International Football
SUPER FALCONS TO FEATURE IN GLAMOUR SUMMER SERIES IN USA
Nine-time African champions Nigeria will be one of four participating teams at this year’s WNT Summer Series that will also have the Women A National Teams of host nation United States of America, Portugal and Jamaica in attendance. The tournament is presented by AT&T 5G.
Matches will be played at the BBVA Stadium in Houston and at the brand-new, $240million Q2 Stadium in Austin built by the newest club in the Major League Soccer, Austin FC. Both cities are in the State of Texas and the clash between the Super Falcons and the US Women A team will be the first-ever football match at the state-of-the-art Q2.
The glamour tournament, which also held in 2017 and 2018, will run between 10th – 16th June and will see the Super Falcons clashing with their Jamaican counterparts in Houston on the 10th before taking on Portugal three days later at the same BBVA Stadium. Their last match is against the USA squad, four-time winners of the FIFA World Cup and four-time winners of the Olympic football gold, at the Q2 Stadium on 16th June.
Randy Waldrum, who presently coaches Nigeria’s Women A team, is an American who also coached the Trinidad and Tobago Women’s National Team 2014-2016, and led the Super Falcons to three wins out of three in the Turkish Women’s Invitational Tournament in Antalya in February.
The USA is the only one of the four teams in the Summer Series that will compete in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, but Nigeria has remained the dominant force in Africa since qualifying for the first edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 30 years ago and winning the first edition of the Women AFCON in 1998. Portugal is among a group of European teams that is making big strides forward in the women’s game, and Jamaica qualified for its first Women’s World Cup in 2019.
The match against Nigeria will mark the first time the USA has ever faced the Super Falcons outside of a world championship and it will be just the third-ever friendly against an African country, with the previous two coming against South Africa.
Once the teams arrive in Houston, and for the USA and Nigeria, in Austin, all the players and staffs will operate inside highly controlled environments at the host hotels.
The staging trainings and the matches will fall under the comprehensive US Soccer Return to Play Protocols and Guidelines and in accordance with the Concacaf Return to Play Protocols. Everyone entering the controlled environment will be tested for COVID-19 before traveling, upon arrival and periodically thereafter.
The teams will not begin full team training until the results of all arrival tests are confirmed.
“In these COVID times, we’re grateful that U.S. Soccer has been able to organize a schedule of games for us to prepare for the Olympics and getting these three during the Summer Series against teams we don’t play very often will be important in helping us make the final decisions on the Olympic Team,” said U.S. Women’s National Team head coach Vlatko Andonovski.
Nigeria’s Head Coach, Waldrum said: “The Summer Series is an interesting event and the teams featuring are of very high quality. It is a great prospect for us as we continue to build ahead of the qualifying games for next year’s Women Africa Cup of Nations.”
The Confederation of African Football will hold the draw for next year’s Women Africa Cup of Nations in Cairo next Monday. The final tournament will be staged by Morocco.
Nigeria and the USA have clashed five times previously, with four coming at the FIFA Women’s World Cup, and one in the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament. Both teams last met at the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada in 2015, with the Americans winning 1-0. That was Abby Wambach’s final World Cup goal.
Former Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has been named the new head coach of the England national team, the country’s Football Association said in a statement on Wednesday.
The German, who is England’s third foreign manager, after Sweden’s Sven-Goran Eriksson and Italian Fabio Capello, will be assisted by Englishman Anthony Barry, the statement added.
“We are thrilled to have hired Thomas Tuchel, one of the best coaches in the world and Anthony Barry who is one of the best English coaches to support him,” FA CEO Mark Bullingham said.
Tuchel replaces Lee Carsley, England’s under-21 manager, who has been in temporary charge since the resignation of Gareth Southgate after England’s defeat by Spain in the Euro 2024 final in July.
-Reuters
German Thomas Tuchel has been appointed head coach of the England national team on Wednesday.
Born: Aug. 29, 1973 in Krumbach, Germany.
PLAYING CAREER
* Tuchel played for his local club TSV Krumbach, before moving to FC Augsburg’s academy at the age of 15.
* He never played for Augsburg’s senior side and joined German second division team Stuttgarter Kickers in 1992.
* After eight league appearances for Kickers, Tuchel moved to fourth-tier SSV Ulm.
* Tuchel made 69 league appearances for Ulm as a central defender before he was forced to retire in 1998 at the age of 25 due to a knee injury.
COACHING CAREER
* Tuchel began his coaching career with a youth team role at VfB Stuttgart in 2000, working with future Germany internationals Mario Gomez and Holger Badstuber.
* He returned to Augsburg and took charge of their reserve team for the 2007-08 season.
* Tuchel was appointed Mainz 05 manager in 2009, replacing compatriot Juergen Klopp.
* He guided Mainz to Bundesliga stability during his five-year stint at the club, gaining plaudits for his team’s high energy, attacking style of play.
* Tuchel took over from Klopp as Borussia Dortmund coach in 2015.
* He led Dortmund to a 2-1 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt in the 2017 German Cup final. He was sacked by Dortmund three days later.
* Tuchel joined Paris St Germain in 2018 on a two-year contract, replacing Unai Emery.
* He won two Ligue 1 titles, including a domestic quadruple in his second season, and guided the club to their first Champions League final, where they lost 1-0 to Bayern Munich.
* Tuchel was sacked by PSG on Christmas Eve in 2020, despite the club finishing top of their Champions League group and sitting third in the Ligue 1 table.
* He was named Chelsea manager in January 2021 on an initial 18-month contract following the dismissal of Frank Lampard.
* Tuchel revived the team’s Premier League season and guided the London club to the Champions League final, where they beat Manchester City. Chelsea also won the Super Cup and Club World Cup.
* Chelsea sacked Tuchel in September 2022 following a shock 1-0 defeat at Dinamo Zagreb in their opening Champions League group game.
* Bayern Munich appointed Tuchel to succeed Julian Nagelsmann in March last year.
* Bayern decided to let Tuchel go at the end of the 2023-24 season despite a contract until 2025. Tuchel steered Bayern to the Bundesliga title in 2022-23, but they finished the last campaign without any silverware for the first time in more than a decade.
* Tuchel will become England’s third foreign manager after Sweden’s Sven-Goran Eriksson and Italian Fabio Capello.
* Tuchel will take over the team in January ahead of the qualification campaign for the 2026 World Cup.
-Reuters
Wolverhampton Wanderers forward Mateus Mane has become hot property after Portugal named the 17-year-old in their Under-18 squad on Friday, one day after England included him in their squad.
Mane was called up for a second successive England youth camp by coach Liam Bramley before the team travel to Marbella for a four-team tournament this month.
Mane is eligible for both teams having played for the Portugal Under-17 side last season. As the Under-18 team is a non-UEFA age group, both nations are entitled to call the player up.
He made his England international debut last month against the Portugal Under-18 side who have named Mane in their squad for a four-nation tournament this month.
With both tournaments running concurrently, Mane can only play for one team and Wolves and England confirmed he would feature in Bramley’s side.
Reuters has contacted Portugal’s football association for clarification.
While players with multiple nationalities have played for more than one country if they are eligible, they are not allowed to switch allegiances at senior level – unless they have played only in friendly matches for the first country.
-Reuters
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