Latest news with #striker
CBC
12 hours ago
- Sport
- CBC
Jonathan David's artistry whetting the appetite of Canadian soccer fans a year out from 2026 World Cup
Top strikers are architects. They are builders and engineers. They see an empty space, and they imagine the most beautiful way to fill it. They see possibility, and they turn it into something true. Jonathan David is the greatest striker in the history of the Canadian men's program. He's 25 years old, and he's scored more goals than anyone who has come before him. In Saturday's emphatic win over Ukraine in Toronto, he scored two more, the 33rd and 34th of his national-team career. The first was workmanlike, an object of his desire and efficiency: right place, right time. The second was a masterpiece, a product of his artistry. On Sunday, David, at the start of the most critical year of his professional life, sat down for an exclusive interview with CBC at the team's downtown hotel. He isn't a towering physical specimen, a monster masquerading as a man. He's quiet and contained. When so many of the world's best strikers are characters, the flamboyant giants of the game, he's almost remarkably unremarkable. "I'm a calm guy," he said. "I don't really go out that much. I prefer to stay in my room, just relaxing." WATCH | Jonathan David scores twice, Canada downs Ukraine at Canadian Shield: Jonathan David scores twice, Canada downs Ukraine at Canadian Shield 2 days ago Duration 2:32 That was before he was asked about his gorgeous goal, and he talked about what it takes to make something beautiful. David's vision is his gift, the reason he will join a top European side this summer after five years at Lille of France's Ligue 1. Saturday's demonstration will only improve his prospects. The thought of it made him shine. "This one was…" He didn't finish his sentence. He stopped to smile, and then he went back to the beginning, with Tajon Buchanan outside the 18-yard box, looking to curl in a cross. "I don't know exactly where Tajon is going to get the ball," he said in the present tense, the way so many athletes do when they remember their finest moments. "I'm just running into an area where maybe he's going to land it." David knows that every monument has its foundation, which in his case means cutting in front of his defender. He did that, too. He used his experience and discipline to set himself up for a chance, ten yards in front of the Ukrainian goal. He also took note of the goalkeeper's position, shading a little to David's right. David's decision to aim left was less a thought than an instantaneous calculation. "It's almost instinct," he said. " This is where I have to put it." The hardest part of the process came next. He knew what he wanted to do. Now he had to do it. The same is true for his ascendant Canadian side, for everyone involved in making next summer's World Cup something glorious, something singular. For the first time, Canada, along with the U.S. and Mexico, will co-host the biggest sporting event on Earth. It's a massive undertaking, with every kind of potential, and every possible outcome. BMO Field, the stage for David's latest heroics, is a construction site, with a construction site's rough assembly of ambition and nerves. Exactly a year before Canada's men kick off their World Cup campaign on the same field, two of four new videoboards are up. Gates are under renovation. The space for 17,000 additional seats has been cleared but none of them are in place. The dream is half-built. It will, in soccer and in life, come down to the finish. David ducked under Buchanan's perfect delivery, and the ball glanced off the top of his head. In different circumstances, that touch might have been a mistake — a soft effort, an imperfect collision. But David meant to do what he did. "The intention was to put it on that side," he said. The ball floated toward the top corner, inches inside the post. He turned to watch its flight. The goalkeeper, rooted to his spot, watched it with him. David hadn't needed to do anything dramatic. It was enough that he did the unexpected. The goal that, a half-second before, had been something only he could see, now belonged to every Canadian soccer fan, as if a promise he'd made to himself had become a prophecy for the rest of us. Jonathan David returned to his first thought and finished his sentence.
BBC News
2 days ago
- Sport
- BBC News
'Livingston will listen to offers amid Yengi interest'
Tete Yengi looks to be heading for a summer exit from Livingston, with the striker on the radar of several clubs south of the border and the promoted club prepared to listen to offers for the 24-year-old who is contracted until next summer. (Sunday Mail), externalRead Sunday's Scottish Gossip in full.
The Sun
3 days ago
- Sport
- The Sun
Arsenal transfer news LIVE: Gunners ‘make contact' with Rogers, Rodrygo wage demands revealed, Martinelli exit possible
Isak tipped for Arsenal Jamie O'Hara has claimed that Arsenal should sign Newcastle star Aleksander Isak over Viktor Gyokeres or Benjamin Sesko. He told Grosvenor Sport: 'The obvious position to strengthen for Arsenal is a striker – they need to get one in. 'They need someone big and strong who can get them 20 goals a season. For me, Kai Havertz just isn't the man for the job. 'Alexander Isak, Viktor Gyokeres or Benjamin Sesko are the obvious choices in the striker department for them. However, the trouble with strikers who come over from other leagues is that they fail to hit the ground running – particularly players from the Bundesliga and Liga Portugal. There's a massive difference between playing there and in the Premier League. 'I think clubs should be buying Premier League proven players who have been doing it week in, week out already. That's why I think Manchester United have been quite clever by signing Bryan Mbuemo and Matheus Cunha – we all know they're going to work for them. 'With that in mind, if I were Arsenal, I'd go and get Isak. I know it will be hard because Newcastle are in the Champions League, but Arsenal are a bigger club than Newcastle and could definitely tempt him.'
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Lee Carsley vows to get 'creative' after losing Liam Delap - as Chelsea's £30m man snubs England for Club World Cup
If anyone can answer the question as to what England do in the striker department after Harry Kane, it is probably Lee Carsley. Not just because in two of his six games in charge of the senior team he started without Kane and not just because he has worked closely with Liam Delap, viewed inside the FA as the most likely successor over the long term. But also because Carsley can see the way English football is trending towards having a smorgasbord of attacking midfielders, No 10s and wingers, with fewer traditional No 9s coming through. Kane turns 32 next month and is in no real jeopardy of not being the main man for Thomas Tuchel at the 2026 World Cup. Ollie Watkins, Dominic Solanke, Ivan Toney and Delap are battling out to be his understudy. They have 27 senior caps between them, 18 of which belong to Watkins. A lack of emerging options at No 9 is nothing new to Carsley. He started without a recognised striker in the 2-1 defeat by Greece last November with the seniors, while he jetted off to the European Under 21 Championship last night with only one recognised striker, Jay Stansfield, in his 23-man squad. It is an approach he sees as a creativity exercise, a chance to mix things up just as he did when England won the Euro Under 21 title two years ago with one striker, Cameron Archer, in the group. Folarin Balogun was declared for Team USA on the eve of the Euros, despite being England eligible and a genuine option to go. This time around, Delap's £30million switch to Chelsea saw his commitment switch from the Euros to the Club World Cup. 'We have to be creative with our team selection and the way we try to get the players into the team,' Carsley said. 'Obviously, not trying to replace like for like, but trying to play to the players' strengths, and we can do that.' In the final preparation game, against Portugal back in March, Carsley let us into his thinking by playing two No 10s off Omari Hutchinson as a false nine. Harvey Elliott, England's top scorer in qualifying for the Euros, was off the left with 18-year-old Arsenal talent Ethan Nwaneri off the right. Fluidity, pace and trickery was the order of business and similar can be expected in Slovakia. 'There's no point in me trying to do what we've just done in the past and expect it just to work,' Carsley said. 'It's important we try to get the best out of every player that we've got. That will mean playing differently. 'That's not the way I want to play, but it's the way that best suits the players. It's important we're creative if we're going to win major tournaments. If we're going to win, we have to make sure we're out of the comfort zone, and I include myself in that.' As creative as Carsley plans to get — and he gave every impression this Euro title defence could include various systems and various players in new or relatively new roles — there is a striker to fall back on in Stansfield. Having watched him drop down to League One in a £15million switch to Birmingham before winning promotion, Carsley knows the moment will not be too big for Stansfield if and when he is asked to put the team on his back. 'Even when Jay plays as a nine, you see him wander out to the left in terms of that inside pocket. That's a position he can play for us,' he said. 'I've seen him play wide as well, I've seen him play as a nine on his own. He's had a good season at Birmingham. 'One of the big things for me is the pressure he's had to deal with. Paid a lot of money for him, got that promotion, scored a lot of goals. Him bringing that to this squad is a big thing for us.' No Delap, no nine most likely, but no worries for Carsley.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Arsenal Q&A - transfer special: YOUR questions answered - what's really going on with Martin Zubimendi? Will Arsenal sign Benjamin Sesko, Viktor Gyokeres, or both? And is Thomas Partey heading for the exit?
Arsenal's transfer needs are glaring - a striker to put the ball in the back of the net. A misfiring attack, and a lack of investment in it since Leandro Trossard joined two and a half years ago - Kai Havertz arrived six months later but was initially signed as a midfielder - ended up costing Arsenal last season.
