Author: INDEPENDENT

Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for freeSign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter Luke Shaw says he is fit to start England’s Euro 2024 semi-final against the Netherlands having revealed a recent setback in training meant he feared his tournament was over before it had even started.The 28-year-old endured his “most frustrating season” to date having dealt with “injury after injury”, restricting him to just 15 appearances for Manchester United.Shaw suffered a hamstring injury in mid-February that he hoped to return from before May’s FA Cup final, only to suffer…

Zelensky says China trying to undermine Ukraine peace summitFor free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsMoscow has been accused of a war crime after a major children’s hospital was hit with a missile amid a large-scale attack on Ukraine.Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani said “war crimes” must be condemned by the “entire international community” following the strike on a hopsital which left 16 people, seven of them children, injured.The hospital was hit amid a Russian barrage that targeted five Ukrainian cities and…

Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for freeSign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter The generation gap on Spain’s right flank has just grown bigger. Lamine Yamal has spent the tournament passing his school exams and footballing tests, operating in front of a man twice his age, in Dani Carvajal. Yet the six-time Champions League winner was suspended for the Euro 2024 semi-final even before he brought his quarter-final to a slightly premature end, rugby-tackling Jamal Musiala to collect his second yellow card deep into extra time.And so the reserve right-back,…

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsFor France’s latest left-wing coalition it was mission accomplished – stopping Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party from taking power in the second and final round of voting of this parliamentary election.To a lesser extent, president Emmanuel Macron will likely also say he was vindicated in calling a snap election in the wake of the large gains made by Le Pen’s party in European elections in June. Le Pen has been dealt a blow.…

Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for freeSign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter England take on the Netherlands on Wednesday looking to reach a second successive European Championship final.It will be the sixth time England have played in the semi-finals of a major tournament, not including the 1968 European Championship when only four teams qualified for the finals.Here, the PA news agency takes a look at how England got on in their previous last-four encounters.England 2 Portugal 1 – 1966 World CupEngland came through against a Portugal side including Eusebio…

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsThe Chinese military has begun joint drills in Belarus that are being held over the next 11 days in Brest, close to the border with Nato state Poland.The joint military exercises by two of Russia’s most important allies come after Belarus became the 10th member of the China-led Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) during its 24th meeting of heads of council in Astana, Kazakhstan.Belarus’s government said the drills “will allow… the laying of a foundation for…

Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for freeSign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter Ronald Koeman and the European Championship have history. Thirty-six years after he scored in a semi-final in Germany, he will manage in one. The Koeman double is on.Koeman and England have history, too, and not merely the group-stage game in 1988 when Marco van Basten scored a hat-trick. A certain brand of infamy came five years later, in a World Cup qualifier that condemned Graham Taylor’s reign to failure. Koeman’s last-man foul on David Platt brought only…

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emails Xavier Pallàs plants his feet on the belfry floor, grips the rope, and with one tug fills the lush Spanish valley below with the reverberating peal of a church bell.Clang-clong! Clang-clong! Clang-CLONG! The swinging bronze bell resonates with each strike of the clapper, filling the small stone tower with an undulating hum. Once Pallàs finishes his peals, the metallic melody fades to stillness. Silence returns to the tower, giving the valley’s soundscape back to…

Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for freeSign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter Michael Olise has set his sights on winning silverware with Bayern Munich after completing his move from Crystal Palace.Olise has signed a five-year contract with the German giants, who also have England captain Harry Kane in their ranks and are managed by former Burnley boss Vincent Kompany.The 22-year-old winger joined Palace from Reading in July 2021 and made 90 appearances for the Eagles, scoring 16 goals.“The talks with FC Bayern were very positive and I’m very happy…

Texas residents are preparing themselves for Hurricane Beryl – the tropical storm which has decimated parts of Mexico and The Caribbean since Thursday (4 July). Residents on the coast are drilling wooden boards to the windows of their homes to protect them from the high winds, and any debris that may be caught in the hurricane. “It’s just a normal day in paradise,” says Jimmy May, a Port Lavaca resident. Beryl brought rain and growing winds to Texas today (7 July), and is expected to make landfall as a Category 1 hurricane on Monday. Texas Lieutant Governor Dan Patrick warned…