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The Azzurri will face Turkey, Switzerland and Wales next June after receiving a relatively kind draw. Mancini’s men will be expected to reach the knockout rounds after maintaining a perfect record through qualifying, the only nation alongside Belgium to accomplish this feat. But in 2016 semi-finalists Wales, a talented Turkey team and a Switzerland side boasting the best FIFA ranking of the four, Mancini found hidden demons. “I don’t think the group will be as simple as some are saying,” the former Inter head coach told Radio Anch’io....

The Uruguay vs. France game will be refereed by Nestor Pitana of Argentina on Friday in Nizhny Novgorod. It will be his fourth assignment, including the opening game. Also Friday, the Brazil vs. Belgium game in Kazan will be handled by Milorad Mazic of Serbia. He handled the Champions League final in May. FIFA says Brazilian referee Sandro Ricci will work Russia vs. Croatia on Saturday in Sochi. He handled Croatia’s first group-stage game against Nigeria....

The likes of England, Spain and Germany have all named strong squads for the tournament and as Andrea Pirlo, Petr Cech and Thiago Alcantara, to name but three, have shown, the Golden Ball winner is usually destined for stardom. Ronaldo names his Portugal heir Renato Sanches, Gianluigi Donnarumma and Saul Niguez will be among the players aiming to claim that prize this time around, with Spain hoping to be crowned European champions at Under-21 level for the third time since 2011....

His decision hardly comes as a surprise. Mobley’s father, Eric, is a Trojans assistant and his older brother, Isaiah, will be a true freshman this season for coach Andy Enfield. “I want to get it out of the way before I start my senior year. And I know where I want to go,” Mobley told ESPN. “As a freshman and sophomore, I wasn’t sure exactly where I was going to go....

Chauvin was identified as the officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes as Floyd begged him to stop–before the victim died while in police custody shortly thereafter. In the wake of national protests, the former officer is currently being charged with second-degree murder, which was upgraded from the initial third-degree murder charge. Chauvin has also since been fired from the department where he has served since 2001....

Dwyane Wade, Heat: We all know Wade is not an 82-game player anymore, and he has to be nursed through a season into the playoffs. He struggled against the Spurs in the Finals, and though he did not use injuries or knee problems as an excuse, his overall health remains a concern. But he is a lifelong Miami star and will remain so. Lance Stephenson, Pacers: Stephenson’s season was all over the map, and so is his market value....

But my pain was more than just physical. The Keating Five savings and loan scandal had just blown up, and my husband was implicated. (I became a focus of the investigation when I couldn’t find receipts showing that John and I had reimbursed the Keatings for a vacation we took to the Bahamas.) The first time I ever heard of the Keating Five, I was in the hospital, recovering from my first back surgery....

Brands watched England’s penalty shoot-out victory over the South Americans with Everton directors Farhad Moshiri and Bill Kenwright, as well as head coach Marco Silva, and said the centre-back’s stoppage time equaliser could have scuppered the deal to bring Mina to Goodison Park. Mina eventually joined the Toffees for an initial €30.25m, plus potentially another €1.5m in variables, bringing to an end an unhappy six-month spell at Barcelona, but Brands revealed he initially wanted to sign Clement Lenglet, who moved to Camp Nou from Sevilla....

The lease for the proposed site, located at Liverpool Waters, will run for a period of 200 years at a nominal rate, but is conditional upon gaining planning consent and securing funding for the construction of a venue that will replace the historic Goodison Park as the home of the Toffees. According to a statement on Everton’s website, the agreement with Peel Land and Property (Ports) Limited is “the culmination of an exhaustive search across the city”....

“Idrissa will provide quality in our squad in the midfield and we want to increase the quality in the team,” chief coach Ronald Koeman told Everton’s website on Tuesday. Gueye, 26, is Koeman’s second signing since the Dutchman arrived from Southampton to replace the sacked Roberto Martinez in June, reports Xinhua. “He was one of the players last season with the best record in interceptions and pressing in the midfield....

The legendary Italian manager has managed to organise what had been a leaky defence under Marco Silva and add bite to their attack by fostering a fruitful striking partnership between Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin. But it is the midfield additions of James Rodriguez, Abdoulaye Doucoure and Allan over the summer that could prove pivotal in powering Everton to a European qualification spot come the end of the season. However, they have to get past Slaven Bilic’s promising West Brom side this weekend in order to generate any sort of real momentum....

The tackle penned a heartfelt goodbye to Ravens fans on Thursday, a day after being released by the team, but tacked on a strong statement that said he will continue to promote the use of marijuana to help with injury pain. MORE: NFL players hope to start ‘revolution’ “I will never stop pushing for the League to accept medical cannabis as a viable option for pain management,” Monroe wrote. “I will do everything I can to ensure the generations of NFL players after me won’t have to resort to harmful and addictive opiods as their only option for pain management....

Eder scored the winner in the 88th minute to give Antonio Conte’s side the win after being frustrated for long periods of the game. On the other hand, Sweden are yet to get a shot on target at Euro 2016 and they were the topic of discussion in plenty of tweets. Here are some of the best tweets from the game. Stats… …and the trolls 0 votes

His French club Monaco said on Thursday in a statement that Coentrao was injured in his right leg during training this week and will undergo surgery next week, the statement added that he is expected to be out for three to six months, reports Efe. Coentrao, 28, has played 51 times for Portugal and is one of the main defenders of the national team. He played in the World Cup in 2010 and 2014, as well as in Euro 2012....

It wasn’t the smartest thing to do and it put him under the media microscope. Pundits and fans alike have condemned his comments. But if there is anything the Portuguese is god at it is using this negativity to inspire him Iceland were arguably the easiest team in the group and Portugal will have it a lot tougher against Austria who are also coming off a loss. This will make them harder to beat as two losses will eliminate them from the competition....

Frank de Boer’s side wasn’t too convincing in their opening group game against Ukraine, squandering a two-goal lead before recording a late winner. However, they’ve been in a different class ever since. The Netherlands easily dispatched Austria and have now completed a 100% win record in Group C after beating North Macedonia on Monday. It was a rout at the Johan Cruyff Arena. Aside from hitting the post in the first half, North Macedonia were largely passengers in a one-sided game....

The 75-year-old led his country to victory at the European Championships in 2008, their first major trophy since 1964, reports Xinhua. Aragones stepped down ahead of the 2010 World Cup as Vicente del Bosque took over to guide Spain to their first World Cup in South Africa before retaining their European title two years later. “Age has retired me and it wasn’t a difficult decision to make,” he said in an interview with Spanish website Vozpopuli....

The following interview was conducted at the recent Eurogamer Expo 2010, where Media Molecule held a ‘Developer Session’ showcasing the upcoming LittleBigPlanet 2. After the session was over, I tracked down Media Molecule co-founder Alex Evans, and Community Manager James Spafford, in order to find out more about their forthcoming release, and to find out a little bit more about the people behind the Sackboy. Enjoy Part Two. Part One | Part Two | Part Three...

The Norwegian had arrived at the game with at least four of his first-team stars missing due to injury; Luke Shaw, Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial and Daniel James were all out of the first group stage game of the UEFA Europa League. The Red Devils had failed to impress since their 4-0 opening day victory over Chelsea, and had scraped past Leicester City the previous weekend to get their first win in four games....

Barcelona, who dropped out of the Champions League after finishing behind Bayern Munich and Inter Milan in their group, will face Manchester United in a two-legged tie in February. Serie A giants Juventus are also involved at this stage and will face Nantes, while Jose Mourinho’s Roma will take on Austria’s RB Salzburg. The winners of the playoff ties will progress to the Europa League Round of 16. MORE: Complete schedule for UEFA Champions League Round of 16 fixtures...