having been diagnosed with cancer one year earlier. He was initially given the all-clear in April 2020, but in December 2021 he announced the disease had returned. * Gianluca Vialli, former Italy, Juventus and Chelsea striker, dies aged 58 Continue reading...
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‘They’re ignorant’: Crawford hits out at racist abuse of Ireland Under-15s players

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* Under-21s manager calls on social media companies to act * ‘These same people will be cheering goals if Chieo scores’ The Republic of Ireland Under-21s manager, Jim Crawford, has hit out at the “uneducated” trolls who sent online abuse to members of the country’s under-15s squad. The Football Association of Ireland has condemned the attacks which came after the under-15s’ back-to-back 6-0 victories over Latvia this week, as “vile and horrific” and is working with police and social media companies to identify and deal with those responsible. Continue reading...
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The Ronaldo show is unstoppable and reduces others to bit-part players | Jonathan Wilson

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In this world of celebrity worship, the winning of football matches is a secondary concern. It’s all about Ronaldo There is a fascination always as legends fade, to watch how they rage against the diminution of their own powers, to see embodied in one shrugging, pouting frame the eternal human battle with mortality. Decay and decrepitude have their allure; what the romantics saw in a ruined abbey, so others will see in the dwindling figure of Cristiano Ronaldo. Some day there will be a Portugal match that is not about Ronaldo – but not here, not yet. It wasn’t just about the penalty he had saved by Jan Oblak in extra time, which left him in tears. He did, at least, make up for it in the shootout. Everything is about Ronaldo; Portuguese football has become the great psychodrama of his ageing. Diogo Costa may have saved three penalties in the shootout, but even then this was about Ronaldo. Continue reading...
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