It continues to be a very exciting summer at Manchester United, with plenty of topics to discuss. What offseason, right?
So let’s take a spin through the latest news and notes items making the rounds on the internet this World Cup weekend day.
-United and England defender Phil Jones has put the disastrous FA Cup final loss which ended his club season behind him. He is not expected to start for England, who open their World Cup campaign Monday versus Tunisia. He’s ready to move on to the next challenge, having taken ownership of the tremendous let down that was his most recent match.
โIt was crap,โ Jones said of Unitedโs 1-0 defeat in The Guardian. โBut thatโs football. These things happen and you move on. You have to, because I canโt sit on my arse and dwell on it for weeks and weeks and weeks. Iโd be ready to jump off a bridge if I thought like that.
โIt was disappointing โ gutted. But these things happen. Some get highlighted more than others but Iโm used to it now and I like to think Iโm wise enough and experienced enough to deal with it.โ
Jones gave away the penalty that set up Eden Hazard’s early first half goal, the only scoring in a very drab FA Cup Final. He’ll face Hazard again, when England takes on Belgium in their group stage finale, but he isn’t worried about it.
โHeโs got to be up there with the best players in the world. Heโs sharp, heโs quick, heโs agile. Heโs a difficult player to play against, but there are talented players in all the squads. Weโve got some here as well, so Iโm not too worried about players from other teams.โ
-Speaking of Belgium, Romelu Lukaku has a new endorsement deal, this one with an athletic wear manufacturer.ย He posted on his social media: โIโm so excited to finally announce that my long awaited boot deal is with PUMA Football!”
EXCLAMATION POINT! YELLING!
-Paul Pogba was trending on social media a lot today, due to his France side’s 2-1 win over Australia today. His 80′ goal today, which turned out to be the match winner over the Socceroos,ย came courtesy of a VAR-assisted penalty. Going back to The Guardian, who write that Pogba:
“was able to pause with his arms outstretched in vague uncertainty for just a few seconds before the signal came that he could celebrate his deflected shot bouncing down off the crossbar and over that white line.”
Perhaps no single individual player has been more exceedingly scrutinized than Pogba in the lead-up to this World Cup. Perhaps this will be indeed be his tournament and he can put the critics to bed, once and for all.
Paul M. Banks runsย The Sports Bank.netย and TheBank.News, which is partnered withย News Now.ย Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.comย andย Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly toย WGN CLTV andย Chicago Now.
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