As confirmed by the Deutsche Fussball Bund and the man himself, Joachim Low will be stepping down as the national team coach of Germany following their participation in this year’s European Championship. This will see the 61-year-old end his stint as the longest-serving national team coach in the history of the sport.
Low has been successful in his coaching of Die Mannschaft, having led them to the peak of the mountain of international football with the World Cup win in 2014 against Argentina in the final. Things haven’t been as good as they once were, and recent times have shown that in Germany’s performances.
TRUE ✅ Jogi Löw, who will resign from @DFB_Team in summer, is learning Spanish. He told me often that @realmadrid would be a club that he would like to coach
There has been speculation as to whether Low will be returning to club football after almost two decades away from the scene, and recent updates regarding the German coach could be suggesting exactly that.
Reliable German journalist Christian Falk has confirmed that Low is indeed learning Spanish in his downtime, as possible preparation for a new job. Falk has also mentioned that Low talked about managing Real Madrid at some point in his career, and that could finally happen if Madrid chooses to appoint him as the replacement for Zinedine Zidane.
It’s no secret that Real Madrid are still heavily reliant on their old guard that comprises Sergio Ramos, Karim Benzema and Luka Modric. The three, along with Marcelo, will need to be replaced along with the other players entering, or in their 30s right now in the near future, and that is something that Madrid will want to hand to somebody else.
If that is, in fact, what they choose, then Low could be a good choice considering his recent history of relying on young talent for the German national team.
A new clause has emerged in Philippe Coutinho’s Barcelona contract that prevents Barcelona from signing any more Liverpool players for cheap until 2021. This is because the clause states that Barcelona would have to pay €93 million over any transfer fees that they will be charged if they choose to sign Liverpool players.
Arguably the highlight of Coutinho’s career since moving to Barcelona was the 2 goals he scored in their decimation of Barcelona 8-2 in last season’s Champions League and then winning the treble with them while on loan at the German club. He has since come back to the Catalan club and has been hit with injuries that have hampered his overall progress at the club.
Coutinho was signed on an ambitious transfer fee worth €160 million but has failed to live up to the price tag, or his previous spell at Liverpool that saw him emerge as one of the best-attacking midfielders in the world.
Another clause that was included in Coutinho’s contract mentioned that Barcelona would have to pay a sum of money to Liverpool once Coutinho made a certain number of appearances for Barcelona, and the player is still out on the sidelines.
Barcelona president Joan Laporta is reported to be keen on wanting to part ways with Coutinho since the move has clearly not worked out for either party. But the Blaugrana will have to accept a heavy loss on the monetary side since there are practically no clubs that will pay a hefty price tag for Coutinho at this point in time.
With the new President now sworn in, Barcelona will be looking to extend the contracts of many of their players who have contracts expiring this summer or next summer, and need to do the needful to secure their future and not risk losing talent for free.
Oscar Mingueza
An academy graduate for Barcelona, the 21-year-old has been a regular for the first team this season and has worked really hard to break into the competitive ranks of the Barcelona squad with players out injured. His contributions to the backline this season surely warrant an extension.
Ilaix Moriba
The youngster only recently scored his first goal for the club, and the backroom staff is apparently in love with the young Dutchman. Barcelona have hence decided to offer the player an extension on his current deal.
Sergi Roberto
Arguably one of the most underrated and versatile players in the squad, Sergi Roberto has been tasked with filling in for Dani Alves in right back and has done a pretty good job of it. Injuries have plagued him this season, but that does not rule out the prospect of the future for the player.
Ousmane Dembele
Dembele will have only a year of contract left at the end of the ongoing campaign, and given that he is still young, he could have a good future at Barcelona considering his talent and potential. The club will have to choose between extending his contract or selling him in the summer.
Lionel Messi
The Argentinian has been well documented to be on the verge of leaving Camp Nou over the last year, and Joan Laporta’s appointment speech professed nothing but true love for Messi from himself as well as the club. The fans all across the world will be hoping with fingers crossed that Laporta can convince the best player in the history of the sport to continue with the club.
As per the quarter-final draw of the Champions League that took place yesterday, Manchester City will go up against Borussia Dortmund over two legs to determine who makes it through to the semi-finals of this year’s event. The winners will face either one of Bayern Munich or Paris Saint-Germain, based on who wins the other quarter-final in the replay of last year’s final.
Dortmund star Erling Haaland will be coming up against his father’s former club, while the same can be said for Giovanni Reyna. Jason Sancho will be making a return to the Etihad after leaving England to join Dortmund where he rose to fame.
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola was asked about rumours that the club would want to try and sign Erling Haaland in the future, and the City boss was neutral when asked about the issue. Here is what he had to say:
“The numbers speak for themselves. He is one of the best strikers in the world right now for his age. I know the quality of this player.”
“I don’t like when people talk about our players, so he’s a player for Borussia Dortmund. You understand I cannot answer this question.”
Being a former Bayern Munich coach, coming up against Borussia Dortmund will always be a special feeling for Guardiola, who was all praises for the Schwarzgelben:
“It is a privilege to be in the last eight teams.
“I haven’t seen much of them this season because we don’t have time, but in this international break we will have time to see them.
India won the decider in the T20 series against England by 36 runs to clinch the 5-match series 3-2 following a very entertaining performance from both teams. The Blues were asked to bat first by the visitors, and Indian skipper Virat Kohli started off the innings alongside Rohit Sharma in a very welcome change to the normal batting order.
The two put up a solid foundation to India’s innings as they held the opening partnership for 95 runs, and both the players registered 50+ scores, with Kohli being unbeaten till the end of the innings. Rohit Sharma scored 64 while Virat Kohli managed to score 80.
— आशुतोष آشوتوش Ashutosh (@Physics_Ashu) March 20, 2021
India scored 225 for 2 at the end of 20 overs and contributions from Suryakumar Yadav (32) and Hardik Pandya (39), following the loss of wickets saw India register a big total on the scoreboard.
The visitors had a difficult time keeping up with the pressures involved in the final innings of the series and crumbled at 188 for 8 wickets in 20 overs to concede the series despite going up twice throughout the five-match saga.
The partnership between Jos Buttler (52) and Dawid Malan (68) gave the hosts cause for concern, but a superb bowling performance from Shardul Thakur and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, registering 3 and 2 wickets each, saw the Englishmen fall short of the mark at the end of the day despite a good start to their chase.
The celebrations will continue long into the night for the home team, who did amazingly well to secure the series despite the odds being stacked against them on the final day.
Zomato Pvt, an Indian food delivery startup, has announced that it will file for an initial public offering in the first half of 2021. It marks yet another Indian start-up that has opted to go public.
“Our finance/legal teams are working hard to take us to IPO sometime in the first half of next year,” stated Deepinder Goyal, Zomato’s founder and chief executive officer.
Zomato is backed by none other than Sequoia Capital and Jack Ma’s Ant Group among others. It is one of the high-flying Indian startups now riding a smartphone boom in the world’s second-most populous nation.
For now, we have not received any official estimate of the evaluation and still, the company continues to seek funds ahead of its envisioned debut.
Investors like Tiger Global Management, Temasek Holdings, Baillie Gifford, and Ant have joined Zomato’s latest financing round.
“There are more big names joining the round – we estimate that our current round will end up with us at $600 million in the bank very soon.”
According to sources, the investors are part of a $525 million round, and as per a filing with India’s company regulator, values the startup at $3.4 billion.
Zomato is among the two largest players in India’s food delivery business. Its biggest competitor in the food delivery market is Swiggy, which is backed by the likes of Tencent Holdings, Naspers Ltd., and DST Global among others.
“The best part is that our burn rate is very low and our market share is accelerating in all regions. We have no immediate plans on how to spend this money. We are treating this cash as a ‘war chest’ for future M&A and fighting off any mischief or price wars from our competition in various areas of our business.”
Earlier we reported that Apple will officially stop selling the iMac Pro after supplies ran out and it looks like there are no more models left now. So as reported, the company has officially discontinued the workstation, so you will not be able to purchase one now.
But, Apple is already selling a powerful iMac and the company will reportedly launch a new ‘all in one’ sporting the company’s ARM-based silicon. However, with no more iMac Pro models being sold, it seems that Apple will recommend buyers getting themselves either the upgradeable Mac Pro or the high-end iMac.
For those who don’t want to wait for the silicon to come in the market with powerful and jaw-dropping specs, the 27-inch iMac offers plenty of performance. It can be configured with up to a 10th-generation Core i9 processor, 128GB RAM, and 8TB storage. Here’s a full list of specs.
27-inch Retina 5K 5120-by-2880 P3 display
3.0GHz 10-core Intel Xeon W processor (Turbo Boost up to 4.5GHz)
32GB 2666MHz ECC memory, configurable up to 256GB
1TB SSD storage
Radeon Pro Vega 56 with 8GB HBM2 memory
10Gb Ethernet
Four Thunderbolt 3 ports
However, those who are willing to wait will get to witness the potential of Apple’s Silicon and the true potential of the iMac. The upcoming redesigned iMac models would either sport an M2 or an A14T chipset.
According to sources, the new ARM chip fueling the redesigned iMacs will be better in both performance and efficiency than the iMac Pro.
Right now, the question is The Rock and The Foundation, are they the same person? The first one is a famous retired professional wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and also an actor and producer. The second one is the masked Fortnite character who appeared in an event that recently started Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 6.
The largest clue is the video, which is posted by Johnson on Instagram on March 16 and talks about the importance of March 16 to a certain culture. Fortnite Season 6 started on March 16. It is also Stone Cold Steve Austin day, though, a reference to that rival wrestler’s “Austin 3:16” gimmick.
In most interesting moment comes at the end of the video, when Johnson references the “power and force” of something called “the foundation.” Either a direct hint from him that he is the Fortnite character named The Foundation, or recently he really got into Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series.
Many Fortnite players have pointed out that The Foundation’s armor has the same pattern as Johnson’s tattoos, and it’s a strong point to be noticed. After so many hints, it’ll not be surprising anymore more. Ripley and Xenomorph are in the game; Predator, the alien that Arnold Schwarzenegger fought are in the game, Avengers are also in the game.
It will be weird if The Foundation doesn’t turn out to be The Rock. It might happen that The Foundation is actually Kiefer Sutherland. Geoff Keighley asked Sutherland on Twitter, but Sutherland hasn’t responded which is pretty suspicious.
We’ll definitely find out whether The Rock has any kind of relationship to The Foundation or not when the Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 6 ends on June 7.
Looking for a powerful laptop for everyday use? In 2021, AMD has become the best choice for high-performance computing as well as gaming, now, in the laptop market too, AMD is reigning higher than Intel with high-performing processors which are also very efficient.
Having tested out some of them and analyzing the specs offered for the money, we have made a curated list of Top 10 AMD Ryzen powered laptops under ₹ 60,000, which will give the best bang for the buck as of 2021:
Processor: AMD Ryzen 3 3250U (2.6 GHz base clock, up to 3.5 GHz max boost clock, 4 MB L3 cache, 2 cores)
Memory and Storage: 4 GB DDR4-2400 SDRAM (1 x 4 GB), 1TB 5400rpm hard drive
Display and Graphics: 39.6 cm (15.6″) diagonal, HD (1366 x 768), micro-edge, BrightView, 220 nits, 45% NTSC; AMD Radeon Graphics
Operating System: Windows 10 Home operating system; Microsoft Office 2019 – Home and Student Edition
Connectivity Ports: 1 SuperSpeed USB Type-C 5Gbps signaling rate; 2 SuperSpeed USB Type-A 5Gbps signaling rate; 1 HDMI 1.4b; 1 RJ-45; 1 AC smart pin; 1 headphone/microphone combo
Dimensions and Weight: 35.85 x 24.2 x 1.99 cm; Starting at 1.74 kg
For a more refined entry-level option, you can go for the HP 15s, which is a highly rated budget laptop, satisfying all your needs if your budget is around Rs. 30k.
Processor: AMD Ryzen 5-3500U Processor, 2.1 GHz Base Speed, Up to 3.7 GHz Turbo Boost Speed, 4 Cores, 8 Threads, 6MB Cache
Memory & Storage: 8GB (2x 4GB) DDR4 2400MHz Dual Channel RAM, Upgradeable up to 12GB using 1x SO-DIMM Slot with, | Storage: 1TB HDD 2.5-inch SATA 5400RPM + empty M.2 Slot for SSD Storage Expansion
Display: 14-inch LED-Backlit, FHD (1920 x 1080) 16:9, 220nits, NanoEdge bezel, Anti-Glare Plane with 45% NTSC, 82% Screen-To-Body Ratio
Graphics: Integrated AMD Radeon Vega 8 Graphics
Operating System: Pre-loaded Windows 10 Home with lifetime validity | Software Included: Pre-installed MS Office Home and Student 2019
Design & battery: 19.9mm Thin | Metal Reinforced Chassis |Thin and Light Laptop | Laptop weight: 1.6 kg | 37WHrs, 2-cell, lithium-Ion battery | Up to 6 hours battery life; Note: Battery life depends on conditions of usage
I/O Port: 1 x COMBO audio jack, 1 x Type-C USB 3.2 (Gen 1), 1 x Type-A USB 3.2 (Gen 1), 2 x Type-A USB2.0, 1 x HDMI 1.4, 1 x micro SD card.
Other: Fingerprint reader | VGA Web Camera (Fixed type) | Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) 2*2 | Bluetooth 4.2 | Built-in speaker | Built-in microphone
ASUS’s Vivobook 14 is the best option if you are looking for a serious budget laptop that can be used for everyday work, this is the best option for students looking for a laptop to be used for a long time down the road.
OS: Pre-Loaded Windows 10 Home with Lifetime Validity
Pre-Installed: MS Office Home and Student 2019
Memory and Storage: 8GB RAM DDR4 (4GB+4GB), Upgradable up to 12GB | 512GB SSD
Display: 15.6″ Full HD (1920×1080) | Anti-Glare
Design: 1.99 cm Thin and 1.85 kg Light | Narrow Bezel | Battery Life: 3 Hours
Camera (Built-in): 0.3 MP Camera | Fixed Focus | Integrated Monaural Microphone
Audio: 2 x 1.5W Stereo Speakers | HD Audio | Dolby Audio
Ports: 2 USB 3.1 Gen1, 1 USB 2.0, Headphone/Mic combo jack, HDMI 1.4b, 4-in-1 media reader (MMC, SD, SDHC, SDXC)
In the box: Laptop, Power Adapter and User Manual
If you need a modern-looking thin and light laptop then Lenovo’s IdeaPad S145 is a great choice for you that checks all the most-required specs we seek on a budget laptop.
14 inch Full HD LED Backlit Bright View Narrow Bezel Display (250 nits Brightness, 157 ppi, 45% Color Gamut, 78.4% Screen to Body Ratio)
Quad-core AMD Ryzen 5 3500U processor with 2.1 GHz Base Speed, Up to 3.7 GHz Turbo Boost Speed
8GB DDR4 RAM
1TB 5400rpm hard drive + 256GB SSD
14-inch screen, Radeon Vega 8 Graphics
Windows 10 Home operating system; Microsoft Office 2019 – Home and Student Edition
1.47kg laptop
If you are like me who requires a lot of space to keep all your files, movies, and stuff then this laptop has both a 1TB HDD option as well as 256GB SSD. On top of that, you still have the Ryzen 5 3500U and a pretty good screen couple with 8GB RAM.
Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 4500U; Base Speed: 2.3GHz, Max Speed: 4.0GHz, 6 Cores, 6 Threads, 8MB cache
Operating System: Pre-Loaded Windows 10 Home with Lifetime Validity | Pre-Installed MS Office Home and Student 2019
Memory and Storage: 8GB RAM DDR4-2666 | 512GB SSD M.2
Display: 14″ Full HD (1920×1080) Anti-Glare | Integrated AMD Radeon Graphics
Design: Thin (19.9mm) and Light (1.5kg) Laptop with Narrow Bezel
Ports: 2 USB 3.1 Gen1, 1 USB 2.0, Headphone/Mic combo jack, HDMI 1.4b, 4-in-1 media reader (MMC, SD, SDHC, SDXC)
Another good productive laptop with the newer Ryzen 5 4500U with 6 cores and is way lot powerful as well as efficient for daily work. With good battery life, modern display, and MS Office Home and Student 2019 license, this is a lucrative choice for office usage.
Display: 15.6-inch (16:9) LED-backlit Full HD (1920×1080) 60Hz Anti-Glare Panel with 45% NTSC, 85% screen-to-body ratio
Operating System: Pre-loaded Windows 10 Home with lifetime validity
Design & battery: Thin-bezels | Thin and Light Laptop | Laptop weight: 1.80 kg | 42WHrs, 3-cell Li-ion battery | Up to 6 hours battery life; Note: Battery life depends on conditions of usage
I/O Ports: 1x HDMI 1.4, 1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack, 2x USB 2.0, 1x USB 3.1 Type-A (Gen1), 1x USB 3.1 Type C (Gen 1), 1x Micro SD card reader
Other: FingerPrint Reader with Windows Hello support | 720p HD web camera | Wi-Fi 6 (Gig+) (802.11ax) 2*2 | Bluetooth 5.0 | Built-in 2 W Stereo Speakers with Analog Microphone Harman Kardon
This one too comes with the newer AMD Ryzen 5 4500U processor but has a better screen with a modern aspect ratio and better battery life. Comes with the latest features like Wi-Fi 6, FingerPrint Reader and gives you the option to upgrade your RAM.
This laptop packs a punch in terms of performance as it comes with an AMD Ryzen 5500U processor and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 graphics processor.
It Features a 39.62 cm (15.6) Full HD LED Backlit screen, with an 81.61% screen-to-body ratio, which offers clean and detailed visuals, irrespective of whether you’re playing games, creating a presentation, or watching videos.
This laptop comes with a dual-band Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) connectivity that helps offer up to three times enhanced network throughput and reduced latency by up to 75% when compared to its predecessor, the Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) standard.
Along with the USB Type-C port, this laptop also comes with one USB 2.0 port and two SuperSpeed USB 5 Gbps Type-A ports (one of these can be used for offline charging).
This laptop features a stylish and professional design that is sure to grab the attention of people whenever you take it out of your bag. Moreover, its backlit keyboard helps you work comfortably even in dimly lit environments.
This is the latest laptop for 2021, powered by the new AMD Ryzen 5500U processor with 6 cores and 12 threads. It has a great display along with the latest features like Wi-Fi 6, promises up to 10 hours of battery life as well as sports a dedicated GTX 1650 GPU.
Storage : 512 GB, PCIe Gen3 8 Gb/s up to 4 lanes, NVMe SSD
OS: Windows 10 Home 64-bit
Opting for this laptop won’t be a regret as this is one of the best portable budget laptops I have ever tested, providing long battery life along with all the necessary features required for everyday work. Check out the full review here. You can get this laptop at a lower price during sales and at around Rs. 55k or 56k, this is a great deal.
Design and Battery: 1.6Kg thin and light laptop | Up to 12 hours of charge | with rapid-charge technology
Pre-Installed Software: Microsoft Office Home and Student 2019 | Inside the box: Laptop, Charger, User Manual
Ports and Drive: 2 x USB-A 3.1 Gen 1, USB-C Gen 1 (power delivery, display port), HDMI 1.4b, SD card reader, Headphone/mic combo
This is a tough choice as both of these laptops are great, but the Lenovo is exceptional if you are looking for performance as it sports the AMD Ryzen 7 4700U processor that comes with 8 Zen 2 cores.
This is an excellent laptop for daily usage and productivity, although its build is not superior to Acer’s. If that doesn’t matter to you and all you need is performance, just get the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5 without hesitation.
The Indian national team is preparing for the two international friendlies against Oman and UAE, later this month. Surprisingly, no I-League player has been named in the Indian Squad.
Despite only ISL players getting called up for the Indian National team, Igor Stimac has made it clear that playing in I-League doesn’t make a player ineligible for the Indian national team.
Igor Stimac said during a chat with AIFF TV: “Some people were worried that I didn’t follow I-League this year but I have Venkatesh there and he is involved in every single game so I have great numbers, statistics from the I-League. That is the way we follow. ISL is the professional part of Indian football, it is very well organised and from this part, the players are coming to the national team.”
He added, “From I-League, because it has a lower quality of football, I consider I-League for now as a filter for the ISL. It is a platform where young Indian players develop, grow and gets recognised by ISL clubs and signed by them. Which doesn’t mean that some of the I-League players can’t get on the national team list.”
Stimac then revealed that there is a lot happening behind the scenes to improve the future of football in India as he concluded, “People who see Indian football, they only see ISL or the national team playing but they cannot see those things happening behind the scenes, what we are doing with the grassroots program, the baby leagues with the youth development program. This work will be seen very soon,”
