Mighty England
Saturday, 30 July 1966, may be 56 years ago but, for hat-trick hero Sir Geoff Hurst, England’s FIFA World Cup final victory over West Germany seems like only yesterday. He recalls the memorable day of England’s World Cup win on West Ham‘s website. And tomorrow England women could again win silverware at Wembley against Germany in the Euro final!
The West Ham United legend made history when he fired three goals past Hans Tilkowski to become the first and only player to net a treble in the biggest game in football.
The now 80-year-old says he will always be proud of the part he played in England’s greatest-ever footballing achievement.
Rapid weiter!
Mit einem 2:1 (2:0)-Auswärtssieg in Danzig steigt Rapid nach der Nullnummer im eigenen Stadion in die 3. Qualifikationsrunde der Conference League auf. Tore: Nicolas Kühn und Marco Grüll (Elfmeter).
Der Gegner in der 3. Qualifikationsrunde wird Neftci Baku PFC sein. Der Klub aus Aserbaidschan hat Aris Limassol nach einen 0:2 im ersten Match im Rückspiel 3:0 besiegt und ist damit in die nächste Runde, die schon in den beiden kommenden Wochen gespielt wird, aufgestiegen. Das erste Spiel findet am 4. August in Baku statt. Schon am Dienstag vorher, dem 2. August, 14 Uhr, werden die Play-Offs für die Teilnahme an der Gruppenphase ausgelost.
Es bleibt möglich, dass Rapid und West Ham auch in dieser Europacup-Saison wieder aufeinander treffen. West Ham steigt erst am 18./25. August in den Play-Offs in den Bewerb ein. Hoffen wir, dass Rapid und WHU in der Auslosung gesetzt sind, damit sie nicht schon in den Play-Offs aufeinander treffen können.
Wembley, 56 Years After
56 years after the World Cup 1966, England could again play Germany in a final at Wembley. The Lionesses defeated Sweden 4-0 in Thursday’s semifinal in Sheffield. On Wednesday France and Germany will meet in the second semifinal of the Euro 2022 at Milton Keynes.
The final will take place on Sunday evening!
The English women’s team have so far twice reached a Euro final, but are yet to win one. In 1984 they lost a two-legged final against Sweden in the penalty shootout, and in 2009 they lost 2:6 to Germany in Helsinki.
The men’s team have lost last year’s final at Wembley to Italy in a penalty shootout, and in 1996 the Three Lions were eliminated in the semifinal at the same venue (old Wembley Stadium) by Germany, also in a penalty shootout.
▶️ www.bbc.com/sport/football/62286243
▶️ England turn on the style to thrash Sweden and reach Euro 2022 final – live reaction
Italian Striker To West Ham
Gianluca Scamacca (23) who stands at a formidable 6ft 5in (1,95m) tall, was reportedly a target for Paris Saint-Germain earlier this summer. He scored 16 goals in 36 appearances in Serie A for U.S. Sassuolo last season and was the second-highest Italian scorer in Serie A. Scamacca will cost an initial £30.5m according to the BBC.
Amid ongoing uncertainty in their pursuit of Chelsea striker Armando Broja, West Ham set their sights on Scamacca. The striker was born in Rome and started to play at Lazio, before he joined A.S. Roma, PSV Eindhoven and in 2017 Sassuolo. He has seven caps for Italy and is said to be one of the most promising striker talents in Europe! And with Scamacca’s ruthless, clinical presence in front of goal West Ham could be a completely different animal next season. But of course, as every player new to English football, Gianluca will need some time to settle in and adjust to the English game.
The 23-year-old is yet to agree personal terms and have his medical at West Ham though.
West Ham had hoped to boost their attacking firepower with the signing of free agent Jesse Lingard, but missed out on the former Manchester United player when he chose to move to Nottingham Forest instead. A day after this disappointment, the signing of Italian striker Scamucca would be good news for the West Ham faithful.
David Moyes has regained his humour already and joked when he was asked about Lingard rejecting West Ham, ahead of the Hammers‘ penultimate pre-season test at Luton:
“Who’s that?“
“Listen, Jesse made his decision, I tried, I wanted him but he wanted Jlingz on the back of his shirt, he’s a kid.“
“I didn’t stand for that, I’m about winning games, not winning on social media. “
As well as a new striker, the Hammers are now also keen on signing Eintracht Frankfurt wide player Filip Kostic.
Update: https://www.whufc.com/news/west-ham-united-sign-italy-international-centre-forward-gianluca-scamacca
Wien – Permanenz einer Stadt
Max Hollein, Museumsdirektor in New York, sehr trefflich über Wien in „Die Zeit“:
Max Hollein wurde als Sohn des Architekten Hans Hollein und seiner Frau Helene Hollein 1969 in Wien geboren. Er studierte Betriebswirtschaft an der Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien und Kunstgeschichte an der Universität Wien. Schon in den Neunzigerjahren zog er nach New York. Seither Museumsdirektor in USA und Deutschland. Im August 2018 übernahm Hollein die Leitung des Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Ende der Jesse Lingard-Saga
Nottingham Forest sticht West Ham mit lukrativer 235.000-Euro pro Woche-Offerte aus!
— Weiterlesen: www.transfermarkt.at/lingard-schliesst-sich-aufsteiger-nottingham-an–west-ham-mit-lukrativem-gehalt-ausgestochen/view/news/408272
Rapid Sunset
Was für eine schöne Abendstimmung, als die Sonne hinter der Westtribüne im Allianz Stadion untergeht. Weniger schön ist dagegen der Endstand des Spiels gegen Gdańsk – nur 0:0 im Hinspiel der 2. Qualifikationsrunde für die Europa Conference League.
Nächsten Donnerstag in Danzig muss Rapid, anders als an diesem Abend, seine Torchancen verwerten! Sonst geht die Sonne über der Europacup-Saison 2022/23 für Rapid schon unter, bevor diese richtig begonnen hat.
Und das wäre wahrlich kein schöner Sonnenuntergang!
PS: Noch schlechter endet der Abend für Österreichs Fußball-Frauen. 0:2 in Brentford gegen Deutschland bedeutet den Abschied von der EM in England im Viertelfinale.
Important Day at Westminster
- Boris Johnson will face Keir Starmer in his last PMQs as prime minister at 12:00 – before Tory MPs decide which two candidates will compete to replace him.
- Leadership candidates Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt and Liz Truss face a final vote by Conservative MPs at 13:00 -15:00. The result is expected at 16:00
- Kemi Badenoch was knocked out of the contest on Tuesday afternoon and the 59 MPs that back her must now choose which of the final three to support
- Former chancellor Sunak was top in Tuesday’s ballot with 118 votes, while Mordaunt came second and Truss third.
- Rishi Sunak is widely expected to advance to the members’ ballot, but questions remain about whether will be joined by Liz Truss or Penny Mordaunt.
- The two winning candidates today will face a ballot of 160,000 Tory Party members, with the result due to be announced on 5 September
- Columnist Allison Pearson fears in The Telegraph that the final two would be Sunak vs Truss. “Vote for billionaire Rishi Sunak or painfully wooden Liz Truss, and you‘ll kill the party you love,” she writes and urges the MPs to vote for Penny Mordaunt, the third remaining candidate:
- “Tory MPs might think, for perfectly honourable reasons, that either of the two other, more experienced candidates would be a ‘safe’ bet. Quite the opposite is true, it seems to me,” says Allison Pearson. “In fact, my fear is that if either Rishi or Liz becomes Prime Minister then obliteration for our party at the general election in 2024 is practically guaranteed.”
- On the other hand, Penny Mordaunt is criticised for not being ready for office “on day one”. Lord Frost’s cutting critique of Penny Mordaunt suggests that she would not be the right person for the job of Prime Minister, but others claim that only she could win the next election for the Tories, and unite the UK in these difficult times.
Red Heat Warning for England
Britain is hit by its first-ever blast of 40C heat. The Times reports that the UK record for the highest temperature, 38.7C recorded in Cambridge in 2019, is likely to be broken according to forecasters. A national emergency has been declared and the Met Office has issued its first red extreme heat warning across a large part of England. The highest temperature forecasted for Austria this week is 36C (Wednesday), but temperatures of 41C could be reached by Sunday, 31 July, two-weeks-forecasts say.
Nikos Christidis, a Met Office scientist, said: “The chances of seeing 40C days in the UK could be as much as ten times more likely in the current climate than under a natural climate unaffected by human influence.”
Health chiefs have warned the “ferocious heat” predicted to hit the UK in the coming days will kill people. “This is serious heat that could actually, ultimately, end in people’s deaths because it is so ferocious. We’re just not set up for that sort of heat in this country.”
Pet owners have been warned to keep their animals safe by giving them access to plenty of water and somewhere cool out of the heat. Older and overweight pets, as well as animals with flat faces, such as French bulldogs and rabbits, are particularly at risk of heatstroke.
A reduced service will be in operation on the Tube, with Transport for London asking passengers to make only essential journeys. Only 40 per cent of Tube trains have air conditioning.
Disruption will extend past the hottest parts of each day as steel railway lines can heat up to 20C more than the air temperature, which risks tracks buckling. The rail network is engineered to cope with maximum temperatures of about 30C. A blanket speed limit is imposed at 35C, with localised restrictions at 30C.
Britain’s court system, which has a backlog of cases, will stay open despite the heat. HM Courts & Tribunals Service has issued guidance to staff with suggestions of how to keep buildings cool, which includes moving desks away from direct sunlight and open windows. HMCTS said it would continue to monitor the situation and may later strengthen the guidance. “We are doing everything within our control to maintain comfortable levels of cooling within the buildings on our estate,” it said.
Heatwaves could last throughout summer. Mainland Europe is also affected, with Spain recording temperatures as high as 37C by 7am last week. Parts of Spain and Portugal saw temperatures above 45C last week.
While heatwaves have always occurred in Britain — 1976 is an obvious example — climate scientists are confident that global warming is making them more extreme and more frequent.
Professor Hannah Cloke, natural hazards lecturer at the University of Reading, said: “This is a wake-up call for climate change.”
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