Newcastle goalkeeper Martin Dubravka has produced one of the worst goalkeeping errors ever at Euro 2020 . The 32-year-old is the man between the posts for Slovakia in their last group-stage game of the tournament against Spain as they look to reach the knockouts. Having held off the 2010 World Cup champions for 30 minutes - and saved a penalty from Alvaro Morata - his massive error handed Luis Enrique's side the lead. Pablo Sarabia drove at goal from just outside the penalty box, with his powerful effort hitting the crossbar. The bounce takes it straight up into the air, with the Newcastle shot-stopper looking to push it onto the roof of the net. But Dubravka gets his angles all wrong, pushing the ball into his own net to give Spain the lead in Seville. And viewers took to Twitter to express their shock at the disastrous moment from the Magpies shot-stopper. "Oh Dubravka, what have you just done," one viewer said. While another commented: …
Newcastle united
On me head, son: the secret economics of footballers’ hair
A week before England’s first match in the Euro 2020 tournament, Phil Foden, the team’s shy midfielder, was deep in a pre-game project. Fans were treated to a glimpse of it on Instagram: the dark-haired 21-year-old was sitting wrapped in a barber’s gown, half his head smeared with peroxide. Over 50,000 people liked the picture. The Economist Today Hand-picked stories, in your inbox A daily email with the best of our journalism Sign up The next day Foden unveiled his transformation in full, a white platinum crop with a hairline so straight you could use it as a set square. The effect was somewhere between Paul “Gazza” Gascoigne, Newcastle United’s legendary player in the 1980s, and Eminem. In pandemic-weary Britain, the internet exploded with a mixture of awe and derision. As Sheldon Edwards, the barber behind Foden’s metamorphosis, wrote on Instagram: “We done a madness.” Grooming has assumed a significance for …
[Read more...] about On me head, son: the secret economics of footballers’ hair
Sir Stanley Matthews
Stanley Matthews, who has died aged 85, was the first ever European Footballer of the Year, and arguably the outstanding British player of his generation. He was nicknamed the Wizard of Dribble in Britain, and known abroad as Der Zauberer - the magician. His remarkable career stretched from well before the second world war to the 1960s; he was still playing League football at 50. At 41, at Wembley, he was capable of demolishing as famous a left back as Brazil's Milton Santos. Afterwards, in the England dressing room, in a rare moment of spleen, he said that when he read that he was too old he was sometimes tempted to tear the paper across. But the truth is that throughout his magical career, Matthews was constantly being accused of being too this, that or the other. Too unpredictable. Too individualistic. Too slow to release the ball. In one wartime Wembley international at Wembley there was a small scandal when it was alleged that he had deliberately been starved of the ball. At …
Rafa Benitez to Everton was organised by Russian oligarch despite fan protests
Rafael Benitez’s proposed move to Everton was organized by Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov, close friend of owner Farhad Moshiri and someone who is having a big say in the ongoings at Goodison Park. The move for Benitez has been widely criticized by sections of the Everton supporters due to his past Liverpool links, but Moshiri is eager to appoint him. Benitez managed Everton’s Merseyside rivals for six years between 2004 and 2010, winning the Champions League in 2005. And according to the Sun , he looks set to take over at Everton, and that is largely down to the influential Usmanov, who Moshiri has previously consulted with when appointing managers. After Ronald Koeman was sacked in 2017, Usmanov was instrumental in appointing Sam Allardyce as his temporary replacement and just a few months later, when Allardyce was gone, Marco Silva got his chance after some advice sought from Usmanov. It’s not just the managerial hunt that Usmanov has a say …
[Read more...] about Rafa Benitez to Everton was organised by Russian oligarch despite fan protests
Gary Neville says Spain’s Alvaro Morata “needs a cuddle” because he looks “vulnerable”
Manchester United legend, Gary Neville , has stated that he thinks Spanish striker Alvaro Morata 'needs a hug' when speaking on ITV ahead of Spain and Slovakia's Euro 2020 clash on Wednesday evening. Morata, who was on Chelsea's books before he was sold last summer, has struggled in front of a goal at Euro 2020 - as he did in London. His form continued against Slovakia, when Newcastle's Martin Dubravka pushed his penalty aside, before he committed an incredible howler , and he was later substituted without a goal to his name. And Neville relayed his sympathies to Morata when speaking ahead of the fixture. "He's got that vulnerable look about him, almost like he needs a cuddle," Neville told ITV during the build-up to the game. "He looks like when he misses a chance he's fearing what the media and what the press and what his team-mates might say. Looks like he's had some criticism playing for the national team. "He's not a Diego Costa, a …