By Andrew Warshaw
July 5 – ‘It’s coming home’ has been the familiar refrain for the best part of a month and now England are two games away from erasing 55 years of hurt by becoming European champions for the first time.
July 5 – Former Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira is the new manager of Premier League Crystal Palace — his third senior coaching role.
By Samindra Kunti in Munich
July 5 – Belgium’s golden generation is on its last legs with the future of coach Roberto Martinez in doubt after his team crashed out of Euro 2020 in a 2-1 high-octane quarter-final defeat against Italy.
July 5 – Stadium security staff in Azerbaijan face accusations of human rights violations after seemingly confiscating an LGBT rainbow flag from two Danish fans ahead of last Saturday’s Euro 2020 quarter-final with the Czech Republic.
July 4 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has confirmed dairy giant Yili as an Official Global Partner of the its national team competitions for the 2021 to 2024 rights cycle.
July 5 – Sportswear challenger brand Castore have signed their second Premier League club in Newcastle United, taking the kit supply deal for the north east England club off Puma in a deal believed to worth at least £5 million a year.
Prelims Qualifer: Guatemala 4 – Guyana 0
July 4 – A pulsating night of crowd energy and fast paced football in Fort Lauderdale last night ignited the touch paper for the Gold Cup whose group stages start July 10.
July 4 – Cuba became the first covid and visa casualty of the return to competitive international football after the country failed to get to Fort Lauderdale in Florida for their 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup Preliminary Round (Prelims) qualifier for a spot in the group stages that start July 10.
Prelim Qualifier: Guadeloupe 2 Bahamas 0
July 3 – Guadeloupe scored twice to overcome a Bahamian rearguard resistance to take them one step nearer to the Gold Cup group stages at the DRV PNK.
Trinidad and Tobago 6 Monserrat 1
July 2 – Trinidad and Tobago’s players put the off-field soap opera of their federation’s disastrous administration behind them with an emphatic 6-1 win over Monserrat in the First Round of the 2021 Gold Cup Prelims on Friday night at the DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Prelims Qualifier: Bermuda 8 Barbados 1
July 2 – It took just 17 seconds for Nakhi Wells to put Bermuda a goal ahead in the Gold Cup preliminary play-offs and begin what was a night of pain for Barbados as they crashed to an 8-1 defeat.
Prelims Qualifier: Haiti 6 St Vincent and the Grenadines 1:
July 2 – Haiti did what was expected of them in rolling over St Vincent and the Grenadines in the opening preliminary qualifier for the Group Stages of the Gold Cup. Duckens Nazon, Haiti’s free scoring forward was their hero. St Vincent had 13 heroes.
July 2 – The Concacaf Gold Cup kicks off tonight in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with the first of three triple header preliminary knockout rounds that will decide the final three qualifiers for group stages that start at the end of next week, July 10.
July 2 – The Concacaf Gold Cup is the kind of championship that will guarantee stories of triumph over adversity, of teams and individuals doing remarkable things to inspire countries large and small.
July 1 – At the 2019 Gold Cup, Haiti were the surprise package, battling their way to to a semi-final against the tournament’s class act Mexico, a glorious run that was ended in a penalty shoot-out.