The Guardian

For anyone outside the dressing room it is hard to predict what the Mister will do but he will be prepared for Japan on Monday The 2022 Champions League semi-final. The Santiago Bernabéu. More than 60,000 fans in the stands, and Manchester City leading 1-0. I was on the Real Madrid bench when Carlo Ancelotti called me over and told me to get on the pitch, play aggressively and decide the match. I…

Swiss youngster runs 1:53.28 – the third fastest ever Trayvon Bromell shocks Noah Lyles in men’s 100m The oldest world record in track and field history stretches all the way back to 25 July 1983 – to the same week, in fact, that Elton John’s I’m Still Standing was released in the UK. But this increasingly looks like the year that Jarmila ­Kratochvilova’s imposing women’s 800m record may finally …

Third Test D4: NZ 438 & 288-9dec; England 354 & 103-4 Captain takes wicket moments after announcement It was one of the most extraordinary scenes witnessed in a career littered with them. Ten or so minutes before tea on the fourth day against New Zealand, about to start the 11th over of another marathon spell, Ben Stokes stood at the top of his mark as a ripple of applause turned into a standing …

British No 1 is nursing foot injury before opening match ‘I pushed beyond what I would for any other tournament’ Emma Raducanu says she will do everything she can to be ready to compete in her first-round match at Wimbledon on Monday as she continues to nurse a right-foot injury at the end of a nightmarish week of preparation. Raducanu, the 30th seed, is scheduled to face Antonia Ruzic at 1pm on …

Group 1: Australia, 172-4, beat India, 170-4, by 6 wkts Ellyse Perry and Ash Gardner put on 100 off 59 balls Australia have powered ruthlessly into the semi-finals of the Women’s T20 World Cup, hammering India by six wickets at Lord’s to maintain their unbeaten record while sending their biggest rivals spinning out of the tournament. Ellyse Perry and Ash Gardner both struck fifties in a superb ce…

Jordan Pickford has enjoyed shootout success but believes his England side can deliver World Cup glory without penalties Jordan Pickford has pretty much seen it all since making his first England appearance at under-16 level in 2009. Although he experienced the embarrassment of conceding the only goal scored by a goalkeeper from open play at a Fifa World Cup match against Canada in the under-17 e…

After the England captain announced his international retirement, we look back at the highs and lows of the all-rounder’s incredible career Continue reading...

⚽️ Kick-off: 8pm BST/3pm EDT/5am AEST ⚽️ Player guide | Bracketology | Golden Boot | Mail Daniel Being a footballer is the greatest thing in the world, right? We all spend our lives doing something, and how wonderful it must be for that something to be something we love, surfing extremes of emotion with teammates who become family. But there’s a debt to pleasure, paid by players and those close t…

Saracens 52-14 Trailfinders Eight tries for winners in front of 8,000 fans Saracens just needed three ingredients to play Trailfinders off the pitch and win their first Premiership Women’s Rugby title in four years: clinical attack, brick-wall defence and an immense kicking game. Not only did they execute their game plan but the experience of being in their sixth final in nine seasons was devasta…

Search for Steve Clarke replacement must look outside the country’s borders to avoid future World Cup disappointment There was one element of the Scottish Football Association’s otherwise baffling decision to give Steve Clarke a four-year deal weeks before a World Cup ball had been kicked that made sense. When assessing alternatives to Clarke as the Scotland manager, it is apparent that paucity o…

Moroccans began moving to the Netherlands in the 1960s, lending match in Mexico a feeling akin to ‘a derby’ Thirty-two years to the day since their first official encounter, Morocco and the Netherlands face each in what has the makings of a blockbuster last-32 match. Many things have changed since the 1994 World Cup group game in Orlando, which Netherlands won 2-1, but Morocco’s history is never …

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now! After much hesitant wallchart-filling, Geopolitics World Cup fans are finally able to feast their eyes on a complete knockout stage and plot their team’s route to a painful penalty shootout exit. Unlike in previous tournaments, there is no rest day for the wicked this time, with the first last-32 tie – a blockbuster tie between Canada and South …

Kimi Antonelli claims third behind Red Bull’s Verstappen Russell overtakes Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton in standings George Russell won the Austrian Grand Prix after a tense and gripping battle with what was a resurgent Red Bull in the hands of Max Verstappen. Russell held his nerve to ground out the victory even as the Dutchman charged at him in the final laps at the Red Bull Ring to take a win the …

There was good food, nervous energy and pandemonium at a Surry Hills cafe as Algeria went through to the knockout round On a rainy day in Sydney’s Surry Hills, a small crowd rushes into a small cafe draped in the green and white flag of Algeria, gathering around a TV with dreams of seeing their country make the World Cup knockout stage for the first time in 12 years. Greetings are exchanged in Fr…

As the knockout stages begin, penalties are inevitable. What do the stats say about the best ways to take them? The 2022 World Cup final was a nail-biting affair, decided by a penalty shootout after Argentina and France were evenly matched with three goals apiece . Argentina subsequently won 4-2 on penalties, taking the title. Even outside penalty shootouts, a single spot kick can easily decide t…