The Times - UK (2020-10-14)

the times | Wednesday October 14 2020 2GM 67

Sport

Sterling, Harry Maguire, Phil Foden,

Mason Greenwood, Tammy Abraham,

Ben Chilwell and Jadon Sancho have

also been ruled out of games due to an

assortment of disciplinary matters.

Chilwell returned to Chelsea yesterday

own net. Seven minutes later Nketiah

thought he had the record when Josh

Dasilva’s shot came back off the post

and he tapped in from close-range but

he was ruled offside.

Early in the second half Aaron Rams-

dale conceded but saved a penalty from

Dervisoglu and, although the Turkey

striker got his goal later, it was over-

shadowed by Nketiah’s delayed

moment.

All he needed was a bit of pressure.

England (4-3-3): A Ramsdale 8 — M Aarons 7,

M Guehi 6, B Godfrey 6, J Justin 7 — O Skipp

6, J Bellingham 6, J DaSilva 6 (E Eze 63min, 6)

— R Sessegnon 7, E Nketiah 6, C Hudson-Odoi

7 (D McNeil 85).

Booked Skipp, Bellingham.

Turkey (4-3-1-2): A Bayindir 6 — S Asan 6,

H Türkmen 6, R Tagir 6, C Sertel 6 (R Yilmaz

74) — O Ülgün 7 (E Eyibil 81), B Özdemir 6

(I Karakas 89), A Canbaz 6 (B Kapacak 46, 6)

— O Beyaz 7 — H Dervisoglu 7, G Yalcın 6.

Booked Dervisoglu, Kapacak.

Referee W Delajod (France).

Your guide to the Danes

Manager

Kasper

Hjulmand

Tonight’s game

will be only

Kasper

Hjulmand’s fifth in charge of

Denmark, having replaced Age

Hareide as manager in July.

Hareide had taken them on a

34-match unbeaten run in

which the team had a balance

between attack and resolute

defence, yet the Danish FA

opted for a different direction.

Hjulmand’s first game ended in

defeat by Belgium, followed by

a goalless draw with England.

In Denmark, Hjulmand, who

won the Danish league with FC

Nordsjaelland in 2012, is known

for developing young players

and playing attacking football.

He is seen as a modern-day

coach who wants his teams to

press high up the pitch and

win the ball back quickly.

Denmark’s emerging talent

Joakim Maehle

Made his debut in a friendly

against Faroe Islands last week

and scored the third in a 4-0

win. Genk full back Maehle, 23,

operates mainly as a right back

but played half the game at

left back, with an impressive

performance that brings

competition to Hoffenheim’s

Robert Skov.

Kristian Pedersen

A belated debut arrived for

Pedersen last week against

Faroe Islands. The 26-year-old

Birmingham City winger, who

can also play left back, has

been a regular at St Andrews

since 2018 when he signed

from German side Union Berlin.

Andreas Skov Olsen

Olsen, 20, was the top

performer from the auditions

last week as he scored, won a

penalty and

provided an assist.

The Bologna

winger played in

Sunday’s 3-0

win over

Iceland, but

a back injury

suffered during

the game may

cause him to

be sidelined

tonight.

line to earn start against Denmark

Sunday’s victory with a win that would

consolidate England’s position at the

top of their Nations League group.

They are one point ahead of Belgium,

three ahead of Denmark and seven

clear of Iceland after three matches.

The two teams played out a tepid

goalless draw in Copenhagen last

month. Southgate said: “The

sign of a good team is to be

able to back up a big result.

“You’ve got to have con-

sistency, you’ve got to have

constant improvement

and constant evolution.

“We’ve shown a big

result against a very good

team, but we have to win

again on Wednesday.

“If you want to be top

players or top teams, those

are the demands and you’ve

got to be relentless in that

drive.”

due to injury. James, 20, was a late call-

up to the initial squad but is set to be se-

lected at right wing back rather than

Trent Alexander-Arnold, of Liverpool,

who started in the win over Belgium on

Sunday.

England could also be without Er-

ic Dier, who has suffered a ham-

string injury while with the national

team, and Conor Coady is on stand-

by to replace the defender.

Dier’s injury is likely to irritate

José Mourinho, the Tottenham

Hotspur head coach, and

comes with club-mate Harry

Kane set to spearhead En-

gland’s attack having been a

second-half substitute

against Belgium due to mus-

cle fatigue.

Southgate is anxious to follow

Nations League standings

P W D L F A GD Pts

England 321031 2 7

Belgium 320183 5 6

Denmark 311132 1 4

Iceland 300319-8 0

Remaining fixtures:

Today England v Denmark (7.45);

Iceland v Belgium (7.45).

November 15 Denmark v Iceland

(7.45); Belgium v England (7.45).

November 18 England v Iceland

(7.45); Belgium v Denmark (7.45).

EDDIE KEOGH/FA/REX

Nketiah goal sends

England to Euros

It seems all Eddie Nketiah needed was

a bit of pressure. Racing down on goal

with two minutes to go, a defender on

his back and the Turkish goalkeeper

rushing out, Nketiah coolly dinked the

ball over him to put England into next

year’s Under-21 European Champion-

ships and himself in the history books.

The Arsenal striker had just missed a

penalty at Molineux, sending his effort

against the post, and the opportunity to

surpass Alan Shearer and Francis Jef-

fers’ record of leading scorer at this

level seemingly gone. But when Nketi-

ah was played through moments later

the outcome was inevitable and goal

No 14 was reached. “It was nice to get

the three points firstly but to get the

record and be alongside those names

and players is a dream come true,”

Nketiah said. The strike proved crucial

when Halil Dervisoglu scored in injury

time for an impressive Turkey.

Aidy Boothroyd, the manager, was

relieved. “I am pleased we have quali-

fied but we as a group can do better,” he

said. With two games remaining of

group C before March’s group stages

and an expected summer knockout in

Slovenia, Boothroyd will now be able to

experiment.

His team’s breakthrough came when

James Justin played Ryan Sessegnon

through in the 17th minute. The Turkey

defence panicked and Huseyin Turk-

men diverted Sessegnon’s cross into his

Nketiah’s late strike makes him the

England Under-21 record goalscorer

Under-21 Euro qualifying

Tom Roddy

England U21

Türkmen (og) 17, Nketiah 88

Turkey U21

Dervisoglu 90+2

2

1

‘Moneyball’ man ready to

spearhead FSG expansion

agenda. FSG refused to comment on

the discussions when contacted by The

Times.

RedBall, a special purpose acquisi-

tion company, was formed by Beane

and Gerry Cardinale, who founded the

private equity firm RedBird Capital

Partners and raised $575 million (about

£445 million) in August with the aim of

acquiring a sports franchise. Richard

Scudamore, the former Premier

League executive chairman, has been

appointed to the board of RedBall.

The friendship between Henry and

Beane is long-standing. Beane — the

subject of the film Moneyball — recom-

mended that Liverpool appoint

Damien Comolli as their first director

of football shortly after FSG bought the

Anfield club in October 2010. Comolli

was sacked in April 2012.

Should the merger come off, Beane

would focus on broadening FSG’s

sporting interests, which presently

include Boston Red Sox in baseball and

Roush Fenway Racing in Nascar.

Beane, who was part of a consortium

that bought Barnsley in 2017, has a

minority share in the Dutch side AZ

Alkmaar. He is the executive vice-pres-

ident of baseball operations for

Oakland Athletics but, it has been

reported, he would avoid any conflict of

interest, which would arise from his

stake in a company that owns the Red

Sox, by moving on from baseball.

Henry has joined forces with the

Manchester United owners, the Glaz-

ers, and EFL chairman Rick Parry to

push the Project Big Picture proposal.

continued from back

De Bruyne injury doubt

for City clash with Arsenal

Kevin De Bruyne’s participation in

Manchester City’s match at home to

Arsenal on Saturday is in doubt after

he pulled out of the Belgium squad.

De Bruyne, 29, came off in the 73rd

minute of Belgium’s defeat by

England on Sunday. Roberto

Martínez, the Belgium manager, had

said that De Bruyne was substituted

as a “precaution” but the country’s

football federation announced that he

would not face Iceland tonight.

It is understood that De Bruyne

does not have a serious injury.

Savage takes leading role

as Macclesfield rise again

Robbie Savage will be head of football

at the rebranded Macclesfield FC

with the former Wales midfielder

confirmed as part of the group which

has bought the assets of Macclesfield

Town. The former National League

club was wound up over debts

totalling £500,000 last month but

their assets have been taken on by

Robert Smethurst, a businessman

who plans to enter the phoenix club

in the North West Counties League

next season and play at Moss Rose,

the Cheshire club’s home of 129 years.

Southgate wants his team

to show some consistency