List of All Articles with Tag 'c'

The cup specialists have so far struggled with the new league. After winning the Euros and reaching the World Cup final, the Lionesses face the prospect of a rare failure in the inaugural Women’s Nations League. England must beat Netherlands at Wembley on Friday and then Scotland at Hampden on Tuesday to have any chance of topping their group. But given Sarina Wiegman also won the Euros and reached the World Cup final with her native Netherlands, allowing the Dutchwoman to claim the title of the ultimate tournament manager, perhaps the return to must-win, knockout football will suit the Lionesses ahead of a decisive week. Qualification for the Olympics is on the line, after all. But that has also been the case throughout England’s Nations League campaign and after hitting great heights in each of the last two summers, Wiegman’s side have suffered their first real dip in form. Now they must shake off their World Cup hangover, after they were beaten by the Netherlands in September and following last month’s damaging defeat in Belgium. Wiegman’s side have been unusually flat and their performances have featured too many errors: now hit by further injuries to the defence and without captain Millie Bright, England’s backs are against the wall. Though there is also an argument that such a mindset can benefit them, making their task clearer. It was at the World Cup where the Lionesses used their resilience in overcoming injuries and unforeseen hurdles, to adapt their plans and reach the final. They face a similar situation now with elimination from the Olympics qualification process on the line – even if they also require Belgium to drop points against either Scotland or the Netherlands. “I think it suits us; we’ve got the character to do that,” said midfielder Keira Walsh. “I think the team is ready,” Wiegman said. “We’re very clear on how we want to play and what we want to do.” There remains a question over the centre of defence, however. Bright has started England’s last 11 games since the start of the World Cup but has been ruled out of the matches against the Netherlands and Scotland because of a recurrence of the knee injury that threatened her place in Wiegman’s World Cup squad before the summer. In her absence, Alex Greenwood and Jess Carter will form a new centre-back pair. But behind those two in the pecking order, there is a lack of experience: Lotte Wubben-Moy, Esme Morgan and Maya Le Tissier have 12 caps between them. Millie Turner, called up to replace Bright, has yet to play for her country. Even with Bright in the side, England’s defensive record since the World Cup has been poor and what was a strength in Australia can no longer be relied upon in the same way. The Lionesses conceded twice in Utrecht, three times in Louven. England still continued to control the ball and create chances but they failed to take them – and paid the price. “I think it was maybe just a slight lack of concentration at times,” Walsh said. “I think it happens and most of the time you don’t get punished. I think it was just one of those games where we did. But let’s not catastrophise it.” There were still positives to be taken, Walsh continued, and to add to that there is now the welcome return of Beth Mead. The Euros Golden Boot winner and player of the tournament is back with the Lionesses for the first time in over a year, after returning from her ACL injury. Mead feels she is sharp after scoring twice for Arsenal at the weekend, playing with freedom after withstanding the hardest year of her life. Wiegman, who was patient in bringing the forward back, says she is training like she “hasn’t been away”. Her return adds to England’s remarkable depth in the forward positions, and the international window arrives with those options hitting form in the Women’s Nations League as well. On Sunday, Mead hit her first goals since her injury return; Lauren James has five in her last two WSL starts for Chelsea; Rachel Daly has scored in two games in a row for Aston Villa; as has Lauren Hemp with Manchester City. Alessia Russo and Chloe Kelly are competing for places among the forward line as well. “This time of the season, everybody has already played a lot of games and they feel more settled within their environments,” Walsh said earlier this week. “I think you can see that with our forward players creating and scoring. Training today was the first session that everyone was on the grass and it was really competitive. It was a really good intensity. So for me, playing behind those players is really exciting.” Mead offers something fresh as well, to add to the true No 9s of Russo and Daly, the touchline-hugging wingers of Hemp and Kelly, and the all-round, dynamic threat of James. “She’s a little bit different to the rest,” Walsh said. “She has much more of a striker’s mindset in terms of the way she wants to finish and get on the end of things. I think Hempo [Lauren Hemp] and Chloe [Kelly] are very direct. They like the balls to go one v one, whereas I think Beth comes inside a little bit more, I think it’s good to have such a variety.” Under Wiegman, the Lionesses haven’t got much wrong, but now Walsh says England “want to put things right”. It starts at Wembley. Read More Is England vs Netherlands on TV? Channel, time and how to watch Lionesses What do the Lionesses need to do for Team GB to qualify for the Olympics? Sarina Wiegman dismisses concerns over inexperienced England defence

By Mike Dolan LONDON Even allowing for China's messy cyclical ebb and flow and global political tensions of

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Tesla has revealed the prices and features of different versions of its highly-anticipated Cybertruck at a delivery event in Austin where the company finally handed over to customers the first 13 electric pickup trucks. The deliveries to a select group of customers come six years after Tesla boss Elon Musk tweeted about building a truck, and 4 years after a version of the Cybertruck was unveiled for the first time in 2019. At the short livestream of Thursday’s delivery event, Tesla also redemonstrated the toughness of the Cybertruck after its 2019 demo awkwardly shattered the windows of the truck. The event started with the Tesla boss driving the truck on a stage in darkness and hopping out to talk about it. The electric pickup truck’s angular body is made of a stainless steel alloy developed by Tesla with Mr Musk calling it the “most unique thing on the road”. “Finally the future will look like the future,” he told the attendees, consisting of Tesla investors. The Cybertruck, dubbed “an armoured personal carrier from the future,” will eventually be available in three different configurations with the cheapest version starting at a $60,990 base price, Mr Musk said. He said the pickup truck can carry over a ton in its bed and tow over 5,000kg (11,000 pounds). However, this ”rear-wheel version” with a range of 250 miles and acceleration from zero to 60mph in about 7 seconds, would not be available until 2025, the company said. An all-wheel drive version of the Cybertruck, Tesla announced, would have an estimated 341-mile range, top speed of 112 mph, and a starting price of $79,990. The third version announced on Thursday is what’s called the “Cyberbeast” – slated to arrive in 2024 – with a range of 320 miles and 845 horsepower, travelling from 0 to 60 mph in 2.6 seconds at an estimated price of $99,990. All these models are much more expensive than the $39,900 starting price Tesla announced for the base version in 2019. Tesla also announced that it would offer a range extender to push the all-wheel drive Cybertruck to about 470 miles and the Cyberbeast to a range of over 440 miles. The range extender, Mr Musk explained later in a post on X, is an “optional pack” that fits in about a third of the truck’s bed. “Still room for plenty of of cargo. It’s meant for very long trips or towing heavy things up mountains,” he said. “Massive congrats to the incredible Tesla team, from design through to manufacturing, for making Cybertruck real! I love you,” the multibillionaire said. At the event, the Tesla boss also invited the electric vehicle company’s chief designer Franz Von Holzhausen to re-do the demonstration of the toughness of the Cybertruck that was botched in 2019. This time, instead of throwing a metal ball at the vehicles glass, Mr Von Holzhausen threw an ordinary baseball – rather weakly – showing the glass could the projectile. Tesla has said the glass will not shatter in the face of a 70mph baseball strike. This definitely wasn’t that. The livestream event ended after about 30 minutes, once Mr Musk had listed the features and performance capabilities of the Cybertruck’s different versions and its bulletproof exterior. It was followed by the Tesla boss assisting some of the first customers in driving off in their trucks. Mr Musk has played down hopes that the Cybertruck would revive profits for the carmaker in the near future. He told investors and analysts in an earnings call in October that it could take at least 18 months for the truck to become profitable. “There will be enormous challenges in reaching volume production with Cybertruck and making the Cybertruck cash flow positive,” he said. Read More When and where to watch Tesla’s highly anticipated Cybertruck delivery event Google users urged not to press button Nasa has received a signal from 10 million miles away Google users urged not to press button Nasa has received a signal from 10 million miles away Magazine under fire for publishing AI-written articles with fake author headshots

By Devayani Sathyan BENGALURU The Reserve Bank of Australia will keep its key interest rate unchanged at 4.35%

LONDON British house prices fell by 2% in the year to November, a smaller drop than expected, mortgage

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Traders betting on diverging stock performances by Chinese e-commerce giants Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and PDD Holdings Inc.