Format: One group of ten teams, top four teams qualify, fifth place team moves to a playoff with New Zealand Qualified: Brazil Eliminated: Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador We are into the final matchday of CONMEBOL qualifying, and with everything to play for. Only one team (Brazil) is through, while only three others (Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia) are eliminated. That leaves seven other teams fighting for three automatic spots at the World Cup, with one more playing off against New Zealand for a ticket to Russia. The dates for those matches are yet to be confirmed but they will take place in November and the first leg will be at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington. Following are the final day fixtures and let's find out what each team
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FIFA Puskas Award Nominees 2017
Nemanja Matic and Olivier Giroud are among the stars in contention to be the scorer of the best goal over the past year. FIFA have revealed the 10-strong shortlist for the 2017 Puskas Award award, which features a couple of nods for the Premier League. The Puskas Award — named after legendary Real Madrid and Hungary striker Ferenc Puskas — has also shined a light on some lesser-known players, though, with Mohd Faiz Subri of Malaysian club Penang the reigning champion. Kevin-Prince Boateng, formerly of Portsmouth and AC Milan, finished a sublime team goal for Las Palmas back in October 2016, while there's a whole variation of sumptuous goals from the likes of Alejandro Camargo, Moussa Dembele, Aviles Hurtado, Deyna Castellanos, Oscarine Masuluke
Ins and outs of the top 6 Premier League clubs
Manchester United In: Romelu Lukaku (£75m from Everton) Nemanja Matic (£40m from Chelsea) Zlatan Ibrahimovic (free transfer) Victor Lindelof (£31m from Benfica) Out: Wayne Rooney (undisclosed to Everton) Zlatan Ibrahimovic (released) Adnan Januzaj (£8m to Real Sociedad) Josh Harrop (free transfer to Preston North End) Regan Poole (loan to Northampton) Dean Henderson (loan to Shrewsbury) Sam Johnstone (loan to Aston Villa) Devonte Redmond (loan to Scunthorpe United) Cameron Borthwick-Jackson (loan to Leeds) Timothy Fosu-Mensah (loan to Crystal Palace) Guillermo Varela (Undisclosed to Penarol) Matty Willock (loan to Utrecht) Chelsea In: Alvaro Morata (£58m from Real Madrid) Danny Drinkwater (£35m from Leicester City) Antonio Rudiger (£34m from AS Roma) Tiemoue Bakayoko (£39.7m from Monaco) Willy Caballero (free from Manchester City) Kylian Hazard (Undisclosed from Ujpest) Davide Zappacosta (Undisclosed from Torino) Out: Nemanja Matic (£40m to Manchester United) John Terry (free to Aston Villa) Juan Cuadrado (undisclosed to Juventus) Nathan Ake (£20m to Bournemouth) Kurt
Daily Football Summary 29th August 2017
RB Leipzig midfielder Naby Keita joins Liverpool on a deal that sees him become the Reds' club record signing. He will join the club next summer as Liverpool have paid a premiem and will pay his reported £48m release clause next summer. Sky Sports understand Chelsea have agreed a fee of around £35m with Arsenal for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Arsenal have denied claims Alexis Sanchez has handed in a transfer request Sky Sports claim Monaco have rejected two bids from Liverpool for Thomas Lemar. Leaked photos on Twitter show that Stevan Jovetic will wear Monaco's no.10 shirt, meaning that Kylian Mbappe is indeed leaving. Borussia Dortmund sign Andriy Yarmolenko on a 4-year deal from Dynamo Kiev for reported €30m
Daily News Summary 19th August 2017
BBC Reports Liverpool have rejected a new bid of €125m from Barca for Coutinho Liverpool have rejected a third bid from Barcelona for Philippe Coutinho - believed to be in the region of £114m(€125). Bayern 3-1 Leverkusen: Debutants Sule and Tolisso net in Bundesliga opener Bayern Munich opened their latest Bundesliga title defence with a 3-1 win against Bayer Leverkusen on Friday at a wet Allianz Arena. Debutants Niklas Sule and Corentin Tolisso gave Bayern an early two-goal lead. Robert Lewandowski then scored a penalty, before Admir Mehmedi hit back. Conte laughs off Costa complaints: It's funny - but now he's in the past! The former Juventus boss has responded to claims that the Blues are pricing their striker out of a move with humour rather than anger. Chelsea
Danilo Luiz da Silva Player Analysis
Born in Bicas in 1991, Danilo started at Belo Horizonte-based side America Mineiro when he was 12, and working his way through the Club’s youth system winning the Campeonato Brasileno de Serie C (third tier) title before joining Santos in 2010. Full name Danilo Luiz da Silva, he was reportedly "inseperabale" from Neymar at Santos, and scored the decisive goal from central midfield in the 2-1 win against Penarol in the 2011 Copa Libertadores final. Porto decided to splash out 13m euros for Danilo in January 2012, and at the time was the club's second most expensive signing ever. He won the Under-20 World Cup with Brazil in 2011, and was part of the Brazil team that won the silver medal at London
Álvaro Morata Player Analysis
Morata is now Chelsea's record signing and the most expensive Spanish player in history after completing a £70 million switch from Real Madrid. The 24-year-old striker will be charged with filling the void left by Diego Costa's expected departure at Stamford Bridge. Álvaro Borja Morata Martín was born in the Spanish Capital itself; the city of Madrid. From an early age, Morata was obsessed with football. Morata’s love affair with football started at a time when the size of the ball was bigger than him. As revealed by Morata’s family; the young Spaniard had the ball with him at breakfast, lunch and dinner. He even slept with ball and brought it to class with him. At the tender age of 13, Morata had
Tiemoue Bakayoko Player Analysis
Midfield powerhouse Tiemoue Bakayoko has become one of the biggest stars in world football after his £39.4million move to Chelsea. But less than 3 years ago, his career was going very much in the opposite direction. Bakayoko's road to recognition has never been straighforward. Considered a bright talent in his childhood, he was hugely disappointed when rejected by the famous Clairefontaine academy; then to make matters worse he broke his leg, which left Rennes as the only club still interested in signing him. His ability was rated highly in Breton, but his attitude was far from perfect, and off-field issues delayed his first-team debut. It was only at the age of 19, when Philippe Montanier surprisingly left Real Sociedad to replace Frederic Antonetti
Antonio Rudiger Player Analysis
CHELSEA have completed the £34million signing of Roma star Antonio Rudiger . The centre-back joins the Premier League champions on a five-year deal and will wear the No.2 shirt next season. Born in the German capital Berlin to a German father and Sierra Leonean mother Rudiger would have been eligible to represent both countries but has gone on to play for the country of his birth. He grew up on the streets of Berlin & played for a number of youth teams in Berlin before joining Borussia Dortmund aged 15 in 2008. But after three years of development, Dortmund decided to let him go to Stuttgart, and that's where he made his breakthrough. Rudiger first served his time playing for Stuttgart's second team in
Alexandre Lacazette Player Analysis
Born on 28 May 1991 in Lyon, Lacazette’s family are originally from Guadeloupe in Caribbean. Alexandre Lacazette started playing football at the age of seven at his local club Elan sportif in the 8th arrondissement of Lyon. He came through the ranks at Lyon being compared to club legend Sonny Anderson, a Brazilian striker who won the French league twice at the Parc OL. The 26-year-old's development followed a typical path for a young player: he was neither a teenage prodigy nor an Ian Wright-style 'late developer'. He first broke into double figures for league goals in the 2013-14 with 15 in 36 starts and turned 23 at the end of that campaign - the age at which Wenger has said attackers start to