England would have underperformed had they not made last four – Lucy Bronze
Defender Lucy Bronze revealed England would have failed to live up to their own expectations had they not reached the World Cup semi-finals. Alessia Russo guaranteed the Lionesses would finish no lower than fourth in the 2023 tournament when her second-half goal completed a 2-1 comeback against Colombia in Saturday’s quarter-final to set up Wednesday’s meeting with co-hosts Australia. Third place would see England equal their best-ever finish from eight years ago in Canada, but Bronze insisted reaching this stage for the third time in the European champions’ history was the bare minimum. “If we hadn’t have gotten to the semi-final, I would have said that we would have underperformed,” said Bronze. “A lot of people said that England were the team that were going to flop a little bit. Our performances haven’t been our best, granted, but the results have been there and we’ve got to the semi-final, which is what this England team is known for doing. “This very much reminds me of 2015, having to fight in every single game. “I think the difference with this team is we have won trophies, we have won tournaments, so we do know what to do. “We knew coming into the tournament that it wasn’t going to be easy. There was a lot of outside noise about whether England was going to be able to cope well with everything thrown at us…and the semi-final is what is expected of us as the England team.” Bronze, alongside Alex Greenwood, is one of just two members of the 2023 squad to have featured in three consecutive World Cups and is second only to Jill Scott in World Cup appearances for the Lionesses, with 18 to the retired midfielder’s 21. The 31-year-old made history during her first global showpiece in 2015, when her 76th-minute effort made it 2-1 against Norway in their last-16 encounter and secured England Women’s first-ever victory in a World Cup knockout stage. Four years later, again against Norway, Bronze unleashed another stunning strike, capping off the Lionesses’ 3-0 quarter-final victory in France to book a second trip to the semi-finals. To say the Matildas have captured Australia’s imagination en route to their first-ever final-four encounter would be selling short the fervour taking hold Down Under. Saturday’s dramatic penalty shootout victory over France was watched by over 7.2 million people in Australia, over a quarter of the country’s population. Co-host broadcaster Seven said the audience was the “highest rating TV sport program of the past decade”, while “the 472,000 viewers on 7plus makes the Matildas v France game the biggest streaming event ever seen in Australia”. England had a taste of the environment they are likely to face on Wednesday when they lined up across from a Colombia side that enjoyed the overwhelming majority in the Stadium Australia stands, a sea of yellow who booed when England touched the ball and unleashed an almighty roar when Leicy Santos scored the opener. Lauren Hemp cancelled it out by half-time, while Russo provided the lethal blow after the break to eliminate the only side from the Americas left in the tournament. While being the home side does have its advantages, as Bronze knows from last summer’s Euro 2022 triumph, she was quick to point out the potential pitfalls facing the Matildas come Wednesday night’s historic encounter. She said: “(There are) positives and negatives for being the home nation and for being the team against. “It can be a lot of pressure to put on teams. I remember playing Canada in 2015 in that World Cup and there was a lot of pressure put on that team and it gave them a lot of fight. “It was the same thing for us in the Euros last year. The ’12th man’ as they say, it really helped us. “It was a key part to us winning and I think that’s been a key part for Australia when their backs have been against the wall this tournament. (For us) it wasn’t hostile but the Colombians were very loud, so that’s something we’re used to now.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Adrian Lam: Sky is the limit for Challenge Cup winning Leigh Leopards Kylian Mbappe set to return to PSG squad after ‘positive discussions’ – reports Eddie Howe relishing selection dilemmas as Newcastle prepare for packed season
2023-08-13 19:20
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Two assists for James Maddison as Tottenham move on without Harry Kane with draw
James Maddison provided two assists to help fill the creative void left by Harry Kane’s departure, but Tottenham could only start the Ange Postecoglou era with a 2-2 Premier League draw at Brentford. Kane’s exit to Bayern Munich – coupled with four full debutants being used in their season opener – contributed to the start of a new dawn at Spurs and along with hosts Brentford, they produced an entertaining affair in west London. New vice-captain Cristian Romero headed Tottenham in front after 11 minutes, but quick-fire efforts from Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa turned around this Premier League opener for the Bees. Emerson Royal was able to level on the stroke of half-time after another assist by Maddison, who was wearing the number 10 shirt, and despite both teams fashioning further chances in the second half, the spoils were shared. It had been a whirlwind period for everyone involved at Tottenham with Kane beginning his journey to Germany on Friday and making his debut for Bayern on Saturday night. By that point, his former club had moved on. Son Heung-min was confirmed as Spurs’ new captain, with Hugo Lloris still expected to depart before September 1, and Postecoglou handed out several debuts during his own Premier League bow. A slight delay occurred to kick-off at Brentford due to a sanitation issue inside the stadium, but it took only 11 minutes for Tottenham to score the first goal of this new era. Maddison curled in a free-kick for fellow vice-captain Romero to head home but that would prove the World Cup winner’s last involvement. Romero had clashed heads with Mbeumo after five minutes and despite insisting he could carry on, Davinson Sanchez was introduced. Brentford started to grow into proceedings and Tottenham’s new number one Guglielmo Vicario saved well from Mbeumo before Son started his captaincy duties with a low point. The Spurs forward caught Mathias Jensen inside the area and – while it looked innocuous at first glance – VAR told referee Robert Jones to review the incident with the pitchside monitor and he pointed to the penalty spot. With Brentford without the banned Ivan Toney due to repeated betting breaches, Mbeumo took on the spot-kick responsibility and slotted the ball home after 26 minutes in a similar fashion to his fellow strike partner. Nine minutes later, Thomas Frank’s side were ahead when Rico Henry got in behind Emerson too easily on the right and cut back, where Wissa’s shot was deflected beyond Vicario by fellow debutant Micky Van De Ven. A booking for Oliver Skipp on the stroke of half-time made it five yellows handed out to the visitors, which included coach Ryan Mason and those minor delays contributed towards 11 minutes being added on at the end of the first half. It proved enough time for Tottenham to go in level after Emerson rifled home from 22 yards following Maddison’s pass to continue his resurgence after he was booed onto the pitch against Aston Villa at the start of 2023. Brentford substitute Mikkel Damsgaard should have made it 3-2 after 58 minutes, but he scuffed his effort straight at Vicario from 12 yards after the Italian had punched away Vitaly Janelt’s cross. Spurs improved afterwards with Son testing Mark Flekken, who produced a strong display after replacing Arsenal-bound David Raya. Flekken was equal to Richarlison’s 64th-minute effort when Maddison had slipped through the Brazil forward before a host of changes were made by both managers. Van De Ven breathed a sigh of relief after VAR decided to not intervene when he caught Bees substitute Kevin Schade inside the area with 12 minutes left. And it proved the final noteworthy moment of an entertaining opener, which showed both sides there was life without talismans Kane and Toney. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Kylian Mbappe returns to PSG squad after ‘constructive and positive’ talks Beth Shriever: BMX world title win ‘the perfect practice’ for Olympic defence Fred completes move from Manchester United to Fenerbahce
2023-08-13 23:47
All the teen movie and TV references in Olivia Rodrigo's 'bad idea right?' music video
Olivia Rodrigo recently dropped the music video for her second single 'bad idea, right?' from her sophomore album GUTS and fans couldn't help but notice some references from iconic TV shows and films. The pop-rock song is all about leaving your friends and lying to them about meeting up with an ex-boyfriend (always a bad idea), and the music video plays out this exact scenario where Olivia leaves a house party to reconnect with her ex - with some obstacles getting in the way. Here is a breakdown of all the different TV and films that were referenced: Glee Perhaps the clearest reference of them all was when Olivia was on the bus and ends getting a red slushie chucked on her, ruining her outfit. Anyone watching TV in the 2010s will know that's a shoutout to Glee where members of McKinley High's Glee Club would often receive a slushie to the face. We know Olivia is a fan of Glee and the show even got a mention in another song of hers 'Deja vu', from her previous album SOUR, where the lyrics go: "Watching reruns of Glee, being annoying singing in harmony..." Euphoria Euphoria is one of the biggest teen shows of recent years and so it's no surprise there was a reference in Roderigo's video in the form of the singer channelling Maddie (Alexa Demie) with her persistent knocking. While Maddie was knocking to go to the bathroom, Roderigo was knocking on her ex-boyfriend's front door. Empire Records (1995) and Can't Hardly Wait (1998) Olivia is known for her vintage fashion looks and her outfit in the music video took inspiration from a look Liv Tyler's character Corey Mason wore in the 1995 film Empire Records. The outfit that was referenced was a pale blue jumper but instead of the tartan skirt Liv wore in the film, Olivia wore a silver sequined skirt. Danielle Goldberg, a stylist on the music video revealed this in an Instagram Story where she posted a still from Olivia's video along with images from 90s movies such Can't Hardly Wait (1998) and Empire Records (1995) with the image of Tyler, calling it the “90s mood board of [her] dreams." Here is a still from Can't Hardly Wait (1998) where you can see the party scene inspo. Olivia's second album GUTS will be released next month on September 8. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-08-19 19:29
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