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England sweep history and Germany aside to move into last eight

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Photo: Reuters
(Last Updated On: June 30, 2021)

Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane struck late goals as England reached the Euro 2020 quarter-finals with a 2-0 win over Germany at Wembley on Tuesday, their first knockout victory over their old rivals since the 1966 World Cup final.

England will play either Sweden or Ukraine, who meet later on Tuesday in Glasgow, in the last eight after a victory which sent the home crowd of over 40,000 into wild celebration.

It was England‘s first ever knockout round win at the Euros inside 90 minutes and after a build-up dominated by talk of historic and bitter tournament losses to Germany, their focus will now be on making some history of their own.

The visitors’ defeat marked the end of Joachim Loew’s time as Germany coach after 15 years in charge, during which he guided them to the 2014 World Cup title in Brazil.

Debate will continue about England manager Gareth Southgate’s selections but it was telling that both goals came after midfielder Jack Grealish was introduced from the bench in the 69th minute when the entire tempo and mood of the game changed.

Six minutes after Grealish came on he was involved in a flowing passing move which ended with left wing back Luke Shaw deftly slipping the ball across the face of the goal for Sterling to slide in his third goal in four Euro 2020 games.

Yet shortly after scoring Sterling almost gifted the Germans a leveller when he gave the ball away on the halfway line and Kai Havertz sent Thomas Mueller through on goal.

The experienced World Cup winner had only England keeper Jordan Pickford to beat but dragged his shot wide of his right-hand post, leaving Sterling, who watched in anguish on his knees, to leap to his feet in relief.

After that reprieve, and with the crowd roaring England on, Grealish was the direct provider for the second goal, crossing from the left for captain Kane to beat keeper Manuel Neuer with a stooping header.

It was Kane’s first goal of the tournament and his return to scoring ways will be another positive for Southgate as he looks ahead at a potential route to the final.

Southgate’s decision to play a five-man defence and two holding midfielders was a cautious one, but England did start the game brightly.

Sterling tested Neuer in the 16th minute, cutting in from the left flank and finding room to unleash a drive towards the far corner which the Germany keeper did well to get across to.

Much of England‘s probing was coming from Kieran Trippier down the right and he found Harry Maguire in a promising position with a lofted ball to the back post but the centre half’s header was over the bar.

Germany were enjoying plenty of possession in midfield with England sitting deep but they provided a warning of their threat when Havertz slipped through Timo Werner, although Pickford was out quickly to smother.

Just before the break Mats Hummels had to intervene quickly to clear as Kane looked to pounce after Sterling’s burst into the box had caused chaos.

After the interval Germany sensed England had lost their way and went close when Havertz’s powerful drive was superbly tipped over by Pickford.

The game was in the balance but then came Grealish, whose name had been sung by the England fans throughout the game and who lived up to those hopes and expectations by providing the spark England had been missing.

England will head into their quarter-final in Rome on Saturday knowing victory will set-up a semi and potentially a final on home turf back at Wembley.

“Any team will be looking at us and know that we’re dangerous. We want to go all the way so need to keep it up,” said Kane.

“There isn’t anything bigger than this when the expectation is on and we delivered so we should be proud but we can’t stop here. We have a vision of where we want to go and we can’t stop now. Hopefully we’ll be back here in the semi-finals and the final.”

Southgate, though, is as restrained with his words as he is with tactics and said he had been quick to calm his players down.

“We played extremely well, we deserved the win, but I’ve had to say to them straight away, I’m the party pooper; if we don’t capitalise on that on Saturday, it doesn’t count for anything.”

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India says Afghan embassy issue an ‘internal matter’

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(Last Updated On: June 4, 2023)

After reports of corruption and the move by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) to take control of Afghanistan’s embassy in New Delhi, the Indian government has said the issue is an internal matter which does not involve them.

Representatives of Afghan refugees living in India have accused officials at the Afghanistan embassy in Delhi, including the ambassador, of corruption. The embassy denies the allegations.

Indian media have also reported that the embassy resisted IEA’s move to formally take control of the embassy.

Arindam Bagchi, India’s foreign ministry spokesman, said in a press conference that the issue is an internal matter of the embassy.

“From our perspective, this is an internal matter of the Afghan Embassy, and we hope that they would resolve it internally,” Bagchi said.

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UNSC to hold meeting on Afghanistan’s situation

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(Last Updated On: June 4, 2023)

The United Arab Emirates’ Permanent Representative to the UN Lana Nusseibeh said the UN Security Council will hold a meeting on Afghanistan later this month.

Nusseibeh, who is currently President of the Security Council, said: “We will hold a comprehensive meeting on Afghanistan’s situation on June 21.

“Our focus will be concentrated on Afghanistan’s situation, women’s rights in particular, over which all the members of the Security Council have agreed,” she added.

On Thursday, Nusseibeh told media in New York that the UN Security Council will continue working on the issues of Afghanistan, especially on women’s rights.

According to the UAE ambassador, Fraidoon Oglu, the UN Special Coordinator for Afghanistan Affairs will provide a comprehensive report about the situation in the country to the Security Council in November.

This comes after Fox News reported on Friday that several US Senators have proposed a bill to tighten sanctions against IEA officials in response to human rights violations in Afghanistan.

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TTP launching attacks using Afghan soil, says Pakistan’s interior minister

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(Last Updated On: June 3, 2023)

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has once again claimed that Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is launching attacks against the country using Afghanistan’s soil. 

“The position of the Afghan government is that they say we do not support Tehreek-e-Taliban against the government of Pakistan, but we have complaints about them, the people of this group enter Pakistan from Afghanistan; almost two months ago, they (Islamic Emirate) told us that we are moving them further away from the border so that they do not have access to attack Pakistan,” said Rana Sanaullah in an interview. 

The Islamic Emirate meanwhile has consistently emphasized that no group will be allowed to use Afghan soil against other countries.

“Afghan soil is not used against anyone and we do not allow Afghan soil to be used against Pakistan or any other country,” said Zabihullah Mujahid, IEA’s spokesman. 

“The policy of the Islamic Emirate has been analyzed in the light of Afghanistan’s issues and the country’s national interests, which is indeed a neutral and balanced policy adopted within the framework of international interests and international security,” said Hatef Mokhtar, a political analyst.

This comes after a high-ranking delegation of IEA officials, led by Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, visited Pakistan for talks. At a meeting with Pakistani officials in Islamabad, they emphasized the need for the expansion of diplomatic relations and bilateral cooperation.

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