Reigning MLS Cup winners New York City continued their recent slump after suffering a third straight loss, going down 3-1 at home to playoff hopefuls Charlotte FC.
Charlotte s win moves them up to 10th in the Eastern Conference, with the visitors scoring twice in the final quarter of an hour to claim victory.
The defeat means City have only managed one point from their past four games and sit third in the east with 42 points from 25 games.
Karol Swiderski had put Charlotte ahead in the fourth minute despite goalkeeper Sean Johnson s best efforts on the line, but City levelled before the half hour mark via Maxime Chanot s 30-yard strike into the top corner.
City s Anton Tinnerholm struck the crossbar from range before Charlotte found an avenue to victory w…
France hosted Colombia for a high-profile international friendly in the run up to the World Cup in Russia this summer. Les Bleus were in excellent form ahead of this clash, losing just once in their past 10 games, while the visitors were looking to end their recent struggles and inconsistency. The 2016 European Championship finalists were the favourites ahead of this clash, but the Colombia squad was by no means lacking in talent.
Giroud grabs an opener for France
This game represented a clash between the teams ranked ninth and 13th in the FIFA world rankings, suggesting that there was little to separate the two nations, but France unsurprisingly settled into the lion’s share of possession early on and looked the dominant side. Right from the off Les Bleus piled the pressu…
Frank de Boer is a hard-bitten stalwart of modern football, having tasted most of the glorious highs and bitter disappointment to be expected across a playing and coaching career operating near the pinnacle of European football.
Nevertheless, the former Ajax and Netherlands defender gave off a whiff of wide-eyed, naïve idealism when Inter brought shambolic pre-season preparations into the home straight by unveiling him as Roberto Mancini s successor.
No team is unbeatable, sometimes things can change, the newly installed head coach told a welcome news conference.
Juventus have a brilliant team with great individuals and it will be hard to beat them, but it s not impossible. Our target is to be closer to them than last season and fight to make life hard for t…
Bundesliga side Hannover have completed the signing of French forward Jimmy Briand on a one-year contract.
The five-cap France international saw his contract with Ligue 1 club Lyon expire at the end of last season and had been linked with moves to Turkey and England.
However, Briand, who scored 22 goals in 110 league matches for Lyon, is now under contract at the HDI Arena until June 2015.
The former Rennes man follows the likes of Joselu, Ceyhun Gulselam and Hiroshi Kiyotake through the door at Hannover as Tayfun Korkut looks to improve on the club s top-10 finish last term.
The Bundesliga is a new experience for me, for which I am very pleased, Briand told the club s official website.
I m curious about playing in a league in the country of th…
After Atletico Madrid concluded their campaign with a dour 0-0 draw at Granada, coach Diego Simeone hailed their season as incredible .
Simeone led the club to a stunning Liga title in 2013-14, upsetting the duopoly of Barcelona and Real Madrid to lift the trophy for the first time since 1996, when the Argentinian was an Atletico player.
Although Atletico ended this season 16 points behind Barca, and failed to recreate last term s run to the UEFA Champions League final, Simeone remains content with his side s achievements.
Top marks for me, he said. This year we won the Spanish Super Cup, we are third, and we ve had a great competition with Real Madrid and Barcelona in the Champions League and the Copa del Rey.
It has been an incredible season.
…
Asked what lessons they had learned, Bristol City midfielder Knight said: “It’s fresh, but playing against Holland and France is about having a clinical edge.
“That’s been a large part of all the games we’ve been equal in: they’ve taken their chances and we haven’t. We defended well in large of parts of all the games. Looking back briefly off the top of my head, we lacked a bit of creative spark and those goals when we needed to capitalise.
“The confidence is good. We’re playing some good attractive football at times. We’ve fallen on the wrong side of results against good teams. France and Netherlands aren’t minnows of world football.
“There’s confidence within the group and definitely confidence we’ll turn it around.”
Knight…
Fulham have confirmed that young defender Dan Burn has joined Birmingham on a season-long loan.
The 21-year-old, who spent last term at Yeovil, has also signed a contract extension which will keep him at the club until 2015.
Born in Blyth, Burn joined Fulham from Darlington in 2011 and was a loanee in the Yeovil side that won promotion to the Championship last season, after beating Brentford in the play-off final a game in which he scored.
The defender has also signed a new two-year contract with Martin Jol s side and is hopeful that a season at a higher level can result in his ultimate goal, a spot in Fulham s first team.
I was really excited to sign a new deal. I had a season on loan last season and was hoping that a new contract would come in the summer as m…
Eintracht Frankfurt and Inter Milan are both interested in signing Mateo Retegui from Argentinian side Tigre, according to Fabrizio Romano. The news comes in the aftermath of the 23-year-old striker making his first and second appearance as an Italy international for the opening two matches of the Euro 2024 qualifications. He scored both against England and Malta.
Quite apart from that, Retegui himself recently revealed a desire to continue his career in Europe. He also named Italy as the preferred destination, which obviously puts Inter into a better position than Eintracht, but he also pointed out that the matter was being dealt with by his father, who acts as his representative, and that nothing is decided at this point.
Retegui s services actually belong to Boca Jun…
Manchester City on Monday said they had signed Argentine striker Carlos Tevez, who left Manchester United at the end of the season, amid reports they also want Arsenal s Emmanuel Adebayor.
Tevez, 25, has agreed terms with City and is set to sign a five-year deal, his new club said following weeks of rumours regarding his future.
No fee was mentioned but City were expected to have to shell out in the region of 25 million pounds (35 million euros) for the player they have coveted all summer.
It is terrific news, said City manager Mark Hughes.
Carlos is an international player of the highest class who possesses all the attributes that will help drive this club forward, Hughes told the club s official website.
He is not only outstanding technicall…
The German Bundesliga stopped their play last weekend and now it will go into their typical winter break with several surprises in the standings.
After conclusion of the first half of the season and with 17 matches played by all teams, we can see neither Bayern Munich nor Borussia Dortmund sit at the top of the standings. That alone should be listed as a surprise since one of these two teams have won each of the last 10 league titles. Instead, we have RB Leipzig leading the way with 37 points, followed by Borussia Monchengladbach with 35.
Bayern sit in third place with 33 points and Dortmund are fourth with 30, edging Schalke 04 solely based on their superior goal differential.
It’s clear both Bayern and Dortmund will remain as title contenders during the seco…