Posts

History repeated itself at Turner’s Cross on Tuesday night, when Martin O’Neill’s decision to switch from 4-3-1-2 to 4-1-4-1 coincided with the Republic of Ireland tasting defeat in their final Euro 2016 warm-up friendly against Belarus. After switching to the diamond formation for the home draw with Scotland in June 2015, O’Neill’s side followed up that result with a three-game winning streak that culminated in the famous victory against Germany on October 8....

“This is so irresponsible,” she wrote in an Instagram story, which shared the photo. “This kid is a loser.” The photo was posted by Lil Pump on Instagram Monday. In it, the “Gucci Gang” rapper is seen wearing a Trump 2020 hat. The Trump flag and the photo’s caption, which read “MAGA 2020” didn’t disguise his endorsement of Trump. The rapper has been praised by republicans after sharing his support for Trump....

Fifteen seconds into the opening round, Mitrione fired off a low left inside leg kick while Sergei Kharitonov was moving. It found Kharitonov’s nether regions and the Russian veteran fell flat on his back in agony as a result of the inadvertent low blow. The referee gave Kharitonov five minutes to recover, but he was in too much pain to even stand up — let alone fight — and the bout was deemed a no-contest to the disappointment of Mitrione, obviously Kharitonov, those in attendance at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn....

As the UFC is in the final steps before their relaunch, Bellator is still in a holding pattern. Days tick off the calendar but events pile up. It appears that one of the wishes of female featherweight champion Cris Cyborg will have to be shelled because of it. The 34-year-old Justino has never made a secret about wanting to have at least one boxing fight before she walks away from combat sports....

Wenger ‘revolted’ by refereeing display Arsenal exited the competition with barely a whimper, trounced 10-2 on aggregate in the last 16 by Bayern Munich, who eased to a 5-1 victory against their 10-man opponents. The Londoners led 1-0 at half-time through Theo Walcott but it all turned sour when Laurent Koscielny was sent off nine minutes after the break as Bayern piled on five unanswered goals at the Emirates Stadium to reach the quarter-finals....

The Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder stepped to the plate at Marlins Park in the seventh inning needing a triple to complete the first cycle of his young career. He got it with a line drive to right-center that split Miami Marlins outfielders Christian Yelich and Giancarlo Stanton. Bellinger is just the fifth Dodgers player since World War II to hit for the cycle, joining Jackie Robinson, Gil Hodges, Wes Parker and Orlando Hudson....

Beltran has been close before, making it to the Fall Classic with the 2013 Cardinals, and to the NLCS with the 2004 Astros, 2006 Mets and 2012 Cardinals. He is hitting .304/.344/.546 with 22 homers this year, a remarkable season at the age of 39, and fits Texas well given the Rangers’ league-worst production out of the DH spot this year – mostly with the now-injured Prince Fielder. MORE: MLB trade deadline ‘16 live blog, updates...

Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who is among the lawyers representing Brown’s family, was critical of Pasquotank County officials who released Brown’s arrest warrant before the officer’s body camera footage was made public. He told reporters Monday morning that the delay was to protect the law enforcement officers, the Associated Press reported. “Now, you all may have noticed that they released a warrant saying all kinds of things about Andrew Brown, but they want to redact the face of the…officers that killed Andrew Brown,” Crump said, adding that officials blurring deputies’ faces are “going to protect them and not show their face and not say their names…because what they want to do is assassinate the character” of Brown....

Roethlisberger and his father will be featured on an upcoming episode of the Outdoor Channel’s “Gridiron Outdoors with Mike Pawlawski,” in which the two-time Super Bowl champion receives sniper training from a former Navy SEAL. MORE: Revisiting Roethlisberger draft debate | Top 10 Steelers ever Pawlawski, a former college quarterback at Cal in the early 1990s and color commentator for the the university, has had numerous football personalities on his outdoor show, including Case Keenum and 2016 NFL Draft prospect Jared Goff....

He outdid himself this time, though; as part of a season-long series of designs in support of mental health awareness, Scrivens’ new paintjob comes from artist Richard Boulet, who lives with schizophrenia. Scrivens’ reputation as one of the league’s most thoughtful players is deserved — he went to Cornell and listens to TED Talks on team planes. This is cooler, though.

Simmons missed eight games because of a nerve impingement in his lower back before the 2019-20 campaign was paused amid the coronavirus pandemic. The point guard was at that time set to be re-evaluated in three weeks, putting his availability for a late-season playoff push into question. Sixers general manager Elton Brand now believes he will be able to suit up. DURANT UPDATE: Will he be ready for Nets playoff run?...

Making his MCU debut in 2016’s Doctor Strange, Cumberbatch has now cemented himself as one of the MCU’s most intriguing and leading heroes, as the fan-favorite character is now also playing a pivotal role in the expansion and exploration of the multiverse. Coming off of his appearance in some of the MCU’s most successful projects with Spider-Man: No Way Home and now the Doctor Strange sequel, it appears that Cumberbatch wants to continue his recent success....

The hosts returned to winning ways with their first win in 12 games in their previous outing, defeating reigning champions Juventus 1-0 in Turin. Parma have really struggled in league fixtures this year, securing just one win in 2021. After their win over Roma on 14 March, they fell 2-1 to Genoa at home last time around. Also See: 10 highest-paid players in the Serie A this season (2020/21) Benevento vs Parma Head-to-Head This will be just the second game between the two sides, with the only other meeting coming earlier this season at the Ennio Tardini Stadium....

The 26-year-old Bengals star attracted the praise after he showed he had ice in his veins and a cool head, helping engineer a 27-10 win in the snow against the Buffalo Bills. The Bengals set up a repeat of the championship game from last year, as they face the Kansas City Chiefs, hoping to repeat the win that took them to the Super Bowl last time around. This was the Bengals 10th win in a row and many pundits have said that this version of the team is better than the one that narrowly lost 23-20 against the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LVI last February....

Jordan Henderson: From Sunderland’s bright light to Liverpool’s brilliant leader Gerrard announced his retirement on Thursday after departing MLS franchise LA Galaxy, ending a successful 18-year playing career. The 36-year-old has indicated his willingness to take up coaching, and current Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has opened the door to his potential return in some capacity. However, ex-Reds boss Benitez has also indicated his readiness to mentor the Englishman, who lifted the Champions League under the current Newcastle trainer in 2005....

Both Hamas and Netanyahu are accused of sharpening an intractable cycle of violence and reprisal. The latest round of violence in the Palestinian Gaza Strip has left hundreds dead and more than a thousand people injured. Ten have died in rocket attacks. The infrastructure in the blockaded coastal enclave was ruined in previous strikes and has been degraded further by the latest Israeli bombs. Many people were left homeless by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) airstrikes....

Why Klopp benched Karius The striker joined Liverpool from Aston Villa in July 2015, but struggled to secure regular first-team action after Brendan Rodgers was replaced with Klopp in October last year and eventually left the club for Crystal Palace in the off-season. Nevertheless, Benteke does not bear a grudge against the Liverpool boss. “I do not think there was a problem with Klopp. We always had a good relationship,” Benteke told L’Equipe....

MORE: The 50 best players in MLB postseason Police released a photo Wednesday. It is indeed Pagan, who was at the game and has deleted his Twitter account — and while he can’t say much about the issue, he turned himself in Wednesday and spoke to the Toronto Sun, which is owned (naturally) by Postmedia. He implied, heavily, that he was misidentified — so this isn’t going to end anytime soon....