The Guardian

The postseason consistently serves up enthralling football. But there are ways to make it even more compelling No legitimate Super Bowl champion should have a losing record in the regular season. The Panthers, crowned NFC South champions at 8-9, are not an outlier. Since 2010, five teams with losing records have made the postseason. The 2022 Bucs were the first team to make the dance with a losin…

In Manchester United’s brave new world coaches are more like Deliveroo drivers: not really responsible for the food, but still to blame if it arrives cold Turns out he could survive losing against Grimsby. Survive losing a crucial European final against one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, the tactical infl…

Double world champion is 14 titles from darts legend’s record but talented youngsters or even Littler himself could stall his quest Luke Littler looked up and down the rows of filled seats, the line of microphones pointed at his mouth, the expectant faces hanging on his every word. This has long been one of his least favourite parts of the job, a fact he scarcely bothers to conceal. Occasionally …

Neil Harvey, 97, the last surviving Bradman Invincible, blasts the Bazball experiment from his La-Z-Boy armchair Twenty‑five kilometres north of the SCG, the world’s oldest living Test cricketer is sitting in his La-Z-Boy armchair and watching the Test. Neil Harvey was once the youngest of Bradman’s Invincibles; now he’s 97, his old cricketing buddies gone. His body is a little worn around the ed…

The 1958 says club has become a ‘laughing stock’ Protest planned at Old Trafford in early February Manchester United supporters group The 1958 has called for a vote of no confidence in the club’s ownership model, calling Sir Jim Ratcliffe “an incompetent clown”. The organisation will also hold a protest at the home match against Fulham on 1 February to make their voices heard at Old Trafford. The…

Capacity will increase from 37,645 to about 53,000 Proposals were approved by city council on Thursday Leeds have received planning permission to redevelop Elland Road and lift the stadium’s capacity from 37,645 to about 53,000. There had been fears that a delay to the long-mooted introduction of a tram network in the surrounding area until the late 2030s might impact the club’s plans to expand t…

Australia were there for the taking but Brendon McCullum’s tourists were so poor and ill-prepared they never got close As far as endings go, it ended nicely. People streamed on to the Sydney Cricket Ground, wanting to get close to the trophy presentation and to have a canter on the turf. Nothing thrills an audience more than a chance to walk the stage. On a sun-kissed blue-heaven day, the match h…

Egyptian player went viral after terrible performance 21-year-old lost 6-0, 6-0 to world No 1,026 in Nairobi Tennis Kenya said a controversial wildcard granted to Hajar Abdelkader should not have happened after the young Egyptian’s performance at a professional tournament in Nairobi went viral. The 21-year-old won just three points and served 20 double faults on her way to a 6-0, 6-0 defeat again…

Reference to ‘lies’ deleted from his social media post Captain spoken to by Frank and co-sporting director Cristian Romero has been ­spoken to by Thomas Frank and one of ­Tottenham’s sporting directors after an apparent swipe at board for ­staying silent amid the team’s ­struggles. The captain posted a strongly worded message after Wednesday’s defeat at Bournemouth that initially appeared to accu…

⚽ Premier League updates from the 8pm GMT kick-off ⚽ Live scores | Table | Football Daily | Follow us on Bluesky Good evening. Arsenal’s title wins of the modern era have usually involved a landmark game against Liverpool, and we’re just not talking about Michael Thomas. There was the Thierry Henry-inspired comeback at Highbury in 2003-04 , the symbolic birth of the Invincibles at Anfield in 2001…

There have to be consequences for Rob Key and Brendon McCullum but English cricket’s problems lie much deeper and will be much harder to fix It seemed fitting, as the final moments ticked down at the Sydney Cricket Ground , as the day, the match, the tour seemed to ooze and melt a little at the edges under a hard white January sun, that Ben Stokes should finish this Ashes series still standing, b…

Midfielder given permission to fly to England Transfer talks behind her omission from US squad Manchester City are in advanced talks to sign the United States midfielder Sam Coffey from Portland Thorns, the Guardian understands. The 27-year-old has been granted permission to fly to Manchester to try to finalise the move, which multiple sources have said is close to completion, and could give City…

The bowler’s smarts and stamina from the first ball in Perth to the last in Sydney – not to mention his batting – made him a worthy man of the series It was right that Mitchell Starc should clean up the last two English wickets of this Ashes. Right, too, that Travis Head should mop up a few more runs, but for all of the enjoyment that Head brings with his Jayasuriya-lite batting and his Boon-lite…

Players will stay at club’s Seixal training ground Benfica lost 3-1 to Braga in League Cup semi-finals José Mourinho has turned on his Benfica players after the team’s 3-1 defeat to Braga in the Portuguese League Cup semi-finals, suggesting that the squad would be staying at the club’s Seixal training base until further notice. “The players will sleep in Seixal, and on Thursday there is training,…

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now! There’s been much talk in recent years about moving Premier League games to various parts of the world that do not boast Premier League teams – Sheffield, Miami and so on – with the stated aim of spreading the gospel, had the gospel been stolen from Jesus and the Four Evangelists, to be bastardised and defiled, to be converted into folding green…