AC Milan interested in Girona centre-back Santiago Bueno

Market: Over 1.5 goals

Odds: 2/5 @

Two camps who will be looking to extend on their Concaf Nations League final ticket in the early hours of Friday, Canada will travel to the Allegiant Stadium when they meet Panama.

Starting with the hosts, eventually cruising their way to the Nations League semi-finals earlier in the year after enjoying a stellar Group B romp, Costa Rica will be looking to make another statement here. Mustering 10 points from their four appearances and showing a major clinical edge in the final third, Los Canaleros were also last seen picking up another morale boost. Claiming an action-packed 3-2 win against Nicaragua in a friendly showdown last weekend, Thomas Christiansen s men should also be excited by their continued success on home soil. I…

France get their Euro 2020 campaign underway against Germany on Tuesday in a game described by Didier Deschamps as a meeting of Europe s best two teams.

Les Bleus, winners of the 2018 World Cup, are bidding to win the European Championship directly after being crowned world champions for the second time, having done the same double in 1998 and 2000.

Head coach Deschamps played at each of those tournaments and is bidding to become the first person in history to win the World Cup and the Euros as both player and coach.

France were handed a devilish group, though, alongside Portugal who beat them in the Euro 2016 final on home soil and 2014 world champions Germany, who lost to the hosts at the semi-final stage five years ago.

France are unbeaten in their pa…

Arsenal forward Vivianne Miedema has suffered another injury setback after head coach Jonas Eidevall revealed she requires knee surgery.

The 27-year-old Netherlands international missed almost 10 months last year following an ACL injury suffered in December 2022.

She has made just four Women’s Super League appearances since returning to action in October and now faces “several weeks” back on the sidelines.

“She requires a minor knee surgery and that is going to have her off the pitch for several weeks,” Eidevall said.

“We will have an update on that after the surgery and when we see how she is progressing.”

Miedema had played for the Dutch in the recent international break but Eidevall played down any suggestions of a club versus cou…

Best Odds: 3/5

Bookmaker:

Hoping to open their European qualifying run with a statement on home soil, Croatia will welcome Wales to the Stadion Poljud on Saturday night.

Croatia

Starting with the hosts, putting in another famous World Cup flurry over the winter as they claimed a bronze medal finish in Qatar, Croatia have only underlined their status as one of Europe s elite. Now securing at least a semi-final showdown in back-to-back World Cup adventures, the Blazers will be looking to keep up their recent momentum here. Eventually signing off their Middle Eastern run with an eye-catching 2-1 victory against African heavyweights Morocco, Zlatko Dalic s men will be looking to make an early Group D statement here. Causing an almighty upset over the winter as they…

Enzo Maresca conceded Leicester rode their luck en route to booking their place in the fifth round of the FA Cup with a 3-0 win against Birmingham.

Birmingham spurned a number of first-half chances before Foxes striker Jamie Vardy opened the scoring after 47 minutes with his first goal in over two months from Marc Albrighton’s cross.

Yunus Akgun smashed his first Leicester goal into the top-left corner from the edge of the penalty area after 72 minutes before Dennis Praet sealed the win two minutes from time with a confident finish from substitute Tom Cannon’s cutback.

Maresca said: “We were lucky in the first half, they had many chances. The second half was much better, we controlled the game and made some tactical adjustments.

“A big part of the…

Manchester United did little to turn down the noise surrounding manager Erik Ten Hag’s future after an ultimately dramatic but largely uninspiring 1-1 draw at Brentford.

United looked to have turned a lifeless display into an unlikely three points after Mason Mount climbed off the bench to fire them ahead six minutes into stoppage time.

But Brentford equalised less than three minutes later through Kristoffer Ajer to snatch a point which was the least they deserved.

Ten Hag had shrugged off speculation over his job this week before returning to the scene of his catastrophic second match in charge, when they conceded four goals in the opening 35 minutes.

On the evidence of this underwhelming performance, they have hardly made any progress since that chast…

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe has insisted he cannot yet be talked of in the same breath as celebrated predecessors Kevin Keegan and Sir Bobby Robson.

Howe has hugely enhanced his reputation since being appointed to the hotseat at St James’ Park by the cub’s new Saudi-backed owners in November 2021 and overseeing a dramatic change in fortunes.

Within 18 months, the 45-year-old had guided the Magpies to a first domestic cup final in 24 years and secured a top-four Premier League finish playing a thrilling brand of football, an achievement comparable to those of Keegan and Robson during their respective tenures.

As a result, he has won a similar place in the affections of fans, although asked if he recognised the comparison, Howe said: “No. For me personally, I d…

The future of Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is still up in the air amid speculation of a mid-season managerial change at Old Trafford.

Former Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri has been previously linked with the Red Devils job and reports suggest that he could bring two familiar faces with him in Emre Can and Mario Mandzukic if appointed.

A switch to the red side of Manchester could be on the cards for both players, having fallen out of favour at the Serie A champions this season under Maurizio Sarri.

TOP STORY – ALLEGRI TO SWOOP FOR JUVENTUS PAIR IF APPOINTED AT MANCHESTER UNITED

Allegri has been linked with a double raid on former club Juventus should he succeed Solskjaer at Manchester United, according to T…

Gareth Southgate accepted England were not good enough in a 2-1 Euro 2020 qualifier loss away to the Czech Republic on Friday.

England topped Group A ahead of the clash at Eden Arena having taken a maximum 12 points from four games and victory would have secured their place at the finals.

The Three Lions made a positive start when captain Harry Kane converted an early penalty, but the lead lasted less than five minutes as Jakub Brabec punished sloppy defending to score from a corner.

Jaroslav Silhavy s side moved level on points with England when Zdenek Ondrasek came off the bench to fire home the winner on his international debut.

England had scored at least four times each of their previous matches in the campaign to date but fell to a first qualifyi…

Jurgen Klopp challenged his Liverpool youngsters to follow the example of Mats Hummels and Neven Subotic to help alleviate the Reds defensive woes after admitting he is unsure what solutions will arrive in the January transfer market.

The Premier League champions have been rocked by long-term injuries to Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez, leaving Joel Matip as the only recognised senior centre-back.

Right-back Trent-Alexander Arnold is also sidelined, while Fabinho – who has filled the void in defence in the past – has been struggling with injury in a cramped fixture schedule.

Nathaniel Phillips, 23, started in the 2-1 win over West Ham at the end of last month, while Neco Williams and Rhys Williams are other younger alternatives ahead of Sunday s match against L…