Michel Salgado believes there is a future for Luis Enrique s youthful Spain squad but says they must adapt after a shock World Cup exit.
La Roja were stunned on penalties following a goalless draw with Morocco in the last-16 on Tuesday, to curtail a tournament they had been among the favourites for.
It came after finishing second in their group behind Japan following an unexpected loss to the Samurai Blue and likely marks the end of the road for several senior players.
But with one of the younger squads at Qatar 2022, headlined by talents such as Gavi, Pedri and Ansu Fati, former Real Madrid and Spain defender Salgado believes the possibilities are still bright for the national team.
If we want to win again, we have to make a clean slate, and we have to …
Leaders Roma travel to meet Sampdoria on Wednesday aiming to maintain Rudi Garcia s winning start as manager.
Garcia has turned the club around after taking over in June and they have a 100 per cent record, including an impressive 2-0 victory in the Rome derby last time out.
However, they were unable to beat Sampdoria last season, and have only won once in their last seven meetings.
Sampdoria have yet to win this season – in fact the two points they have collected have come away from home – so they will be hoping to collect their first points of the season at the Luigi Ferraris.
Napoli welcome Sassuolo to the San Paolo and they will be confident of recording a big victory.
Eusebio Di Francesco s side are competing in the top flight for the first time bu…
Mauricio Pochettino believes Chelsea finishing in the European spots is the first step to restoring the club back to its former glories.
A 2-1 win over Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge in the final game of the campaign ensured that Chelsea would be playing European football next season with a sixth-placed finish.
The Blues are guaranteed at least a Europa Conference League spot. However, should Manchester City beat Manchester United in the FA Cup final next Saturday, Chelsea will play in the Europa League instead.
Pochettino feels this is just the beginning as the club looks to return to the upper echelons of European football.
For the history of Chelsea, it is hard to celebrate, Pochettino told Sky Sports. But it is the first step to achieve bigger things…
Manchester United boss David Moyes has heaped praise on Adnan Januzaj, Jesse Lingard and Wilfried Zaha after the young trio helped the Red Devils conclude their pre-season tour of Australia and the Far East with a 5-2 win over Kitchee FC in Hong Kong.
Lingard, who joined United in the summer of 2009, scored his fourth goal of the pre-season against Kitchee, guaranteeing he finished as the top scorer.
Meanwhile, Januzaj also found the back of the net in Hong Kong, while Zaha turned in yet another impressive first-half performance.
A couple of the young lads, Adnan and Jesse Lingard, who I didn’t know as much about, did well and Wilfried Zaha, who has just joined, he has shown what he is capable of in the games he has played, said Moyes.
I…
Hull City captain has urged his side to maintain their concentration despite an impressive start to their Premier League season.
At the halfway point in the campaign, Hull have outperformed their fellow promoted clubs considerably, sitting 10th in the table with Cardiff City and Crystal Palace 16th and 17th respectively.
After rounding off 2013 with a 6-0 mauling of Fulham on Saturday, the Yorkshire club will travel to Liverpool on New Year s Day a team they beat 3-1 on home soil on December 1.
Hull s first ever Premier League campaign in 2008-09 also saw them get off to a quick start, but they only survived by a point come the end of the season.
And Koren has warned his colleagues of the perils of complacency.
We re halfway through the season now and we ve…
Leicester City are set to join the race for Arsenal winger Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, .
The Premier League champions are already preparing for a first season among Europe’s elite and have eyed the England international as on their top targets.
The twenty-two year old has been strongly linked with a move away from the Emirates Stadium recently, with Chelsea, Liverpool and former club Southampton all eyeing a move for his services.
He swapped the south coast for North London back in the summer of 2011 and has since racked up one shy of a hundred and fifty appearances for the Gunners in all competitions, scoring fourteen goals.
Internationally, he has been capped by England twenty-four times, scoring five goals and was part of the squads for both the Eu…
Kashiwa Reysol moved into the semi-finals of the AFC Champions League on away goals after a 2-2 draw against Al Shabab on Wednesday.
The two sides went into the second leg in Riyadh with the tie delicately poised, having played out a 1-1 draw in August.
And after a pulsating return fixture, it was a goal from Naoya Kondo that proved to be the difference, as his second-half header sent the Japanese through.
Al Shabab struck the first blow, with Naif Hazazi edging them ahead after 10 minutes with a powerful header from Macnelly Toress corner.
However, their celebrations were cut short when Reysol levelled just three minutes later.
Tae-Hwi Kwak gifted the visitors a way back into the tie when he turned the ball past his own goalkeeper from close range to lev…
Edinson Cavani and Neymar renewed their strike partnership in emphatic style with a goal apiece as Paris Saint-Germain brushed Bayern Munich aside in a 3-0 Champions League victory at the Parc des Princes.
The pair had sparked suggestions of disharmony after their on-pitch spat over who took a penalty in their 2-0 win over Lyon in Ligue 1, but they combined intuitively as Unai Emery s side demolished the German champions defence in a one-sided Group B encounter.
Bayern coach Carlo Ancelotti, returning to his old club for the first time since guiding PSG to the title in 2012-13, saw his side punished for a slow start when Dani Alves opened the scoring in the second minute.
Cavani made it 2-0 after half an hour with his 10th goal in as many games and the result …
Carlo Ancelotti declared Cristiano Ronaldo out of this world after his 19th La Liga hat-trick in Real Madrid s 5-1 win over Real Sociedad.
The Portugal international gave Madrid a 12th-minute lead at Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday as he collected Karim Benzema s left-wing cross and fired into the far side of the goal.
Benzema and Ronaldo then reversed roles as the Frenchman doubled Madrid s lead, before the former Manchester United man scored a penalty and Sami Khedira netted the fourth.
Antoine Griezmann pulled one back for Sociedad, but Ronaldo rifled in a free-kick 14 minutes from time to complete his third hat-trick of the season and his 19th in La Liga since moving to Spain in 2009, leaving Ancelotti in awe.
Right now Cristiano is out of this world, …
Former FIFA president Joao Havelange has died in Rio de Janeiro at the age of 100, according to reports in Brazil.
Havelange was the first non-European chief of world football s governing body between 1974 and 1998, when he was succeeded by Sepp Blatter and received the title of honorary president.
He resigned from the latter largely ceremonial role in 2013 after a report by FIFA s ethics chairman Hans-Joachim Eckert ruled he had taken bribes as part of a scandal involving the now-defunct International Sports and Leisure (ISL) sports marketing agency.
Havelange competed as an Olympic swimmer for Brazil at Berlin in 1936 and was a member of their 1952 water polo team in Helsinki.
At the Melbourne 1956 Games he was Brazil s chef de mission before joining …