List of All Articles with Tag 'sports'

San Francisco's George Kittle likes to say he's from “Tight End University.”

Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson is active and expected to start at Indianapolis

New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones missed his second straight game with a neck injury and Tyrod Taylor will start Sunday’s game against the Washington Commanders

The NFL has warned teams that any fights could result in significant punishment, including disqualification

South Africa is looking into a claim by England flanker Tom Curry that he was the subject of an alleged discriminatory remark by Springboks hooker Mbongeni Mbonambi in the teams’ Rugby World Cup semifinal match

Two elderly men were suited. In one case, he was much smarter than normal, dressed up for the occasion. He was the taller, more angular, with the more pronounced Northumbrian accent, but the resemblance was nonetheless apparent. He was the older, too, and had long referred to a knight of the realm as “Our Kid”. He adopted a slightly more formal approach, while seemingly choking up. “Bobby Charlton is the greatest player I’ve ever seen,” he said. “He’s me brother.” It was 15 years ago, when Jack Charlton presented his younger brother with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award. The clip has an added poignancy after Bobby’s death at 86; three years ago, a couple of months after his 85th birthday, Jack had died. The brothers were different players and very different characters – the wisecracking, outspoken Jack was more of a man of the people, but Bobby’s quiet dignity gave him a statesmanlike air. They were not always close but their achievements will live on. There have been 22 men’s football World Cups and only two sets of brothers have won the most prestigious of prizes: Fritz and Ottmar Walter for West Germany in 1954, Bobby and Jack Charlton at West Germany’s expense in 1966. It remains the most famous year in English football history; perhaps it always will. At the heart of it was Bobby Charlton: the 1966 FWA Footballer of the Year and Ballon d’Or winner, named by France Football – in the days before Fifa had an official award – as the best player at the World Cup. Gary Lineker, who was a goal away from equalling Charlton’s long-standing national record of 49 for his country, called him England’s greatest ever player, Gary Neville, one of his successors as Manchester United captain, deemed him the greatest ever English player. They are not necessarily the same: but in Charlton’s case, he could be both. Perhaps only the other immortal Bobby – Moore, the 1966 captain – can challenge him for the title of the finest in an England shirt. Charlton was the second English footballer, and just the third man, to reach 100 caps. His 106th and last, in the 1970 quarter-final against West Germany, set a world record that Moore – and then many others – subsequently passed. He straddled eras – his first cap came alongside Tom Finney, who debuted in England’s first match after the Second World War, and one of the last alongside Emlyn Hughes, who represented his country in the 1980s – but defined one, a time of glory. Thirty years before Frank Skinner and David Baddiel sang about football coming home, Charlton brought it back. Their lyric – “Bobby belting the ball” – conjured images, some in colour, some in black and white, of a figure with a combover hairstyle and the cannonball shot striking the ball with beautiful ferocity, often rising throughout its way into the net. Decades before the invention of expected goals, Charlton was scoring unexpected ones. Consider his opener against Mexico, England’s first of the 1966 World Cup, from such a distance that the chance of it going in was statistically low, except for one factor: that Charlton, with such power on either foot, was hitting it. He was the master of the long-range hit: if most of Lineker’s 48 goals were predatory finishes, many of Charlton’s 49 were spectacular. Such a clean striker of a ball was not a striker at all: largely a left winger in his younger days, later the attacking-midfield fulcrum of Sir Alf Ramsey’s ‘Wingless Wonders’. He began in the old W-M formation, ended up as, in effect, the tip of a midfield diamond. It was a tactical shift, a belated move into modernity that Ramsey brought. If there was a pragmatism to England’s World Cup win, Charlton was the artist. With his brace against Portugal in the 1966 semi-final – like another double against Portuguese opposition, Benfica, in the 1968 European Cup final – he illustrated his talent could shine on the biggest of occasions. The 1966 semi-final was not seen by his father, Robert, a coal miner working a shift underground in his home town of Ashington; “his duty”, Bobby subsequently, and remarkably, reflected. On the grandest stage of all, the 1966 final, he was sacrificed, Charlton and Franz Beckenbauer deputed to man-mark each other. They received the same assignment in the 1970 quarter-final; England’s era of ascendency ended when Ramsey removed Charlton with 20 minutes remaining to save him for the semi-final, the 32-year-old distracted by the prospect of his withdrawal as Beckenbauer ran forward to reduce England’s lead to 2-1; without him, they lost 3-2. Ramsey thanked him for his service on the plane back from Mexico: Bobby knew his England career, like Jack’s, was over. It could have been still more glorious: keep Charlton on and maybe England would have prevailed in 1970. But for Garrincha’s brilliance, Charlton wondered if England would have been victorious in the 1962 quarter-final against Brazil, and then the tournament as a whole. He went to four World Cups in all, not taking the field in his first: time has rendered it more extraordinary that his England debut came in 1958, a couple of months after the Munich air disaster. He scored, too, but if a poorer performance on his third cap was understandable – it came in Belgrade, scene of the Busby Babes’ last game before Munich – it cost him his place in Walter Winterbottom’s starting 11 in Sweden. Were Duncan Edwards, Roger Byrne, Tommy Taylor and Eddie Colman to have lived, perhaps England would have won more and sooner. But it was Charlton who became the emblem of English football; the face of what is now a bygone age. In its own way, it felt appropriate that a man who carried a huge responsibility for decades was the last survivor among the players at Munich; now it may be fitting that Geoff Hurst, who had the final say in 1966, is the last of Ramsey’s chosen 11, forever charged with paying tributes to his fallen comrades. And Bobby Charlton, the greatest player Jack ever saw, the greatest to have Three Lions on his shirt, took England to the summit of the global game. Read More Sir Bobby Charlton turned tragedy into triumph with unique style and perseverance Fans lay flowers and scarves at Old Trafford following death of Bobby Charlton Tributes paid to ‘giant of the game’ Sir Bobby Charlton after his death at 86 Fans lay flowers and scarves at Old Trafford following death of Bobby Charlton Manchester United fans head to Old Trafford to pay tribute to Sir Bobby Charlton Premier League managers pay tribute as Sir Bobby Charlton dies at 86

Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander generated the kind of buzz that had eluded him for much of his career with a dominant performance at basketball's World Cup

Follow live coverage as Chelsea face Brighton & Hove Albion in the Women’s Super League today. Last season it was Chelsea who again took the WSL title, just edging out Manchester United, while Arsenal and Manchester City are expected to be contenders in 2023/24 too. Relegated Reading have been replaced by Bristol City after they won the Championship title by a single point last term, while the likes of Liverpool, Everton and West Ham will hope for continued progression this year too. On the back of the Lionesses’ magnificent runs at Euro 2022 and the 2023 Women’s World Cup, the women’s game continues to go from strength to strength with increasing crowds and exciting new signings from overseas. Follow live updates from today’s game in the live blog below.

The Champions League resumes Tuesday at Manchester United where one of the competition’s most storied clubs is mourning its all-time great Bobby Charlton

Follow live coverage as Everton face Manchester United in the Women’s Super League today. Last season it was Chelsea who again took the WSL title, just edging out Manchester United, while Arsenal and Manchester City are expected to be contenders in 2023/24 too. Relegated Reading have been replaced by Bristol City after they won the Championship title by a single point last term, while the likes of Liverpool, Everton and West Ham will hope for continued progression this year too. On the back of the Lionesses’ magnificent runs at Euro 2022 and the 2023 Women’s World Cup, the women’s game continues to go from strength to strength with increasing crowds and exciting new signings from overseas. Follow live updates from today’s game in the live blog below.

Ben Shelton won his maiden tour title, beating Aslan Karatsev 7-5, 6-1 at the Japan Open

Conor McGregor reacted to Islam Makhachev’s stunning first-round knockout of Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 294 by suggesting the victory shouldn’t have stood due to illegal shots. The former UFC champion responded to Makhachev’s finish by saying Volkanovski had been put to sleep by strikes landing on the back of the Australian’s head. Midway through the first round of the main event, southpaw Makhachev skimmed his left shin off Volkanovski’s head, wobbling and dropping the featherweight king. Makhachev followed up with a fierce flurry of hammer fists to the grounded Aussie, whose brow split open amid the onslaught. Referee Marc Goddard stepped in, confirming an emphatic victory and title defence for Makhachev, the mentee and childhood friend of UFC lightweight great Khabib Nurmagomedov. The result extended Makhachev’s win streak to 13 fights, dating back to 2015, when he suffered the sole loss of his professional career. Meanwhile, Volkanovski was beaten for the third time as a pro, though he remains undefeated at his preferred weight of 145lbs. Watching along, McGregor posted on Twitter/X that Volkanovski was vulnerable: “He was always susceptible to that vs a southpaw,” McGregor wrote. However McGregor then responded to a fan pointing out that Volkanovski appeared to be hit on the back of his head, which is illegal. “A difficult sport to ref,” McGregor wrote, in comments that have since been deleted. “To stop that on a warning or a point deduction when volk was essentially out already is a tricky one. But there would be grounds for it, 100 per cent. Would have been nail biting stuff. “I’d have loved to see it happen. Back of the head shots are not good.” Read More Makhachev stuns Volkanovski with head-kick KO in first round at UFC 294 UFC 294 LIVE: Volkanovski vs Makhachev fight results after shock KO Islam Makhachev demands two words from Alexander Volkanovski ahead of UFC 294