West Ham players confronted a group of AZ Alkmaar fans at the end of the teams' match on Thursday after the section of the stadium containing the Premier League side's friends and families came under attack.

Washington Capitals forward Nicklas Backstrom announced on Wednesday his decision to step away from ice hockey so that

Kansas native Gradey Dick brought a bit of home with him to the NBA draft

Tyson Fury has sparked backlash from boxing fans after claiming that Francis Ngannou poses a tougher test than Oleksandr Usyk. Fury will box former UFC heavyweight champion Ngannou in Saudi Arabia on 28 October, after talks with Usyk collapsed earlier this year. A bout between WBC champion Fury and unified champion Usyk would have crowned the first undisputed heavyweight champion in more than 20 years. Instead, Usyk went on to beat mandatory challenger Daniel Dubois in August, ahead of Fury’s fight with Ngannou – in which the WBC belt is not on the line. Speaking to Fight Hub TV on Thursday, Fury said: “Has [undisputed] ever been my priority? Did I ever say I wanted undisputed? It’s always been some other b***h’s dream, hasn’t it? ‘Undisputed, road to undisputed’. “Listen, I’ve got Francis Ngannou to deal with. And should the other little sausage want to fight for undisputed, then if he takes a small percentage, we might make it happen. But if he wants a large bag, I’m gonna say: ‘No, thank you’.” Ukrainian Usyk accepted a purse split of 75-25 per cent in Fury’s favour, only for talks to fall apart due to negotiations around the purse split in the rematch clause. “I’ve not said anything, I’ve not even been out in public,” Fury said. “Have you heard anything from me at all? Since all of this, I’ve not said anything. “[The reports] are all untrue, because if you didn’t hear me say it, it’s not true. The truth of the matter was, him and his team were s***houses. They got offered the fight at Wembley, it didn’t happen, and then we moved on. That was it. “Now I’m fighting Francis Ngannou, who’s stepping up to the plate. And I think he’s gonna be a bit of a bigger, tougher challenge than these other guys. These other guys are just boxers; this guy’s more than that.” Fans took to the comment section to hit out at Fury, 35, for the latter claim. “Total joke,” wrote one user. “It’s almost like Fury is going out of his way to make boxing fans depressed. I still think Fury is an excellent boxer but I’ve also lost all respect for him now.” Another wrote, “Strip Tyson. WBC credibility almost gone,” while one said: “Fury is trying so hard to make it out like this event isn’t a complete embarrassment.” Another comment read: “What a disgrace to boxing! Usyk seeking to become undisputed while this clown is doing everything in his power to avoid him and keeping the last belt in his hands.” Click here to subscribe to The Independent’s Sport YouTube channel for all the latest sports videos. Read More Tyson Fury claims he would beat Francis Ngannou in MMA fight Watch moment topless Tyson Fury goads Francis Ngannou into taking his shirt off during press conference Why Fury vs Ngannou may tarnish the Gypsy King’s legacy forever Chris Eubank Jr’s coach remanded in custody following airport arrest Tyson Fury urged to highlight Saudi Arabia’s ‘disturbing’ human rights record Tyson Fury claims he would beat Francis Ngannou in MMA fight Former Tyson Fury opponent backs Francis Ngannou to drop ‘Gypsy King’

Telma Encarnacao scored one goal and assisted on another as Portugal defeated Vietnam 2-0 on Thursday in the Women’s World Cup

The Saudi Pro League will target players “of the highest level” in future transfer windows, its head of recruitment has said. Top-flight Saudi Arabian clubs spent £701million to bring in talent from overseas in the summer,’ according to FIFA. That figure could have been even bigger if bids from Saudi teams for Paris St Germain striker Kylian Mbappe and Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah had been accepted. Michael Emenalo, the league’s director of football and the man in charge of the country’s Player Acquisition Centre for Excellence (PACE), admitted the Saudi league had “competed aggressively” in the summer window and that the focus was now on top-quality additions. “I’m hoping (the January transfer window) is not very busy, because I think the job that was done has been quite interesting and aggressive, and most of the clubs, I believe, have what they need,” the former Chelsea technical director said in an interview with the league’s in-house media team. “And hopefully the attention will now turn to work within the training facilities to improve these players and to allow the time to adapt and perform. “Now, whatever additional improvement that we need to do for any club, with time on our hands and preparation, we believe will be additions of the highest level. “We will continue to support and to see every opportunity we have to bring more talented individuals that want to come to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that is open for business.” Saudi clubs have always traditionally been one of the top recruiters of talent in Asia but Al Nassr’s signing of Cristiano Ronaldo in January of this year marked a gear shift and paved the way for other superstars to join the league. Neymar, Karim Benzema, Riyad Mahrez, Ruben Neves and Sadio Mane are among the big names who subsequently moved to the kingdom in the summer. Emenalo added: “These guys have been the best performers for a very long time in our industry. We’re very, very lucky to have them. “I’ve always explained, privately and publicly, that top-level footballers are incredible and unique artists, and what they can do, you can only dream of until you try to do it, when you realise how difficult it is. “Those guys are exceptional artists, and the artists as time goes on will be greatly appreciated and copied by youngsters in the country and that will be for the good of everyone.” Read More Damien Comolli says Toulouse’s entire football operation ‘driven by data’ Basketball coach says sport can play big role in developing skills of youngsters Newcastle, Man Utd and West Ham target Leverkusen defender Chelsea ‘robbed’ by ‘embarrassing’ referee in Real Madrid draw, fumes Emma Hayes On this day in 2011: Martin Johnson resigns as England team manager Anthony Joshua sees Otto Wallin as stepping stone on way to title fight

Tyrese Haliburton scored 37 points, Buddy Hield hit a tiebreaking 3-pointer in the final minute and the Indiana Pacers beat the Atlanta Hawks 157-152 to clinch a spot in the NBA In-Season Tournament quarterfinals

South Africa's under pressure fly-half Manie Libbok said he has put "a lot of work" into his kicking at goal ahead of the blockbuster Rugby World Cup pool match between the...

Leeds boss Sam Allardyce says he wants the “police to do a lot more” to help protect footballers from abuse on social media. The Yorkshire club this week condemned the threats directed at Patrick Bamford and his family after the striker’s penalty miss in last week’s Premier League draw with Newcastle. Allardyce urged Bamford to respond by scoring the winner in Sunday’s game at West Ham and said: “He’s been OK, he’s obviously extremely upset about the situation. It’s something that’s left a very, very bad taste indeed. “I’d like the police to do a lot more, but it appears with social media they rule the world and can say and do what they want unfortunately, which is why the world’s in such a big mess, isn’t it? “But he’s handled it pretty well. I think the club gave him as much support as he needed, particularly security-wise. It wasn’t just about him, it was about his family. “The best way for him to respond is to go out on Sunday, play to his highest level and try and score. It would be great if he scored the winner. Hopefully it won’t affect his performance.”

NASCAR has announced that it will finally bring its top Cup Series to Iowa for the first time

Former Liverpool, Southampton, West Bromwich Albion and England striker Rickie Lambert has sparked mockery and alarm after footage surfaced of him sharing a bizarre conspiracy theory about talking negatively to glasses of water. The ex-footballer, now aged 41, has become more and more outspoken as of later sharing views that many would consider to be controversial. A recent clip of Lambert has now gone viral where he says during an apparent interview, that scientists have done experiments where they speak positively and negatively to different glasses of water to see if it makes it clean. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter In a sincere tone and with a straight-face Lambert says: "They’ve [scientists] done a test where you spoke positively to one glass of water, froze it, spoke negatively to another glass of water, froze it. Then [they] examined the ice. "The negativity water was full of holes and blackness. The glass of water that was spoke to positively was full of crystals. "They’ve done experiments to the word, to the word, and the water responded the same way every time if you spoke to it a certain way. "The one word where water responds in the most beautiful way and [produced] the most beautiful crystals is showing gratitude to water. So everything I was saying about manifestation is it down to showing gratitude." The clip which has been viewed nearly one million times on Twitter has since sparked a ton of memes mocking Lambert for this bizarre theory. Mockery aside, is Lambert talking nonsense or is this actually a piece of science fact. Well, Dr Masaru Emoto and did find that water that was exposed to positive words formed symmetrical crystalline structures when it was frozen and disorganized, asymmetrical structures were formed in frozen water that had been exposed to negative words. Water Has Memory! Dr. Masaru Emoto's Water Experiment! www.youtube.com Of course, this is just one person's theory but at least Lambert has been doing his own research. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

More often than not, the team to win Game 1 of the World Series goes on to win the Fall Classic.