Paris Saint-Germain coach Christophe Galtier hinted further arrivals are imminent after his side wrapped up their pre-season tour of Japan by thrashing Gamba Osaka 6-2.
Meanwhile, despite star trio Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Neymar all netting during Monday's rout, Galtier was frustrated by his team's defending, insisting they must improve after conceding "two goals too many".
With Messi starting alongside Neymar and Pablo Sarabia in a 3-4-3 shape, PSG eased to a 4-1 half-time lead as each of the front three joined Nuno Mendes on the scoresheet.
Neymar grabbed his second after the break before Mbappe came on to convert a late penalty, ensuring PSG finished their tour of Japan with three wins from three outings.
Having already signed creative midfielder Vitinha, PSG are expected to carry out further recruitment ahead of their Ligue 1 campaign starting on August 6.
It was revealed on Monday that RB Leipzig's Nordi Mukiele would miss the German team's DFL-Supercup meeting with Bayern Munich while he finalises a move to Paris, and Galtier is hoping for more new arrivals to follow the defender.
"The club is working to improve and make this squad stronger," he told a post-match news conference.
"We're going to fly, we're going to take a long 12-hour journey, we're going to sleep and when we land we might have one or two, even three more players… We'll see what happens this week."
PSG produced a scintillating attacking performance in their final pre-season outing, only slightly outperforming their 5.65 expected goals (xG) and recording 17 attempts on target, but Galtier was left unimpressed by their two concessions.
Galtier coached Nice to Ligue 1's joint-best defensive record last term (36 goals conceded, level with PSG), while his title-winning Lille side of 2020-21 conceded only 23 goals and kept a league-high 21 clean sheets.
Having built a reputation for his strong defensive organisation, Galtier stressed PSG must improve off the ball.
"I'm happy with the first half, the second we were tired. We conceded two goals, two goals too many," Galtier added. "Even if we have a big goal difference, I would like us to be hard to beat. It's a major line of work.
"Annoyed? That's not the term. On the second goal, we have to be more structured and not disorderly. We weren't in the right timing, we couldn't manage to get back on track. This is an important line of work, we have to show a tougher face for future matches.
"[But] even if we don't want to concede too many chances and concede goals, my players' DNA is to play, take risks and attack as much as possible. We're not going to change that."
Soca Warriors whip Cuba 3-1 to preserve League A status in Concacaf Nations League
Trinidad and Tobago’s Soca Warriors gifted interim Head coach Derek King his first win in charge as they defeated Cuba 3-1 in a crucial Concacaf Nations League encounter at Dwight Yorke Stadium in Scarborough on Monday night.
The Soca Warriors, who entered their final Group B contest in danger of being relegated, literally saved their best for last with a dominant performance that saw them preserve their League A status. They
Trinidad and Tobago’s fourth place finish on five points, also secured them a spot in the preliminaries of the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup. Jamaica (eight points) and Honduras (seven points) took the quarterfinal spots as well as automatic berths into the Gold Cup, while Nicaragua placed third on seven points by virtue of an inferior goal difference.
Cuba (three points) and French Guiana (one point) have been relegated to League B for the next edition of the tournament.
Knowing what is at stake, Trinidad and Tobago, who let a two-goal lead slip away to Cuba on last, wasted little time to declare their intentions. They broke the deadlock in the 13th minute thanks to Dantaye Gilbert, who fired home from close range.
Joevin Jones repaid King’s confidence in him on return to the programme, as he doubled the Soca Warriors lead with a tidy right-footed finish in the 38th minute. Interestingly, that goal took his tally to five to extend his lead as the Twin Island Republic’s all-time top scorer in the Nations League.
Andre Rampersad and Nathaniel James had grand opportunities to push Trinidad and Tobago further ahead, but both were denied by Cuba’s custodian Raiko Arozarena two minutes apart in the 41st and 43rd minutes, respectively.
Cuba threatened to make things interesting after the interval as Yasnier Matos pulled one back in the 62nd minute.
However, Real Gil ensured nothing of the sort transpired when he restored the Soca Warriors’ two-goal cushion with a decent solo effort in the 65th.
Cuba’s problems and, by extension, their chances of avoiding relegation were compounded when Karel Perez Mendoza was shown a red card in the 70th. From there, Trinidad and Tobago did what was required to see off the remaining minutes.
'Supercharged' Germany have big ambitions – Nagelsmann
Julian Nagelsmann hailed Germany's first-half display against the Netherlands as their best performance of 2024.
And Nagelsmann said his "supercharged" team have big ambitions after Monday's 1-0 win in Munich, which came a year to the day since he took charge of his first game—a 3-1 friendly win over the United States.
Germany are unbeaten in the Nations League after four games, and sit five points clear at the top of their group.
The Dutch did not manage a single shot in the first half, with Germany having eight themselves, albeit Nagelsmann's team had to wait until the 64th minute to make the breakthrough as Jamie Leweling marked his senior bow with the decisive goal.
"The first half tonight was the best we’ve played this year," said Nagelsmann.
"The greed that the team embodied was a huge step [forward].
"We did well and let very little in. We absolutely deserved to win.
"We've got the ambition to keep going. There's a supercharged atmosphere in the dressing room—they want to win."
An ecstatic Leweling told ZDF network: "We won as a team, I scored the 1-0, we won 1-0, but we did well and I'm just happy I could help out.
"The Dutch are a top nation, but we played a good game."
Leweling is the first debutant under Nagelsmann to score in his first appearance for Germany. Niclas Fullkrug was the last player to net on his senior debut, in 2022.
At the other end of the pitch, Nagelsmann handed a debut to goalkeeper Oliver Baumann.
Aged 34 years and 131 days, Baumann is the second-oldest Germany debutant (after Matthias Mauritz) in the post-war era and the oldest goalkeeper to make his debut for the national team.
Not that Baumann had much to do. Indeed, he had only one save to make, with the Netherlands mustering only one attempt on target and a meagre 0.13 expected goals.
Deschamps delighted with 'radiant' Kolo Muani
Didier Deschamps hailed a "radiant" Randal Kolo Muani after the forward's double helped France see off Belgium 2-1.
France made it three wins in a row in the Nations League on Monday, with Kolo Muani's goals doing the damage at Stade Roi Baudouin.
Kolo Muani converted a first-half penalty before heading home what proved to be the winner in the 62nd minute, after Lois Openda had restored parity.
Having also netted in the reverse fixture against Belgium last month, the Paris Saint-Germain forward is France's leading scorer in their Nations League campaign.
And with Kylian Mbappe absent, head coach Deschamps, who was handed an early birthday present by France's win, has been impressed by Kolo Muani's attitude and application.
Speaking to TF1, Deschamps said: "He's interesting, he's radiant.
"He is confident and has a very specific profile where in his runs with the ball has a presence. He is a good header [of the ball] and with us he is very often successful."
France have now won their last five matches against Belgium. Only against the Faroe Islands have Les Bleus had a longer winning streak (six games).
They had to do it the hard way, though, with stand-in captain Aurelien Tchouameni seeing red in the 76th minute.
Tchouameni became the first France player to be sent off since Jules Kounde in September 2021 (v Bosnia-Herzegovina), and the first as captain (from when the match kicked off) since Zinedine Zidane in the 2006 World Cup final.
Belgium finished with 20 shots to France's 14 and more expected goals (2.64xG to 1.49xG), yet the visitors got the job done to move onto nine points from their four matches.
"We were shaken for the first 20 to 25 minutes," explained Deschamps, who turned 56 on Tuesday.
"Belgium put in a lot of intensity, while we made a lot of technical errors.
"When we were able to find solutions going forward, it was better for us.
"We had to shake the players up. It was mostly the mistakes, we had to calm down.
"We had to go forward and press well. Of course, they had chances, but so did we in the second half. We're happy to win this match, especially with 10 men."
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