Frank Lampard has said he loves Hakim Ziyech’s “inner confidence” and believes the Moroccan will boost Chelsea’s ability to break down defensive opponents.
Chelsea lacked invention last season and hope Ziyech, who had to wait to make his debut after sustaining a knee injury in pre-season, will increase their creative threat. The former Ajax playmaker impressed on his first start against Krasnodar in the Champions League on Wednesday, scoring in a 4-0 win and showing signs of the personality that has convinced Lampard of the 26-year-old’s ability to succeed in the Premier League.
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“He can find a pass and sometimes last season I felt we lacked that when we were playi…
The South African government was confident Thursday of its 2010 World Cup readiness, as the country gears up to stage the draw for next year s Confederations Cup.
The stadia are on schedule and they will finish on time. We believe we are on track, said Sicelo Shiceka, the provincial and local government minister, after a two-day workshop with host cities.
A high level FIFA team, including its vice-president Jack Warner, will be in Johannesburg on November 22 for the draw for the Confederations Cup, FIFA spokeswoman Delia Fischer told AFP Thursday.
Other members of the delegation include FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke and Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Issa Hayatou.
The Confederations Cup has traditionally been used to test a …
Italy will have a shot at their first European title for 53 years after overcoming Spain on penalties in Tuesday s Euro 2020 semi-final.
Four-time world champions Italy were taken to extra-time at Wembley, where Alvaro Morata cancelled out Federico Chiesa s opener to ensure it was 1-1 after 90 minutes.
Neither side could find the breakthrough during the additional half hour and Manuel Locatelli and Dani Olmo failed with the opening penalties for their respective sides.
But Morata turned from hero to villain when Gianluigi Donnarumma saved his tame spot-kick and Jorginho converted to book a final showdown with either England or Denmark.
For Spain, and Morata in particular, this night could have ended up feeling very different indeed.
Ita…
Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini believes Italy will spring a surprise over Germany and advance to the Euro 2012 final.
The Azzurri saw off England on Sunday on penalties after 90 minutes of normal play and a half-hour of extra-time failed to produce a winner and will now face Joachim Loew s men on Thursday.
Portugal are set to play reigning champions Spain a day earlier and Mancini believes there will be some shock results in the semi-final clashes.
The final will be between Italy and Portugal, Mancini told Radio RAI.
The former Inter coach compared the upcoming semi-final matches to Chelsea s surprising Champions League victory in the last four over Barcelona and Bayern Munich s win against Real Madrid at the same stage of the competition.
…
Scotland, Ireland, Wales and Northern Ireland will meet at a friendly tourmanent in 2011. The tournament should be held every year from then on.
As the four countries failed to qualify for last year s European Championships, the idea arose or organising a friendly tournament. England immediately rejected the possibility, but the remaining four nations have now decided to make the plan come true.
A similar tournament existed in the past. The Home Championship involved Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England but was cancelled in 1984 due to the increasing number of international matches on the calendar.
The first edition of this new tournament, dubbed the Celtic Cup , is expected to take place in Ireland s capital city Dublin.
…
Barcelona recorded losses of €481million for the 2020-21 financial year, the club announced on Wednesday.
After a tumultuous year, which ended with Lionel Messi leaving the club as the Catalans could not afford his contract, Barca s revenue was €631m. This fell well below the €828m set in the budget.
With expenditure of a record €1.136billion, up from €955m, Barca posted an operating loss of €505m, a net loss of €555m and a post-tax loss of €481m.
The Blaugrana cited falling revenues and the inability to contain spending during the coronavirus pandemic.
However, Barca acknowledged they had calculated their loss even without the pandemic at €390m.
Their net debt subsequently stood at €680m, according to LFP criteria, …
Manchester United smashed the British transfer record when they completed the signing of Argentina’s Angel Di Maria on this day in 2014.
The Red Devils, in a rebuilding phase following the departure of their hugely successful manager Sir Alex Ferguson the year before, paid £59.7million for the then 26-year-old.
Di Maria, brought in by the club’s new Dutch boss Louis van Gaal, arrived at United fresh from helping his old club Real Madrid seal their 10th European title the season before.
Di Maria said at the time of his signing: “I am absolutely delighted to be joining Manchester United. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in Spain and there were a lot of clubs interested in me, but United is the only club that I would have left Real Madrid for.
“Lou…
Covers is throwing an entry into the Circa Million Pro Football contest for the 2021 season and Adam Chernoff has been tabbed to make the weekly picks so let’s dig right in.
Here are his five ATS picks for Week 8 of the Circa Million betting contest.
Week 7 record: 3-2Season to date: 21-14Place: T-777 / 4,086
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Cleveland Browns’ fans went from the embarrassment of always losing, to the embarrassment of failed expectations, to the embarrassment of the Deshaun Watson contract.
Aside from being a serial creep, Watson is an elite quarterback talent when on his game, and has much more around him in terms of talent and coaching in Cleveland than he did when piggybacking Houston to the playoffs all those years.
As of this writing, Watson will serve an 11-game suspension and all the legal sparring has had the Browns’ NFL odds in flux, with futures shifting since the spring and spreads and totals now finally reflecting the situation at quarterback.
What kind of product will the Factory of Sadness be pumping out this season? We find out in our Cleveland Brow…
In a wide-open NFC, the Seattle Seahawks and Dallas Cowboys will have lofty expectations this year. Saturday’s preseason matchup gives both teams a chance to fine-tune their rosters.
The Seahawks largely sat their starters against the Minnesota Vikings last Thursday in their preseason opener but still came away with a 24-13 win, led by a steady performance from Drew Lock (191 passing yards with two touchdowns and a pick).
A similarly eye-catching quarterback outing from Will Grier (199 passing yards with two touchdown passes and an interception) kept the Cowboys afloat in Saturday’s 28-23 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Now both teams have to decide whether to sprinkle in some minutes for their starters this weekend with the regular season …