Chile to face USA as part of Copa preparations

Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea has been handed a senior Spain call-up by coach Vicente del Bosque.

The 22-year-old could make his debut for his national side when Spain host Finland in a World Cup qualifier in Gijon before travelling to France four days later.

Despite criticism of the Manchester United defence this season, the young goalkeeper has impressed at times this season, particularly against Real Madrid in the Champions League, and appears to have caught the eye of his national team coach.

De Gea was handed his first call-up when he made the preliminary squad for Spain s successful Euro 2012 campaign but missed out on a place in the final squad.

The former Atletico youth product has represented Spain from Under-15 level up to Under-21 w…

Liverpool forward Darwin Nunez has pulled out of Uruguay s squad for their upcoming friendlies.

The 23-year-old had been included in Uruguay s squad for the games against Japan and South Korea on March 24 and 28 respectively.

However, the Uruguayan Football Association and Liverpool both announced on Friday that Nunez will not be linking up with his international team-mates.

According to reports from Uruguay, the former Benfica man is recovering from an ankle injury sustained in Wednesday s 1-0 loss at Real Madrid.

Nunez has 14 goals and four assists in 33 appearances in his first campaign at Anfield – only Mohamed Salah (33) has been directly involved in more goals among Liverpool players.

Uruguay have called up Club America forward Jonathan Ro…

Real Madrid were simply on another level to Eintracht Frankfurt, according to head coach Oliver Glasner, who nevertheless demanded his team find a way to improve further.

Glasner s Eintracht side were comfortably beaten 2-0 by the Champions League winners in the Super Cup on Wednesday.

David Alaba put Madrid ahead in the first half at Helsinki Olympic Stadium, before Karim Benzema netted midway through the second half to put the result to bed.

In the process, Benzema became Madrid s outright second-highest goalscorer, having scored 324 times for Los Blancos.

While Glasner did not believe his side delivered the special defensive performance he asked for before the game, he knows Madrid are a difficult team to match.

I think we improved from the l…

Hatem Ben Arfa claims he does not want to replace Zlatan Ibrahimovic as Paris Saint-Germain s star player following the Swede s departure to Manchester United.

Ibrahimovic was PSG s undisputed main man in recent years, but the experienced attacker opted to leave the Ligue 1 champions in favour of a move to Old Trafford.

Ben Arfa, meanwhile, joined PSG after a stellar campaign with Nice, but he is not thinking about individual success.

The star of PSG is the entire team, the technical staff and the club. There is no individual star, the 29-year-old told L Equipe.

You do not necessarily need one big superstar to have a great team. You only have to look at Atletico Madrid to realise that.

I do not want to be PSG s star man. I want to be part of a …

Could Frank de Boer succeed compatriot Ronald Koeman at Southampton?

Ronald Koeman’s impending move to Everton seems to have caused a major meltdown on the south coast. Southampton fans are suddenly sounding very bitter, claiming that their club is bigger than Everton.

If anybody has read my editorials on a regular basis over the past few years they will know that I have been massively impressed by the Saints.

However, for Saints fans to claim that they are the bigger club is like Aqua claiming they are bigger than Abba just because they have more recent hits, it’s ridiculous.

Big club or not

Sorry for all the good work done by the likes of Nigel Adkins, Mauricio Pochettino and of course Ronald Koeman, Southampton cannot come near the history…

Valencia midfielder David Silva, who has been sidelined for over three months due to an ankle injury that required surgery, has been called up for the club s match at home Saturday against Espanyol.

The 22-year-old, one of the best players in Spain s European championship winning squad this year, was operated on his left ankle in mid-September, one month after he picked up the injury.

I am feeling fine even though I am probably missing match fitness at the moment. But whether I play will depend on the coach, of course, he told sports daily Marca earlier on Friday.

I will be back to the way I was before the injury, if not better and I cannot wait to be able to help the team again, he added.

Silva sparked interest from clubs like Manchester United and …

FIFA Women s World Player of the Year Marta will no longer be playing for Swedish side Umea IK, as the club announced to have ended negotiations with the Brazilian forward.

The discussion regarding Marta s being, or not being, with Umea for the coming season has ended on our part, Umea said in a statement. Umea and Swedish women s football are losing their brightest shining star.

The 22-year-old Marta joined Umea from Santa Cruz ahead of the 2004 season, and helped the Swedish side win the UEFA Women s Cup the same year.

During Marta s stay in Sweden, Umea won four national championships, one cup and -other than winning the UEFA Women s Cup in 2004, also reached the final in 2007.

Marta also formed part of the Olympic teams that won silver medals at th…

Manchester United and Tottenham are Gareth Bale s only realistic options for a move back to the Premier League, says Ian Rush.

Bale looks to be out of favour at Real Madrid, having failed to establish himself in Los Blancos side since Zinedine Zidane made his return to the club.

The Wales forward was an unused substitute in Madrid s final-day defeat to Real Betis, with Zidane claiming afterwards he would not have brought the 29-year-old on even if he had more changes available.

Madrid have since spent big money on bringing in Eden Hazard to fill the void left by Cristiano Ronaldo, with Luka Jovic also joining from Eintracht Frankfurt to further bolster their attacking options.

Bale s future at the club looks firmly in doubt, though his agent has suggeste…

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer labelled Manchester City the best team in England after Manchester United were drawn to face their rivals in the EFL Cup semi-finals.

Manchester United claimed a 3-0 win over Colchester United at Old Trafford on Wednesday to get through their last-eight meeting.

Solskjaer s men recorded an upset derby victory over City in the Premier League earlier this month and the teams will meet again across two legs in January.

The Norwegian said Pep Guardiola s men, who have won back-to-back Premier League titles but are off the pace this season, were England s best.

[They will be] fantastic days in Manchester. They re the best team in England and we re confident going into the semi-final, Solskjaer said.

A Manchester derby awaits in th…

A Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang brace proved enough to secure a 2-1 victory for Borussia Dortmund in their Bundesliga season opener against Mainz.

The 27-year-old scored 25 league goals for Thomas Tuchel s side last term and opened his account for the new campaign by heading home a cross from Andre Schurrle after17 minutes.

Schurrle was the most impressive of the four recent signings who started for the hosts, but Dortmund s victory was not an altogether convincing one.

Mainz, who finished sixth last season, more than matched Dortmund for long periods of the game and had it not been for a glaring miss from Christian Clemens early in the second half, may well have pulled level before Aubameyang added his second from the penalty spot with a minute left.

T…