Daily Schmankerl: World Cup recaps; Tolisso wants Liverpool (!?!); Lewy waiting on Conte decision; and MORE!

Sweden wins foul-fest against South Korea — Group E (BavarianFootballWorks.com)

Twenty fouls by Sweden, and twenty-three by South Korea—but the foul that made the difference was Kim Min-Woo’s late tackle on Viktor Claesson in Korea’s penalty area. The referee initially declined Sweden’s appeals for a penalty, but after consulting the video review made the right call: Andreas Granqvist coolly converted the penalty kick, giving Sweden a 1-0 victory and a crucial three points, putting them at the top of Group F alongside Mexico.

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— John N. Dillon

Harry Kane heads England to World Cup glory against... Tunisia — Group G (BavarianFootballWorks.com)

Arguably the match of the day: plucky Tunisia managed to rebound after going down a goal by drawing a penalty against mighty England, birthland of soccer—err, “football.” Kyle Walker made contact with Fakhreddine Ben Youssef in the penalty area, and when Ben Youssef hit the ground the referee whistled for a penalty. Ferjani Sassi converted, and suddenly England was fighting for their lives.

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The match then turned into a lopsided stalemate as England drove at the outclassed Tunisians who stubbornly denied any and all chances throughout the rest of regulation time. At last in stoppage time, a momentary lapse granted England a corner kick and the rest is history: the ball found its way to Harry Kane who headed it in the net to give his country a last-minute 2-1 victory.

— John N. Dillon

KDB is a performance enhancing drug: Belgium beats Panama 3-0 (BavarianFootballWorks.com)

Belgium mustered its potential in a shutout demolition of lightweight Panama. The Central American country made its World Cup debut today, but faced long odds against Belgium’s golden generation, led by Dries Mertens, Lukaku, and of course Kevin De Bruyne.

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Panama managed to keep Belgium off the score sheet through the first half, but were helpless to stop the onslaught at the outset of the second half. Dries Mertens broke the deadlock with a long-range strike, and Lukaku doubled the lead off of a sublime assist by De Bruyne:

Lukaku helped himself to a brace six minutes later, neatly chipping the goalkeeper on a fast break. That was all she wrote: at least in Group G, the favorites are exactly where they were expected to be.

— John N. Dillon

Corentin Tolisso wants a hug from Jürgen Klopp (Calcio Insider)

Even during the World Cup, transfer season manages to force its way on to the stage.

As per information exclusively obtained by Calcio Insider, another top quality central midfielder is interested in playing for Liverpool. The player in discussion is Bayern Munich’s Corentin Tolisso.

Huh?

A source close to the player in Munich has told Calcio Insider that Tolisso’s dream is to play for Liverpool. He said: “Tolisso wants Premier League (move) and dream (is) Liverpool.” The statement made by the source could be concrete taking into consideration that Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard is Tolisso’s inspiration. Back in December 2017, Onze Mondial did a comprehensive exclusive interview with the player and he said: “For me, it’s (Bundesliga) a very good championship. But the best is the Premier League. There, there is more spectacle and competition.”

Many grains of salt taken here...many.

— Chuck Smith

Robert Lewandowski could make a Chelsea move, but is waiting on the fate of Antonio Conte (Metro)

The Polish striker will continue to be linked to any place that offer his brand a bigger platform - Champions League or not - until this summer is over. Today, it appears Chelsea is back in the mix, but only after they decide what they are going to do with Antonio Conte.

Robert Lewandowski and Jean Michael Seri have reportedly told Chelsea they will not sign for the club until a decision is made over the future of Antonio Conte. Chelsea have been pushing forward with their transfer plans this summer, despite the confusion surrounding Conte’s future. It was expected Conte would have been sacked by now and a new manager would be in charge, but Chelsea have stalled on axing the Italian due to concerns about his compensation fee.

FIFA via Getty Images

In other Lewy news, he prefers to hide his identity by referring to himself as “Emil” per an interview The Guardian.

Lewandowski is recognised almost wherever he goes, but sometimes he gets away from the attention by introducing himself as … Emil. Why this alter ego, I ask? “It is pure coincidence and I don’t use it that much, but it is helpful when we are with friends somewhere,” he says. “For example, in a restaurant, we talk and laugh, but don’t use ‘Robert’ or ‘Lewy’. And in that situation I’m Emil. No one turns around or looks in my direction. And if someone thinks they have recognised me, and ask if I am Robert Lewandowski, I simply say ‘Sorry, it’s a mistake, I just look like him. I’m Emil, not Robert.”

HOW DO YOU BUILD A BRAND WHEN YOU ALSO DENY YOUR IDENTITY????

— Chuck Smith

Sydney Lohmann - we are looking for a reason to celebrate and your birthday is a fine choice! (@FCBayernFrauen)

We are big fans of the Bayern Munich Frauen squad and after a long few days of beating our heads against the wall lamenting how Die Mannschaft could look so apathetic against Mexico, let’s wish Sydney Lohmann a happy birthday and get the good vibes going again.

The Frauen have a busy summer planned as detailed below as they look to capture Bundesliga and Champions League titles this season.

The plans for an intensive season preparation of FC Bayern women are in full swing. For the fourth time in a row, the Munich women qualified for the Champions League and thus start simultaneously in three competitions in the season. Before the start of the Allianz Women’s Bundesliga on 16 September, the FCB women already deny on Sunday, 9 September, their first DFB Cup match. Just in the week between these two matches, the first leg of the sixteenth finals will take place in the UEFA Women’s Champions League. The draw of each opponent and to home or away game are still pending.

The Frauen will meet for camp on July 23rd and not wait too long to take before jumping into game action.

The official training prelude is scheduled for July 23 at the FC Bayern campus. In the week before, performance diagnostics and various tests are on the program for the players. After the first week of training, the first test match against the FCB women’s second team on the FC Bayern Campus takes place on 29 July. A week later, the Liverpool Ladies FC are on campus and on August 5 contest a friendly against the team of head coach Thomas Wörle.

As we detailed previously, the Frauen will take part in two preseason tournies in preparation for the season.

On 9 August, the Bayern players will travel to France. In Toulouse, they will participate in the International Ladies Cup TILC 2018 together with Arsenal London, Paris Saint Germain and HSC Montpellier . It comes already for the first reunion with the changing in the summer to London, longtime Bayern player Viktoria Schnaderbeck.

Shortly thereafter, the team will travel to Switzerland for the WomensCup 2018 . In Hägendorf, centrally located between Zurich, Lucerne, Berne and Basel, the Munich team meet FC Zurich, PSV Eindhoven and SK Slavia Prague. As of August 20, there will be three final, intense training weeks, including a final friendly match, only interrupted by a secondment phase for World Cup qualifiers.

The Frauen play an inspired and fun brand of soccer. When you are frustrated with how the men can appear lethargic, check the women out as each match is played with a little more energy, verve, and importance.

— Chuck Smith