The Guardian

Updates from 2pm (GMT) match in Turin ATP Finals preview | You can email Daniel Some pre-match reading; I’d like to think Fritz has the power to beat the big two on a good day, but I’m afraid I can’t persuade myself. Every tournament both of them have entered this year, one of them has won. Continue reading...

Live updates from Sunday’s 2pm (GMT) kick-offs Share your thoughts with John via email Right, four games this Sunday 2pm, with plenty up for grabs. That game at the City Ground looks like a six-pointer. Bournemouth can go second, while Palace can get into the top five. Crystal Palace v Brighton Aston Villa v Bournemouth Brentford v Newcastle Nottingham Forest v Leeds Continue reading...

As Wales prepare to face the Pumas, the only thing uniting anyone is a lack of trust in the WRU to sort the game out It’s a wet Wednesday afternoon and Wales are holding an open training session at the Principality Stadium. Admission is free, apart from the £1 booking fee, and the 6,000 seats they’ve made available are filled with raucous kids and weary parents looking for something new to do dur…

Former Chelsea and England maverick on being portrayed as spoilt at 16, Max Dowman’s future, his admiration for Mikel Arteta, and a big dream of managing England “Someone who worked a lot with rock stars told me that the age that they become famous is the age they stay for the rest of their life. I thought: ‘That doesn’t bode well for me,’” Joe Cole says ruefully. “I was in the public eye at 16 a…

Assistant coach is using psychological, tactical and physical profiling to help Thomas Tuchel give his England team an edge at the World Cup Ten years ago, life looked a little different for Anthony Barry. The England assistant coach, whose focus is fixed on helping Thomas Tuchel win the World Cup next summer – nothing less – was playing for Accrington Stanley in League Two. He was in the twiligh…

Back at the ATP finals one year after reaching the last hurdle, Fritz remains a top-five talent. It’s a reminder that a certain major-title drought is not his burden to bear I would like to have some words with ESPN broadcaster Chris Fowler about what he said after Novak Djokovic beat Taylor Fritz , for the 11th straight time, in the US Open quarter-finals. Look – Fritz is American, Fowler is Ame…

News, discussion and previews before the day’s action Jonathan Wilson’s preview | Email matchday live Jonathan Wilson has previewed Sunday’s big game ; it’s not a title decider, more an eliminator. Never before, not even in the four years when he had Lionel Messi in his side at Barcelona, has Guardiola focused his play so much on one player. After overhauling his squad since January, everything i…

It is a test of Steve Borthwick’s coaching credentials to develop raw speedster Henry Arundell into the player he so obviously can become Some things never change. Twickenham can always make a hash of the pre-match festivities, Fiji will always take the breath away and there is no substitute for pace in the elite game. If there is one thing that Steve Borthwick takes from this helter-skelter vict…

Afghan Women United is comprised of players forced to flee their homeland and is another step in beating barriers “When I step on to the pitch everything else is automatically erased from my mind,” says the captain of Afghan Women United, Fatima Haidari, when asked how football helps her cope with the traumas she has suffered. “I train, I play, and a fire inside me is lit, not just because of the…

Steve Borthwick’s men were invited to a dance and had all the moves, reacting to a classic try with one of their own Something is happening in south-west London. The statistics will give you a hint of it – England have won nine Tests in a row and haven’t lost at home all year – but the sight of the way they played here in the second half against Fiji says more about what’s going on than the numbe…

Manager feels ‘pain in tummy’ at end of clean sheet run Régis Le Bris praises his team’s character in ‘masterclass’ Mikel Arteta told of his “disappointment and frustration” after Arsenal were denied a win by an injury-time Sunderland goal at the Stadium of Light. A 94th-minute strike from the substitute Brian Brobbey claimed a point for the home side, who are fourth in the table. “It’s not a nic…

Australia show flashes of greatness, but costly collapses threaten the idea of a revival. They need to find their rhythm Is it better to be a consistently good team or an occasionally brilliant one? We’ll find out by the end of Australia’s European tour. But now, after a 26–19 loss to Italy in Udine – their second defeat in as many matches on this crucial trip – the answer seems obvious. Because …

France 17-32 South Africa World champions score four tries in bruising victory World champions South Africa recovered from 14-6 down and the sending-off of the powerhouse lock Lood de Jager to overpower France 32-17 in a bruising Autumn international on Saturday. France cracked completely under pressure as their discipline disintegrated, throwing away an early lead despite the Springboks being re…

A wild ride took everyone back where they had started. The one certainty arising from an affair of low quality and, from nowhere, scarcely credible drama was that only a fool would hang their hat on Tottenham or Manchester United right now. The ignominies of last season may be at some remove but it remains anyone’s guess what either of these scratchy, neurotic sides will produce on a given occasi…

Relegation beckons when all it takes to undo 51 minutes of hard graft is a full-back without a goal in 165 games for club and country popping up to break the deadlock. This is the reality for Wolves now. They are in a miserable state, so much so that it is hard to see why Rob Edwards is prepared to leave Middlesbrough to take the vacancy at Molineux, and they looked utterly bereft of fight as Che…