The Guardian

Rice expected to overcome illness for semi-final Jordan Pickford: ‘We can’t focus solely on Messi’ Declan Rice is set to overcome illness and retain his place for England’s World Cup semi-final against Argentina on Wednesday. The Arsenal midfielder was substituted at half-time of England’s win over Norway in the quarter-final, with Thomas Tuchel revealing that he had spent most of the previous th…

Head coach has no illusions as to the scale of the task and wants to start by reconnecting the team and supporters It was Andoni Iraola’s humility that made the biggest impression at his unveiling as Liverpool’s new head coach on Monday. Without fanfare or bombast the 44-year-old promised not to change as a result of landing the biggest job of his coaching career and also to connect with club and…

Only time will tell if the former Leverkusen manager will become yet another victim of the constant churn at Stamford Bridge If Xabi Alonso arrived at Chelsea under any illusions about the expectations awaiting him, they were staring out from picture frames hung around Stamford Bridge’s Drake Suite. During his unveiling as Chelsea’s new manager, on either side of the room hung large, gleeful phot…

Head coach has found a way to get the best out of his glittering attack and has a second World Cup in sight It was a night when, as Didier Deschamps put it, the light went out by half-time. A remodelled France side had been comfortably beaten by Italy in their Nations League opener and a Parisian crowd made their feelings perfectly clear upon the conclusion. Three days later Les Bleus ’ roadshow …

England Test head coach vacancy may not appeal to the Zimbabwean who is at the top of his field That Andy Flower emerged as the favourite to take over England’s Test team so soon after Brendon McCullum’s demotion should come as no surprise. Put simply, the Zimbabwean is the leading active head coach on the circuit. During his first spell in the job from 2009 to 2014, England won three successive …

Bielsa departed after acrimonious World Cup exit Former United striker takes charge until March 2027 The former Manchester United striker Diego Forlán is poised to take over on a temporary basis as the new Uruguay manager after Marcelo Bielsa left the role following a sorry World Cup campaign. La Celeste were knocked out at the tournament’s group stage after two draws from their three games, befo…

FA could follow Fifa precedent with 12-month suspension Manager to face media on Saturday in pre-season friendly The future of Southampton’s manager, Tonda Eckert, remains shrouded in uncertainty as he waits to learn the outcome of a lengthy and detailed Football Association investigation into last season’s spygate scandal. In May the English Football League expelled Southampton from the Champion…

Former owner and chairman of Chelsea FC who bought the club for a pound and helped restore it to the top rank of English football For more than 20 years, Ken Bates, who has died aged 94, was synonymous with Chelsea Football Club, which he bought in 1982 from the Mears family, who had lost control after rebuilding the west stand. Haemorrhaging money, hugely in debt and about to sink into what was …

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Midfielder covered the most ground in England’s win over Norway as Morgan Rogers’ cameo impresses Tuchel Elliot Anderson can be forgiven for needing a bit of additional time to recover after his exertions in the cauldron of Miami. As Manchester City’s new record signing reflected on England’s extra-time victory over Norway with his fellow Geordie, John Murray, from BBC Radio 5 Live, there was no …

The latest episode of Thomas versus Jude does not have to descend into a drama and team cannot afford to be distracted heading into the World Cup semi-final Thomas Tuchel lobbed a grenade into the mix. Jude Bellingham picked it up and threw it back. There was an explosion of honesty in Miami, where everyone was struggling to maintain composure in the stifling humidity, and it needs to be dealt wi…

Up against Norway’s heart and skill and Florida’s heat, talisman got England through – but there is much to fix Jude against the sun. For much of this game there was a feeling of three separate entities struggling to assert their will in the heavy air of Miami Gardens. First, Norway, in their first World Cup quarter‑final, who played with heart, skill and patience, and were by any Jude‑free metri…

The defending champions have taken two of their three knockout-round matches to extra-time. England awaits Argentina topple Swiss with two goals in extra time Switzerland hit out at VAR after ‘mistaken identity’ check Throughout the World Cup tournament – from the first match through to the 3-1 quarter-final win on Saturday – Lionel Scaloni has been asked one question over and over again: what do…

Heatwaves have long been part of the Tour but temperatures now are pushing the riders to limit of human endurance The Tour de France and the heat of the midday sun are old bedfellows, going back long before an era when the biggest catastrophe of the Tour’s opening week was a major fault in the Visma team bus’s air conditioning. Flip back 50 years to my favourite Tour read, the late Geoffrey Nicho…

A congressional threat to bring the DoJ into the WNBA pushes Caitlin Clark into a role she has long tried to avoid: the central figure in America’s latest sports culture war As part of its ongoing belief that the rights of white people are in peril and require government protection, the White House earlier this week released a 162-page report accusing the National Museum of American History of en…