List of All Articles with Tag 'per'

USWNT begins quest for World Cup history against minnows Vietnam

One of the Lionesses’s brightest prospects in Australia and New Zealand is Katie Robinson, a pacy winger who only made her debut for Sarina Wiegman’s side last November when she came on as a substitute in a friendly against Norway. The 20-year-old hails from Newquay in Cornwall where she had to play for Newquary Boys and Goldphin Boys until she turned 16 due the lack of girls’ football facilities in the south west. After honing her skills at the Cornwall Girls Advanced Coaching Centre and playing for the Plymouth Argyle Boys' Centre of Excellence, she lived with a host family in Bristol in order to be part of Bristol City’s youth system. She broke into the first team there in 2018 – a period in which she also starred for England at under-17 level, scoring eight in 11 – before joining her current club Brighton and Hove Albion in 2020. Her progress on the south coast was badly hampered by an anterior cruciate ligament injury in September 2020, however, which caused her to miss the rest of that season and subsequently sent out on loan to Charlton Athletic to continue her recovery. Wiegman clearly believes in Robinson’s potential though, having picked her for the World Cup squad ahead of much more established names like Manchester United’s Nikita Parris. How inclined the manager is to gamble on such an inexperienced prospect remains to be seen. Read More How to watch England vs Haiti: TV channel and start time for Women’s World Cup opener Women’s football world rankings: Who could take No 1 at the World Cup? FIFA Women’s World Cup fixtures and full schedule

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has explained why he identified Andre Onana as his top goalkeeper target this transfer window, with the Cameroonian replacing David de Gea between the sticks.

Before being called up by Sarina Wiegman for the Lionesses squad to take part in the Arnold Clark Cup earlier this year, defensive midfielder Laura Coombs had not played for her country since October 2015. The manager was clearly persuaded to bring Coombs in from the international wilderness by her exceptional performances for Manchester City this season, watching her anchor a midfield that had seemingly been significantly weakened by the sales of Keira Walsh, Georgia Stanway and Caroline Weir the previous summer. The oldest member of the 23-strong England World Cup squad at a stately 32, Coombs has a reputation among her teammates as a grafter who will bring plenty of experience to a youthful side, even though her time on the world stage has been somewhat limited thus far. Originally from Gravesend in Kent, Coombs came through first the Charlton Athletic and then the Arsenal youth academies, breaking into the Gunners’ first team in 2007 aged 16 before being loaned out to Nottingham Forest and Los Angeles Strikers before finally being sold to Chelsea in 2011. There she played 52 times over six years and won the Women’s Super League and FA Cup in 2015 but was again loaned out to Barnet, the Strikers and eventually Liverpool, who made that deal permanent in 2017. A regular for the Reds for two seasons, she moved to City in 2019 and won the FA Cup in 2020 and league cup in 2021 before truly excelling as a starter this season. Like goalkeeper Mary Earps, Coombs has a business degree and harbours entrepreneurial ambitions once she hangs up her boots. Read More How to watch England vs Haiti: TV channel and start time for Women’s World Cup opener Women’s football world rankings: Who could take No 1 at the World Cup? FIFA Women’s World Cup fixtures and full schedule

England and Chelsea right-back Niamh Charles, now 24, began her career at an early age on the Wirral in Merseyside. Charles spent her youth at the West Kirby Wasps and excelled as the only female on the pitch, playing against boys up to the age of 14. “Playing in boys’ teams growing up was all I knew so I can’t really compare it to anything else but I loved it,” she has said. “Some of the things that I had to learn as the boys got older and stronger and some of the things I had to adapt and grow about my game have helped me now in terms of the physical side of football. I wouldn’t change playing for boys’ teams because I really liked it.” After that success at junior level, Charles became a member of Liverpool’s FC Academy youth setup and found herself climbing the ranks. She made her Women’s Super League debut at just 16 and appeared 59 times for Liverpool, scoring 11 goals, but left the club following their relegation and signing for Chelsea in 2020, where manager Emma Hayes has hailed her as “tenacious” and a “willing competitor”. She has since won back-to-back doubles with the Blues and started in the Champions League Final against Barcelona in 2021, aged just 21. She has also represented England at under-17, under-19 and under-20 levels. In 2018 at the Under-20s World Cup, Charles made an impression as she helped the young Lionesses win bronze. That same year, she was voted “Rising Star” at the North-West Football Awards. Her debut for the senior side came in a friendly against France in 2021 and she has since added six more caps, a total she will be seeking to increase further in Australia and New Zealand this summer. Read More England Women’s squad for World Cup 2023 England women World Cup fixtures and route to the final England’s World Cup hinges on a defining question

Why Andre Onana has worn the number 24 shirt throughout his time at Ajax, Inter and now Manchester United.

Former NBA All-Star guard Kemba Walker signed for next season with...

American Brian Harman is on course for the biggest win of his career after surging to the top of the British Open leaderboard, reaching 10 under par...

England goalkeeper Hannah Hampton, who has just signed for Chelsea, may only be 22 but she has already packed plenty of unusual experiences into her young life. As a small child in Birmingham, Hampton was diagnosed with a strabismus, an eye condition that affects depth perception and which she underwent three surgeries to correct by the time she turned three. Then, at five, her teacher parents relocated to Spain, where she joined the Villareal youth academy, quickly learning Spanish and playing as a striker over a five-year spell. When the family returned to Britain, she transferred to Stoke City’s junior ranks and began to play in goal. After six years at Stoke, she joined Birmingham City in 2016 where she broke into the first team by proving herself a natural replacement for the German veteran Ann-Katrin Berger, becoming a first-team regular upon the latter’s retirement. Two years followed with another Midlands club, Aston Villa, before her transfer earlier this month to the West London side. She made her England debut last year in the 2022 Arnold Clark Cup draw against Spain, in which she kept a clean sheet, as she would again in her second international appearance: a 10-0 mauling of North Macedonia in April 2022. A hugely promising keeper, Hampton will nevertheless have a major task on her hands if she hopes to usurp the mighty Mary Earps between the sticks at this World Cup. Read More How to watch England vs Haiti: TV channel and start time for Women’s World Cup opener Women’s football world rankings: Who could take No 1 at the World Cup? FIFA Women’s World Cup fixtures and full schedule

Previewing the pre-season friendly between Arsenal vs Man Utd, with TV & live stream details, team news, predicted lineups & score prediction.

DENVER — The New York Yankees and Houston Astros combined to make a post-All-Star break homestand for the Colorado Rockies. While the two teams were in the Mile High City, these are some of the things I heard.Two of the heavyweights in the American League, the New York Yankees and Houston ...

Fangraphs gives the Giants a 17.5% chance to win the NL West. In order to boost that number, they'll have to part ways with these players.The San Francisco Giants have a real chance to be competitive in the daunting NL West. But, like any contending team, they need to make upgrades at the d...