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Manchester City kick off their 2021/22 Carabao Cup campaign with a clash against League One outfit Wycombe on Tuesday night.

Pep Guardiola’s side are looking to defend the crown after beating Tottenham 1-0 in the final last season, when Aymeric Laporte’s goal was enough to secure the trophy for City against a Ryan Mason-led Spurs side.

They now head into this clash with Wycombe off the back of a disappointing 0-0 draw at home to Southampton at the Etihad Stadium in the Premier League at the weekend.

One player who needs to be thrown into the starting XI is England international and City academy product Phil Foden. He is yet to start a match in any competition this season after a recent injury, but he made his first appearance in the league as a substitute against the Saints.

It could now be time for Guardiola to unleash the attacking midfielder from the start. Playing 70-80 minutes against lower league opposition could help to get him back up to speed after a number of weeks out, whilst his ability on the pitch could help City to victory.

Guardiola once hailed Foden as an ‘incredibly talented’ player, rejecting calls for him to be loaned out at the time. The Spaniard said: “The people say he doesn’t play too much. He is 18 years old and he has played a lot of minutes.

“The people say he should be on loan; Phil Foden will not be on loan. All the time he is here he will be close to me because he is an incredibly talented player.”

The 21-year-old can be a game-changer with his talent and has proven this for City on several occasions. Last season, he managed nine goals and five assists in 17 Premier League starts, with two goals and two assists in four Carabao Cup starts.

This shows that he has the quality to score and set up goals on a regular basis when unleashed from the start, which is why Guardiola must name him in his XI against Wycombe. Foden’s craft and guile could help to pick off the League One outfit and enable to him build up his match fitness ahead of important Premier League and Champions League matches.

AND in other news, 102 touches: Man City gem with two key passes was shining light for Pep vs Southampton…

MatériaMais Notícias

O último treino do Santos para o clássico contra o São Paulo, marcado para este domingo, às 19h, na Vila Belmiro, pelo Brasileirão, foi com os portões abertos para a torcida, na Vila Belmiro. E com direito a bateria, musica, rachão e trabalho específico de bola parada.

O técnico Levir Culpi iniciou as atividades com tal atividade. Primeiro treinou falta e depois gastou mais tempo com o escanteio. Lucas Lima foi quem bateu.

Depois do ensaio, o treinador liberou o grupo para o tradicional rachão de véspera de jogos, com time de David Braz contra o time do Victor Ferraz. A vitória foi da equipe do lateral-esquerdo. O goleiro Vanderlei jogou de atacante e Elano participou da brincadeira.

Os torcedores que compareceram fizeram uma bela festa. Além de incentivarem o time, cantarem e soltarem fogos, alguns homenagearam os jogadores na arquibancada.

A única ausência na Vila foi a do atacante Bruno Henrique, que sofreu um pisão no pé no jogo contra o Atlético-PR e não se recuperou a tempo do clássico.

O Alvinegro deve ir a campo com Vanderlei; Victor Ferraz, Lucas Veríssimo, David Braz e Jean Mota; Renato, Thiago Maia e Lucas Lima; Thiago Ribeiro (Arthur Gomes), Copete e Kayke.

RelacionadasSantosApós 40 dias sem jogar, Zeca volta a fazer trabalho no gramado do CTSantos07/07/2017SantosRenato deseja sorte a Nilmar no Santos e avalia: ‘Inteligente e rápido’Santos07/07/2017SantosSantos não quer que Nilmar atrapalhe clássico e adia anúncioSantos07/07/2017

While Leeds United did manage to secure the arrivals of players such as Daniel James, Junior Firpo and Kristoffer Klaesson in the recently closed transfer window, as well as making Jack Harrison’s loan deal a permanent move, there was plenty more outgoing activity than incoming business for the Whites this summer.

Indeed, all six of Barry Douglas, Ezgjan Alioski, Ouasim Bouy, Pablo Hernandez, Jordan Stevens and Robbie Gotts left Elland Road on free transfers, while Victor Orta also sanctioned the temporary departures of five players on loan deals.

One of the latter group was Helder Costa, with the 27-year-old winger being sent to Valencia following the deadline day arrival of Manchester United forward James.

And, with the Portugal international’s current contract with Leeds United set to expire at the end of the season, Costa should well have played his last game for the Premier League side.

Get rid

While it would be slightly harsh to say that Helder Costa did not contribute anything to Marcelo Bielsa’s side during his time at Elland Road, it is nevertheless clear that the winger is simply not of the standard required to be a part of the Argentine’s first-team squad.

While the £9m-rated man did score four goals, provide four assists and create five big chances over his 43 Championship appearances in the Whites’ promotion-winning campaign back in 2019/20, you would be hard-pressed to find a Leeds fan who now believes that the £15.93m fee their club paid to subsequently sign the forward was money well spent.

Indeed, over his 22 Premier League appearances for Bielsa’s side last season, only 13 of which came as starts, Costa earned a quite frankly diabolical seasonal SofaScore match rating of 6.46, ranking him as Leeds’ second-worst performer in the top flight of English football – ahead of only young defender Leif Davis.

As such, it would seem highly advisable for United to allow the £36k-per-week forward to move onto pastures upon his return from Valencia at the end of the season, as Costa has very much been stealing a living at Leeds for the past year.

In other news: Marcelo Bielsa dealt major blow as development emerges, Leeds fans will be fuming

An update has emerged on Ederson and Gabriel Jesus, regarding their availability for Manchester City this weekend. 

What’s the talk?

According to Sky Sports, Manchester City are set to be without both Ederson and Gabriel Jesus for their clash with Leicester in the Premier League this weekend.

The report claims that FIFA are poised to hand five-day bans to players whose clubs blocked them from playing for Brazil due to Covid restrictions, at the request of the Brazilian FA.

Pep will be fuming

Pep Guardiola will surely be left fuming by this news as it means that two of his key players will have to miss out on the game against Leicester. The Spanish head coach’s team will be weakened due to issues that are out of his, or the player’s, control and that will be frustrating for everyone involved.

Man City only had two options; block the players from playing or allow them to play and have them miss 10 days through quarantine upon their return. Either way, given the subsequent action, it would have resulted in Ederson and Jesus missing the game against Leicester due to the Brazilian FA’s request.

The report claims that FIFA remains in talks with the UK government over an exemption to the 10-day quarantine coming back from certain countries, but that is with future international breaks in mind rather than with a view to rectifying the current issues.

Guardiola will be livid that two key players are out of Saturday’s clash. Ederson is his number one goalkeeper and has won the Premier League Golden Glove in each of the past two seasons, suggesting that he has been the best player in his position in the division during that period.

Jesus, meanwhile, has one goal and three assists in two Premier League starts for City this season, averaging a superb WhoScored rating of 7.85. This means that Guardiola will be without an in-form forward for the clash with Leicester.

Whilst frustrating, it is something ManCity are seemingly going to have to deal with for this match. They will then need to hope that the problems can be resolved ahead of the October and November international breaks, or else Edersona and Jesus may be in trouble again.

AND in other news, 73% duels won: Man City dynamo with 120 touches will have wowed Pep with performance…

Plays of the Day for the third day of the third Test between India and Australia in Delhi

Cricinfo staff31-Oct-2008
For what seemed an eternity, the players lay on their tummies © Getty Images
Good morning Haydos
Just before play started, Matthew Hayden kept Zaheer Khan waiting. For two minutes, he gardened on the pitch, on the non-strikers’ end too, and then when Zaheer was getting ready to run in, Hayden squatted and made Zaheer wait again. Then he got what he asked for. A fired up Zaheer delivered a sharp, accurate bouncer which Hayden failed to negotiate and was hit in the helmet. A concerned Simon Katich walked up to his partner to check on him. Hayden hadn’t seen the last of it though as the third ball of the over, another bouncer, hit his shoulder.Angry young fielder
India didn’t start with Ishant Sharma today. One can’t be sure if that riled him up, but the moment he got an opportunity to have a shy at the stumps, he absolutely let it rip. Katich had played it straight to Ishant at mid-on, and dashed off for a single in a frenzied manner. Ishant took aim and broke the middle stump into two, shattering the stump camera in the process.Beeroz Shah Kotla
At least once each during their umpiring careers, Aleem Dar and Billy Bowden have officiated in matches where bees have attacked the field and held up play. It happened to Bowden in Vishakhapatnam, during the India-Pakistan one-dayer in 2005 and Dar faced it in Kandy, during the England-Sri Lanka Test in 2007-08. The bee attack seemed inevitable when the two united for the Kotla Test.This one was an assault like no other. For what seemed an eternity, the players lay on their tummies, waiting the bees to go away. As the players pondered whether to bee or not to bee, everybody had a good laugh. Ishant, fielding at the fine-leg boundary, was the only brave man standing. Sachin Tendulkar, covering his ears with his hat, sported a bee-tific smile, and Hayden rolled on the grass like a child. Bowden tried to be brave and started moving first, but the bees put him back in his place. Sourav Ganguly was, as expected, the last one to get up once the bees went away. All in all, what a bee-mer.Gettin’ jiggy with it
The IPL has not left the Kotla. Popular local music blares at every break in play, however small, and none of the players have taken a liking to it. Just after mid-day drinks, Virender Sehwag ran in to bowl to Hayden, but the music didn’t seem to stop. Hayden lost his concentration and had to pull out of the second delivery. He also did a little jig to suggest he may as well start dancing if the music didn’t stop. We can’t be sure whether the whole thing affected Bowden’s concentration, because Hayden was given lbw off the next ball to a delivery which may or may not have gone over the stumps.

Ricky Ponting needs to show more patience and caution at the start of his innings if he is to reverse his terrible batting record in India, according to former Australian captain Ian Chappell

Cricinfo staff19-Sep-2008
Ricky Ponting will want to right his poor batting record in India in the upcoming series © Getty Images
Ricky Ponting needs to show more patience and caution at the start of his innings if he is to reverse his terrible batting record in India, according to former Australian captain Ian Chappell.”Ponting’s desire to dictate gets him into a bit of trouble in India,” Chappell was quoted as saying in the . “He hasn’t displayed the patience required at the start of an innings when you are facing good spinners in India.”Ponting has scored only 172 runs in 14 innings in India at an average of 12.28. He was tormented by Harbhajan Singh during the 2001 tour, falling to the offspinner five out of five times, and played only one Test – in which he scored 11 and 12 – on the 2004 tour because of injury.However, Ponting hasn’t struggled on the rest of the subcontinent. He averages 65.70 in six Tests in Sri Lanka and scored 119 in his only Test in Pakistan.”He tends to push out at the ball when defending rather than letting the ball come to him,” Chappell said. “Good players of spin reach out to smother the spin in attack, but in defence let the ball come to them. Ponting has been dismissed for so many low scores; he hasn’t found a method that will allow him to survive this danger period.”The important things … are finding a survival method, watching the ball off the pitch really closely, working out what shots you can and can’t play, and learning you have a fraction of a second longer to play the ball off the pitch when compared to Australia.”In his column in the , Ponting said he was hoping to rectify his poor record in India, and wrote about his experience in 2001. “The one thing that brought me undone was that I didn’t trust my technique enough,” he said. “I got out in my first innings in a way that I shouldn’t have and from then on I tried not to do it again, but every time I tried something different I got out again.”It’s a matter of me trusting my technique. I have a reasonable record in Sri Lanka and everywhere else the ball has spun. India is the one place that has brought me undone.”

Many Everton fans have been left fuming as a transfer update emerged on James Rodriguez.

Speaking on El Chiringuito TV, sports journalist Edu Aguirre has claimed that Rafa Benitez has told the Colombia international that he ‘doesn’t count on him’, and added that Rodriguez ‘wants to play’ and is ‘looking for a away out’.

The former Real Madrid star was such a key player for the Merseyside club in the 2020/21 term, scoring six goals and making a further nine assists in 26 games in total over all competitions (Transfermarkt).

His creativity in the final third of the pitch may be vital for their hopes of achieving European qualification next season, but it seems as if the 30-year-old may be forced out of the Toffees after just one campaign.

Thus, it is not a surprise at all to see so many Blues supporters fuming after hearing the news.

Everton fans on Rodriguez transfer update

These EFC fans fumed as the transfer update on Rodriguez was shared on Twitter:

“Give up.”

Credit: @MattyGraham18

“This better not be true.”

Credit: @lewissefc

“Woah woah woah Benitez?? Been in the club a minute my guy can’t be telling Rodriguez he’s not wanted”

Credit: @__GS2__

“Rafa out”

Credit: @GeorgeWoodEFC

“We finally have a player of world-class ability who WANTS to stay here, but he’s being told to leave? Everton that.”

Credit: @_NateTweets

“If this is true, RAFA OUT”

Credit: @keepitreal_82

In other news, find out what confirmed exit has Evertonians talking here!

MatériaMais Notícias

Após o encerramento do empate sem gols entre Cruzeiro e Atlético-MG, no último domingo, válido pela ida da final do Campeonato Mineiro, o presidente da Federação Mineira de Futebol (FMF), Castellar Guimarães Neto, disse estar confiante para ver as duas torcidas na segunda final, no domingo que vem, no Independência.

-A expectativa da Federação, inclusive, é de que, evidentemente, a torcida do Cruzeiro seja permitida de assistir à partida. Nós todos sabemos do investimento que foi feito naquele estádio, da competência da nossa Polícia Militar, e temos, portanto, a plena convicção que, de mãos dadas, todas as partes envolvidas vão encontrar uma solução para essa questão – disse o dirigente à Rede Minas.

O martelo deve ser batido em reunião na entidade na tarde desta terça-feira, em Belo Horizonte. Inicialmente, a Polícia Militar de Minas Gerais havia proibido que o Horto recebesse o maior clássico do Estado, por questões de segurança.

Assim, a torcida cruzeirense estaria proibida de ir ao segundo jogo da final. A diretoria da Raposa, em reunião na FMF, na semana passada, pediu que os dois jogos fossem no Mineirão, com torcidas mistas, mas o Atlético-MG optou por ter a vantagem de jogar em casa. Tal decisão fez dirigentes do Cruzeiro se juntarem ao Ministério Público de Minas Gerais para pedir à Polícia Militar uma revisão de sua decisão.

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حقق قائد منتخب الأرجنتين، ليونيل ميسي، إنجازين تاريخيين، وذلك بعد الميجا هاتريك التي سجلها في شباك إستونيا في المباراة الودية التي جمعت بينهما، مساء اليوم الأحد.

وتغلب منتخب الأرجنتين، بخمسة أهداف مقابل لا شيء، وتكفل ميسي بالأهداف الخمسة، في المواجهة الودية ضمن استعدادات التانجو لنهائيات كأس العالم 2022.

ميسي سجل ميجا هاتريك، في الدقائق، 8، 45، 47، 71، 76، ليقود الأرجنتين للفوز بخماسية نظيفة. شاهد اهداف الأرجنتين وإستونيا

وذكر حساب “ميستر شيب” للأرقام والإحصائيات أن ميسي وصل للهاتريك الثامن في تاريخ مشاركاته مع الأرجنتين، والميجا هاتريك الأول في تاريخه.

ليونيل ميسي بات كذلك ثالث لاعب أرجنتيني يسجل خماسية في مباراة واحدة والأول منذ 80 عامًا، حيث سبقه من قبل خوان مارفيززي الذي سجل ميجا هاتريك في شباك الأكوادور عام 1941، وبعده بعام في 1942 أحرز الراحل خوسيه مانويل مورينو، ميجا هاتريك في المنتخب ذاته.

اقرأ أيضًا.. مارتينيز: الأرجنتين تقاتل كالأسود من أجل ميسي

ميسي بات رابع اللاعبين في ترتيب الهدافين في تاريخ المنتخبات الوطنية، بـ86 هدفًا، وتخطى المجرى فيرينتس بوشكاش الذي أحرز 84 هدفًا.

ميسي الفارق بينه وبين صاحب المرتبة الأولى في هدافي المنتخبات الوطنية، كريستيانو رونالدو، 31 هدفًا، حيث سجل مهاجم مانشستر يونايتد، هدفين مع البرتغال في شباك سويسرا، وبات رصيد الدون من الأهداف 117 هدفًا. ترتيب الهدافين التاريخيين للمنتخبات

كريستيانو رونالدو (البرتغال) – 117 هدفًا.

على دائي (إيران) – 109 هدفًا.

مختار ظاهري (ماليزيا) – 89 هدفًا.

ليونيل ميسي (الأرجنتين) – 86 هدفًا.

فيرينتس بوشكاش (المجر) – 84 هدفًا.

According to a report by The Telegraph, Fabio Paratici and co have made Southampton striker Danny Ings Tottenham’s new transfer priority this summer.

The Lowdown: New striker incoming?

Tottenham did not take up the option to make Carlos Vinicius’ 2020/2021 season-long loan a permanent move, with Sky Sports recently detailing that the club will be on the look out for a new forward.

Ings has been loosely linked to Spurs this summer but now The Telegraph have taken that one step further.

The Latest: Spurs make Ings priority…

As per the outlet and reliable journalist Matt Law, Paratici and co have now earmarked the 28-year-old as a possible partner for Harry Kane this summer.

[web_stories_embed url=”https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/web-stories/tottenham-latest-2/” title=”Tottenham latest!” poster=”” width=”360″ height=”600″ align=”none”]

It is believed the club have now made Ings a priority signing for Spurs with a firm belief he can play alongside Kane under Nuno Espirito Santo.

Tottenham’s new manager allegedly wants to play two up front with a ready-made Premier League goal scorer next to their superstar talisman.

This comes after recruitment meetings, which followed the appointments of Nuno and Paratici, where it has been recommended that Spurs pursue Ings this summer.

The Verdict: Do it Paratici…

We could think of no better possible partner for Kane next season as Nuno eyes a dynamic duo up front.

Scoring 12 goals and assisting four others in the English top flight over 2020/2021, he also averaged more shots on goal per game (2) than the likes of Son Heung-min and Gareth Bale (WhoScored).

His threat in the final third is perhaps best summed up by Alan Hutton when speaking to Football Insider, who called simply him a ‘proven goalscorer’.

Jamie O’Hara also believes he would be a great Tottenham acquisition, labelling Ings the ‘perfect fit’ for Spurs when speaking to talkSPORT.

He could indeed be a worthwhile acquisition for Spurs this summer.

In other news: Tottenham chiefs perform Kane U-turn as report shares behind-scenes developments, find out more here.