Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham were both on target in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
Kane struck from the penalty spot in Bayern Munich’s 4-3 victory over Manchester United, while Bellingham prodded home a stoppage-time winner for Real Madrid against Champions League debutants Union Berlin.
Here, the PA news agency looks at the England internationals’ astonishing beginnings for their respective clubs.
How has Kane started?
After drawing a blank as a second-half substitute in Bayern’s surprise German Super Cup defeat to RB Leipzig, Kane, 30, has been virtually unstoppable.
The £100million striker netted on his maiden Bundesliga outing in a 4-0 win at Werder Bremen before bagging a brace in a 3-1 victory against Augsburg.
He scored the opener in an entertaining 2-2 draw with Bayer Leverkusen last Friday before netting from the spot against United – the club that wanted to sign him from Tottenham.
“Manchester United are crying out for a centre forward and whatever it would have cost they should have got him,” United’s former midfielder Paul Scholes told TNT Sports. “If you had the money to buy one player or three, I would have bought Harry Kane all day long.”
How has Bellingham played?
Birmingham-born Bellingham, 20, has six goals and one assist in his opening six matches since his £88.5million move from Borussia Dortmund.
He struck on his debut against Athletic Bilbao before netting a brace away at Almeria and then scoring the only goal in a 1-0 victory at Celta Vigo.
Bellingham scored a stoppage-time winner against Getafe in his first Bernabeu outing – emulating Cristiano Ronaldo by netting in his opening four LaLiga games – before delivering another late goal, this time in his first Champions League outing for Los Blancos. His mark of six is one more than the rest of the Madrid squad combined this season.
What has the reaction been?
Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has trusted Bellingham from the get-go, preferring him to Luka Modric and Toni Kroos, who have just three league starts between them.
Speaking after Bellingham’s heroics on Wednesday night, Ancelotti said: “He’s smarter than others when attacking from the second line. He has this quality and he’s making the most of it.”
Bellingham has already won over the Real Madrid fans, who serenaded him with The Beatles’ classic ‘Hey Jude’ after his late winner against Getafe, and again on Wednesday night.
“I have goosebumps speaking about it,” said Bellingham. “You don’t understand how big this club is until you are here. I have now got that honour and I will wear it with pride.”
Kane’s brilliant start has also won him fans – not least in Bayern boss Thomas Tuchel.
“I love him,” said the former Chelsea manager. “He is a fantastic guy, fantastic player and huge personality.
“He is a clinical finisher, he controls a lot of balls, and he is so intelligent around the box. It has been a very good start from him. I am super happy.”
How does their form compare to England’s other stars?
With 11 goals and three assists between them, no other attacking member of Gareth Southgate’s England squad is performing better for their clubs this term.
Bukayo Saka, Jarrod Bowen and Callum Wilson have all netted on three occasions this season, while Raheem Sterling, James Ward-Prowse, James Maddison, Eddie Nketiah and Dominic Solanke have all scored twice.
Kane also has more England minutes since the Three Lions’ European Championship final defeat to Italy in the summer of 2021 than anyone else. Kane has played 2,016 minutes for Southgate, with Bellingham (1,540 mins) fifth behind Harry Maguire (1,927 mins) Declan Rice (1,889 mins) and Jordan Pickford (1,669 mins).
Kane and Bellingham were also on target in England’s impressive 3-1 win against Scotland last week.
What’s next?
Kane will be back in action when Bayern host Bochum in the Bundesliga on Saturday before he returns to Champions League action next month in Copenhagen. Bellingham will be bidding to help Real maintain their 100 per cent start to the season in his first Madrid derby, at Atletico, on Sunday.
They will join forces for England in a friendly with Australia at Wembley on October 13 before a European Championship qualifier against Italy at the same venue four days later.
Meanwhile, Kane also revealed he will have one eye on Tottenham’s Premier League fixture versus Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium this weekend.
“They have started the season well, so of course, Tottenham (will win),” he joked in an interview on CBS Sports with former Arsenal forward Thierry Henry – who earlier said the England captain “looked good in red and white”.
T&T's Head coach Eve blast lack of support from fraternity
Trinidad and Tobago’s senior men’s Head coach Angus Eve pulled no punches, as he opened up about the lack of support received during his tenure.
Eve’s revelation came during a recent interview on the I95 sports radio programme, where he also disclosed that he was without a contract and was yet to have discussions with the Normalisation Committee (NC) regarding an extension, at that point.
“They (NC) are a little bit finicky to do something about it (the contract) because, the football fraternity, I don’t know if they want me to sign a new contract. I have not heard from any of them since I have been doing this job,” Eve said, referring to the lukewarm response from the TTFA Zones.
The tactician, who led the Soca Warriors to a fairly successful Concacaf Nations League campaign, where they got to the quarterfinal and registered an historic win over United States but lost the two-leg tie on aggregate. Still, they have a second shot at Copa America qualification via a playoff fixture against Canada scheduled for March 23.
“But they are a little bit hesitant to do anything because they are studying what the members will think. So, the members have not really shown me any support. Except the president of the South Zone Dennis Latiff and Ross Russell (North Zone president) who is my friend, no other president has reached out to me or spoken to us,” Eve disclosed.
Eve believes it would be prudent if he signed a contract before the Canada game, having achieved objectives, which also included Gold Cup qualification.
“We have never been in this place before. We have never reached out of the group stage and into the knockout stage and try to reach in the quarterfinals and semi-finals of the Nations League before. So, I think we have achieved all of our targets, all of our objectives that have been placed in front of us,” he said.
“Win, lose or draw. I could possibly not be the coach (after March). Through the whole tenure it has been like that. I think there is a distinct lack of support. A lot of the things you read on social media is like if people don’t want me in the job, so I tend to want to focus on the guys,” Eve noted.
The outspoken coach also alluded to the challenges faced with getting the twin island republic back to this point of competitiveness.
“It has been a re-building process, and it has gone pretty much better than we expected. Nobody expected us the way we got into the A, nobody felt that we belonged, and we were under pressure from the first match,” Eve shared.
“Also, there was some other stuff happening behind the scenes with some of the older players and it probably took a little of the focus away from the homing in on the games. We were fighting against a lot of stuff, and I think that the staff and the Normalisation Committee pulled together, the people who support us.
“We insulated ourselves and I think you saw the fruit of that re-building where we won three of the four games and that was fantastic,” he ended.
Teams all set for next year's inaugural Concacaf Women's Gold Cup
The November-December window of the Concacaf Women's Gold Cup qualifiers concluded recently, with the field for next year's inaugural Concacaf Women's Gold Cup completed.
During the window, eight teams qualified for the tournament, with Mexico, Panama and Costa Rica securing spots in the group stage, while Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Haiti, Guyana and Dominican Republic progressed to the Prelims.
Here is the full list of teams currently qualified for the 2024 Women's Gold Cup.
Group Stage
United States -The four-time FIFA Women’s World Cup winners clinched their place in the Gold Cup when they defeated Canada 1-0 in the final of the 2022 Concacaf Women's Championship.
Canada -The 2020 Olympic Gold Medal winners punched their Gold Cup ticket after defeating Jamaica 4-1 on aggregate in the Concacaf Olympic Playoff.
Mexico -Mexico qualified to for the group stage as winners of Group A of League A in the qualifiers.
Panama -Panama qualified to the group stage as winners of Group B of League A.
Costa Rica -Costa Rica qualified to the group stage as winners of Group C of League A.
Brazil -Brazil are one of the four invited teams to the 2024 W Gold Cup. Brazil were winners of the 2022 Conmebol Copa America Femenina.
Colombia -Colombia another invitee were runners-up of the 2022 Conmebol Copa America Femenina.
Argentina -Argentina another invitee was the third-place finisher at the 2022 Conmebol Copa America Femenina.
Paraguay -Paraguay, by virtue of their fourth-place finish at the 2022 Conmebol Copa America Femenina, were also invited to the Concacaf Gold Cup.
Prelims
Puerto Rico-Puerto Rico were runners-up in Group A of League A.
Guatemala -Guatemala bettered Jamaica to place second behind Panama in Group B of League A.
Haiti -Haiti placed second in Group C of League A.
Guyana -Guyana finished tops in Group A of League B.
El Salvador -El Salvador topped Group B of League B.
Dominican Republic -Dominican Republic topped Group C of League B.
Massimiliano Allegri demands big push for points before halfway mark in Serie A
Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri has challenged his players to rectify the club’s wretched recent results against rivals Napoli to move top of the Serie A table.
Juve have lost five of their past seven league meetings with the reigning champions, including a 5-1 thrashing in January, but are favourites for Friday evening’s clash at Allianz Stadium.
The in-form Bianconeri sit second in the table and will climb above leaders Inter Milan for at least 24 hours by registering an 11th victory of the season.
Fifth-placed Napoli are struggling to mount a title defence and, having last month reappointed former boss Walter Mazzarri after sacking Rudi Garcia, slipped 11 points adrift of Inter following a 3-0 home loss to them on Sunday.
“Tomorrow will be very tough,” Allegri told a press conference.
“Napoli stayed in the game against Inter until the second goal and we’ve only beaten them once in our last seven meetings – that’s something we need to put right.
“They’re a dangerous side away from home and have picked up 17 points on the road already.”
Juventus are just two points behind Inter, with whom they drew 1-1 on November 26, following a nine-match unbeaten run.
Allegri wants a minimum of six points from Juve’s next five fixtures to ensure the club reach the halfway point of the campaign in a stronger position than last term.
“This is a six-pointer – we have five games left before we reach the midway point of the season and they’ll all be difficult,” said Allegri, whose side finished a disappointing 2022-23 campaign in seventh position.
“Our target is to finish the first half of the campaign with more points than we did last term, when we had 38.
“We hope to achieve our target but we mustn’t take it for granted.
“Part of this job involves dealing with the pressure but we have to remember the league doesn’t finish tomorrow. There’s still a long way to go.”
Mazzarri, who initially managed Napoli between 2009 and 2013, beat Atalanta 2-1 in the first match of his second spell before the resounding loss to Inter.
The 62-year-old hopes his team can kick-start a revival by beating one of their fiercest rivals.
“Juventus v Napoli is a match that we know well because of the special sensations it generates and the importance of two teams that have been protagonists of the championship in recent years,” he told a press conference.
“We are playing against an opponent who is doing very well and there is little to add about the depth of the match.
“We go there as Italian champions and we want to highlight the progress that the boys are making.
“If we look at the squads, I don’t think there is as much of a difference as the league table says. This is also true compared to Inter.
“Unfortunately in football there are also moments and this is not a brilliant period for Napoli, especially in relation to the great last season.
“In football sometimes it doesn’t take much to make a change, it’s a question of trust but also of luck.
“There are moments which are going badly but a positive episode can change the wind.”
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