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Key events
USA: The World Cup co-hosts returned to action yesterday in Orlando as Mauricio Pochettino’s experimental side beat Peru 4-1. Midfielder Cavan Sullivan became the youngest player to play for the USA since Freddy Adu in 2006. The 16-year-old has a clause in his contract at Philadelphia Union that would see him move to Manchester City when he turns 18 – maybe worth a rethink?
Pablo Iglesias Maurer was there …
For his part, Sullivan was effective during his 60-minute shift. The 16-year-old has been a revelation for the Union since the World Cup break, with six goals and eight assists, and he displayed some of that energy on Saturday for the USA, combining well in attack with Justin Ellis and others and proving a difficult match for Peru’s defenders. That enthusiasm overflowed a bit in the 23rd minute, when a goal-crashing Sullivan collided with Peru goalkeeper Pedro Gallese, earning Sullivan his first USA yellow card.
Live elsewhere on the Guardian at the moment:
Cricket!
More cricket!
Even more cricket!
And rugby union
“I’m firmly Tuchel out,” says Joshua Keeling on email. “He picked the wrong squad for the World Cup, he bottled it in the semi-final, and then he had the temerity to blame everyone except himself. They should sack him, but I’m resigned to the fact that they won’t.
“So here you go, Thomas: par for the Euros in two years’ time is to reach the final. That’s what we’ve done in the last two tournaments, under the best England manager of my lifetime.
“Good luck, and try taking some responsibility.”
I assume that last line is directed at Tuchel, not me. I don’t think there’s anyone better for the job at the moment, but I would agree with the par for Euro 2028 being the final – especially at a home tournament.
Chelsea Women: Would you allow your child to move 5,600 miles away from home to play football? That’s what Melvine Malard’s mum was persuaded to do by Sonia Bompastor when the striker, born in Réunion in the Indian Ocean, was 14. Malard caught the eye of Bompastor, then in charge of Lyon’s academy, during a youth game at France’s national football centre in Clairefontaine.
Now Malard and Bompastor are reunited at Chelsea and are looking to wrest the WSL title back from Manchester City. Arsenal are today’s opponents in one of the league’s standout fixtures at Stamford Bridge.
Malard has been speaking to Suzanne Wrack about her island upbringing, her relationship with Bompastor and the desire to win silverware …
At Chelsea, there are clear ambitions: to win the game, win the trophies and raise the level higher. That is where I need to be.
Sonia knows my qualities, my energy, my personality and she knows what I need to learn and where I need to progress.
When I look at the little girl from that island today playing for Chelsea and nominated for the Ballon d’Or, it’s a lot for me to take in and a lot for my family.
Women’s Super League: Champions Manchester City are four wins from four at the start of this season after yesterday’s 1-0 win at the Valley. Alex Greenwood scored a fine free-kick in the first half to beat Charlton, who stay bottom and without a point.
Alexia Putellas scored her first goal in English football in London City Lionesses’ 2-0 home win over Brighton. The two-time Ballon d’Or winner, who left Barcelona this summer, put London City in front before Lucía Corrales made sure of the points.
Non-league: John Brewin has had his hunger for men’s club football sated this weekend with a visit to Wealdstone and a check-in on how Lee Cattermole is doing as Gateshead manager.
For the time being, at least, Cattermole’s first senior management role is not going at all well. The former hard-tackling Middlesbrough, Wigan and Sunderland midfielder, collector of 88 yellow cards and seven reds in 271 Premier League games, has approached management in a characteristically uncompromising fashion. His team bottom of the National League, one win from 10 matches, Cattermole has employed the “bomb squad” approach favoured by Enzo Maresca at Chelsea and Ruben Amorim at Manchester United.
Eight players are reported to be training at alternative times to the first team, having also been removed from WhatsApp group chats. Neither Maresca nor Amorim’s shunning of players was particularly successful at an elite level, and being six goals down by half-time at home to Southend the previous week hardly heralded the success of Cattermole’s tough-love strategy either.
Today’s fixtures
The men’s Nations League and Women’s Super League continue (all times BST), including a meeting between Erling Haaland and Cristiano Ronaldo in Oslo and Jürgen Klopp’s first home game as Germany head coach.
Nations League
Group A2: Serbia v Netherlands (5pm), Germany v Greece (7.45pm)
A4: Denmark v Wales (5pm); Norway v Portugal (7.45pm)
B3: Austria v Kosovo (5pm); Israel v Rep of Ireland (7.45pm)
D1: Gibraltar v Andorra (5pm)
D2: Lithuania v Azerbaijan (2pm)
WSL
Manchester United v West Ham (1pm)
Birmingham v Crystal Palace, Liverpool v Everton, Tottenham v Aston Villa (all 2pm)
Chelsea v Arsenal (4.30pm)
Also worth noting in Spain is the fierce Asturian derby between Real Oviedo and Sporting Gijón from the second tier at 8pm. I used to study in Oviedo, so my allegiances are not in doubt.
Scotland: Sebastien Pocognoli’s reign began with a 0-0 draw with Slovenia yesterday afternoon. It’s a decent first result for Steve Clarke’s successor and gives Scotland a platform to build on before games against Switzerland and North Macedonia in Group B1. Ewan Murray was there to watch …
Blue skies, a dainty stadium in Ljubljana and a second-half display that provided glimpses of optimism in respect of Scotland’s world, post-Steve Clarke. The best-forgotten first 45 minutes can be explained away by a squad operating under a new regime. By full time, Slovenia were grateful for their point. Scotland’s players took deserved applause.
Scotland’s failing here was a familiar one. A lack of goals haunted Clarke. Nonetheless, this version of Scotland did at least create a series of openings. Scott McTominay, a key attacking threat, was missing. Instilling ruthlessness in a team is no easy task; it is one, however, Pocognoli has the coaching credentials to meet. Slovenia, on this evidence, have the more significant challenges.
England: Yes, there was not much he could do about the two defensive errors that led to Spain goals, but there is still something to be said about Thomas Tuchel’s in-game management last night. He seemed to get the initial team selection right – Elliot Anderson and Myles Lewis-Skelly were an effective counter to Rodri and Fabian Ruiz in midfield, while Anthony Gordon was an inspired choice on the left – but the second-half substitutes didn’t have much impact at all.
After Harry Kane’s penalty miss on 54 minutes, Luis de la Fuente brought on Alex Baena and Mikel Oyarzabal – two later goalscorers. At 2-2 on 70 minutes, Spain added Pedri to their midfield and England added James Garner, underlining a serious dropoff in strength without the injured Declan Rice. Then the likes of Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Morgan Gibbs-White were given little time to affect the game, while replacing Marc Guehi with Jarrad Branthwaite with a minute to go at a goal down seemed fairly pointless. What do you reckon? Get in touch here.
Manchester City: Jonathan Wilson examines the repercussions of Friday’s seismic news and the extent to which anyone could feel cheated by what has happened.
It is not just that they could be forcibly relegated; it is that potential for financial claims against City and not just from those sides who missed out on titles during the ghost years. Other sides were denied European places. Prize money was lost. Even relegated sides may argue City were a factor in them dropping out of the Premier League.
There are knock-on effects to the years after the period in question. Leicester, for instance, narrowly missed out on Champions League qualification in 2020 and 2021. Would they have qualified had City, who finished above them, not been artificially juiced? Had they played in the Champions League then, would they be in the mess they are in now? Then there are the less direct consequences: what might it have meant for a club’s – or a manager’s or a player’s – global reputation and thus their capacity to generate commercial income, had they won the league or remained in the Premier League for a further season?
Manchester City: The club’s chair, Khaldoon al-Mubarak, said yesterday that “nothing has changed” after the news that City had been found guilty on all but one of the 115 charges laid by the Premier League, which the club have always strenuously denied.
Al-Mubarak wrote on social media yesterday afternoon:
While some people have been quick to reach their own conclusions, and there is so much noise swirling around us, nothing has changed. We have faced challenges together before and have prevailed. There remain many who want to undermine the momentum of our club. We will not give them that opportunity.
We have some exciting moments to look forward to after this international break. We travel to Anfield in a fortnight and then host Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League back at Etihad Stadium – moments that give us an opportunity to celebrate the strength of the Manchester City family. Thank you, as always, for your constant support.
The City manager, Enzo Maresca, had earlier posted a cryptic message on social media to say: “The only thing I know is that I know nothing.”
Manchester City: Tony Pulis said he feels cheated over his Stoke team’s 1-0 defeat to Manchester City in the 2011 FA Cup final. Yaya Touré’s winner delivered the first trophy since Man City’s 2008 takeover by Abu Dhabi royalty.
In a column on the BBC Sport website, Pulis responded to the news on Friday that Man City have been found guilty on virtually all of the 115 charges brought by the Premier League, which the club have always denied. The alleged financial rule breaches span the 2009-10 to 2022-23 seasons. The 2011 final was Stoke’s only FA Cup final in their history.
Pulis wrote that Stoke fans had been asking him: “When do we get our FA Cup?”
I thought exactly the same. While the process is far from over because Manchester City are expected to appeal, I have to say this verdict and the whole situation has left a very sour taste in my mouth.
I don’t expect Manchester City to phone me or the club up and offer back the 2011 FA Cup and the winners’ medals their players received.
I don’t seriously believe any other trophies and titles will be handed back over either. A points deduction and a massive fine feels far more likely. But I still feel cheated.
Republic of Ireland: Manager Heimir Hallgrimsson yesterday admitted he regretted his choice of words in comments made earlier this week about Ireland “playing against genocide” in reference to their fixtures against Israel. After the Israel football federation accused Hallgrimsson of “stupidity, ignorance and hypocrisy”, the Irish prime minister, Micheál Martin, responded from the UN general assembly in New York: “Israel can’t keep denying what the world knows, and what the world understands.”
Yesterday Hallgrimsson said he had used a “strong” word and now regretted it. “It was a wrong word for me to use,” he said, arguing that he had meant to say that “by playing we are not accepting what is happening”. If a player chooses to play in the fixture “he is not supporting or agreeing with anything in Gaza” Hallgrimsson said. “We are not playing with that word, we are playing against it.”
Israel’s head coach, Ran Ben-Shimon, said he will shake hands with Hallgrimsson before kick-off in Debrecen. Ireland’s players will not partake in “elements of the pre-match ceremony”, namely the handshake and exchange of pennants, said the FAI chief David Courell. Ireland’s players will also wear black armbands “in recognition of all the lives lost in the conflict” in Gaza.
Republic of Ireland: Today’s Nations League fixture against Israel will go ahead after a “significant majority” of Ireland’s players voted to play. The game – an away fixture for Ireland – is taking place in Debrecen, Hungary without the attendance of Irish fans. The Ireland team have come under increasing domestic pressure to boycott both tonight’s game and the reverse fixture, to be played next weekend behind closed doors in Dublin, due to Israel’s military action in Gaza.
Goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu will not play this evening in protest against “the killing of innocent people”. He wrote on Instagram yesterday:
Representing my country means everything to me. I have the utmost respect for every single one of my teammates, the manager, his staff, and the Irish people.
However, I have reached a decision that I have not taken lightly. I am a man of strong faith, and try my best to be a person of character and principle, therefore I feel it would be wrong to participate in the upcoming fixtures against Israel.
My decision is based purely on my personal belief that the killing of innocent people is wrong. It is important to note that my stance is not in opposition of the Israeli people or the Jewish community, but against the atrocities in the region.
There are a few times where you get a chance in life to stand up for something bigger, and I strongly believe that this is one of them.
Centre-back Jimmy Dunne has been named as a reserve goalkeeper in Bazunu’s place. Caoimhin Kelleher is expected to start in goal as usual.
England: Barney Ronay takes us through the evening that was at Wembley as Tuchel’s side fell away against superior technicians again.
The most unfavourable interpretation of this is a pattern being established. England lost another game where they just seem to get close, to lose control, to fail to hold the midfield. Both of Spain’s decisive goals were either made or scored by Luis de la Fuente’s two attacking substitutes, neither of whom looked much like Dan Burn.
But it wasn’t quite like that. For a start, England were much better here than in Atlanta, and against a better team. Wembley was its usual chilly self at kick-off, a place where even on a Saturday night the general vibe is echoey, corporate space, like a visit to the Ideal Home exhibition or a peculiarly low-throttle ABBA tribute event.
England: Two defensive errors and a penalty miss from Harry Kane cost Thomas Tuchel’s side at Wembley last night. After Marc Guéhi’s mistake allowed Lamine Yamal to score early, two quickfire goals saw England lead at the break. But another error from Nico O’Reilly gave Spain a route back into the game and Euro 2024 hero Mikel Oyarzabal scored another winner against England.
Thomas Tuchel said …
If we learn from it there are some positives to take from it. We will try to do a review tomorrow. We will highlight the positives. There is stuff we can do better.
There is no sense in showing individual mistakes or saying please don’t do mistakes. There are things we can do better. We wanted to be the team to beat them. We think we had them. We think we had them at half-time. It is something to build on.
When it was pointed out to him that England’s defensive errors were made by two perhaps distracted Manchester City players, Tuchel played down the impact of Friday’s news about the club’s guilty verdict …
I won’t comment on it as it’s an ongoing case. I didn’t make it a topic. It was not a topic for me. I’m just thinking about Spain, and the team and meetings. Not for me. The players have more time than me so for sure I can imagine that they talk about it. It’s good that they do. I don’t think it was a distraction for them.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to matchday live. We’ll be bringing you all the reaction to England’s 3-2 defeat to Spain at Wembley, including the now common detractions about the defence and Thomas Tuchel’s in-game management. How much should we be reading into a pretty fun Nations League opener?
Scotland were also in action in a fairly predictable goalless draw at Slovenia in Sebastien Pocognoli’s first game in charge. Today’s match between Israel and the Republic of Ireland in Hungary will go ahead after the Ireland team stopped short of a boycott. Their goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu has refused to play in protest at Israel’s military action in Gaza. Wales are also back in action in Denmark after their opening defeat to Portugal.
In the Women’s Super League, there’s a Merseyside derby at Anfield and a heavyweight clash at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea take on Arsenal, with both sides looking to keep pace with the champions Manchester City, who kept up their 100% record yesterday. London City Lionesses continued their impressive start yesterday thanks to a first goal from Alexia Putellas.
We’ll also bring you any developments and comments on the Manchester City case after the club were found guilty on virtually all counts of breaching Premier League financial rules on Friday.
And you can mail us at [email protected] if you want to get in touch.
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