London (AFP) – Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic said Saturday he was worried his players will still be feeling the effects of their thrilling 3-2 win over Spain when they meet England in a crucial Nations League fixture on Saturday. The 52-year-old, who will be without injured Barcelona star Ivan Rakitic, is yet to taste defeat […]

Barcelona (AFP) – Croatia midfielder Ivan Rakitic has returned to Barcelona with a hamstring strain and will miss the Nations League match against England on Sunday, the club said. Rakitic suffered the injury in the World Cup finalists' 3-2 win against Spain on Thursday. Barcelona said he had suffered "a strained hamstring in his right […]

Córdoba (Argentina) (AFP) – Juventus forward Paulo Dybala shone as Argentina comfortably beat Mexico in a friendly on Friday despite the absence of Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero. In cruising to a 2-0 victory in Cordoba, Argentina showed more signs of a newfound unity under interim coach Lionel Scaloni as they rebuild following a fraught […]

Moscow (AFP) – Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev has no plans to sell his majority stake in Monaco football club, despite being charged with corruption in the principality, his spokesman said on Saturday. Rybolovlev "intends to continue supporting its development as he has always done since the moment he bought it in 2011," his representative Dmitry […]

London (AFP) – Gareth Southgate has challenged England to end their "brilliant year" in memorable fashion by beating their World Cup conquerers Croatia at Wembley to reach the Nations League Finals on Sunday. Southgate's side defied expectations earlier this year by reaching the World Cup semi-finals for the first time since 1990, where they were […]

Berlin (AFP) – Head coach Joachim Loew on Friday said that Germany must move past their "painful" relegation from the top tier of the inaugural Nations League. The Netherlands' 2-0 win over world champions France in Rotterdam ensured that the 2014 World Cup winners will slip into League B no matter the result of their […]

Rotterdam (Netherlands) (AFP) – The Netherlands had qualification for the Nations League semi-finals in their sights on Friday after they beat France 2-0 to hand Didier Deschamps' side their first defeat since winning the World Cup in the summer. Georginio Wijnaldum struck on the stroke of half-time and Memphis Depay chipped home a cheeky stoppage-time […]

Cardiff (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Denmark climbed into the top tier of the Nations League with a 2-1 win over Wales in Cardiff on Friday. Victory saw Denmark top Group B4 and secure promotion to League A. Nicolai Jorgensen finished off a superb counter-attack to put the visitors in front three minutes before half-time at […]

London (AFP) – Neymar kept his cool to score the controversial penalty that fired Brazil to a 1-0 win over Uruguay in a full-blooded friendly on Friday. Brazil captain Neymar was subjected to some ferocious fouls from Uruguay as the clash between the South American rivals boiled over at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium. But the Paris Saint-Germain […]

Johannesburg (AFP) – Former Olympic football gold medallists Cameroon began their qualifying campaign for the 2020 Tokyo Games with a 3-0 home victory over Chad on Friday. The teams meet again Tuesday in N'Djamena in the second leg of a first-round qualifier and it would now be a major shock if the Rigobert Song-coached Cameroonians […]

Johannesburg (AFP) – Mohamed Salah scored in the final minute to give Egypt a 3-2 home victory over Tunisia on Friday in a 2019 Africa Cup of Nations match between two countries who have already qualified. The Liverpool star chipped the ball into the net to complete the scoring in a seesaw matchday 5 struggle […]

Algiers (AFP) – Ten police officers were injured and 30 people arrested following crowd violence at the end of Thursday's Algerian top-flight match between USM Alger and CS Constantine, officials announced on Friday. The arrests, after league leaders USM Alger beat CS Constantine 2-1, were for "public order offences and the possession of drugs," the […]

London (AFP) – Claudio Ranieri said Friday that he was confident that he can drag rock bottom Fulham out of relegation danger after taking over at the newly-promoted Premier League side this week. Ranieri, the manager behind Leicester's incredible 2016 league title win, took over from sacked Slavisa Jokanovic on Wednesday after his Serb predecessor […]

Oita (Japan) (AFP) – Japan drew with Venezuela 1-1 in a home friendly on Friday with defender Hiroki Sakai netting his first goal for the Blue Samurai, who stay undefeated under their new coach. The draw in Oita came as Japan are gearing towards an attempt at a record-extending fifth title in the Asian Cup […]

Shanghai (AFP) – Juventus have apologised after the Italian champions came under fire for posting a message on Chinese social media about the apparent suicide of a fan, which was later exposed as untrue. The Serie A giants issued a message of condolence on China's Twitter-like Weibo in response to a post on the platform claiming […]