When you look at the Chile national team, one player might appear out of place. Ben Brereton is not your usual Chilean; he doesn’t even speak Spanish, the primary language spoken by the rest of the team. The English-Chilean forward had played with England's U19 and U20 national teams for almost five years before switching to Chile's squad this year for the Copa América.
When I first heard UEFA's plans to not have just one host city for Euro 2020, I was intrigued and pleasantly surprised.
The idea makes sense. Spread fans out across eleven host cities, which prevents hundreds of thousands of supporters descending on one particular country or city. It mitigates the COVID-19 risks (not something that was on the minds of organizers in 2020, but is beneficial in 2021) and helps the many host countries and cities financially without giving too much home field advantage to one country — at least in theory.
Norwich City was crowned champion of the EFL Championship for the second time in three years following a 4-1 victory over Reading on May 1.
For manager Daniel Farke and the Canaries, the priority now is to avoid a repeat of the immediate relegation suffered in 2019-20. To that end, Norwich has wasted no time this offseason bringing in additions to the squad. Farke and sporting director Stuart Webber have already secured the signings of four players before the summer transfer window officially opens.
If it seems like there have been a lot of own goals during Euro 2020, it's because they have been occurring at a rate unlike anything seen at an international tournament before.
The first European Championship was contested in 1960, and in the 15 tournaments up to now, there have been nine own goals. Through the first 41 matches at this summer's European Championship there have been nine own goals.
Euro 1960-2016: 9 own goals
Euro 2020: 9 own goals
En un partido antológico, maravilloso, impresionante y fantástico, España venció en la prórroga a Croacia y avanzó a los cuartos de final de la Euro 2020. Fue un 5-3 que será difícil de olvidar.
Los españoles llegaban al enfrentamiento tras una decepcionante fase de grupos, pero que alcanzó a salvar en su último duelo con un magnífico 5-0 ante Eslovaquia.
Romelu Lukaku and Kevin De Bruyne go together in Belgium's attack like peanut butter and jelly coming together to make the most timeless of sandwiches. They've built their impressive careers at separate clubs, but when they come together with Belgium there's little opponents can do to stop them. Having so much success between them, the two obviously had to create a celebratory handshake to go with it.
England has finished top of Euro 2020 Group D with a 1-0 victory over the Czech Republic on Tuesday night at Wembley. That result means that the Three Lions will host the Group F runner-up next Tuesday in London. That’ll almost certainly be one of France, Germany or Portugal.
If France beats Portugal and Germany beats Hungary tomorrow, it’s Germany. Can England prevail?
Manchester City has officially started going after last season's Premier League leader in goals and assists, Harry Kane. Even though Tottenham doesn't want to move on from Kane, the 27-year-old has reportedly expressed his wishes to be gone. Man City reportedly sent Spurs an original offer of around $140 million guaranteed with an opportunity to swap players.
With two matchdays already complete, England's footballing template has been executed perfectly so far at Euro 2020.
First: infinite pre-tournament hype, especially in connection to a burgeoning young star — in this case, Phil Foden. Then, earn some decent results in the group stage without looking overly encouraging on the pitch. Finally, get through to the next round, provide some hope, then lose in heartbreaking fashion late in the game or on penalties.
It's a pattern so often repeated that any England fan worth his salt has put it to memory.
La selección nacional de Venezuela llegó a esta Copa América muy herida. Desde semanas atrás, se sabía que no iban a poder contar, por lesión, con sus seis (sí, medio equipo) mejores jugadores para la doble fecha de Eliminatorias al Mundial, previo a la Copa América. Estos jugadores eran Salomón Rondón, Yangel Herrera, Yeferson Soteldo, Yordan Osorio, Darwin Machís y Jhon Murillo.