Month: October 2024

No sooner had the Cyprus manager Temuri Ketsbaia declared Scotland have already qualified for next summer’s European Championship than Steve Clarke comprehensively dismissed the notion. “Football can bite you on the bum,” said the Scotland manager.

Victory for Clarke’s men over Cyprus on Friday would make it five wins from as many matches in Group A. In that circumstance, Scotland could seal a finals berth as early as Tuesday if other results go their way. Ketsbaia insisted the Scots are already bound for Germany. “I believe they have already qualified,” said the former Newcastle United midfielder. “I am not surprised they are at the top of the group. I am sure they will finish first or second.”

‘A real togetherness’: …

In a page straight out of the 2020 storybook, Clemson and Florida State “mutually” agreed to postpone their Saturday conference matchup hours before kickoff, after both teams’ medical staffs could not agree to move forward with the game. The teams had been scheduled to play at noon. According to Mike Gillespie, sports director at the ABC affiliate in Columbia, S.C., Clemson had a backup offensive lineman test positive for COVID-19. This shouldn’t be surprising given Clemson’s previous glut of positive tests. It was practically inevitable to happen again at some point — a pandemic is raging, after all. Meanwhile, Clemson officials, players, and backers were chirping all morning about how disappointing it was that the game was off. They threw an awful lot of shade at F…

When Pedri stumbled through a challenge and swept inside to tee up Dani Ceballos, who crashed a long-range effort off the crossbar, we were given the first taste of the 18‑year‑old’s talent in Tokyo against Egypt. Only 16 days after Spain’s exit from Euro 2020, at which he was named young player of the tournament, Pedri was back on the pitch at the Olympics for his 66th game in 322 days.

That the Spanish football federation brushed off the protestations of Barcelona and the club’s manager, Ronald Koeman, over the inclusion of their young talent in Luis de la Fuente’s squad for Japan – contrasting starkly with the absence of the Egypt forward Mohamed Salah, who was not released by Liverpool – reflected its intent going into th…

Leeds have confirmed the appointment of Javi Gracia, the former Watford and Valencia head coach, as their manager. The 52-year-old Spaniard takes over from Jesse Marsch, who was sacked just over a fortnight ago, and has agreed what the club described as a “flexible contract”. It is understood the initial commitment is to the end of the season.

Leeds are in the Premier League’s relegation zone after defeat at Everton on Saturday and turned to Gracia after failing to land other targets. A quartet of their preferred candidates, Feyenoord’s Arne Slot, West Brom’s Carlos Corberán, the former River Plate coach Marcel Gallardo and Rayo Vallecano’s Andoni Iraola, proved out of reach.

Although Leeds may well try…

WE ♥ ANALYTICS

Things aren’t going so well for Hearts at the moment. Just six weeks ago, they handed contract extensions to manager Steven Naismith and his staff, only to wind up chasing the lot of them out of Tynecastle and through the streets of Edinburgh last Sunday in scenes resembling the opening credits of Trainspotting. Because that’s what happens when you choose to go out of McFizzy Cup at the hands of Falkirk and choose to lose both legs of your Bigger Vase qualifier against Viktoria Plzen while also choosing to lose five consecutive Scottish Premiership games against Dundee, Motherwell, Dundee United, Motherwell, Celtic and St Mirren. For now, Hearts are choosing not to choose a new full-time replacement an…

Adrian Wojnarowski’s sources inside front offices might be a little too eager to share with him. Even Shams Charania is playing from behind Woj a majority of the time. On Wednesday, Wojnarowski hit send on a WojSmokeBomb explaining the Minnesota Timberwolves’ intention to decline Taurean Prince’s team option for the 2023-24 season. The Timberwolves apparently didn’t inform Prince of their decision not to pay him $7.4 million before someone opted to text Woj. Woj isn’t the problem here. His job is to beat his competitors to the news, but not the player himself. Prince was low on the Timberwolves’ totem pole, averaging only 9.1 points and 2.4 rebounds per game as a bit player in Minnesota’s rotation. It’s a hard-knock league. Malcolm Brogdon was traded by the Celtics las…

Last weekend, 2016: Obama's America, an anti-Obama documentary released in roughly 1,000 theaters nationwide, shocked observers by making more money than fellow new releases Premium Rush and Hit & Run, both of which were shown on twice as many screens. It's already the sixth-highest-grossing political documentary of all time— behind four Michael Moore movies and —and is the highest-grossing explicitly right-wing film ever. (Passing Atlas Shrugged, anti-abortion film October Baby, and that sad Michael Moore satire An American Carol by the wayward Zucker brother.) This took me by surprise along with everyone else, because I had literally never heard of the film until I saw it on the marquee of my local theater. As a devoted moviegoer, as, dammit, a concerned citizen, I f…

Last month, the voting public selected Boats Botes as the 2017 Name of the Year. Congratulations, voting public, on choosing a wildly inferior candidate for the second time in six months! The Name of the Year High Committee held a separate vote, as the committee often does. And while we could only right this one election wrong, we feel we have done so. Kobe Buffalomeat is our 2017 Name of the Year. Buffalomeat is, of course, the 6-foot-7, 285-pound offensive lineman from Lawrence, Kan., whose name blew up in February after he committed to Illinois State University. Darren Rovell made good—and one hopes ironic—use of “BREAKING” on Twitter, reporting that “Illinois State signs the best recruit name in college football recruiting history.” The Washington Post called Buffalo…