Ghanaian player reclaims record from Ronaldo; Iceland goalkeeper reveals secret to defeating Messi
Ronaldo's record is controversial, Man City is very close to Jorginho, MU's new player misses the opening match of the World Cup with Brazil... are the news updated on the morning of June 17.
Iceland goalkeeper reveals secret to defeating Messi
Goalkeeper Hannes Halldorsson had a great performance in the match between Iceland and Argentina. Halldorsson made many amazing saves that frustrated the Argentine strikers. The most impressive of which was the penalty save from Lionel Messi, the world's top striker.
Halldorsson shared with the press the secret to denying Messi's scoring opportunity:
"I did my homework. It was something I knew would happen at some point. So I watched a lot of Messi's penalties on video. I wanted to get into his head to see what he might think of me when he was at the penalty spot. So I had a good feeling about the direction and Messi would take the ball in today's match."
Fred misses opening match of World Cup with Brazil
Brazil coach Tite has confirmed they will be without Fred for their opening World Cup match against Switzerland. Despite training with the team yesterday, the new Manchester United player has not fully recovered from an ankle injury.
Therefore, coach Tite made the safe choice. Fred was injured on the Brazilian training ground during the World Cup preparation at the training center located in London, England. After assessing the situation, Brazil still decided to bring Fred to Russia.
Ghanaian player reclaims record from Ronaldo
With a hat-trick against Spain, Ronaldo has scored in the 8th consecutive major tournament in his career, from EURO 2004 to World Cup 2018. Many statistics sites only consider World Cup and EURO as major tournaments, so they consider Ronaldo's achievement as a record. However, the record confirmed to belong to Ronaldo is causing controversy.
Ghana international Asamoah Gyan has claimed that the record for most goals scored in major tournaments belongs to him, not Ronaldo. Asamoah Gyan believes that when it comes to major tournaments, we should also consider the CAN (Africa Cup of Nations). And if we extend this tournament to the whole tournament, his record surpasses Ronaldo's.
According to statistics, the Ghanaian striker scored at CAN 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2017. Besides, he also "scored" at the World Cup 2006, 2010 and 2014. In total, Gyan scored at 9 consecutive major tournaments for the Ghana national team.
"People don't recognize my record, but I want the world to know that it will last, even if I'm treated unfairly," Gyan declared.
Mascherano surpasses legendary Zanetti's record
In Argentina's opening match against Iceland, Javier Mascherano made history by surpassing the record of 143 appearances for the Argentina national team held by the legendary Javier Zanetti. The legendary Zanetti played for Argentina from 1994-2011, while Mascherano played for the national team from 2003 to present. Currently, Messi is ranked 3rd on this list with a total of 125 appearances.
Man City are very close to Jorginho
Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis personally confirmed that the deal will be decided in the near future.
"I spoke with Man City on Thursday. They are currently working with Napoli's sporting director, Cristiano Giuntoli. We have to reach an agreement. I have shown them my goodwill. In negotiations like this, when one side retreats, the other advances, but there is a good chance that everything will be settled soon" - President Aurelio De Laurentiis revealed to Corriere Dello Sport.
Man City are said to have reached a personal agreement with Jorginho. The only problem is the value of the deal. Man City offered 40 million pounds but Napoli wanted 60 million pounds.
