Erik ten Hag has the coaching qualities needed to succeed as Manchester United manager, according to Matthijs de Ligt.

Former Ajax boss Ten Hag was confirmed as Ralf Rangnick s successor in April and officially took charge last month.

The Dutchman takes over a United side that recorded their lowest points tally in a Premier League season last term when finishing 35 points behind champions Manchester City.

While the size of the rebuild job is clear to see, Juventus centre-back De Ligt – who played under Ten Hag in Amsterdam – believes his compatriot is up to the task.

He is someone who loves his job and he loves to work, De Ligt said. He s really into the details. This makes him a really good trainer.

He has a lot of qualities [to succeed]. W…

Ozan Tufan’s penalty blunder left Hull facing a mammoth task to make the play-offs after a 0-0 draw at Watford.

Home keeper Daniel Bachmann saved the Turkish forward’s spot-kick in the 11th minute of a lacklustre match and now the Tigers, who have three games to play, are six points off the top six.

Hull had started the day desperate for points to keep in touch with the promotion pack.

Fifth-placed West Brom’s defeat at Leicester in the lunchtime kick-off gave the Tigers an extra incentive and they looked full of purpose at the start.

Watford were given a taste of what to expect when Matty Jacob’s well-flighted pass to Jaden Philogene completely took out right-back Ryan Andrews. Unfortunately for Philogene, his cross was easily gathered by Bachman…

Columbus Crew head coach Wilfried Nancy has praised his side s humble attitude ahead of their trip to Los Angeles FC in MLS on Saturday.

The Crew are on a four-match winning streak, scoring 15 goals and keeping three clean sheets during that run.

They sit third in the Eastern Conference, and after a 4-0 victory over Toronto FC last time out, Nancy showed his admiration for their impressive run.

The fact that we are humble enough to accept that we have to improve all the time, the consequence of that is we are able to do something new and to improve all the time, Nancy said.

Again, this desire to get better and better depends on what the opposition is going to give us.

[I m proudest of] the fact that we don t take anything for granted. That s wh…

Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe is determined to sign Jarrad Branthwaite from Everton, according to . United have two bids for Branthwaite turned down by Everton in the summer of 2024, and the former Premier League and UEFA Champions League winners remain keen on getting a deal done for the defender.

Branthwaite is one of the best and most important players for Everton, who do not want to sell the England international centre-back. TEAMtalk has claimed that the Toffees will listen to offers of around £80 million for the 22-year-old, who has had injury problems this season and has only recently returned to full fitness.

Everton are 16th in the Premier League table at the moment with five points from seven matches, two points above the relegation zone. As fo…

Competition: Euro 2016
Market: Wales to qualify
Odds:

Wales have been struggling for form of late, enduring a poor international break, extending their winless run to three games. The Dragons impressed in their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign but have a tricky group to navigate their way from so it won’t be easy this summer.

England, Russia and Slovakia join Wales in Group B of the European Championships, which kicks off in June, and are three sides who could harm Chris Coleman’s men if Wales aren’t at their best. The Dragons overachieved to qualify for the finals so they shouldn’t be ruled out, however.

Having beaten the likes of Belgium earlier last year, while boasting individual talent such as Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale and Arsenal’s Aar…

Ronald Koeman feels the final international break of the domestic season is an unusual time to start the qualifying campaign for Euro 2020.

Netherlands face Belarus and Germany in a home double-header this week to kick off Group C, which also contains Estonia and Northern Ireland. 

Koeman s men reached the semi-finals of the inaugural Nations League last year as Netherlands look to regroup after failing to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.

And the Dutch boss expressed surprise that Netherlands success in that competition was not enough to guarantee a place at Euro 2020.

spelers,  team, doel. De kwalificatie voor EURO 2020 begint nu!

— OnsOranje (@OnsOranje)

The qualification for the Euros starts now, Koeman told reporters on Monday.…

Market: Both teams to score

Odds: 4/7 @

Hoping to make it back-to-back victories on Sunday lunchtime, Paderborn will welcome Darmstadt to the Benteler-Arena this weekend.

Starting with the hosts, while Paderborn might have always know that they faced a major uphill battle in the race to book a shock Bundesliga return last season, Lukas Kwasniok s men should take plenty of positives away from a stellar end to the 2023/24 campaign. Breezing their way to a top-half finish, the Blacks collected 12 points from their final five second-tier appearances and they also laid down an early statement last weekend. Getting proceedings underway with a sensational display as they secured a 2-1 victory away at Hertha Berlin, Paderborn should find the mood in their camp at a real…

England midfielder Georgia Stanway vowed the Lionesses would carry on fighting for top spot on the planet after finishing runners-up to Spain in the World Cup final in Sydney.

The Lionesses were among the pre-tournament favourites in Australia and New Zealand, with punters pointing to their dominant run to last summer’s European title, but injuries to Leah Williamson, Beth Mead and Fran Kirby and the retirement of Ellen White left Sarina Wiegman without four players who started every match of that triumph before she even named her World Cup squad.

Wiegman barely had time to breathe a sigh of relief after learning key midfielder Keira Walsh’s knee injury, sustained in England’s second group-stage encounter, was not as serious as initially suspected before the influe…

Even if it contains reigning European champions Spain, Group D is probably the most evenly matched and it goes without saying that all four sides have decent chances of securing their place in the knockout stages.

Having hammered Italy in the Euro 2012 final, have been made favourites for the first place, but it has to be noted that the team appear to be on a downtrend at the moment and they have plenty of problems going into the tournament finals.

With Diego Costa overlooked, Alvaro Morata is expected to lead the line and his goalscoring record is far from impressive, while it remains to be seen whether the likes of Andres Iniesta and Cesc Fabregas will be able to perform at a high level being in an advanced stage of their careers.

The sheer individual quality…

Luis Enrique has returned as Spain head coach, replacing Robert Moreno at the helm heading into Euro 2020.

The former Barcelona coach stepped away from his role earlier this year as his young daughter Xana battled bone cancer. She died in August.

Former assistant Moreno took on the job in his place, but Luis Enrique is now back in charge, taking over a Spain team arguably in better shape than the one he left.

Qualification for Euro 2020 is clinched, while Moreno brought in a number of new faces including members of Spain s successful European Under-21 Championship side.

Luis Enrique would do well to note the progress under Moreno, and we have picked out five breakthrough stars who can have a role to play at next year s finals and beyond.

FABIAN RUIZ …