Articles
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Five Things to Look Out for in the Inaugural Uefa Europa Conference League in 2021
Tuesday 15th June 2021, the year-delayed UEFA Euro 2020 competition is fully underway in 11 cities across Europe. Understandably, hidden away amongst all the European Championships fever in UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, the 1st qualifying round for the new UEFA Europa Conference League competition took place. The inaugural edition of European football’s new third-tier…
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How José Bordalás Delivered Getafe to the Promised Land
Getafe CF has been the surprise of La Liga the past few seasons. The fact that a neighbourhood in Madrid with a population of 180,000 people nearly got into the Champions League is impressive. This is mainly thanks to José Bordalás, who took the team when they were facing relegation from the second division, to…
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Renato Sanches and Paul Pogba: Two Midfield Titans
The group of death delivered. In a helter-skelter final group matchday France, Portugal, Germany and party spoilers Hungary tussled for qualification to the last 16 of the Euros. Questionable penalties, goalkeeper errors and midfield masterclasses were some of the subplots on Thursday night as the curtain was brought down on highly entertaining fixtures of group…
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Moments of the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup – Part 2: The Barcelona Bears — Rangers 1971/722
This is part two of a series on the best moments of the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup. To read “Part 1: Slovan Bratislava 1968/69,” click here. Glasgow’s two main football teams, Celtic and Rangers, share a long-standing rivalry going back over a century. Rangers may have more league titles (55), but when it comes…
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Home Advantage in the European Championships: Is Football Coming Home?
The concept of home advantage has been well publicised during the last few months of the Premier League season when no fans were allowed in the ground but has having fans helped the host nations at the European Championships? Rather than the usual sole home nation, this edition of the championships has seen 11 hosts…
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Player Analysis: Frenkie de Jong
The Dutch Eredivisie has always been renowned for producing highly talented individuals over the years. It has acted as a feeder league for most of the other big European heavyweights. However, not all the promising young talents that come out of the Eredivisie have fulfilled their potential. In recent years, very few notable and productive…
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Tactical Analysis: Sweden vs. Poland
After yet another miserable international tournament display at Euro 2016 in France, the Swedish national team decided it was time to gamble. Back home, a recently promoted side, IFK Norrköping, had just won the Allsvenskan for the first time in 26 years. Their manager, Janne Andersson, had only coached two sides before that unprecedented title…
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Tactical Analysis: France vs. Portugal
“It was a fight, and it wasn’t easy. We gave them the two goals from mistakes. We tried to win it. It means we’re top and that’s the best position. We’re going to appreciate it and recover now as a new competition is starting.” French manager Didier Deschamps stated in his post-match interview. A game…
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Tactical Analysis: Germany vs. Hungary
Heading into the final matchday of the group stages, Group F had lived up to its billing as the “group of death” with all four spots still up for grabs on the final day. It certainly wasn’t about to disappoint. An instant classic was on our hands as Hungary and Germany faced off for only…
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Tactical Analysis: Spain vs. Slovakia
Following Slovakia’s Group E fixture against Sweden, Newcastle United goalkeeper Martin Dubravka received mountains of criticism for his role in the Sokoli’s defeat. Penalised for fouling Robin Quaison in the penalty area, the 31-year-old was powerless to resist Emil Forsberg’s well-struck effort from 12 yards. Thus, having been widely blamed for his side’s 1-0…
