Iceland achieved the rare distinction of sending both football and population statisticians into a collective frenzy after becoming the smallest nation ever to qualify for the Euro 2016 championships in France. The 3,000 fans who travelled to Amsterdam to see their side beat the Netherlands 1-0 represented around 1% of Iceland’s entire population; but the Dutch look likely to miss out on Euro 2016 altogether after also losing to Turkey. Several more of the European game’s minnows are poised to join Iceland, with Northern Ireland and Wales both on the brink of qualification after victories over the Faroe Islands and Cyprus. Even plucky England made it to the finals with a 6-0 win over San Marino in which Wayne Rooney equalled Bobby Charlton’s national scoring record of 49 goals.
Deflategate runs out of air
Deflategate – the biggest scandal involving underpressurised balls ever to engulf American football – parped its way ever more painfully towards a denouement last week. To recap: in January, the New England Patriots were caught using underinflated balls in a playoff game against the Indianapolis Colts. Four months later, the NFL released a 243-page report and Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was banned for four games. Brady’s appeal to the NFL was rejected, before his ban was overturned by a federal court last week. The NFL has since appealed but mercifully it’s now possible the affair, which has dominated US networks all summer, may be overshadowed by some actual sport: the NFL season begins this week.
Hamilton continues F1 run
Air pressure was somewhat bizarrely also the topic du jour at the Italian Grand Prix, where Lewis Hamilton endured a nervy wait before having his latest dominant F1 triumph confirmed by stewards investigating a tyre pressure infringement by Mercedes, which was later adjudged to have occurred within the rules. “I feel this weekend is the best I’ve ever driven. I’m really, really happy with how I’m driving,” said Hamilton, running out of adjectives to describe what feels like a whole season of best weekends ever that have left him 53 points clear of Mercedes rival Nico Rosberg in the drivers championship.
Nadal crashes out of US Open
If there was any doubt, it now seems clear that time is fast catching up with Rafael Nadal, one of the modern-day greats of men’s tennis, after he suffered a US Open third-round defeat to Italy’s Fabio Fognini. “He’s a player with a great talent and he played amazing shots,” a crestfallen Nadal said of his Italian opponent after blowing a two-set lead, “but what I am doing worse is playing worse than what I used to do the last couple of years. That’s it.” It was also a bad week for women’s No 25 seed Eugenie Bouchard of Canada, who pulled out after suffering concussion in a locker-room accident.
