Socceroos include six debutants for South Korea friendly

Socceroos head coach Graham Arnold has included six debutants in his experimental Australia squad to face South Korea in next month s international friendly.

A-League trio Andrew Redmayne, Brandon O Neill and Lawrence Thomas, England-based pair Harry Souttar and Ryan Williams and Freiburg forward Brandon Borrello are in line to earn their first caps in Busan on June 7.

Arnold has rested Australia s big names for the trip to South Korea, with the Socceroos set to play for the first time since their AFC Asian Cup quarter-final exit in January.

The 24-man squad includes 11 A-League-based players, including Matthew Spiranovic, Craig Goodwin and Dimitri Petratos, while former Liverpool left-back Brad Smith – on loan at Seattle Sounders from Bournemouth – returns t…

Bayern Munich´s path to Champions League glory

Bayern Munich clinched their sixth European Cup/Champions League trophy on Sunday, as Kingsley Coman s goal saw off Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 in Lisbon.

It completed a wonderful season for Hansi Flick s side, who have completed a domestic and European treble.

Bayern s slender victory also saw the Bundesliga giants make history, as they became the first side to win every match on the way to triumphing in the European Cup or Champions League.

They may have been helped by the fact that – due to the coronavirus pandemic – Bayern only had to play four knockout games prior to the final, though it is still a remarkable feat.

Here is how their perfect run to Champions League glory panned out.

100% FC Bayern München are the first side in…

Setien and Valverde not that different, says Barcelona star De Jong

Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong says tactics have not changed much since Quique Setien took over as head coach from Ernesto Valverde.

Valverde was sacked following the 3-2 defeat to Atletico Madrid in the Supercopa de Espana semi-finals, with Setien – an advocate of Johan Cruyff s possession-based approach – named as his successor on a two-and-a-half-year deal.

The 61-year-old appears to have had a prompt influence on Barca s style, the Catalans enjoying 82.4 per cent of the ball in the LaLiga win over Granada and 78 per cent in Wednesday s Copa del Rey victory in Ibiza.

Barca only managed three goals across those two games, though, suggesting they are yet to find a fluency to their attacking play – something for which Valverde was often criticised.

D.C. United v New York City: Lesesne determined to keep hosts above the line

Troy Lesesne says everyone at D.C. United is focused on maintaining their position on the right side of the Eastern Conference playoff cut-off as they prepare to host New York City.

D.C. sit ninth in the East, occupying the final play-in spot with six games remaining of the regular season, one point clear of Atlanta United, who have a game in hand.

Lesesne s men have boosted their postseason hopes by putting together a strong run at an ideal time, winning four of their last five league games either side of the Leagues Cup break.

They beat the Chicago Fire 2-1 last time out with goals from Christian Benteke and Gabriel Pirani, leaving Lesesne to hail their resilience.

You could just see everyone so committed to the three points and not letting that result…

Bale´s seven-year itch, Liverpool´s penalty streak – the Premier League weekend´s quirky facts

The Premier League appeared to revert back to the norm this weekend as five of the big six claimed victories and Liverpool climbed to the top of the table for the first time this season.

In doing so, the Reds became the first English top-flight club to top the division having conceded the outright highest number of goals of any side since Norwich City in November 1992.

Erstwhile pacesetters Everton and Aston Villa both lost for the second game running, to Newcastle United and Southampton respectively, while Manchester United s poor start to the domestic campaign continued with defeat to Arsenal.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer s side are stuck on seven points after six matches, making this their worst start to the season since David Moyes brief spell in charge in 2the 13-1…

Bayern star Davies has put Canada on map after years of disrespect – Friend

Friend earned 32 caps for Canada between 2003 and 2011 and the 39-year-old former forward, who is chief executive of Canadian Premier League team Pacific FC, marvelled at Davies impact.

It s unbelievable, Friend told Stats Perform News. I can certainly tell you sitting here in Canada, being part of the Canadian game currently with the Canadian Premier League which I m involved in and really trying to grow the game, what he s done singlehandedly as a Canadian player at his age, it s going to be very hard to repeat for any young Canadian.

If you told me a year-and-a-half ago that we were going to have a young Canadian winning the Champions League and starting, we all would ve laughed. His growth in the last couple of years has honestly been a joy to watch as a former nat…

We were both in tears – Martin celebrates debut with West Ham legend dad

David Martin said his father Alvin was in tears as the West Ham legend celebrated his son s Premier League debut in a 1-0 victory over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

The 33-year-old goalkeeper made a string of crucial saves to help the Hammers end a seven-game winless streak and he admitted the experience of keeping a clean sheet in the top flight of English football was a surreal experience.

Martin, who previously represented teams such as Leicester City, Milton Keynes Dons and Millwall, joined the Hammers in June as cover for Lukasz Fabianski and Roberto.

His father Alvin, who captained West Ham to their highest-ever league finish in 1986, was in the stands at Stamford Bridge and David Martin revealed emotions were running high at the final whistle.

We we…

Harry Kane told to join Real Madrid

Tottenham Hotspur star Harry Kane has been advised to accept a move to Real Madrid, should such an opportunity arise in the near future, as relayed by .

The 27-year-old striker as a product of the Spurs academy, and having had a number of loan spells away from the club, he became a full-time member of the first team in 2013. He has so far scored 205 goals in 312 appearances for Spurs in all competitions, adding 44 assists into the mix as well.

But in all that time, he wasn t able to help his team win a major trophy. They came closest in 2019 when they reached the Champions League final, but ended up losing it to Liverpool.

And Jonathan Woodgate, who spent three years at Real Madrid as well as three years at Spurs, has told Kane he should swap north London for Ma…

Fiorentina 0-2 Inter: Barella and Perisic fire Nerazzurri top

Inter moved top of the Serie A table with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Fiorentina in Friday s clash at Stadio Artemio Franchi.

The Nerazzurri had failed to win at Fiorentina in the league in six attempts since 2014 but goals from Nicolo Barella and Ivan Perisic put an end to that run.

Barella s sublime opener after 31 minutes was added to by Perisic s close-range finish in the second half, but only after Giacomo Bonaventura had struck the crossbar for the mid-table hosts.

That proved enough as Inter, who were without suspended head coach Antonio Conte, moved a point above Milan having played a game more than their bitter rivals.

 0-2 

— Inter (@Inter_en)

An off-balance Barella was denied by a superb Bartlomiej Dragowski reaction ear…

FIFA lodges criminal complaint against Blatter over Zurich museum project

FIFA has issued a criminal complaint over suspected criminal mismanagement in a museum project set up by the governing body s former president Sepp Blatter.

The complaint has been lodged with Zurich s cantonal prosecutor in relation to the Haus zur Enge  project following an investigation by external experts.

FIFA s complaint was made against Blatter, who resigned as president in 2015 amid a corruption scandal, and other persons in relation to activities relating to the agreements that were signed in relation to the facility .

Football s governing body say the project for the museum in downtown Zurich is set to cost them half a billion Swiss Francs that could and should have been channeled into the development of global football .

A FIFA statement said…