MANCHESTER: With four of Europe’s most-prolific scorers, England has the firepower to end a nearly 60-year wait for silverware.
How Gareth Southgate deploys his riches could determine whether it is finally a glorious summer for the Three Lions or if the wait to add a trophy to England’s lone World Cup — won in 1966 — drags on.
England will lean on record scorer Harry Kane yet again at the European Championship in Germany but will also look for contributions from Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Cole Palmer.
“There’s definitely more options in the attacking areas,” Southgate said.
Southgate led England to the 2018 World Cup semifinals and the final of the last Euros — losing to Italy at Wembley Stadium — but he’s has been accused of being overly cautious.
“We’ve got a pretty set style of playing, the players enjoy that and we’ve had good results doing that. So we are not going to move far away from what we’ve been,” he said.
What that means, exactly, is not clear. Southgate has turned to young and unproven players after injuries and lack of form convinced him to omit regulars Marcus Rashford, Jordan Henderson and Kalvin Phillips. There will be a natural evolution because of that.
In what could be his final tournament as England manager, Southgate has packed his squad with bold, attacking options.
Kane finished his first season at Bayern Munich empty-handed but with a career-best 44 goals in 47 games to lead Germany’s scoring chart.
Bellingham, in his debut season at Real Madrid, scored 23 goals, won the Spanish league and topped it off with the Champions League title. Foden scored 27 in all competitions for Premier League champion Manchester City and was England’s footballer of the year.
Arguably the biggest bonus for Southgate is the emergence of Palmer, who was a fringe player at City before joining Chelsea for $51 million last summer.
The 22-year-old Palmer scored 27 goals in his first season of regular senior soccer. Only double golden boot-winner Erling Haaland scored more league goals in England.
It is an enviable depth of attacking talent, with Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka and City winger Jack Grealish among Southgate’s other options.
“You can see across that forward line the number of goals they’ve scored for their clubs this year,” Southgate said. “So you need those options. You need people to be able to come in and refresh the team.”
England has so many options that Southgate could afford to leave out Rashford and Raheem Sterling, who have been important players in previous tournaments.
He has picked players for now — but also ones that could serve England for years to come. Even if his contract is due to expire at the end of the Euros, Southgate is still looking to the future.
But England fans are hungry for success now after the relative disappointment of exiting in the quarterfinals of the last World Cup. That was the first backward step since Southgate’s appointment in 2016 when there were doubts about whether he was the right candidate to end the nation’s search for a men’s trophy.
England was within a few penalty kicks of winning the last Euros, having led against Italy in the final. Southgate had gambled by bringing on Rashford and Jadon Sancho as substitutes at the end of extra time for the shootout. Both missed their spot kicks, as did Sako.
Still, Southgate has exceeded expectations — but the trophy wait goes on.
On the face of it, England’s forward line for the Euros could pick itself, with Foden and Palmer either side of Kane and Bellingham operating behind as a No. 10.
Perhaps only their lack of playing time together would convince Southgate to turn to Saka, who is a more established member of the England setup than Palmer. The 24-year-old Foden, too, is yet to fully stamp his mark on the team, despite now being a six-time title-winner with City.
It is not just about the players, but the system.
Southgate has preferred to deploy two more defensive-minded midfielders in the past — but his squad is without longstanding options in those areas in Henderson and Phillips.
Manchester United’s exciting teenager Kobbie Mainoo, Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher or Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold look like the likeliest to partner Declan Rice behind Bellingham in the advanced role.
“Clearly the profile of our midfield, for example, looks different and so the team will evolve because of that,” Southgate said.
The danger is that England could be exposed without a more disciplined figure in the guise of Henderson or Phillips alongside Rice. With a defense that has doubts over it because of injuries to key players Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw, Southgate will think carefully about the shield he puts in front of it.
The strongest defensive units tend to go far in tournament soccer and England’s route to being runner-up in 2021 was built on the foundation of conceding just two goals in the entire competition. The winner, Italy, conceded four.
The challenge, as ever, is to get the balance right, and while Southgate has twice come close to lifting a trophy, his team has lacked that extra ingredient to get over the line.
With a forward line full of match winners at some of the biggest clubs in Europe, England looks equipped with players capable of providing the cutting edge in those decisive moments that tournament soccer produces.
England boasts firepower with Kane, Bellingham, Foden and Palmer to go far at Euro 2024
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England boasts firepower with Kane, Bellingham, Foden and Palmer to go far at Euro 2024
Aubameyang winner for Al-Qadsia dents Ronaldo’s title hopes
- Portuguese opened scoring after 32 minutes for the Yellows
- Gabonese superstar snatched the win
RIYADH: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang put a huge dent in the title hopes of Cristiano Ronaldo as Al-Qadsia beat Al-Nassr 2-1 on Friday. The former Arsenal, Chelsea and Barcelona forward scored the all important goal as the newly-promoted team moved level on 22 points with the Riyadh giants.
It was even more impressive as Ronaldo opened the scoring after 32 minutes as the Yellows, who had created a number of chances already, looked to move to within two points of the leaders Al-Hilal.
It wasn’t the most spectacular strike from the five-time Ballon D’Or Winner. Mohamed Simakan’s right-sided free-kick was spilled by goalkeeper Koen Casteels and there was Ronaldo to fire home the loose ball to put Al-Nassr within touching distance of their local Riyadh rivals and record his seventh league goal of the season so far.
But then eight minutes before the break, Al-Qadsia were back on level terms. Turki Al-Ammar found space down the left but there was still work to do when his cross entered the area. The ball was chested down by Julian Quinones and then fired home smoothly into the bottom corner by the Mexican.
If that shocked the hosts in Riyadh then there was more, and worse, to come five minutes into the second half. Nahitan Nandez had the ball on the left and while his looping cross to the far post looked to have been too deep, Quinones hooked the ball back across goal for Aubameyang to head home from the closest of ranges.
It was a blow for Al-Nassr who then threw everything forward in an attempt to get something from the game to keep the pressure on the top two. It wasn’t to be and Al-Hilal will go nine points clear of their local rivals if they defeat Al-Khaleej on Saturday.
Earlier on Friday, Al-Ahli won a second game in a row in the league and three in all competitions, winning 1-0 at Al-Feiha. A 21st minute penalty was converted by former Manchester City star Riyad Mahrez to give the inconsistent team from Jeddah a vital three points that moves them into sixth place. Elsewhere Al-Shabab drew 1-1 at Al-Okhdood to stay fourth.
Al-Hilal can build a four point lead at the top of the league on Saturday but Al-Ittihad, just a point behind, are in action on Sunday as they take on Al-Fateh.
Teenage Lebanese international football star in coma after Israeli airstrike
- Celine Haidar ‘is Lebanon’s Sergio Busquets … I call on all her fans and the Lebanese public to pray for her swift recovery,’ coach Samer Barbary tells Arab News
- Her father Abbas Haidar says: ‘Her doctors are saying she is in a critical situation … She has been in a coma for 6 days and doctors have been giving us contradictory signals’
DUBAI: The coach of 19-year-old Lebanese football sensation Celine Haidar, who is in a coma after suffering a serious head injury during an Israeli airstrike last weekend, on Friday called on fans to pray for her.
Samer Barbary told Arab News that Haidar has been in a critical but stable condition since she was injured on Nov. 16.
“She is Lebanon’s Sergio Busquets and has got remarkable skills in her position as a central midfielder,” he said. “I call on all her fans and the Lebanese public to pray for her swift recovery.
Haidar, who is a youth international and captains her club, Beirut Football Academy, was hit by a piece of metal as she fled her home in Al-Chiyyah in Beirut’s southern suburbs following an Israeli warning of an imminent attack on the area, her father Abbas Haidar said.
“Our area has been subject to ongoing threats and bombardments,” he added, and so the family had moved to a safer location as a result.
“Celine is a very vibrant and sociable person and loved by all her teammates and schoolmates. She is the one who found us a house in Baakline (a mountainous area outside Beirut) through her friend … like everybody who has been displaced, we moved out.”
However, Haidar only remained in Baakline with her family for two days before returning to Al-Chiyyah so that she could continue to go to school and attend football training.
“I advised her not to go because the situation was dangerous but she is a persistent and lively person,” her father said. “Whenever the Israelis threatened to hit, she would leave home and then return later. On Saturday (Nov. 16), I called her at 10 a.m. and told her there was a threat.”
A few hours later, he received a telephone call from a stranger who told him his daughter was in hospital.
“Her doctors are saying she is in a critical situation,” he told Arab News. “We are praying for her recovery and following up on her medical developments so closely. She has been in a coma for six days and doctors have been giving us contradictory signals.”
Coach Barbary said: “She sustained a serious fracture to her skull and underwent major surgery on Saturday. She is fighting for her life but her situation hasn’t worsened.”
Haidar was initially admitted to Saint Therese Medical Center in Hadath, south of Beirut, but it was “not safe at all and was affected by an airstrike,” Barbary said, so she was transferred to the city’s Saint George Hospital.
Rising star Haidar represented her country as a member of the under-19 women’s national team who won the 2022 West Asia Cup, hosted by Lebanon, and has been selected to play for the senior national team.
“Celine is one of the best football midfielders in Lebanon … she is consistent, stable and a leader,” said Barbary, who coaches the BFA team.
“Before joining BFA three years ago, she played for Safa Club and won with them the Lebanese National League. She has contributed a lot to us, especially in the under-19 championship that we won. She also played a major role in us winning the 2024 league unbeaten.”
Haidar’s club posted a message on Instagram on Tuesday updating fans on her condition, saying: “As stated by her doctors to our team, currently, Celine’s condition is stable and the intracranial bleeding is under control.”
In another post, the club said: “Yesterday, (Thursday) during a heartfelt ceremony, her teammates lit candles and we united in a moment of reflection, thoughts and prayers for her recovery.
“As we honored Lebanon’s strength this year, our dedication was for Celine, whose strength inspires us all. Keep her in your thoughts and prayers as we continue to rally together for her recovery.”
Red Bull brings wrong rear wing to Las Vegas in mistake that could stall Verstappen’s title chances
- The most jarring sign of trouble came in Thursday night’s second practice when the Dutchman was a dismal 17th on the speed chart compared to Norris
- Red Bull apparently brought the wrong rear wing to Las Vegas and GPS data showed its two cars to be significantly slower on the straights than both McLaren and Mercedes
LAS VEGAS: Max Verstappen, needing just three points over Lando Norris at the Las Vegas Grand Prix to seal a fourth consecutive Formula 1 championship, is suddenly in jeopardy of being denied the crown Saturday night.
The most jarring sign of trouble came in Thursday night’s second practice when the Dutchman was a dismal 17th on the speed chart compared to Norris, who was among the top three fastest drivers in both sessions.
Red Bull apparently brought the wrong rear wing to Las Vegas and GPS data showed its two cars to be significantly slower on the straights than both McLaren and Mercedes, which led both practice sessions with Lewis Hamilton. Red Bull said it doesn’t have a replacement rear wing in Las Vegas to fix the issue and little chance of getting two flown in from England in time.
Verstappen, however, proved two weeks ago in Brazil that adversity is nothing he can’t overcome. He started 17th on a wet and rainy circuit and still managed to win his first race since June by nearly 20 seconds.
Verstappen, whose eight wins this season are his fewest since 2020, has not won back-to-back races since Canada and Spain in June. But the Brazil win widened his lead over Norris in the standings to 62 points and the championship is his barring a complete collapse over the final three races.
He is not sure what to expect Saturday night.
“I just want to focus on the weekend and try to have a good performance. Brazil was a very welcome victory for us after a while, but this is again very different,” said Verstappen, who won the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix last year.
Prior to discovering the rear wing issue, Verstappen felt decent about his chances in Las Vegas.
“Three races left, you’re getting close to the end of the season and it’s looking good in the championship, but we still need to score a lot of points so we’ll just focus on that,” he said. “Once we are doing that then you get closer to the end result.”
Norris not giving up
Norris was admittedly downtrodden after Brazil, where he started on the pole but finished sixth and lost ground to Verstappen after first cutting the lead to 44 points by winning the sprint race.
“This was almost a defining moment for the championship. It was a defining moment for the championship. The doors are almost shut,” Norris said. “For a week, I was pretty down because I had that realization of things pretty much out of my control now, not within reach necessarily. That’s a tough realization when your hopes and belief are so high. For it to get knocked down so much all of a sudden was pretty demoralizing.”
Even so, Norris is convinced he will one day be F1 world champion.
“I have what it takes,” Norris said. “I think it’s the first time in the last six years of F1 when we’ve had a chance to fight at the front. This is our, and my, first opportunity to do so, and my first opportunity to see where I stand. I definitely was not at the level I needed to be at the beginning of the year.
“I still need to make tweaks and I still need to improve on things, that’s clear. I’m not completely satisfied with how I’ve done and I definitely know I need to make improvements,” he added. “But, for the first time, I’m confident to say I have what I think I need to fight for a championship.”
Norris has the first three wins of his career this season and has McLaren currently atop the constructor championship standings. He knows he’s got more work to do to be champion, especially against Verstappen.
“It doesn’t mean I’m complete, it doesn’t mean I’m perfect. When you’re competing against drivers who are close to that, like Max, you have to be close to perfect if you want to challenge him,” Norris said.
Constructor championship
McLaren is still clinging to a 36-point lead over Ferrari in the battle for the constructor championship, a title worth a bonus estimated to be $150 million.
McLaren last won that title in 1998, while Ferrari last won in 2008. Red Bull has won the last two titles. Ferrari could chip away at McLaren’s lead at Las Vegas.
“Ferrari have been strong for a long time,” said Norris. “They have two very good drivers, they’re a very good team, they’ve clearly improved their car a good amount and found a better direction to head down. We do know that Vegas is probably a track that will suit the Ferraris a bit more, it suited them well last year, but Qatar we know maybe will be more favorable to us.”
Carlos Sainz Jr., in his final three races for Ferrari before he is replaced by Hamilton and moves to Williams, wants to close his tenure by helping the team win the constructors title.
“I would love to win the championship for Ferrari this year,” Sainz said. “I think it would be a great way to sign off the season.”
He predicted that McLaren will be stronger in the final two races of the year, at Qatar and Abu Dhabi. But at Las Vegas? Sainz expects he and teammate Charles Leclerc to be stronger.
“This (track) is more Ferrari than McLaren, but at the same time, the temperature is not, so we’ll see how it pans out,” Sainz said of temperatures expected to be in the 40s Fahrenheit (5-10 degrees Celsius) on Saturday night.
Rolex SailGP Championship race starts in Dubai this weekend
- SailGP launched its 2025 season on Thursday evening at the House of Sustainability EXPO City in Dubai ahead of the Emirates Dubai Sail Grand Prix
- SailGP CEO Sir Russell Coutts unveiled on Friday an increased bonus prize purse of $12.8m up for grabs across the season
DUBAI: The Rolex SailGP Championship, which will take place in Dubai this weekend, marks the official start of SailGP’s most expansive season to date, according to a media statement issued on Friday.
SailGP launched its 2025 season on Thursday evening at the House of Sustainability EXPO City in Dubai ahead of the Emirates Dubai Sail Grand Prix.
At the event, Rolex was revealed as the first title partner for the global racing league, now known as the Rolex SailGP Championship.
The SailGP 2025 season launch was the first-ever event to be held at the new venue and provided the perfect setting for the league to present its full lineup of 12 teams. The season will bring a new era of the best high-speed, high-tech racing — with even more on the line.
SailGP CEO Sir Russell Coutts unveiled on Friday an increased bonus prize purse of $12.8 million up for grabs across the season. “I am pleased to reveal the prize money has grown to $12.8 million — a number we intend to increase as we continue to grow commercially,” he said.
The stakes are high and the rewards for achieving top performance are higher, according to Coutts.
“Which means we can attract — and retain — the sport’s brightest stars, while inspiring up-and-coming future athletes to work hard to gain a place in one of these teams,” he added.
The Rolex SailGP Championship welcomes two new nations — the Mubadala Brazil SailGP Team and Red Bull Italy.
France will miss the Dubai event, selecting to join the fleet in Auckland (the second event of the season), stepping into the league’s newest F50 catamaran, currently under accelerated development. France will be awarded compensatory points for the Dubai event.
Driving for Brazil, Martine Grael will be the first woman to race in the Rolex SailGP Championship. On the team’s preparations heading into the weekend, she said: “We’re doing as much as we can here, going into our eighth day on the water. We’re as prepared as we can be with great learning here so far in Dubai. We’ve been foiling every day and expecting good racing this weekend.”
Fellow gold medalist Ruggero Tita will drive for the league’s other new nation, the Red Bull Italy SailGP Team, while Emirates Great Britain welcomes Dylan Fletcher back into the driver’s seat.
SailGP heavyweights Australia and New Zealand have also found themselves with new talent on the roster after losing foundational team members in a highly active transfer season. Australia’s Kyle Langford (wing trimmer) and New Zealand’s Andy Maloney (flight controller) have both taken up roles in newly sold teams, Italy and Brazil, respectively.
While the trans-Tasman rivals have both made experienced appointments — Chris Draper in Australia and Leo Takahashi in New Zealand — three-time SailGP champion Tom Slingsby said the loss of “King Kyle” could not be overlooked.
“For sure it’s tough for us losing Kyle, but that’s the way the sport is going. Losing a key person like that is going to be tough for our team,” said Slingsby.
Set to be a flagship event on the Middle East sporting calendar, the Emirates Dubai Sail Grand Prix will provide the ultimate blend of sport and spectacle, with close-to-shore stadium racing, and live apres-sail entertainment on both Saturday (Tinie Tempah) and Sunday (Craig David).
Remaining tickets to the event are on sale now at SailGP.com/Dubai.
‘Dreamer’ Amorim vows to revive ailing Man Utd
- Asked if he believes he can eventually restore United to the summit of English football, Amorim told reporters on Friday: “I’m a little bit of a dreamer, I believe in myself”
- “I truly believe in the players, I know you don’t believe a lot but I do. I want to try new things. You guys don’t think it’s possible, I do“
MANCHESTER: New Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim said he is the right man to revive the ailing English giants’ fortunes ahead of his debut against Ipswich on Sunday.
Amorim was hired from Sporting Lisbon to replace Erik ten Hag, who was sacked after a dismal start to the season left United languishing in 13th place in the Premier League.
The 39-year-old is regarded as one of the brightest young coaches in Europe after leading Sporting to a pair of Portugese titles during his four years in Lisbon.
But United have won just four of their 11 league games this term, extending a malaise that has set in since they last won the Premier League in Alex Ferguson’s final season in charge 11 years ago.
Asked if he believes he can eventually restore United to the summit of English football, Amorim told reporters on Friday: “I’m a little bit of a dreamer, I believe in myself. I believe in the club, we have the same mindset.
“I truly believe in the players, I know you don’t believe a lot but I do. I want to try new things. You guys don’t think it’s possible, I do.”
After arriving in Manchester during the international break, Amorim will finally get his first taste of the Premier League when United travel to struggling Ipswich this weekend.
He is trying to succeed where David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ten Hag all failed by bringing the title back to Old Trafford.
The Portuguese boss is adamant reviving United is not an impossible job, despite a difficult combination of high expectations and underperforming squad.
“Call me naive, but I truly believe that I’m the right guy in the right moment,” he added.
Amorim was speaking to the media for the first time since taking charge on November 11.
The packed press conference room at United’s Carrington training ground underlined what Amorim has already started to realize about the size and global reach of the 20-time English champions.
“It’s bigger than I imagined. There’s a lot of departments, it’s so much different than Sporting, and Sporting is a big club in Portugal,” he said.
“This you feel is a global club, so you have so much to do.”
Amorim’s rise has been compared to the early success enjoyed by compatriot Mourinho at Porto.
Mourinho took English football by storm when appointed Chelsea boss in 2004, shortly after guiding Porto to Champions League glory.
“He sent me a message saying it’s a big club with lovely people, and he’s correct, it still is,” Amorim said of Mourinho.
“With all the Portuguese coaches, we’ve shown that we can be the best in the world. I’m different from Mourinho. He was a European champion, I am not.
“Football is different nowadays, I think I am the right person for this moment. I am a young guy and I try to use this to help my players.”
Amorim’s confidence extends to his tactics and he is ready to stick with his preferred 3-4-3 system despite players who might not be suited to the formation.
“I prefer to risk a little bit,” he said. “We will adapt some players because we don’t have the right profile.
“This team was built for a different system. It’s not evolution or revolution, it’s a change in the way we play football.”
Acknowledging United’s numerous flaws, Amorim knows he faces a massive task to catch up the likes of rivals Manchester City and Liverpool.
“We have space to grow as a team. We have to improve in a lot of areas,” he said.
“If you want to speak about the team and the way we play, we lose the ball too often. We have to be better at running back and we have to be very good in the details.
“We have to change the physical aspect of the team. I don’t know how long it will take. We have to improve a lot to try to win the title.”
