The postseason kicks off on Saturday. Our writers pick the dark horses, players to watch and make their tips for the NFL’s championship game Melissa is right about the Lions (see below), but how about the Dallas Cowboys? Their defense was nauseating, and nobody wants a playoff weekend spoiled watching...
Morocco sail into Afcon semi-finals as DÃaz sparks fine win over Cameroon
At last, Morocco have arrived at the tournament they are hosting. For four games they had played scratchy, crabbed football. Finally, in a spiky, ill-tempered quarter-final, there was something more like the Morocco that reached the semi-finals of the World Cup two years ago. If the game wasn’t fluent, that...
‘I’ll make the decisions’: Liam Rosenior confident he will be in control at Chelsea
Manager takes charge of first game on Saturday in FA Cup ‘It’s not possible to be in this job and not be your own man’ Liam Rosenior is confident he will make the decisions at Chelsea, insisting he would not have agreed to take over as head coach if he...
Ole Gunnar Solskjær set for face-to-face talks with Manchester United this weekend
Coach is vying with Michael Carrick to be interim manager Solskjær due at Carrington training base on Saturday Ole Gunnar Solskjær will have face-to-face talks with Manchester United on Saturday regarding becoming the interim manager until the end of the season. The Norwegian is vying with Michael Carrick for the...
England ruthlessly privatised cricket – Australia embraces it with constant public displays of affection | Emma John
If there is one takeaway for England from this Ashes tour it should be how cricket thrives in a nation where it is readily and freely available as the dominant summer pastime The drive to Bowral in New South Wales takes you through some of Australia’s most English countryside. Pastoral...
Goalkeeper Okonkwo is the hero as Wrexham shock Nottingham Forest in FA Cup shootout
North Americans have rarely been fans of draws in sport, so the unscripted FA Cup drama of seeing Arthur Okonkwo take a starring role in a penalty shootout after Wrexham were pegged back in the final minute of normal time must have brought joy to co-owner Ryan Reynolds in the...
‘The whole world can think whatever they want’ – Naseem Hamed on boxing, racism and his greatest regret
Former champion on his relationship with trainer Brendan Ingle, now portrayed on film, quitting at the right time and the importance of his faith Naseem Hamed carries himself with a stately grandeur these days. Having settled his considerable bulk into a comfortable chair he pauses meaningfully. We look at each...
The Timberwolves should not play until ICE violence in Minneapolis is held to account | Lee Escobedo
A federal enforcement operation ended with a woman dead and the facts contested. The NBA cannot treat state violence in a residential neighborhood as background noise The SUV sat motionless against a tree on a south Minneapolis street, its engine quiet, angled as if it had simply run out of...
Five Ashes charts: the numbers that show how Australia got the better of England
From Ben Stokes’s drastically reduced strike rate to Mitchell Starc’s near best ever bowling figures, the statistics from the series tell their own story The Ashes are over, and the post-mortems have begun. Some may point to a lack of preparation, uneven pitches or a mid-tour Noosa bender for England’s...
FA Cup third round: 10 things to look out for this weekend
Macclesfield and Weston-super-Mare carry the non-league hopes while fringe players need to seize their chances Silly goals conceded, chances missed, a lead surrendered and points squandered against relegation fodder. On the face of things, Manchester United have changed manager but nothing else. The reality is different. They started slowly at...