In his first appearance in front of the media since the last-32 defeat to Egypt the coach, whose tactics elicited some criticism, insists he would not have done anything differentMore than two months have passed since Australia’s painful penalty shootout defeat against Egypt ended a World Cup adventure that had begun so brightly. Although the Socceroos upset Turkey and progressed to the knockout stage with the youngest team in the tournament, coach Tony Popovic wore criticism for his selections, especially in that shootout in Dallas.Sitting in front of a bank of microphones in Sydney on Tuesday in his first media appearance since the World Cup, the coach is finally ready to talk. “There’s always been a purpose behind every decision I’ve made. And I’m comfortable with that purpose for all of them. Continue reading...
Inter’s victory over Napoli had the feel of a title race classic, while Juventus and Milan exposed familiar shortcomings despite their summer spendingAlready as the words were being spoken, Cristian Chivu started to bristle. “Scontri diretti” translates to “head-to-head clashes”. The term is commonly deployed in a football context as a shorthand for those high-stakes games between teams who are expected to finish close together in the table – much like “six-pointers” in the English game.Chivu’s Inter finished 11 points clear atop Serie A last season, his first as their head coach, but caught criticism along the way for an early Champions League exit and underperformance in some scontri diretti. Inter lost four out of six games against Napoli, Milan and Juventus. Their only win, at home to the Bianconeri, came after Alessandro Bastoni deceived a referee to get Pierre Kalulu sent off. Continue reading...
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