Soccer

Cienciano ( 0 – 2 ) U. Comercio , PER on The 18th of June, 2013 at five past nine Podcast:

Valur Reykjavik ( 1 – 1 ) IBV Vestmannaeyjar , Island on The 18th of June, 2013 at ten to nine Podcast:

• Fans left bewildered by appointment of former manager• Current manager Alan Pardew yet to comment publiclyNewcastle United angered and astonished their supporters by finally confirming the appointment of Joe Kinnear as their director of football .That ratification came against a backdrop of enduring public silence from Alan Pardew, the team's manager, and only hours after Kinnear had given an extraordinary radio interview to Talksport.Among a litany of outlandish comments, contradictions and falsehoods the 66-year-old claimed, wrongly, that Derek Llambias, Newcastle's managing director, had recently resigned as director of football and called the team's France midfielder Yohan Cabaye, "Yohan Kebab".Arguably, worst of all, was Kinnear's reflection on Newcastle's fans. "Some are talking out of their backsides, a load of tosh," he said. "I'm not accepting it, as simple as that. I have certainly got more intelligence than them, that's a fact."Rather than rendering his new role untenable, Kinnear was formally installed a few minutes before noon. If Mike Ashley, Newcastle's owner, who apparently thrashed out a deal with the club's former manager at the Orange Tree pub in Totteridge, north London, last week, remained undaunted, others saw things differently. The Newcastle Evening Chronicle's front-page headline read "What a Joke".As fans threatened to boycott games and surrender season tickets, Chi Onwurah, the MP for Newcastle Central and a keen supporter of the team, summed up the general mood of bewilderment, albeit expressing her feelings rather more politely than most. "It does seem that Ashley moves in ways more mysterious than the Almighty," she said.In a club statement which, significantly, lacked any input from Pardew the club said Kinnear – who managed Newcastle for five months during the 2008-09 season before suffering serious heart problems – had signed a three-year contract and would report directly to the board as the senior executive in charge of all football related matters. "Graham Carr and Alan Pardew will report into Joe," it declared in a politically loaded sentence which not only emphasised that Kinnear is now the most powerful football figure but also undermined Pardew's authority.Although he is said to be "relatively relaxed" about this latest development, Newcastle's manager now finds himself in a position where he is answerable to Kinnear, with Carr, the influential chief scout whom many regarded as a de facto director of football, in the same situation.While Carr rather than Pardew always had the final say on transfers, the latter retained sole responsibility for first-team matters, including style of play.This is a sphere in which he is determined that Kinnear – who claimed they were due to meet for lunch on Tuesday– will not be allowed to interfere. Should the former Tottenham full-back and Wimbledon manager try to dictate such matters, Pardew could construe it as a breach of contract on Newcastle's part. He is understood to have been a little taken aback by Kinnear's insistence that the director of football will not only be responsible for incoming transfers but will also decide which players should be shipped out.Kinnear is due to move into his new office at the training ground on Thursday and expects to travel to Portugal with the senior squad for a pre-season training camp next month. By then he hopes to have made some signings, with FC Twente's Brazilian defender Douglas high on his shopping list."The board is pleased to welcome Joe back," said Llambias. "Joe has many years of experience working within the game and this experience will be of great benefit in achieving our objectives over the coming seasons."Meanwhile Freddy Shepherd dubbed Kinnear "ridiculous" before predicting that the new arrangement could end in tears. "I certainly wouldn't have let him into Newcastle because I would have got rid of him before he got there," said the club's former chairman. "It's ridiculous what he's been saying,

• First-half Thiago hat-trick helps holders retain title• Italy swept away by dominant team of the tournamentA virtuoso performance from Thiago Alcântara inspired Spain to victory over Italy to retain the Under-21 title and confirm their superiority at this level.Spain have swept all before them at Israel 2013 and by half-time in the final they had all but brushed away Italy. After six minutes Alvaro Morata skipped away from a lame tackle from Alessandro Florenzi before crossing to the unmarked Thiago. The Holland manager Cor Pot criticised Italy's tactics after his side's 1-0 semi-final defeat as a return to "catenaccio" but the sixth-minute defensive lapse would have seemed quite alien to Helenio Herrera.Italy have shown resilience in this tournament. After conceding a 90th-minute lead to Norway in their final group stage match they saved a point with an even later equaliser.Their recovery in the final was just as swift. As Spain continued to press, the Internazionale right-back Giulio Donati slipped a 60-yard pass down the right channel. Ciro Immobile pulled the bouncing ball down with his first touch and with his second lifted it over the goalkeeper, David de Gea.Indeed Italy should then have taken the lead. The PSG midfielder Marco Verratti found space between Iñigo Martínez and Alvaro Moreno with a chipped pass for Florenzi, who avoided a challenge but shot straight at De Gea.As if stung into action, Spain quickly restored their advantage. Koke's cross dropped perfectly to Thiago and the Italy-born playmaker chested it down before driving a shot under the diving Francesco Bardi.Six minutes later he completed the hat-trick. Cristian Tello, receiving the ball just over the halfway line, knocked it round Donati and raced toward the penalty box but, as he entered it, Donati took his legs. The Jerusalem crowd whistled their disapproval but Spain's captain converted the resultant penalty.Thiago has been quietly brilliant throughout Spain's flawless campaign. Isco has, rightly, been the tournament's most talked-about player but the Barcelona man is Spain's heartbeat.His pass to Martin Montoya in the 66th minute exemplified his poise, eschewing as it did seemingly better-placed team-mates. Montoya took the ball at speed, running straight at Vasco Regini. The Barcelona right-back chopped the ball under his body and Regini clumsily hacked him down. Thiago neglected to take a second penalty and handed the ball to Isco and Málaga's golden boy scored his third goal of the tournament.Liverpool's Fabio Borini reduced the arrears with a rasping shot from the edge of the area after a neat one-two with Lorenzo Insigne. So menacing against England, Insigne had otherwise been anonymous but the goal helped Italy avoid their worst ever defeat in this tournament.European Under-21 ChampionshipEuropean Under-21 Championship 2011guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Atlantas ( 3 – 0 ) Banga Gargzdai , Lithuania on The 18th of June, 2013 at quarter past eight Podcast:

New generation radicalised as protests sparked by fury at bus fare hike mushroom into vast rallies against failing public services and cost of World CupBrazilians awoke with a mix of euphoria, fear and confusion after the country's biggest night of protest in more than 20 years radicalised a new generation and left the established political class wondering how to react.Vast demonstrations, in some cases of more than a 100,000 people, swept through at least a dozen major cities on Monday night, with protesters calling for better public services and an end to corruption.With the organisers now planning further protests, the authorities appear to be uncertain what to do next. Although police in some regions cracked down hard, President Dilma Rousseff praised the marchers."Brazil woke up stronger today," Rousseff said in a televised speech on Tuesday. "The size of yesterday's demonstrations shows the energy of our democracy, the strength of the voice of the streets and the civility of our population."The scale is still being assessed. There are estimates of more than 100,000 in Rio, 50,000 in Sao Paulo and Belo Horizone, as well as many thousands elsehwere. Although these figures are contested, the combined total is likely to be bigger than any demonstration sinceformer President, Fernando Collor de Mello, was forced from office in 1992.An increase in bus fares was the spark last week that ignited much of the country, but the huge protests on Monday night were about far more than transport costs."Far more than the rise in bus fares, this was a mostly peaceful demonstration against a broken transport system, insecurity and heavy investments being made in preparation for the mega sports events that are not mirrored by improvements of our precarious infrastructure," said Paula Paiva Paulo, one of the organisers.Many participants said they joined after seeing images of the police violence against protesters in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia last week.Bruna Rodriguez was one of many students who joined a rally of tens of thousands in Belo Horizonte, which led to violent clashes with police when the protesters attempted to enter the perimeter of the football stadium where a Confederations Cup match was taking place between Nigeria and Tahiti."The police were brutal. Although we were chanting 'no violence', they shot people with rubber bullets and punched and beat them. The vast majority of demonstrators were peaceful, even though the Brazilian media are trying to show we were all vandals. That's not true," she said.She is now planning to join the next march on Thursday. "It's important to fight for our rights. Brazil is a mess. We spend billions on new stadiums, but don't have good hospitals or schools even though we pay some of the highest taxes in the world."Marcos Barros joined the protests after learning that his friend, Sergio Silva, had lost the sight in one eye after being shot with a rubber bullet during protests in São Paulo last week."He was a photojournalist just doing his job," he said. "It is outrageous that police, who are only supposed to target the legs and then under extreme circumstances, would shoot anyone in the eye, let alone a photographer."Others expressed relief and excitement about being able to express their frustration and desire for a better Brazil.Tatyana Cardoso, a 32-year-old medical assistant in São Paulo, said she had never taken part in a major protest before. After seeing the violence at first hand last week, she felt obliged to participate."I think our police, unfortunately, are not prepared to deal with this kind of situation," she said. "I joined because I'm tired of the corruption in Brazil. There's so many wrong things and nobody does anything. We will host the World Cup, but we don't have a decent public transport, for example. Now I'm feeling extremely happy because I think the citizens discovered that something can be done."The demonstrations coincide with the Confederations Cup – a tes

Uerdingen ( 0 – 2 ) MSV Duisburg , Friendly on The 18th of June, 2013 at ten to eight Podcast:

Thiago Alcantara hit a hat-trick for Spain as Italy were defeated in Jerusalem.

Welcome to the first of our weekly community round-up articles which will pick out some of the best activity and hot topics generated by the Fantasy Football Scout community over the previous seven days. We will also cover the community leagues and tournaments that are taking place throughout the season. Those running community tournaments are [...]

Tallinn Kalev ( 0 – 2 ) Tammeka Tartu , Estonia on The 18th of June, 2013 at twenty five past seven Podcast: