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Stumped? Well, there's a reason for that—it's never happened. That's right: Hugo Lloris will be the first Tottenham player in the Premier League era to appear in a Euro or World Cup final. (Yes, that's a depressing as hell way to start your day. I'm sorry.) There have been two close calls—Rafael van der Vaart made an appearance as a substitute in the 2010 World Cup final, but that was one month before he joined Tottenham on deadline day. The other close one came in 1996 when Jurgen Klinsmann started in a European final for Germany—but that came in between his two stints with Spurs.
Going further back, it actually gets even more depressing: There is Osvaldo Ardiles, who started the 1978 World Cup final for Argentina and then, like van der Vaart 32 years later, moved to Spurs a month after. Jimmy Greaves was in the 1966 England squad that won the World Cup, but did not appear in the final against West Germany. In fact, from all the research I've done, there has not been a single active Tottenham player to ever appear in a World Cup or European Championships final. Obviously we have had multiple players in the club who made appearances while playing for other clubs—the four already mentioned plus folks like William Gallas. Plus Erik Lamela just appeared in the Copa America final as a substitute last month. That said, Spurs have never had an active player appear in the World Cup or European final. So... that's embarrassing.
On that chipper note, here are your links:
One of the craziest rumors of the summer: Man United is willing to pay €120m to sign Paul Pogba from Juventus.
These Football Times considers the strange parallels between the 1998 French national team and this year's 2016 edition.
This is funny:
A fan joins the Portugal players line-up before the match REUTERS/@pixhartmann/@carlrecine #PORWAL pic.twitter.com/CRawbpsmB3
— Reuters Paris Pix (@ReutersParisPix) July 6, 2016
Copa Libertadores cinderella story Independiente Del Valle, an Ecuadorian club that has already beaten Pumas and River Plate, defeated Boca Juniors 2-1 last night. You can learn more about their story over at Futebol Cidade. The match winner from Jose Angulo is pretty damn sweet too:
THAT. TOUCH. Independiente del Valle's Jose Angulo with a monster goal vs Boca Juniors. #CopaLibertadores https://t.co/g3s0Kek5bu
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) July 8, 2016
Have a good weekend y'all. I'll be back on Monday.