John Mousinho is honest when asked what has caught him off guard as a new manager.
The Portsmouth boss is learning the ropes, 11 months into his career, despite guiding his unbeaten side to the top of Sky Bet League One.
As the former chair of the Professional Footballers’ Association and a player who started his coaching badges early, his transition to management has been almost seamless.
Yet the former defender who made 550 appearances in an 18-year career is still getting used to one final change.
“I love the job, I really do, everything apart from three to five o’clock on Saturday is great because I just feel completely helpless,” he told the PA news agency.
“Any time you see a head coach or a manager on the sidelines and their behav…
A late equaliser by Konstantin Vassiljev denied Serbia victory in their Euro 2012 qualifier against Estonia.
Marko Pantelic’s poachers’ strike in the 39th minute put the Serbians ahead in the first half, followed by a handful of missed opportunities.
The Serbians would ultimately rue their squandered chances when their goalkeeper, Zeljko Brkic, allowed a low free kick slip under his body and into the net six minutes from time.
The result leaves Serbia stranded in third in Group C with Estonia a point behind them in fourth.
The group’s other game saw Northern Ireland and Slovenia play out a 0-0 draw which could prove a missed opportunity for both nations.
Northern Ireland will feel it missed out on a golden opportunity of joining Serbia on …
Liverpool face possibly the toughest start of the 2016-17 Premier League campaign with Jurgen Klopp s side set to face Arsenal, Tottenham, Leicester City and Chelsea in the opening weeks.
The campaign will begin at Emirates Stadium on August 13 ahead of further tough away tests at White Hart Lane and Stamford Bridge.
Anfield s first taste of league football sees the visit of Championship winners Burnley, with defending Premier League champions Leicester following them on September 10.
Liverpool s fierce rivalry with Manchester United will re-ignite at Anfield on October 15, with the return fixture taking place in early January.
December 17 sees the first Merseyside derby of the season takes place at Goodison Park, while the Anfield clash completes a t…
The Kiev Olympic Stadium in Ukraine was reopened to the public on Saturday with an explosive show in front of a capacity crowd.
The 70,000 all-seater venue was officially presented by Ukraine president Viktor Yanukovich in a politically-charged unveiling, where he showed a display of triumph and pride, following a dogged preparation for Euro 2012, along with allegations of corruption.
With this stadium, Ukraine will organise a worthy Euro 2012, Yankuovich told an unhappy crowd, who jeered the president.
However, the bad feeling was quickly flushed out of the atmosphere, as pop star Shakira took to the field for a 40-minute set, including a performance of the 2010 World Cup official song Waka Waka , along with a display of fireworks, art and a speech from Ukrai…
Following the final World Cup qualification play-offs, we now know precisely which 32 team will be heading to Russia for the greatest sporting festival on Earth next year.
But, there is still plenty to be decided before the action gets under way on June 14, with everyone still in the dark as to which teams are playing each other and when.
Thankfully, we do not have to wait much longer for light to be shed on those finer details, with the World Cup draw – undoubtedly set to be a glitzy and glamourous event – on the horizon.
Below we give you the lowdown on the draw…
When and where is the draw?
Football dignitaries and international media will converge on the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow on Friday December 1 for the eagerly antici…
´It could have been the final´, De la Fuente acknowledges as ´giant powers´ Spain and Germany collid
Spain head coach Luis de la Fuente believes his side s blockbuster last-eight clash with Germany would be a worthy final at Euro 2024.
The two sides described as giant powers of European football by La Roja s boss go head to head in an eagerly anticipated encounter at Stuttgart Arena on Friday.
Spain, who topped Group B with maximum points, are the only nation at the tournament to have won all four matches thus far, while Germany collected seven points in Group A before overcoming Denmark 2-0 in the last 16.
Both teams are seeking a record-breaking fourth European Championship triumph, and whoever prevails here will be widely expected to go on and lift the Henri Delaunay cup on July 14.
And De la Fuente is relishing what will be a repeat of the 2008 fina…
Belgium started their preparations for Euro 2020 with a disappointing 1-1 friendly draw with Greece at the King Baudouin Stadium on Thursday.
The Red Devils were without influential midfielder Kevin De Bruyne, who sustained fractures to his nose and eye socket in Manchester City s Champions League defeat to Chelsea at the weekend, and they sorely missed his creativity against John van t Schip s side, who are ranked 50 places beneath them in the world rankings.
Thorgan Hazard had put Roberto Martinez s side ahead midway through the first half after a slick move and he missed a glaring opportunity to add another before the interval.
He was punished for that miss in the 66th minute when Georgios Tzavellas stroked home to seal a draw for the visitors.
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Mauricio Pochettino believes Raheem Sterling can prove Gareth Southgate was wrong to leave him out of another England squad after the Chelsea forward inspired his side to a 4-1 come-from-behind win at Burnley.
Days after Southgate left him out of the squad for next week’s internationals, Sterling took his frustrations out on his old Manchester City team-mate Vincent Kompany and Burnley, having a hand in all four Chelsea goals, scoring one.
Sterling has not played for England since last year’s World Cup, and although fitness accounted for his absence in March and he asked not to play in June while he focused on getting fully back up to speed, Southgate has now chosen to leave him out of the last two squads.
But at Turf Moor he showed what England are missing a…
Thomas Muller hopes Germany s semi-final disappointment at Euro 2016 can help to inspire them to greater heights.
Joachim Low s world champions appeared well-placed to add the European crown to an impressive body of work over recent years, but bowed out as Antoine Griezmann scored a goal in each half to seal a 2-0 win for hosts France in Marseille.
France lost 1-0 to Portugal after extra time in the final, while Bayern Munich forward Muller – who failed to find the net during the tournament – wants Germany to build on lessons learned for their 2018 World Cup defence in Russia.
Everyone saw the Euros, we were close but in the semi-final it just didn t work out, he said.
But you need to take the positives with you to the future, get new motivation fr…
This Friday, CONMEBOL’s biggest international tournament will begin on Brazilian soil when the match between Brazil and Bolivia kicks off the 2019 Copa America. Chile will try to defend their back-to-back titles won in 2015 and 2016, but a plethora of teams will aim to stop La Roja’s out-of-nowhere winning run earlier this decade.
This time, we’ll take a deeper look at Group B. It features Argentina, Colombia, Paraguay and Qatar.
Argentina
La Albiceleste are one of toughest teams to analyse ahead of the 2019 Copa America. On one hand, they boast an impressive amount of quality on the attacking thanks to Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Paulo Dybala and Lautaro Martinez. But what happens with the other areas of the pitch? Runners-up in the past two editions of the tou…