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Toulon Tournament: Match 7: Japan-Chile
Hours before England and Portugal gave us the best match of the tournament thus far, Japan gave us the best performance of the tournament thus far. The match took place next to Nostradamus’ former home in Salon de Provence, but as one witty commentator put it, not even Nostradamus could have predicted this. Whilst Chile’s…
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Toulon Tournament: Match 8: England-Portugal
If Monday’s second match gave us the dullest match of the tournament, Tuesday’s second match gave us the most exciting match of the tournament’s early stages. With both of Group A’s favorites having lost their opening games, and with Japan having already secured their first-place status with a 7-1 drubbing of Chile earlier on in…
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Toulon Tournament: Match 6: Mexico-Bahrain
This was, by and large, the worst game of the tournament so far. I considered skipping the last thirty minutes, but I stayed true to my commitment and grinded it out to watch the entire thing. Here you go. Bahrain’s standouts I say this in the nicest, most polite way possible: Bahrain did not have…
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Toulon Tournament: Match 5: Ireland-China
For the record, this match wasn’t as straightforward or lopsided as the 4-1 scoreline may suggest. Ireland got off to a quick start with two goals inside the first five minutes, and while they remained comfortable throughout the following 88 minutes, China showed some promising signs in possession and had a few impressive standout performers.…
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Alexis Claude-Maurice: The latest Clairefontaine success story?
Several exceptionally talented attacking players have progressed through the ranks of the infamous INF Clairefontaine. Thierry Henry learned his trade at the French football centre at which Nicolas Anelka and David Trezeguet honed their skills, and Kylian Mbappé is the most recent front-man to emerge as a product of the work that occurs just south…
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Toulon Tournament: Match 4: Brazil-Guatemala
It’s no secret that on paper, Brazil are the strongest team in the 2019 edition of the Toulon Tournament. While Portugal and France’s young starlets are still trying to get regular minutes at their clubs, the majority of Brazil’s U-22 team has already established an impressive reputation at the senior level. This team is so…
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Toulon Tournament: Match 3: France-Qatar
If you had tuned into this match without having any prior background information, you’d have thought that the French side were the 22-year-olds on the cusp of their prime, while the Qatari side were the precocious teenagers making their way up from academy-level football. In fact, it was the opposite. Despite being five years their…
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Toulon Tournament: Match 2: Portugal-Chile
In a far more even-handed affair than the opening match, Portugal and Chile contested for all three points during the second match of the first day of the Toulon Tournament. Chile scored early with a lovely header from Mathías Pinto, and they held onto the lead to preserve a 1-0 victory. Perhaps the two most hyped…
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Toulon Tournament: Match 1: England-Japan
With England winning the past three editions of the Toulon Tournament, the premier U-22 tournament in football, you’d be forgiven for thinking they could muster the pressure of Japan on opening day. Think again. While England went ahead 1-0 early on through a swooping header by England captain Trevor Chalobah, Japan, the better side from…
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Champions League Final Fan Preview: Liverpool
Finally, after an almost interminable three week wait, the Champions League final is nigh. Standing in the way of Liverpool avenging their final defeat to Real Madrid in Kiev last season are their domestic rivals, Spurs. In some way’s, both club’s group stage campaign’s have mirrored each other’s. Both team’s went into the final match…
