The Warm-Up: Germany Reserves are kings of all the continents (except Antarctica)
Until Antarctica get their act together and join in, Germany can’t quite call themselves the undisputed champions of intercontinenal football, but they are officially the World Cup Dress Rehearsal Winners of 2017.
Thanks to an often chaotic and ultimately slender win over Chile in the final, Joachim Low has yet another medal for the cabinet.
Fittingly, for a tournament designed to stress-test the hosts’ infrastructure and one this year dominated by the dubious merits of VAR, it was Germany’s experimental squad who came out on top. Without a single player over 30 in their ranks – and boasting an average age of under 25 in the final – they stuck maturely to their task amid the Chilean maelstrom what whirled around them with or without the ball.
How much Germany’s second (or third, or fourth) string will mean for their chances in Russia next summer is unclear. Once again, though – as history continues to remind us – writing them off comes with a near-guarantee of some mild peril.
Everton continue to set summer transfer pace
sandro ramirezGetty Images
If doing your business early (so to speak) is the mark of summer transfer market quality, then Everton have surely excelled themselves. The £30m Jordan Pickford and £24m Davy Klaassen had already given the Goodison faithful some food for thought in pre-season. Monday, it seems, will be another day of YouTube video montages and Google searches of “who is Sandro Ramirez”.
£25m on Michael Keane – which would have raised an eyebrow or two not too long ago – now seems like the going rate for a Premier League-ready centre-back. Sandro is perhaps less of a sure thing, but has youth on his side along with a reasonable La Liga goal haul.
Ronald Koeman isn’t finished yet – Gylfi Sigurdsson remains a target, albeit an expensive one – and this has now become a genuine squad overhaul. Those above them in the league table last season – whose transfer ambitions are supposedly even higher – are dragging their feet in comparison.
‘I came. I said. I conquered.’
It wasn’t going to threaten those Top 20 Craziest Zlatan Quotes!!!! lists, but Zlatan Ibrahimovic had to sign out in something close to his customary style. As June turned in to July, his departure from Manchester United on a free transfer became reality.
Twenty-eight goals and a serious knee injury is quite a lot to pack into any debut season in English football, and he’ll leave Old Trafford as a free agent with his head held reasonably high. Ultimately, as MLS or China beckons, the big regret is that the Premier League couldn’t have lured him here sooner than just shy of his 35th birthday.
IN OTHER NEWS
The June/July search for meaningful football action takes us to Argentina (Laguna Larga, to be precise) where Paulo Dybala engaged in some classic charity-match showponying.
Taking responsibility for a 20-yard free kick – surely too close to get it up and over, etc, etc – Dybala’s task was made a little trickier by every hombre and his perro getting involved in the defensive wall.
Did he find a gap? We won’t spoil it for you, obviously.
HEROES AND ZEROS
Hero: Hector Bellerin
Plenty of footballers do good things under the cynical radar of the media, so it’s a shame that such a high-profile tragedy is needed for their humanity to be recognised. Anyway, Hector Bellerin has put his money where his hashtag is and delivered on a promise to donate £50 to the victims of the Grenfell fire for every minute he played at the European Under-21 Championships in Poland.
Credit too for such an inventive way of going about it. Forget the Justgiving pages, we want to see £1,000 per rabona, £5,000 per bicycle kick and let’s call it a cool million for every foul throw. In the meantime, though, bravo Hector.
Zero: The third-place playoff
Portugal's midfielder Adrien Silva (R) celebrates with Portugal's forward Andre Silva after scoring a goal during the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup third place football match between Portugal and Mexico at the Spartak Stadium in Moscow on July 2, 2017.Getty Images
Just the thirteen changes for the inexplicable crowd of just under 43,000 in Moscow to contemplate before kick-off. Meanwhile, it was telling that ITV swerved the opportunity to televise the Match That Nobody Wants to Watch: third-place playoffs genuinely do capture the imagination, but not in a good way.
Given the task of dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s, Portugal and Mexico did their best to liven things up – both sides finished with 10 men, and there was at least one apoplectic Mexican coach to enjoy – but it is time to accept that there is such a thing as too much football.
Even Cristiano Ronaldo – whose surrogate gave birth to twins last week – went to slightly absurd lengths to avoid playing. As for the others, enjoy that holiday.
http://www.eurosport.com/football/t...ents-except-antarctica_sto6238999/story.shtml
Until Antarctica get their act together and join in, Germany can’t quite call themselves the undisputed champions of intercontinenal football, but they are officially the World Cup Dress Rehearsal Winners of 2017.
Thanks to an often chaotic and ultimately slender win over Chile in the final, Joachim Low has yet another medal for the cabinet.
Fittingly, for a tournament designed to stress-test the hosts’ infrastructure and one this year dominated by the dubious merits of VAR, it was Germany’s experimental squad who came out on top. Without a single player over 30 in their ranks – and boasting an average age of under 25 in the final – they stuck maturely to their task amid the Chilean maelstrom what whirled around them with or without the ball.
How much Germany’s second (or third, or fourth) string will mean for their chances in Russia next summer is unclear. Once again, though – as history continues to remind us – writing them off comes with a near-guarantee of some mild peril.
Everton continue to set summer transfer pace
sandro ramirezGetty Images
If doing your business early (so to speak) is the mark of summer transfer market quality, then Everton have surely excelled themselves. The £30m Jordan Pickford and £24m Davy Klaassen had already given the Goodison faithful some food for thought in pre-season. Monday, it seems, will be another day of YouTube video montages and Google searches of “who is Sandro Ramirez”.
£25m on Michael Keane – which would have raised an eyebrow or two not too long ago – now seems like the going rate for a Premier League-ready centre-back. Sandro is perhaps less of a sure thing, but has youth on his side along with a reasonable La Liga goal haul.
Ronald Koeman isn’t finished yet – Gylfi Sigurdsson remains a target, albeit an expensive one – and this has now become a genuine squad overhaul. Those above them in the league table last season – whose transfer ambitions are supposedly even higher – are dragging their feet in comparison.
‘I came. I said. I conquered.’
It wasn’t going to threaten those Top 20 Craziest Zlatan Quotes!!!! lists, but Zlatan Ibrahimovic had to sign out in something close to his customary style. As June turned in to July, his departure from Manchester United on a free transfer became reality.
Twenty-eight goals and a serious knee injury is quite a lot to pack into any debut season in English football, and he’ll leave Old Trafford as a free agent with his head held reasonably high. Ultimately, as MLS or China beckons, the big regret is that the Premier League couldn’t have lured him here sooner than just shy of his 35th birthday.
IN OTHER NEWS
The June/July search for meaningful football action takes us to Argentina (Laguna Larga, to be precise) where Paulo Dybala engaged in some classic charity-match showponying.
Taking responsibility for a 20-yard free kick – surely too close to get it up and over, etc, etc – Dybala’s task was made a little trickier by every hombre and his perro getting involved in the defensive wall.
Did he find a gap? We won’t spoil it for you, obviously.
HEROES AND ZEROS
Hero: Hector Bellerin
Plenty of footballers do good things under the cynical radar of the media, so it’s a shame that such a high-profile tragedy is needed for their humanity to be recognised. Anyway, Hector Bellerin has put his money where his hashtag is and delivered on a promise to donate £50 to the victims of the Grenfell fire for every minute he played at the European Under-21 Championships in Poland.
Credit too for such an inventive way of going about it. Forget the Justgiving pages, we want to see £1,000 per rabona, £5,000 per bicycle kick and let’s call it a cool million for every foul throw. In the meantime, though, bravo Hector.
Zero: The third-place playoff
Portugal's midfielder Adrien Silva (R) celebrates with Portugal's forward Andre Silva after scoring a goal during the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup third place football match between Portugal and Mexico at the Spartak Stadium in Moscow on July 2, 2017.Getty Images
Just the thirteen changes for the inexplicable crowd of just under 43,000 in Moscow to contemplate before kick-off. Meanwhile, it was telling that ITV swerved the opportunity to televise the Match That Nobody Wants to Watch: third-place playoffs genuinely do capture the imagination, but not in a good way.
Given the task of dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s, Portugal and Mexico did their best to liven things up – both sides finished with 10 men, and there was at least one apoplectic Mexican coach to enjoy – but it is time to accept that there is such a thing as too much football.
Even Cristiano Ronaldo – whose surrogate gave birth to twins last week – went to slightly absurd lengths to avoid playing. As for the others, enjoy that holiday.
http://www.eurosport.com/football/t...ents-except-antarctica_sto6238999/story.shtml
