By Samindra Kunti in London
July 6 – They completed 833 passes, retained 65% of ball possession and demonstrated a mastery of the ball that was often frightening, but in the end, not Spain, but Italy prevailed from the penalty spot to grind out a victory and reach the final of Euro 2020 after 120 minutes of superlative football and a dramatic shoot-out.
Prelim Qualifiers 2: Guatemala 1 Guadeloupe 1 (Guadeloupe win 10-9 on penalties)
July 6 – It took 12 rounds of penalties for Guadeloupe to create the shock of the Gold Cup group qualifying rounds and beat Guatemala to secure their first ever finals place.
July 7 – Entertainment broadcaster MTV will broadcast La Liga exclusively in India for the next three years.
Prelim Qaulifiers 2: Trinidad and Tobago 1 French Guiana 1 (Trinidad win 8-7 on penalties)
July 6 – Trinidad and Tobago battled their way into the Gold Cup stages with a dramatic 8-7 win on penalties over French Guiana after the score was tied at 1-1 at full time.
Prelims Qualifer 2: Haiti 4 Bermuda 1
July 6 – It was billed as a shoot out between Haiti’s Duckens Nazon and Bermuda’s Nakhi Wells, but it was Haiti’s Frandzty Pierrot who stole the headlines with a first half hat trick that decided the game sent them into the group phase of the Gold Cup.
July 6 – Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has repeated his call for the World Cup to be played every two years as part of a complete overhaul of the international calendar.
July 6 – The AFC has been forced to reorganise its competition calendar with the biggest casualties being the cancellations of the U17 Women’s Asian Cup Indonesia 2022 and the U20 Women’s Asian Cup Uzbekistan 2022 because of the risk to players, officials and public health caused by the coronavirus.
July 6 – The 2022 Women’s Asian Cup will be hosted in two instead of four hosts cities to minimize the risk of Covid-19 infections, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has confirmed.
July 6 – English Premier League grounds will be able to operate at full capacity next season after the British government announced it was sweeping away a raft of coronavirus restrictions in England from July 19 despite increasingly high levels of infection.
July 6 – Denmark’s Andreas Christensen believes his side has what it takes to silence Wembley when they take on England in their Euro 2020 semi-final on Wednesday.
July 6 – French football stars Ousmane Dembele and Antoine Griezmann have been at the centre of a racism row after a leaked video clip showed the pair mocking Asian technicians fixing a hotel TV. The duo were forced to apologise.
July 6 – Thirty-two matches unbeaten and in great form, Italy are the team to beat at Euro 2020. On Tuesday, Spain, masters of the game for much of the past decades, will be underdogs in the tournament’s first semi-final.
July 6 – Ukraine, whose national team had a strong run in Euro 2020 to the quarter finals, has sold the title sponsorship to its top tier Ukrainian Premier League (UPL) to online bookmaker VBET.
July 5 –Guatemala, once a regular name on Gold Cup final tournament fixture lists, are having to battle their way back to the top tier of confederation competition through the knock-out qualifying rounds for the Gold Cup group stages.
July 5 – The Haiti vs Bermuda play-off for a slot in the Gold Cup group stages is a return to hostilities between two nations that went head-to-head in 2019 with Haiti just coming out on top 2-1. It was the precursor of a run that took them to the semi-finals, leaving Bermuda rueing what might have been.