Category World News

With first-half goals from Mikel Oyarzabal, Marc Cucurella, and Mikel Merino, the Euro 2024 champions rolled to a semblance of victory on Thursday at the Vasil Levski Stadium in Sofia.

Rodri Hernandez and Dani Carvajal, both recovering from severe knee injuries, made their first international appearances under the guidance of Spain coach Luis de la Fuente.

Spain, which won the World Cup for the first time in 2010, is expected to top Group E, which also includes Turkiye and Georgia, to advance to the US, Canada, and Mexico directly.

Bulgaria and Spain last faced off in a competitive match at the 1998 World Cup for the first time in more than 20 years.

Oyarzabal once more sets the barrage for Spain.

As Spain took the lead after five minutes, Martin Zubimendi’s former Real Sociedad teammate Oyarzabal was set up for the opener with a fine pass.

After the ball fell into his path, Radoslav Kirilov hit the post for the hosts before Chelsea defender Cucurella thumped in to add to Spain’s lead.

Before the break, Barcelona winger Lamine Yamal curled into a corner and Merino nodded home, expressing Spain’s dominance.

As Spain continued to dominate, Merino, a midfielder from Arsenal, hit the crossbar in the second half. Without scoring, Teenager Yamal was strong and dangerous.

Rodri and Carvajal, both from Man City, made their long-awaited first starts for Real Madrid as De la Fuente shuffled his lineup. They had each missed seven and nine months, respectively.

In the end, Jesus Rodriguez made his international debut under the guidance of the coach, who replaced Yamal.

De la Fuente remarked, “We are incredibly demanding, and most of all, the players were disappointed with the second half.”

“We’re happy, but we need to keep moving forward.”

Spain will play another away game on Sunday, while Bulgaria will face Georgia on the same day in Turkiye.

The Spanish coach continued, “Turkiye will be a higher-level game and more difficult.” Every day, we must strive to improve.

Georgia last scares Turkiye,

In the other Group E game, Turkiye defeated Georgia 3-3 to defeat them in a late scare.

When Baris Alper Yilmaz was shown a straight red card in the 71st minute, the away side had already been reduced to 10 men.

By that point, they had already taken the lead thanks to Mert Muldur’s third-minute header and Kerem Akturkoglu’s strikes either side of the break.

Schill acknowledged the federal government’s rift and said it was the “right time” to appoint a new leader in a statement released on Thursday.

He wrote, “Especially at the federal level, there are still some challenging issues to solve.”

But he requested that his successor guard Northwestern, a prestigious university north of Chicago, Illinois, from threats that might harm the school’s mission.

According to Schill, “It is crucial that we continue to support the University’s research mission and excellence while upholding academic freedom, integrity, and independence.”

Schill has been in charge of the private university for almost three years. The school has survived a scandal involving racism and sexual abuse in its athletic department during that time.

However, Schill’s agreement with pro-Palestinian student protesters who were protesting Israel’s occupation of Gaza last year sparked conservative opposition.

The agreement was reached in April 2024 as protest encampments erupted on many campuses. There was no exception in Northwestern.

In response to the students’ pleas to divest from Israel, Schill agreed to re-establish an advisory committee to review Northwestern’s investments in exchange for dismantling the camp and limiting the length of the protests.

Other universities had chosen to hold off on that agreement as a peaceful substitute for police intervention. Soon after that, other agreements with student protesters, including those at Johns Hopkins University, emerged.

Trump has aimed to punish universities that witnessed widespread pro-Palestinian protests on campus.

He has made it numerous times that Jewish students and staff members found the demonstrations to be unsafe.

However, according to critics, the Trump administration has allegedly stoked protests by using anti-Semitism as a pretext to silence students and, consequently, align higher education institutions with his political priorities.

Trump and his supporters have reportedly cut funding for universities in the name of anti-Semitism and civil rights since taking office for a second term in January.

Additionally, the administration has initiated deportation proceedings against foreign students who took part in the demonstrations.

The Trump administration frozen nearly $800 million in research grants in Northwestern’s case on the grounds that the school had facilitated anti-Semitism.

Despite having 425 positions left vacant at the time of the cuts, Northwestern reportedly had to reduce its budget and eliminate them.

The loss of federal funding is also putting pressure on Northwestern University.

In order to restore its federal grants, Brown University and Columbia University reached a deal with Trump that required it to pay $50 million for Rhode Island workforce development programs in July.

Top leadership has resigned from other universities as a result of White House pressure, such as at Northwestern.

James Ryan, the president of the University of Virginia, resigned in June as a result of a pressure campaign against the university’s diversity initiatives.

However, a federal judge upheld Trump’s assertions that his attempts to revoke the federal funding from Harvard University were a form of retaliation and a direct assault on the university’s freedom of speech earlier this week. The court is expected to decide that case.

Numerous prestigious universities, according to Trump and his allies, are the epicenter of political discord and left-wing ideas.

On Thursday, the club announced that Daniel Levy would step down as chairman of Tottenham, a divisive figure who has been blamed for keeping the Premier League team profitable but unable to make it a trophy-winning force for nearly 25 years.

Levy, 63, announced his retirement from his position with Tottenham as a “global heavyweight competing at the highest level,” the longest-serving chairman in the Premier League.

Significant progress has been made, according to Levy, but it hasn’t always been an easy journey. I’ll be a strong advocate for this organization forever.

Levy’s departure comes a few months after Tottenham beat Manchester United 1-0 to reach the Europa League final, ending a 17-year trophy drought. Spurs won the English League Cup for the first time since then in 2008, and it was their first major success since 1984 when they won the UEFA Cup, the equivalent of the Europa League.

Many Tottenham fans also accused Levy of pursuing profits over silverware by failing to fully support some of the most well-known managers in football he has worked with in recent years, including Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte, despite his reputation as a tenacious and uncompromising negotiator in the transfer market.

Despite the fact that Tottenham was one of the so-called “Big Six” in English football and had one of the best stadiums in world football, there were protests against his tenure last year, when the club finished 17th in the Premier League, one place above the bottom three.

Since moving from White Hart Lane to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, where it has hosted concerts and other sporting events like the NFL and boxing, has Levy oversaw the transition.

In light of Levy’s departure, who reportedly owns roughly 30% of the club’s majority owner ENIC, Tottenham stated that there would be “no changes to the ownership or shareholder structure of the club.”