Italy manager Roberto Mancini was left with a loss for words following his side's shocking 1-0 defeat to North Macedonia that will leave the Azzurri out of the World Cup for the second straight time. With Italy frustrated for 90 minutes by a heroic North Macedonia defensive performance, Aleksandar Trajkovski struck the only goal of the game in the second minute of added time, inflicting Italy...Full Story »

Portugal fought off a dogged Turkey side en route to a 3-1 win in their UEFA World Cup playoff semifinal to stay alive in their quest to reach the showpiece event in Qatar at the end of the year. With both teams facing a win-or-go-home scenario, Portugal took a crucial early lead through 27-year-old Porto attacker Otavio, who pounced on the rebound from Bernardo Silva's shot as it caromed off...Full Story »

Gareth Bale fired Wales to a 2-1 World Cup play-off semi-final victory over Austria that leaves them in sight of their first appearance in the finals for 64 years.Bale produced two stunning strikes – one in each half – before Wales had to endure anxious moments after Marcel Sabitzer’s deflected effort halved the deficit.Wales will now play Scotland or Ukraine for a place at the...Full Story »

Colchester will be without Tyreik Wright for the visit of Tranmere on Saturday.The 20-year-old winger has been called up for international duty by the Republic of Ireland Under-21s in their upcoming European Championship qualifier with Sweden.The U’s are also without Tommy Smith and Armando Dobra who are also away on international duty.Defender Ryan Clampin remains out with a long-term kne...Full Story »

Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal says it is "ridiculous" that this year's World Cup is being played in Qatar, accusing FIFA of taking the tournament to the Middle East for money and commercial reasons. Van Gaal said FIFA's reasons for awarding the finals to Qatar, where his side will be competing in the November and December finals, were spurious. "Now, everybody knows that I find that ridic...Full Story »

Manchester City have been drawn to face Liverpool in the FA Cup semifinals, while Chelsea will take on Crystal Palace. The ties will be played on the weekend of April 16 and 17 at Wembley Stadium. City were originally drawn to face the winner of Nottingham Forest and Liverpool, with Jurgen Klopp's side edging to a 1-0 victory thanks to a late strike from Diogo Jota. The FA Cup encounter bet...Full Story »

Liverpool left it late to book a Wembley semi-final against Manchester City, but Diogo Jota’s 78th-minute goal was enough to end Nottingham Forest’s valiant FA Cup run.The City Ground has been a graveyard for Premier League sides this season, with Arsenal and Leicester both exiting at the hands of former Reds academy coach Steve Cooper’s entertaining and exciting side.And, whil...Full Story »

Tottenham boss Antonio Conte says his side have nine cup finals left as they try and earn Champions League qualification.Spurs kept themselves firmly in the race for the top four with a 3-1 win over West Ham, which came thanks to Son Heung-min’s brace and a Kurt Zouma own goal.That moved them three points behind Arsenal, who have a game in hand, but have to visit their north London rivals ...Full Story »

Pep Guardiola hailed “brilliant” Phil Foden after his stunning strike capped off Manchester City’s dominant 4-1 FA Cup win over Southampton at St Mary’s.City remain on course for a treble after the emphatic quarter-final victory, capped off by Foden’s strike for their third goal.Raheem Sterling had opened the visitors’ account when he tapped home in the 12th m...Full Story »

Phil Foden’s stunning strike capped off a dominant Manchester City performance as they booked their place in the FA Cup semi-finals with a 4-1 win over Southampton at St Mary’s.Pep Guardiola’s side had failed to win either Premier League game against the Saints this season, but their emphatic victory kept them on course for a treble.Raheem Sterling had handed the league leaders...Full Story »

Patrick Vieira believes anything is possible for Crystal Palace after they emphatically progressed into the FA Cup semi-finals with a 4-0 win over Everton.The Eagles endured a tricky start at Selhurst Park but Marc Guehi’s 25-minute opener helped settle any lingering nerves and Jean-Philippe Mateta added a crucial second before half-time.It put the hosts firmly in the driving seat for a pl...Full Story »

Crystal Palace put Everton to the sword with a 4-0 thrashing in the FA Cup quarter-finals to book their spot at Wembley and help Marc Guehi end the perfect week on another high note.The centre-back shut out Premier League leaders Manchester City on Monday, earned a maiden England call-up three days later and broke the deadlock in the 25th-minute with a deft header to set Patrick Vieira’s s...Full Story »

Paris Saint-Germain coach Mauricio Pochettino has said he and his staff have what it takes to help the club win their first Champions League title one day, despite their recent collapse against Real Madrid. PSG won the first leg of their round-of-16 tie 1-0 at home before losing 3-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu in the return leg, another remarkable failure following past meltdowns against Barcelo...Full Story »

Romelu Lukaku’s 12th goal of the season set Chelsea on their way to the FA Cup semi-finals in serene fashion as the club’s off-field problems were once again put to one side.A comfortable 2-0 sixth-round victory at Sky Bet Championship Middlesbrough provided a more than satisfactory conclusion to a difficult week, where the Blues’ future ownership and current operational diffic...Full Story »

Let's start our 7M Daily Laugh today.   Iniesta → Pedri     It's been four years since Ronaldo scored his 50th career hat trick.Last weekend he hit his 59th     The road to the Champions League final     Chelsea has History     Eden Hazard secretly supporting Chelsea     The Quater Finals are set!!   The last time ...Full Story »

A Bundesliga game between VfL Bochum and Borussia Monchengladbach was called off on Friday after an assistant referee was struck in the back of the head by a plastic beer cup thrown by someone in the crowd. The match was already noteworthy for being the league's first to be played between teams without coaches as Bochum's Thomas Reis and Gladbach counterpart Adi Hutter have coronavirus infectio...Full Story »

Holders Chelsea have been drawn to face 13-time winners Real Madrid in the Champions League quarterfinals. The three Premier League and three La Liga teams in the last eight avoided each other, with Manchester City up against Atletico Madrid, Liverpool taking on Benfica while Villarreal will play Bayern Munich. In the other ties, Manchester City take on Atletico Madrid, Villarreal come up agai...Full Story »

Nottingham Forest will be without Scott McKenna for their FA Cup quarter-final against Liverpool.The defender limped off with a hamstring problem late in Wednesday’s victory over QPR and is expected to be sidelined for a month.The news comes as a blow to Forest, who had already lost fellow defenders Steve Cook and Max Lowe.They will both miss at least a month with injuries picked up in the...Full Story »

Villarreal stunned Juventus with a 3-0 win to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time since 2009.Gerard Moreno, Pau Torres and Arnaut Danjuma all scored in the final quarter as Juventus unravelled in embarrassing fashion.Unai Emery’s side produced a defiant defensive show for most of the Turin return after the two sides had played out a 1-1 draw in Spain three w...Full Story »

Christian Pulisic and Cesar Azpilicueta helped Chelsea forget their off-field worries by firing the Blues into the Champions League quarter-finals with a 2-1 win at Lille.Pulisic latched on to Jorginho’s fine pass to cancel out Lille skipper Burak Yilmaz’s penalty, before captain Azpilicueta turned in Mason Mount’s cross midway through the second-half.Chelsea prevailed 4-1 on a...Full Story »