All posts by h716a5.icu

Southampton fans loved on-loan striker Armando Broja’s late goal during Albania’s 1-0 victory over Hungary during qualifying for the 2022 World Cup.

During the summer, Broja was one of six new faces to walk through the doors of St. Mary’s Stadium. The 19-year-old spent last season on loan from Chelsea at Vitesse Arnhem and impressed, scoring 11 goals in 35 matches (Transfermarkt). While he has not yet played for the Saints in this latest temporary spell away from Stamford Bridge, he is highly-rated and should soon get his chance.

He has proven his ability while playing with Albania. With just a few minutes left on the clock, Broja fired in against Hungary to give his country a vital few points. It was well-taken, too, with the teenager beating the goalkeeper with a well-hit effort.

The Saints fans were absolutely delighted with their new man’s goal, and they took to social media platform to share their excitement about the striker.

Let’s see what the fans had to say about the goal from Broja below

“This lad is a real handful, look forward to seeing more of him in a #SaintsFC shirt”

Credit: @jase1962

“Unbelievable scenes.”

Credit: @MikeyWalt35

“Lovely stuff”

Credit: @JordanPoole13

“He’s going straight to the top”

Credit: @TeeZ3D

“A belter – and a manager looking spookily like Sven.”

Credit: @justinaminute

“quality that”

Credit: @Milan_sfc04

In other news, Southampton snubbed a late approach for this man during the transfer window.

David Warner, the explosive opener, has Dale Steyn in his sights

Cricinfo staff25-Mar-2009
David Warner doesn’t plan any backward steps during the two Twenty20s against South Africa © Getty Images
David Warner, the explosive opener, has Dale Steyn in his sights as he aims for a spot in Australia’s squad for the Twenty20 World Cup in England in June. Warner and Shane Harwood, the Victoria fast bowler, have been brought into the visiting outfit for the two warm-ups for the one-day series in South Africa.Warner, 22, said he wanted to take on Steyn and Co, starting with Friday’s opening contest in Johannesburg. “He [Steyn] is one of those guys that if he gets on top of you, he’s hard to handle,” Warner told AAP. “My goal is to try to take it to them.”You don’t want to be on the back foot to them because if they are going to get on top of you, you’re cooked. He is definitely one of the best bowlers I’ve faced. He has got me out a couple of times. I think I’m his bunny.”Warner’s international career is very short and he only made his first-class debut in New South Wales’ final Sheffield Shield match of the Australian summer. However, he burst on to the limited-overs scene with 89 from 43 balls when facing South Africa at the MCG and played six ODIs before being reduced to a Twenty20 role.”That innings boosted my profile a bit and then it just became a bit of a surreal experience for myself,” Warner said. “From being dropped, you learn a lot of stuff as well. From there [scoring 89] I made my mark. Sometimes it doesn’t come off but that’s cricket.”I’ve gone back and scored a couple of hundreds in grade cricket. I’ve had time out in the middle, got my first first-class game. Come back here and score more runs and hopefully I can get back into the one-day team, eventually.”

The English domestic season begins at Lord’s on Thursday as MCC take on Durham, the county champions, and this year the contest is given an extra edge as a number of candidates for the No.3 Test spot go head to head

Andrew McGlashan08-Apr-2009The English domestic season begins at Lord’s on Thursday, and much is riding on the result. Not only will Durham, the county champions, be eager to commence their 2009 campaign on a positive note, but a trio of MCC batsmen will be desperate to stake an early claim for the contentious No. 3 Test spot ahead of this most anticipated of summers.Michael Vaughan has been in good touch throughout the pre-season, and now begins the serious work of convincing the England selectors that he is worth a final chance at the top level. He will line up alongside Ian Bell, desperate to resurrect his international career after losing his place in the England side on the recent tour of the Caribbean, and Robert Key, who also is presenting national selectors with a strong case for consideration.Key was forthright when outlining the importance the season-opener holds for those contending for the No. 3 spot. “It is generally about people’s own agenda [in these games] and you are stupid if you think it’s anything else,” Key said. “Of course you want to win, but every player here will be thinking it’s my opportunity to show what I can do. But that’s a good thing to have. You’d like to think it won’t be just this game that’s the be-all and end-all.”England’s incumbent No. 3, Owais Shah, isn’t involved in the MCC-Durham match and will depart for South Africa in the next few days ahead of his IPL stint. Shah was far from convincing when finally given a run in the Test side in the Caribbean, compiling a modest 133 runs at 22.16 on a series of flat pitches and twice running himself out. Three weeks of Twenty20 cricket may not be the ideal preparation ahead of an Ashes summer; particularly when his challengers are getting their heads down in the first-class game.The selectors have backed themselves into a corner in many respects after telling Shah that he would get a fair run in the team. However, they can’t afford a weak link in the batting order when they face Australia, especially at first drop, so other options will prove tempting.Vaughan’s first priority is to score runs, beginning tomorrow, but he also holds the “experience card” and has performed well against Australia. That can’t be said of Bell and Key – Bell averages 25 against them in 10 Tests and Key, who faced Australia during the 2002-03 Ashes series, hasn’t played for England since 2005.Bell has been released to play all cricket ahead of the international season to provide him with ample opportunity to stake a claim for a recall. He has a lot of ground to make up, but will be grateful for the chance to return to the middle after spending much of the West Indies tour carrying drinks and netting.”There’s a lot of candidates for it, I guess, but it’s not for me to say,” Bell told Cricinfo. “I’ve got to go to Warwickshire score as many runs as I can and enjoy my cricket. If I can give the selectors no alternative but to pick me because I’ve scored so many runs that’s the way I’d like to go.”Key is coming off the Lions tour of New Zealand, where he performed well with the bat but failed to lead the team to a win. He is being touted as a likely option for the Twenty20 captaincy, but is also a candidate for the Test top order if England wish to take a new tack.”It’s funny, the reality is that people keep saying well done for being in the 30 but I say it doesn’t make much difference if you are the 29th man,” Key said. “You try not to think about it too much. Potentially I could be captain, I could open the batting or potentially not do anything and not make the squad.”I felt I always had a lot more to give and if I could get back to playing as I can I could get back in there,” he added. “When you see England struggling you think you have more of a chance. The more people struggle the better it is for those out of the team, that’s the harsh reality of it.”While the batting permutations will command much of the focus from Thursday, the MCC bowling attack also includes players duelling for international honours. Sajid Mahmood is closing in on a recall while Adil Rashid was part of the Test and one-day squads in West Indies.Tim Bresnan, the Yorkshire allrounder, has replaced Steven Finn after he injured his ankle in a Middlesex friendly and Chris Woakes is a highly-rated 20-year-old who was included in the 30-man Twenty20 squad on Monday. Worcestershire’s Kabir Ali is one of the most consistent county performers and will be eager to show he, too, is deserving of the chance to add to his lone Test cap.Durham will be led by their new captain Will Smith and have included Ian Blackwell in their squad following his winter move from Somerset. Paul Collingwood is preparing for his IPL stint and Steve Harmison has been rested by England.MCC Stephen Moore, Robert Key (capt), Michael Vaughan, Ian Bell, Tom Westley, James Foster (wk), Adil Rashid, Tim Bresnan, Kabir Ali, Sajid Mahmood, Chris WoakesDurham (from) Michael Di Venuto, Mark Stoneman, Will Smith (capt), Dale Benkenstein, Gordon Muchall, Ian Blackwell, Phil Mustard (wk), Liam Plunkett, Graham Onions, Mitchell Claydon, Callum Thorp, Gareth Breese, Ben Harmison

Liverpool have emerged as one of the clubs keen on Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski.

The Lowdown: One of the greatest goalscorers

The Munich striker’s goal record is near perfect, with 304 goals in 335 appearances for the German champions since his move from Borussia Dortmund.

After notching in 41 goals in 29 Bundesliga outings last season, Lewandowski has continued his impressive goalscoring form with six goals in four league games, as well as two goals in their opening Champions League game.

Lazio’s own goal machine, Ciro Immobile, hailed the Poland star as the best number nine in the world earlier this year.

With his contract at Munich expiring in 2023, news has broken out that Lewandowski could make a move to embark on one final challenge in the Premier League.

The Latest: One of many suitors

According to Fichajes, Liverpool are one of the Premier League clubs keen on signing the goal machine.

The signing of Lewandowski is seen to be the missing piece for Jurgen Klopp’s side to compete with Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea for the Premier League title.

The striker has won 25 trophies in his career- with most of them coming whilst at Munich.

The report states that the Reds want to take advantage of the situation the Poland international finds himself in, with reports in Germany claiming he has told the Munich board he wants to leave in seek of new challenges.

The Verdict: Klopp favourite

Lewandowski’s record in front of goal would be appealing to any club in the footballing world, but Klopp has already worked with him whilst at Dortmund, where he scored 102 goals in 186 appearances – the boss has even admitted Lewandowski is the best player he’s ever coached.

With how the Reds play, with Roberto Firmino or Diogo Jota in the middle of Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane, having an out-and-out goalscorer like Lewandoski in the box would potentially place Liverpool on a different level.

Described as ‘next level’ by teammate Thomas Muller and ‘special’ by Julian Nagelsmann, the thought of Klopp’s favourite ever student turning out at Anfield is mouth-watering.

In other news, Liverpool fans have called for the club to sign Premier League midfielder amid contract talks stall. Find out more here.

Gloucestershire have been given permission to delay this Saturday’s Friends Provident Trophy quarter-final against Nottinghamshire until June 16

Cricinfo staff22-May-2009Gloucestershire have been given permission to delay this Saturday’s Friends Provident Trophy quarter-final against Nottinghamshire until June 16.The ECB accepted that it would be impractical for them to play the game at their Bristol HQ as the ground will host an ODI the following day and will be needed to enable England and West Indies to prepare.This leaves three ties on Saturday, Holders Essex face Lancashire at Old Trafford, Hampshire take on Middlesex at the Rose Bowl and Sussex travel to Somerset.Gloucestershire had anticipated the clash of dates and contacted the ECB even before their quarter-final place had been secured. “We obviously wanted a home tie,” Gloucestershire chief executive Tom Richardson told the BBC. “We felt the players had earned it and were particularly keen not to have to play the game away.”When a side has finished first the rules are very clear; you win your group and you get a home draw. As soon as you get away from doing that the competition loses a bit of integrity. We’re very pleased the ECB has done this and Nottinghamshire have moved a fixture.”

Tottenham Hotspur advanced into the fourth round of the Carabao Cup following a dramatic penalty shootout against Wolves at Molineux on Wednesday night.

Nuno Santo’s side quickly took a 2-0 lead early in the first half after goals from Tanguy Ndombele and Harry Kane but the home side nearly mounted a comeback with Leander Dendoncker and Daniel Podence getting on the scoresheet.

After 90 minutes, it went to penalties and summer signing Bryan Gil dispatched the winning spot-kick after both Ruben Neves and Conor Coady missed the target.

It was certainly a mixed evening for the Lilywhites and whilst there were plenty of positive performances, including from the likes of Oliver Skipp and Cristian Romero, there was some cause for concern over a couple of players.

One of which was Ben Davies, who started over Sergio Reguilon at left-back, with the Spaniard earning a rest before this weekend’s north London derby.

As per SofaScore, the Welsh veteran rated as Spurs’ worst player (6.3) – one of only two players to see below a 6.6 from the visiting squad.

Podence’s strike came from his side before the brute force that is Adama Traore came on and ran the 28-year-old ragged on the wing.

He won just two of his seven duels (28%), which suggests he struggled with the threat of both of Wolves’ wing options, whilst he was also dribbled past twice and he lost possession 14 times from 63 touches, via SofaScore.

That means every 4.5 touches, Davies gifted the ball back to the opposition.

One of the key components of Nuno’s system is attacking from the full-back position but the £14.4m-rated star could only make 76% of his 37 passing attempts and he made just one of his four crosses, leaving Kane very little to feed off.

Earning around £65k-per-week in N17, Davies will need to do a lot better next time he is handed an opportunity by the Spurs boss. His disappointing performance nearly cost the north Londoners on the night.

AND in other news, Paratici could solve Nuno’s major Spurs issue with “extraordinary” £43m-rated maestro…

Lalit Modi has said that there is a possibility that the tactical time-out in the middle of each team’s innings could be changed from one interval of seven and a half minutes to two breaks of two and a half minutes each

Cricinfo staff06-May-2009Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner, has said there is a possibility that the tactical time-out in the middle of each team’s innings could be changed from one interval of seven and a half minutes to two breaks of two and a half minutes each for the semi-finals and final of the second season of the IPL.”It’s not frozen yet but we are looking at two aspects. There will be two two-and-a-half-minutes break per innings, so the break in all during an innings will be of five minutes,” Modi told NDTV. “The first two-and-a-half-minute break will be just after the Powerplay [6 overs] and the second to be taken by the fielding side at any time.”It happens in every sport, there is a strategy break and everything. But 7.5 minutes may look like a bit longer, so we are seeing how we can reduce it down to five minutes” However, he said that the idea was yet to be ratified by the tournament’s technical committee.The tactical time-out has played a part in shifting the momentum in the Twenty20 games and has usually benefited the fielding team with the batting side losing wickets in the overs immediately after the break. It was criticised by Sachin Tendulkar, the Mumbai Indians captain who felt that the breaks were “hampering the momentum of a team”, Kings XI Punjab coach Tom Moody and VB Chandrasekhar, Chennai Super Kings’ head of cricket operations. Other experts were also not certain of how much value it added to the game.Kolkata Knight Riders coach John Buchanan had called for the number of overseas players in a XI to be increased from four but Modi said it was not going to happen. “This is the Indian Premier League,” he told the . “The focus is on getting local talent and I have shoved away the idea of increasing the number of foreigners.”

West Ham treated supporters to an impressive light show at the London Stadium prior to the Hammers’ 2-0 win over Rapid Vienna on Thursday evening.

Reliable reporter for The Athletic, Roshane Thomas, was at the game and posted a clip of the pre-match show on Twitter, which led to a number of West Ham fans reacting to his tweet.

David Moyes’ side made it two wins from two in Group H after goals in each half from Declan Rice and Said Benrahma.

However, five minutes before the action got underway under the London Stadium floodlights, the club put on a dramatic light show to music, which included the use of pyrotechnics, available to view here.

It seemed to go down fairly well with a number of Hammers supporters online, with Thomas also seemingly impressed.

West Ham fans react

This is what these West Ham fans had to say in reply to Thomas’ Twitter post regarding the light show, with one describing it as ‘amazing’.

“Love this”

Credit: @billhrpr

“How amazing does our stadium look tonight wish I could of been there to watch the match”

Credit: @MarkMorganive5

“We’re massive”

Credit: @GingerrChris

“Very impressive. Now tell me what’s up with all that royal blue?”

Credit: @SCM10_

“Massive club!!”

Credit: @lakey_21

“Iroons irooons”

Credit: @emz___1

In other news: ‘Disappointed’ – Many WHU fans slam ‘non-existent’ ace who had fewer touches than Areola v Rapid. 

If Fidel Edwards fails to recover, Darren Sammy is likely to step in, as he did against England

Andrew Miller18-Jun-2009Fidel Edwards could miss West Indies’ crucial World Twenty20 semi-final against Sri Lanka on Friday, after failing to recover from the same back injury that forced him to miss Monday’s five-wicket victory over England at The Oval.Edwards, who has been West Indies’ outstanding bowler of the past few months in all formats of the game, has been diagnosed with an irritation of the nerve root in his lower back. He sat out the team’s practice session on the eve of the game, but according to a spokesman, they were “very optimistic” that he’ll be available for Friday’s match.Chris Gayle, West Indies’ captain, admitted that his absence would be a big blow for West Indies, especially against a team that has already beaten them once in the tournament already, by 15 runs at Trent Bridge in the group stages.”He has been good for us throughout the tournament,” said Gayle. “He’s the sort of bowler who can actually win you games and pick up crucial wickets at crucial times. Sometimes he can go for runs, but he’s a wicket-taker and can change games. He’d be missed, because he was missed for the last game even though we won.”So far in the tournament, Edwards has picked up six wickets in four games, at an economy rate of 9.21 and with a best of 3 for 24 in the memorable victory against India at Lord’s. If he fails to recover, Darren Sammy is likely to step in, as he did against England.

Tottenham Hotspur’s shocking run of form in the Premier League continued on Sunday afternoon after they were well-beaten in the north London derby by Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.

It was a third straight defeat and also the third successive time that Nuno Santo has seen his side leak three goals – a vast contrast to the opening three games of the season, in which Spurs kept three clean sheets.

There are now plenty of problems facing the Portuguese head coach.

Spurs were amongst the worst attacking sides in the division as they went into the weekend having recorded the lowest total expected goals (4.42 xG) of any top-flight team but now they’re leaking goals at an alarming rate, meaning they cannot even grind out draws.

Davinson Sanchez has seemingly reverted back to his calamitous self following the most recent international break. Ahead of kick-off, Football FanCast explained why the £42m flop should’ve been axed for this encounter and Nuno was severely punished for trusting him to start.

Once dubbed a “real liability to his team” by ex-Wimbledon defender Kenny Cunningham, the Colombian international put in an absolutely disgraceful showing against their arch-rivals.

SofaScore graded him among Nuno’s worst performers (6.3) and it’s easy to see why.

He was weak in his battles up against the goalscoring Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, having won just one of six battles (16%), whilst he also lost possession seven times and committed two fouls.

Sanchez was caught napping for Emile Smith Rowe’s early opener – as the Evening Standard’s Dan Kilpatrick claimed, he was “all at sea on his return to the side.”

In addition, the 25-year-old, who earns a reported £75k-per-week, failed to register a single tackle, interception or block as the Gunners ran him ragged throughout the 90 minutes.

Time and time again, Sanchez has let Spurs down, perhaps it’s time to get rid for good, especially when there’s summer signing Cristian Romero sat waiting on the bench.

Plenty of supporters seems to be aggrieved with players like vice-captain Harry Kane, venting their frustrations on social media, but the England talisman had very little service throughout and he was not at fault for Arsenal’s dominance in their own penalty box.

Nuno must think twice before trusting Sanchez again.

AND in other news, Fewer touches than Lloris: £27m-rated Spurs passenger badly betrayed Nuno vs Arsenal…