Australian media 'Optus Sports' reported on the 2nd (Korea Standard Time) that "Belgian striker Romelo Lukaku is being criticized for his overall performance."

 

Belgium lost 0-1 against France in the round of 16 of the UEFA 2024 European Championship (Euro 2024) at Düsseldorf Arena in Düsseldorf, Germany on the 2nd.

 

Belgium, ranked third in the FIFA rankings who advanced to the tournament as the second-ranked team in the group with one win, one draw and one loss in the group stage, met France, who was the favorite to win the tournament and ranked second in the FIFA rankings from the round of 16.

 

It was a showdown between strong teams, but Belgium struggled hard against France. Although the team ended the first half 0-0, it had a ball occupancy ratio of 40 to 60, and the number of shots was also 1-9, lagging behind France. It failed to post even a single effective shot.

 

Belgium, which was in a hurry to prevent France's attack in the second half, gave up the first goal in the 40th minute of the second half with Jan Vertonghen's own goal. In the situation of France's attack, which started with Lukaku's touch miss, a shot by Randal Colo Moani deflected off Vertonghen's foot and split the Belgian net.

 

Belgium failed to score an equalizer and was eliminated in the round of 16, losing 0-1 to France. On the contrary, France will advance to the quarterfinals and face Portugal, which advanced to the semifinals after beating Slovenia after a penalty shootout.

 

At the end of the match, Belgian fans and soccer experts pointed out Lukaku, a huge striker who is 191 centimeters tall and weighs 103 kilograms, as one of the main culprits behind Belgium's elimination of the round of 16. Lukaku formed a two-top with Royce Oppenda in the 4-4-2 formation on the day, but managed to shoot just one shot while playing full-time for 90 minutes.

 

Not only did he fail to score an offensive point, but he also gave up possession of the ball in the winning goal scene, which became the starting point for France's counterattack.

 

According to media reports, Michael Bridges, who played as a striker in the Premier League in the past, criticized Lukaku, saying, "You shouldn't make that mistake in the 85th minute. He didn't do anything."

 

He pointed out that Lukaku did not show any performance in the Euro 2024 qualifying round. Lukaku not only led Belgium to the finals of the Euro 2024 qualifying round with a whopping 14 goals, but also ranked first in the qualifying round. However, he started all three of the group matches and the round of 16 matches after the opening of the tournament, but only garnered one assist without scoring a goal.  토토사이트 추천

 

"We looked at each other blankly," Bridges rebuked Lukaku, saying, "I don't want to be rude, but it seemed like he had never played soccer until today."

 

"Lukaku was that bad. He missed opportunities, he couldn't even catch the ball," he said. "William Saliba didn't have much to do, but he made it very difficult for Lukaku."

 

Former England striker Jay Bosloid also pointed out, "Kevin the Bruyne never passed Lukaku during the game," adding, "The Bruyne can be found by anyone, but the fact that he did not pass shows that Lukaku was not seen."

 

"Lukaku was terrible tonight. He lost the ball, and France drove the ball to score a goal. Lukaku was not good enough today," he said, criticizing Lukaku's poor performance.

 

Judge started as the third hitter and center fielder in an away game against the New York Mets on Thursday (Korea time), and displayed a perfect performance of two hits, two RBIs and one walk from two times at bat. Among his two hits were a two-run homerun he hit in the top of the sixth inning. It was Judge's 30th homer this season and his first in the league.

 

Since debuting in the Major League in 2016, Judge started playing full-time in 2017 as the team's main outfielder, and only played 106 games as a result of his first injury last year. The number of games was the smallest except for the 2020 season, which was played in a shortened season due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

 

However, this year, when he returned to the field in good health after shaking off his injury, he is showing an upgraded performance than before, reaching the 30-home run mark for the first time in the league.

 

As of Friday, Judge played in a total of 80 games this season, posting an outstanding batting average of 0.309 with 30 homers, 77 RBIs and five steals. His on-base plus slugging percentage is a whopping 1.145.

 

Judge's record this season is better than the pace in 2022, when he shot his career-high home runs (62). The difference is evident when comparing Judge's performance in the 2022 and 2024 seasons announced by the Major League Baseball's website (MLB.com ) on the 26th.

 

Judge`s performances in 2022 and 2024 are all good this season, ranging from batting average, home runs, RBIs, doubles, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS. At the current pace, Judge is highly likely to renew his career high record in all parts of offense.

 

Judge's remarkable record stands out even more because he is a clear and clean home run king who did not take any drugs. That is why fans are so excited about Judge.  토토사이트 추천

 

Judge, who is already in his ninth year in the Major League this year, has a total of 287 home runs as of Friday, which is expected to give him a good chance to reach 300 before the end of the season. He also has a total of 934 hits, which is a possibility to achieve 1,000 hits in his career.

 

Judge, who is loved by fans not only for his baseball skills but also for his outstanding personality, has been selected as an All-Star five times, and also received the Slumberslugger Award for the best hitter in each position three times. He won the Rookie of the Year award in the 2017 American League and the Most Valuable Player award based on his 62 home runs in the 2022 season.

 

Attention is focusing on whether Judge, who is performing more upgraded, will be able to renew his career high (62) home run record this season.

At the "2024 Japan Professional Baseball Central League" held at the Mazda Zoom Stadium in Hiroshima, Japan on Saturday, Morisita started the game and garnered two hits, strikeouts and no runs in nine innings. Hiroshima earned three runs in the sixth inning to give Morisita a win, and she remained on the mound until the end by displaying economical pitching throughout the game. She also garnered three hits from three times at bat.   

 

Maddox is named after Greg Maddox, a master of economic pitching. During his active career, he pitched 35 shutouts, 13 of which were less than 100 pitches. Pitchers who fail are more than 12 pitches per inning are important, but batters' activism is also necessary.

Morisita's challenge came into view midway through the game. When he threw 16 pitches in the first inning, it was hard to expect a shutout from the Maddox. Morisita threw five pitches to Haruki Nishikawa to induce a grounder to the second base, and struck out Maruyama Kazuya at the sixth pitch in the game against second batter Kazuya Maruyama. Third batter Hideki Naagoka handled the fly ball to center field with five pitches.  토토사이트 추천

 

Instead, the team had seven pitches in the second inning. Murikami Munetaka hit a fly ball to the second base in the first pitch, and Domingo Santana had a hit to the left field in the first pitch. Tetsuto Yamada hit a fly ball to the left field with two pitches, and Jose Osuna hit a grounder to the shortstop in the third inning. He threw 11 pitches in the third inning, six pitches in the fourth inning, and six pitches in the fifth inning as well. He only pitched 46 pitches until the fifth inning.

 

The sixth inning was a critical moment. After being hit to the right by leadoff hitter Naoki Matsuyama, Morrisita increased the number of pitches he pitched in the game against Maruyama with two outs later. He aggressively pitched in the first pitch to get the ball count to 0-2, but Maruyama stuck with a foul cut to make the pitch count to full at the ninth pitch. Morrisita eventually pulled out a grounder to shortstop with his 10th cutter, and finished the sixth inning in 20 pitches. So far, the number of pitches he pitched was 66.

 

He finished the seventh with 10 pitches and the eighth with nine pitches, marking the ninth inning with 85 pitches. The Yakult, which was losing 0-3, countered the game by sending veteran Norichika Aoki to the lead-off batter's box in the ninth inning. However, Aoki grounded out to the second base in the first pitch. As Nishikawa hit a fly ball to the left field and Maruyama grounded out to the second base in the first pitch, Morishita shut out the game at 91.

 

According to Japan's Sankei Sports, Morisita said after the game, "I've never seen Maddox before. When I was a Meiji University student, I had the image of a pitcher throwing a lot of balls. I've never seen a game with such a fast tempo." "He showed an amazing record of Maddox. No more words are needed," coach Takahiro Arai said.

 

Morrissey had presence at bat. He had a hit to the right field with one out in the third inning, and another hit to the center field with one out in the fifth inning. With the team leading 3-0, with runners on the first base with two outs, he hit another hit to the right. Morrissey's batting average for this season rose to 0.429 (9 hits in 21 times at bat). While most of the at-bats for pitchers are in the Central League, Morrissey is also displaying his skills with his bat.

 

Born in 1997, Morrisita was a graduate of Meiji University and entered professional baseball after receiving Hiroshima's first-round pick at the 2019 Rookie of the Year meeting. Following the ace's number 18, Kenta Maeda (Detroit Tigers) stood out from the 2020 season and won the Rookie of the Year with 10 wins, 3 losses and a 1.91 ERA in 18 games.

 

In 2021, he was selected as a member of the national team for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and led the team to win the gold medal by allowing five scoreless innings against the U.S. in the final. He failed to participate in the 2023 WBC (World Baseball Classic) due to the surgery to remove bone fragments in his elbow, and was selected once again in this year's warm-up match with the European Union team. This year, he has 6 wins, 3 losses and 1.58 ERA in 10 games, including a shutout on Saturday.

Turkiye national team Arda Güller (Real Madrid) made a strong point in his UEFA European Championship debut, leaving his name in new history.

 

Güller started in the first round of Group F of the tournament against Georgia held at BVB Stadion Dortmund in Dortmund, Germany on Wednesday (Korea time) and scored one goal for 79 minutes. The team won 3-1.

 

The match was Güller's debut in the Euro. Born in 2005, Güller already made his debut for the A team at the age of 17, and it was his first time playing in the Euro tournament. Until then, he had played in only four exhibition matches and three qualifying matches in the Euro region.

 

Güller displayed strong impact at his debut match. At 20 minutes in the second half when his team continued the tight flow 1 to 1, he dribbled the ball from the right area and attempted a powerful, mid-range shot with his left foot. The ball he shot precisely cut through the left corner of the net and penetrated goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili of Valencia.

It was Güller's second goal of the A match and his first of the Euro tournament. Since then, the two teams have exchanged 19 shots in the second half alone. Turkiye finally sealed the counterattack by Kerem Akturkolu (Galatasaray) alone during extra time in the second half.

 

Meanwhile, Güller made new history at the Euro by scoring on the day. According to the soccer statistics outlet Squaka on the same day, Güller became the youngest player to score a goal on his debut at the Euro. The previous record was held by Cristiano Ronaldo (Al Nasr), who was recorded in 2006.  토토사이트 순위

 

In addition to scoring points, Güller shone. According to the soccer statistics outlet Potmob, Güller recorded a 93% pass success rate (38 successful/41 attempts), three key passes, one big chance creation, one dribble success, three tackles, and five ball contests during the 79-minute period.

 

According to Squaka, Güller has become the third teenage player to record more than five chances in a single Euro match. Prior to that, Pedri (Barcelona), and Wayne Rooney (retired) recorded it.

 

Güller played as a new stealer this season, scoring six goals in 12 official matches for Real. When he was with Fenerbahce (Turkiye), he shared a team with Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich). The two players met at the tunnel during the semifinal match of the 2023-24 UEFA Champions League (UCL) and showed signs of thawing.

 

Turkiye, which reported one win in the group stage, will face Portugal on the 23rd.

 

Ko Woo-seok, a member of the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, a Triple-A club under the Miami Marlins, took the mound in the eighth inning against the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians (under the Pittsburgh Pirates) 2-2 at the 121st Financial Ballpark in Jacksonville, Florida, on the 15th (Korea time) and finished his task with one walk and one strikeout in one inning.

 

Due to the game, Ko's earned run average (ERA) in Triple-A fell to 2.92. After easily hitting an infield grounder and a fly ball, Ko gave up a walk to Andres Alvarez and struck out Joshua Palacios.  토토사이트 순위

 

In the game against Charlotte Knights (under the Chicago White Sox) on the 10th, Ko Woo-seok, who was shaken by two hits, three strikeouts and one run in the first ⅓, reorganized his lineup and regained stability.

Benjamin Seschko (21) of Leipzig, the "second Holan," has rejected his bid to join the English Premier League. Despite keen interest in Arsenal and Chelsea, he will likely sign a contract with RB Leipzig and choose to stay.

 

"Benjamin Seschko has decided to stay in Leipzig. A new contract will be signed soon on improved terms," said Fabrizio Romano, a European soccer transfer expert, on the 11th (Korea Standard Time).

"Seschko's decision is similar to what Holan did during his time at Borussia Dortmund in the past. Seschko will remain after signing a gentleman's agreement with Leipzig for a future transfer," he added.

 

"Benjamin Seschko will remain in Leipzig. We will sign a new contract within this week," Germany's Sky Sports also said.

 

Seschko is a promising striker who is so talented that he is called the "second Holan." He is a 194-centimeter-tall striker who can compete with flying balls and has fast feet, which is a style similar to Elling Holan's. In addition, he even uses both feet freely, displaying devastating scoring ability within the penalty box. 토토사이트넷

 

He also showed great performance in Leipzig this season. He showed off his skills by scoring 14 goals and two assists in 31 matches in the German Bundesliga.

 

As a result, many big clubs in Europe began to look at Seschko. In particular, Arsenal and Chelsea, who were aiming to recruit strikers, aspired to recruit them as they were connected to Seschko throughout the season.

 

However, Seszuko has rejected a chance to enter the world's best league. Seszuko has decided to stay in Leipzig and, on better terms than now, is expected to sign a long-term contract until 2029.

 

Seschko's decision is similar to what Holan has done in the past. Holan also chose to stay after refusing offers from several big clubs when he played for Dortmund. After playing for another season, he moved to Manchester City. Seschko is also likely to follow Holan's footsteps and seek to enter big clubs in the future.