Teenage prodigy Lamine Yamal won the battle of the future stars as Spain lifted the 2024 European Championships, while Vinicius Jr remains favourite for the Ballon d’Or.
ENZO AT EYE OF RACISM STORM
Racism reared its ugly head again in football this week ahead of the EPL season starting. Reports say that star Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez is being investigated – and snubbed by club teammates, and unfollowed by them on social media – after seemingly posting a video celebrating winning Copa America with his Argentinian teammates, aimed at the French team.
Elsewhere, Wolves’ Hwang Hee-chan was allegedly racially abused in a pre-season friendly against Serie A club Como. The Italians have defended their players despite admitting one of them called the South Korean “Jackie Chan”
Chelsea FC has published the following statement...
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) July 17, 2024
YAMAL WINS WAR OF FUTURE GEN
We mentioned last week how Euro 2024 saw two future Ballon d’Or winners signalled their arrival on the international stage. One was England’s Jude Bellingham, who plays club football for Real Madrid and Spain’s Lamine Yamal, who plies his trade for Barcelona.
While Spain beat England 2-1 in the final, the Spanish teenager (17) has received another boost. His goal against France was named as goal of the tournament, beating off Bellingham’s one against Slovakia. My vote would have gone to Bellingham, for the visual and execution of his overhead, and also the impact, coming in the 95th minute, when England were trailing 1-0 and moments away from being eliminated.
VINICIUS REMAINS BALLON D’OR FAVOURITE
Player of the Tournament at Euro 2024 just had to come from the champions – as it should be. The going went to Spain’s Rodri, who plies his club trade for Man City. He has now entered the debate for the next Ballon d’Or and moved ahead of Jude Bellingham in the betting, Favourite however remains Vinicius Junior, despite a disappointing Copa America with Brazil. The Real Madrid star still has plenty of support.
In their Euro 2024 awards, Uefa’s panel came up with this team of the tournament: Mike Maignan (France); Kyle Walker (England), Manuel Akanji (Switzerland), William Saliba (France), Marc Cucurella (Spain); Dani Olmo (Spain), Rodri (Spain), Fabian Ruiz (Spain); Lamine Yamal (Spain), Jamal Musiala (Germany) and Nico Williams (Spain).
MCGREGOR PUTS MONEY WHERE HIS MOUTH IS
We’re used to seeing receipts of rapper Drake placing (and losing a lot of the time) bets on big sporting events. However, Conor McGregor said that he won over a million euros backing Spain before the tournament.
As he celebrated his 36th birthday, the former UFC champion said he had put on 83,000 euros to win a million, at odds of 11/1 before Euro 2024 started. He also had a £365k wager on Argentina to take Copa America, winning £ 1 million there. He was a bit quieter about the £60k lost on him punting Cristiano Ronaldo to win Euro 2024 Golden Boot.
OFF-FIELD VIOLENCE A FEATURE OF COPA AMERICA
Crowd violence was a feature of Copa America, with disgraceful scenes delaying the final by 90 minutes in which thousands of fans went on the rampage. A week earlier, Uruguay’s Darwin Nunez took off his shirt and jumped into the crowd, throwing punches. One could joke that he hit the target more often than he does with Liverpool.
On a serious note, would Nunez be up for sanction, considering the likes of Eric Cantona received a lengthy ban for jumping into the crowd while playing for Man United against Crystal Palace? For the record, an official number has been released for England fans arrested at Euro 2024 – 77.
#Colombia #Darwin #CopaAmerica #Fight @CopaAmerica @Darwinn99 #uruguay Scenes after the match, Darwin Nunez seen running to crowd and fighting fans! pic.twitter.com/Bq881LgVdy
— Ethan Jacovou (@Sinbarrr) July 11, 2024
GET YOUR BETS ON FOR ENGLAND MANAGER
With Gareth Southgate resigning soon after England touched down on home soil following their Euro 2024 defeat to Spain, the oddsmakers were quick to price up their odds for the next permanent England manager. We gave it a few days for the market to settle down and by the end of this week the betting has Eddie Howe (currently Newcastle) as the 9/4 favourite.
Graham Potter (unemployed) is 22/10 and Lee Carsley (England U21) is 33/10. Then comes a line of three foreigners – Jurgen Klopp, Mauricio Pochettino and Thomas Tuchel. I’m convinced it won’t be a foreigner. The next Englishman on the list is Frank Lampard at 14/1.
