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• New England Revolution v Columbus Crew: Nancy hoping to build on important win

  Wilfried Nancy insists Columbus Crew must continue to build on their recent winning run when they travel to face New England Revolution this Sunday. 

  The Crew returned to winning ways in style following their defeat to Inter Miami, beating Kansas City 4-0 last time out courtesy of Cucho Hernandez's hat-trick. 

  Nancy's side sit in fifth place in the Eastern Conference, two points behind Charlotte FC but with the luxury of three games in hand compared to Dean Smith's side. 

  Despite their convincing victory in their last MLS fixture, Nancy is looking to replicate the Crew's four-game unbeaten run they enjoyed last month moving forwards.

  “It was really important also when I made all the changes that we stay focused on the task,” Nancy said.

  “With all the celebration also was not easy because we can switch really quickly.

  "I really wanted to help my team to have a clean sheet if possible and to score more goals because this is the level that we want to have. I don't like when we take everything for granted.”

  Meanwhile, the Revs also come into the fixture on an impressive run of form, beating high-flyers FC Cincinnati 2-1 away from home to extend their winning streak to four matches in the MLS. 

  Caleb Porter's side welcome the Crew to the Gillette Stadium this weekend in search of improving their home form to climb up the Eastern Conference table.

  New England have won just three of their last seven games in front of their supporters and know a win will see them move up from 12th in the standings, along with games in hand on many of the surrounding sides. 

  PLAYERS TO WATCH:

  New England – Cucho Hernandez

  Cucho Hernandez scored his third career MLS hat-trick in the Crew’s win over Kansas City on Saturday, with all three coming within his last 20 games.

  The Colombian is just the ninth player in MLS history to score three hat-tricks in a span of 20 games.

  Columbus Crew – Giacomo Vrioni

  It looks set to a battle of both side's goal-scoring forwards, with Giacomo Vrioni looking to continue his hot streak for Nancy's side. 

  Vrioni scored both of New England’s goals against Cincinnati on Saturday, the first time a Revolution player has scored more than one goal in a game this season.

  MATCH PREDICTION: COLUMBUS CREW WIN

  The Crew come into the encounter in much the better form, having won five of their last six league matches (L1) following their win over Sporting Kansas City. 

  However, New England also boast an impressive winning streak of their own. Porter's side have won four consecutive matches, having previously won just four of their previous league matches dating back to the beginning of September last year (D4 L14).

  And it was the Crew who emerged victorious in the side's last meeting. The win over New England last October ended a string of five straight draws between the sides. Columbus have lost only one of their last 12 against New England (W5 D6) dating back to 2018.

  OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

  New England - 27.1%

  Draw - 23.9%

  Columbus Crew - 49%

• Teamwork key to success against England, says Skriniar

  Slovakia captain Milan Skriniar highlighted teamwork as the key to success against England ahead of their last-16 meeting with the Three Lions on Sunday. 

  England finished top of Group C with five points following underwhelming performances against Denmark and Slovenia as they limped into the last-16.  

  Meanwhile, Slovakia progressed as one of the best third-placed teams after drawing with Romania on Matchday 3, setting up a second meeting in a major tournament against England in Gelsenkirchen.

  Skriniar accepts that Gareth Southgate's side have more individual talent within their ranks but believes his team can pull off a shock by working together as a collective. 

  "In my opinion, they rely on individual quality and they know that they have players who can decide matches for them," Skriniar said. "That's why I think we can handle them through teamwork."

  Following the full-time whistle in Cologne, Southgate and his players were greeted with boos from the travelling England support. 

  It brings increasing pressure onto the shoulders of the Three Lions head coach and his players, something Skriniar believes has already affected them in Germany. 

  "Even in the first match (a 1-0 win for England over Serbia), they went in with the fact that they are England, and they have to manage things in terms of results.

  "The media and fans (have been critical) after their matches, so they will be under much more pressure than us. It can work in our favour."

  Having said that, the Paris Saint-Germain defender insists his side will not just sit back and will aim to take the game to England.

  "The defensive phase will definitely be important, we have to start defending from the attackers. But the key is to play football," Skriniar said.

  "We have to show them that we can play. Let them know that they are up against a team that knows what it wants."
   

• Van Dijk: Netherlands overestimated themselves ahead of Euro 2024

  Virgil van Dijk believes the Netherlands may have overestimated their qualities ahead of Euro 2024, having scraped through Group D in third behind Austria and France.

  A 3-2 defeat to Austria in their final group game saw Ronald Koeman's Oranje pass up the opportunity to top a difficult pool and instead finish as one of the tournament's best third-placed teams.

  That could end up benefitting the side as they have landed on the opposite side of the draw to Germany, Spain, Portugal, France and Belgium.

  The Oranje were given a 5.1% chance of winning the tournament by the Opta supercomputer before a ball was kicked, but their hopes are now estimated at 7% ahead of their last-16 tie with Romania.

  The team's performances have been fiercely criticised by the Dutch media, and Van Dijk says internal expectations may have been too high.

  "Maybe we overestimate ourselves," Van Dijk told reporters on Friday. "A lot had to be said and we had to analyse a lot. 

  "Things went completely wrong against Austria. It was very bad. We have talked about many aspects, now we have to show it.

  "It was not the tactics where things went wrong. It was mainly the will to win, to win that second ball. 

  "You don't have to talk about that with the coaches, the players must do that among themselves. So, we have talked about that, with harsh words."

  Van Dijk's own performance was criticised following the Austria defeat, and the Liverpool man knows more will be required as the tournament progresses.

  "I can completely understand the criticism," he said. "I'm not stupid, I also know that I can do better and that it should be better, and that's what I'm working on.

  "I didn't play my best game against Austria. It does affect me, I also think that things overall can and should be better. The whole team didn't run, but I look first at myself. I could have brought much more."