The forward gave Barcelona fans another tantalizing taste of what to expect with a great goal and assist to decide the match in the Selecao's favor, and put them close to the semis Brazil put one foot in the Confederations Cup semi-finals by defeating Mexico 2-0 at the Castelao on Wednesday. Neymar lit up the occasion with an outstanding volley nine minutes in, but what threatened to be a go...Full Story »

FERNANDO TORRES is confident he still has a part to play in Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea plans — but knows he must improve. The £50million striker also confessed he struggled to deal with the hostility aimed at interim manager Rafa Benitez by supporters last season.And although he repeated his desire to see out the remaining three years of his Blues contract, he is intrigued by repo...Full Story »

Andrea Pirlo's fantastic free-kick on his 100th Azzurri appearance was canceled out by Javier Hernandez' penalty, and a draw seemed inevitable until the striker powered home Italy left it late to get their Confederations Cup campaign off to a winning start by defeating Mexico 2-1 at the Maracana on Sunday. The Azzurri dominated large spells of the first half and the game appeared to be goin...Full Story »

The new Barcelona acquisition turned in a superb display to inspire the Selecao to three points and keep their hopes alive for a third consecutive Confederations Cup title Brazil got their Confederations Cup title defence off to the perfect start with a thrilling 3-0 victory against Japanin Brasilia. Goals from Neymar, Paulinho and Jo ensured the Selecao maintained their unbeaten record agai...Full Story »

The England Under-21 team's humiliation is complete. After chastening back-to-back defeats against Italy and Norway England plumbed new depths as they suffered the ignominy of losing to Israel, leaving them without a point and anchored to the bottom of the group. With Roy Hodgson, the senior coach, looking on from the stands, England delivered another insipid and thoroughly depressing performanc...Full Story »

Cristiano Ronaldo scored the decisive goal to see off Croatia in an international friendly in Geneva.The Real Madrid striker found the back of the net in the 35th minute after drifting in from the right flank, rounding his man and sliding the ball into the bottom-right corner.Although the game meant little for either of the World Cup hopefuls, it will always be remembered by one of the players o...Full Story »

England are to review their policy of starlets not playing in Under-21 tournaments if they have been used by the senior team in the same summer. Stuart Pearce, the Under-21s coach, was frustrated that the talented likes of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain were not available to him.The Ox Factor has become a matter of intense debate after Pearce’s side tumbled out of the European Under-21 Champio...Full Story »

Spain followed Holland into the semi-finals of the European Under-21 Championship as both claimed wins in Group B.Alvaro Morata came off the bench to score the winner for Spain for the second game running as they overcame a defensive Germany side.The 20-year-old had scored in the 82nd minute against Russia and he left it four minutes longer this time before breaking the deadlock by beating Bernd...Full Story »

The Selecao never overly stretched themselves but three goals gave them a comfortable win over Didier Deschamps' largely impotent outfit in Porto Alegre Brazil earned their second win in their seventh game under Luiz Felipe Scolari with a timely 3-0 win over France at the Arena do Gremio.The Selecao struggled during the early exchanges but a tactical change from the coach saw them begin to co...Full Story »

Ukraine moved firmly into World Cup qualifying contention with a comfortable win which blows Group H wide open. The visitors had Roman Zozulya sent off in first-half stoppage time but took the lead six minutes after the restart through Denys Garmash. Yevgen Konoplianka made it 2-0 in between the dismissals of Montenegro's Vladimir Volkov and Savo Pavicevic, and Artem Fedetskiy and late substit...Full Story »