Former Tottenham defender Vertonghen to retire
"Not only towards the fans and my fellow players, but also towards myself. That is why I will be stopping after this season."Vertonghen joined Spurs from Ajax, where he won the Eredivisie and Dutch Cup twice, and after leaving north London he won the Portuguese league with Benfica.
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South Wales Guardian
4 hours ago
- South Wales Guardian
She's amazing – Chloe Kelly thanks Sarina Wiegman for ‘giving her hope'
The Lionesses, defending the crown they won three summers ago in the Wembley final, made it a hat-trick of knockout-round comebacks on Sunday night after Alessia Russo cancelled out Arsenal team-mate Mariona Caldentey's opener to ultimately force a shootout. Substitute Kelly – who netted the extra-time winner in the Euro 2022 final – cooly converted after Hannah Hampton made two spectacular saves and Salma Paralluelo missed, writing more personal history and a satisfying ending to a fairy-tale 2025, one that began with the 27-year-old doubting if she would even make this squad. Made for the big moments ✨ — Lionesses (@Lionesses) July 27, 2025 'She's amazing,' said Kelly, asked about a coach who has now led teams to three consecutive European trophies. 'She is an incredible woman. What she's done for this country, we should all be so grateful. What she has done for me individually, she gave me hope when I probably didn't have any, and she gave me an opportunity to represent my country again.' At the beginning of this year, Kelly was still at Manchester City, lacking playing time, and so unhappy that she took to social media to express her wish to leave the club and a situation she shared at the time had 'a huge impact on not only my career but my mental wellbeing', even considering whether or not she wanted to stay in the game. Kelly was left out of Sarina Wiegman's first squad due to a lack of minutes after securing a deadline-day loan move to Arsenal but was called up as an injury replacement in February and has enjoyed revelatory tournament, cementing herself as the most superlative of English super-subs. 'There were a lot of tears at full time,' said Kelly, 'Especially when I saw my family, because they are the people that got me through those dark moments and I am so grateful to be out the back end. If that's a story to tell someone who might be experiencing the same, then tough times don't last. 'Right around the corner was the Champions League final, I won that, and now a Euros final. 'So thank you to everyone who wrote me off. I'm grateful.' Kelly was rewarded with a permanent deal at Arsenal after her impressive loan spell. She added: 'I knew that I had to get game time, and representing England is never a given,' said Kelly. 'But what (Sarina) has done for the women's game, not just in England, but in the Netherlands, the whole women's game, she's taken it to another level.' It was Kelly's cross that teed up Russo for the 57th-minute equaliser on Sunday, and it was her deliveries that allowed Lucy Bronze and Michelle Agyemang to level late in their quarter-final with Sweden, ultimately setting up their first dramatic shootout. Kelly's composed spot-kick was an anomaly in that error-strewn afair, and – though she revealed after Sunday's trophy lift that she had missed three penalties in training – she stepped up and fired home with the same remarkable composure again in the final, once again bearing the weight of England's expectations. Asked if Kelly's coolness was even coachable, Wiegman said: 'I think it's a little bit of both. It says something about the team environment and it says a lot about her character. Everyone brings something different, and she brings this.' Wiegman added: 'Every player has their own story, and I think every story is incredible on its own, but for her most of the stories are out in the open. 'I'm so happy for her. She has been fighting to come back and be at her highest level. She just wanted to take that penalty and celebrate and dance, but to be able to score that penalty under that pressure is very impressive.'
Times
5 hours ago
- Times
Max Verstappen slams 80-minute rain delay – but George Russell backs FIA
George Russell said it 'isn't racing, it's just stupidity' to suggest the FIA was wrong to delay the Belgium Grand Prix due to rain. The Spa-Francorchamps circuit is one of the most dangerous on the calendar, but Max Verstappen said the race was 'ruined' after an 80-minute rain delay without cars on track, and a further ten behind the safety car. McLaren secured a one-two in the grand prix which began on a wet track but was predominantly dry. Oscar Piastri overtook Lando Norris on the first racing lap — with the leader disadvantaged without a slipstream. The move effectively won Piastri the race. While the cars lined up on the grid, teams were erecting gazebos as a sudden shower hit the track. Drivers reported poor visibility on the formation lap behind the safety car, so the start was delayed. It is the spray from the cars which is the main issue, rather than the standing water or grip itself from the intermediate or wet tyres. 'As a racer, you always want to get going,' said Mercedes driver Russell, who finished fifth. 'You love driving in the rain. But the fact is, when you're doing over 200 miles an hour out of Eau Rouge, you literally cannot see anything, you may as well have a blindfold on. It isn't racing, it's just stupidity.' Anthoine Hubert, the F2 driver, died aged 22 in a crash at this circuit in 2019, while Dilano van 't Hoff died in a multi-car crash in the rain in a Freca race here in 2023. Frustration remains at the length of the delays when rain occurs in Formula 1 races, and the idea of wet tyres essentially being made redundant because of the spray. There is hope that next year's new regulations could mean slightly less spray is produced from the back of the cars. It was not an afternoon which produced great interest for the television fan, or those who had braved the weather in Belgium. Drivers spent an hour and 20 minutes twiddling their thumbs in the garage, as a heavier rain shower on the radar prevented the FIA starting the race in a brief dry period. Eventually it stopped by 4.20pm local time with the race resuming behind the safety car. 'Yeah [it could have started] miles earlier, I mean one hour earlier,' Verstappen said. 'It was a bit of a shame, they [the FIA] took a more cautious approach. Of course, we spoke about it after Silverstone to be a little more cautious because there was quite a lot of water there, but this for me it was the other extreme. It just ruined a nice classic wet race as well.' Verstappen and Red Bull had added downforce to his car ahead of qualifying, predicting wet weather conditions. He likely would have had more grip than his rivals if the race had got underway in the rain. Instead, the new normal for Red Bull without Christian Horner, their long-serving former team principal and CEO, was rather similar to the old one; Verstappen did not have the pace to challenge the McLarens and was stuck behind the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc in third, with Verstappen eventually finishing fourth. The most notable difference was perhaps on the grid, with Verstappen's father Jos — who had been openly critical of Horner — relaxed and stood alongside new team principal Laurent Mekies. It was the first grand prix in 405 events (and Red Bull's entire race history) that Horner had not attended. On lap five, racing began in earnest with a rolling start after Norris, on pole, was one of those to report on the radio that one side of the grid was drier than the other, suggesting a standing start would not be fair. It did him little favour though — as having used much of his battery pack on the restart, he was easily passed by his team-mate Piastri on the Kemmel Straight. 'A bit lively up over the hill,' was the calm Australian's verdict. Piastri extended his championship lead to 16 points so won't mind the lack of activity, barely even given a fright by his team-mate, on the harder compound tyre, who again made mistakes running wide in his eagerness to close the gap. Norris was perhaps always going to struggle, with Piastri joking after qualifying that it might have been to his advantage that he could not beat the Briton on Saturday given the benefit of the slipstream. In the wet conditions it is impossible to drive through Eau Rouge flat out, but Norris admitted his team-mate had 'committed a bit more', holding his nerve to take the lead. That forced Norris to opt for an alternative strategy, selecting the hard compound in the hope he would be able to reach the chequered flag, while Piastri could struggle on the medium. Instead, the championship leader calmly managed his tyres, while Norris again made mistakes as he pushed to the limit to close the gap. The battle promised much but fizzled out in the closing laps as it became clear Piastri had too much of an advantage. 'I got a good exit out of turn 1 and then lifted as little as I dared through Eau Rouge and it worked out pretty well. We had it mostly under control after that,' Piastri said. It was a role reversal on his fortunes in the sprint race earlier in the weekend, where he was the pole sitter and was passed by Verstappen on the Kemmel Straight. Lewis Hamilton produced an excellent recovery drive to finish seventh, having started in 18th. He perfectly timed the crucial decision to switch from intermediate tyres to slicks on lap 11 but still apologised to his team on the radio for mistakes earlier in the weekend. Hamilton had very little to lose after what he described as a 'weekend to forget', having spun his car in sprint qualifying, finishing 15th in that short-format race, and then been eliminated from the first session of main qualifying after exceeding track limits at Raidillon. He called it an 'unacceptable' individual error.
Powys County Times
5 hours ago
- Powys County Times
She's amazing – Chloe Kelly thanks Sarina Wiegman for ‘giving her hope'
Chloe Kelly thanked her detractors and said England boss Sarina Wiegman 'gave me hope when I didn't have any' after she fired home the winning penalty in their Euro 2025 final triumph over Spain in Switzerland. The Lionesses, defending the crown they won three summers ago in the Wembley final, made it a hat-trick of knockout-round comebacks on Sunday night after Alessia Russo cancelled out Arsenal team-mate Mariona Caldentey's opener to ultimately force a shootout. Substitute Kelly – who netted the extra-time winner in the Euro 2022 final – cooly converted after Hannah Hampton made two spectacular saves and Salma Paralluelo missed, writing more personal history and a satisfying ending to a fairy-tale 2025, one that began with the 27-year-old doubting if she would even make this squad. Made for the big moments ✨ — Lionesses (@Lionesses) July 27, 2025 'She's amazing,' said Kelly, asked about a coach who has now led teams to three consecutive European trophies. 'She is an incredible woman. What she's done for this country, we should all be so grateful. What she has done for me individually, she gave me hope when I probably didn't have any, and she gave me an opportunity to represent my country again.' At the beginning of this year, Kelly was still at Manchester City, lacking playing time, and so unhappy that she took to social media to express her wish to leave the club and a situation she shared at the time had 'a huge impact on not only my career but my mental wellbeing', even considering whether or not she wanted to stay in the game. Kelly was left out of Sarina Wiegman's first squad due to a lack of minutes after securing a deadline-day loan move to Arsenal but was called up as an injury replacement in February and has enjoyed revelatory tournament, cementing herself as the most superlative of English super-subs. 'There were a lot of tears at full time,' said Kelly, 'Especially when I saw my family, because they are the people that got me through those dark moments and I am so grateful to be out the back end. If that's a story to tell someone who might be experiencing the same, then tough times don't last. 'Right around the corner was the Champions League final, I won that, and now a Euros final. 'So thank you to everyone who wrote me off. I'm grateful.' Kelly was rewarded with a permanent deal at Arsenal after her impressive loan spell. She added: 'I knew that I had to get game time, and representing England is never a given,' said Kelly. 'But what (Sarina) has done for the women's game, not just in England, but in the Netherlands, the whole women's game, she's taken it to another level.' It was Kelly's cross that teed up Russo for the 57th-minute equaliser on Sunday, and it was her deliveries that allowed Lucy Bronze and Michelle Agyemang to level late in their quarter-final with Sweden, ultimately setting up their first dramatic shootout. Kelly's composed spot-kick was an anomaly in that error-strewn afair, and – though she revealed after Sunday's trophy lift that she had missed three penalties in training – she stepped up and fired home with the same remarkable composure again in the final, once again bearing the weight of England's expectations. Asked if Kelly's coolness was even coachable, Wiegman said: 'I think it's a little bit of both. It says something about the team environment and it says a lot about her character. Everyone brings something different, and she brings this.' Wiegman added: 'Every player has their own story, and I think every story is incredible on its own, but for her most of the stories are out in the open. 'I'm so happy for her. She has been fighting to come back and be at her highest level. She just wanted to take that penalty and celebrate and dance, but to be able to score that penalty under that pressure is very impressive.'
