But although events in Brazil will dominate the sporting agenda for the next fortnight, the football season will still be going strong in nine months’ time.
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“The lion has been asleep for the last four or five years and we want to be sure with Roberto and his team that we wake the lion”, Xia said.
Benitez provided a slight insight to the team his will choose against Fulham in the home friendly win over Vitesse.
So unless Newcastle step it up from the performance at Craven Cottage, Rafa warns the team they can expect plenty more results like Friday night’s. It was also a ideal Championship game: frantic, hectic, intense, and settled by a header from a corner.
The centre-back became a regular in the Newcastle side during the second half of last term, particularly following the arrival of manager Rafa Benitez, and has made 21 appearances for the Club to date, scoring two goals. “Local optimism is nearly giddily high”, says Louise Taylor of The Guardian.
The obvious answer to that is Aston Villa.
He said: “It’s great for us that we have won this because they played like a great football team”.
Brighton, managed by Chris Hughton, and Norwich City, managed by Alex Neil, will also be the forces to reckon with this season. “If they find a goalscorer they could easily go up automatically”, says Ian Holloway of Sky Sports.
Newcastle will kick start the 2016/2017 season later tonight when they face off against another former Premier League side, Fulham at Craven Cottage, with the cameras televising the game for you to watch online. United are keen to add more depth to their squad and are looking to bring in further defensive cover, a winger and another striker before the window closes. Relegation can do that, and not even escaping on the final day of the 2014-15 season spurred Ashley into shaking up the squad.
Sheffield Wednesday broke Brighton’s hearts in the play-offs despite finishing 15 points behind the Sussex side.
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Serbian global Mitrovic signed from Belgian side Anderlecht last summer for a fee of £13 million, but the 21-year-old hot-head failed to live up to expectations at St James Park with nine goals in his debut season.
