WE DON’T LIKE TO SEE IT (EXCEPT WE DO)
Mauricio Pochettino has been here before. Five years ago, almost to the day, his Tottenham side went to Stamford Bridge searching for the win that would keep them alive in the race for their first title since 1961. They ended up shipping a two-goal lead, then whipping up one of those comic-book dust clouds covered with words like OOF and WHACK and BAM and OOYAFUCINBASA and with fists and boots sticking out of it. If The Fiver’s memory serves, the cloud, and all those contained within, was last seen sailing gracefully down the players’ tunnel, leaving several loose ends trailing ambiguously in its wake, like the end of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, or…
It turns out that football miracles can strike twice. In quick succession, and in the same place. After their team’s shock defeat to Costa Rica last Sunday, many Japanese fans were bracing for an early exit from the Qatar World Cup at the hands of Spain.
Instead, the Khalifa International Stadium was the backdrop to another extraordinary night for Japanese football, as the Samurai Blue beat the 2010 world champions 2-1 to send them into the last 16 and a meeting with the 2018 runners-up, Croatia. Victory in that match would take Japan to the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time.
Simón plays Spain into trouble as Japan turn World Cup upside down again | Sid LoweRead more
“Doha delights again!” one newspa…
The UK Football Policing Unit has received nearly 600 referrals of online abuse towards England players since the start of Euro 2024. The figures, revealed by Channel 4 News, showed spikes in abusive posts after England’s group games, with the majority of posts containing racist content or language. The UKFPU has said 26 cases are under investigation.
“It’s roughly around 85% of most of the grossly offensive posts that we see are racism, followed by homophobia,” said superintendent Mike Ankers, the UKFPU investigations lead. “We still get vile use of the N-word. They will be quite prominent. We’ll also get things like monkey emoji, that in itself will be grossly offensive. So we would be taking action.
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One year ago, who would have thought that Julián Álvarez would be the breakout star of the World Cup instead of Gio Reyna, or that TCU backup Max Duggan would lead the Horned Frogs to a national championship game on the 1-yard line of 2022’s closing? Trying to predict which figures will rise to the forefront in 2023 is an imperfect task. Athletes or coaches on the brink of stardom could instead fall off the edge and never be heard from again or their emergence could be delayed a few years. Around the corner may instead be a Joe Burrow-type who was previously dismissed before returning with a vengeance. 2023 should introduce the country to a few, new names. The tarot cards are imperfect. There are two levels of breakout stars. Some are names whose potential we were introduced to in 2…
Tom Brady has the greatest resume of any quarterback in NFL history and is one of the most successful athletes to play any sport, which is why he has nothing left to gain by playing another snap in the NFL. Yet, after 20 seasons in Foxborough, nine Super Bowl appearances, six Super Bowl titles, four Super Bowl MVPs and three league MVPs, he’s decided to continue his football journey “elsewhere.” And that elsewhere looks to be Tampa Bay, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Brady is in a position that very few athletes find themselves at the end of their careers: he’s healthy, wealthy, and a surefire Hall of Famer. There is nothing left for Brady to accomplish that doesn’t come with a higher risk than reward. There’s no need for us see you look all awkward and out of plac…
I don’t know if I’ve ever exactly forgotten about Blake Griffin, but certainly the time spent last season toiling away on irrelevant Clippers and Pistons squads didn’t help restore any of the prestige lost during three seasons spent mostly in injury hell. It seems like whole eras have passed since Griffin was the next big thing, to the point where he is now mostly thought of as a bad idea Stan Van Gundy never should’ve been allowed to execute. He’s not the same guy. Five years ago, Blake Griffin was the most feared dunker in the world. Now he’s mostly earthbound, an uneven finisher who gets dunks punched away by the likes of Jarrett Allen. So the highlights aren’t what they used to be, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t highlights. Tuesday night, Griffin more or less c…
Young Sabres center Jack Eichel missed 21 games with an ankle injury, eventually finishing this season with 24 goals and 33 assists, good for 57 points in 61 games. That’s a 0.934 points per game average, which was 11th in the NHL this season, just behind Leon Draisaitl’s 0.939. As infinitesimal as that 0.005 margin was, it will cost Eichel $2 million. Cap Friendly noticed the razor-thin margin this morning, and the Associated Press later confirmed that Eichel had a clause in his contract guaranteeing a $2 million bonus if he finished in the top 10. Draisaitl was trailing Eichel heading into the final game of the season, but Eichel didn’t score or notch an assist while Draisaitl had both a goal and an assist. Eichel didn’t mention the near-miss, but he lit into his Sabres te…
Atlético Madrid goalie Miguel Ángel Moyà gets a little carried away with his creep toward the far post, not believing that there's a scoring chance to be had. But he was not counting on the combination of Pablo Hernández's left heel and imagination. That's a beaut, right there. Atlético has since bumrushed Celta Vigo, though. It's currently 2-1 Atlético. …
11. Wesley Morris, " On Brady's Hair" 10. Michael Weinreb, " Growing Up Penn State" 9. Dave Eggers, " Wrigley Is Wrigley, and Nothing Else Is" 8. Hua Hsu, " Watch the Throne: Let Them Eat Cake" 7. Anna Clark, " Ty Cobb as Detroit" 6. Bill Simmons, " If I Ruled the (NBA) World" 5. Chris Jones, " The End" 4. Bill Simmons, " The Movie Star" 3. Jay Caspian Kang, " The Circular Ruins" 2. Shane Ryan, " The Wrestler in Real Life" 1. Jonah Lehrer, " The Math Problem" …
data-mm-id=”_845s0bczv”>Joe Burrow won the Heisman Trophy and solidified his spot as the top quarterback available this year. There have been a number of changes to the draft board and to draft positioning since our last mock draft. Here's our latest projection for the 2020 NFL Draft. (Order determined by record through Week 15)1. Cincinnati Bengals: Joe Burrow, QB, LSUAndy Dalton appears done in Cincinnati and with the Bengals holding the top pick, it's time to invest in a young quarterback. Joe Burrow is officially the Heisman Trophy-winner and his stock is rising at an incredible rate. Given head coach Zac Taylor's experience with a QB of similar skills with Jared Goff, this fit is really nice. At 6-foot-4 and 216 pounds, Burrow has the size and arm strength to make a…