Pakistan opened their World Cup campaign with a comfortable 81-run win against the Netherlands on Friday, overcoming an impressive performance from...

Today's MLS rumors include Lionel Messi set to win the Ballon d'Or, Luis Suarez linked with Inter Miami and Michael Bradley retiring from professional soccer.

Mauricio Pochettino says he will work to ensure more Chelsea academy graduates have a pathway to playing first-team football at Stamford Bridge.

Max Scherzer is being glued together to make his start in World Series Game 3

Eddie Howe is confident his Newcastle players will not be daunted by the challenge of securing Champions League qualification as the season draws to a close. The Magpies have four games in which to cement a top-four Premier League finish as they, Manchester United, Liverpool, Brighton and outsiders Tottenham jockey for position behind top two Manchester City and Arsenal. A 2-0 home defeat by the Gunners last weekend may have dented their charge and prompted hopes among the chasing pack of a late-season wobble, but head coach Howe was having none of it. Asked if the air around the training ground was a little heavier as a result of what is at stake in Saturday’s trip to relegation-threatened Leeds, he said: “The air should be lighter, not heavier. “We’re excited, that has to be our emotion. We’re looking forward to the challenges ahead, we’re not in any way, I don’t feel, daunted by it. “In sport, sometimes the more you think the more you damage yourselves, so play the game. These players have played all their lives and played because they enjoy it, so let’s strip away everything and let’s just perform well in our next game.” Newcastle head into the latest round of fixtures sitting in third place and knowing two more wins would almost certainly secure a place in European club football’s biggest competition next season – which would represent a significant upgrade on their target when they set out in August. We hope to be a nuisance for all teams. We don’t want to be nice to play against. Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe Howe admitted: “The aim was to not be in another relegation battle, try to stay clear of that and then build a lot of aspects of the team and play to be successful and sustain that success long-term. “Things have snowballed, now we sit where we do and we’ve done incredibly well.” In the process, the Magpies have found themselves thrust into the limelight with opposition managers having taken aim at both their game-management and physicality. Asked if he felt they had people rattled, Howe said: “We hope to be a nuisance for all teams. We don’t want to be nice to play against.” Howe’s players will need to bring all that to bear at Elland Road, where Leeds are engaged in a desperate fight for top-flight survival with former Newcastle boss Sam Allardyce having been parachuted in to engineer a rescue mission. He and Howe were touted for the vacant England manager’s job back in 2016 before Allardyce got the nod for what proved to be the briefest of reigns. “Without remembering, I’d probably say I felt I shouldn’t maybe have been in that frame at that stage of my career,” Howe said. “I felt I had so much to achieve and experience before being elevated to that position. “But it’s always a compliment and you always take it in the right way, that it must mean you’re doing something right in your job to be elevated to those levels.” A bullish Allardyce ventured on his appointment at Leeds that he was as good a manager as Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp and Mikel Arteta, but Howe says he was not disappointed to be left off the list. “I wouldn’t be arrogant enough to push my name into that list,” he said. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Jurgen Klopp: Miracles happen but a top-four finish is still out of our hands Kitman Chris Marsh overcomes illness to help support Coventry’s promotion push Premier League and PFA announce new five-year partnership

Georgia quarterback Carson Beck and Alabama's Jalen Milroe have led their teams into the Southeastern Conference championship game after replacing big-name stars

Stan Wawrinka wasted little time securing a 6-2, 6-4 win over Ilya Ivashka in the first round of the Italian Open after the start was delayed for 90 minutes due to rain

England goalkeeper Hannah Hampton is to leave Aston Villa when her contract expires at the end of this month, the Women’s Super League club have announced. The 22-year-old, who joined Villa in the summer of 2021 after leaving Birmingham, has been linked with Chelsea. Hampton made 43 appearances in all competitions for Villa and helped Carla Ward’s team achieve a fifth-placed finish for the 2022-23 WSL season. The in-form Hampton produced five clean sheets out of her 15 WSL league matches this past season. Capped twice at senior international level, she was part of the England squad that won the European Championship on home soil last summer. She received her first call-up since that tournament in March, with Lionesses boss Sarina Wiegman saying Hampton had "needed to sort out some personal issues (and has) done that" and praising her form. She has subsequently been included in Wiegman’s 23-player squad for this summer’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. The call up is a great step forward as many saw Hampton on the fringe of making the Lionesses squad. Hampton is joining fellow Women’s Super League goalkeepers Mary Earps of Manchester United, the undisputed No.1, and Ellie Roebuck of Manchester City, who are also making the journey Down Under. Hampton was ecstatic with her selection, telling her local paper, the Lichfield Live, “From a little girl playing football to being selected to represent my country at a World Cup is a dream come true and a huge honour.” With Hampton in the squad, the Lionesses aim to build upon their successful Euro’s campaign in 2022, which concluded with a victory over Germany to win the trophy, marking the first-ever win for the Lionesses first in their history. The England squad enter’s this year’s World Cup with sky-high expectations, coming in as the bookmakers’ second most likely team to win the illustrious tournament. Meanwhile, the United States enters the tournament as the favorites, coming off of two straight World Cup titles. Hampton and the Lionesses look to build off of their past strong World Cup performances, where the talented squad reach back-to-back World Cup semifinals. Additional reporting by PA Read More Premier League fixtures LIVE: Opening weekend and full schedules for every club Hayley McQueen pays tribute to father Gordon after his death at 70 Former Scotland defender Gordon McQueen dies aged 70

Kelvin Kiptum, who won this year's London marathon in the second fastest time of all time, will lead the Kenyan marathon team for the World Athletics...

No. 17 Tulane plays at Florida Atlantic on Saturday

Lee Carsley backed his England Under-21s to create history after reaching the Euro 2023 final. Morgan Gibbs-White, Cole Palmer and Cameron Archer eased England past Israel 3-0 and they will face Spain in Georgia on Saturday. It is the first time since 2009 they have made the European final and have not won the tournament since 1984. “It’s a great achievement for the players. We spoke about creating our own history,” Carsley told a press conference. “We’ve done well up till now, but the next thing is the biggest thing. It comes in three days, so recovery will be important now. “I still think we’ve still got a lot of improving to do. There’s still another level for this team to go. They’ve really grown as a group and they’re getting everything they deserve. “I’m so, so pleased for them because I’m a big believer that we’ve got so much quality and they just need the opportunity. “To watch how they’ve developed on and off the pitch has been brilliant. We sometimes take for granted the level of players we’re producing. “We’ve now mainly got to recover, and for the lads to get a bit of down time, and then look ahead to the final. They’re so motivated to do well, I’m so lucky. “All the credit goes to the squad, they’re a very determined bunch. They have a lot of pride in possession, but also in the blocks and clearances. But there are still a lot of things we can sharpen up ahead of the next game.” Gibbs-White missed a 17th-minute penalty after Anthony Gordon was fouled – following a lengthy VAR check – with Emile Smith Rowe having a shot cleared off the line and hitting the post seconds before. But the Nottingham Forest midfielder headed in from 12 yards with three minutes of the first half left to atone for his error. Palmer made it 2-0 just after the hour when he converted Smith Rowe’s cross, although the Manchester City player needed to wait for a VAR check. The midfielder then laid the ball on for Archer to add a third in stoppage time as the Young Lions reached the final without conceding a goal. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Wimbledon day three: Protesters cause delays as Katie Boulter moves on Heather Watson lifted by Sue Barker presence despite Wimbledon exit Stefanos Tsitsipas sets up Andy Murray blockbuster with epic five-set win

West Ham boss David Moyes likes the sound of his Hammers side being at the top of the Premier League table as they returned to the summit with a 2-1 win at Luton. Goals from Jarrod Bowen and Kurt Zouma were enough for the visitors to claim all three points, with Mads Andersen’s stoppage-time header a consolation at Kenilworth Road. Moyes said: “It’s Luton at home, the first game back in the Premier League and once we got into it, we did well enough. “For a little while (we’re top), but it’s nice for people to say that – it’s good, I like the sound of it and long may it continue. “It was a really good ball from (Lucas) Paqueta and a finish from Jarrod, so really pleased. “It’s not easy to come here in the first Premier League game of the season, so overall we did well. “Kurt’s goal took the game away from them, we were the better team and we probably should have been further in front. “Two or three counter-attacking moments where we have been so slick with it recently. “Our away form had been poor, but our away form is brilliant now. “Today was a bit of the same, we played better, had to defend really as well as their style of play will cause a lot of teams problems and I thought our defenders did really well.” A quiet first half saw Ross Barkley drag two chances wide for Luton, with Said Benrahma off target for the Hammers, who went ahead after 37 minutes when Paqueta’s cross was powered home by Bowen. Elijah Adebayo and Tahith Chong fired wide for Luton after the break before Emerson’s effort was ruled offside by VAR at the other end. With four minutes left, Zouma’s downward header doubled West Ham’s lead before Andersen pulled one back in stoppage time. Luton might have had a chance to equalise but a possible James Ward-Prowse handball from a corner in the dying seconds was not awarded. Luton boss Rob Edwards said of the late drama: “A lot of people are telling me that (it’s handball). “I’ve only seen a still, a freeze frame at the moment; I’ve not had a chance to see it back. “If it was, I’m disappointed, if it’s gone against us as those are the moments you need to go our way especially at this level to get results. “But I’m not going to complain about that now, or blame that, we’ve got to look at ourselves. “Me, myself as well, how we can keep getting better, I don’t want to keep saying the same things after the game. “Fine moments, basics, one cross into the box we didn’t deal with it well enough in the first half and a set-piece. “I will say that corner came from a corner that probably should have been our corner before that and then we conceded from it. “But I saw a team that was a lot more compact than in the last two games and I saw a team that was still aggressive and created chances.” After the game Luton announced the signing of Albert Sambi Lokonga on a season-long loan deal from Arsenal. The 23-year-old made 15 appearances in all competitions for the Gunners last season and was in attendance at Kenilworth Road. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Sofyan Amrabat ‘will put everything’ into playing for Manchester United New signing Ryan Gravenberch says Liverpool one of ‘biggest clubs in the world’ Jonny Bairstow hoping to enjoy more fruitful partnerships with Harry Brook