<\/div>\nENGLAND TRIO PROVIDE BIG BOOST<\/b><\/p>\n
England received a boost on the eve of their World Cup quarter-final against Norway after Declan Rice, Marc Guehi and Reece James all returned to training on Friday.<\/p>\n
James has missed the last three games after picking up a hamstring injury, causing coach Thomas Tuchel a headache at right-back given his lack of other options in that position.<\/p>\n
Chelsea captain James looks set to return to the starting line-up on Saturday with Jarell Quansah suspended after the red card he received in a memorable 3-2 win over Mexico in the last 16.<\/p>\n
Guehi and Rice both played the full match in Mexico City.<\/p>\n
However, they both missed training, alongside James, on Wednesday. Manchester City defender Guehi, who will come up against club teammate Erling Haaland if selected to face Norway, is attempting to recover from a hamstring strain.<\/p>\n
Rice has also been nursing a hamstring problem and was affected by illness earlier in the week.<\/p>\n
\ufeff\u2018I GAVE HIM A BIG HUG\u2019: INJURED STAR CONSOLES REPLACEMENT<\/b><\/p>\n
Thibaut Courtois rallied behind Belgium substitute goalkeeper Senne Lammens on Friday after the Manchester United stopper\u2019s agonising late blunder gifted Spain a 2-1 victory in their World Cup quarter-final.<\/p>\n
Real Madrid star Courtois exited the game in the 71st minute after complaining of a muscular problem, making way for 24-year-old understudy Lammens at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
But Lammens\u2019 appearance off the bench ended in calamity, when he failed to deal with a long-range strike from Pau Cubarsi, and Mikel Merino pounced to blast in an 88th-minute winner for Spain.<\/p>\n
Courtois, 34, who revealed to reporters that he had wanted to stay on the field before being subbed off, offered sympathy to Lammens.<\/p>\n
\u201cI gave him a big hug. He\u2019s a great goalkeeper. You only get stronger from this,\u201d Courtois said of his teammate.<\/p>\n
\u201cEventually you cannot say much more to him or give him much more advice. He is a strong guy, strong personality. I\u2019m sure he\u2019ll be fine.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, he will have some holidays and then regroup in Manchester and have a great season.\u201d <\/p>\n
Courtois meanwhile revealed he had felt pain in his right leg early in the second half after a clearance and had wanted to stay on the field before being hooked by Belgium manager Rudi Garcia.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, I wanted to continue, but the coach wanted someone 100%,\u201d Courtois said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to try to play maybe five or 10 minutes because I was feeling good. I was making saves, and I was not disturbed to make those saves.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo that\u2019s a decision of the coach, and that\u2019s not a problem. \u201cObviously you\u2019re not happy when you have to leave a quarter-final of a World Cup. But yeah, sometimes it is what it is. You can\u2019t change it.\u201d Belgium defender Brandon Mechele also expressed support for Lammens. \u201cIt\u2019s a learning moment for him,\u201d Mechelen said. \u201cIt was not the most easy ball. I think it bounces just in front of him. And we as defenders could have helped him by following up maybe more.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo he needs to learn from this, and we as a group we have to be there for each other and help each other.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/amp-img>Spain’s Lamine Yamal waves as he walks off the pitch after the World Cup quarterfinal soccer match between Spain and Belgium<\/span>Source: AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nTEEN SENSATION RESPONSES TO CRITICS<\/b><\/p>\n
Lamine Yamal said if Spain wins the World Cup nobody will care about his failure to score, after the teen superstar was again absent from the scoresheet in his side\u2019s 2-1 quarter-final win over Belgium on Friday.<\/p>\n
At a tournament where stars like Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland and Harry Kane have been prolific, 18-year-old Yamal has just one goal to date, in a routine 4-0 group drubbing of Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously I want to score, but I don\u2019t go onto the pitch thinking about that. I do it thinking about helping the team,\u201d said Yamal.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we win the World Cup, no one will remember whether I scored goals… the important thing is winning,\u201d said the Barcelona star, after the victory in Los Angeles set up a semi-final clash with France.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know I can contribute even if I don\u2019t score. I know my movements draw in many opponents, so I do everything I can to help the team,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Then just 16, Yamal was the breakout star of the Spanish team that won the European Championships two years ago.<\/p>\n
He only scored once during that victorious campaign — a stunning strike in a 2-1 semi-final win against France.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s an idea that I should be scoring more, like at the Euros, but we won the Euros with me scoring just one goal. And I have one goal here too, so I\u2019m relaxed about it,\u201d he said, with a smile.<\/p>\n
But Spain will be hoping Yamal, who turns 19 the day before the semi-final, can bag further goals if his side are to see off the free-scoring tournament favourites France.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are two possibilities — either they reach three consecutive World Cup finals, or we beat them three times in a row. We\u2019ll see what happens,\u201d said Yamal.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe aren\u2019t afraid at all.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FIFA have unveiled their latest World Cup cash grab with small pieces of the pitch at the New York New Jersey Stadium, where the final will be played, being sold online. The Athletic reported that FIFA is selling that bits of grass are being sold to fans in the United States, the United Kingdom and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":252403,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6807],"tags":[156],"class_list":{"0":"post-252402","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leagues-cups","8":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}