Marcus Rashford sets sights on Wayne Rooney's Man Utd goal record
Marcus Rashford explains his goals for next season and his desire to break Wayne Rooney's goalscoring record for Man Utd.
2023-08-04 19:21
Ethiopia declares Amhara state of emergency following militia clashes
By Dawit Endeshaw ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) -Ethiopia's government on Friday declared a state of emergency in its second-largest region, Amhara,
2023-08-04 19:19
Sarina Wiegman: The Lionesses’s all-conquering coach in profile
When Chloe Kelly scrambled home England’s winner against Germany in the Euro 2022 final last July, Sarina Wiegman achieved a feat only dreamed of since Sir Geoff Hurst’s stunning hat-trick against the same opponents at the same venue in 1966: she brought football home. Since succeeding Phil Neville as the Lionesses’s coach in September 2021, the Dutchwoman, 53, has barely put a foot wrong, winning 28 of her 35 games in charge, drawing just six and losing only once: a chastening 2-0 friendly defeat to Australia in Brentford in April that may actually have served as a timely reality check ahead of this summer’s Women’s World Cup in the Matildas’ backyard. It’s three out of three for her team in Australia and New Zealand so far, with the Lionesses’s putting two nervy 1-0 wins over Haiti and Denmark behind them with the 6-1 trouncing of China, which saw them top Group D in style and head into a round of 16 clash against Nigeria brimming with confidence. But while success might appear to come easily to Sarina Wiegman, matters were not always so straightforward. Born in The Hague on 26 October 1969, she played street football from a young age but, incredibly, had to pretend to be a boy in order to turn out for Wasserman side GSC ESDO at junior level. “When I started playing football as a six-year-old girl we weren’t allowed to play, so I played illegally,” she told BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast recently. “I had very short hair, looked a little bit maybe like a boy, my parents were really OK and I had a twin brother, so we just started to play and everyone said that’s OK. It wasn’t normal then and now it’s just normal, whether you’re a boy or a girl, you can play football and that’s just great. It was actually crazy before, that you couldn’t, but that’s just the way it is in development I guess.” Subsequently playing as a central midfielder for the women’s teams HSV Celeritas and KFC ‘71 in the 1980s, she made her debut for the Dutch national side in 1987 against Norway, aged 17, when the well-travelled future Rangers manager Dick Advocaat picked her for what would turn out to be his only game in charge. She would ultimately make 104 appearances for the Netherlands, becoming their first female centurion when she appeared against Denmark in 2001, prompting Louis van Gaal to pay his respects to her extraordinary accomplishment in an era in which the women’s game had been so badly neglected. Long before that moment, Wiegman’s performances at the 1988 FIFA Women’s Invitation Tournament in China had caught the eye of then-US women’s coach Anson Dorrance, who subsequently invited her to enrol at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to play for the North Carolina Tar Heels. She accepted, making 24 appearances in 1989 and scoring four times for a team that featured such future American greats as Mia Hamm. Three members of her current Lionesses squad – Lucy Bronze, Alessia Russo and Lotte Wubben-Moy – would later follow in her footsteps and turn out for the Tar Heels. Returning to the Netherlands, Wiegman worked as a PE teacher at Segbroek College secondary school in her hometown before signing for Ter Leede in Sassenheim in 1994, whom she would play for until 2003, picking up two championships and a domestic cup along the way. After retiring as a player, she returned to Ter Leede as the club’s manager in 2006, leading them to a league and cup double in her debut season before joining ADO Den Haag for the inaugural Women’s Eredivisie. She would spend seven years with Den Haag, again winning the double in 2012 and another cup the following year (Wiegman’s husband Marten Glotzbach, incidentally, is the current manager of the ADO Den Haag’s men’s side). Wiegman would then serve the Dutch women’s team as assistant manager between 2015 and 2017, twice stepping in as interim boss during that period while also becoming the first woman to hold a coaching role with a men’s team when she joined Sparta Rotterdam as an assistant in 2016. That same year, she also became the first woman to complete her Uefa Pro coaching licence. Finally promoted to manager of the Netherlands women’s side in 2017, she quickly led them to Euros glory that summer and the World Cup final in France two years later, where they were unfortunate to come up against an imperious Megan Rapinoe-inspired USA Joining England as the Covid-19 pandemic subsided, her impact on these shores was just as immediate, with players like Mary Earps later speaking movingly about Wiegman’s positive influence on her game and personal life, the new manager arriving at a time when the goalkeeper was suffering a crisis of self-belief and seriously considering hanging up her gloves. Bringing clear communication and direct attacking football to the Lionesses, Wiegman enjoyed the ideal approach to last summer’s Euros with an emphatic 5-1 win over the Netherlands, the reigning champions and her own former side. Speaking after that game, Wiegman was characteristically disinclined to get carried away, commenting: “We stick to our strategy and plans, and whether we would lose or win now, we’re not going to all of a sudden sit, we call it, on a pink cloud. We stay grounded.” Despite losing her sister weeks before the Euros got underway, Wiegman refused to lose focus and England would go from strength to strength as the tournament progressed, thrashing Norway and Northern Ireland in Group A, finding a way past a tricky Spanish side in the quarters before trouncing Sweden 4-0 on the way to that historic showdown with Germany. “The world around us will be changed,” she reflected in the aftermath of that famous extra-time victory, without hyperbole. “It’s positive but we have to be aware of it too. But we’ve changed society. That’s what we want. It’s so much more than football. We want to win, but through football you can make little changes in society and that’s what we hoped for. This has done so much for the game and for women and society. In England, but also across the world. It’s so nice to see how enthusiastic everyone was, inside and outside the stadium.” While she benefitted from a settled first-team at the Euros and at times appeared reluctant to make changes, Wiegman has had her preparations for the World Cup disrupted by injuries, first to Beth Mead, Leah Williamson and Fran Kirby and now Keira Walsh, having already lost Ellen White and Jill Scott to retirement. But, as usual, she has simply taken adversity in her stride and given opportunities to promising understudies like Lauren James and Katie Zelem, both of whom excelled against China. Can Wiegman’s England go one better this time than her Dutch side of four years ago? With Brazil, Germany and Canada already knocked out and the USA decidedly unconvincing and up against a free-scoring Sweden next, the dream has rarely looked closer to becoming a reality. Read More Women’s World Cup LIVE: Latest news and updates as England prepare for last-16 clash with Nigeria How the Women’s World Cup delivered its greatest ever group stage — against all the odds Wiegman hails England’s adaptability after tactics change sparks big win over China Watch England train ahead of Women’s World Cup last 16 clash with Nigeria Wiegman hails England’s adaptability after tactics change sparks big win over China Lauren James delighted to ‘carve out’ her name with superb displays at World Cup
2023-08-04 18:57
How did Taylor Armstrong's ex-husband die? RHOBH alum says he may have got involved with 'wrong people'
'I think there's a lot of speculation that that was the case,' Taylor confessed
2023-08-04 18:52
Jake Paul gets nostalgic over 'best picture' with Logan ahead of most-awaited Nate Diaz fight: ‘We don't look like this anymore’
Jake Paul also reacted to a picture taken right after he lost to Tommy Fury and explained how he does not see the match as a loss
2023-08-04 18:49
US and Western officials fear Putin unlikely to change course in Ukraine before 2024 election
Top US and European officials are concerned that Russian President Vladimir Putin is factoring the 2024 US presidential election into his Ukraine war planning in hopes that a loss by President Joe Biden next year will lead the US to curtail its support for Ukraine and improve Russia's negotiating position, four US officials told CNN.
2023-08-04 18:25
Andrew Tate's Romania house arrest lifted
The controversial influencer faces rape and human trafficking charges, which he denies.
2023-08-04 18:21
Influencer Andrew Tate released from house arrest while he awaits human trafficking and rape trial
Andrew Tate, the divisive internet influencer who is charged in Romania with rape, human trafficking, and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women, has won his appeal to be released from house arrest
2023-08-04 18:21
Economic worries could cost Biden some of his 2020 supporters -Reuters/Ipsos
By Jason Lange and Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON Many Americans who voted for U.S. President Joe Biden in 2020
2023-08-04 18:19
Is Aidan better than Mr Big? 'And Just Like That' fans upset as Carrie Bradshaw asks 'was Big a big mistake'
In the recent episode of 'And Just Like That' Season 2, Carrie opens up to Miranda about her revived relationship with Aidan
2023-08-04 18:17
Russia accuses Ukraine of attacking Black Sea navy base and Crimea with drones
Russia had accused Ukraine of attacking its Black Sea navy base in the port of Novorossiysk with sea drones
2023-08-04 17:57
Trump angrily rails against ‘filth’ in Washington DC after arraignment on 2020 election conspiracy charges
Before departing from Washington DC after being arraigned on four federal charges, former president Donald Trump gave quick remarks in which he claimed the capitol had “filth”, “decay” and “broken buildings”. Mr Trump made a quick appearance at the nation’s capital on Thursday so he could appear in federal court to be formally charged with four counts related to his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election and subsequent January 6 attack on the Capitol. “This is a very sad day for America,” Mr Trump told reporters before departing on his private plane to New Jersey. The ex-president has continuously claimed he is innocent and that the indictment, brought forth by Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation, is a politically-motivated action. But unlike his previous post-arraignment speeches, Mr Trump chose to direct most of his statement toward Washington DC’s environment. “It was also very sad driving through Washington DC and seeing the filth and the decay and all of the broken buildings and walls and the graffiti,” Mr Trump said. “This is not the place that I left. It’s a very sad thing to see it.” Mr Trump spent approximately two hours in Washington DC, most of which was spent inside the E Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse. The ex-president pleaded not guilty to the four counts he was indicted on; conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, conspiracy against rights and obstruction of, and attempt to obstruct, an official proceeding. The charges stem from Mr Smith’s probe into Mr Trump’s rhetoric in the days leading up to the January 6th attack on the Capitol, including Mr Trump’s false claims of election fraud. The most recent indictment alleges that Mr Trump knowingly spread lies that there was election fraud in 2020 and he actually won. “These claims were false, and the Defendant knew that they were false. But the Defendant repeated and widely disseminated them anyway – to make his knowingly false claims appear more legitimate, crate an intense national atmosphere of mistrust and anger, and erode public faith in the administration of the election,” the indictment reads. Despite the serious allegations, Mr Trump’s post-arraignment speech made little mention of the implications he is facing. “When you look at what’s happening this is a persecution of a political opponent. This was never supposed to happen in America. This is the persecution of the person that’s leading by very, very substantial numbers in the Republican primary and leading Biden by a lot so if you can’t beat them you persecute them or prosecute ‘em,” Mr Trump said before departing on his plane. Read More Live updates: Trump pleads not guilty at arraignment in 2020 election case What is an arraignment? Here’s what to expect following Trump’s indictment Trump pleads not guilty to federal conspiracy charges in plot to overturn 2020 election Trump rails against ‘filth’ in DC after arraignment on election conspiracy charges Trump ‘irked’ that arraignment judge didn’t call him ‘Mr President’ Former Trump spokesperson sheds light on Melania’s absence from his arraignment
2023-08-04 17:51
