Find a Football Team

• Sweden 2-3 Spain
• Late goal secures win in first game since World Cup triumph

Fists clenched and raised, “Se Acabó” and “10” scrawled across taped wristbands, tired faces and a rolled banner clutched by captain, Alexia Putellas.

These were not the images that Spain’s world champions expected would go around the world in their first fixture with a star on their chest and a world champions badge to the left of it, a gutsy and resilient 3-2 win over Sweden, but they know they must be. Together, Putellas and her teammates unfurled the white banner with black text that read “#SeAcabó – Our fight is the global fight”, before merging with the Sweden side in a show of solidarity with the struggle of the, frankly, heroic Spanish players.

• England 2-1 Scotland
• Lionesses unconvincing in Nations League opener

The bald statistics show that England won again with headed goals from Lucy Bronze and Lauren Hemp seeing off Scotland but Sarina Wiegman will be much more concerned with the subtext.

The Lionesses’ manager looked on inscrutably as her team failed to convince and Scotland’s Kirsty Hanson proved the game’s outstanding individual.

Tottenham’s Australian manager won’t compromise his values against Arsenal in a contest that promises to be a cracker

With each passing day the contrast between Ange Postecoglou and his predecessor as Tottenham manager, Antonio Conte, becomes more striking. It’s there with the differences in style of football and certainly with the differences in message. Take, for instance, Postecoglou’s response to being asked about the challenge his players face against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday. “This is the type of experience I want the guys to have and for us to have as a group to help us grow,” he said. “You don’t grow by being in the shade; you need to stick your head up and see the sun.”

It’s impossible to imagine Conte saying similar, largely because all he appeared to see during his time in charge was darkness. It was a suffocatingly negative state of affairs and that Postecoglou has cleared so much of the Italian’s toxic gloom in such a short space of time is testament to his abilities not only as a coach but as a person. Spurs, quite clearly, are a happier club, on and off the pitch, but now comes the ultimate test of the Australian’s upswing – a north London derby. That both teams go into the game in great form and mood, not to mention on the same number of points (13 from five games), adds to the sense of anticipation. It should be a cracker.

Nigeria striker on the missed exam that changed his life and tough years on loan from Liverpool before he hit his stride

More often than not, players’ career fortunes pirouette on the altar of time and chance. Taiwo Awoniyi can attest to that. Had Awoniyi paid for his university exams on the day he was supposed to, in Ilorin, north-central Nigeria, playing in the Premier League for Nottingham Forest, where his decisive goals saved them from relegation last season, might never have happened.

“My dad actually borrowed the money to pay for my exams,” he says. “I went to the person that was supposed to help register me for the exam in the morning and he was not around. I went there again in the evening and they told me he still wasn’t around.

Arsenal host Tottenham in the north London derby while Chelsea are looking to rediscover their form against Aston Villa

Saturday 3pm Venue Selhurst Park

• Manager outlines belief in lemons as counter to negative energy
• Nicolas Jackson told to be smarter to avoid yellow cards

Mauricio Pochettino has told Nicolas Jackson to be smarter and stop picking up yellow cards for complaining to referees, with the Chelsea striker already only one booking from a one-match ban.

Although the former Villarreal forward has shown plenty of promise since joining Chelsea for £32m in June, he has struggled to keep his emotions in check at times and has been booked four times in six appearances. Each caution has been for talking back to the officials and Jackson, who has scored once, has been warned about his behaviour by Pochettino.

• Norwegian’s goal conversion rate has dropped this season
• ‘He will score and you will have to apologise to him’

Pep Guardiola has said he will not be kept awake at night by Erling Haaland’s missed chances in Manchester City’s past two matches and insisted the striker should not be criticised for his profligacy.

The Norwegian has scored seven goals in five Premier League matches but was wasteful against West Ham and Red Star Belgrade. Haaland will be hoping – and expecting – to add to his total against Nottingham Forest on Saturday at the Etihad Stadium, a game he scored a hat-trick in last season.

• Goalkeeper left Manchester United in summer at end of contract
• Spaniard has turned down offers, including from Saudi Arabia

David de Gea may retire if he does not receive an offer to be the first-choice goalkeeper at a major club. The former Manchester United and Spain No 1 has rejected several approaches, including from Saudi Arabia, with money not a prime motivator.

De Gea is retaining fitness in the hope of an offer from the right club and from a manager who views him as being in his prime. After departing United in the summer De Gea, who will be 33 in November, would like to play for a club capable of competing for major honours.

• ‘It’s always 50-50; the club and me both have a veto’
• Raphaël Varane could return against Burnley

Erik ten Hag has denied that his agent, Kees Vos, has too much influence regarding Manchester United signings by pointing to the veto the manager and the club each has regarding transfers.

Vos heads the Dutch agency SEM, which has Rasmus Højlund as a client, the Dane joining United in the summer for an initial £64m. Vos was also involved in this month’s loan deal for Sofyan Amrabat. Ten Hag was asked about Vos’s influence.

• Klopp hopes for ‘luck’ and 23-man squad to stay healthy
• Reds host West Ham on Sunday after Europa League win

Jürgen Klopp believes “something is growing” at Liverpool but that it is too early to label his new-look team mentality monsters.

Liverpool produced another comeback to open their Europa League campaign with victory against the Austrian side Lask on Thursday, and host West Ham on Sunday seeking a sixth successive win in all competitions. Klopp’s team have come from behind to win four of their six matches this season. Although Klopp accepts that is an encouraging sign of Liverpool’s spirit, the man who coined the phrase “mentality monsters” to describe his Premier League and Champions League winners insists his current team do not compare yet.

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now!

Last season was the first time since the 2013-14 campaign that one side has done the double over the other in the north London derby. That last decade or so stands in stark contrast to the lopsided rivalry of the 2000s, when Arsenal went unbeaten against Tottenham for almost eight years. Ever since the inconsistent sparkle of the ‘Arry Redknapp era, when Spurs famously came from 2-0 down to claim their first victory at the Emirates thanks to two gleeful pantomime villains in Gareth Bale and Rafael van der Vaart, along with a big, daft bouncing header from Younes Kaboul, it has been one of the most competitive derbies going. For the neutral, it’s great entertainment. For fans of the two clubs, it’s euphoria and misery; fear and loathing; a match to watch between the gaps in white-knuckled fingers.

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, etc, Brighton lost in Europe. Mind you, the demonic benefactors of that Goldstone injustice, York, lost to Oldham in the National League on Tuesday, so that’s karma. Also, this week, Chester beat Tadcaster, Maidstone beat Steyning Town, Bury are riding high in the (checks Rothmans) North West Counties League and, of all teams, Hereford battered Anstey Nomads. So it’s actually all now going well for anyone who was ever in the position of losing their club. Must be all that equally distributed supportive media coverage emanating from London that saved us all, eh? Mind you, Bradford (Park Avenue) lost again, but all that happened in the 70s and so doesn’t count” – Jon Millard.

Regarding Brighton’s foray into Europe and being the ‘blueprint for how a football club should be run’ (yesterday’s Football Daily). Make sure you enjoy it, Seagulls fans. Ten years ago this week a team with a similar blueprint, Swansea City, were applauded off the pitch at the Mestalla after tonking Valencia 3-0 in Big Vase. On Saturday we are heading into our eighth match of the Championship season playing dross football and on two points. Michael Laudrup, Michu et al seems like a dream” – Gareth Rogers.

Replacement for Hansi Flick has little time and few friendlies but win over France suggests potential exists for improvement

Germany want “to take an approach that isn’t typical for a crisis”, says Julian Nagelsmann. After months and even years of stodge and with a home tournament on the horizon, the new coach is right to assume that patience and back-to-basics aren’t on the menu. Before hosting Euro 2024 Germany, it seems, just want to have fun.

This should be music to the ears of a nation of football fans turned off their national team not just by lacklustre displays – and successive failures at World Cup 2018, Euro 2020 and the latest World Cup – but by disorganisation and dispute within the Deutscher Fussball-Bund (DFB), the game’s governing body. Germany exited the 2022 World Cup at the group stage but already it was as if the tournament wasn’t happening back home, with few public screenings – reflective of antipathy about the hosts Qatar among fans but also of the squad’s perceived lack of personality, both in confronting human-rights issues and in performances.

Captain has signed a new contract and discusses dealing with hard times, what makes Arteta special and the buzz before facing Spurs

‘Experience is not just about age,” Martin Ødegaard reflects. “It’s also about what you’ve done.” He is talking about a precocious Arsenal side but, consciously or otherwise, has picked a turn of phrase that could sum up his entire career. Ødegaard does not turn 25 until December but has amassed the experience, good and somewhat more complicated, of a veteran. It has all coalesced to form the Premier League’s best playmaker, a blindingly assured talent who at once radiates freshness and sagacity and means there was never any doubt surrounding the latest milestone he has passed.

Ødegaard has just signed a new five-year contract at Arsenal, where he is hitting the heights predicted when he was barely in his teens. When he joined on loan in January 2021 there were questions to answer: years of being shipped around by Real Madrid had stifled him and, by his own admission, some of the spark had gone. But Mikel Arteta found a player who had become sufficiently hardened to throw off any baggage, quickly securing him to a longer deal and making him captain the following year. He has put down roots, buying a house close to Arsenal’s base, and the serenity suits him. Player, manager, club and surroundings sit sweetly in harmony and nobody was going to break the spell.

There’s a north London derby, plus concerns over André Onana and a midfield quandary for Newcastle

Fifteen points from the opening five Premier League games and a 3-1 win over Red Star Belgrade to start their Champions League campaign: all is going swimmingly for Pep Guardiola and Manchester City. Except, if more of his players join Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Jack Grealish, John Stones and Mateo Kovacic in the treatment room, then Guardiola may have to pray to the medical gods for succour. De Bruyne is out until next year, yet though Guardiola suggested after Tuesday’s victory that only Kovacic has a chance of returning for Nottingham Forest’s visit, there is hope for Grealish, too. Whatever the final medical bulletins, Guardiola still has the fit Matheus Nunes, Phil Foden, Kalvin Phillips (remember him?) and Rico Lewis, who can join Rodri in the team’s creative artistry department. Jamie Jackson

Manchester City v Nottingham Forest, Saturday 3pm (all times BST)

Luton v Wolves, Saturday 3pm

Crystal Palace v Fulham, Saturday 3pm

Brentford v Everton, Saturday 5.30pm

Burnley v Manchester United, Saturday 8pm

Arsenal v Tottenham, Sunday 2pm

Brighton v Bournemouth, Sunday 2pm

• Captain Millie Bright says dispute settled after talks
• Russo to be rested for Nations League game against Scotland

Millie Bright has said England want to be “world leaders on and off the pitch” after reaching an agreement with the Football Association over bonuses and commercial structures.

The issue flared up before the World Cup when the Guardian broke the story of the dispute. The players then tweeted a statement expressing their disappointment that the matter had not been resolved before the tournament and said they had decided to pause talks with the intention of revisiting them after.

• Club’s European debut ends in disappointment after 3-2 loss
• ‘We showed not the right experience but we can learn’

Roberto De Zerbi admitted that Brighton’s lack of experience cost them dearly as their European debut ended in a surprise 3-2 defeat at home to AEK Athens.

A late goal from the substitute Ezequiel Ponce sealed victory for the Greek champions in the Europa League group stages after João Pedro equalised twice from the penalty spot for the hosts, who were missing the defensive talisman Lewis Dunk through injury. But with a trip to face Marseille up next before Brighton face a double header against the four-time European champions Ajax, De Zerbi acknowledged they must adapt quickly to their new surroundings.

Player had competed in more than 100 games for the club, where she was also a marketing executive

Tributes have been paid to Maddy Cusack, a Sheffield United footballer, who has died at the age of 27.

Cusack had played for the women’s team since 2019, making more than 100 appearances for the club. She also worked for the club as a marketing executive.

The 74-year-old who kept Town up last season is not finished despite his early exit and has been replaced by Darren Moore

In many ways, it ended how it started seven months earlier for Neil Warnock at Huddersfield Town. Few managers get the chance to leave a club as they arrived, a bona fide hero. Barely any get the chance to do that twice. But Warnock, as we have come to learn over the past four decades, is not a man cut from the same cloth as many of his contemporaries.

When he held court with the press for the first time after returning to Huddersfield in February on a short-term deal, it was hard not to feel this was the final act of an unforgettable managerial career. Sure, Warnock has promised each of his past three or four jobs would be his last but this, coming in to save from relegation a club with whom he won promotion in the 1990s, felt like a fairytale ending.

• Argentinian says former club did not acknowledge title
• Video shows Messi being presented with trophy by club

Lionel Messi has criticised his former club, Paris Saint-Germain, although his attack appears to be built on shaky ground.

Messi led his country to victory at last year’s World Cup, but in an interview with ESPN Argentina on Thursday he said he was the only member of the squad not to be honoured by his club for his achievement.

• Deal would funnel £130m a year from top flight to EFL clubs
• Progress made on longstanding issues after recent meeting

The Premier League is confident of finally agreeing a deal to increase financial redistribution to the English Football League after a meeting between executives of the leagues and club officials this week.

Three clubs from the Premier League and three from the EFL joined leadership teams from the leagues to discuss a way of overcoming challenges that have held up progress on a settlement for two years.

Love for your club isn’t proportional to success. And there is a sense of pride in supporting a team in the tough times

Luton Town have no points. Four games. Four defeats. There is no shame in that. A question then: would there be a tipping point for Luton fans (not the rest of us), where getting nothing all season could become some kind of badge of honour? A season to remember like no other?

Before Hatters supporters accuse me of patronising them or being a jealous Cambridge fan, and Rob Edwards sticks this column to the dressing-room wall, nothing (well, not many things) would give me more pleasure than his side confounding everyone and staying up.

West Ham’s Europa League opponents are one of several clubs outside Hungary benefiting from Hungarian assistance

On the face of it there was nothing unusual when, in October 2018, Viktor Orban attended the opening ceremony of a rural town’s new football academy. Hungary’s prime minister has long pumped vast amounts of money into his favourite sport, modernising its infrastructure while other elements of the government’s activity regress deeper into authoritarianism, and he was present to see the fruits of another new project. Orban watched a tournament between under-14 teams at the €9.5m facility, staying long enough to hand the winners their trophy.

The twist: Orban was in a different country. He was visiting Backa Topola, a small town in northern Serbia nearly 30 miles from the border with Hungary, to show his backing for its local side TSC. The surrounding region, Vojvodina, contains nearly 185,000 ethnic Hungarians and many are eligible to apply for citizenship, voting in the country’s elections. At the last count they made up 58% of the club’s surrounding municipality.

Bristol City player-coach goes back on Saturday to club where he spent 16 years, rising from League One to a Premier League title

Andy King knows a cocktail of emotions awaits on Saturday at the King Power Stadium and that his first trip to Leicester, the club that shaped him, as an opposition player is guaranteed to evoke memories. “It is going to be strange,” says the Bristol City midfielder, who this summer assumed a player-coach role. “It will be emotional. I had a lot of happiness in that ground, some sadness as well; Vichai’s helicopter [crash] was at that stadium and that guy changed my life. I’m looking forward to going out on to the pitch and in my mind, for a split second, reliving all of those amazing memories that made me who I am. Maybe I’ll go back out there and have a moment with myself after the game.”

King’s 16-year association with Leicester, which began in digs on Aylestone Road after impressing on trial as a 15-year-old during February half-term and culminated with him lifting the Premier League trophy, came to an abrupt end in July 2020. Coronavirus restrictions denied him the opportunity to say farewell to the familiar faces who helped him on his journey. “The advice was like ‘travel if absolutely necessary’, wasn’t it? So as much as I wanted to go back, me going back to say bye to the people behind the scenes – those who worked in the kitchen at the training ground for 10 years or the stadium staff – it was not essential.” This weekend though, he stresses, will not be akin to a testimonial. “It is not a sort of parade for me to go back to Leicester. I want Bristol City to win.”

Plus: mythical beasts and monsters on shirts, one-cap England hat-trick heroes and much more

• Mail us your questions or tweet @TheKnowledge_GU

“I’m a Manchester United fan and have just seen Danny Welbeck score against us for what seems like the 97th time. Who is the most prolific scorer against a former employer?” weeps Alex Mount.

Danny Welbeck’s goal at Old Trafford on Saturday was his fifth against Manchester United since leaving the club in 2014. Alex will have happier memories of our first answer to this question. In December 1995, Andy Cole scored with his first touch against his old club Newcastle United, and spent the next decade reminding them what they had. Cole scored 11 goals in all, including four in a 5-1 demolition in August 1999.

Erik ten Hag’s team may have found a young striker who can rouse them from their miserable start to the season

It is a measure of where Manchester United are in this toxic early season, an early season where things just keep on happening, and where those things are divided into three distinct types, bad things, very bad things and really terrible things, that by the end a 4-3 defeat in Munich really didn’t seem like much of a disappointment.

At times it almost felt like the green shoots of something. Or at least it did when Rasmus Højlund was scoring his first goal for the club; or in the early moments when United pressed well; and then towards the end when they refused to die and kept on coming in relentless zombie waves.

Format promises ‘a system where every match matters’ – but is it too complicated and will it stall younger nations’ progress?

• Moving the Goalposts: sign up for our free newsletter

Blink and you will have missed the gap between international windows. A month on from the World Cup final in Sydney, players are back with their national sides as a new season begins.

In Europe, this comes in the form of an inaugural Nations League. Somewhat convoluted in nature and with a fair amount at stake, we examine Uefa’s brand new competition.

Spain's Alexia Putellas and Irene Paredes demanded 'zero tolerance' for abuses after La Roja’s World Cup win was overshadowed by the unsolicited kiss planted on the footballer Jenni Hermoso by the country’s former football chief Luis Rubiales. The uproar over Rubiales’s behaviour laid bare the players’ longstanding fight for equality; a battle that took a fresh twist this week after 15 players from the World Cup-winning squad were called-up despite their decision to boycott the national team until changes are made to the federation leadership. However, the government orchestrated a seven-hour marathon meeting between players, the federation and country’s high council for sports and all but two of the 23 players who had been called up ended their boycott after the federation promised “immediate and profound changes”.

• ‘We had to fight to be heard’: Spain stars Putellas and Paredes speak out

Julian Nagelsmann has been appointed as Germany’s head coach until after next year’s Euro 2024 on home soil, replacing Hansi Flick, the German Football Association (DFB) said on Friday. Germany parted ways with Flick this month, a day after their 4-1 home loss to Japan in a friendly. Nagelsmann has been out of work since his sacking by Bayern Munich in March. The 36-year-old, who previously managed RB Leipzig and Hoffenheim, won the 2021-22 Bundesliga with Bayern, where he also succeeded Flick. He is the youngest Germany coach since the 34-year-old Otto Nerz was appointed in 1926.

• Germany appoint ‘unanimous choice’ Nagelsmann as manager

England captain Millie Bright confirmed on Thursday that talks over bonuses and pay had been agreed with the FA. The talks were put on hold for the duration of the World Cup, but have since resumed with a positive outcome. Bright was speaking before England’s Nations League clash with Scotland, to be played on Friday.

• ‘Bigger than just the bonus’ – Lionesses reach agreement with FA over pay

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag defended goalkeeper André Onana after his error led to Bayern Munich's opening goal in their 4-3 Champions League defeat. 'In football, there will always be mistakes. There was one mistake, so also, don't make it bigger than it is. As I said already, it was not only André that let in that goal, there were more.'

• ‘I let the team down’: Onana takes blame as Manchester United pain piles up

Spain's World Cup winning-squad agreed to end their boycott of the national team early after the country's football federation said it would make 'immediate and profound changes' to its structure. This comes after Spain's national women's team looked stony-faced as they arrived for training camp after being called for the national side. The team’s new coach, Montse Tomé, ignored their decision not to play until deep changes are made and instead called up most of the World Cup-winning squad. While the players initially said they would continue the boycott, the potential legal consequences suggested they had little choice but to heed the call; under Spain’s sports act, players who refuse the call-up could face fines of up €30,000 (£26,000) and potentially be banned from playing for their clubs. Jenni Hermoso and the Spanish government slammed the country’s football federation over its handling of the boycott

• Spain players to end boycott after being promised ‘profound changes’

Newcastle face Milan at San Siro as they return to the group stage of the Champions League for the first time since the 2002-03 season. It's new ground too for their manager, Eddie Howe, who has never managed in Europe's top club competition – but he is determined to approach it as just another game. Howe admitted he has never had the time to take in a Champions League game as he has often been working but he added, 'It's not something that I've given any thought to. It's a game of football.'

• ‘I’ve never attended one’: Howe makes startling Champions League admission

Rubén Baraja was a mainstay of the club’s golden era. He’s now the manager of the youngsters reviving a distressed institution

“I’d like to see a different Valencia, but you have two options in life: give up or fight,” said the Valencia coach Rubén Baraja, and so they were going to fight. They were also, it turned out, going to be the Valencia that he and everyone else wanted to see but no one thought possible, not any more. The Valencia that was, well, Valencia, the way they used to be, the way they’re supposed to be; the Valencia that Diego Simeone said were “much better than us”, 45,363 people standing to applaud when it was all over and Atlético Madrid had been defeated 3-0. “This is a day to be enjoyed, for how hard it is to win,” Baraja said.

They had enjoyed it all right, the noise rolling down the vertical sides of Mestalla. As for hard, he could say that again so he did. Atlético were unbeaten, the last time they had played they had scored seven and Valencia hadn’t beaten them in 17 games, going back to 2014. “We have to accept that they have a very high level,” Baraja had said. Others dared say that they were title contenders again. Valencia by contrast had just come off two defeats that saw familiar ghosts reappear and their president had dared say that their target was survival, that Spain’s fourth biggest club should aspire only to avoid relegation.

Heaviest Milan derby win since 1974 from new-look Inter suggests Scudetto and European dreams can become reality

Stefano Pioli was not so much seeing his glass half-full on Saturday night, as clutching an empty tumbler and reminiscing about the wine that used to be in there before the neighbours came round and drank it all. “In the first four minutes, only we touched the ball,” asserted the Milan manager at the end of Saturday’s derby against Inter. The only problem, a detail really, was everything that happened throughout the 86 that followed.

Inter took the lead in the fifth minute, Henrikh Mkhitaryan redirecting a ball from Federico DiMarco back across Mike Maignan. They doubled their lead before half-time with a spectacular goal from Marcus Thuram, who retrieved an overhit pass outside the left corner of the box then cut back inside Malick Thiaw to fire a rocket into the furthest part of the goal.

Francesco Farioli’s team pressed, countered and moved the ball intelligently in their 3-2 win at the Parc des Princes

By Adam White for Get French Football News

PSG’s 3-2 defeat at home to Nice this weekend offers a way forward for the three clubs who will visit Paris in the Champions League over the next few months. Nice, led by their dynamic new coach Francesco Farioli, pressed intelligently, countered hard and used the ball efficiently. These are the same challenges that PSG’s opponents will pose in their tough Champions League group – only at a higher level. Nice’s performance not only offered a blueprint for Newcastle, Dortmund and Milan to follow but also suggested that PSG’s campaign in Europe could be more about limiting damage than making progress.

Above all, the defeat showed that this is a PSG team still under construction. In possession, Luis Enrique’s new-look side often shift to a loose 4-1-5 shape with right-back Achraf Hakimi advancing further than the deeper, narrower Lucas Hernandez at left-back. The front five is designed to stretch opposition defences and create space between opponents, mostly for Kylian Mbappé. Although nominally the left forward, Mbappé trades places with central midfielder Vitinha, who runs the left touchline so the France captain can move to more dangerous areas, just off a central striker.

Xabi Alonso, perhaps Bayern’s coach of the future, was able to thwart the club whose midfield he once graced

Even at the close of over 98 absorbing minutes, there was enough energy in their (unfamiliarly) green-clad legs to make a beeline in the same direction. Thomas Tuchel and a few of his players, led by Thomas Müller and Sven Ulreich, made plain their unhappiness to referee Daniel Schlager and his team – mainly at the penalty given to Leverkusen for Alphonso Davies’ challenge on Jonas Hofmann late on and, perhaps, the even later ruling out of a potential Dayot Upamecano winner, with the clear offside not stopping some of those on the Bayern Munich bench pointing towards the VAR screen.

Whether you thought they had a point or not they, and most of the fans inside the Allianz Arena, with boos ringing out at the whistle, were in the minority. This laying down of an early-season gauntlet, not just in terms of result but in its manner, was a timely shot in the arm for the Bundesliga. There were moments when Bayern looked like Bayern, moved like Bayern. Yet what we ended up with was far less clear-cut, replete with possibility.

Brazil’s style has become more ‘European’ and predictable in recent decades. The new manager wants to change that

By Tom Sanderson and Jamie Hamilton for the Sport Network

When Brazil were beaten by Morocco and Senegal in friendlies earlier this year, after going out of the World Cup to Croatia at the quarter-final stage, there was national panic. The Brazilian football federation, the CBF, was roundly criticised for assuming that the coach of the country’s Under-20s team, Ramon Menezes, could bridge the gap between Tite, who stepped down after World Cup, and the highly anticipated arrival of Carlo Ancelotti next year once his Real Madrid contract expires.

With fans and pundits worried that the five-times World Cup winners would begin their qualifying campaign for 2026 in a similar vein, the CBF reacted and hired Fernando Diniz for the next 12 months. The plan is for Diniz to guide Brazil through their qualifiers, while doing his day job at Fluminense, before Ancelotti steps in for the Copa América next summer. Ancelotti has neither been unveiled officially nor spoken on the matter publicly, perhaps out of fear of being on the wrong end of Florentino Pérez’s temper, but he is expected to be in charge for the tournament in the US.

• Mary Fowler, Caitlin Foord and Mackenzie Arnold also nominated
• Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson up for women’s coach award

Australian football has been recognised for its huge strides in 2023 with a quartet of its successful Women’s World Cup side and the Tottenham coach Ange Postecoglou all being nominated in Fifa’s prestigious annual Best awards.

A trio from the Matildas side that reached the World Cup semi-final on home turf – captain Sam Kerr, Caitlin Foord and Mary Fowler – have been selected among the 16 who’ve been shortlisted for best women’s player.

The Euro 2024 hosts, Germany, beat France 2-1 in their international friendly on Tuesday to snap a three-game losing streak and regain some confidence after a bad run and the sacking of Hansi Flick on Sunday. Goals from Thomas Müller and Leroy Sané at the start and end of the game gave Germany their first win in their last six matches and capped a turbulent few days for the four-time world champions.

While France, 2022 World Cup runners-up, did not field their strongest team, with Kylian Mbappé on the bench, Germany’s overall performance was far improved from Saturday’s 4-1 home loss to Japan that led to Flick’s departure.

• Move will be seen as controversial in women’s football circles
• I am excited to start this journey, says former Leicester defender

Nigeria defender Ashleigh Plumptre has become one the most high profile women’s players to join a Saudi Arabian side after signing for Al-Ittihad.

The 25-year-old joins the Saudi Women’s Premier League team following three years with WSL side Leicester City. With many openly gay players in women’s football and extremely restrictive rights for women and homosexuality being illegal in Saudi Arabia, the move and the country’s growing interest in women’s football is controversial.

Manager could not replicate his success at Bayern and while the DFB dreams of Klopp, Nagelsmann looks a more likely successor

The chorus of boos that ushered Germany’s team from the field at full time after Saturday’s humbling at home to Japan might have taken supporters of a certain vintage back 26 years, to Le Tournoi. It wasn’t only about Roberto Carlos’s banana free-kick and the emergence of Paul Scholes, but about French supporters venting their frustrations with their national coach, Aimé Jacquet. When France lost to a late Alan Shearer goal in their second game of the tournament in June 1997, cries of ‘Jacquet démission’ (‘Jacquet resign’) tumbled from the stands of the Mosson in Montpellier.

If Hansi Flick had hoped this nadir would be the first step on a similar path to glorious redemption, it quickly became clear that there was to be no reprise of that scenario. The Deutscher Fußball-Bund (DFB) announced his sacking on Sunday afternoon while Germany’s basketball team were midway through a magnificent victory in the World Cup final with Serbia – underlining, on one hand, the clumsiness and the dysfunctional workings of the body at board level, and on the other communicating the sense of panic that led them to this point.

Whatever happens with his doping case, do not forget just how talented he was before the injuries and tactical struggles

‘Sometimes,” Paul Pogba said, “I don’t want to have money any more. I just don’t want to play any more. I just want to be with normal people, so they will love me for me – not for the fame, not for the money. Sometimes it’s tough.” That was Pogba speaking to Al-Jazeera in an interview released on Sunday . A day later, he tested positive for excess non-endogenous testosterone metabolites.

It’s just over seven years since Manchester United broke the world transfer record to re-sign Pogba. He was 23, had won four Serie A titles and had been named young player of the tournament at the previous World Cup. Since then, with the very notable exception of winning the 2018 World Cup, it feels like nothing has gone right for him.

Former Spanish football president quit his role without apology and no mention of wrongdoing in the Jenni Hermoso scandal

Luis Rubiales firmly yelled “I’m not going to resign” in his speech at an extraordinary general assembly of Spain’s football federation (RFEF) last month, banging a fist on the podium to assert his position. But, 17 days later, he announced his resignation from his position as federation president, as well as vice-president of Uefa. The right decision has been made, but Rubiales is leaving the federation in authoritative fashion after announcing his decision to quit in an interview with Piers Morgan, a clip of which has been posted online prior to their full sit-down being aired on Tuesday.

The resignation statement released by Rubiales was nothing less than expected. There was no apology, no mention of Jenni Hermoso, the player who he grabbed and kissed during the medal ceremony following Spain’s World Cup success in Sydney last month, no mention of the other players who secured that incredible achievement, and no mention of doing anything wrong.

There has been little outrage over the striker’s loan deal at the intractable Spanish club, only a willingness to move on

On Tuesday evening, as fans started heading towards the exits and the music was finally turned down, Getafe’s sporting director stood pitch side at the Coliseum and insisted that Mason Greenwood is just a footballer, the same as any other he could have signed. Rubén Reyes said the Manchester United forward, who has not played since he was charged with attempted rape, coercive behaviour and assault in October 2022, is no different to Óscar Rodríguez and Diego Rico, who had been presented alongside him. But he knew that was not true and so did everyone there: Greenwood is better.

Which was why the sporting director could reflect on his success, the excitement. He need only look at the supporters who came for the presentation, maybe even the fact there was a presentation at all. Five days after Greenwood’s signing on loan, there was still surprise, shock, disbelief. The question was asked: what is he doing here? But this wasn’t about rejection, and inside the ground there was celebration rather than unease. It was about them getting a footballer this good. United players just don’t go to Getafe.

Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning, Mark Langdon and Archie Rhind-Tutt discuss Manchester United, Arsenal and the Champions League

Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.

On the podcast today: Manchester United lose 4-3 away to Bayern Munich. The panel discuss how much blame can be placed at the feet of André Onana. Meanwhile in north London, Arsenal get off to a perfect start in their group as they beat PSV 4-0.

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now!

Considering it happened less than 30 years ago, there is every chance that plenty of the fans who are in attendance at the Amex Stadium on Thursday night to see Brighton host AEK Athens in their first ever European match will have taken part in the York City “riot” of 1996. More genteel pitch invasion than violent disturbance, it made global headlines when supporters attending what they presumed to be the final game at their club’s then home, the Goldstone Ground, convened on the pitch in protest at having their home for the previous 95 years sold out from under them by unscrupulous club owners. “Rampaging fans turned Brighton into a war zone yesterday in sickening scenes that shamed soccer,” harrumphed the next day’s News of the World, failing utterly to capture the peaceful mood of an occasion in which the only knack inflicted were on both sets of goalposts.

Re: Harry Kane (yesterday’s Football Daily). Surely Harry is more like a cane toad than a hungry caterpillar? Caterpillars may have many legs but they don’t move very quickly nor do they gobble up much. Whereas his namesake toad is voracious and can get round most prey’s defences. A pest, no offence Harry” – Jim Arrowsmith.

Re: Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s hindsight over Cristiano Ronaldo (yesterday’s News, Bits and Bobs, full email edition). Hiring a club legend company shill to manage one of the best-supported football clubs in the world ‘felt right but was wrong’” – Harriet Osborn.

This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now!

Every self-respecting centre-forward loves easy goals and useless opposition – rightly so. But in the entirety of the game’s history, few, if any, have guzzled low-hanging fruit with quite the same alacrity as Harry Kane. Whether terrorising Panama and Albania but not Italy or Spain, snaffling penalties but missing the biggies, or spending his career unencumbered by expectations of success, the Paul Collingwood of the football honours world can always be relied upon to feast on carrion, then present teammates with a home-display memento commemorating their achievement in knowing him.

Reading about how the Spanish FA just seems to continually muck up its handling of the goings on with the women’s team, it does beg the question: is this Elon Musk’s next business acquisition? It seems to be another never-ending bin fire, just like you know what” – Stuart McLagan.

This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.

Onana not finding his passing range, Guardiola’s strikers thriving and Sheffield United must up tempo

Gabriel Martinelli’s disallowed goal at Goodison Park was another example of an offside law that has become almost too pedantic to function. The decisive action was a square pass from Gabriel Magalhães to Declan Rice that was intercepted by Beto. The ball ricocheted 40 yards in a completely different direction to Eddie Nketiah, who was running away from goal and gained precisely no advantage from being fractionally offside. He knocked it back to Fábio Vieira, whose through pass was finished majestically by Martinelli. The goal was disallowed because Beto’s interception, though deliberate, was not a “deliberate play” under the revised laws of the game. Instead of the deflection being one of the myriad variables that make football so compelling, Nketiah was technically offside. Nobody disputed that it was the correct decision, only the extent to which the law is an ass. When the FA’s Ebenezer Cobb Morley introduced offside in 1863, it was to stop goalhanging, not to give pedants their ikigai. Rob Smyth

Match report: Everton 0-1 Arsenal

Match report: Manchester United 1-3 Brighton

Match report: Newcastle 1-0 Brentford

Match report: Tottenham 2-1 Sheffield United

Match report: Aston Villa 3-1 Crystal Palace

Match report: Fulham 1-0 Luton

Match report: West Ham 1-3 Manchester City

Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and John Brewin as Manchester United’s very poor start to the season continues

Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.

On the podcast today; Brighton win 3-1 at Old Trafford in a result perhaps all of us did see coming – where do Manchester United go from here?

His position could have been stronger than ever but World Cup elation exposed him and fighter could not keep fighting

The way Luis Rubiales told the story, it was a warning. Designed to illustrate how determined he is, who he is. He revealed that when he was barely a month old his sister broke his legs. She fell on top of him, causing six or seven fractures on each side, and the doctor told his parents that their son could be anything except a footballer. But that was exactly what he had become and now he was the president of the Spanish football federation so, no, he wasn’t going to be beaten this easily. “I’m a fighter,” he said.

It was April last year and Rubiales was giving a press conference following the publication of a series of voice notes between him and Gerard Piqué, still playing for Barcelona at the time, which showed how they had taken the Spanish Super Cup to Saudi Arabia – the Supercopa of equality, Rubiales called it. The back and forth between “Geri” and “Rubi”, taken from the president’s phone and leaked, saw the pressure build and the circle tighten, but he wasn’t going to back down, however hard they tried to get him, and he claimed they would stop at nothing.

Chelsea manager on the World Cup fallout in Spain, how Lauren James will recover and coaching nonconfrontational players

‘This is a profound moment, I hope, not just for Spain but as a reminder to other federations of the importance of their women’s teams,” Emma Hayes says as, during an absorbing interview, she considers the poisonous aftermath of a brilliant World Cup. The Chelsea manager, who has done more than anyone to raise the standards of English women’s football, cares about the game across the world. She praises the courage of the Spanish players who stood up to their federation, while lamenting the loss felt by those women whose principles meant that they withdrew from the World Cup. But Hayes’s concern extends far beyond Spain.

“We’re talking about the need for real system change,” she says. “I’m still wondering, did everyone get paid across the World Cup? Did Jamaica get paid? Did those Colombian girls get paid? Colombia made the quarter-final and had to take something like three flights back home. Would this happen to a men’s team? But I always believe progress is evolutionary, and this is just another step in the women’s game which is coming down from the north of Europe, from England and France, now Spain, and hopefully the same happens across the world.”

The tournament in Mexico has been all but forgotten about for nearly 50 years. A Venus and Serena Williams executive produced film aims to correct the record

Brandi Chastain is the star of the opening scene of Copa 71, a documentary poised to change how the history of women’s sport is remembered. Chastain is not talking about her famous moment in 1999, when she ripped off her shirt to celebrate winning the World Cup for the United States in front of 90,000 fans at the Rose Bowl.

Instead, Chastain is seen watching footage of another match played in front of a packed stadium. But she is trying to guess which one. “That’s a massive stadium … that’s a men’s football match …” She stops as she sees the players.

Football’s paradox: the game is ever more team-oriented on a tactical level while many fans are now obsessed by individuals

The journalist in the seat next to mine at Portugal’s 6-1 win over Switzerland at the World Cup – French, late 20s – had been shooting some video content outside and arrived just after half-time. Portugal were already 3-0 up and, with Gonçalo Ramos replacing Cristiano Ronaldo in the starting lineup, playing by far their best football of the tournament. The reporter was devastated. He wanted to see Ronaldo.

That Portugal had improved without their star player was of no concern to him. When Ronaldo came on after 74 minutes, he couldn’t have been more excited if he had been a teenager watching The Beatles at the Cavern Club in 1963. He gasped, he howled, he trembled with a frankly disturbing intensity. Ronaldo did almost nothing, but when he put the ball in the net from an offside position and indulged the crowd with a slightly half-hearted “Siiiiuuuu!” celebration, the French journalist seemed on the brink of tears.

From Antonio Nusa to Mathys Tel, we pick 60 of the most talented players born in 2005. Check the progress of our classes of 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014

• Twenty of the best Premier League prospect from 2022

We pick the best youngsters at each club born between 1 September 2005 and 31 August 2006, an age band known as first-year scholars. Check the progress of our classes of 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014

Five years ago we picked 80 promising players from around the world and have followed their progress since then.

• Premier League Next Gen 2017 | Rest of the world 2017

Talent spotting in football can be a brutal and precarious business. There are so many pitfalls on the way and a player who is outstanding at 16 may not make it for a variety of reasons: loss of form and/or confidence, injuries and a host of personal reasons.

Every now and then, however, a player comes through who is so good that he or she seems destined to make it to the top. Erling Haaland – or Erling Braut Håland as he was known back then – is one of them. Of course, a serious injury could have derailed his career but he was one of those kids who stand out from an early age.