ballers Page 8 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Spain rules the day, but not final result
Spain did just about everything they wanted against Italy. They suffocated Jorginho out of the game, denying all routes to him from the defense and keeping Italy’s attack at bay through a pretty aggressive high press. They kept the ball for most of the game, and didn’t do that usual Spanish thing of...

Get in the ring
Brazil is going to the semifinals of Copa América after a 1-0 victory over Chile on Friday night, but Gabriel Jesus won’t be....

Denmark can absolutely win the whole thing
We’ve reached the quarterfinals of Euro 2020(1), which is when fans of the countries still in contention really start dreaming, and the rest realize that fucking-off-of-work time is probably going to run out with only three Monday-Friday match days left (#DayDrinkingIsForAllSeasons). For the teams t...

It’s never enough for England
You would think after winning the group, having the second-tightest defense in Euro 2020 so far (1.4 x GA), and being safely into the Round of 16 would be enough for England fans. But of course, this is England, and if they’re not complaining or being miserable, much like sharks not swimming, they d...

Martin Dúbravka was so sick of Spain’s wastefulness he took care of it himself
Ever watch a game and you’re sure that one player out on the field just has their circuits short out for a second? Their brain becomes the rainbow pinwheel of frustration as things fail to load? It can happen to all of us. It just doesn’t happen to us on a stage quite as big as the one Slovakia’s Ma...

A most Spurs-y summer
You have to hand it to Tottenham. While they certainly haven’t come anywhere close to curing their basketcase ways, they’ve at least learned to shroud it in bigger happenings in the soccer world to avoid attention. When they fired Jose Mourinho, essentially admitting to and correcting a gargantuan m...

SEE IT: It’s Thunderbastard season!
Denmark’s last group game in Copenhagen was always going to be an emotional wringer. After all, they’ve been through, and all the fans have witnessed, with their advancement hopes riding on not just their result but the one from the Belgium-Finland game, it set up to be a night full of torture, glor...

Belgium found the turbo button — it wears No. 7
The best you can describe Belgium’s situation as against Denmark was “awkward.” While a good portion of the Belgian squad is personally involved with Christian Eriksen,Thursday’s game was about Danish unity and recovery. This was clearly a catharsis for fans and players in red alike, a group that we...

Rüdiger HUNGRY!
I bet, my fellow footyphiles, that we thought we were done with international tournaments including players nibbling on each other, what with Luis Suarez not involved in the European Championships and probably too old for the next World Cup. And Copa America has bigger problems, though I suppose we ...

Shock of shocks, the story UEFA sold wasn’t the case
Out of the many shocks of Saturday’s Denmark-Finland Euro 2020 game was that the game continued not even two hours after Christian Eriksen collapsed on the field. When it was announced, most couldn’t fathom that either team would be in any kind of state to play. Part of UEFA’s statement — “per the p...

Denmark’s team doctor says Christian Eriksen was ‘gone’ before resuscitation
Thankfully, Denmark midfielder Christian Eriksen is alive after suffering what’s now been confirmed as cardiac arrest....
![Denmark's Christian Eriksen collapses on pitch, given CPR, and 'stabilized;' later speaks with mates & match resumes [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/5b2da3f4711ede4575ff02f4bcb0f0af.jpg)
Denmark's Christian Eriksen collapses on pitch, given CPR, and 'stabilized;' later speaks with mates & match resumes [Updated]
The Denmark-Finland match at the European Championship was suspended on Saturday after Danish star Christian Eriksen collapsed on the field just before halftime....

Euro 2021: So how is England going to screw this up?
The English are the Chicago Bears of international soccer. Even though they basically created the sport, and have one of the biggest fan bases as well, they have sat by and watched others pass them as the game changed and evolved, still clinging to what they believed, all the while bleating about th...

Euro 2021: Memphis Depay gets to try again
To make it to the very top levels of any sport as an athlete, it must take an unfathomable reservoir of self-belief. With all the obstacles, the sheer amount of work, and all the days where the dream must seem as close as one of Saturn’s moons, one would have to be able to call on a never-ending sup...

Euro 2021: For the last time, is this Belgium’s time?
For European teams, the lack of opportunities to actually win a trophy can muddy the results they do get. There’s only a trophy on offer every two years (when there isn’t a pandemic), and perhaps Spain at the beginning of the last decade altered our perception of what’s success and what isn’t....

Christian Pulisic just made American men’s soccer history — in Europe’s Champions League final
American men’s soccer remains, even with all the growth of Major League Soccer and the rise in popularity of the sport, very much a sleeping giant on the world stage....

Great job, Japan… FIFA… IOC… y’all really just nailed everyone’s mood
The latest wave of COVID-19 appears to be ebbing in Japan, but on Friday the country still extended the state of emergency for many areas, and “pre-emergency measures” for other prefectures, including Chiba, just outside of Tokyo....

Leicester found a new way to blow it, and their fans probably won’t care
The warping of European soccer and its priorities make judging Leicester City’s last week of the season decidedly foggy. Twenty years ago or so it would be easy. Win the FA Cup, finish fifth, that’s an unqualified success. But that’s not the world we live in anymore, and that’s what makes it so uncl...

France gets even scarier with return of Karim Benzema, also more blackmail-y
With club seasons stumbling to their final weekend, and the normal curtain-closer Champions League Final now less than two weeks away, attention and anticipation starts to turn to the postponed European Championships, which are still called “Euro 2020” even though it’s 2021. And also seems to be los...

Harry Kane wants out, and the summer striker showcase showdown is on
The rumors started a few weeks ago, but Tottenham’s firing of José Mourinho as manager seemingly has not been enough to keep their favorite son home. Harry Kane has reportedly told Tottenham he wants to move on this summer, to a club where he can win things instead of just waving at them as they go ...