1, August 2022
England women beat Germany to win Euro 2022 0
England won a major women’s tournament for the first time as Chloe Kelly’s extra-time goal secured a 2-1 victory over Germany at a sold out Wembley on Sunday.
In front of a record crowd of 87,192 for any match in the history of the European Championships, Kelly prodded home a loose ball from close range to end English football’s 56-year wait for a World Cup or Euro victory.
England looked set for victory in the 90 minutes when substitute Ella Toone’s sublime chip over Merle Frohms put the hosts in front.
Germany showed remarkable resilience to bounce back as Lina Magull levelled 11 minutes from time.
But for once, England were not to be denied a major tournament success.
Kelly fought back from an anterior cruciate ligament tear to be fit in time for the tournament and made herself a national hero by being in the right place to pounce when Germany failed to clear a corner in the 110th minute.
Fortune did not favour Germany, who lost captain and top goalscorer Alexandra Popp to a muscle injury in the warm-up.
But England will feel their time for some luck was due as 12 months on from the Three Lions’ defeat on penalties to Italy in the Euro 2020 men’s final, the nation’s women went one better.
England manager Sarina Wiegman has now led the home nation to the title in back-to-back women’s Euros after leading the Netherlands to victory five years ago.
Under Wiegman, England are unbeaten in 20 games but were pushed to the limit by the eight-time winners despite missing the massive presence of Popp.
The Wolfsburg striker, who missed the entirety of Euro 2013 and 2017 through injury, had scored six goals in five games on route to the final.
Despite losing their major goal threat and facing the intimidating atmosphere of a full Wembley waiting to party, Germany showed remarkable resilience.
England were saved by desperate defending from a combination of Mary Earps, Leah Williamson and Millie Bright then prevented Marina Hegering from turning in a corner.
Wiegman did not make a change to the England starting line-up throughout the whole tournament as she resisted the clamour for Alessia Russo to start ahead of Ellen White up front.
Kelly strikes
White, England women’s all-time leading goalscorer, had the hosts best chance before the break but blazed Beth Mead’s cut-back over.
Germany started the second half even stronger and were inches away from the vital opening goal when Magull prodded just wide at the end of a flowing team move.
Strength in depth has been one of the key features of England’s success under Wiegman and the Dutch coach turned to Russo and Toone to turn the tide as they did in the quarter-final win over Spain.
The changes worked to perfection once more as Toone timed her run through the heart of the German defence to latch onto Keira Walsh’s through ball and showed the composure to coolly lift the ball over Frohms.
Lesser sides than the eight-time champions would have been broken, but Germany immediately pushed forward in search of an equaliser.
The excellent Magull smashed a shot off the post and Popp’s replacement Lea Schueller should have converted the rebound rather than rolling the ball into the arms of the grateful Earps.
Martina Voss-Tecklenburg’s side were not to be denied, though, and fittingly it was Magull who sent the game to extra-time as the Bayern Munich midfielder slotted Tabea Wassmuth’s cross into the roof of the net.
The German attack was further blunted by Magull’s withdrawal at the end of 90 minutes due to a knock and both sides felt the pace of a physical encounter in the extra 30 minutes.
England just had enough left in the tank to finally get the job done as Germany failed to deal with the second ball from a corner and Kelly’s telescopic right leg flicked the ball home.
Source: AFP
2, August 2022
Tiger Woods rejected $700-800 mn LIV offer, Greg Norman says 0
Tiger Woods turned down an offer of about $700-800 million to take part in the Saudi-funded LIV Golf series, the rebel circuit’s chief Greg Norman said.
Fifteen-time major champion Woods has always made clear his opposition to the series which is threatening to tear golf apart and triggered accusations of Saudi “sportswashing”.
Speaking in an interview on Fox News with Tucker Carlson, LIV chief executive Norman was asked if it was true that the American golf legend was offered “700, 800, a billion dollars” to join the breakaway circuit.
“That number was out there before I became CEO so that number’s been out there, yes,” Norman, a former world number one who is the public face of LIV Golf, said in the interview at Trump National in Bedminster, New Jersey, where the third LIV Golf Invitational was held last weekend.
“And look, Tiger is a needle-mover, right? So of course you are going to look at the best of the best.
“They had originally approached Tiger before I became CEO, so yes, that number is somewhere in that neighbourhood.”
The 46-year-old Woods has consistently declared his loyalty to the PGA Tour and said he has no intention of following the likes of other major winners, such as Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Sergio Garcia and Dustin Johnson in jumping ship to the upstart LIV.
“I disagree with it,” Woods said ahead of the British Open in St Andrews last month when asked about his fellow professionals who have been tempted to join the hugely lucrative but deeply controversial circuit.
“I think that what they’ve done is they’ve turned their back on what has allowed them to get to this position,” Woods said.
“And who knows what’s going to happen in the near future with world-ranking points, the criteria for entering major championships?
“Some of these players may not ever get a chance to play in major championships. That is a possibility. We don’t know that for sure yet.”
The LIV series, spearheaded by Norman and bankrolled by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, offers record prize money of $25 million per 54-hole event with shotgun starts and no cut.
Source: AFP