MANCHESTER, England: With a massive 82 percent of the votes, Erling Haaland was named England’s footballer of the year on Friday in recognition of his record-breaking first season at Manchester City.
The award could be the first of a host of trophies for the Norway striker, whose goals have put City in contention for a treble of titles: The Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup.
Haaland’s remarkable debut English season has already seen him set a new league scoring record of 35 in a single campaign.
In total, he has 51 goals in 47 games in all competitions, blasting his way through virtually every defense that has stood in his way.
“I try every single day to be the best I can be, and to be recognized like this means a lot to me,” Haaland said. “I have loved my time at City so far – my teammates are incredible, and they provide me with the chances to score goals. I want to thank all of them, because I could not have won this award without them.”
The award is voted for by the Football Writers Association in England. Previous winners have included greats such as World Cup winner Bobby Charlton, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney.
Haaland’s landslide win came after votes from around 800 members of the writers association.
Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard came second and third respectively.
Haaland was already tipped to be one of the best strikers in the world when he joined City from Borussia Dortmund last year and had been linked with the likes of Real Madrid and Manchester United. But even given his reputation at Dortmund, he has probably exceeded expectations at City, for which he has racked up six hat tricks.
In March, he scored a record-equalling five goals in one game in the Champions League in a 7-0 rout of Leipzig. Haaland is the top scorer in this season’s Champions League with 12 so far.
The Premier League record of 34 in a single season was jointly held by Andy Cole and Alan Shearer and stood for 29 years.
Haaland could further extend his new benchmark, as top-of-the-table City has four more league games.
City manager Pep Guardiola believes 22-year-old Haaland will only get better.
“Of course this record will be broken sooner or later, maybe by him in the future,” Guardiola said this month. “He will score a lot of goals. His mentality is to score more, more. But when he scores, (he’s like) ‘I want to score in the next action.’
“I have the feeling he will score goals for his mentality. When you are anxious in both boxes you are not a good striker or defender and he is so calm.”
Chelsea striker Sam Kerr won her second successive women’s footballer of the year, becoming the first player to do so since the award was introduced in 2018.
Aston Villa’s Rachel Daly and Chelsea’s Lauren James came second and third respectively.
Kerr, from Australia, has 26 goals in 34 club appearances at Chelsea, which faces Manchester United in the Women’s FA Cup final on Sunday. The team also reached the Women’s Champions League semifinals, losing to Barcelona.
Erling Haaland, Sam Kerr are English footballers of the year
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Erling Haaland, Sam Kerr are English footballers of the year
- The award could be the first of a host of trophies for the Norway striker, whose goals have put City in contention for a treble of titles
- Haaland's remarkable debut English season has already seen him set a new league scoring record of 35 in a single campaign
Romania beat war-torn Ukraine 3-0 at Euro 2024 for 1st win at major tournament for 24 years
- Romania’s first appearance in a major tournament for eight years
MUNICH: Romania recorded only their second ever victory at the European Championship — and its first in 24 years — with a 3-0 win over Ukraine on Monday to give coach Edward Iordănescu a late birthday present.
Nicolae Stanciu put Romania ahead with a long-range strike in the first half before two quickfire goals from Răzvan Marin and Denis Mihai Drăgus early in the second half. It was Romania’s first win at a major tournament since a surprise 3-2 triumph over England 24 years ago.
Iordănescu, who was the first coach to lead a Romania team at a European Championship since his father Anghel in 2016, turned 46 years old on Sunday.
Stanciu also hit the bar as Romania thoroughly beat Ukraine, who are playing at Euro 2024 amid the backdrop of war at home and hoping to give its citizens some joy even as Russian missiles keep raining down on the country.
The Ukraninian soccer federation unveiled an installation in Munich of a stadium stand destroyed by Russian troops in May 2022 to highlight the ongoing conflict ahead of the match.
“One team on the field but a million soldiers who stay and defend Ukraine,” ,” said former Ukraine coach and striker Andriy Shevchenko, who is the president of the country’s soccer federation. “We are all together. We play today for the country. We play today for the people who defend our lives and our country.”
It was an emotional match for both sets of players.
It was Romania’s first appearance in a major tournament for eight years and several of the players were in tears as the national anthem rang out.
Netherlands start Euro 2024 campaign with 2-1 win over Poland
HAMBURG: Substitute Wout Weghorst snatched a late winner for the Netherlands in a 2-1 victory over Poland on Sunday in their opening Euro 2024 clash.
The Burnley striker, who burst into life at the 2022 World Cup, once again brought his best game to the big stage in Hamburg as Poland looked to have frustrated their opponents, despite injured striker Robert Lewandowski being unable to play.
The Barcelona striker’s replacement Adam Buksa, headed Poland in front after 16 minutes before Cody Gakpo levelled with a deflected effort at the Volksparkstadion.
Netherlands failed to convert further openings and Poland improved as the game seemed to be heading for a draw, before Weghorst intervened in the 83rd minute to delight his team’s fans.
Clad in their traditional vibrant orange, a sea of bouncing Dutch supporters took over the streets of Hamburg before the game, hoping for a second European Championship trophy.
Coach Ronald Koeman, in his second stint at the helm, won the tournament with the Oranje as a player in 1988.
The Netherlands, who performed strongly two years ago at the Qatar World Cup after failing to reach Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup, came out of the blocks quickly. Despite lacking the star power of previous generations — the likes of Arjen Robben, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Robin van Persie — their current trio of forward are dynamic.
Liverpool winger Gakpo took the creative reins alongside Memphis Depay and Xavi Simons, and tested Wojciech Szczesny with a low drive.
Midfielder Tijjani Reijnders steered a good chance narrowly wide before Michal Probierz’s Poland took the lead against the run of play with one of their first forays forward.
Separately, police shot and injured a man who threatened them with an axe and a Molotov cocktail ahead of a match in Hamburg. The incident triggered a “major operation” in the city’s St. Pauli district, police said on X, formerly Twitter.
“The attacker was injured and is currently receiving medical treatment,” they added.
According to a police spokesman, there was no indication that the incident was linked to the Euro 2024 clash between Poland and the Netherlands taking place later on Sunday.
The attacker “came out of a pub with a pickaxe and a Molotov cocktail and threatened the police,” the spokesman said, adding that the suspect was shot in the leg.
The incident took place near the Reeperbahn station, more than a kilometer away from the city’s official fan zone.
Meanwhile, Scotland manager Steve Clarke said Sunday that he had to “kick a couple of backsides” and “give a couple of cuddles” after his side’s humiliating 5-1 defeat to Germany to open Euro 2024.
Clarke accepted responsibility for a failed tactical plan as the host nation ran riot against the 10-man Scots in Munich on Friday night.
“I’ve spoken to the players about what I feel was wrong from my side and what I gave them,” Clarke told reporters.
“I think their interpretation of what we asked them to do was wrong, so we’ve worked on that.
“I had a little chat with a lot of them on the training pitch this morning. Just to try to put one or two things in their head about things they maybe didn’t do on the pitch that they should have done.”
Scotland have never made it out of the group stage at a major tournament in 11 attempts.
Italy recover from disastrous start to win Euro 2024 opener
- Italy are in some ways an unknown quantity coming into this tournament, with the reigning champions having also missed the last two World Cups and failed to fully convince during qualifying
DORTMUND, Germany: Italy recovered from conceding the fastest goal in the competition’s history to get their defense of the European Championship title off to a winning start on Saturday as they came back to beat Albania 2-1 in front of a partisan crowd.
Nedim Bajrami stunned the Italians and delighted a huge Albanian support in Dortmund as he smashed in the opener after just 23 seconds, his strike pulverising the previous record for the quickest goal at the Euros of 67 seconds by Dmitri Kirichenko of Russia in 2004.
Yet Italy’s response to falling behind was quick too, as Alessandro Bastoni headed the Azzurri level on 11 minutes and Nicolo Barella’s glorious effort put them ahead just past the quarter-hour mark.
From then on Luciano Spalletti’s team looked much more assured, although they really should have won by a greater margin rather than face an anxious finale as Albania pushed for an equalizer.
Their performance — the first 23 seconds apart — was largely encouraging before an enticing showdown with fellow heavyweights Spain in nearby Gelsenkirchen next Thursday.
Whatever happens in that match, Italy are already well-placed to advance to the knockout phase of Euro 2024 from Group B, in which Spain defeated Croatia 3-0 earlier on Saturday in Berlin.
Italy are in some ways an unknown quantity coming into this tournament, with the reigning champions having also missed the last two World Cups and failed to fully convince during qualifying.
Only five of Italy’s line-up at kick-off here started the final of the last Euros three years ago, with a new-look team featuring Bologna center-back Riccardo Calafiori winning just his third cap.
Albania, though, are appearing at just their second major tournament having also gone to Euro 2016.
The novelty of the experience for them helps explain why the home of Borussia Dortmund was a sea of excitable Albanian fans decked in red and black who made up the vast majority of the crowd.
They could hardly believe it when their team, coached by the Brazilian former Arsenal and Barcelona left-back Sylvinho, opened the scoring almost straight from kick-off.
Italy’s Federico Dimarco took a throw from the left-back position but played it loosely back into his own box. Bastoni was caught on the back foot, and Bajrami — who plays in Italy for Sassuolo — pounced to control and fire past Gianluigi Donnarumma at the goalkeeper’s near post.
It was a similar start to Italy’s last European Championship match, when Luke Shaw put England ahead inside two minutes in the final at Wembley in 2021 before the Azzurri came back to win on penalties.
This time they drew level when Dimarco and Lorenzo Pellegrini played a short corner routine on the left before the latter crossed for Inter Milan center-back Bastoni to head in at the back post.
Italy had regained their composure and soon went in front on 16 minutes, a Jasir Asani clearance dropping straight to another Inter player in Barella, who made the cleanest of contacts at the edge of the area to send a first-time shot past goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha.
They should have added to their lead before the interval, with Davide Frattesi hitting the post after meeting a lovely reverse pass by Gianluca Scamacca in the box.
Scamacca was then denied by Strakosha, while Fedrico Chiesa curled a shot just wide on the hour mark.
Italy then sat back, but Albania did not manage another attempt on target and the second-lowest ranked nation in the competition could not find an equalizer despite their best efforts late on.
Substitute Rey Manaj came closest after getting in behind in the 90th minute, but he could not beat Donnarumma.
Netherlands and Poland denied training on new Hamburg stadium field ahead of Euro 2024 game
- “We are not allowed to train here either, because of the bad quality of the pitch,” Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman said
- UEFA insisted in a statement the surface “is in good condition and in order to preserve its quality the official (training) will take place at the respective team base camp”
HAMBURG: The newly laid field in the Hamburg stadium was off limits to the Netherlands and Poland on Saturday, one day before their opening game at the European Championship.
A new grass surface was ordered at Volksparkstadion after host club Hamburger completed their home fixtures on May 19 in the Bundesliga second tier.
Four weeks later, UEFA wanted to protect it from the teams’ traditional eve-of-game practice before the stadium hosts its first game at Euro 2024. Hamburg is due to stage five games including one quarterfinal.
“We are not allowed to train here either, because of the bad quality of the pitch,” Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman said at the venue where the teams kick off on Sunday at 3 p.m. local time (1300 GMT).
UEFA insisted in a statement the surface “is in good condition and in order to preserve its quality the official (training) will take place at the respective team base camp.”
Netherlands captain Virgil van Dijk suggested the field was similar to the one in Frankfurt where the Oranje lost to Germany 2-1 in a March friendly.
“It’s not very good but both teams have to face it,” said Van Dijk, a couple of hours after Poland captain Piotr Zieliński suggested, “It doesn’t look that bad.”
UEFA seeks to give national teams the best possible playing surfaces at its showpiece tournament and often installs new fields at stadiums and training camps. It has replacements on standby if an entire playing field needs to be relaid during the monthlong tournament.
Switzerland made a formal complaint to UEFA this week about the training camp surface it was given near Stuttgart, though on Saturday it did not seem to have harmed the team’s preparation. The slick Swiss beat Hungary 3-1 in their opening game.
England have earned right to be Euro 2024 favorites: Kane
- “Every tournament poses different expectations but we’ve earned the right to be classed as one of the favorites,” Kane said
- “We’re here to win ultimately and there will be nothing better than to do that for the nation”
GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany: England captain Harry Kane said the Three Lions “are here to win” Euro 2024 in Germany as they aim to live up to the tag of pre-tournament favorites in their opening game against Serbia on Sunday.
Under manager Gareth Southgate, England have come close to ending a 58-year drought to win a major tournament on three occasions without getting over the line.
Kane won the Golden Boot as Southgate’s men bowed out to Croatia at the semifinals of the 2018 World Cup and then missed a crucial late penalty in a quarter-final exit to France four years later.
But it was on home soil at the last European Championship that England came closest to glory under Southgate as they lost the final on penalties to Italy at Wembley.
Since then, the development of Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka has helped form a fearsome attacking arsenal alongside Bayern Munich striker Kane.
Between them the quartet scored 114 goals for their club sides this season.
“Every tournament poses different expectations but we’ve earned the right to be classed as one of the favorites,” Kane told a pre-match press conference in Gelsenkirchen.
“We’re here to win ultimately and there will be nothing better than to do that for the nation.
“There’s a lot of top teams and tomorrow night is our focus. We know how tough it was to get to the final last time.
“We’re going to have to do that again and even more if we want to do that again and hopefully one step further.”
Southgate, though, warned his side will have to be “exceptional” to beat Europe’s best.
Germany crushed Scotland 5-1 to open the tournament in style on Friday, while Spain swept aside Croatia 3-0 on Saturday with three first-half goals.
England are expected to cruise through a group also containing Denmark and Slovenia.
But Southgate has stressed the importance of taking one step at a time on what he has speculated could well be his final tournament in charge.
“You’ve seen Germany play the way they did last night, Spain in the first half today. There are a lot of good teams in this tournament. We have to be exceptional to progress through the group and have the opportunity to go further,” said Southgate.
“Our focus is to qualify from the group. When you’re trying to achieve exceptional things you have to break it down into chunks. Our first priority is to get through the group and work from there.”
A heartbreaking defeat to Italy in the final three years ago compounded a damaging night for English football.
Thousands of ticketless fans stormed the turnstiles and disabled entrances of Wembley in ugly scenes that marred the final.
German police have labelled Sunday’s fixture “high risk,” with only reduced-strength beer available to fans at Schalke’s home stadium.
Southgate called on the tens of thousands that will travel from England for the match to enjoy themselves responsibly.
“I expect everyone to enjoy the football,” he added.
“I’ve been fortunate to travel to a lot of football tournaments and they’re great carnivals and great chances to meet people from different parts of the world.
“The whole of Europe can come together and support their team and get behind their team.”
