Month: October 2019

Cristiano Ronaldo is six goals away from the 100th mark playing for Portugal team and one strike away from his 700th career goal, after he scored in a 3-0 win over Luxembourg on Friday which kept the defending champions on course for the Euro 2020 finals.The veteran star hit his 94th goal for the Portuguese and took his overall career tally to 699 when he found the target in the second half after Bernardo Silva had opened the scoring in the first period.The three points kept Portugal in second place in Group B, five points behind Ukraine who defeated Lithuania 2-0."In the first 25 minutes we were very good, very dynamic and created chances," said Fernando Santos who was marking his fifth anniversary as Portugal coach."Then we lost depth, Luxembourg became more comfortable but never created...

An experimental Germany team leaked two second-half goals Wednesday as a weakened Argentina side, minus superstar Lionel Messi, earned a 2-2 draw in a friendly in Dortmund.Germany flew into a 2-0 lead thanks to first-half goals by Serge Gnabry and Kai Havertz, but Lucas Alario turned the game in the second-half when he came on for Argentina.The Leverkusen striker pulled a goal back, then set up Lucas Ocampos for the late equaliser against a German team which included four debutants.Freiburg pair, defender Robin Koch, a late call-up on Monday who was thrust into a makeshift back three at the last-minute, and striker Luca Waldschmidt started.Leverkusen forward Nadiem Amiri and Schalke midfielder Suat Serdar came on to make their second-half debuts.The Germans had already been forced into a h...

Former Bayern Munich and Manchester United midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger has announced his retirement from football aged 35.Schweinsteiger came through the academy at Bayern Munich, and made over 500 appearances for the Bavarian club, winning eight Bundesliga titles, seven German Cups and the Champions League before moving to Manchester United in 2015 where he won the FA Cup under Louis Van Gaal.The decorated German has been plying his trade with Chicago Fire since 2017 and will now hang up his boots at the end of the current MLS season.Schweinsteiger retires with 121 caps for the German national team, having played an instrumental role in the teams 2014 World Cup triumph.In a letter posted on his twitter page, the 35 year-old said: “Dear Fans, the time has now come, and I will be fini...

Germany coach Joachim Low has confirmed that Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen will play for the national side in their friendly against Argentina.The 27-year-old has been in superb form again for Barcelona this season and has spoken of his disappointment at being left on the bench for the national side.Low says that Manuel Neuer remains Germany’s first-choice stopper but confirmed Ter Stegen will get the chance to impress on Wednesday in Dortmund.“Together with [goalkeeper coach] Andreas Kopke, we’ve decided that Marc will play in Dortmund and Manu in Tallinn. We’ve discussed it with both players,” he said.“I have confirmed numerous times that Manuel Neuer is our captain and our No.1 regarding the European Championship – so long as nothing extraordinary happens.” ...

Chelsea youngsters Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori have both been named in the England squad for the upcoming UEFA 2020 European Championship qualifiers against Czech Republic and Bulgaria.The 25-man squad was confirmed by the Three Lions on Thursday.The call-ups for Abraham and Tomori come off the back of impressive starts to the season for Chelsea, having been integrated into the first-team setup under manager Frank Lampard.Abraham has played for England previously, picking up two caps in 2017. However, he will return to the squad a much more rounded player and has excelled in the top flight for the Blues in 2019-20.On Wednesday, Abraham was on the scoresheet once again, as he helped Chelsea beat Lille 2-1 in the UEFA Champions League.Tomori's rise has been more understated, although it'...