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Bournemouth v Leeds, Middlesbrough v Sheffield Wednesday and more: football – live | Sport
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Back under way in the Championship except for at the Valley, where something we’ll call “the clockwatch rule” meant that game’s first half finished 10 minutes after the others.
In League One, promoted Cardiff entertain Port Vale, who need a win to prolong their long battle against relegation. Both sides are also among the few to lose to Chelsea in recent months. It’s currently goalless there.
And it’s half-time at Turf Moor, where Manchester City lead 1-0 and Burnley need a goal to avoid going down, mathematically at least.
Half time: Bournemouth 0-0 Leeds
It’s been watchable, if not a thriller so far. Bournemouth have probably edged the first half, but it’s still very much up for grabs.
Double oof! The ball is whipped along the six-yard line and Aaronson just fails to connect with a boot and prod it home. That’s the closest Leeds have come.
Oof! This is the closest either side have come, as Ryan Christie slides in at the far post but sees his shot repelled by Darlow’s right boot. Tavernier then flashes his effort wide, before Leeds break away again …
Leeds have a free kick on the left-hand edge of the area, but Tanaka’s delivery is terrible, wafting into the crowd behind the goal. The home fans ask: “what the [effing] hell was that,” and with good cause.
With Ipswich level and Boro ahead, the race for that second automatic promotion spot could scarcely be tighter. Ipswich have a game in hand on Millwall, but one of their three remaining fixtures is at St Mary’s.
Championship half-times
Birmingham 2-1 Preston
Charlton 1-1 Ipswich
Middlesbrough 1-0 Sheffield Wed
Sheffield United 0-3 Blackburn
Bournemouth 0-0 Leeds: From Truffert’s free kick, Marco Senesi heads across goal but Darlow is there to scoop it up. Leeds break and Aaronson cuts inside before firing on goal. It’s on target, but easy enough for Petrovic to get down and collect.
Bournemouth’s Adrien Truffert records the game’s first shot on target, which is a start, even if it’s underhit and straight at Karl Darlow. In the Championship, Blackburn lead 3-0 at Sheffield United, Ohashi getting his second of the night.
Junior Kroupi goes in the book for a hefty challenge on Ampadu, who needs a touch of the magic sponge. At Turf Moor, Burnley are holding up under pressure, but Manchester City still lead 1-0.
Sheffield United 0-2 Blackburn: The visitors double their lead through Ryoya Morishita, and it’s looking like curtains for Oxford United in the Championship.
GOAL! Charlton 1-1 Ipswich (Furlong 35′)
Ipswich are level, right-back Darnell Furlong striking clinically from the edge of the box after silky buildup work from Jaden Philogene.
Bournemouth launch a long throw that Darlow punches away and Leeds break, Okafor with a lung-busting run down the left. Gudmundsson eventually gets up to deliver a cross, but it’s cleared away by Truffer.
All over in Paris, too, where PSG have beaten Nantes 3-0 to move four points clear atop Ligue 1. Their Champions League semi-final opponents, Bayern Munich, lead Leverkusen 1-0 in the DFB Cup semis and in case you hadn’t guessed, it’s Harry Kane with the opener.
It’s finished Elche 3-2 Atlético in La Liga, with the hosts hauling themselves out of the relegation zone. Atlético sit fourth, and have had a very underwhelming league campaign alongside their Cup heroics.
Bournemouth have started stronger at the Vitality, with David Brooks almost latching on to a through ball before Evanilson fires wide.
Birmingham 2-1 Preston: Ibrahim Osman doubles the hosts’ lead at St Andrews, before Andy Hughes quickly pulls one back. The playoffs are beyond Birmingham now but they can secure a top-half finish with a decent run in their final three games.
At Turf Moor, Burnley have let Erling Haaland run through on goal, with predictable results. City lead 1-0, and are provisionally top of the table.
Sheffield Utd 0-1 Blackburn: Yuki Ohashi puts Rovers ahead at Bramall Lane – if they win, they’ll secure their Championship place and send Oxford down tonight.
GOAL! Middlesbrough 1-0 Sheffield Wed (Whittaker 11′)
Boro take an early lead, Morgan Whittaker with the goal. Elsewhere in the second tier, Birmingham lead Preston through Jay Stansfield.
GOAL! Charlton 1-0 Ipswich (Docherty 1′)
A big goal at the Valley, as Greg Docherty strikes on the rebound inside 60 seconds. It’s particularly good news for Charlton’s Sarf Lah’n neighbours, Millwall, who lead the race for second place.
Pre-game thoughts from Andoni Iraola, who is asked whether his exit – and news of Marco Rose’s arrival – has affected the players. “It is not affecting the performances, which tells you a lot about their mentality. The recent results, this appointment, show where things are going.”
And here’s Daniel Farke, his countenance as ever like a humble medieval farmer who must avenge a death: “We are focused only on this game, to achieve our goal, our bread and butter in the league. It’s a busy schedule but my players would rather be playing games than training!”
ICYMI, today’s big football news:
“Bournemouth are on the beach, but not in the football sense – they still have realistic Europe ambitions and will want to play up for the gaffer who’s taken them there,” writes Jeremy Boyce. “NotAsNasty Leeds will present feisty opposition, despite their upcoming FA Cup semi v leaderless Chelsea. A point tonight and they’re safe. Plenty to play for, and given their respective styles, there should be goals.
“Hand on heart, this Leeds fan says a surprise 1-2 and a happy day out at Wemberlee on Sunday. We can always dream.”
There is, of course, another Premier League game on tonight: Burnley v Manchester City. If City win it, they go top, and Burnley will be relegated. High stakes indeed; follow that one with Simon Burnton.
“I know we start next season on -15 points, but looking at the team tonight, it’s a good League One team,” writes Sheffield Wednesday fan Colin Everest. “Let’s hope the takeover goes through smoothly this month.” Amen to that.
Middlesbrough v Sheffield Wednesday teams
Middlesbrough (3-4-2-1): Brynn; Malanda, Fry, Ayling; Brittain, Morris, Whittaker, Targett; Browne, Conway; Strelec.
Subs: Sene, Silvera, Castledine, Bangura, Edmundson, Hansen, Wildsmith, Ibeh, Sarmiento.
Sheffield Wednesday (3-4-3): Cooper; Palmer, Otegbayo, Lowe; Fusire, Heskey, Nakamba, Adaramola; Thornton, Yates, McNeill.
Subs: Iorfa, Lowe, Chalobah, Kobacki, Stretch, McGhee, Grainger, Moses, Silcott-Duberry.
“Did Liam Rosenior really fail at Chelsea?” asks Liam Ro David Wall. “People forget that their measures of success aren’t the normal ones for any other football club. Their aim is to short-sell the market on wide forwards below the age of 25, the other on-pitch stuff is just sleight-of-hand to get the suckers looking the other way. How they can make any decision on his tenure before the transfer window opens is beyond me.”
Bringing it back round to Bournemouth, Andoni Iraola is among the early favourites for the Chelsea hotseat this summer. You have to wonder why any manager whose star is rising would take that job on.
Bournemouth v Leeds team news
Bournemouth (4-2-3-1): Petrovic; Jiménez, Hill, Senesi, Truffert; Scott, Christie; Brooks, Kroupi, Tavernier; Evanilson.
Subs: Mandas, Smith, Adams, Diakité, Doak, Toth, Adli, Unal, Rayan.
Leeds United (3-4-2-1): Darlow; Justin, Bijol, Struijk; Bogle, Ampadu, Tanaka, Gudmundsson; Aaronson, Okafor; Calvert-Lewin.
Subs: Perri, Rodon, Bornauw, Buonanotte, Dan James, Sean Longstaff, Piroe, Nmecha, Gnonto.
PSG were originally supposed to host this game between the Champions League ties against Chelsea, but it was moved to allow them to focus on Europe. PSG have only played four Ligue 1 games since the end of February, and visiting fans made their feelings known with a banner. To be fair, PSG have lost two of those games, so it might not be helping.
It’s been a lively start to Atlético Madrid’s game at Elche – having led early through Nico González, the visitors fell 2-1 down before González got a second to make it 2-2 at half-time.
In Ligue 1, PSG lead relegation-threatened Nantes 2-0 at the Parc des Princes, the goals coming from Kvicha Kvaratskhelia and Desiré Doué. In fact, as I type this, Kvaratskhelia has added his second, the silky genius.
Preamble
Which team currently has the longest unbeaten run in any of Europe’s “big five” leagues? Bayern? Barcelona? No, it’s Bournemouth, who haven’t lost in 13 [thirteen] Premier League matches.
Not even Andoni Iraola announcing his summer departure could stop them – if anything, results have improved. Having emerged from trips to the Emirates and St James’ Park with six points in the bag, the Cherries can climb to sixth with a win tonight, a first European campaign within reach.
It could be a historic season for Leeds too – they are unbeaten in six games in all competitions, and will fancy their chances of upsetting Chelsea in the FA Cup semis this weekend. Eight points ahead of Spurs in the relegation battle, a result here would all but secure survival.
The vibes should be immaculate at the Vitality –and there’s plenty going on elsewhere. Ipswich and Middlesbrough need wins to boost their promotion hopes, Atlético and Barcelona are in La Liga action, and it’s only Leverkusen v Bayern in the DFB Pokal semi-finals. Let’s roll!
The family of Shaun Burton, say they are “devastated” by the loss.
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Key events
In the opening half an hour against Cape Verde, Mikel Oyarzabal, the centre-forward, did not get a single touch.
Kyle Green gets in touch: “Your highlighting of Lalas and his absurdity is something that has prevented me from wanting to watch the coverage on Fox. While every channel has its pros and cons I just can’t.
“I’m 45 and probably the youngest of anyone who remembers him as a player instead of an opinionated insert insult here. As for the match this could be more competitive than it looks on paper Spain need a win the pressure is on them. Saudi Arabia could hold out for a draw and see what happens in their last match. “
News from the England camp, and it seems to be good news on Declan Rice.
“I’m ready and fit, raring to go. I was feeling a little bit of neural pain in my hamstring, which I was managing from after Christmas with Arsenal for a very long time. Obviously, not a lot of people would have known that. It was all behind-the-scenes stuff but it was a smart decision.
“In the end, that last 20 minutes is probably where you pick up the most, and it’s where you play a 70-minute match. But that last 20 is where you really feel your body going for it. And I think it was a smart decision because the last few days I felt really, really good.”
Alex Reid has penned today’s weekend special Football Daily.
Portugal v Uzbekistan on Tuesday enticingly pits the incredibly nice, incredibly 41-year-old-superstar-tolerant Roberto Martínez against Fabio Cannavaro, who’s won a Ballon d’Or as a player and the Chinese Super League as a coach. While the fixture following that game really does see the dream of Thomas Tuchel – in his first international job with England – taking on Queiroz, who is in charge of his ninth national side with Ghana.
The expected formations are 4-2-3-1 for Spain, and 5-3-2 for the Saudi Arabians.
The Saudi team features two Donis changes: Ali Lajami, a defender, and Nasser Al Dawsari, a midfielder, are preferred to Mohammed Abu Al Shamat and Mohamed Kanno. You may recall Salem Al Dawsari, the Saudi captain, as the man who scored the winner against Argentina.
An entertaining read, even for those of us who have just seen the clips.
In a conversation where his co-panelist is casually reminiscing about his days playing alongside Messi or exchanging shirts with Ronaldo Nazário at the World Cup, what exactly is Lalas going to talk about – coming on as a second-half substitute for Earnie Stewart in a friendly against Scotland in 1998? Helping the Kansas City Wizards finish last in the 1999 MLS Western Conference? Did Lalas enjoy an elite playing career? No. But does he do the background reading that could compensate for his relative lack of standing in a conversation with titans like Henry and Zlatan? Also no. But is he charming or funny or charismatic or otherwise magnetic on screen? Eh, no.
For the record, I once interviewed Alexi Lalas on the challenge of playing against Romario in the 1994 World Cup. He had this to say:
“He could kill you in so many different ways. If you remember from that World Cup, he scored so many types of goals. That ranged from solo adventures to an outside-of-the-right-foot half-volley off a corner kick. Romario was both the most difficult to play against and the best that I have faced.
“Roberto Baggio was doing his thing, but in terms of consistency and living up to the hype, he [Romario] was the best. As with all stars, there was a moment when the fans sit up in their seats, and that was a feeling I got with Romario. When it got close to him and the potential for his involvement in a play was there, everybody sat up in their seat. They knew that something spectacular would be happening.”
Saturday’s match reports here.
The Saudi Arabia coach, and Blackburn legend, Georgios Donis, spoke about the challenges facing his team: “Spain is not the same team when Yamal or Williams are on the bench.
“While they still have plenty of possession, they lack the individual one-on-one penetration when these two are missing. I’m not saying it’s a problem for Spain, but when those players are missing, they play in a different way. We saw this very clearly against Cape Verde.
“We are playing against one of the best teams in the world, and it’s very important that when you play against these kinds of teams, you should enjoy the experience and respect the opponent, but not too much.
“It is very hard for any team playing against Spain to have any time in possession. So what we must do is to be more in control of our movement and compact, and when the ball goes through the lines, be able to defend dynamically.
“It’s nice to see miracles in football, and we’ve seen favourites losing against underdogs. Of course, it’s great for Saudi football to have a great memory of the result against Argentina, but we aren’t drawing anything from that.
“I think we’ll feel more pressure in that [Cape Verde] game than we will against Spain.”
The Spain coach, Luis De La Fuente had this to say in his Saturday press conference: “This generation of footballers is highly competitive and really fired up… It’s going to be a completely different story,” he said at his pre-match press conference on Saturday. There is no drama or crisis. The bottom line is simply that we need to win tomorrow.”
Four changes for Spain: Lamine Yamal, Pedro Porro, Dani Olmo and Alex Baena also come into the side with Marcos Llorente, Fabian Ruiz, Ferran Torres and Gavi dropping out.
The teams – Lamine Yamal starts
Spain: Simon, Porro, Cubarsi, Laporte, Cucurella, Gonzalez, Rodri, Yamal, Olmo, Baena, Oyarzabal. Subs: Raya, Joan Garcia, Pubill, Grimaldo, Eric Garcia, Llorente, Merino, Torres, Fabian, Gavi, Pino, Williams, Zubimendi, Munoz, Iglesias.
Saudi Arabia: Al Owais, Abdulhamid, Tambakti, Lajami, Al Amri, Al Harbi, Nasser Al Dawsari, Al Khaibari, Al Juwayr, Al Buraikan, Salem Al Dawsari. Subs: Al Aqidi, Al Kassar, Majrashi, Yahya, Al Shehri, Al Boushal, Kadesh, Al Johani, Al Ghannam, Al Hajji, Al Hamdan, Mandash, Kanno, Thakri, Abu Al Shamat.
Referee: Raphael Claus (Brazil)
Perhaps one of the Saudi -players can write themselves into this high-grade selection?
Perhaps it can be their goalkeeper.
Madrid screening of Spain v Saudi Arabia cancelled due to heat
The public screening of Spain’s World Cup match against Saudi Arabia in Madrid on Sunday has been cancelled because of extreme heat forecast for the Spanish capital, officials said.
The match, due to kick off at 6pm local time on Sunday, had been scheduled to be shown on a giant screen installed by the Spanish football federation (RFEF) at a fan zone in Plaza de Colón in central Madrid.
Madrid city council and the federation decided to cancel the screening after national weather agency AEMET issued an orange heat warning – the second-highest level – for the Madrid region, with temperatures forecast to reach 40C.
“The decision has been taken with the aim of protecting the health of attendees, event staff and support services involved in the event,” Madrid city hall said in a statement, apologising for any inconvenience.
Officials urged supporters to watch the match indoors in air-conditioned spaces and avoid prolonged exposure to the heat.
Large parts of Spain are experiencing unusually high temperatures for June as a mass of hot air from North Africa moves across the Iberian Peninsula.
A total of 13 of Spain’s 17 regions are on orange alert for heat on Sunday, while the northern Basque Country bordering France is on red alert, the highest level.
Authorities advised residents and visitors to take precautions during the heatwave, including drinking water regularly, staying in cool environments, limiting outdoor physical activity during the hottest hours of the day and taking extra care of vulnerable people. AFP
Can Saudi Arabia repeat the magic of 2022?
Argentina arrived in Qatar on a 36-game unbeaten run. When Lionel Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot after 10 minutes, a comfortable afternoon seemed in the offing. Saleh al-Shehri and Salem al-Dawsari had other ideas, Argentina had three goals disallowed for offside in the space of 13 minutes and the greatest comeback in Saudi Arabia football history was made. Argentina went on to lift the trophy, while defeats to Poland and Mexico meant the Saudis did not reach the knock-out stage.
Unai Simon over David Raya is a controversial choice for De la Fuentes. The Arsenal keeper could lay claim to being Europe’s best this season.
“Those at the Champions League final had a few more days, so I got there on the Wednesday night,” Raya says. “I arrived a bit before Fabián [Ruiz]. I was saying hello to some of the others in reception when he arrived. I went to say congratulations; that was almost the first thing I did. I couldn’t really talk [to him] after the final; I just didn’t have it in me. The next day we talked about the game properly. Just two mates chatting … I was happy for him that he could lift the trophy for a second time.”
A high pressure game for the European champions, as Sid Lowe reports.
“If we had scored one, the game would have changed,” Martín Zubimendi said. Immediately after the game, De la Fuente had offered a simple analysis: when the ball doesn’t want to go in it doesn’t want to go in, he insisted. Spain had racked up 27 shots, after all. Ferran Torres had hit the bar and seen another clear opportunity saved. Vozinha, the 40-year-old goalkeeper who stopped that, saved six more and was named the man of the match. “There’s nothing to reproach the team for,” Rodri said. “We generated chances but couldn’t put it away; the good thing is they created almost nothing.”
We wait to see what role Lamine Yamal will play today. His coach would surely like to be able to use him.
The worst mistake we could make would be to compare him to anyone. He is the midst of a process. He has exceptional footballing maturity and lives it all with total naturalness. He has great serenity and strength. We have to let him follow his path but those players who have something different are ready for that. They’re geniuses, like Dalí [who] can paint a picture, or Michelangelo. They’re different. What is exceptional to us, isn’t to them. In those extremes, they feel comfortable. Why? Because they are different. What we think is exceptional, they consider normal.
Preamble
Spain’s campaign did not get off to a flying start, and Luis de la Fuentes may wake up in the night to visions of Cape Verde’s Vozinha. He will have Georgia on his mind ever since Monday. Saudi Arabia are no pushovers and gave Uruguay a scare in their opening match. Memories of downing Argentina four years ago still abound, and so Spain might beware. They can ill afford to go into the final game with Uruguay at a disadvantage. All eyes on Lamine Yamal, whose fitness situation remains opaque, though Spain need their other forwards to come to the party.
Kick-off 5pm UK, 1pm ET, 2am AEST. Join me.
A topless man can be seen driving erratically in Edinburgh before abandoning his car and attacking a black man and a delivery rider.
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