Gareth Bale accepts it will be difficult for Wales to keep their World Cup dream alive following Friday s demoralising 2-0 defeat to Iran.
Bale became Wales most capped player by making his 110th international appearance at the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium, but he was virtually anonymous as Iran dealt a huge blow to his team s hopes of progressing from Group B.
Stoppage-time goals from Roozbeh Cheshmi and Ramin Rezaeian saw Iran take advantage of goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey s red card, posting their first win over European opposition at the World Cup (W1 D2 L7).
Wales, meanwhile, must now beat England in Tuesday s final group-stage game to have any chance of extending their first World Cup campaign since 1958, and Bale knows they face an uphill task.
It s guttin…
Manchester United walked away triumphant from Carrow Road on Saturday, having beaten Norwich City through a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty.
It s fair to say the Canaries boss Dean Smith wasn t too happy with the way referee Darren England conducted the show.
It was too easy for Man United to referee the game today, Rashford game himself a free-kick in the first half.
Dean Smith questions the decisions in the game as he felt it was not a foul on Ronaldo for the penalty
— Football Daily (@footballdaily)
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Luton Town missed an inviting chance to escape the Premier League s bottom three after Friday s hard-fought 1-1 draw with Everton at Kenilworth Road.
Rob Edwards side would have leapfrogged 17th-placed Nottingham Forest – who visit Sheffield United on Saturday – with a victory, but were instead left level on points with Nuno Espirito Santo s team.
The fit-again Elijah Adebayo cancelled out Dominic Calvert-Lewin s 24th-minute penalty in an entertaining first half, though neither side could find a winner in an end-to-end second period.
Despite an encouraging performance, Luton – who almost snatched a late victory – stay 18th and below Forest on goal difference, while Everton remain 15th in the table.
It finishes level.
— Luton Town FC (@L…
Julian Alvarez’s fine first-half strike handed Manchester City a hard-fought 1-0 win over Newcastle in their first home match since winning the treble on Saturday.
The World Cup winner curled a shot into the top corner after 31 minutes of a tight Premier League encounter at the Etihad Stadium and it proved enough for the champions to claim all three points.
Newcastle, buoyed by thrashing Aston Villa 5-1 in their season opener last week, had travelled in hope of claiming their first league win at City for almost 23 years.
FULL-TIME | ALL THREE POINTS! |
— Manchester City (@ManCity)
Yet the hosts, despite making just two changes following their draining European Super Cup venture in Athens in midweek, were too strong and successfully nullifi…
Head coach Mauricio Pochettino will be hoping star striker Harry Kane can finally end his goal drought when Tottenham host Qarabag in the Europa League on Thursday.
Despite netting against San Marino and Switzerland in England s Euro 2016 qualifiers earlier this month, Kane has yet to convert in five appearances for his club this campaign.
Such form is a far cry from last season, when the youngster catapulted himself into the elite class of Premier League strikers with 31 goals across all competitions for Tottenham.
Pochettino is unperturbed by such a poor return this term, however, and backed Kane to rediscover the Midas touch in front of goal soon.
He said: I am happy with him and he gives the best for the team. He only needs time to score again. The mo…
Angola and Morocco played a goalless draw in Johannesburg on Saturday in the second match of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.
Both sides went close to scoring despite incessant rain and very cold conditions at Soccer City, with Angola keeper Lama making a superb diving save to thwart Morocco s Mounir El Hamdaoui after 10 minutes.
El Hamdaoui had also gone close in the fifth minute with another effort stopped by Lama while Mingo Bille had a chance to put Angola ahead a few minutes earlier.
The two sides had their great moments. The first half was for Morocco while Angola dominated the second but neither could walk off with a win.
Although Morocco dominated the early stages, Angola played their way back into the game and Guilherme Afonso, making his competi…
Lionel Messi cannot win the World Cup on his own and needs his Argentina team-mates to raise their game to help him, says Claudio Tapia.
Messi cut a folorn figure as Argentina were beaten 1-0 by Germany in the 2014 World Cup final, leaving him without the winners medal that would help to cement his place in history alongside Pele and Diego Maradona as one of the game s greatest players.
Tapia – the president of the Argentina Football Association acknowledged that this might be the 30-year-old s last opportunity to win the tournament, but said even the five-time Ballon d Or winner wouldn t be able to guide Argentina to glory if his team-mates didn t perform at their best.
Football has evened itself out, Tapia told La Nacion. We have the best player in the world…
Jupp Heynckes revealed how he had to put an arm around James Rodriguez because he was a little depressed after leaving Real Madrid for Bayern Munich.
James joined Madrid after impressing with Colombia at the 2014 World Cup and he initially adapted well at the Santiago Bernabeu, scoring 13 goals in his first LaLiga campaign.
But inconsistency, combined with Madrid s abundance of attacking options, led to James falling out of favour, so much so that he made just 13 league starts last season and was left out of their squad for the Champions League final.
As such, he was allowed to leave on a two-year loan to Bayern, who have the option to make the deal permanent, and his debut Bundesliga campaign has taken a turn for the better after a slow start.
Heynckes …
Paris Saint-Germain have confirmed Sergio Ramos is expected to rejoin first-team training next week following an injury lay-off, but Marco Verratti will be out of action for roughly a month.
Ramos joined PSG on a free transfer from Real Madrid in pre-season, having spent 16 years at the Santiago Bernabeu.
The experienced centre-back was part of something of a squad revolution at the Parc des Princes, with Lionel Messi, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Georginio Wijnaldum and Achraf Hakimi also moving to Paris.
But Ramos is yet to make his PSG debut after suffering a calf injury at the end of July, having also missed large chunks of 2020-21 due to fitness issues, including a previous calf problem.
PSG have been cautious about reintroducing Ramos to training, eager to…
Ilkay Gundogan s hot streak in front of goal means another successful Premier League title tilt is brewing at Manchester City, but Pep Guardiola has not given up on playing with a conventional striker.
Injury problems for Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus this season, both of whom have also tested positive for coronavirus, forced Guardiola to think outside the box for matters inside the box.
The results, especially in recent weeks have been dazzling.
Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva, Riyad Mahrez, Raheem Sterling and Ferran Torres have all spent times operating at the point of City s fluid attack.
However, the main beneficiary of the confusion and space opened up within opposition defences has been Ilkay Gundogan.
The Germany internationa…