Republic of Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni has named his 23 squad for the European Championships in Ukraine and Poland.

There were few surprises in the Italian’s selection, as he has gone with tried and tested players from the qualification campaign.

Missing

The Republic of Ireland will be missing Wigan midfielder James McCarthy, who pulled out of the squad due to his father being diagnosed with cancer.

The youngster will be a big miss for the Irish as he is one of the few players that gives the team something different from midfield.

Also missing is Norwich midfield playmaker Wes Hoolahan. The 29 year-old has been in outstanding form for Norwich and has helped them to midtable security in the Premier League this season. He is another player …

The United States fell short tactically at the Women s World Cup and must now look to their European rivals for inspiration.

That is the view of former Italy striker and head coach Carolina Morace, who believes the USA s previous dominance of the women s game owed largely to their players physical attributes.

The four-time winners recorded their worst-ever World Cup performance in Australia and New Zealand, losing to Sweden in a last-16 penalty shoot-out after narrowly avoiding a humiliating group-stage elimination in a goalless draw with Portugal.

Vlatko Andonovski resigned as head coach in the aftermath of their exit, with the USA having failed to score in back-to-back World Cup games for the first time in the tournament s history.

Morace, who scored o…

Claudio Bravo has announced his retirement from professional football.

The 41-year-old goalkeeper began his career at Colo-Colo, before going on to feature for Real Sociedad, Barcelona, Manchester City and Real Betis.

The Chilean represented his national side 150 times after making his debut in 2004, winning two Copa America crowns, in 2015 and 2016.

“It is the moment to close a very important cycle in my life,” Bravo said on his social media accounts.

“I think I have made the right decision, a decision I thought long about.”

MUCHAS GRACIAS!

— Claudio Bravo Muñoz (@C1audioBravo)

After beginning his career in Chile, Bravo moved to La Real in 2006, where he spent eight seasons, helping the club get promoted back to…

Any Premier League players who reach next year s World Cup final will have just eight days to recover from the tournament before English domestic action resumes.

With Qatar 2022 set to take place in the middle of the European football calendar, the biggest competitions are being forced to take a hiatus in order to accommodate the tournament.

The World Cup is due to begin on November 21, 2022 and run until December 18, which is the scheduled date of the final.

As such, the Premier League s 2022-23 season will begin a week earlier than usual on August 6 and matches will continue until November 13, giving some international teams as few as eight days with their squads prior to the tournament starting.

The Premier League will then resume on Boxing Day, eight …

Arsenal’s Champions League hopes were snuffed out as Joshua Kimmich’s bullet header was enough to take Bayern Munich into the semi-finals.

After an enthralling 2-2 draw at the Emirates Stadium last week, this tie was finely poised but it was the hosts who progressed as Kimmich headed home in the second half to seal a 1-0 win for Bayern.

Thomas Tuchel became just the second man to lead three different clubs into the last four of the Champions League and his side are now closing in on a Wembley final on June 1.

Bayern showed the sort of pedigree in the competition that comes from years of being involved in the business end of the tournament – they have now qualified for 13 semi-finals and have reached the stage nine times since Arsenal’s last semi-final app…

When Real Madrid brushed Liverpool aside in the Champions League final, Cristiano Ronaldo was nowhere to be seen as Gareth Bale led the charge – little did the world know that this was a sign of things to come.

That 3-1 win brought an incredible era to an end at Los Blancos, as Zinedine Zidane stepped down as coach less than a week after guiding the club to a third successive Champions League title.

It proved to be Ronaldo s final match in a Madrid shirt as well, with the Ballon d Or holder securing a shock €112million move to Juventus last month, bringing a nine-year association with the club to an end.

Ronaldo s presence had been vital in Madrid s previous two Champions League successes. He scored the winning penalty in the 2015-16 shootout and netted tw…

Tottenham face a difficult tie with serious injury problems against a resurgent Everton.

All seemed to be going so well for Harry Redknapp s Tottenham Hotspur, but as we head into the tail end of the season and Tottenham s attempts to break into the top four come under scrutiny, the Tottenham team seems to be hanging together by a thread.  Bentley, Jenas and Lennon all miss out from midfield, and Assou Ekotto and Woodgate are missing from the defence. The likelihood of Ledley King playing hangs in the balance. Two goalkeeepers out and a doubt over Jermaine Defoe, and it doesn t paint a pretty picture. However, Tottenham can be boosted by the return to form of Pavyluchenko and the threat posed by him and the towering Peter Crouch should cause Everton trouble.

Everton ar…

Cole Palmer became the first player in Premier League history to score four goals in the first half of a game on Saturday, as Chelsea beat Brighton 4-2 at Stamford Bridge.

Palmer netted all of Chelsea s goals in a game featuring six first-half goals and none after the break, with Georginio Rutter and Carlos Baleba on target for the visitors.

No player had ever previously scored four times in the first half of a Premier League match, while Palmer s first three goals came within a span of just nine minutes and 46 seconds.

Only five other players have previously scored a quicker hat-trick in the competition, with Sadio Mane s remarkable two-minute, 56-second treble for Southampton against Aston Villa in 2015 the fastest.

Gabriel Jesus previously held the rec…

Manchester City midfielder Rodri is not giving up on retaining the Premier League title after Sunday s 3-1 loss to Liverpool, highlighting the Reds inability to hold on to their lead last season.

A thrilling encounter at Anfield left Liverpool with a nine-point lead over City, their most likely long-term challengers.

Many feel City now have too much ground to make up if they are to retain their crown, but they found themselves in a similar situation last season.

Although Rodri was not at the club at the time, the Spain international is well aware of how City fought back from being seven points behind the Reds to lift the trophy for a second successive season in 2018-19.

When asked if defeat at Anfield ended City s Premier League chances, Rodri told report…

Michael Laudrup vowed that Swansea would continue to play their traditional passing game following his appointment as manager on this day in 2012.

The former Denmark international was named as successor to Brendan Rodgers, agreeing a two-year contract with the Premier League club.

Laudrup won five Spanish league titles with Barcelona and Real Madrid in the early 1990s, and the creative midfielder was one of the players of his generation.

“Everyone knows the style of football Swansea play, and it suits my way of thinking,” Laudrup told Swansea’s official website.

“It is going to be a new experience for me, and I am really looking forward to it. I have spoken to many people about Swansea and watched a number of their games on DVD – with many more …