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Posted by Rob Shepherd on Friday, July 21, 2017

I must admit that I’m not the biggest fan of Wimbledon but I really enjoyed this year’s tournament. This is possibly due to the fact that we are in that horrid in-between year when there is no international football, but this gave me an opportunity to try different sports and it’s been entertaining.

The women’s EUROs are on at the moment and I will dedicate some time watching the action from the ladies. I hope I’m not the kiss of death for their chances. So, on with the article, a look at what has caught my attention in the last week.

Tennis – Wimbledon

Whilst we didn’t have a British winner in the singles at Wimbledon this year, Andy Murray’s brother, Jamie Murray picked up the mixed doubles title with Martina Hingis. The pair beat defending champions Heather Watson and Henri Kontinen 6-4 6-4 to give the British contingent something to cheer about. In all fairness, it was a win-win situation with Heather Watson also being British but still…

There were no surprises in the Men’s singles with Roger Federer being a different class to his opponent Marin Cilic. Cilic was in tears during the match, even before an hour of play it was obvious this was a one-sided affair.

The ladies’ singles final between Garbine Muguruza and Venus Williams was a surprise. The first set of the final was a cagey affair and would have gone the way of Williams had she converted one of her two break points at 5-4. In the second set, Muguruza gave Williams no such opportunity in the next set though and won the second set 6-0.

Woman’s Cricket

England’s women cricket team overcame South Africa to claim a place in the Cricket World Cup final. Hosts England reached the Women’s World Cup final by the finest of margins with only two balls spare. It was almost an England collapse as they lost six wickets for just 78 runs. They face India in the final which is at Lord’s on Sunday.

Rugby

Representatives of five sports have met to work out a “unified approach” to tackling concussion and head injuries according to a BBC article. Rugby union, rugby league, American football, ice hockey, and Australian rules football all have had an active part in the meeting that met in Dublin on Thursday to address what is becoming a growing issue in sport.

“Concussion is a top priority for all sports, and rugby continues to collaborate with other sports and leading medical and scientific experts to ensure the very best programmes are implemented to protect participants at all levels,” said World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont.

World Rugby has implemented new law amendments to make the game easier to play and referee, here are the new changes taken from the BBC article;

• All members of the front row can to attempt to ‘strike’ for the ball after it has been put into the scrum
• The number eight at the back of the scrum may pick up the ball at the feet of the locks, rather than wait for it to make its way to between his legs
• The scrum-half may now stand with their shoulder aligned to the middle of the scrum, allowing them to be further to their side of the set-piece
• Players on their feet at the ruck will now be able to pick up the ball on the floor as long as no opposition player has joined the ruck
• If the ruck has resulted from a tackle, the tackler must get to his feet before he can play the ball, and must do so from his side of the contest, through the ‘gate’ and not from the side as they could previously
• Players may also no longer kick the ball out of a ruck, but can ‘hook’ it back towards their own side

Footy News & Gossip

Women’s Football

Jodie Taylor was in excellent form and her hat-trick helped thrash rivals Scotland 6-0 in the European Championship (Women’s EURO’s). Jodie became the first senior England women’s player to score a hat-trick in a major tournament and confidence will be high before the England team meet their Spanish counterparts on Sunday Evening.

There are plenty of games upcoming in the Women’s Euros, today we have Sweden v Russia followed by Germany v Italy. Tomorrow sees Iceland take on Switzerland and France v Austria.

On Sunday, the early game before the England v Spain is the Scotland v Portugal match. Scotland will be desperate to get a result after their mauling at the hands of the English Lionesses.

Men’s Football

Manchester City – City are still involved in a stand-off with Monaco. The Ligue 1 side want £54 million for left-back Benjamin Mendy. City don’t want to pay any more than £45 million.

Philippe Coutinho will be the subject of a £72.2 million bid from Barcelona. The Daily Mail state that Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp will reject any approach for the 25-year-old. When asked about the Brazilian, Kopp said, “Yes [he is not for sale]. But that’s not since this morning or yesterday, it’s not been any different. Phil is a very important player for us.”

“He’s trying to get back his rhythm but there’s no doubt about his quality. He’s very smart both offensively and defensively. The nice news is that he’s still young. He has improved a lot since I’ve been here and he can still improve a lot.”

“I’m not surprised that any club is interested in players at Liverpool. The very important message is that we are not a selling club and that’s how it is. We believe in working together and developing together. We want to make the next step together and for this we need to stay together. We have to create a situation where everybody is easily able to see which direction we want to go. It’s really positive. This is a fantastic club and it’s a good moment for Liverpool.”

West Ham – Former Manchester United fan favourite, Javier Hernandez is joining The Hammers after agreeing a £16 million move from Bayer Leverkusen. Hernandez scored 59 goals in 156 appearances for United and recently became Mexico’s leading all-time scorer with his 47th international goal. West Ham’s first game is against Manchester United, no doubt he’ll score!

Another player who might be joining “Little Pea” at West Ham is Arsenal forgotten man, Jack Wiltshire. Wiltshire is keen to join West Ham after spending last season on loan at Bournemouth.

Manchester City – Could be in trouble for an alleged illegal approach for 18-year-old France forward Kylian Mbappe. Mbappe is one of the hottest young stars in world football and Monaco are considering asking world governing body Fifa to investigate. BBC state that Manchester City are the only English club accused but they have refused to comment officially.

Paris St-Germain are set to hold talks with Barcelona over a £196m deal to sign Neymar, Barca’s 25-year-old Brazil international forward per The Guardian. The Daily Mail add that PSG are willing to pay Neymar a signing on fee of £45m and will offer him a five-year contract worth £596,000 a week after tax.

Chelsea – The Independent report that Chelsea are holding out for £44m for Atletico Madrid target Diego Costa, 28, after agreeing a deal to sign his fellow striker Alvaro Morata, 24, from Real Madrid. Costa’s future looks almost certain to be over at Chelsea with Costa declaring that the Chelsea manager told him via text that he was not part of the Manager’s plans next year. With Atletico banned from signing players till January, it will be interesting to see what happens with Costa.