Soccer News

Milan (AFP) – Fiorentina will return to European football for the first time in five years after beating Juventus 2-0 to qualify for next season’s Conference League.

Alfred Duncan’s finish on the stroke of half-time and Nicolas Gonzalez’s late penalty gave Vincenzo Italiano’s side the win they needed to guarantee continental competition.

Fiorentina ensured seventh spot in Italy’s top flight, three points ahead of Atalanta who lost 1-0 at home to Empoli and miss out on Europe for the first time since Gian Piero Gasperini took over as coach in 2016.

Giorgio Chiellini made his final appearance in a Juve shirt in a typically feisty match between big rivals and he left the field with a bleeding head after a clash with Fiorentina forward Krzysztof Piatek in build up to Duncan’s winner.

The 37-year-old didn’t come back out for the second half and ended his Juve career unable to help his team salvage something from the match.

Lazio closed their season in fifth, a point and one place above local rivals Rome after an entertaining 3-3 home draw with Verona.

They and Roma had already ensured their places in the Europa League.

On Sunday, the Serie A title will be decided with AC Milan needing just a point to snatch the Scudetto from local rivals and reigning champions Inter Milan.

Read more: https://worldsoccertalk.com/2022/05/21/fiorentina-beat-juve-to-reach-conference-league-atalanta-out-of-europe/

Paris (AFP) – Kylian Mbappe said he was “very happy” to stay at Paris Saint-Germain after the club’s president announced on Saturday the World Cup winner was rejecting Real Madrid to remain in France until 2025.

“I am very happy to stay in France, in Paris, in my city,” Mbappe told supporters on the Parc des Princes pitch before PSG faced Metz in their final Ligue 1 match of the season.

Standing next to PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, Mbappe said: “I hope I’m going to be able to continue to do what I like most — winning football matches and trophies with all of you.”

Mbappe marked his announcement by scoring twice in five minutes to take his total of league goals for the season to 27, putting him on course to finish as Ligue 1’s leading scorer for a fourth consecutive season.

Mbappe’s decision ends months of speculation surrounding arguably the hottest property in world football.

Real Madrid had pursued Mbappe for months and had reportedly agreed a deal with him months ago for a switch to Spain which would have included a signing-on fee of 150 million euros ($158 million).

Mbappe had made no secret of his desire to play one day for Real, who will face Liverpool in the Champions League final in Paris next weekend after securing a 35th Spanish title.

But PSG, who have won the Ligue 1 title for a record-equalling tenth time but angered their hardcore supporters with their limp exit to Real in the last 16 of the Champions League, have battled to hold on to their biggest asset.

– ‘Insult to football’ –

The president of Spain’s La Liga, Javier Tebas, complained bitterly on Saturday that the massive financial resources of PSG’s Qatari owners had proved decisive in persuading Mbappe to stay in France.

“What PSG is doing by renewing Mbappe with large sums of money…after posting losses of 700 million euros in recent seasons and having a wage bill of over 600 million euros, is an INSULT to football,” Tebas tweeted.

La Liga announced in a statement it was launching an official complaint about PSG’s actions “to UEFA, the French administrative and fiscal authorities and the appriopriate decision-making bodies of the European Union”.

In his tweet, Tebas also called Khelaifi “a danger to European football”.

Mbappe will now line up next season alongside Neymar and probably Lionel Messi — if he stays at the club — to help PSG in their protracted quest to land the Champions League, the title that has so far eluded them.

Mbappe joined PSG on a season-long loan from Monaco in August 2017 that turned into a permanent deal worth 180 million euros.

He has helped the club win four Ligue 1 titles in five seasons.

In the Champions League exit to Real this season, Mbappe scored in both legs of the tie, but could not prevent PSG from losing 3-2 on aggregate.

He will be a key figure when France attempt to defend the World Cup in November and December.

Read more: https://worldsoccertalk.com/2022/05/21/very-happy-mbappe-snubs-real-madrid-to-stay-at-psg/

Turin (Italy) (AFP) – Lyon won the Women’s Champions League on Saturday after beating Barcelona 3-1 to be crowned queens of Europe for a record-extending eighth time.

First half goals from Amandine Henry, Ada Hegerberg and Catarina Macario were enough to take the title from pre-match holders Barca, who pulled one back through captain Alexia Putellas just before half-time.

Expectation was high among Barca fans, who descended in large numbers on the Allianz Stadium in Turin to watch a team who have been tipped to end Lyon’s dominance of the women’s game in Europe.

However they couldn’t come back from going three goals down in the first 33 minutes.

The damage was done in a whirlwind opening period in which Lyon showed their European pedigree and for large tracts steamrollered Barca.

Henry opened the scoring in the sixth minute with a beautiful strike which came out of nowhere, the France icon picking up the ball way out with nothing on before letting off a rocket which Sandra Panos could only grasp at in vain.

From there Lyon kicked into gear and Hegerberg had her 59th goal in 60 Champions League appearances in the 23rd minute when she calmly nodded in Selma Bacha’s cross from close range. 

Ten minutes later Barca’s heads were spinning after a baffling defensive mix-up left Macario with a tap-in to make it three from almost on the goal line.

Barca looked dead and buried but Ballon d’Or holder Putellas dragged her team back into it four minutes before the break when she saved Caroline Graham Hansen’s miscued cross by lashing home a low first-time finish.

Patricia Guijarro thought she had cut the deficit to just one in the most spectacular way possible when she launched an audacious shot from just after the half-way line which crashed back out from the underside of the bar.

From there Barca were the better team but lacked the killer touch, with Ana-Maria Crnogorcevic volleying a great chance wide with seven minutes remaining highlighting a wastefulness which in the end cost them their European crown.

Read more: https://worldsoccertalk.com/2022/05/21/lyon-beat-barca-to-claim-eighth-womens-champions-league/

The FIFA World Cup produces rivals that are seemingly exclusive to this competition.

In international soccer, the majority of rivalries are geographical. For instance, Mexico and the United States have a heated rivalry as neighbors. Similarly, Brazil and Argentina consistently produce world class talent going head-to-head regularly. Finally, England and Germany date back to before WWII in that derby’s lore.

Geographical rivalries are great because they can be full of passion. FIFA World Cup rivals may lack some of that passion because of a lack of consistency. However, there are certain nations that do not have the opportunity to play each other regularly, but still possess animosity towards one another.

The following list focuses on rivalries with nations in different confederations. However, it is hard to ignore the dominance from CONMEBOL and UEFA, the only two confederations to have teams win a World Cup.

These two sides played five times at the sport’s biggest tournament. Most recently, in 2018, the game held great significance. With Croatia already topping the group, Nigeria and Argentina battled for a spot in the round of 16. Marcos Rojo’s winner in the 86th minute pushed La Albiceleste into the knockout stage.

Argentina won all five games in this rivalry. However, each win came by one goal. Plus, it is something fresh. The two sides played each other in 1994, 2002, 2010, 2014 and 2018, all in the group stage.

These two nations combine for nine World Cup wins. Therefore, it is no surprise that they play each other with relative frequency on the world’s stage. On five occasions, these two teams played in the World Cup. Moreover, two of these meetings came in the World Cup Final. In both matchups, Brazil beat the Italians. The 1994 meeting came with Roberto Baggio famously missing Italy’s fifth penalty, giving the trophy to Brazil.

Each time these two meet, it has been in the knockout stages or the second group stage. The losing team eliminated from the tournament with the winner going on to win the tournament. The one exception is in 1978, when the two played for third place.

Based solely off the number of times these two countries played, this is certainly a rivalry. On most occasions, Sweden gets the short end of the stick. Of the record seven times these two countries played, Sweden has no wins. Meanwhile, Brazil has five wins and just two draws.

The most famous of those wins came in 1958 in Stockholm. A 17-year-old phenom scored a hat trick against the hosts in the Final to give Brazil its first of what would become five World Cup wins. Safe to say that young player had a strong career at the club and international level.

Much of the disdain in this rivalry stems from the political side of these two countries. Hostile relations between Iran and the United States following the Iranian Revolution in 1979 made the two nations’ meeting in 1998 significant. In fact, the Supreme Leader of Iran ordered his players to wait for the U.S. to shake hands with them. This is despite the fact that Iran was designated as ‘Team B’ before the tournament, making the Iranians walk over to shake hands with the U.S. before the game.

Iran’s win in 1998 knocked the U.S. out of the World Cup. The two countries meet again at the 2022 World Cup in the same group. There will be similar intrigue to that fixture.

Look no further than 1986. Diego Maradona scored perhaps the two most famous goals in World Cup history in the same game. The ‘Hand of God’ goal sent England players irate. Then, four minutes later, Maradona scored the ‘Goal of the Century,’ dancing through England defenders before slotting home the eventual winner.

The two sides played a role in eliminating one another from the World Cup in 2002, 1998, 1986 and 1966, splitting the triumphs at two for each side.

Photo: STAFF/AFP via Getty Images

The 2006 World Cup Final is memorable for a number of reasons. Most significantly is the fact that France’s captain and leader Zinedine Zidane headbutted Marco Materazzi in extra time, yielding a red card. Zidane scored France’s only goal of the game. In a poetic way, Materazzi scored the game-winning penalty for the Italians.

The World Cup win over France was more than enough solace for Italy after the French eliminated the Italians on a penalty shootout eight years earlier in the quarterfinals.

Italy and France played a total of five times in the World Cup. France has two wins, including the 1998 penalties. Italy has three wins, with the crucial penalty win in 2006.

Mexico and the United States have a storied rivalry that includes some bitter encounters. The only time the two sides met in the World Cup came in 2002 in South Korea.

Landon Donovan and Brian McBride scored the goals in the now-famous, or infamous for Mexican fans, scoreline of 2-0. The result continued a run of Mexico exiting the World Cup in the round of 16. In fact, Mexico reached the first knockout stage in every World Cup from 1994 to most recently in 2018. However, the Mexicans cannot overcome that hurdle, losing dramatically on several occasions.

For the U.S., this is the best finish at a World Cup since a semifinal appearance at the inaugural World Cup in 1930.

Many of the rivalries in Europe come from the conflicts during World War I and World War II. That persists for these two sides.

Three World Cup meetings are highlighted by the 1974 Final in Munich. Gerd Muller’s winner prevented the Netherlands from its first title, which eludes them to this day.

In 1990, a contentious meeting in the round of 16 included red cards for Rudi Voller and Frank Rijkaard, as Germany won the match and eventually the tournament. In 1978, four years after the final in Munich, the Netherlands knocked out Germany with a 2-2 draw after René van de Kerkhof scored the equalizer in the 84th minute.

This rivalry, as stated previously, is one of the more historic in the terms of international soccer. At the World Cup, the sides first met in the 1966 Final in London. England claimed its first, and so far only, World Cup win after an extra time game at Wembley.

These two sides played to some controversial calls. Most recently, England thought Frank Lampard scored the equalizer against the Germans in the 2010 World Cup quarterfinals. Even though the ball clearly crossed the line, the goal was not given. Germany stormed away in the second half, winning 4-1.

The most memorable moment from this might be the 1990 semifinal. Paul Gascoigne’s tears for picking up a yellow card preceded a penalty shootout loss for England, while Germany went on to win the tournament.

It would be cruel to leave off the biggest rivalry in international soccer when it comes to passion on the field. The two soccer giants met four times over the course of the World Cup’s illustrious history. Brazil holds the slightest of edges with two wins, a draw and a loss.

Controversy exists among these meetings. For example, Argentina booked its place in the 1978 World Cup Final by beating Peru in a suspiciously comfortable way, 6-0. The result came after Brazil won its final game in the second group stage hours before the Argentina game started. Therefore, Argentina knew how much it needed to win by.

In 1990, the ‘Holy Water’ incident where a Brazilian player accused Argentina’s training staff of giving him water laced with tranquilizers caused a stir. Argentina knocked Brazil out of the World Cup that year, but the mystery exists today as to what happened with the water.

Read more: https://worldsoccertalk.com/2022/05/21/which-countries-are-fifa-world-cup-rivals/

Glasgow (AFP) – Rangers won the Scottish Cup for the first time since 2009 as Saturday’s 2-0 victory against Hearts erased the pain of their Europa League final defeat.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side were beaten on penalties by Eintracht Frankfurt after a 1-1 draw in the club’s first European final for 14 years on Wednesday.

But Rangers bounced back from that bitter loss in Seville by ending their long wait to lift the Scottish Cup.

Ryan Jack and Scott Wright scored in quick succession in extra-time to break Hearts’ stubborn resistence at Hampden Park.

After surrendering the Scottish Premiership title to Glasgow rivals Celtic and coming up just short in Europe, their spirited victory provided an uplifting end to a rollercoaster season for Rangers.

Van Bronckhorst won the Scottish Cup playing with Rangers in 2000 and this was his first trophy since taking over from Steven Gerrard in November.

“It means a lot, I told the players before the game we haven’t won anything yet,” Van Bronckhorst said.

“We worked so hard and came so far in Europe. But in the end, you want to have something in your hands as a reward, and today we did.

“It has been a really demanding week with the (Europa) final and the pressure to get the trophy today.

“We looked much stronger in extra time and we deserved the win. It’s always good to end the season with a trophy.”

Playing 120 gruelling minutes in the heat of Seville could have left Rangers shattered, but they dug deep to see off Hearts.

Rangers forward Joe Aribo was denied by Craig Gordon’s instinctive save with his foot in the closing seconds of normal time before Wright hit the crossbar with a header from James Tavernier’s free-kick.

Jack broke the deadlock four minutes into extra-time with a brilliant long-range strike that gave Gordon no chance as it flashed in off the crossbar.

Three minutes later, Wright took a Ryan pass on the break and drilled his shot low past Gordon to send the blue half of the stadium into delirium.

In an emotional finish, Rangers’ 40-year-old goalkeeper Allan McGregor took over from Jon McLaughlin in the final seconds in what is expected to be the long-serving star’s last appearance for the club.

Read more: https://worldsoccertalk.com/2022/05/21/rangers-lift-scottish-cup-trophy-after-europa-league-heartache/