..::Football IV::..

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France 5-2 Iceland: Giroud at the double as hosts set up semi-final clash with Germany

France surged into the semi-finals of Euro 2016 as they ended Iceland's fairytale run in brutal fashion with a 5-2 win at the Stade de France on Sunday.

Iceland stunned the football world by coming from behind to beat England 2-1 in the last 16, but were run ragged by France, Didier Deschamps' side easing through to book a last-four meeting with Germany in Marseille on Thursday.

Blaise Matuidi set up Olivier Giroud for the opener and the floodgates quickly opened, France 4-0 up by half-time. Paul Pogba answered some of his critics by heading in France's second and fine finishes from Dimitri Payet and Antoine Griezmann had them in complete command by the interval.


Debutants Iceland restored some pride through Kolbeinn Sigthorsson's close-range finish before Giroud added his second of the night for France, who head to the Stade Velodrome to take on the world champions with significant momentum. Birkir Bjarnason pulled another back with eight minutes left, but the damage had long since been done.

The rout began in the 12th minute by Giroud's second goal of the tournament.Matuidi clipped a well-weighted ball into the path of the Arsenal striker, who finished superbly as he fired through the legs of Iceland goalkeeper Hannes Halldorsson.

Against England Iceland responded almost immediately to falling behind, but France refused to allow them a route back into the game and the hosts' advantage was doubled eight minutes later through Pogba's towering header.

The midfielder has been criticised for his performances at the tournament, but demonstrated his athleticism as he rose highest to thump Griezmann's corner home.

Undeterred, Iceland went close to halving the deficit, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson narrowly turning over after latching on to Kolbeinn Sigthorsson's flick-on from a long throw.

A Gylfi Sigurdsson free-kick almost surprised Hugo Lloris, but any hope of a remarkable Iceland turnaround was extinguished in a devastating spell shortly before half-time.

Payet continued his excellent tournament by arrowing a strike into the bottom-right corner from the edge of the area to make it 3-0.And Griezmann piled on further misery for Iceland as he was slipped through on goal, netting France's fourth with a sublime lob over a helpless Halldorsson.

Sigthorsson turned in Sigurdsson's near-post ball in 11 minutes after the restart, yet that was only brief respite for Iceland as Halldorsson was caught in two minds, allowing Giroud to divert a Payet free-kick into the net.

Sverrir Ingason drew a stunning save from Lloris before Bjarnason gave the Iceland fans one final reason to cheer by nodding in Ari Skulason's cross, but it is France who take another step towards a first major tournament triumph in 16 years.

 

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Payet: Iceland win was France's best performance at Euro 2016


Dimitri Payet feels France's 5-2 quarter-final win over Iceland was their best performance at Euro 2016 so far.Didier Deschamps' men failed to impress in the group stages, before recording a hard-fought victory over Republic of Ireland in the round of 16.

The tournament hosts were in fine form on Sunday, though, as France comfortably brushed Iceland aside to set up a semi-final showdown against Germany.

"This was our best performance this tournament," Payet, who scored his side's third goal, told reporters."We managed to score a lot of goals, which was great. And it was important that we scored early on.

"We have a lot of quality in attack. We had a lot of chances, which allowed us to score."We were aware of Iceland's strength, but we were on top of our game."
France meet Germany next with the world champions expected to miss a number of key players.

Mats Hummels is unavailable due to suspension, Mario Gomez is out of action due to injury, while Bastian Schweinsteiger and Sami Khedira are both doubtful.

Nevertheless, Payet is adamant Germany remain a major force even without a number of regulars."Germany will not be weakened," he insisted."They are the reigning world champions."

Antoine Griezmann played a pivotal role in France's win with one goal and two assists, but the Atletico Madrid forward is not getting carried away, urging his team-mates to keep pushing for more."We wanted to make a great start and we did just that," Griezmann stated.

"It's a shame that we conceded twice. But we have to keep going on the same path. We have to give our all in the semi-final against Germany in front of our own fans. We will give everything to get to the final."

 

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AC Milan lead race for Liverpool-linked Pjaca

AC Milan are at the front of the queue to sign Marko Pjaca from Dinamo Zagreb, Goal understands.

Dinamo director of football Marko Vukelic recently told Italian media that Premier League clubs were in "pole position" to sign the winger, with Liverpool the most closely linked.

But Goal can confirm that Pjaca is currently most likely to head to San Siro, with Milan willing to delay the deal to allow him to participate in Dinamo's Champions League qualification matches.

The 21-year-old would play in the preliminary games with his current club before completing the transfer late in August.

Milan would subsequently pay a lower fee of around €15 million instead of the €18m Dinamo are quoting other clubs and are not negatively affected by the arrangement as they have not qualified for European competition this season.

Pjaca has been the subject of offers from Juventus and Bologna in previous years and his agent, Marko Naletilic, has worked closely with Italian clubs for some time.

Inter are also interested in the highly rated player, who has scored 26 goals in 90 appearances with the current Croatian champions.

 

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Man City unveil 2016-17 home kit

Manchester City have unveiled their new home kit ahead of the 2016-17 season.
Pep Guardiola's side posted a message on their official Twitter account showing Kelechi Iheanacho, Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne modelling the strip.

The shirt features the redesigned club crest in the traditional City blue with navy blue sleeves and trim, matching shorts and white socks.

The short also features the the word “CITY” at the back of the collar and, on the inside of the cuffs, “EST 1894” with reference to the club's redesigned badge.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

ela ela..
beluwe na bn match eka.. highlights beluwa..
hituwa wagema france qualify wela...
anika first half ekema match eka iwara karalane (4-0)..

Ow bro habai 2nd half fight 1kak dunna Icelands la​

 

[Wolverine GTR]

හෙන ෆුට් බෝල් පෑන් කෙනෙක්නේ... මං නන් ඉන්නේ කවුද කියන්ඩවත් දන් නෑ... wc වල ඔය නමගිය රටවල් ගහන එව්වා තමයි ගොඩක් බැලෙන්නේ... ක්‍රිකට් තමයි

Ela ela bro

Matanam Football thamai broCricket 2nd favourite
​

 

[Ysa Karu]

Ela ela bro

Matanam Football thamai broCricket 2nd favourite
​

මාත් ෆුට් බෝල් වලට ආසයි....ඒත් ලංකාව නැති හින්දා ලොකුවට බැලෙන් නෑ...

 

[Michael]

This

 

[Michael]

And this

 

[Michael]

 

[Wolverine GTR]

මාත් ෆුට් බෝල් වලට ආසයි....ඒත් ලංකාව නැති හින්දා ලොකුවට බැලෙන් නෑ...

Ela ela bro

SL Football team 1katanam godak improve wenna thiyanawa bro.​

 

[Wolverine GTR]

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[Wolverine GTR]

Guardiola no guarantee of success - Soriano

Pep Guardiola's arrival at Manchester City is no guarantee of success, chief executive Ferran Soriano has said.

Guardiola was presented to the City fans at an event on Sunday, taking part in a question-and-answer session as he begins his three-year contract at the Etihad Stadium.

The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach has enjoyed great success in his career in the dugout, winning La Liga and the Bundesliga three times while twice lifting the Champions League, Copa del Rey and DFB-Pokal trophies.But Soriano told Sky Sports News: "The Premier League is the most competitive league in the world by far, so it's a challenge in itself.

"We think we have the platform here for everybody to succeed but it's going to be extremely difficult. Nobody is thinking we are going to win the competition or all the games - not at all. We know it's very challenging.

"We think we have the ingredients but we'll have to work very hard - harder than last year. We are very happy to have the facilities, but this is not even half of the way, this is only the hardware."We need the software. We need the talent, the way we play football, the intensity in the games, the hard work - this is the difficult part.

"Our objective is to get to the end of the season with chances to win everything. All competitions are important to us. We know that if we are in the final of the Champions League five years in a row, one year we will win it."

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Lagerback: I was against 24-team Euros, but not anymore


Iceland co-coach Lars Lagerback admitted he was against the expansion of the European Championship from 16 teams to 24, but he is starting to see its merits.

Alongside Heimir Hallgrimsson, Lagerback oversaw a remarkable campaign from Iceland before they bowed out of Euro 2016, the first championship with the additional teams, at the quarter-finals against hosts France, going down 5-2.

And Lagerback said he was against the idea when he first heard of plans to expand the tournament to allow more teams, but he has been convinced it is a positive.

"I was a little bit against going up to 24 teams but I'm starting to go in the other direction instead. If you look up and down international football as I have experienced it, more and more countries have players playing in good leagues," he said.

"You can always discuss that the tournament is too long with the best players playing a long season, but the PR guaranteed by these matches is really good for football.

"If you look at Europe as a unit - if you can do that with different countries stepping out of different areas - it has developed Europe as a continent for football."

And for Iceland, the money generated by the tournament will serve the country well in helping to ensure this was not a flash-in-the-pan effort, with Lagerback predicting a bright future for the national team."It's always tough at this level. If you look at the World Cup qualification, Iceland is in a rather tough group," he said.

"But if you look at the age of the payers in this squad the future looks really good.
"Some of the younger guys who did not play at all or very little, I think for the national team it looks really, really good.

"The clubs and the football association can use the income from this tournament to put into important football projects, like developing young players."As for his own future - Lagerback is set to step down with Hallgrimsson taking sole control - the outgoing co-coach may stay in the game.

"I don't fancy fishing. It's difficult to say sitting here and now," he said."The four and a half years with Iceland has been special, the way we have developed things. Also the results, it is all about results.

"This shall always have a special place in my memories and in my heart."If someone wants to use me in some respect, without going 100 per cent into it [as a head coach] I will maybe look into it."

 

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Coleman: I would never manage England


Wales manager Chris Coleman insists he would never take the helm at England or any other national team.Coleman was among those linked to replace Roy Hodgson, having led Wales to the Euro 2016 semi-finals.

However, the 46-year-old former Fulham and Coventry City boss rubbished suggestions he would even consider taking on the England job."It's something that would never, ever enter my thinking," Coleman said. "I'm a Welshman through and through. It would only ever be Wales."

Coleman has been in charge of Wales since 2012, and his side face Portugal in the last four in France.

As for what his future holds, he wants to work overseas – having already experienced Spain and Greece with Real Sociedad and Larissa respectively.

"My next job after Wales, whenever that is, will be somewhere abroad," he said."I quite fancy the chance of going abroad again, because I think that's my best one of managing in the Champions League."Champions League football in the Premier League – you're talking about the top, big, massive clubs, and it's not something I think I'd get linked with.

"So, my best chance of managing Champions League football would be abroad and it's an ambition of mine to do that. To manage another country? No, I wouldn't. That's not something I would consider."

 

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Physically immense Pogba has everything - Giggs


Ryan Giggs was thoroughly impressed by Paul Pogba's display for France in their 5-2 win over Iceland on Sunday.

The midfielder is the most highly coveted player in Europe at the moment, with Manchester United looking to seal his return to Old Trafford, while Real Madrid and Barcelona are also interested in signing him.

The 23-year-old left United for free in 2012 to join Juventus, where he has blossomed into a star. Bringing him back to England would be an expensive exercise for United, but new coach Jose Mourinho could be tempted to spend around the £100 million on the 23-year-old, who scored in France's 5-2 quarter-final win over Iceland at Euro 2016 on Sunday.

Giggs' departure from United after 29 years of service was confirmed on Saturday, but he would be happy to see Pogba return, stating that he has "everything" to his game.
"He's a talented player," Giggs said on ITV."He can shoot with both feet, pass the ball with both feet and you don't realise how big he is."Physically he's immense, he's strong, he's quick, and he's got everything. He has got everything."

United face an uphill battle to sign the Frenchman, with his agent previously commenting that Real Madrid were leading in the race for Pogba's signature.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

Guardiola is the best coach in the world, says Gundogan


Ilkay Gundogan says Pep Guardiola was the key reason he joined Manchester City, stating the Spaniard is the best coach in the world.

Gundogan completed a move to the Etihad Stadium from Borussia Dortmund for a fee reported to be in the region of £21 million and was unveiled at City on Sunday alongside the side's new trainer.The Germany international has been impressed with the Spanish coach for some time and is looking forward to working with him.

"Guardiola was a big reason I joined," explained Gundogan. "I spoke to him a few times and he gave me such a good feeling."He is the best coach in the world. He made a good decision coming to Manchester City.

"I know him from Germany and saw him in Barcelona. He's really impressive personalty and it's a big chance for me to work with him."

The 25-year-old will miss the start of the Premier League season due to an injury, and he targets returning on time for the derby clash against Manchester United."Our target is end of August or September," he told Sky Sports. "September 10 is the derby, so I could be ready for it, but it's difficult to say.

"If it's one week earlier it's good, but one week later is also good. The important thing is to be safe and then everything else will come on its own."Everything is going well and I am looking forward to being back on the field. I'm doing my rehab, increasing the pressure on my leg, and I'm in good shape and looking forward to it.

"Watching games is not so easy but injuries belong to football, it's normal, so I am trying to take it easy and do my own work, and then help the team as soon as possible.

"Even when I got my injury, Pep said it changed nothing for him and he still wanted me to join, so for me that was a big sign that I was doing the right thing."

 

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'Penalty miss will stay with me forever!' Zaza rues wasted Italy opportunity


Italy forward Simone Zaza says his embarrassing penalty miss will stay with him for the rest of his life after his country's Euro 2016 quarter-final loss to Germany on Saturday.

Having been brought on in the final seconds of extra-time on Saturday specifically to take part in the penalty shoot-out – which Germany won 6-5 after the match finished 1-1 - the Juventus attacker blazed his effort over the crossbar following a staggered run-up that has attracted ridicule.

Zaza insisted he has always used that unorthodox approach and pointed out he succeeded in sending goalkeeper Manuel Neuer the wrong way, but acknowledged the miss will be impossible to forget.



Speaking to Mediaset as Italy were greeted by supporters at Malpensa airport in Milan, Zaza said: "I missed the most important penalty of my career and it will be with me for the rest of my life. I'm sorry to have disappointed Italians.

"I have always taken my penalties like that and was convinced I would score. I did send Manuel Neuer the wrong way, but unfortunately the ball went too high.

"It will be difficult, but I want to get over it. I want the Italians to know that we gave everything.

"The fans realised we did all we could and I am happy with the welcome we have had – I knew they would understand. It is a shame about the penalties as we were doing something extraordinary."

Following the clash in Bordeaux, Germany face a semi-final against hosts France in Marseille on Thursday, while Italy begin a new era under Giampiero Ventura after Antonio Conte's departure for Chelsea.

 

[Wolverine GTR]

'Penalty miss will stay with me forever!' Zaza rues wasted Italy opportunity

Zaza match 1ke face karapu 1st kick 1kama penalty kick 1kak.lesi wenne naha ithin.oka normal deyak​

 

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FIFA dismisses leaked memo on Infantino behaviour

FIFA has branded a leaked internal memo that accuses Gianni Infantino of rampantly poor ethical behaviour as "misinformation" spread by those who oppose the president.

Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung published an 11-page document, dated May 23, that makes a series of troubling claims against Sepp Blatter's replacement at the helm of FIFA.

It's stated that president Infantino accepted gifts and benefits from third parties, including the governments of Russia and Qatar, without declaring the conflict of interest it creates - a breach of FIFA's Code of Ethics.

The former UEFA secretary general, 46, is also denounced for allegedly hiring his own personal advisers without proper background checks and on salaries in excess of FIFA recommendations.

Infantino is heavily criticised for his part in the recent resignation of FIFA's head of auditing and compliance, Domenico Scala, in the leaked memo sent by an unknown employee to Scala's successor, Sindi Mabaso-Koyana.

It's alleged that Infantino instructed the FIFA Council, held in Mexico in May, to dismiss Scala "based on wrong facts" having been "insulted" by the £1.5 million salary he was offered.

Upon his resignation, Scala hammered Infantino and his Council for "smuggling" a last-minute amendment at Mexico's Congress in May that enabled it to meddle with supposedly independent parts of FIFA. Scala said: "It undermines a central pillar of the good governance of FIFA and destroys a substantial achievement of the reforms."

FIFA did not deny the authenticity of the memo published in SonntagsZeitung but rejected the legitimacy of the claims, insisting it's "old news dealt with months ago" being drudged up by those unhappy at imminent FIFA reforms.

"It is misinformation and a distraction by those who oppose the positive changes within FIFA," a statement said. "Infantino always acted appropriately and, taking into account FIFA rules and regulations, obviously any personal expenses are paid by the president."

That's not the picture painted by the leaked memo, however, which makes a slew of claims that FIFA's president has been spending company cash on frivolous purchases.

Infantino is alleged to have forced FIFA to bankroll £8,795 for mattresses at his home, £6,829 on a piece of exercise equipment, £1,086 for a tuxedo, £677 on flowers and £132 on personal laundry.

Infantino campaigned for the presidency under the pretence he would clean up FIFA's corruption crisis and make FIFA more transparent than it had been during Blatter's 17-year reign.

FIFA employees had been under investigation by the FBI and Swiss authorities since May 2015, when a string of indictments over racketeering, bribery, embezzlement and fraud rocked the football world.

Both Blatter and Infantino's former boss at UEFA, Michel Platini, were given substantial bans by FIFA's own Ethics Committee for an irregular payment from the Swiss football chief to the Frenchman.