After the Socceroos suffered what, on paper at least, looks like a hell of a beating, the good news is that the Norwegian broadcaster declined to catalogue all the political giants in Australian history for whom the 4-1 defeat should be received as a personal insult. The bad news is, well, pretty much everything else.



The atrocious result against 57th ranked Norway does not bode well for…

Theresa May is fond of observing that Britain will not be leaving Europe when it leaves the European Union, which could be a statement of geographical banality or strategic significance. The prime minister’s point, elucidated in a speech at the Mansion House last November, is that the UK sees itself as part of a community of democracies, aligned in their attachment to a world order based on internationally recognised rules.…

Watching Ronald Koeman’s press conference before the Netherlands’ friendly against England on Friday, it almost felt as though someone should have looped David Bowie’s “Ch-ch-ch-changes” in the background.



The late, great Bowie was a master of reinvention – a concept of urgent need in San Jose Sharks Jersey Dutch…

The scores were locked at 2-2 when Marco Asensio hit a 25-yard rocket that dipped and whipped in front of Manuel Neuer’s face before landing in the bottom corner. Ecstasy and an eight-man pile-on ensue as the other player screams expletives at the German goalkeeper and claims his controller is faulty. With less than four hours to go until kick-off, the Cadete B players are supposed to be relaxing before a testing league encounter under the lights. Playing a Fifa tournament isn’t exactly…

Two months ago Memphis Depay crashed his last-minute shot past Alphonse Areola to give Lyon a 2-1 win against Paris Saint-Germain and cut the gap at the top of Ligue 1 to eight points. Lyon looked like genuine outsiders for the title and Bruno Génésio seemed to have finally figured out his team. But as Sunday night’s Olympico at the Stade Vélodrome approached, the mood around Lyon had severely darkened.…

For football people raised on the foundational European Cup feats of Manchester United’s home-schooled Busby Babes and Celtic’s 1967 triumph with a team of local lads, the modern Champions League is a mixed blessing. Over the last 23 years the tournament has constructed a glittering stage for Lionel Messi and the world’s greatest players but European football’s concentration of wealth is delivering the final rounds and trophy itself to the same few richest clubs.…

Antonio Conte may just have been being painfully realistic but his body language at Camp Nou came across as distinctly downbeat. The Chelsea manager’s message was laced with caution on the eve of their return match with La Liga’s champions elect.



He talked up Barcelona’s Andrés Iniesta as a “genius with a football”, reminding all that it would take “a perfect game” to knock out “one…

The evening began with a show of respect from the visiting Borussia Mönchengladbach fans. It ended with anything but. As their players emerged onto the BayArena pitch to face Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday, Gladbach’s 4,000 travelling fans held aloft black pieces of plastic, creating a tifo in memory of well-known fan Waltraud “Walli” Hamraths, who recently died at the age of 83.



In the…