Sunderland are running out of time to save their season and the struggling team need to start winning games over the next weeks if they are to escape relegation, midfielder Jan Kirchhoff has said.
Sunderland are bottom of the table with 11 matches to play, and Kirchhoff added that the team’s next few games would be crucial in their fight for survival.
“I feel like all the games coming up are massive games, but that is nothing new – we really need to start picking up points,” he said
“The pressure has got bigger and bigger because the opportunities to get the points we need are getting fewer and fewer.
Argentine players end strike action
Argentina’s professional players have ended their strike and the league is set to resume this week, an Argentine Football Association (AFA) source told Reuters.
The first division championship, which had been scheduled to restart a month ago but was held up over financial issues, gets going again with Velez Sarsfield’s home match against Estudiantes.
The players called a strike because many, especially in the lower divisions, were owed up to five months in salaries.
The 2016-17 went into a summer recess in mid-December with Boca Juniors top of the standings.
Paraguay defender Caceres banned
Former Paraguay defender Julio Cesar Caceres has been suspended for four years after testing positive for a banned substance, his country’s anti-doping organisation said.
The 37-year-old, who played at three World Cups and won the Copa Libertadores with Paraguay’s Olimpia in 2002 and the Argentine league title with Boca Juniors in 2008, tested positive for octopamine in August.
Caceres was handed a two-match ban for that offence and had it doubled for refusing to take a test after a Paraguayan league match in December.
Harry Kane still grateful to Millwall
Tottenham striker Harry Kane has admitted his time on loan at Millwall turned him into a man ahead of the teams’ FA Cup quarter-final on Sunday.
Kane spent the second half of the 2011-12 season at the Den when he was yet to break through at Spurs and proved an instant hit with the Lions.
Then 18 years old, he scored seven goals in 22 appearances in the Championship and was subsequently named Millwall’s Young Player of the Year.
“It was a big part of my development. I had a great time at Millwall, I enjoyed my loan spell there,” Kane said.
“Playing in difficult, high pressure games and I managed to come out of it positively. It will be interesting to play them again.”
Iheanacho rues missed chance
Kelechi Iheanacho accepted he missed a great chance to snatch a late winner for Manchester City against Stoke.
The Nigerian, a late substitute, volleyed wide in the dying moments as Wednesday’s rearranged Premier League clash at the Etihad Stadium ended in a dull 0-0 draw.
The result cost City the chance to move to second in the table and left them 10 points behind leaders Chelsea.
Iheanacho said: “As a striker you need to take chances. We need to focus to put the chance (away) if it comes. It came and of course I missed it, but I focus on the next one – that is going to count.”
Galaxy make offer to Ibrahimovic
LA Galaxy have extended a contract offer to Manchester United striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic that would make the 35-year-old Swede the highest paid player in MLS history.
Galaxy president Chris Klein declined to comment when contacted by ESPN FC.
Ibrahimovic is free to sign with any club as his contract with United, which contains an option year that has not yet been exercised, expires this summer.
Last May, the former Ajax, Barcelona, Juventus, Paris SG and Sweden national team striker was in discussions to join the league, but he signed with the Red Devils instead.
But Ibrahimovic said in November that MLS remains a “huge” option for him, adding that he could see himself “conquering the US as I have with Europe.”
Juventus keen on Bilbao’s Williams
Juventus are preparing a major bid for Inaki Williams and are thought to be ready to trigger the 22-year-old’s €50 million release clause, Mundo Deportivo re-ported yesterday.
Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund are also interested in the Spain U-21 forward, who would represent one of the biggest signings of the summer.
Athletic Bilbao are notorious for their refusal to negotiate with rivals regarding the price of their key players, which is why Juventus, or any other club interested, will have to pay the full amount of the clause.
Williams has five goals and five assists in 38 appearances across all competitions this term.