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• Copa America Golden Boot: Martinez leading the charge, can Nunez catch up?

  The Copa America is well under way, with the group stages already done and dusted.

  Argentina made light work of progressing from Group A, even though Lionel Messi had to sit out their last fixture.

  And key to their success has been the goalscoring form of Lautaro Martinez, who is making up for some bad misses at the 2022 World Cup.

  Brazil also progressed, with Vinicius Junior their talisman as expected, while Darwin Nunez is the key attacker for Marcelo Bielsa's free-flowing Uruguay.

  Ahead of the knockouts, how is the Copa America Golden Boot race shaping up?

   

  Lautaro Martinez (four goals)

  We'll start with the leader in the race, and that is Martinez.

  The forward had an outstanding season for Inter, who he led to the Scudetto while finishing as top scorer in Serie A, scoring 24 goals in 33 appearances, and comfortably outperforming his 17.6 xG.

  However, he came into the build-up to this tournament in poor form for his country, having not netted for Argentina in 2026 World Cup qualifying.

  But he scored a double in a 4-1 win over Guatemala in a pre-tournament friendly, and even though he has started just one of Argentina's matches so far, he has netted four times.

  Martinez is also the Argentina player with the most shots (nine). In fact, since his debut in the Copa America in 2019, Martinez is the tournament's top scorer with nine goals (two in 2019, three in 2021, four in 2024), four more than Messi and Luis Diaz (five each).

  It remains to be seen whether Martinez will have to settle for a super-sub role once Messi returns to the fold, but with Ecuador next up, and then a potential semi-final against either Canada or Venezuela, Argentina's path to the final is opening up nicely, and Martinez should fancy his chances.

  Vinicius Junior (two goals)

  Fresh from winning the Champions League with Real Madrid (and scoring in the final – again), Vinicius came into the Copa America as Brazil's talisman.

  With Neymar absent through injury, the onus is on the winger to provide the creative spark and clinical edge to drag what looks like a more dogged, workmanlike squad through to the latter stages.

  However, he will be absent for Brazil's clash with in-form Uruguay, who are arguably the favourites going into that tie, due to picking up two yellow cards in the group stages.

  Vinicius' booking tally matches his goal tally at the tournament so far, with both of those having come in the first half of a 4-1 rout of Paraguay.

  But with Brazil only having a maximum of two games left, will he have time to catch Martinez?

  Darwin Nunez (two goals)

  One player who could end Vinicius' hopes altogether is Uruguay forward Nunez.

  The Liverpool striker is an erratic finisher, but he is an integral part of Marcelo Bielsa's free-flowing attack.

  The 24-year-old may never be ultra-clinical, (he had a shot conversion rate of 10.2 per cent in the Premier League in the season just gone) but his pace, tenacity and work rate make him the ideal Bielsa folly up top.

  Indeed, he has converted just one of his six Opta-defined big chances so far at this Copa America, but his two goals have come from an xG of 1.8, showing he's about on track.

  If Uruguay can get past Brazil, they will face Colombia or Panama in the semi-finals. Nunez should be locking in on that Golden Boot.

  Salomon Rondon (two goals)

  An unlikely name on this list is Venezuela veteran Rondon, but his two goals – scored in wins over Mexico and Jamaica – helped his side top Group B with nine points.

  Venezuela will face Canada in the quarters, and while Jesse Marsch's team are a surprise package in the last eight, they have proved they can be wide open defensively at times.

  Only three players can better Rondon's 1.98 xG across the tournament so far, while the 34-year-old has had 13 shots, which matches Martinez's total.

  He is getting into good positions and having plenty of attempts. If Venezuela indeed get the better of Canada, who's to say Rondon cannot claim this prize?

  Daniel Munoz, Eduard Bello, Maximiliano Araujo (two goals)

  There are three other players tied on two goals, though perhaps they are a tad more unlikely to challenge Martinez.

  Munoz grabbed his second goal of the tournament in Colombia's 1-1 draw with Brazil, though as a right-back, he cannot be expected to keep up the scoring run.

  Bello, meanwhile, has scored his two goals from just three shots, so that does not seem particularly sustainable.

  Araujo, on the other hand, has netted twice from an xG of just 0.6, so he is overperforming.

  What about Messi?

  Not only did Messi finish as joint-top scorer at the 2021 Copa, he was also the leading assister and then, 18 months later, he went on to lead Argentina to World Cup glory, scoring seven goals in the process, from 6.6 expected goals – only Kylian Mbappe (eight) netted more times in Qatar.

  Messi has scored 13 Copa America goals, which puts him joint-seventh on the all-time list, alongside fellow Argentina great Gabriel Batistuta. 

  However, he has been unable to add to that total so far.

  He took on the role of creator in Argentina's opening win against Canada, and has had seven shots in total, but so far, no luck.

• Kroos not feeling nostalgic, aiming to end career with Euro 2024 glory

  Toni Kroos says he is not feeling nostalgic about the possibility of his career ending on Friday when Germany face Spain in the Euro 2024 quarter-finals.

  Kroos came out of international retirement to play for Germany on home soil at the European Championships, but announced in May that he would be retiring from football at the end of the tournament.

  The German won LaLiga before earning a sixth Champions League title in his farewell game for Real Madrid and is now aiming to finish his career by lifting the Euros trophy for the first time.

  With a place in the next round not guaranteed, Kroos could play his final game on Friday should Germany lose to Spain, but that is not something he is thinking about.

  "It is the second most important title you can win, and it would have a huge importance for me," he said. "If I did not see having the chance to do it with the team, I would not have [come back].

  "It would be a sensational end, but I have also considered the possibility of it not happening. I am not nostalgic at all and did not bring any treats for [journalists] either.

  "I do not expect it to be my last game, so I assume we will see each other again."

  Kroos has been an influential figure in the side already. In the group stage, he completed 95% of his passes (411/431), the highest completion rate by a player to attempt 300+ passes on record in the competition.

  After a string of disappointing major tournament results in recent years, with Germany being knocked out of the last two World Cups in the group stage, Kroos is confident they can go all the way this time around.

  "There were big doubts about the tournament before it started," he added. "That's normal after the previous tournaments we had.

  "So we've now reached a minimal goal and, whatever the result, we won't be speaking about a tournament catastrophe here. But anything that comes now is not a bonus.

  "We, as a team, have the goal to win the tournament. So, it is not a bonus, but we are at a stage in the tournament we wanted to reach.

  "We should be satisfied, but the demand within the team is to progress further, and we are convinced we can do it."

• Everton sign attacker Ndiaye from Marseille

  Iliman Ndiaye has completed a £16m (€18.5m) move from Marseille to Everton.

  Ndiaye, a Senegalese international, has signed a five-year deal with the Toffees.

  He is Everton's third signing of the transfer window, after the addition of Tim Iroegbunam from Aston Villa and the re-signing of Jack Harrison, who rejoined the club on loan from Leeds United.

  The 24-year-old only joined Marseille, his boyhood club, last year, having previously starred in the Championship with Sheffield United. However, he netted just three times in Ligue 1 last season.

  Everton, though, will be hoping Ndiaye replicates the form he displayed in the second tier when he propelled the Blades to promotion in 2022-23.

  Ndiaye was fourth-best in the Championship for goal contributions (24 - 14 goals, 10 assists) that season, while his tally of 111 dribbles completed ranked behind only Patrick Roberts (112) and Joao Pedro (116). He converted 20% of his shots.

  "I am so pleased to be an Everton player," Ndiaye told evertontv. "I'm so excited and can't wait to get going.

  "As a player, I like to dribble, show skills and get the fans out their seats. I want to score goals and get assists, but I also like to work hard. I love running, chasing the ball, getting the team high up the pitch. As a striker, you're the first defender. I love doing that bit."

  Sean Dyche's team certainly need an extra attacking threat. They were the league's second-lowest scorers, with just 40 goals, and the competition's biggest expected goals (xG) underperformers, scoring 15 fewer goals than would have been anticipated based on the quality of opportunities they created (40 goals from 54.9 xG).