Search: 'Ajax'

Sunday 1 England beat Moldova 3-0. "We came here with a few banana skins lying about and sidestepped them," says Glenn, whose metaphors might need a bit of working on.

Tuesday 3 Sheff Wed extend their lead at the top to five points after a 2-1 home win over Leicester, the first of their two coming from 'teenage sensation' Richie Humphreys who now has three in four games. "He came, he saw, and (guess…) he conquered," says David Pleat.

Wednesday 4 Never a dull moment for George Graham. Both he and Frank Clark are to help Norwegian police with their enquiries into the business activities of agent provocateur Rune Hauge, facing jail on fraud charges. Colchester stage the come back of the night in the Coke Cup First Round – 3-2 down from the first leg they win 3-1 at West Brom. Southend lose 3-2 on aggregate to Fulham and Reading's first-ever visit to Wycombe ends in a 2-0 defeat. Internazionale's Nwankwo Kanu may have to retire due to a heart condition spotted during a medical following his move to Milan from Ajax.

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This Italian season is different from its predecessors in at least one significant resepct. Filippo Ricci reports

Castel di Sangro is a village in the centre of Italy. Not far from Rome, heading east, lost in the mountains. There are 5,635 inhabitants. There is a football stadium, obviously, named Teofilo Patini, that can hold 2,100 people. At the end of last season Castel di Sangro were promoted to the second division, Serie B. Never in the history of Italian football has a small village team got so high up the league. When they beat Ascoli away in the final of the promotion playoff, the entire population waited to greet the team on their return.

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Thursday 1 The US win the women's football tournament at the Olympics, beating China… Patrik Berger finally signs for Liverpool after weeks of negotiations, the sticking point being whether he would be contractually obliged to go nightclubbing with Robbie 'n' Jamie 'n' Macca every Saturday. Terry Venables declines an offer to become joint owner of Portsmouth, saying that the club will need to clear their debts before he is prepared to get involved. There's a joke in there somewhere.

Friday 2 Blackburn deny that they are about to spend a hefty wedge of the Shearer money on Ajax's Patrick Kluivert. So a deal must be imminent. Celtic are fined £42,000 for dealing with an unlicensed agent, Bruce Rioch's brother, Neil, when buying Alan Stubbs from Bolton, and Stubbs is also fined. Hove Council vote against Brighton's plans to build a new stadium and shopping complex at, ahem, Toad's Hole Valley. Brighton chairman Bill Archer says that a groundshare with Portsmouth now seems likely for 1997-98 (assuming, of course that Portsmouth are still in existence).

Saturday 3 Nigeria become the first African team to win an Olympic gold, beating Argentina 3-2 with a goal from Emmanuel Amunike in the last minute. Brazil have to make do with the bronze after a 5-0 win over Portugal.

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Simon Kuper and Rutger Slagter explain why the upheaval in the Dutch squad following Euro '96 may not be quite what it seemed

“Kabel” is the new word in Dutch football. The kabel (cabal in English) people are talking about has four members, all of them black Dutchmen: Edgar Davids, Clarence Seedorf, Patrick Kluivert and Michael Reiziger. Winston Bogarde also wants to be in the kabel, but he can’t because he’s too old, not good enough at football, and wears too much jewellry.

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David Tindall explains how Yorkshire took on a continental feel for Euro '96

Leeds was a happy host city during Euro ’96. With official banners adorning every lamppost, a gigantic football outside the town hall and the flags of the four competing nations flying outside the Queen’s Hotel in the city centre, it wasn’t hard to realize that something unique was happening.

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