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Football Extras: Man City's De Bruyne set for spell out

March 03, 2019 18:10 IST

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Kevin de Bruyne

IMAGE:  Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne  reacts. Photograph: Andrew Yates/Reuters

Manchester City playmaker Kevin De Bruyne faces a spell on the sidelines after picking up a hamstring injury in Saturday's 1-0 Premier League win at Bournemouth, manager Pep Guardiola said.

De Bruyne was substituted in the first half of the game with his replacement Riyad Mahrez scoring the winner to help the champions take a two-point lead over Liverpool, who are in action at Everton on Sunday.

 

Defender John Stones was also taken off but the England international's problem is not as serious.

"Kevin will be out for a while with a muscular problem - hamstring. John I think is more precaution. We didn't take a risk, we'll see tomorrow," Guardiola told the British media.

De Bruyne was one of the standout performers for City last season with 12 goals and 21 assists in all competitions but he has struggled with knee injuries in the current campaign, making 14 league appearances.

Guardiola suggested City's busy schedule, as they compete for trophies in four competitions, has not helped.

"I think we've played 25 games in 93 days, one every three days, so it's a physiological issue," the Spaniard added. "The body is not able to recover so sometimes the muscle says 'hello, that's enough'.

"We don't give players time to recover. We play a game, then after, when they are not recovered, we play another game. There is only a short amount of time and it is very demanding. But everybody's committed and we'll wait for Kevin to come back."

City have 71 points from 29 games in the league.

Beckham salutes LA Galaxy and Los Angeles as statue unveiled

David Beckham

IMAGE: Detailed view of David Beckham statue at Legends Plaza at Dignity Health Sports Park. Photograph: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports/Reuters

David Beckham called his former team LA Galaxy his “family” and thanked Los Angeles for embracing him at the unveiling of his statue before the Major League Soccer club’s season-opener on Saturday.

The statue, a first for an MLS player, honours the former England captain who was the first big European name to join the league, boosting its popularity and paving the way for other global stars to make the leap.

Beckham won back-to-back championships in 2011 and 2012 during his six years and 98 appearances with the Galaxy.

“Our city, our home,” Beckham said outside the Galaxy’s home stadium, the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, before their opener against the Chicago Fire.

“From day one when my family arrived in this city, we felt at home and for that we will be forever grateful.

“When I talk about LA Galaxy and when I talk about LA, I talk about it as family because it is a big family.”

The statue unveiling came a day after Beckham helped open a soccer field for underprivileged youth in downtown Los Angeles.

Scrappy US 'need to learn quickly' after held 2-2 by England

The United States walked away from a 2-2 draw against England on Saturday at the SheBelieves Cup in Nashville knowing they have plenty to sort out before they set off on their World Cup title defence in June.

After opening the four-team tournament with a 2-2 draw against Japan on Wednesday, top-ranked United States again looked far from their best until the closing 15 minutes when they pushed for a winning goal that never came.

“Too many technical errors, too many tactical lapses and we are getting exposed for it,” said U.S. forward Megan Rapinoe.

“And onto the World Cup it’s only going to get worse. We need to learn from these things quickly.”

The United States opened the scoring in the 33rd minute after a poor clearing attempt from England fell right to Rapinoe at the top of the area and she wasted no time to smash a half volley inside the near post.

England drew level in the 36th minute when defender Steph Houghton curled a free kick that was just inside the far post and out of the reach of Adrianna Franch, who was making her first career start for the national team.

Source: REUTERS
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